Rebuilding Sion

Homily to members of Sion Community at the first Community Regional Day in the SENT Chapel, 25 September 2021.

Walk about Zion, go around it, count its towers, consider well its ramparts, … that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever! (Psalm 48:12-14)

Brothers and sisters, it is good to be in this place, this familiar place, this homely place. Some of us haven’t been here for a while. In our minds we are thinking, “Yes, we know what Sion is like.”

Let us recognise here a strong temptation to do exactly what we have done before, to rebuild the old. This might well be what the man with the measuring line was sent to do. If you’ve been following the Mass readings in the last two days, you’ll know we’ve been in the time of rebuilding the Jewish Temple. Perhaps the measuring man needed to know the size of the old walls to rebuild them exactly where they were. 

And God says NO.

Be open! Be vulnerable to new people and new ways of doing things! I will be your protection!

Scary! And thrilling!

My brothers and sisters, do not be surprised at this message, for it is one the Lord has been preparing us for over recent years.

In this chapel, you see the beautiful image of the praising girl above our musicians, reflecting our prophetic word that we have been given a voice – both to preach the Gospel and to praise God – and so we must use it.

On the other side, there is our tent-peg image. Make wider your tent, that nations may stream in from left and from right! And next to the tent peg is a screen. There used to be a projector screen there; now there is a TV. We might look at the screen and think, “Oh, that’s for the words so we can praise God with one voice.” That’s partly true. But the screen can do more than this. The screen can also connect us to people beyond the walls of this building. In a prophetic way, the tent-peg now sits next to our window on the wider world!

I think we may also see a prophetic sign in what is happening with our Covenant Steering Group. It started with three core members on it. One, Peter, is here at SENT. Another, Alice, will speak to us from the Ark. The third, Karen, will catch up from home as she recovers from surgery. Likewise there are three Associate Members. Clare Spiller is here with us. Fran Baines will speak from the Ark. John Martin will also speak to us remotely, either from the Ark or from home – we’ll find out this afternoon. The future has arrived. We are bigger than this beloved building!

Another prophetic word, perhaps more familiar to the Core Members, was given at a December retreat a few years ago, about a painful time of being watered and re-centred as a potter works a pot. This afternoon, we will reflect in more detail on the new shape of the precious vessel which is Sion Community. This requires courage, that we may let go of the old beauty, and embrace the new. But this is always what the followers of Jesus are called to do.

Cardinal Newman reminded us that to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.

Some nameless wag has noted us that change is inevitable, except from a machine machine.

Jesus proclaimed: Change! God’s Kingdom is close to you! Rejoice, in this good news!

Jesus called for METANOIA. Yes, that word includes repentance from those sins which are always sins. But it also includes the call to turn from God’s will for the previous stage of our journey to embrace God’s will for the next. Even the 12 apostles were reluctant to embrace change. Jesus prophecied his death and resurrection. They didn’t want to hear it! But that was the only way God’s purpose could be fulfilled, and in the fullness of time they came to understand.

Change may be exciting. Change may be scary. But change is always God’s way, that we may journey with him from glory to glory. Only through change can His power working in us do more than we can ever expect and imagine. As Marianna said in her prophecy about the pot, the change would be painful, but make us something quite beautiful, if we embrace it.

I do not believe it is a coincidence that the liturgy gives us this reading on the first day we can gather in this way. In this reading, our beloved Lord promises to dwell in the heart of Sion, and we are called to rejoice. Let us trust in the wall of fire, which is the Power of the Holy Spirit, and pray for the great numbers who will join us in times to come! So glory be to Him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen! (Eph 3:20-21)

Missionaries of our Common Home

Homily at the Catholic Parishes of Maesteg and Aberkenfig for the 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B.

Can you see the problem? Can you hear what’s wrong? Who are you going to tell about it?

There are lots of problems in today’s world, but the one we should think about today is the global environment. This time of year, from the start of September until St Francis’ day in October, is a time when churches particularly look at our duty to care for our common home, which is planet Earth.

When David Attenborough produced a documentary a few years ago showing the world’s oceans swimming with plastic, people were horrified! The cry went up, “We must do something about this!” 

“Doing something” looked like reducing the quantity of plastic bags given out by supermarkets, and increasing reusable bottles in place of disposable plastic ones. So far so good, but sometimes the problems we can see are not as significant as the ones that we can’t.

When I studied physics at university, one of the topics was predicting how fluids move. Both the water in the ocean and the air in the atmosphere are fluids, and our climate depends on how they move around the planet. I know from experience that solving those mathematical problems is one of the most difficult things we had to tackle, and so our understanding of the world’s ecosystem is always going to be partial and provisional. We’ll probably never have a perfect understanding of how our planet works and everything that could happen. But the climate scientists working today have make their best estimates – and all that science can ever do is provide the best estimate based on what we currently know.

What the climate scientists say might not be quite right, but is much more likely to be nearly right than all wrong. And here’s the kicker: if they are right we have to act now to stop the planet going into runaway warming. We don’t have the luxury of waiting for another 50 years to see if the predictions check out – unless we want to live with floods and storms in a way we haven’t experienced in living memory.

Notice what Jesus did with the deaf man in today’s gospel. He took him aside privately to minister to him. We all start out deaf to the needs of our planet. But we aren’t always keen to hear. Perhaps we don’t trust the scientists. Perhaps we don’t want to have to change our lifestyle. Perhaps we just don’t like other people telling us what to do. I can’t take each one of you aside privately for a conversation, but if I could, I’d start by asking you which of the scientists’ concerns you think are credible. Maybe the problems aren’t as big as the doom-mongers make out, but can we agree that the planet has a problem?

If we’ve heard the message that the planet is warming up too quickly, what can we do about it? It’s the small changes we can all make which add up to a big change for the planet. Any positive change is better than no change. Perhaps we don’t feel ready to cut down the amount of meat we eat, but we are willing to turn the thermostat down a few degrees and wear an extra layer at this time of year. Perhaps we’re not willing to install solar panels at home, but we are willing to switch our energy bills to a green provider. Perhaps we’re not able to cut the amount of flying or driving in our lives, but we can pay into a tree-planting scheme which offsets some of our carbon emissions.

St James warns us not to treat rich guests better than poor visitors. Here in the UK we enjoy extraordinary privileges which half the world’s population can only dream of. When we tolerate each other’s high consumption lifestyles and shrug our shoulders at the thought that other countries can’t aspire to that, are we doing anything different from the corrupt judges in today’s second reading?

Friends, we are God’s messengers to Maesteg, his ambassadors to Aberkenfig. To be credible witnesses today we not only need to be people who care for individuals – we need to be seen to be people who care about planet Earth. Pope Francis has spoken seriously about counting failure to care for our planet as the Eighth Deadly Sin, though he hasn’t yet officially updated the Catechism to say so.

If you don’t agree with Pope Francis, and the scientists, and myself, in believing that the planet has a problem, I respect your point of view, but I do ask you to look honestly at evidence which might lead you to change your mind. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel: be opened!

If you do agree that there’s a problem, I’m not going to tell you what to do about it – because I know many of us react badly to being told what to do, especially when we’ve had to live with so many covid restrictions. So instead, I’m going to ask you to choose to start doing one thing this month which you aren’t already doing, and make it part of your lifestyle. You can easily search online for “How can I cut my carbon emissions?” (Possible answers from a University, the BBC and Friends of the Earth).  Carbon emission isn’t our only problem, but it’s the most serious challenge we face and it’s the reason that world leaders, including Pope Francis, will meet in Glasgow in November.

On most Sundays of the year, the priest wears green vestments. These next four weeks might have a special focus on the environment, but positive change requires us to stay faithful to good green habits year after year. So when you come to Mass and you see a priest wearing green asking you to call to mind your sins, don’t forget to ask yourself, “How have I cared for the planet this week?” And we confess our sins not only so that Jesus can forgive us, but so we can remind ourselves to do the right thing next time. My time in this parish, and in this sermon is running out. Planet Earth hasn’t got much time left either, so do the right thing this time to make sure that you, the parish, and the planet have a next time! Over and out.

---

Message at the end of Mass:

Friends, I just want to say a few words because this is my last Sunday with you. Because of social distancing, I haven’t been able to get to know you as well as I would have hoped over these last few weeks, but despite that, you have done a fantastic job of making me welcome and very much at home among you. I’ve enjoyed being here very much, and thank you for your support.

During these weeks, I’ve revisited some of the basics of our Christian life. Each one of you is an ambassador to Aberkenfig, a missionary to Maesteg. To be credible messengers, you must be seen to be people who love your neighbours and care for Planet Earth. As credible witnesses, you can speak to others who trust you about Our Lord, Jesus, who died so we could enter heaven, who feeds us on earth with the Blessed Sacrament, and who has given Mary as a mother to care for us all. Above all, I’d like to leave you with the belief that if you are faithful messengers, this parish can grow.

I’m sure when you look around and see how many people are missing, and the work which needs to be done on the building, you worry about the future. But I have good news. There are Catholic parishes which, despite the circumstances of today’s world are growing and flourishing. The secret is simple – we do what Our Lord asked us to do, we go and make disciples. We invite people who have never been Catholics to come and join us; we help lost sheep find their way back to the fold; and we help those who come to Sunday Mass go deeper in their knowledge of Christ Our Saviour.

How can we do this? I’m glad you asked! In this week’s newsletter there are two fantastic opportunities to support you – the Spreading the Gospel course and its follow-up, the Genesis Mission. If you’re not sure how to offer an invitation to someone who’s never been Catholic, or who has fallen away from Church, these are the places to find out!

Today, I’ve asked you to choose to do something for the good of Planet Earth. This month, I’ve also asked you to make Jesus known among your friends and family. It’s time for me to leave you now, as your parish priest returns – and as you work with him to spread the Gospel here, this parish will go from strength to strength. None of this will happen without prayer, so please pray for me, as I will pray for you, until we meet merrily in heaven.