On Sunday, we celebrated the Epiphany with a joint service at Christ Church - and the Bishop of Edmonton, the Rt Rev'd Rob Wickham was our celebrant and preacher. The text of his sermon - on outrageous hospitality and imagination - is shared, with permission, on this blog.
Just over a week ago, Hampstead and Belsize Park were hit by terrible anti semitic graffiti.
Thankfully, the public outcry as a result proved that the majority of people do not want to go along with the targeting of a specific group, culture or creed in such a crass way, and the messages of support for our Jewish brothers and sisters was a warm reminder to us all to act in solidarity, and that this is appreciated. Yet again, this was another example of the need, as the Archbishop reminded us in his Christmas sermon, on being a people who reconcile and build bridges in society.
I am mindful also that the levels of hate against Christians continue to increase, although much less reported. Last year it was reported that something in the region of 215 million Christians experience high, very high, or extreme persecution. North Korea remains the hardest place to be a Christian, but Christianity "is at risk of disappearing" in some parts of the world. Christians in Palestine represent less than 1.5% of the population, while in Iraq they had fallen from 1.5 million before 2003 to less than 120,000. I also wonder what the impact in the Middle East will be now following the death of Qasem Soleimani at the hands of the Americans.
Recent research has also mentioned that the greatest risk to Christianity is not religious extremism, but ethnic nationalism, viewed in many countries’ immigration and wider societal laws. Ancestry becomes even more dominant, as many countries and peoples try and assert their identity and culture upon others. Perhaps we have seen something of this in North London over Christmas?
Epiphany gives us a very different view of God’s vision for humanity. Yet is it a vision which is very controversial in today’s world. The story of Jesus being born is an easy one for us to get our heads around. We can cope with birth, we have all been born, we all have a mother, and the idea that Mary gives birth to Jesus is very straightforward.
But the Epiphany story develops the wider implications of God becoming a human being, taking our flesh. The one through whom all things came into being has now, in human form, come into being, and there are implications on how each of us live our lives as a consequence- a matter which takes a lifelong of learning to begin to scratch the surface of significance.
Therefore if Epiphany means revelation or making known, what is God trying to make known to us.
Well up until now, Jesus has been born, and shepherds have visited. Shepherds were, we think, Jewish, poor, local and empty handed.
Now the scene has been set in that Herod has again been mentioned, and Bethlehem has been mentioned. Now Herod was a vassal king, showing allegiance to the Roman Emperor. The Magi were associated with the study of the stars and the interpretation of dreams, and they travelled a long way. They were educated, rich and powerful. Given that this was now no longer a local matter, but that boundaries were being broken, power is being threatened, Herod begins to get scared, and calls the chief priests and scribes together for a conference. Jerusalem, the great and powerful city, is being shaken by Bethlehem, a sleepy poor village. The poor are the teachers.
Already the status quo is being shaken, and even the old tactics of manipulation for your own powerful ends- come back and tell me, so I too may go and pay homage… become unstuck as the magi go home a different route.
And what of the gifts. Odd gifts.
– Gold is a gift fit for a king. It recognized that Jesus was a great king, the king of the world.
– Frankincense is a special kind of fragrance that was used by a priest.
– Myrrh was a sweet-smelling liquid that was rubbed gently into the skin of someone who had died. It indicated that Jesus’ death would be important.
King, priest and prophet, all demonstrated at this moment of epiphany, revelation.
So, what do we learn from all of this?
Outrageous hospitality is what we learn. Outrageous in its absurdity, craziness and the extraordinary imagination that God possesses.
3 brief conclusions, if I may.
God invites. The shepherds, the Magi, the calling of Mary, the birth of Jesus. All God’s doing. God’s interventions, calling the rich and the poor, the near and the far, the educated city dweller and the uneducated nomad, the Jew and the gentile, some come through heavenly intervention- a chance occurrence and encounter, others through study of the stars, dreams. All are led to Jesus. We cannot put boundaries on who can be invited, especially if God does the invitations, leading his people to Jesus. Therefore, be surprised, be imaginative. A culture of any church can prohibit as well as welcome those whom God is calling.
God is not constrained by ethnic nationalism. To say that England was or is a Christian country is absurd. Yes, we live in a country that has been shaped, politically, legally, medically, educationally by our religious heritage, but the inspiration for each of these is in bringing people to Jesus and enabling our communities to flourish. Our task again is to confidently let God bring his people to a revelation, an epiphany of Jesus, where they too can bring their grifts whilst paying homage. The State is not the saviour, but Jesus is our saviour, and this demands a radical response in the way in which we live, and in the way we shape community.
If this is the truth, then our understanding of our epiphany this morning, our role as the parish churches of Hendon- a place of such diversity- is so important. The Epiphany story reminds us of God’s call upon all. How do we respond as the parish churches, with an ecclesiology, an understanding of what it means to be an Anglican, which serves the whole community? It is precisely because of this heritage that we can proudly boast of a Christian impact upon health care, schools, and the law, but what does this look like afresh today. We cannot dwell in the past. In other words, what does it mean to be a church for all Londoners- with a vision for the flourishing of all Hendon, and not keeping the St Mary’s and Christ Church show in the road!
Thank you, St Mary’s, and thank you Christ Church. Your presence here is so important, as God invites. Please do not put boundaries on his activities, but may 2020 be a year of joyful imagination, seeing where the spirit is at work, daring to join in.
Epiphany is outrageous hospitality. May you be the church for all in Hendon, showing the same outrageous hospitality, powerfully shaping our shared life together. Don’t leave it just to the secular authorities, or even worse to the manipulative voices of ethnic nationalism but let God to God.
Amen
© The Rt Rev'd Rob Wickham 2020
