2 BEFORE LENT 7TH FEBRUARY 2021

READINGS: PROVERBS 8:1-22-31, COL 1:15-20, JOHN 1:1-14  

The last time we heard today’s Gospel was at Midnight Mass in this Church. It is majestic and powerful “In the beginning was the Word”.  No birth narrative of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John but boom straight into the theology – here, in this tiny baby lies the creator of the world. Take it or leave it. This is the breathless introduction to today as we turn our faces towards Lent. We need it right now.

It is only to state the obvious that we are right now a confused, divided, and directionless society – there are of course many and multiple reasons for this in addition to the obvious one of Brexit, whatever your position was on that.  For me, two reasons stand out, both related.  The first is lack of vision – “Without vision the people perish” and second is the militantly secular context in which we find ourselves. Secularism maintains that the highest good is the individual and his or her place in the state. There is nothing higher.  In the twentieth century, the two catastrophic examples were fascism and communism, both of which systems placed the state at the pinnacle of human achievement.   It was a guiding principle of Nazism that the highest good to which an individual could aspire was the State. The principal philosopher, on whom Nazism relied, of course, was Friedrich Nietzsche of Mensch und Ubermensch fame.  Nietzsche shared much with contemporary political correctness of European secular fundamentalism in his belief, that, given the right conditions, religious belief would simply fade away.  Nietzsche famously described religion as the “idiosyncrasy of the decadent revenging themselves upon life.” 

But now, twenty-one years into the third Christian millennium, and having left behind a century of militant and murderous atheism, we see religious belief not only stubbornly refusing to go away, but growing, it seems, ever stronger. This is true globally, where faith is on the rise, and we should not imagine that our own faithless society is a model across the world. There are many acute observers, not least in the Vatican, who predict that the largest number of Christians in 2050 will be in China – one of the reasons, as an aside, why I am learning Mandarin as I want to connect to this bigger picture, especially when we can expect 300,000 people or more to arrive as they flee Hong Kong.  Policy makers, it seems, will have to take this phenomenon seriously. To give one example -in the debate on Brexit, on both sides of the divide-there was an almost total absence of the question “Where is the soul of Europe and its citizens?” This is even more important than the trade rules.  The Bishop of London recently called for “a broad public discourse based on a different language, and a transcendent conversation – one that can address deeper questions of meaning and belonging.”

Why speak about this today?  For two treasons- firstly, and principally, because the readings for today remind us of this phenomenon, and secondly, as we approach Lent, we are reminded as believers that we each have our own work to do. Firstly, then, the readings set for today.  The Old Testament reading from Proverbs and the reading from Colossians state that central Christian belief proclaimed in the Creeds that in Jesus Christ we see the true and archetypal human and true God, existing from before and after the creation of the world.  It also reminds us, that as Jesus Christ is the archetypal human being, so we as human beings share in the work of creation as co-creators with God.  The animals and the rest of creation are a reminder that, as human beings work together, so they are called at the same time to work with creation as part of it. The New Testament reading from Colossians continues this theme as Christ the creator of the world.  In Christian art and theology, we call this the Pantocrator. In art, the Pantocrator is pictured seated above the globe as its creator. At the centre of the Gospel proclamation is Jesus Christ, pictured as the Lamb of God.  The Lamb of God is surrounded by the four living creatures.  This is pictorial language of course for the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and their symbols – the ox, the lion, the bull, and the winged angel.  In iconography this is called the zoomorph, and you no doubt know where all the zoomorphs are in this church.  One is behind the head of the preacher. Christ is at the centre of creation as its creator, which brings us to the Gospel set for today. Christ, as the Word of God and second person of the Trinity exists before time, and yet enters into time through his birth as a human being in Bethlehem.  The words in the English translation say, “The word became flesh and lived among us” – but they could equally well be translated from the Greek in this way “he pitched his tent among us.”    In other words, the Biblical authors knew the central truth that our human condition is one of radical and total insecurity and that the only anchor and security we have is our faith in God. Our sisters and brothers in Christ who are persecuted for their faith know this well, which is why our Lent focus this year will be hearing their experiences and testimonies, as we have so much to learn from them.

For Christians, our faith is anchored in Jesus Christ, the same yesterday today and forever, and this gives a strong and stable base to move outwards and forwards as I hope we are always doing. And there is sound sense why the compilers of the lectionary put these readings for today as we approach Lent. These readings bring us back to the core on which we rely.  Without this theological underpinning, the Christian Church and the Christian message is nothing. A strong and secure theological base will endure, and people will be attracted to it, especially if it is open and not a club.  Why has it been important to us to remain open and active throughout the pandemic? Part of the reason must be that when we have taken all the safety measures we have, then is the living out of our faith through worship simply a disposable extra in our lives or is it central?  At St John’s we believe it be central and therefore this leaves us no choice to be open now and, in the future, – whatever life throws at us. This is not the first pandemic through which the Christian Church has survived, and it will not be the last. This strong and stable theological base of belief in Jesus Christ gives real power to those who enter this Covenant - to become sons and daughters of God. In other words, to be born again, as the Gospel for today tell us – not just once, but every single day.  This is radical stuff, and at this time of year we are reminded of the opportunities which Lent offers for personal re-birth as we examine our lives as sons and daughters of God. Faith in Jesus Christ gives everything perspective, even if we are reduced to a troglodyte existence in the hermit Kingdom.  Let’s hear from China. The eight century Chinese monk Xuanzhang ended his epic narrative Journey to the West, with these words, “Never give up.  Keep the faith.”