Sermon All Saints – The Beatitudes Matthew 5.1-12
Who has seen Mary Poppins? What a wonderful metaphor for the activity around St Paul’s Cathedral this week. And what a wonderful modern metaphor for All Saints Day.
Lets recall a little bit about the film. Mrs Banks is a suffragette, Mr Banks is a banker. Mr Banks is embarrassed by his wife and does not want boisterous children spoiling his peaceful, respectable existence.
A nanny is employed – a magical nanny called Mary Poppins. But it turns out that Mary’s magic is love and wisdom. Lets go to the scene where she is taking the children to spend a day with their father at work. They pass St Paul’s cathedral. Mary points out an old woman – quiet amongst the hustle and bustle of city life – she is selling crumbs for the birds.
Early each day to the steps of Saint Paul’s
The little old bird woman comes.
In her own special way to the people she calls,
“Come, buy my bags full of crumbs.
Come feed the little birds, show them you care
And you’ll be glad if you do.
Their young ones are hungry,
Their nests are so bare;
All it takes is tuppence from you.”
Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.
“Feed the birds,” that’s what she cries,
While overhead, her birds fill the skies.
All around the cathedral the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares.
Although you can’t see it, you know they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares.
Though her words are simple and few,
Listen, listen, she’s calling to you:
“Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.”
Actually that is all the sermon we need this morning. And all the worship and discussion going around St Pauls, the Corporation of London and the Highway committee could be replaced by singing this.
And interestingly – some will say – yuk – feed the bird – but they are pigeons – vermin.
But you see what we have done in our society – once we start seeing people as vermin and talking about them as if they need to be disposed of or cleaned away – we have lost something of our humanity.
When I was at St John’s Waterloo – some articulate, well heeled member of the Management committee said that in order to remove the rough sleepers from the steop of the church we should turn on the sprinkler system in the middle of the night. The authorities also employed the use of power hoses to clear the tunnels. The vermin had to be removed – they were an eyesore and in the way. He remarked that he would have chosen St John’s for his daughter’s wedding but didn’t want her to have to step over a homeless person on her way into the church.
Now the people outside St Pauls are not terrorists, homeless people or other kinds of human vermin – as some might call those people. By and large they are articulate, educated and passionate people who are prepared to suffer to give voice to their concerns. That doesn’t make them better or more important but perhaps it makes them more dangerous!
Does that remind you of someone? Well it should. On this All Saints day we honour those who are prepared to suffer discomfort, ridicule and abuse to get their voices heard.
Jesus was concerned about what was in the hearts of his listeners. He moved out from the ritual of the Temple to speak to the people on the mountain. And of course this is the poetic and powerful introduction to the sermon on the mount.
Last week a spokesman for the Highways committee spoke with some feeling about the glorious worship at St Paul’s Cathedral. And of course that is true and laudable and attracts visitors and badly needed funds.
But there is very little in the Bible about glorious worship – and what there is is from the angels in heaven celebrating the kingdom.
So why did Jesus come?
2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah* was doing, he sent word by his* disciples 3and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ 4Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers* are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. Matthew 11.5
Jesus trademark whilst he was among us was his teaching and healing – curing a sick world mentally, physically and spiritually.
So where would Jesus be this morning? Well he would be close to those who are agonising about what to do next – those in authority who can make decisions. But he would also be outside the cathedral with those people of multi-faith and multi-ethnicity gently explaining to them why they are upset – what the problem is and what to do about it.
You see the people outside the church are not anti-capitalists. By and large they are anti-hypocrisy, exploitation and greed. Aren’t those the values of the kingdom? Aren’t they the great commission of the church.
We are in very important times. On the one hand senior executive salaries have risen by 50% – that is not 50% of the average wage that is 50% of an already huge level of remuneration. £50% of a million pounds is £500k – £500k is around 25 jobs. There is a massive bail out in Europe to avoid collapse. There are sharks exploiting the poor with money shops and cheap goods.
On the other hand we are witnessing a peaceful demonstration saying – please listen – the people are not happy.
How should we, the Church, react?
The Beatitudes tell us quite clearly how blessed we will be if we display, honour and reward the characteristics of the kingdom of God.
So – approach the people with meekness, humility and poverty of Spirit. Be hungry for righteousness as we listen to them and passionate about the truth. The Church is about bringing in the kingdom. And please God, let us find ourselves on the right side when this is over!! Amen
Saint Swithun's Blog 