SERMONS

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Sean Gilbert

Christ Church  28/1/07           

Jeremiah 1:4-10 & Mary Oliver’s: “Messenger

Two prophetic voices – voices and persons removed by many generations, different by virtue of age; one is a young man – a boy even, the other a mature woman, one held up to be a vaunted prophet of God, the other a much vaunted poet from New England. And yet both grappling with a call upon their life; a call to speak, to write, to observe, to see clearly on behalf of us all.

And whilst I emphasize such a representative role, their calling to something greater is our call as well. For it comes very much within this humanness, “and still not half-perfect”. Therefore they are not greatly removed from us at all; in fact, their self-confessed limitations give the very encouragement we need to take our lives and legacies all the more seriously.

A major problem though has been how religious call has often been framed; usually such a high and pious ideal, and somehow extraneous to life and personal circumstance, that it either creates crazy zealots out of us or leaves us feeling that this is well beyond our capability and best left for the experts, the clergy no less – they’ll carry it all for us!

But understood as a calling out of us of that which is most true and good – our gratitude, if not our utter astonishment for the gift of life itself - the Christian life need not be so complex or so high religiously nuanced. Because what the religious thing can do, as it has done with God, is to create another world, and almost rarefied, inaccessible world, much like a high jump bar set at 5 metres, which gives little or no joy, not to mention any personal meaning. We are then like beggars for grace rather than lovers of the world.

In one of his conferences to his fellow monks, St Bernard of Clairvaux
once said, “There is no need to beg elsewhere for what you already have with you in abundance…” This meaning that when it comes to living in tune or in fidelity with Jesus’ vision of a just, equitable and peaceful world, the first place to look is not at another, but to begin to see what is already in place in us, and yet perhaps longing and yearning for fuller expression; a truer self to be brought to the surface of our being so as to breathe freely and generously. And rather than seeing this as somewhat removed from the real, missional work of the church – from its evangelism and social justice programs - unless we live out of our own hope, our own joy, our own abundance even, what do we have ultimately to offer? What saving grace are we embodying?

One insightful author once described the Kingdom of God – that vision which inspired and called Jesus into public view – as the possibility of the impossible; As a foolishness fully worth pursuing. Well, such is the nature of the Christian life and such is the nature of our calling; beyond rationality, counter to others’ expectations and demands, flying in the face of our own doubts and fears, and yet, and yet, fully in tune with our desire to become and our abiding hopes to create a better world.

            “Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
             Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
                   keep my mind on what matters,
             which is my work
             which is mostly standing still and learning to be
                   astonished.”

Friends, what is your unfinished work (art), and what as a community of faith is our unfinished work?

Let us take a few moments for our own though and prayer…