Sermon for 15 December 2002, 11.15 am Matins, St Mary Magdalen, Sheet, published on www.trikeshed.com

Bible readings: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, John 1:6-8, 19-28

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about art recently. Jackie is an art student and I’m really enjoying seeing and discussing what she gets up to, what gets brought home. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to pass off my untidiness as a piece of conceptual art! Last Sunday we had the Turner prize, awarded to Keith Tyson, with of course all the usual discussion and palaver associated with modern art. Whatever you think about the particular works, one thing everyone seems to agree is that a work of art can be appreciated on many levels, seen in different lights, viewed from many angles or whatever metaphor you choose. The same is true of great literature and it is certainly true of the Bible. Take our first reading from the Old Testament, from the book of Isaiah. It is a beautiful piece of poetry, is it not?

It reminds us perhaps of the Psalms and of the Magnificat. If you go into the Hebrew text you see even more poetry than we can appreciate – plays on words, for example "vengeance" sounds very much like "comfort", so the poetry would perhaps have sounded even better. Poetry, beauty of language and of art are in our minds in this Advent season – certainly the best of our Christmas cards and decorations, our plays and carols, are very beautiful, unless you’re a fully paid-up member of the "Bah Humbug" school! Poetry and beauty of language are of course at the heart of Cranmer’s great work, the Book of Common Prayer, whose words we still use this morning, and I for one never cease to marvel at his craftsmanship.

But take a look again at the passage from Isaiah. Read it in another way. Look at the verbs, the action. Isaiah will: preach, bind up, proclaim, comfort, provide for, bestow. The people of God will: rebuild, restore, renew. God will: reward, make a covenant, make righteousness spring up before all nations. Through and beside all the poetry there is a programme of action. Bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim release to the prisoners, comfort those who mourn. This is for God, who loves justice and who hates iniquity. And let me remind you of a reading from Amos we had a few weeks ago, which puts paid to the idea that the people of God can worship him simply by embracing beauty: Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! The poetry is still there, the words are still very beautiful, but rolling along with it have to be justice and righteousness.

It’s fairly widely accepted that the words we read from Isaiah are from a time of some disillusion in the history of the people of Israel, who about at this time we might begin to call the Jewish people. The exiles have returned from Babylon, they have begun to rebuild, but the wide expansive hopes of past generations are now replaced with the knowledge that they are a small nation, a small community in a world of hostile powers. But the prophetic spirit of the earlier writings in Isaiah is not dead. Even though the temptations of corruption coming from too much power are no longer there, the call for justice still rings out. And it must, because the people of God have to be marked out by their commitment to the poor and needy.

No wonder Jesus famously quoted this very passage. The situation in his time was very similar. A small people in a big Roman world. The Spirit of the Lord is on me – he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted. There is much that is poetic and beautiful in the words of Jesus, as there is in the Christmas story that we look forward to recalling, but it would all be rather hollow if it did not go along with practical action. This is why our New Testament reading about John and the Advent theme of John’s ministry is such an important foil to the Christmas story. He’s not a subject of Nativity-like scenes, this wild man of the wildnerness, this eater of locusts and wild honey, this ranter. He is the voice of one calling in the desert, "Make straight the way of the Lord".

And there are echoes in our own times. A small nation in a big and sometimes hostile world – this could describe our country. A small community in an indifferent or even hostile nation – this could describe the Church of England. I think we need to pray for our new Archbishop Rowan at this time. I believe he too has a prophetic gift but we’ve seen already how hostile our now very secular society can be as soon as he opens his mouth.

The Church of England faces a big choice in this new century, to look inwards or to look outwards, and that choice for the whole church is mirrored here in Sheet. We have a beautiful building in an idyllic setting. We have a fine organ, we have wonderful craftsmanship in wood and metal, fabric and flowers. We have beautiful services and music. What are we going to do with it? Preserve it, keep the flame burning for future generations? Yes, that would be nice but… is that all? Our church must not neglect the other gifts that God has given us, gifts that enable us to go out and make disciples, to take Christ to the poor and needy, to proclaim release to those who are made captive by stress, anxiety, ill-health, drug dependency, debt, low self-esteem. Poor old Andrès Segovia, the great guitarist; it is has been said that towards the end of his life his solution to the crowding problems of the world was to turn inward and surround himself with beautiful things. If ever we were to do the same, to retreat into our shell, to take comfort only in our liturgy and our stonework and woodwork, then a shell is sadly just what our beautiful church will become and we and Christ whose body we are would become more and more irrelevant.

Christmas is a golden opportunity for us. Just look out there, look how much that world needs the love of the Christ-child. We must reassess our priorities. We must take him to the world and we must bring the world to him. That is how the prophecy of Isaiah can once again be fulfilled in our time. The promise is for those who grieve. Perhaps we grieve that the majority of people in Sheet are no longer here, but the promise is that by heeding those words, we too can be transformed into people who are called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, for the display of his splendour.

© Mike Knee, 2002

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