Trinity 7

Readings: 2 Sam 7:1-14, Ephesians 2:11-end, Mark 6:3-34, 53-end

An invitation. “Come away to a deserted place and rest for a while.”  Since March 2020, many of us have felt that we have been in a deserted place, but this was partly because the deserted place was not by invitation of Jesus but by order of the Government.  The rest which Jesus offers is entirely different, and at the beginning of what might be a holiday period, I want to reflect on that. Many people need to work throughout this period; some cannot afford a holiday, and some take their recreation at other times of the year.  Whatever the case, this time of year is as good as any other to reflect on the need for everyone to be recreated through recreation. Who does not know the relief from stress brought by a break, or by doing something completely different?  If you work with your head, it may be working with your hands.  If you work with your hands, it may be not having to do that.  It may be doing more physical exercise or sport. Time for reflection also gives us the opportunity to reflect on ourselves, whether we are using the opportunities open to us, and whether we are making best use of the talents and gifts which God has given us. It’s also a good time to reflect on ourselves and where we are going as restrictions come partially to an end, and the concept of personal responsibility starts to be resurrected, if it hasn’t been completely knocked out of people by now. To do this, I want to invert a four-letter word.  Actually, it isn’t a word but an acronym, which I want to subvert in a counter cultural way, as I understand ministers of the Gospel should do this. The word or acronym is VUCA - first used in 1987, drawing on the leadership theories of Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus. It’s used in leadership theory work, and latterly by military tacticians, and was adapted as VUCA 2 by the Harvard Business School in 2019. It stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.  In some sense, it describes our situation as a church and society as we live through a pandemic, but I want to take those four letters and invert and subvert them with where I believe we should be as we look to the future in faith and hope. In this version I am indebted to Bill George, Senior Research Fellow in the Harvard Business School.  

First V or Volatility.  Flip this to V for Vision.  All churches need this, for we know that without vision the people perish. And vision can only come through a balance of action and contemplation.  If we are constantly doing and have no time to reflect on the bigger picture, we will be without vision.  This is particularly important in leadership, which is totally different from management. One of the more unfortunate developments in recent years at hierarchical level in the Church of England has been to confuse the two.  Leadership is not Management.  Management is not Leadership. As we need vision, we need to be sure at our parochial level that we have it and are doing it.  I do believe we are, especially if we are rooted in daily prayer and worship and in openness to the other.

Next U or Uncertainty. Flip this to U for Understanding. Our faith needs to be rooted in our study of Holy Scripture and Tradition, or as the Anglican tradition puts it Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. It would be embarrassing on the emotional or intellectual level if our development stopped at around the age of 7 or 8, but many people make no attempt to inform themselves of their faith beyond what they might have learned in Sunday School.  But that was in the past, and as Christian culture and Sunday Schools retreat, we are left with a population of spiritual illiterates, and it will continue to be our job in the Church to promote spiritual literacy. Spiritual literacy is also equipment for life – remember the chilling phrase of the Islamic State internet groomers, who described spiritual illiterates as “clean skins”, ripe for radicalisation.

Now C or complexity.  Flip this to C for Courage. Every baptised person needs courage.  Every church needs courage.  We need leaders with courage.  But too often, our contemporary culture in a controlled society will simply rely on compliance and policies. While it’s important to have these, they are not ends in themselves, and they will not help us when we are required to think outside the box, or to take personal responsibility as the pandemic has required us to do.  Again, live worship, our sacramental reality, and our faith will provide this. Live worship and our sacramental reality is that which has sustained us here is this Parish, not anxiously scanning websites for the latest guidance or instructions.

And finally, A or ambiguity.  Flip this to A for Action. Reflection and contemplation should lead to action. Reflecting on the flooded cellar we had on Monday would not have helped.  Pumping out mud in wellies did help.  Our spiritual tradition will always inform us when we need to move from contemplation to action and what action to take, especially when we have to act quickly.

So, inverting contemporary leadership theory into Vision, Understanding, Courage and Action will, I believe, help us as we move forward into the era of personal responsibility for managing our lives individually and as a Parish. We don’t really need much else and find ourselves fully equipped for the road ahead.  The Apostle Paul puts it like this in the second reading today “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.”

In a church fragmented at hierarchical level by groups promoting their own agenda by the weaponizing of covid, let us take heart and courage from theological voices who speak to us from the margins of a better way, and one which resonates with our deepest spiritual roots.  Rowan Williams writes words in his new book Looking East in Winter which speak directly to us here in this sacramental community of the baptised which we call St John, Notting Hill. These are his words, “When Christians assemble at Christ’s invitation, and in and through the prompting of the Spirit, to pray Christ’s prayer and receive the sacramental embodiment of Christ crucified and glorified, they stand at or beyond the end of the ages.” So, we discover that in this Eucharistic and sacramental reality, we find our ultimate reality and our ultimate rest, and this is what we will continue to do, with vision, understanding, courage and action.  

This is the ultimate context for our recreation.  Taking time out can allow us to be reminded of what’s important in life. New patterns of working in the pandemic may have restored the work-life balance or simply made us lazy.  I have one friend who says that he can count the number of times he got out of his pyjamas on one hand during lockdown. Of course, one of the challenges for people is achieving this work-life balance. Remembering what is important in life may come from our taking time out, switching off, and remembering that I can switch off my smartphone, and the world will not collapse.   I am not indispensable. So, if you are having a break, enjoy it, switch off the phone, and do something you wouldn’t normally do. If you’re not having a break, then equally well remember our dependence on God, the sustainer of all things, through good and through bad. And maybe accept the invitation of Jesus, “Come away to a deserted place and rest for a while.”