Sermon: Unite in Prayer

Have you ever felt so alone that is seems as if everyone - the whole world in fact - is against you? Probably not many of us have experienced extreme situations such as being a hostage or being a political prisoner of conscience. However, we can get a flavour of such feelings – maybe through bullying/peer pressure (especially true of young people), illness, unemployment, debt, or because of our morals or religious views. All of these things have the capacity to render us alone. The Bible is full of stories of people who have felt alone – it is a very human emotion. The prophets, in particular, are people who stand out against the crowd in terms of morality, social justice and religious practice and belief. In today’s Old Testament reading the prophet Jeremiah is laying bare his soul in anguish – ranting at God who he feels has forsaken him. To give some background to the cause of his turmoil, Jeremiah lived during a time of extreme political upheaval – he recognised that the kingdom was on the brink of huge change – from the beginning of the book where he describes his calling he sees the boiling pot to the north, the rise of Babylon and the impending invasion and captivity. Jeremiah interpreted this as God’s judgement upon the people – unsurprisingly this was not a popular message! This passage of Scripture is known as one of the confessions of Jeremiah – it speaks of a personal psychological and spiritual crisis and a questioning of God’s call, hence the extreme language:

O Lord you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughing stock all day long; everyone mocks me.

And yet as we read on we find that Jeremiah can do no other than preach the inevitable violence and destruction to come because it is as if within him there is a burning fire to speak of the righteousness and justice of God. Even though he is weary of the task set before him he trusts in the Lord of hosts who sees the heart and mind. He stands alone, and yet he is not alone, because God is with him – the burning fire within  is the recognition of the truth of God’s holiness. Because of this he can sing to the Lord for his deliverance.

When we turn to the Gospel we hear some very difficult words of Jesus, who we call the Prince of Peace, but who here seems to be saying the exact opposite: Do not think that I have come to bring peace on the earth, I have not come to bring peace but a sword…whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Within this passage of Matthews Gospel we find Jesus in prophetic mode, if you like. Within his prophecy he is seeing the inevitability of the cross (just as Jeremiah saw the inevitability of invasion and captivity) which he will have to face alone. But within himself he has the burning desire to draw people to the fire of God’s love. To do this they must make a conscious personal decision which they have to make alone irrespective of family or friends or enemies. They must stand firm because:

Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for Christ’s sake will find it.

Not an easy message – not a palatable message – but yet a hopeful message because of the resurrection as outlined by St. Paul:

If we have been united with Christ (through baptism) in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

The Archbishop of York is someone who I tend to think of as a prophet. Cutting up his dog collar and vowing not to wear it again until Robert Mugabe is deposed as president of Zimbabwe is a prophetic act akin to something Jeremiah would do. Now, we may not all be called to be prophets, but if we can do nothing else, we can pray – we can unite in prayer with those who are alone. We can stand in Christian solidarity and hope with those who are alone. Remember Terry Waite in his prison cell, held hostage in Lebanon. We may never know how important our prayer and a simple act can be. A hugely significant moment for Terry Waite was when he received a postcard of John Bunyan pictured in prison with the simple message Terry, we are praying for you which gave him hope and the strength and will to carry on.

On a recent visit to Zimbabwe by the Bishop of Massachusetts, Bishop Shaw related how Anglicans had been ousted from their church buildings but how their resilience in the face of persecution reminded him of the courageous faith of the early Christians in the Acts of the Apostles. It was a powerful and humbling experience. Bishop Shaw said:

These people have gone through real persecution, but the spirit of the people is amazing, one of the priests said to me:

You can take away our jobs, you can physically threaten us; but you can’t take away our faith.

As well as facing all these things the country is in economic meltdown – last week in the news here people were complaining about the fact that inflation has reached 3.3% in the UK, in Zimbabwe in is a million%! There are extreme food and energy shortages to contend with and unemployment is rife.

Christians in Zimbabwe are standing alone – persecuted, intimidated, attacked, imprisoned. As we gather in this church building in freedom, in peace and in plenty we join in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Zimbabwe and so many other places throughout the world who feel alone. The Anglican Communion has very many negative issues to contend with (most notably focussed between differences in Christian expression and interpretation between America and Africa) but here we find the essence of faith, hope and loving solidarity between brothers and sisters in Christ – an American Bishop visiting an African Province where Bishop Shaw could comment how: Zimbabweans were deeply touched by the prayer and solidarity across the Anglican communion.

May we commit ourselves to such prayerful solidarity which is the true sign of Christian faith, hope and love binding us together as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Prayer

Lord, we pray for the victims of oppressors,

We pray for populations who are denied the freedom of political debate and intellectual enquiry.

We pray for men and women in the prisons and camps of oppressive regimes:

for those in solitary confinement,

for those who are tortured,

for those who have been imprisoned for many years.

We pray for the families of those who suffer,

for the children of prisoners of conscience,

for wives and husbands whose years of marriage are spent in waiting

and in praying for the day when the prison doors will be opened.

We pray for all who daily remind us of their plight and whose vigilance knows no rest.

Amen.

from Further Everyday Prayer.