Sermon preached
at St James’, Goldenacre, on September 11th, 2022
Now may
the words of my lips and the thoughts of our hearts be always acceptable in
your sight, O Lord our strength and redeemer.
Good
morning. It is very flattering to have been invited to talk to you this
morning. I used to be convener of the Eco-group at St John’s, Princes Street.
So I have been asked to reflect on the readings in relation to Creationtide,
which we celebrate every September.
But, of
course, many of our thoughts this morning are on Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. I
was born before she came to the throne, but I have no memory of any other
monarch. She was a very remarkable person indeed and we have been
extraordinarily fortunate to live under such a head of state. I think the best
short tribute I have seen was the one by Keir Starmer, in the House of Commons.
The best longer tribute – very good indeed – was an article by Simon Schama in
the Financial Times. If you can get hold of a copy, or find it on-line, I do
recommend it.
What about
those readings? They certainly hang together as a group. They all deal with
things going badly wrong, but then, thanks to the way God has fashioned Creation,
they turn out right.
It does seem
to me, in the light of these readings, that we should approach the present
ecological crisis – I am thinking both of climate and of biodiversity – with hope,
faith and love.
This month is
Creationtide. We should be thinking about, and celebrating and giving thanks
for Creation. The good news is that, as I learn from looking it up yesterday, there
are an awful lot of galaxies. “The acceptable range is between 100 billion and
200 billion”. It is also estimated that the average number of stars in a galaxy
is 100 million. You will remember that verse from the psalms: “He telleth the
number of the stars and calleth them all by their names”. So there is no reason
to suppose that Creation is in a bad way, even if our own planet is.
As far as
our own planet is concerned, I would strongly argue that the tendency of
mankind to arrange Creation into a hierarchy of more important and less
important things – good things and bad things - is not the point. I like beautiful landscapes, pretty flowers,
colourful birds, cute furry pets, animals we find useful. These get put at the
top – under humans, of course. This way of thinking has been around for
centuries, and is still around, reinforced by many thinkers, by politicians, by
advertisers. No, no, no. We give thanks for the whole of Creation, even the
bits we happen not to like. I once wrote a hymn which includes the line “The
wonder of Creation includes the ticks and fleas.”
This is not,
by the way a new idea, though it has undoubtedly been obscured all too often by
humans who think they know better. It is still obscured by a great deal of
thinking and marketing and politics. But have a look at that wonderful story of
Job. After Job has had to submit to chapters and chapters of advice from his
unhelpful comforters, in Chapter 38 this happens:
“Then the
Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by
words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you,
and you shall declare to me.
Where were
you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements – surely you know! Or who stretched the line
upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the
morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?”
One of the
most attractive characters in Eighteenth Century literature is Tristram
Shandy’s Uncle Toby. Here is an anecdote to illustrate his character:
“Go – says
he, one day at dinner, to an overgrown fly which had buzzed about his nose and
tormented him cruelly all dinner time, - and which after infinite attempts, he
had caught at last as it flew by him; - I’ll not hurt thee, says my uncle Toby,
rising from his chair and going across the room, with the fly in his hand,
- I’ll not hurt a hair of thy head – Go,
he says, lifting up the sash, and opening his hand as he spoke, to let it
escape; go poor devil, get thee gone, why should I hurt thee? This world is
surely wide enough to hold both thee and me.”
What a
moving example of love for Creation in action.
I guess the
best ever hymn to Creation was by St Francis of Assisi – “Cantico delle
creature”. We know it in translation as “All creatures of our God and King”,
263 in your books. St Francis ends with a verse which is usually left out of
our singing – “Omit verse 6”. It gives thanks for death. “Laudato si’, mi
Signore, per sora nostra morte corporale”, or, in translation, “And thou most
kind and gentle death”.
We are all
mourning today, and reflecting on one particular death. Surely we must agree
with St Francis that death is indeed a complete part of the creation that we
are celebrating this month.
Here is one
sentence about death that one of the greatest ever preachers in English, John
Donne, wrote:
“The dust of
great persons’ graves is speechless too, it says nothing, it distinguishes
nothing: as soon the dust of a wretch whom thou wouldest not, as of a prince
thou couldest not look upon will trouble thine eyes if the wind blow it
thither; and when a whirlwind hath blown the dust of the churchyard into the
church, and the man sweeps out the dust of the church into the churchyard, who
will undertake to sift those dusts again, and to pronounce, This is the
patrician, this is the noble flower, and this is the yeomanly, this the
plebeian bran”
I cannot add
to John Donne, or to Uncle Toby, or to Saint Francis, or to the author of the
Book of Job. Please think deeply about Creation and our place in it; and give
thanks for it.
Thank you
for listening.