When the song of the angels is stilled

This is one of my favourite poems/prayers for this time of year, it's written by Howard Thurman and has been set to music too (you can listen to it here: When the song):

When the song of the angels is stilled
when the star of the sky is gone
when the kings and the princes are home
when the shepherds are back with their flocks
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost
to heal the broken
to feed the hungry
to release the prisoner
to rebuild the nations
to bring peace among the people
to make music in the heart.

Advent 4: Hope

Many of you will know, or recall, that each of the candles on the Advent Ring has a theme linked to it: with the fourth candle linked to both Mary and to the theme of hope. With Mary’s song, known by many as the Magnificat, which we have just heard, hope is a theme clearly appropriate to Mary, being, as she was, a member of the Jewish community who were longing for the Messiah who would release them from the subjugation and oppression of Roman rule under which they were living.

Mary’s song is has become the song of all who hope for a changed world, a ‘better world’. It is the song for all who pray that a world in which the mantra that each person is a beloved child of God might become reality, as the Magnificat and the just and gentle rule of God are lived out in the way in which we treat, speak to and pray for each other. The world where the Magnificat is truth is a world where the promise that we are all made in the image of God is lived out with arms laid down, with open and honest conversation, with trusting hearts, with a passionate desire for equity and a fulfilling life made possible for all.

Mary’s song is a song of hope… it isn’t necessarily sweet or lovely though… just as I imagine Mary’s life was not sweet and lovely either. It is a song of change and disruption. The world is turned upside-down and the comfortable place of those who are in places of authority and power will be disturbed as the situations they hold will be taken away from them. Those who occupy positions in which they are nothing will be raised up. All will be disrupted.

We say these words each evening at Evening Prayer; we hear them most Fourth Sundays in Advent, often at Christmas and at our Patronal Festival… do we realise their power? Do we realise – as in both to understand and to make happen – the radical change that this song speaks of? I love the possibilities that it offers – but also, I will confess, I also fear what it demands of me when I say it, when I hear it, when I sing it.

I think of the young woman who first praised God with the words we have heard. I think of what needs to change in our world today to make the Magnificat a reality. I think of what I could do, what I need to do, what we need to do – all Christian people – to speak peace, to speak love and to speak hope into lives blighted by poverty, oppression, iniquity, injustice and I could go on. Think of what words you might sing.

You’ll know the hymn, When I survey the wondrous cross by Isaac Watts, and published three hundred and five years ago, this hymn ends, as I am sure some of you will know, ‘love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all’. I know that sometimes all that needs to be ‘done’ in the world can feel overwhelming – and I imagine that poor Mary, believed to be not much more than a child herself by our contemporary standards, Mary must have been pretty overwhelmed too when she was told she was to be the mother of the Messiah – and yet, and yet…

Mary gave her life, Mary gave her soul, Mary gave her all, to bringing this child to birth, to raising him, to teaching and training him in the faith, along with Joseph too – so that when the time was right, Jesus would know he was loved, he would know he was cherished, he would know he was the Son of God as well as her son too – and he would be able to give his life, his soul, his all as well.

If we are overwhelmed with what needs to be ‘done’ to make our world a better place, then, as Mary did, we need to begin with what it possible for us – and live with hope that the small things that we do will contribute to the whole. We may not be called to give birth to the Son of God – can you imagine what to put on the birth certificate under father – we may not be called to give birth to the Son of God but we can contribute by bringing his kingdom to birth, by living with hope: with arms laid down, with open and honest conversation, with trusting hearts, with a passionate desire for equity and a fulfilling life made possible for all.

We have heard these lines today: And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace. They were in our first reading from the Prophecy of Micah, when he spoke of Bethlehem in Ephrathah being the place from whence the Messiah would come, and also what the Messiah would be like. Micah was speaking hope to the people of Israel – the people from whom Mary came, the people from whom Joseph came, the people from whom Jesus himself came. These people were longing for a world that was different – where they could live free from oppression and hatred – and where they would be restored to the presence of God. There are many people longing for such a world today – we hear of them each day on our news and read of them in our newspapers.

We each live with hope in our hearts for a world that is ‘better’. God has given us the means to make it so – by faith and action. Many of you, I know, give time, energy, money and prayer to making this world a better place – and I thank you and encourage you in all that you already do. Can I ask this of you too though in these coming days: keep alive the gift of hope in your heart, kindle it and be inspired by it. Listen to hope’s encouragement and hope’s affirmation; listen to hope’s song and hope’s meaning. Let the hope that belonged to the people of Israel be your hope too – that our world will be changed and that people will all live with arms laid down, with open and honest conversation, with trusting hearts, with a passionate desire for equity and a fulfilling life made possible for all.

Amen.

A broad church?

Some people have asked what I think about the vote that took place in General Synod in November regarding the place of women in the Episcopacy in the Church of England. I did not think it would go through and, although I wholeheartedly support Bishops of both genders, I am glad that this particular piece of legislation did not go through as it would have enshrined within it a two-tier system of episcopacy, and I do not think this is right. Had this particular piece of legislation gone through it would have meant that those who do not wish to have a woman as their bishop or a man who has been ordained by a woman as their parish priest, or a man who has been ordained by a bishop who has ordained a woman as priest or bishop – they could ask for someone different. What a mess. How far back in time do you go back to check out someone’s ‘pedigree’ as priest or bishop? And what happens if you do want a woman as your parish priest, and your bishop and diocese is an enclave that makes it virtually impossible to exercise your ministry if you happen not to be a man?

It seems to me that the Church of England is only as broad as those it recognises and invites to bring their gifts and skills into play. Following the vote that took place in November, the place of women in the church is seriously in question. Men and women are different it is true – but this is not simply because of their gender – it is because we are all different. The skills and gifts that I have are different from the woman I sit next to on the tube. The gifts and skills that the man who drives the bus has are different from those of the man who works in the City… sweeping the office or working behind the desk. We are each unique, we are each made in the image of God, we each bear the imprint of Christ.

I do not speak very much about the matter of women in the church a) because I simply get on with what I believe God has called me to do and be, and that the church has affirmed and b) because I don’t feel I have the right to ‘go on about’ being a women in ministry, when all women and men are called to serve.

This is a deeply sad and disappointing moment in time. Many people prayed for the will of God to be done – and someone somewhere must think it came to pass. Maybe this was the right thing so that future legislation could go through without the legalising of the taint associated with merely being of the ‘wrong’ gender. I use the word taint advisedly because it is a word that has been used about me to my face because I am a priest who is female. Imagine that if you will – by my gender, I bring some sort of taint to the office of priest. This is also why I don’t talk about this matter so very much because I find it too distressing and embarrassing to know that there are Christians who worship Sunday by Sunday and day by day who use these types of words and sentiment about one another. What would Jesus say and do? What should we do? As ever, the answer is to pray.

Pray earnestly for charity and for love, pray earnestly for grace and hope. Pray also for the members of General Synod who spoke passionately and earnestly on both sides of the debate, and for those who are seeking to take this matter forward. Pray for the Church of England as it seeks to heal a wound that has scar tissue from previous matters relating to this theme that have never really been healed and that cause impediment of movement for all. Pray also for the women of the church across the world in whatever form of ministry they exercise, lay and ordained, parish priest and bishop, young and old. May women in our churches be cherished and loved and held dear by all. May men of our own age know that they are cherished and loved and held dear by all too. May we all know the love of God calling us to be who we are, in God’s service and for God’s good purpose.