Trinity 14

Collect

Almighty God, whose only Son has opened for us a new and living way into your presence: give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship you in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Merciful God, your Son came to save us and bore our sins on the cross: may we trust in your mercy and know your love, rejoicing in the righteousness that is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

My joy is gone, grief is upon me,

my heart is sick.

Hark, the cry of my poor people

from far and wide in the land:

‘Is the Lord not in Zion?

Is her King not in her?’

(‘Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,

with their foreign idols?’)

‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended,

and we are not saved.’

For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,

I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of my poor people

not been restored?

O that my head were a spring of water,

and my eyes a fountain of tears,

so that I might weep day and night

for the slain of my poor people!

Jeremiah 8.18 – 9.1

1 O God, the heathen have come into your heritage;

your holy temple have they defiled

and made Jerusalem a heap of stones.

2 The dead bodies of your servants they have given

to be food for the birds of the air,

and the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the field.

3 Their blood have they shed like water

on every side of Jerusalem,

and there was no one to bury them.

4 We have become the taunt of our neighbours,

the scorn and derision of those that are round about us.

5 Lord, how long will you be angry, for ever?

How long will your jealous fury blaze like fire?

6 Pour out your wrath upon the nations that have not known you,

and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name.

7 For they have devoured Jacob

and laid waste his dwelling place.

8 Remember not against us our former sins;

let your compassion make haste to meet us,

for we are brought very low.

9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name;

deliver us, and wipe away our sins for your name’s sake.

Psalm 79:1–7

Gospel

Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.” Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.” So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

Luke 16.1–13

Remembering promises made

I vow to thee, my country

All earthly things above

Entire and whole and perfect

The service of my love

The love that asks no questions

The love that stands the test

That lays upon the altar

The dearest and the best

The love that never falters

The love that pays the price

The love that makes undaunted

The final sacrifice

And there’s another country

I’ve heard of long ago

Most dear to them that love her

Most great to them that know

We may (we may not count her armies)

We may (we may not see her King)

Her fortress is a faithful heart

Her pride is suffering

And soul by soul and silently

Her shining bounds increase

And her ways are ways of gentleness

And all her paths are peace

Sermon on Sunday, Trinity 14

My joy is gone, grief is upon me,

my heart is sick.

Hark, the cry of my poor people

from far and wide in the land:

Don’t these verses apply today? We mourn the death of the head of our state. The past few days have been full of reminiscences of the sovereign in an attempt to console ourselves.

We are in the midst of mourning for the most beloved of servants, Queen Elizabeth II. We all agree that she was the shining example of selfless service for the country. Many have told stories of meeting the Queen, and they acknowledge that the Queen had been true to her pledge of a life dedicated to caring for her people – so many have related examples of her care as she looked into their eyes. I think this also came across in all of her Christmass messages as our gazes met at the television screen.

The Queen has served us all – reigning in our hearts because she cared about each and every person she met.

The Queen is dead. Long live the King!

We now have a new national anthem. Now shouldn’t we speak of a new Carolingian Age, just as we spoke of the second Elizabethan Age in 1952? The epoch of King Charles the Third has begun. What will be the hallmarks of his reign? Charles has promised the same service to country which his mother pronounced seventy years ago and she repeated in the midst of her reign at a Jubilee. Will this Charles be a new Charlemagne? Will we call him Charles the Great? Will there be a renewal of the arts and crafts? Will there be a flourishing of scholarship and knowledge in the universities and schools? Will mercy temper justice? Will each of us attain a personal righteousness while Charles reigns over this country?

I certainly hope so. For the sake of the peace of the world, I pray that his rule will flourish with honesty and truth. I say, let there be an end to the sharp practices of the past, may the law serve all for the sake of righteousness and mercy. These are the thoughts I have as I mourn the passing of the late Queen and welcome the new King into my life.

The prophet mourns his country in our reading, but he asks most pertinent questions,

Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of my poor people

not been restored?

What is the balm in the Gilead of this country? Who is to be our physician here and now? In this broad context of national mourning, we are looking to the King, aren’t we? We ask along with the prophet, Why do we lack true health, the wellness of body and mind, the strength of soul? We wonder as we wander along the route of the funeral cortege with the television coverage. I think we are all in a deep shock – we are not thinking straight, if at all.

So let’s turn that around. Let us start anew by thinking about the physician and the healing balm, just as the prophet does in our reading. What does a good doctor do when you visit him, or when she visits you? I think it is like Androcles and the Lion. The doctor approaches with sympathy and care, observing your pain and offers a little something to take away your hurt, something to start you on your way to a true health. Then he, like Androlocles, takes away the thorn which is sticking in you with a magic potion, that pill which is the silver bullet to solve all ills.

But is that really the healing of the nations? Doesn’t the doctor do something else? She allows you to be yourself again. When you get that, there is true health. It is not just about the extraordinary pill – the physician is treating the whole person. You remember Dr House on the television, don’t you? He was rather cynical and said all his patients lied to him. When they stopped deceiving themselves and told the truth, then they began the healing process. Of course, he was brilliant with his alchemical offerings, but the turn-around always came when the patient was able to speak truthfully about him- or her- self, when the patient did not hold onto an image of self which did not correspond to how the patient appeared before the doctors who were stumped by a set of symptoms gathered together in the life of the patient.

That Lion Androlocles healed was in the same situation. He was beyond all his handlers could do with their given methods, methods which did not include sitting quietly to see just what was wrong, waiting silently for the Lion to show just what the problem was.

The modern Hippocrates should take a leaf out of this fable. The doctor needs to give time and empathy with the hurt person. Hippocrates also said the first maxim for the doctor is “Do no harm.” What harm could there possibly be when the doctor sits and listens to the person before them?

Don’t we all want to be healed in this way? Isn’t the true balm of Gilead that caring silence of the other? It may be that the quiet solicitude of the doctor is all we need in the age of the instant, in this electronic age when apps are the fullest extent of our attention.

I look forward to seeing the eye of the King through the medium of television – I hope to catch the care he will offer to his loyal subjects. The balm is there but will all the physicians dispense it? This is not just a metaphorical question – the NHS is at the heart of so much of our worry, let alone the economy. Or shall we despair with the prophet about the restoration of the health of the people?

Will the physicians of this modern Gilead distribute the balm of healing on the people who are in such dire need of their help? We must ask the dishonest steward of the gospel reading this question, “where is the balm for Gilead?” He was entrusted in a small matter by his master, and he failed. Consequently, every one of us suffers as a result. Who will be worthy of great tasks?

I have been to two funerals this week, and this question of confidence was a very important theme. So many had confidence in the person whose life we celebrated, and we mourned wholeheartedly because of their impact on us. They were the people upon whom tasks great and small could be thrust. They were people in whom confidence has been entrusted. But they are gone now. Who will take their place? Who will be the physicians dispensing the balm to us now? I pray that King Charles, the head of the Church, will distribute that healing medicine.