SERMON BY THE VICAR St James 2024
Readings: Jeremiah 45, Acts 11.27-12.2, Matthew 20:20-28
Today we commemorate James the Great, and in Europe, we immediately think of pilgrimage along the Camino to Santiago de Compostela. Pilgrimage is important to us here at St John’s, and we have generally spoken of it as having three aspects of companionship – Companionship with God, Companionship with Each Other, and Pilgrimage with Those we Meet Along the Way. Whether our pilgrimage is internal, such as reflective people did during lockdown or exterior, pilgrimages will always have two elements, about which I would like to speak today serving, and witnessing. In Greek, these two words are diakonia and martyria. Both are counter-cultural in liberal secular democracies such as our own, which place the consuming individual centre-stage. One of the major themes running through the readings set for today is service. The Greek term for this is of course diakonia, from which we get our noun deacon. A deacon in its classical origin was simply that – a servant- someone who washed the guests’ feet and hands at a meal, and who waited on table. Service is the theme which runs through the Prophet Jeremiah’s words to Baruch, which we hear as the first reading set for today. Baruch is saying, at a time of great suffering and conflict for his people, what about me? What do I get? The Prophet reminds him that faithful service will take him beyond himself. We know this to be true from our own experience. If you are caught up in service to others – say your own children, it will take you beyond yourself. Service, if it’s to be effective, needs also to have a dependable, ongoing quality. In service, we will be taken beyond ourselves. Baruch was reminded of that by Jeremiah, and James was reminded of it by Jesus in the Gospel set for today. In the service lies the witness, which brings me to the second point, witness.
Witnessing for the faith is a central requirement of the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Greek this is martyria. All three faiths also have an earthy, physical, and material quality. For example, all three faiths say how we live our lives, how we spend our money, and how we treat other people, are spiritual matters. In Greek, the word martyria is used to express this witness, from which we get of course the term martyr. James the Great, as you know, is believed to have met a martyr’s end. In Arabic, the term for martyr is Shahhid, and the term is central to both Islam and Arab Christianity. In both Christianity and Islam, the possibility of dying for the faith is recognised as the dramatically highest requirement ever placed on believers. This is an inescapable truth in both our faiths, from their beginnings until now. Martyrdom has been there from the beginning, and it is not going to go away. This twenty first century is one of martyrs. So, I was proud of St John’s this month when the motion at General Synod, which had its origin here, that we should have a national ecumenical day of prayer and action for the persecuted church, was passed. This is one small Parish changing national policy. This is witness. We should also be spurred on, I believe, in working for the removal of the political causes by which some extremists, calling themselves martyrs, have sought to justify their actions. These political causes certainly exist, and high amongst them must be the illegal occupation of any country by another. Martyria, Shahhid, witness is part of the deposit of faith which we inherit, as is diakonia, service. Both are central.
In the living Christian tradition, both these central aspects of our faith are brought together in Eucharistic theology. The Eucharist has always been described as both – service and witness. From the earliest times, the Christian Church began to describe the Eucharist as an act of martyria, or witness, and for this reason it was taken out of the domestic and placed into the public realm. The Eucharist on the kitchen table offends this basic principle. We inherit this public quality, and it’s for that reason that the Eucharist should always be celebrated publicly, and not, except in exceptional circumstances, behind the closed doors of contemporary domestic life. Participating in the Eucharist will place these twin requirements on us, of service and witness. This Eucharistic theology of service and witness addresses the great issues of our day. The reality of climate change, like a pandemic, is that it affects all, but above all the most vulnerable – here I think of the 60 million people globally who are on the move, fleeing persecution, climate change and war. Our Eucharistic theology takes us to the heart of this and every issue and calls us to action. In September, we observe creation time, and we will be proposing new ways we can do our bit here at St John’s to show our respect and love for creation.
St James is the patron saint of pilgrims, with the symbol of the baptismal shell identifying pilgrims. Pilgrimage can be voluntary or involuntary. For example, it is estimated that there are 2.3 million Filipinos working abroad, 70% of them women. Collectively, they channel 20 billion US dollars into the Philippine economy each year. In this country, the NHS and the care home system would collapse without them. This is involuntary pilgrimage. I have been moved by a new book, written by a local woman, Someone Else’s Mother. She and her siblings were raised by a Filipina woman, Juning, who had four children of her own in the Philippines. The author, Caroline Irby, reflects on the sacrifice of the millions of Filipina woman which their involuntary pilgrimage has forced them to make. Juning says in her own words speaking to the author, “I used to cry sometimes because I missed my children so much, but I was lucky …because I loved you like my own.”
Pilgrimage indeed takes us to places we could not have imagined. If we were making our pilgrimage to the relics of St James along the Camino to Santiago de Compostela, we would be reminded of both aspects I have spoken about – service and witness. James was certainly powerfully reminded of it by Our Lord in the Gospel for today when he says, “ It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Diakonia and martyria. One of the unseen pilgrims who has encouraged me in my wanderings is the eighth century Chinese Buddhist monk Xuan Zang. He wrote a book describing his own pilgrimage called Journey to the West. He ends it with these words, which should also encourage each one of us in service and witness on our own pilgrimage “Never give up. Keep the faith.” Thanks be to God for all his faithful saints throughout the ages, and for our own pilgrimage to find the Lord.
