SERMON: MAYOR's CIVIC SERVICE1 Kings 3.3-5 and Luke 18.1-14

SERMON: MAYOR'S CIVIC SERVICE1 Kings 3.3-5 and Luke 18.1-14

The prophet Jeremiah said to the leaders of his day, ‘seek the welfare of the city’, for in it lays our own welfare. This is why we hold a civic service: because we honour our town council and want to pray for the new mayor and deputy mayor and our town councillors, to offer this civic year to God and dedicate our town’s leadership and ourselves to the service of our fellow human beings.

Any leadership role or public office has an influence on how well a society functions. In our readings today we heard of a king and a judge. In our firstreading we heard about King Solomon, who as a young man was made king after his father,the Great King David, died. God asks him what he would like, to bless him in this important role. Solomon asks for wisdom. He could have asked for fame, wealth and a long life, but because he asked for wisdom, God was pleased with his answer and gave him not only wisdom but wealth and a long life as well.

In our second reading we heard aparable or story that Jesus told about a judge who is slow to help a widow who goes to him for justice. Yet in spite of the judge’s lack of response, she perseveres asking for help him until finally he helps her. The woman knows after a lifetime of struggle that it pays to pester authority, and that even a self-serving judge can be driven to the point where he even if reluctantly, must act. Her belief that she had a fair claimmeant the judge did bring her, and therefore her community, justice.

Belief or trust is important for the functioning of society. Without trust we will not post a letter, for we will not believe it will arrive at its destination. Without trust we wouldn’t bother going to the doctor when unwell, if we don’t think we will be well cared for. Without trust we won’t call the police if we are victims of crime because we don’t believe they will look for the criminal. And so on. Yet why is trust in our public institutions at such a low ebb? And when was it ever more challenging to take up public office? There is a culture of suspicion on all of us in public roles whether in education, the church, the judiciary, healthcare or politics. Even though we have performance targets and hyper-accountability everywhere in our institutions, far from enhancing trust they just seem to erode it. No wonder we have a preoccupation with rights, and a greater focus on litigation and blame.

Sadly, I think the main reason forscepticism toward authority in our society isthat our public institutions have eroded trust in themselves when they’ve misused power, become compromised and corrupted or ignorethose with little voice. There are hospitals that have become more concerned with finances than the care of their patients. There are church leaders who have covered up for abusive clergy. There are financial institutions that benefit themselves but exploit the poorest. These are not just little local difficulties. Over and over again we hear stories of the abuse of public office in society. The latest scandal in the news is the leadership of FIFA having taken bribes from countries to be awarded the opportunity to host the World Cup. It is a worrying trend in our society that, unchecked, will continue to corrode confidence and trust.

However, I am pleased to say, having been chaplain for a year I’ve been deeply impressed by the honesty, integrity, commitment and collective wisdom of our town council to serve the well being of St Ives.

What might Christian faith have to say about this on Civic Sunday? It is true that leaders today cannot assume that people will automatically trust them because of their position.But I don’t think it is too late to restore trust in our society. When those who hold office in our institutions are trustworthy theycreate a virtuous circle where we can all flourish. Where we in public positions act out of a real desire to serve others, where we practise compassion in the face of pain and need, where duty is honestly and humanely exercised and where we honour the value of others, we create trust.

Trust is not just a practical way of getting things done. It is a theological value whether we recognise it or not. One of the problems of the unjust judge was that he neither respected God nor people. If we believe that our positions of authority are under the authority of and accountable to God, who is immortal, all knowing and all just and good and loving, then we are more likely to acknowledge our own limitations, that we are mortal, have partial knowledge and have a mixture of frailties, then we will serve with humility. We will listen to advisors, to hold ourselves sensibly accountable to others. King Solomon wasn’t perfect; he worshipped other gods on mountains, but he was humble enough to recognise that he needed wisdom from God to be a good king. If we respect God we acknowledge that we are not gods ourselves, but God’s creatures. If we are God’s people then we will seek to bring him honour by following his ways of goodness, justice and love in our roles as leaders.

Secondly the judge did not respect people. Trust for the Christian is grounded in the belief that all human beings have infinite worth, for we are made in the image of God. Every person, regardless of appearance, level of intelligence or ability has worth in the eyes of God. If we recognise that everyone is important,then we will treat them with dignity and respect. If we value people then we will use our public roles to serve others, not for our own personal gain.

Jesus told the story of the judge and widow to help us not to lose heart. This civic service brings together people committed to promoting the wellbeing of our town and community. It affirms trust by pointing us to resources beyond our own for tasks which we feel scarcely prepared or adequate. With God’s help we are offered a new perspective on whom and what we are, for God is just and loving. Our society needs to rebuild trust if we are to be saved from ourselves. Our churches need to rebuild trust if we wish to be listened to. And each of us needs to learn to respect one another and build trust in one another as we look beyond our narrow worlds into a more generous vision of what God is calling us to become. This is what we ask for our new mayor today and for ourselves as we give thanks for our beautiful town and its people, and pray for God’s blessing and peace in the coming year. AMEN.