Sermons from St Faith's
Choosing Life
Paula O'Shaughnessy, April
12th, 2015
Let us choose life – new life –
resurrection. Which is offered to us by
God.
The alternative – death and destruction – we
must reject.
The Psalm today gives us the ultimate assurance:
It is you, Lord, who make me dwell in safety
This promise of stability and hope sustains us
in a world which is fraught with dangers, evil
and uncertainty. The risen Christ appears
to the disciples at once brings great joy and
faith, by his very presence. He then
instructs them – he is sending them out as his
witnesses in the world.
Our actions – our very actions will determine
the course of history, the Gospel living and
breathing amongst the people – or not – or not –
or not. Does the Gospel live and breathe
in us? For – in the words of Teresa of
Avila
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do
good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all
the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
My grandad was a great storyteller. He
told me once this story – about when he was
growing up in a poor part of Liverpool
(Kirkdale) between the wars. Tuberculosis
was endemic in the area, and people lived in
abject poverty – slum dwellings, damp housing,
poor diet. You would think that there
would have been a comradeship and neighbours
helping one another out. But no, there was
division and snootiness – neighbours looking
down on neighbours. My grandad (known as
Jack), when he was a young lad remembers a
certain young girl, about 14 years old, called
Hilda Mercer. She wore a washed out
looking pink dress, and would stand on the front
door step of the house where she lived with her
brother. Her parents were both dead.
Hilda would try to catch the attention of Jack,
when he would walk by haughtily, giving only a
sniffy 'morning' in response. Hilda died
within a few years, succumbing to the TB
herself, like her parents before her. My
grandad was racked with guilt, and he was
haunted by this memory years later – when he
told me about it. He realised too late the
loss – of failing to reach out, in humanity and
in the name of Christ to his neighbour.
Every action in the world has a
consequence. The person who suffers,
trapped in a cruel experience, a result of
thoughtless or hateful act knows that
consequence. The person who receives
kindness and love, knows that consequence.
In our world today – so changed by
globalisation, electronic communications - we
need God more than ever. Online cyber
bullying – which has resulted in suicides of
school children, death threats to people on
Twitter over the sacking of Jeremy Clarkson from
Top Gear. The blurring of realities in
people's minds seems to have created a new kind
of evil monster in the world. The
electronic, global beast shields our senses from
the human reality. When we click on 'a
certain, global online retailer' for books or
other items, we don't see the misery of the
galley slave like conditions in the warehouses –
here in this country..... When we buy our
leather goods, we don't see the chemically and
socially toxic conditions of the workers in
places like Dakha, in the Punjab, India.....What
is the name of the beast? Well, this
particular manifestation of the many headed
beast, which has been with us throughout the
ages is neo-liberalism (sometimes called the
'New World Order'). It's not got anything
to do with good old fashioned enlightened
liberalism. It's a bit like those
countries that have the words 'democratic
republic of' in the title. You know
they're nothing of the sort.
Neo-liberalism in short turns everything and
everyone into commodities, de-humanises,
rationalises into units for exploitation and
utilisation.
In this morning's epistle, John reminds us that
we are God's children. Still God's
children. We need to hang on to
this. Let us not close ourselves off from
God, but to be open to hear his word and to act
upon it. This means that we see the value
of each human life and everyone's right to
dignity and right to life. In our global,
cyber world, we need to seek God, to remember
that man is made in God's image and to value all
of God's creatures.
The Christian religious communities can be an
inspiration to us. Mirfield, with its
Benedictine tradition is a beacon in a harsh
world, with their vows of stability, obedience
and conversion of life.
Stability – in the post-modern world.
Where engagement with God is a daily commitment.
Obedience – which literally means listening, is
key to developing the relationship with God.
Conversion – the daily journey, turning away
from death and towards life, from what we were
to what we will be in God. A conversion –
the world being transformed by the kingdom of
heaven.
Let us pray now, that we will grow ever more, as
people of the resurrection, as God's Holy
People. Amen
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