Sermon for the 7th of July - Sixth Sunday after Trinity

On Friday morning the Archbishops of Canterbury and York congratulated Sir Keir Starmer on the Labour party’s victory in the General Election.

Archbishop Welby stated: “I give thanks today for our democracy and for the peaceful and orderly transition of power it gives us. I pray for new government entering office; for its members to have humility, wisdom and integrity as they begin their new roles.”

He also thanked Rishi Sunak and the outgoing Government for their service.

Watching the election results, and the graciousness of many of the losers, I could not help but think of today’s epistle from Paul to the Corinthians and how power is made perfect in weakness. Several phrases come to mind but perhaps the standout is:

“I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak then I am strong.”

For the defeated candidates of all parties, there is a need for support, comfort and encouragement.

So we have a new government. This morning, I want to share thoughts about the Church of England and politics. And before you all get up and leave, I should say that I will not be expressing any political opinion.

What I want us to consider is whether there is a set of principles for how the Church  should conduct itself with regard to political matters.

When I was training for ordination, we had a Christian MP come and address us. He explained that the percentage of practicing Christians spread across all parties in the House of Commons is much higher than Christians as a percentage of the overall population. This should not surprise us, given the desire of MPs to serve. All the main political parties have Christian fellowship groups in the House, as well as cross party groups. Several of the new intake, as well as re-elected MPs are known to be committed Christians. Others keep their Christian faith more private.

Michael Ramsay, the former Archbishop of Canterbury when preparing trainee ordinands, would speak to them about how priests should conduct themselves regarding politics. What he said, I think is relevant today.

He gave two exaggerated and contrasting portraits of a priest. The first priest is totally fixated on preaching the gospel of salvation by faith in Christ crucified and the need for conversion of individuals to personal conviction, to such an extent that the priest and their congregation are unaware of questions of Christian conscience.

The second priest is all about crusading for social justice, and “the need to stand up and be counted” to such an extent that their congregation is not drawn to the knowledge and love of God, the way of holiness and the hope of heaven.
Ramsey puts it like this:
“when causes and opinions are substituted for God, prayer, and repentance the outcome can be bitterness and shallowness no less than love and service.”

Ramsay explains that we do not live in a vacuum and the Christ to whom we wish to be converted wants the whole of us. It is the whole person who is converted to Jesus as Lord of all they are and do.

The Church is bound to make judgements about what is right and wrong in human relationships in society. Ramsey speaks of the great tradition of Christian teaching and how the main principles are drawn from our Lord and the apostles. We recognise the need to apply these principles in the context of our everyday experience.

Interestingly, and particularly appropriate given the bloodless transition of power in the aftermath of the General Election, Ramsey states:
 “Some of the basic Christian principles I would describe as pre- political rather than as political. For instance, I do not think it can be said that democracy or majority rule as such is a Christian principle. What is however a Christian principle is the equal right of every person created in God's image to the full realisation of their powers of mind and body and this includes full and free citizenship with democracy as a corollary.”

Ramsey reminds us of the writings of another Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple who distinguished between Christian principles and Christian programmes. Let the priest raise the principle, but perhaps it is best for laity with more experience of the world and requisite management skills, to take matters forward.
The laity have knowledge which priests do not, and the priest will be learning from then laity in a partnership of Christian concern

Priests and the Church need to constantly remind ourselves of our mission to reconcile the world to God and of heaven.

To do this, we must be alert to new and powerful trends.

One of my takeaways from the election is that 4 pro Gaza independent MPs can be elected with a fraction of the four million votes received by Reform who have only one more MP.

The success of the Pro Gaza campaign is due to the organisational power of local WhatsApp groups. What might be the role of faith groups going forward in British politics? MPs are there to serve all constituents. We pray that all new independent MPs will be able to do this. We also pray for interfaith relations in areas of our country where there is the potential for them to become fractious.

Ramsey reminds us to be caring churches and any leadership of social causes should never be at the expense of pastoral care.

Amidst the scene of worlds problems and tragedies we may feel that our own ministries (both priestly and lay) seem so small, so insignificant, so concerned with the trivial that all we can do is make a tiny difference with seemingly small results.
Ramsay addresses priests thus:
Consider: the glory of Christianity is its claim that small things really matter And that the small company, the very few, the one man, the one woman, the one child are of infinite worth to God. Let that be your inspiration. Consider our Lord himself, how he devoted himself to a small country, small things and to individual men and women - the Samaritan woman at the well, Nicodemus, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, and St. Peter. The infinite worth of one is the key to the Christian understanding of the many.
It is commonly said about politicians by those who do not vote “Oh, they are all the same.” I hope you will agree with me that they are NOT all the same.

Let me close with these prayers.

We pray that our MPs will remember that they serve all their constituents,

That by recognising their vulnerability, our MPs will be strong,

We pray:
The Church’s relations with the new government may managed in accordance with what we might call the Ramsey doctrine:

Always underpinned by Christian principles, for the Church to not be afraid of allowing others to put in place programmes based on Christian principles.

Finally, we pray that priests of the Church may be servants and shepherds among the people to whom they are sent and never neglect the pastoral care of their flock.