"If these walls could speak..."

Here's my sermon for Broughton's Civic Service this year:

I think that I can say without fear of contradiction that this year has been a very interesting one politically! Whatever your opinion might be of the referendum, the party political leadership elections, the US Presidential race; whatever your opinion might be of these, they've certainly got people thinking and talking about politics in a way we haven't for many years. And this is no bad thing. But one of the consequences of this is that it has caused, or at least highlighted many divisions in our society and even between family and friends. So we gather today aware of our differences and perhaps wondering whether we do share much in common with our neighbour at all.

But what better place to gather at this turbulent time than here in St Mary's?  This year, as many of you are aware, we are celebrating our 950th Anniversary, although as Dr Kevin Leahy reminded us in his lecture here last night the church is certainly older than that.  Just think about the history that this church has been around for, as the old saying goes “If these walls could speak...”

The Norman Conquest, the Magna Carta, the Reformation, the Civil War, the Agricultural Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, two world wars, one world cup... the list goes on.  Loads of times of turbulence, loads of eras of uncertainty, loads of periods where communities and families were divided.  Yet this place has been a constant.

It's been a constant reminder that there is something bigger than us, something more stable and reliable.  Sometimes when the school children come in to look around this church we think about how big it is and how much bigger it would have seemed when it was first built and people lived in small single storey houses, perhaps made of wood.  We think about how extravagant and unnecessarily high it is and we think about two reasons for that. Firstly it was big enough to hold everyone in the village, everyone could find a place here.  But secondly, and most importantly, it reminds us of how big, strong and secure God is.

This year we've been able to help people rediscover their place here.  Last academic year the school children  and some of the staff each made a square or a leaf that have been put together to form the two banners either side of me.  They now have a very visible place within the fabric of the church, that will hopefully be there for many generations to come.  This weekend we had the parish registers out so people could find themselves and their family in the history books – part of the life of this church.  This is their church, this is our church and we all have a place in it.

When the children are thinking of words to describe this building they say things like 'welcoming', 'like home','peaceful', like another world', 'safe'.  This is partly because for almost a thousand years people have been worshipping and praying here and the presence of God can be felt here.  God, who is the true firm foundation for our lives; God, who loves us even if we think we're unlovable; God, who believes in us even if we don't believe in him.

In these uncertain times, we need places like St Mary's to remind us that although there have always been difficult times, both in our national and international life and in our community and families, even though there have been difficult times, these times pass.  We need places like St Mary's to remind us that despite our differences we can come together as a community because we are all welcome here.

But also it reminds us that especially in our darkest times we need Jesus the light of the world; in a time of confusion in leadership we need Jesus who is the truly wise King of kings; in our broken world we need Jesus who reconciles us to each other and to God; in our divided world we Jesus who is the only Prince of Peace and ultimately the only answer to humanity's problems.

The EU and the CofE

Here's my magazine article for June:

On Thursday 23^rd June, voters will be able to have their say over the future of the UK's relationship with the EU. This will be, and indeed is already being, preceded by lots of comments from religious leaders about the issues, followed by lots of criticisms of religion 'meddling' in politics.

Those who don't approve of religious leaders speaking out on political issues (although they tend only to disapprove if the religious leader holds an opposite opinion!) often make two mistakes. Firstly they assume that faith and politics are separate; that one's faith is a private matter whereas politics is about public issues and never the twain should meet. This is a false division as any faith worth its salt has an outward dimension and has a view about how humans should interact. Indeed, Jesus taught us to ask our heavenly Father “thy kingdom come” and Jesus himself was executed because he represented a threat to the political and religious authorities of his day. The second mistake that is made is to think that a discussion about politics can be held in a neutral, value-free, completely 'rational' environment. We all have a world-view that shapes our thinking about society: for a lot of people that world-view is influenced by their religious beliefs for others it is influenced by their secular beliefs.

So I offer my ha'p'orth on the referendum, two reflections both based on the experience of the Church of England, but on different sides of the argument. Firstly, one of the founding principles of the Church of England was that it was not subject to Rome. Henry VIII reasoned that as he was appointed by God, he was answerable only to God, and therefore that he, not the Pope, was the head of the English church. As the Church of England spread around the world, this principle went with it, so that each national church had the authority to decide matters for themselves without looking to England. Therefore, all the churches of what is now the Anglican Communion have different liturgies and different views on certain issues. Thus the principle of each nation being in supreme control of its own area is central to the history of the Church of England.

On the other hand, the Church of England makes no grand claims for itself, it simply states that it is “part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” It doesn't claim to be the true Church, or the Church in its entirety but just a part of the Church. There's a recognition that it is part of a larger whole and so that it is dependant on, and in partnership with, the rest of the Church

These two reflections show that it is possible for a Christian to be on either side of the debate, and indeed www.reimaginingeurope.co.uk is “a space for Christian reflection and debate on Britain’s future relationship with Europe” with views on both sides. However you decide to vote, and whatever the result, the Christian prayer to God remains the same “thy kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven.”