The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity: Bible Sunday
25th October 2009

A Matter of Life and Death?

Last week Paul, our curate, began his sermon with a confession: I am going to do the same. I'm going to confess that I really didn't want to go to "The Gathering" this year - but in fact I came away from the Gathering thinking that it had been rather good.

One event that I chose to attend was a talk by Stephen Laird about Islam. One thing Stephen said remained in my mind: he said that in dialogue with Muslims, it was unhelpful to compare the Koran with the Bible. The reason is that with the exception of a comparatively small group of people who would claim that every single thing in the Bible is literally true and unquestionable, the Christian tradition has been able to accept close scrutiny of the Bible: it allows for analysis and interpretation. There is no such comparable tradition in contemporary Islam. The Koran is the Word of God, unquestionable. The proper comparison therefore, is between the Koran and Jesus, the Word made flesh. And that touches on a verse in our Gospel reading today where Jesus says to his hearers, the Jews, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life". You go to the Scriptures but you do not come to me.

The flexibility of Christianity in regard to the Bible is one of the factors that has made Christianity a forward looking faith and one that can keep pace with change. But there is a cost involved and the centuries have seen division and redivision and occasionally, reunion. In a sense it is the very argumentative nature of Christianity, its commitment to education and debate, that makes this so. Here in this Parish we are having a course on What do Christians believe? Well don't we all know what they believe? Isn't it enough to, say, recite the Creed and say, that's what Christians believe - what else is there to talk about? But of course there is a lot to talk about because the way we talk about faith changes and the context in which we live and share our faith is changing all the time.

It may well be that you have been in the lower part of Canterbury's High Street on a Saturday when someone has handed you a leaflet inviting you to sit down and receive healing prayer. There is a verse in the Bible which says: "Is any among you suffering, let him pray. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church and let them pray over him and the prayer of faith will save the sick man". (Letter of James, Chapter 5, verse 13). So what's wrong with a leaflet that seems to be claiming (and I quote) that cancer, depression, phobia, back pain and many other sicknesses can be healed by prayer? Well that issue exercised our local Deanery Chapter recently and indeed brought us into temporary conflict with the leading minister of one of the churches that is involved in this Healing on the Streets. Our own views of course varied; some felt very strongly against the whole idea of carrying out that kind of ministry on the streets, while others felt that the leaflet was the problem, making claims which could not be substantiated and needed perhaps to placed in the context of recognition of the importance of seeking and respecting medical care. But some who support the ministry and its publicity could point to the Bible and say, surely we have all the authority we need to do this.

So the Bible or its interpretation in a changing world, can be one of the things that divides Christians. Yet even Christians whose views on most things are oceans apart would not venture so far as to say that we are not ultimately one in Christ. The realisation of that belief may be well-nigh impossible in the world but it remains manifest in the name that we all share: Christian. And in the end perhaps we also have to ask ourselves, how much does this matter? The other day I had just read The Times on the recent offer of Pope Benedict to disaffected Anglicans and as I drove to visit someone I found myself going over and over it all in my mind, working out what I thought about it. The lady I was visiting went to make us a coffee and said, "Do have a look at my paper". So I picked it up - it was The Daily Telegraph and it was not in fact majoring on this particular matter at all; so I turned over the pages and I came across an article about an inquest that was taking place long after the death of a ten year old boy who had died of meningitis in a hospital in the Midlands. The issue was whether the child's death could have been prevented and I read a truly terrible story of a woman taking her son to hospital, of inadequate tests, of mis-diagnosis, of being sent home and then rushing back, of a doctor ready to administer drugs and a consultant denying permission over the phone. In agony the boy had said, "Please help me or I am going to die". The short time it took to read that item took me immediately into that ward alongside that desperate mother and left me wondering how on earth she could come to terms with a death that happened like that. Sometimes we need to get a perspective on things and sometimes the only thing we can do is pray: as I did then silently, praying for that woman to the Lord who will, ultimately, resolve all our differences and help us to be truly one in Him.

Amen

© PCC St Martin's and St Paul's Canterbury 2008 - 2009