Open Our Ears, O Lord, to Hear Your Word and Know Your Voice

The Venerable Anne Gell, Archdeacon of Wells
Sermon 20th May 2017

Isaiah 58: 6-12; Luke 6:12-26

Open our ears, O Lord, to hear your word and know your voice.

Speak to our hearts and strengthen our wills, that we may serve you in all that we do,

now and always. Amen.

I wouldn’t usually begin a sermon with personal messages, but on a wonderful occasion like this, in such a beautiful and holy place, and as I look out on a sea of faces, friends and colleagues old and new and friends and colleagues yet to be encountered, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Gratitude to God for his faithfulness, his guiding hand and his sustaining love, and gratitude to so many of you in so many different ways.

Thank you for the warmth of your welcome as Simon and I settle into our new life here. Thank you for entrusting to me this new ministry here amongst you – Bishop Peter and Dean John in particular, but I have felt a great encouragement from many others too.

Thank you too to those who have been part of my journey thus far, those who have come here today to pray me onwards, or to ‘see me off’ (in the nicest possible way) and to those who can’t be here and yet whose love and support continue to sustain me. There is something very wonderful to know that in God all that we have been to each other and all that we have shared is held and will never be lost.

But enough of me. Today is absolutely and centrally about God, and about the ministry that God has prepared for us, the ministry that we share here: here in the Diocese of Bath and Wells and here in this sublimely beautiful Cathedral church.

Our reading from Luke tells of the calling and appointing of the Twelve. We hear that even before the twelve are chosen Jesus is already attracting crowds of disciples. Those who are seeking him out, wanting to sit at his feet and absorb all that he has to say about God and the life of the Kingdom. It is from these disciples that Jesus chooses twelve ordinary men to live and learn and work alongside him, those who will become his closest friends.

They already are, and will continue to be, disciples. But in calling out the Twelve Jesus also appoints them for a particular role, and as a clue to what that role will involve Luke tells us that Jesus calls them ‘apostles’. It’s an important word. An apostle is one who is sent; one who has a message to convey; one who is witnessing to something they have experienced.

Jesus calls out the Twelve into a new community, a gathered community, a community with a purpose, those who will learn from him and will be sent out to witness to him, those who are both disciples and apostles.

An occasion like this, when we gather from many different places, churches and groups, is a good opportunity for us to pause and to consider the communities to which we belong. There must be hundreds of different communities represented here. The places you live, the organisations you work for, your families, your social group, football team or whatever. And many Christian communities represented here too: parishes, churches, deaneries, dioceses, the cathedral, schools, chaplaincies.

Communities, of whatever context, are defined by what they have in common, by the shared values or purposes which hold them together and shape them.

In terms of Christian community, it may seem obvious, or perhaps it should seem obvious what that is – our life together as a Christian community, whether of parish, benefice, diocese, school or cathedral is founded on and formed by our common faith in Jesus Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, pastor, theologian and leader of the anti-Nazi Confessing church in 1930s Germany, has some challenging things to say about Christian community in his book ‘Life together’. He is very clear about the foundations, and I quote: ‘our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to each of us. I have community with others and I shall continue to have it only through Jesus Christ. The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us.’

It is the Christ we share who binds us together. All else is peripheral. But of course, it is never that straightforward because of the hugely varied ways we find of expressing or understanding our shared faith in Christ. And thank God for that variety!

All our communities are made up of individuals in all our glorious, enriching and sometimes contrary and downright aggravating, differences. It will be a great joy to get to know the widely varied Christian communities in this diocese, and particularly the Wells archdeaconry, and appreciate your uniqueness as well as all that we have in common.

In any community there will be those who see things from a different perspective or who do things differently to us: those whose personal preference is for other styles of worship, or of music; those who want to change things we hold dear, or to hold onto those things we can’t bear; those who come at certain issues from a different theological perspective. In my view, that is entirely right and is the basis of healthy community. Not always comfortable communities, not ones that never have ‘stuff’ to deal with, but ones that have learnt together how to deal with it. Ones that have learnt what it means truly to love and respect each other, that want to learn and grow together, ones that engage creatively with difference and that are made stronger and richer through it.

Such communities learn what it is to live out an authentically Christ-centred life. They learn what it means to be disciples and apostles, growing together in the life of faith and being sent out to share that faith with others.

And as Christian communities those two pictures of discipleship and apostleship are key. We are communities that sit together at the feet of our Lord and are sent out to be witnesses to the life-changing good news that is Jesus Christ.

Such communities are both formed by, and give shape and substance to, the ongoing life of worship and prayer that they share.

Worship is the beating heart of all that we do, whether in this glorious cathedral, soaked in the prayer of centuries, or in parish churches large and small or in halls and schools and chapels. It is our worshipping life which draws us closer to God and which gives us life as his people. It is our worship which draws us up into the life of the Trinity and which sends us out to live out that life in the world.

The reading from Isaiah, although speaking into a very specific and dark time of captivity for God’s people, continues to challenge us today. It challenges us about the connection between our worship and the rest of life. It reminds us that religious rituals that fail to make a difference to how we live are worthless. The most transcendent worship, the most uplifting liturgy, the most heartfelt prayers of praise or penitence – they may make us feel good, but in reality are as nothing unless lives are changed and hearts and minds are turned towards the needs of others. Authentic worship of the God who is love is just can’t exist alongside, ignoring the needs of the others.

This year’s Christian Aid week is drawing to a close. And what an important reminder that is each year of the gospel imperative to reach out to the very poorest in our world. I know that many of you will have been part of the giving and collecting and raising awareness; and I’m sure you will also have been encouraged by many inspiring examples of ways in which lives are being transformed through the excellent work being done around the world. But there is always so much more we can do. Both for those in places far away, and for those much closer to home. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that right here in Somerset there are those living in real and significant poverty and facing other desperate kinds of need, and it’s our calling under God to do what we can to address these challenges faced by so many. I look forward to finding out more about, the projects and partnerships that are up and running, or are being planned, in communities across this diocese.

Our membership in Christ of his church gives us the responsibility to reach out to others. We rightly work for the growth of the church, and yet that cannot be an end in itself; we long to see the church grow and flourish in order to work for the growth and flourishing of society at large.

In Bath and Wells we (I can say that now!) are working out how, in our varied and different communities, we can both be and share good news, authentically ‘living and telling the story’ of Jesus. We are aiming under God to be both disciples and apostles in all that we do.

As disciples, continually learning more about what it means to follow Jesus, expanding our understanding of what the life of faith is about, deepening our dependence on God in prayer.

As apostles, being those who are sent out tell others of Jesus. Being those who bear witness to all that we have experienced of the reality of God in our own lives. Witnessing through who we are and what we do. Living and telling the story of Jesus. Bringing ‘food to the hungry and satisfying the needs of the afflicted’. Bringing freedom, love, security, respect and hope to others.

Much of what I will do in my new roles as archdeacon and as a member of the Cathedral Chapter here, will be about helping to build and sustain and enable healthy Christian community. In the archdeaconry, as I get to know you, and to work with you in parishes, deaneries, schools and chaplaincies my hope and prayer is to do all in my power under God to enable you to grow and flourish in your life together as disciples and apostles. That is what underlies all the meetings, committees, emails, faculties, visitations, appointments processes, pastoral support, PCCs and synods. My role is to walk with you in facing challenges and in embracing opportunities.

And I have no doubt that there are very real challenges to be faced as we seek to find relevant and sustainable ways of being church and of living the gospel in our communities. We’re too old, or too few, or too isolated. We can’t find people to be wardens, or treasurer, or to teach the children. We can’t afford to mend the roof, and struggle to contribute our portion to the common fund. Under God let us be realistic, but always hopeful, and always seeking God’s way to move forward. Under God let us never be afraid to grasp hold of the many opportunities that are opened to us. Let us never be too comfortable to allow ourselves to be challenged, and let us never be too self-reliant to receive the blessings that God longs to bestow.

I know that there will be times when we will weep together: with, for or indeed because of each other. There will be times when we will lament together, when we will rail and throw stones at the gates of heaven. But I am absolutely confident that there will be other times, many other times, when we will rejoice together and give thanks together and laugh together and be filled afresh together with the wonders of God’s love and provision.

To God alone be the glory, now and for ever.

Amen