Clean your House, O Bishops

‘Clean your House, O Bishops’
A sermon by Rev’d Ross Meikle

May my heart be soft and my tongue be kind as I seek to speak in the name of our eternal God, whose name is Love and for everlasting. Amen.

I want to channel John the Baptist this morning and explore what he may have to say to us today. Prophets have far more to say into their present than they do about the future – but by virtue of being ignored by their contemporaries, they are vindicated by later generations – when their words become timeless and a meaningful reminder of Eternal Truths for each generation that follows.

This is certainly true of, say, Isaiah who we read a lot during Advent because the prophets who make up that book are speaking directly into the plight of Israel as they saw it. But we also see his reflections of light in the darkness fulfilled in Jesus Christ: the Light of the World. The hope of a child is good news in Isaiah to a people afraid of extermination. And Christians also see that hope in the birth of Jesus, our Emmanuel, God with us.

John the Baptist is a fascinating prophet to sit with. There is both a generality to what he has to say – calling the whole crowd a Brood of Vipers. Questioning their teaching and understanding that they could possibly flee and run away from the wrath to come. And – of course – “Repent! The Kingdom of God has come near!”

And that nearness of God’s Kingdom remains true for each of us today. A message for us all as we contemplate the judgment of God, the nature of God’s wrath and mercy, and the expectant coming of Jesus Christ.

But he also speaks specifically to social groups. In our Gospel reading today, tax-collectors and soldiers are given practical advice of how they can repent and bear good fruit in their particular professions.

It is, of course, simple advice: “Don’t be corrupt and greedy,” he says to the Tax Collectors.
“Don’t misuse your power to make threats or false accusations. Be satisfied with your wages,” he says to the Soldiers. Simple advice, yet cultures of corruption and violence develop around people who have power.

And – as the Dean reflected to me during the week – how fascinating to see these people go out to the wilderness to seek wisdom from John the Baptist. They wanted guidance that was sorely lacking from their own leaders, so sought out the prophet.

And so. What might John the Baptist – or indeed any of the prophets – say today…? What follows is written with some creative license, drawing on biblical images and phrases from Jesus and the prophets.

“You Church of England! Who warned you that you could cover up sin and evade the judgment that is to come? Clean your house from top to bottom, and do not neglect the corners. For the light of the Lord has surely shone upon you and revealed the things that you hid in darkness, the abuses against children and the vulnerable that you swept beneath the carpet.

When he comes the Lord will roll up the carpets and every sin you have hidden under them shall be brought to light. Repent, and clean up your house, O Bishops. And clean up your act, O Synods. For you carry yourselves as houseproud with everything in its place – but you will see that those with tidier homes than you will not care to visit you for they will trip on your rugs because they bump and bulge with the enormity of your sin.

Did you not realise that Safeguarding is a gift by which every person may be assured that the churches on God’s Family Tree may bear Good Fruit? Fruit that will nourish and sustain; that is sweet to eat for those who are hungry. Refreshing for those who are burned out. Fruit that is love from a community that places the least at the centre and says “this is our treasure”.

But you have borne fruit that is bitter – an unpleasant mouthful for those who once delighted in the vine. And justified those who have always been cynical of our religious tradition, stamping our credibility into the dirt. The pruning shears lie nearby. The gardener awaits, for if this bough does not bear good fruit in due season – perhaps it shall be pruned and tossed into the compost heap, or burned as winter fuel.

Did you not take seriously the words of your Lord, that anyone who causes a little one to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone around their neck and to be drowned at sea?
Did you think you were not complicit?
Did you think it was ok because it was far from your eyes? Did you think the sin is less because the distance is great? Or because soon enough they were another nation’s or someone else’s problem?
Did you rest too much on the laurels of Christ whereby all sinners are loved and saved?
Did you love the sinner but hate his sin?
Protect the abuser yet ignore his abuse?

Yes, the Lord loves all his children equally. Yet what parent does not – when one child abuses another – show preference to the child who has been abused? Does the parent not take the child who has been abused up in their arms to comfort them, and send the abuser to sit on the naughty step without any supper?

How hungry you will go, O Archbishops. How long you will sit in ashes on that step, O Bishops. For Love does not render you immune from retribution.

So repent, O Church of England. And then bear fruit worthy of repentance. Clean your house – and bring in an independent cleaner to do it for you. Because the inspection of Christ that is coming will find every mite and speck of dust you try to hide.

Friends. Salisbury Cathedral. We live in the midst of a new reformation of the church. Such momentous change often follows new communication technology. As the printing press preceded the Reformation in Europe, so digital communication is inspiring this new one – and perhaps this Safeguarding scandal will be akin to the Roman Catholic indulgences that inspired Luther to write up his 99 theses.

Yet we do not know what schism may look like in this day and age. We may not have the power to inform the future of the institution of which we are a part. But what we do have control over is how closely we seek to follow Christ – together as a localised community here, and as individual pilgrims and disciples.

When I was on General Synod, I found it a graceless space. It was on my return to the parish that I found the beauty and fruit of God’s Spirit growing – the kindness and gentleness, the joy and the peace, the love.

The fruit of the Spirit feeds and nourishes our culture. And it is in the name of kindness, gentleness, self-control and faithfulness to God’s preference for the lowly, the abused, and the outcast… that our own culture – including our attitudes towards safeguarding – will itself grow into the likeness of God.

John the Baptist spoke harshly with those who needed to hear those words. Jesus himself called the Pharisees ‘white-washed tombs’ for being clean on the outside but dead and dirty on the inside. And Paul writes to the leaders of the churches – the bishops of his time – with warning words of how they should conduct themselves because they are held to a higher degree of accountability before the Lord.

So maybe our Bishops and Synods need those words.

That said: have hope. My own experience and understanding of our Cathedral, Bishops and Diocese is that safeguarding is taken seriously and managed well, as is that of independent audits. Pray for those who are accountable for Safeguarding, and for one another – for good safeguarding is our collective responsibility.

As for those who are suffering and those who are scared, John, Paul, and Jesus spoke a different language.

Do not be afraid.

Peace be with you.

The Kingdom of God is among you.

As we ready ourselves for Christ’s coming, friends, do not be afraid.

Emmanuel.

God is with us.