If a week is a long time in politics it might be even longer in the life of this Cathedral. Last Sunday as we gathered to remember all the victims of war, I reflected to myself that next week, ( ie today), with Safeguarding Sunday and no less than 5 new Christians ṭo be welcomed through Baptism into God's Church, we could look forward with hope and joy.
Yes I was conscious that the Makin report had been published; but because I believed that events that had made it necessary happened mostly in the 70s and 80s I dared to hope that our íncreasingly professional, stringent Safeguarding arrangements meant that the worst was behind us in the Church of England. I imagined that ïf I mentioned the report it would simply be as a powerful illustration öf why we ņeed Safeguarding Sunday , and of course that remains the case. However the increasing anger at the Church of England's failures to listen to victims, to act, to accept responsibility have led in an unexpected direction, ẅith the resignation of the archbishop and an ever greater sense that as an institution we are confronted by the the wrong we have done and the good we have failed to do. So much for simple looking forward. And what price hope and joy. Surely this is a season for long and bitter lament.
Honestly, who would choose to sign up to Church of England plc in the current climate? And how can we within the institution come to terms with our own sense of disappointment and shame? I have several clergy friends who decided against wearing their collars out and about ṭhis week, fearing that our church had become a dangerously toxic brand.
And yet, and yet...here we still are meeting to worship, committing ourselves afresh to the truths enshrined in our Creeds, encountering God in one another, in God's word and in the breaking of bread..and perhaps as we step away from the tides of righteous anger flooding the media and settle ourselves in this place where Church scandals have come and gone and prayer has been valid for centuries, we can try to recover hope again.
For what does the God we meet in Scripture have to say to us this morning? What messages might he be offering to our baptism candidates, to help them focus on the essence of faith, on what really matters when the institutional church fails.
Speaking through Isaiah he offers comfort
Do not fear for I am with you. Do not be afraid for I am your God
And that promise is true for each one of us, every single day, no matter what. One of the saddest outcomes of John Smyth's abuse is that for too many victims faith and fear, God and pain became inextricably entwined..so let me say this loud and clear. Whatever the Church and her representatives may say and do, God is always bigger, better, more loving than we can possibly conceive and we must never ever confuse God with the institutional Church.
God also offers a call...we are to love God with heart mind and soul and our neighbour as ourselves
God is love and the invitation to which our baptism candidates will respond today is to be loved and to·love with all that is in them. That's what we are all called to, summed up in our gospel this morning and in recent months in our own Cathedral vision statement... making space for love with heart, mind and soul.
Sometimes that love may be costly. Sometimes the body theology Paul offers, that connects us all to one another means that we are joined to people, good and bad, whom we would never have chosen. That's part of what our candidates are signing up to too. Through Baptism we are eternally connected with one another, each of us an essential part of the body of Christ. In a hard week like this, that may principally mean that we are conscious of the pain that others are carrying. If you carry that pain yourself, from hard and personal experience, please know t that the Safeguarding teams in both cathedral and diocese are here for you and will do all that we can to support you, to hear and act on your story. We are not a place that wants to shy away from hard truths. How can we?
If one member suffers, all suffer with it said Paul, and experience suggests he was right. The pain of victims must be the pain of the whole Church..as it is the pain of Christ himself
More, the call to love our neighbours as ourselves means there will be times when we must bear those burdens too....I think that the collective weight of grief and shame this past week will have been at least a contributory factor in Justin Welbys ḍecision to step down from his role as archbishop.,.. If we belong together, ẁe also bear responsibility for one another and that responsibility extends far beyond the Church. I think it might just be part of being human.
We share the pain. We take responsibility for one another. We accept that there is actually no boundary to define Ẅho is my neighbour?...all are worthy of love and care and protection, especially when vulnerable.... and every single one of us needs to take our part in ensuring that Christ's great commandments of love are a constant ín our life together here, written into the very DNA of Southwark Cathedral.
So this Safeguarding Sunday, while we ğive thanks for our Safeguarding officers Helen, Jill and Cherry, don't for a moment think that they are doing the work so you don't have to. The responsibility belongs to each one of us. If we can live our commitment to love with heart mind and soul, we will perforce take action to ensure that all can flourish. L, R, G, J, F... that's part of our commitment to you today]. Ẁe want to be a community whose life together helps you and all comers learn more of God's love. Like any family, we won't be perfect. From time to time one of us will fail to greater or lesser degree... There may be times when you do as well. Failure is part of being human.
But... the love for which we make space is more than human, as God offers God's own resources, God's very Spirit, to make a home with you today. That Spirit prays in us, weeps for our brokenness, enables us to love more and better day by day, so that each of us can gradually become a sign öf God's boundless love in a world which needs it so badly.
With a calling like that, perhaps baptism isn't such a strange choice after all, for here God meets us with a promise to show us the path of life and fullness of joy that will never fade.
That surely is a hope to hold onto.
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