Here’s the sermon I preached yesterday
You can’t beat a good quiz on the internet. Two minutes completing a set of multiple choice questions and some computer somewhere out there gives a verdict on what kind of person you are.
Thus is was that this week I followed a facebook link and found myself looking at an interesting quiz about attitudes to religious and philosophical questions at just the moment when I probably should have been settling down to write a sermon.
Oh goody! I cried. A diversion.
The first question was rather profound:
“Why are you good?”
I wondered briefly whether I was in fact good at all. I’ve a hunch that it isn’t the first attribute that people think of when they think of me. But there it was – the first question in the quiz. “Why are you good?”
And the answers were these:
a) Because if I’m bad I’ll be punished in the afterlife. (No – that couldn’t be right, I think God loves me anyway).
- b) It’s how my parents brought me up
(No, I’m not convinced by that either – I think parenting is about relationships that are very much more complex than a polarity between goodness and evil)
- c) I’m just playing the game.
(No – I think it is worth trying to be good even if I don’t know I’ll always succeed).
And d) I’m good to others because I think that’s the best way to be.
Yes! At last an answer I can wholly agree with.
I clicked d and moved on.
The next one was What is the purpose of life and my answer was “It’s up to us to give meaning to life. I want to help other people and make the world a better place.”
Goodness – I think I’ve preached that a few times from here.
And with almost all the questions, I was lucky – there seemed to be one each time that I agreed with.
The next one – Should everyone be treated equally?
Yes – there’s my answer: every person deserves equal respect and opportunity, irrespective of what they believe.
Click!
And so it went on.
I completed all these questions. Moral. Ethical. Personal.
And at the end – one final click. And the verdict.
YOU ARE A SECRET HUMANIST.
This is perhaps not surprising. Not because of my views but because when I looked again at the top of the webpage I realised that I was on the page of the Scottish Humanist Society. Indeed, before I left the site it had invited me to sign up.
Soemhow the humanists had produced a quiz where the most reasonable answers to the questions resulted in the inevitable view that the person answering is in fact a humanist.
It was a bit of fun and I was amused. And also very much aware of the longstanding tradition of humanism amongst religious people.
After all, I believe in my heart that God put us on earth to spread holy wisdom which also goes by the name of holy common sense. God puts us here not with a mandate to impose God’s will upon all we encounter but put us here with a mandate to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God all the length of our days. God put us here not to impose a monolithic view of God on one another but with the divine gifts of discovery, discretion and delight in what is good that lead us not into enslavement, conformity or repression but into ultimate freedom.
You can call that humanism if you like. I’ll not be upset if you call me that. But it won’t stop me being convinced that it is what God has been up to from the beginning.
But this I do know – that the days are surely coming when all this will matter very greatly.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord.
There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars and on the earth distress amongst the nations.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord
People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming to the world.
The days are surely coming and will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth.
It seems to me that this Advent as we read of the portents in the heavens that there will be rather a lot of preachers who go on and on about how relevant it all seems this year.
For there is real fear about. There is war and talk of war. The clouds do seem to be gathering. The end times sometimes seem to be being played out on our television screens.
And people want real answers as to what to do next. And there are really difficult questions that are worth wrestling with.
Why are you good?
How do you do good?
What does goodness look like in this complex and perplexing situation?
The days are surely coming for wrestling with these questions.
Because of Isis? Because of Syria? Because of talk of war?
Well, yes and no – the situation we are in does demand some religious thinking – a much greater understanding of the religious understanding of those who would do us harm is essential to dealing with that which threatens us now.
But the truth is, advent comes around each year and each year it seems appropriate.
It is always the time to work out ultimate questions and to remind ourselves that Christians have answers as to how to deal with them.
Stand up says the gospel – don’t be cowed down. Stand up straight and raise your heads – for your redemption is near.
And that isn’t a threat, it is the promise of something good.
We see street preachers sometimes bearing placards saying “that God’s judgement is nigh”. The truth of the gospel is that is not that threatening things are nigh but that God is near. Peace and love and justice and joy are near at hand. That’s the promise we believe. So we hold our heads up and live the reality of knowing God is near.
Jesus says in our gospel that his generation would not pass away until all things have taken place. That’s at the heart of my existential version of how to live as a Christian. It isn’t that the apocalypse is around the corner it is that in every generation the things that religion talks about are all true. Yes – for some this day the apocalypse is real. No doubt for those fleeing from Syria it feels as though the end times are upon them. Yes – for some this day redemption is nigh – for people live through the rollercoaster of betrayal, death and resurrection that we call holy week in their lives all the time – sometimes in a single day.
And yes – reality is always true –that God is near. That love is near. That God can be known. That life is good and wonderful and precious.
God is near to you and near to me.
The day of the Lord is nigh.
37 responses to “Keeping the faith”
It was an inspiring recitation. Following the English translation in the service sheet provided added insight to the life of Mary. All the more so as the cathedral is dedicated to St Mary. You are reminded of Mary every time you walk into the building with the Gwyneth Leech mural over the High Altar.
Kelvin is quite right. The very self-righteous defenders of the Bible (including the ones who trolled a brave young Muslim woman, for days, with the most vile language, and those who did not reprimand them) totally ignored the Biblical instructions for raising concerns with a brother in faith (Matthew 18:15; 2 Tim 23). Very practical instruction too! As anyone who has ever lived in community can verify. Could all these obsessive men *please* stop trying to divide our communities in Glasgow. We will not be divided. At the first sign of trouble we rush out to embrace one another. These abusers have much to repent of, even if *just* standing by while others throw stones.
I HATE it when the wrong tune is picked for a hymn … it is simply an abomination before God.
However, helping people to think about how we share hospitality, welcome and learn from each other is the WAY of God! Blessings on you Kelvin.
Some reasons why this time was different:
1. The other quaran recitations you mentioned happened at Nine Lessons and Carols, or special ecuminical and interfaith events. While 9L&C was originally a modified Evensong, nowadays it’s usually considered a seasonal community musical recitial with a religious tinge, so having a Muslim from the community recite something from their faith would seem natural enough. Civic and interfaith services will likewise naturally include representatives of every faith in the community. By contrast the Eucharist is the central act of Christian worship and people expect to hear ONLY Christian doctrine proclaimed in the Holy Eucharist. In other words, this was the wrong venue for showing hospitality to Muslim neighbors. You did not intend to practice syncretism, but I think the outcome was syncretic despite your good intentions.
2. Post Brexit (and post Trump) British Muslims are now seen as alien invaders rather than fellow members of the community.
3. Because hostility to Muslims is now fashionable, the Express and rest of the gutter press decided that this was a story worth reporting. Since conservative Americans often read the online editions of the British gutter press, the story then went global.
4. Because you are gay and out, your every action is scrutinized for any possible hint of heresy by GAFCON and Co.
Of all these reasons, only reason #1 is a legitimate criticism, but I hope you do think about criticism #1 as well as defending yourself from other, illegitimate criticisms.
Thank you for your comment Whit J – all the more because it is a thoughtful criticism.
I’ve plenty to reflect on about the how and the when we do things like that and I do hear loudly and clearly that many people think this was an inappropriate context. Though of course, I’d be bound to say that some are saying that the Eucharist is precisely the place indeed there are some saying that is what it is for.
I’m not going to get into a back and forth with all the comments on this post and I’m deliberately not letting through things that have already been said but be assured that I’ve heard the criticism and will reflect on it not simply now but over coming months. (I’ve learned a lot about where God is this week that will take a long time to process). I’m grateful for the way you’ve made your point.
I think there is a good deal in what Whit J says, although I am not sure the effect actually was syncretic. I think one does perhaps have to be a regular worshipper at St Mary’s to understand how totally orthodox the worship there is, and how much Jesus is the focus of worship – how utterly unlikely it is that anyone there would make the mistake of thinking he was not revered by the congregation as a whole as very God from very God. It would be impossible for them not to realise that all the clergy there rejoice in this belief. The congregation saw the words of the Qu’ran in an English translation which portrayed that book’s far-from-easy-to-follow account of Islam’s view of the conception of Jesus, in which there was nothing offensive, and heard a very beautiful voice singing in a strange and glorious language. These were clearly indicated to be the beliefs of another faith. We certainly neither saw or heard or understood any insult to the person of Christ. I am sure none was intended, either. Whereas, and this bears repeating, I am totally sure that many of those commenting (not of course by any means all of them, and nobody whose comments are published here) simply wish harm to relationships between the great faiths in Glasgow.
I have spent my whole adult life in dialogue with people of other religious traditions, it has been deeply rewarding. However I feel that what happened at this service was profoundly wrong. When we are truly ourselves we allow other people to be profoundly themselves. The truth of Christianity is not compatible with any other religion. To avoid that incompatibility is to avoid reality. Worship of Jesus is the fountain of our faith the Qu’ran is opposed to that. I love Jesus and therefore cannot conceive of reading the Qu’ran in an act of worship – no problem doing so in other contexts but not in worship. I am profoundly disturbed that you cannot see this Kelvin.
There are so many things aren’t there, not just around this issue which we hold dear in faith and which we can’t see from another perspective?
I can hear and see that people are upset by this and clearly there are many people not upset by it too. And obviously, at least I hope obviously, I love Jesus too.
The trouble with religious questions and the questions that religious people have I think is that so often that our love for our faith can make it impossible to comprehend others who also claim to love the same faith but who take different views about things. We can hear them claim that love but be intellectually unable to process it because it leads them to different conclusions.
I’ve found the same thing to be true in the sexuality debates very frequently though I perceive that to be changing sometimes now. Similarly with other identity issues and some political issues. Israel/Palestine conversations for example often seem to be conducted (when they are conducted at all) by people who seem to behave like ships passing in the night.
I happen to have views about Church Schools which are pretty intransigent and negative. You are one of the few people, no the only person, who ever made me really think there might be a point of view about them other than mine which might have an integrity I could respect. And I’m very grateful for that.
Kelvin, thank you for your reply. I have enormous respect for you. I have no doubt that church schools can be argued against from perfectly respectable positions. Worship of Jesus is simply a different order, it cannot include a reading from the Qu’ran. Worship is one thing, study, dialogue, relationship something else.
I am really grateful to Richard for the phrase “When we are truly ourselves we allow other people to be profoundly themselves” which reflects my experience of interfacing with sincere people of other faiths. Is a Christian Eucharist a place this should happen? I can understand some Christians feeling it is not, but as long as everything was clearly labelled as what it was and the integrity of the liturgy was intact, I can also understand some feeling it is.
Brother Kelvin,
Although I do not agree with allowing the Koran to be read in our Christian churches, I truly appreciated your firm and resolute stand for the deity of Jesus. He is our great God and Savior and I love Him very much. Blessings from Tennessee.
Just as a perhaps amusing point of reference, the 1982 hymnal of the Episcopal church in the USA has “Brightest and best of the STARS” (caps mine) “of the morning,” apparently so as to avoid offending any daughters who might be present, and the two tunes included are “Morning Star” by James Proctor Harding (1850-1911) and “Star in the East” from The Southern Harmony (1835). The Harding tune was also in the 1940 Hymnal, wherein the word “sons” was still used.
I am not clear as to whether the hospitality at St Mary’s anticipates infinite extension of parallel lines between Islam and the Church in Glasgow. Are you planning some opportunities for Glasgow Muslims to understand the Christian faith and prepare for Baptism and the glorious liberty of regeneration by the Holy Spirit? (In whichever order; no axe about that!) As you move around the Glasgow community and meet more Christians of Islamic background, why not invite such to participate in groups for new Muslim enquirers? The testimony of an ex-Muslim can express vibrantly “How I know He lives” (as your SA brethren would sing). You might find not only new hearts from a divine work of grace among your Muslim neighbours but in other neighbours too. Amen. Inshallah!
There are a small number of people in St Mary’s who are converts from Islam to Christianity just as there are a small number of people in local mosques who are converts from Christianity to Islam.
St Mary’s regularly puts on events and courses for people discovering and exploring Christianity. Most living religions do the same thing.