DISCOVER A NEW VISION FOR THE FUTURE – DEAN OF BELFAST URGES

In his first sermon as Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann urged people to draw a line under the past and discover a new vision for the future.

Dean Mann was speaking at a Service of Installation and Institution held in St Anne’s Cathedral on Tuesday August 30.

The new Dean spoke about the divisions of the past, but also focused on the hardships experienced by many in the current economic climate.

The Dean based his sermon on readings from the Old Testament (Exodus 5: 1–6, 13) and New Testament (Revelation 3: 7–13) which featured in the service. The Old Testament reading recounted how the Hebrew people under Moses, slaves to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, had been told that those making bricks must find their own straw to bind with the clay for baking the bricks.

The Dean said many people in society today feel they are expected to do the same or more work with fewer facilities and resources than before the financial crisis.

“Slavery has long been abolished in our society, though of course not in other parts of the world, but we are in no doubt that even here economic pressures have brought many people to a personal financial and family situation where they, with the same expectations from others, have become a slave to their own circumstances and feel that indeed they are attempting to make bricks without straw,” the Dean said.

Rather than simply seek a solution that addressed their suffering, the people of the Exodus sought a new start. Moses showed the Hebrew people that the solution to their ills lay in a fresh vision of the Promised Land.

By contrast the reading from the New Testament was full of hope, Dean Mann said. It spoke of an open door standing before the people of the Church who are faithful and trusting in Christ and one another.

“That gift is the open door, the gift of space, lovingly offered, the chance, the opportunity for new hope. This may ring hollow in the minds of those whose responsibility it has been to make others redundant, cut the hours or pay of an employee, reduce pension provision or whatever, but let us be honest and say, none of us have been entirely free from unavoidably making life more difficult for others than it should be, just living in the rich western world is enough to ensure that we are. So much more then should we be conscious of the need to open doors where we can – and work to relieve the needs of others. All of us can do this,” the Dean said.

In his sermon, Dean Mann also made reference to recent events at the Cathedral, saying all are familiar with division and discord, whether in the community, within or between families, and even in the Church. St Anne’s Cathedral has had its own very public share of disagreement, he said.

“This Cathedral has been both a source of blessing to others and also a place where, in recent times, discord and hurt have been experienced, some of it very public, some privately, in the inner recesses of hearts touched by the pain of division and insult, perhaps on witnessing how fellow worshippers of God have forgotten themselves in their desire to make a point,” the Dean said.

He continued: “Let us try to learn from the application of our lessons to our situation, where success and failure are evident, where healing is the door standing before us, open and no one can shut it but ourselves.”

The Dean said that as people attempt to draw a line under these things in whatever area of life they may experience them, they seek not just to return to a former state of peace and calm, but go beyond this to discover a new vision for the future, finding new energy for the tasks ahead.

Referring back to the first reading, the Dean said the Hebrews had eventually entered the Promised Land. “To that place, in recognition of faithfulness and patient endurance, God offered the open door that no one could shut,” he said.

“That door is standing open, as I pray the door of this Cathedral will stand open, and the hearts of all who worship here will stand open and will turn in love to their neighbour.”

Dean Mann said that by looking to the future, we acknowledge what has been, but strive to maintain the hope of renewal, committing ourselves both corporately and individually to a new path; placing an open door before others and as we offer them opportunity to grow and develop, we ourselves receive encouragement and stimulation to make our own steps forward in love and healing and forgiveness.

Full Text of Sermon
Service of Institution and Installation
Exodus 5: 1–6, 13; Revelation 3: 7–13

Depending upon one’s perspective, the flight of the people of the Hebrews from Egypt is a story of the plight of a suppressed people who finally gain their freedom from Pharaoh and those who were the princes of the country, a ruling faction that knew not Joseph and of all that he had done for the country, or it is the story of a threatening, increasingly powerful minority within their community which just wouldn’t stay in its place and were plaguing the hearts out of Pharaoh and the Egyptian people as they attempted to gain greater autonomy and the freedom to travel.

It is very contemporary story, with all the elements of fear, threat, vulnerability, oppression and, ultimately, helplessness in the face of circumstances that could be greatly affected by human action, but could not be healed unilaterally by anyone; a situation crying out for dialogue where no meeting of minds could be found, a place for compassion in a world where concessions to such would be interpreted as weakness. We enter the story in the first lesson this evening at the point where Pharaoh is turning the screw on the Hebrew slaves by informing them, through their task masters, that those occupied in brick–making will have to gather their own straw for binding with the clay, before the bricks were baked and made ready for use. Slavery has long been abolished in our society, though of course not in other parts of the world, but we are in no doubt that even here economic pressures have brought many people to a personal financial and family situation where they, with the same expectations from others, have become a slave to their own circumstances and feel that indeed they are attempting to make bricks without straw. Five people in an office, reduced to two, but the equivalent of making the same number of bricks is still expected; businesses where the bosses are out working on site with their employees and doing the paperwork late into the night, to save administrative staff; those office staff then seeking another job in an already crowded market; professional women and men being trained in such numbers that there may be jobs for a quarter of them at the end of their course; young people putting their bank card into a ATM, turning away when it won’t even give them ten pounds. We know that churches and the whole charitable sector are by no means unaffected by the squeeze to go and find their own stubble for straw to make bricks.

But this people of the Exodus were seeking freedom that acknowledged the suffering of slavery, of enforced labour and the violent effects of suppression, but they sought a solution that addressed more than that suffering, more than the physical and emotional needs of a crushed people, they sought a new start, not a continuance of life as it was – with simply a release of the immediate pressure, however much that was being increased by those in society who held the power to make that happen. It was Moses who had to accept this for himself first, and then to call the Hebrew people to see that the solution to their ills lay in a fresh vision of a Promised Land. It took ages, and much heart–searching change, to bring about the first tentative steps towards that place; then once they had escaped their captivity, they chose to spend 40 years in the wilderness, before the Promised Land was reached. But let us turn from Exodus, reminding us of lives littered with lost opportunities and humanity scorning the Providence, the love and mercy of God, and look rather at the second lesson. This is one of the letters to the churches in the Revelation to St John the Divine.

There are seven of these letters, five are critical of the churches to which they are directed, probably the best–known being that to the Church in Laodicea, which was informed by the Holy Spirit that it was a church that was neither hot nor cold, but was lukewarm and as such would be spat out. Tough words, but not nearly as damning as some of the others! Two of the letters are positive. One of the two, that to the Church in Philadelphia (present day Amman in Jordan) is our second lesson this evening. This is altogether different from the Laodicean judgement. This is a letter that acknowledges the faithfulness and love of the people; their patient endurance under trial; the holding on to the hard won treasures of their lives – these are inner treasures, “where your heart is, there is your treasure also”, could have been quoted to the Church in Philadelphia with great hope and encouragement. But what is the Holy Spirit saying to this Church with the reassurance with which it is surrounded? The word to that angel, that messenger in Philadelphia, is this: “The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David (symbolic of the Messiah, the Christ), who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens”. “I know your works. Behold I set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.”

What a gift! This is more than offering straw for bricks, this is saying to the people, “Here is an opportunity, a door is standing open for you, no one can shut it in your face”, he goes on to acknowledge that, “I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word”. This letter is littered with images of hope, of opportunity and encouragement. We know that these things exist for many of us – not everyone is living in an enforced and helpless situation – a lot of us are sitting with boundless possibilities before them, doors open and choices to make in freedom and opportunity. But the most valuable gift that we have is something that is only of any use if we give it away, it then becomes use to both ourselves and to the person to whom we give it.

That gift is the open door, the gift of space, lovingly offered, the chance, the opportunity for new hope. This may ring hollow in the minds of those whose responsibility it has been to make others redundant, cut the hours or pay of an employee, reduce pension provision or whatever, but let us be honest and say, none of us have been entirely free from unavoidably making life more difficult for others than it should be, just living in the rich western world is enough to ensure that we are. So much more then should we be conscious of the need to open doors where we can – and work to relieve the needs of others. All of us can do this. Often it is those with very little who are the first to help those with even less. I have been told, by friends in Japan, that amongst the first to assist in the region affected by earthquake and tsunami were those from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, who knew personally of the paralysing effect of having everything swept away, they did just the simple things like cooking meals for those who had nothing.

Specifically, this Cathedral has been both a source of blessing to others and also a place where, in recent times, discord and hurt have been experienced, some of it very public, some privately, in the inner recesses of hearts touched by the pain of division and insult, perhaps on witnessing how fellow worshippers of God have forgotten themselves in their desire to make a point. None of us are immune from this human failing. Most, if not all of us sit here conscious of that fact, whether directly or indirectly. Who has not at sometime, if not drawn directly into friction with others, has, as a bystander, felt tarnished by an uncomfortable atmosphere or an unpleasant position not of their making. Let us try to learn from the application of our lessons to our situation, where success and failure are evident, where healing is the door standing before us, open and no one can shut it but ourselves. No one can rake over the embers, unless motivated to do so by an inner urge that may be wise or not. I risk that gentle prod of the poker tonight, actually by standing here and mentioning this I am not using the protective steel of a fire iron, but fingers, which will come away burnt. Every person afflicted by broken relationships, whether here or in any family, community or neighbourhood of this City is bound by that lack of freedom that makes rigid the position of the strong and the weak alike. Without positive attention, the situation gets worse not better, like the Hebrews first making bricks on demand, then more were expected, then the same number, but now “get your own straw too”. We know how difficult it can be to break this cycle, but having broken it there is no going back. Occasionally the people whilst wandering in the wilderness had a go at Moses and Aaron saying, why did you take us away from Egypt, at least we had food there, at least we could die there in some semblance of stable community, but they knew deep down that their hope lay in the future and that the past was literally in L. P. Hartley’s words, “a foreign country, they do things differently there.”

Ironically they eventually entered the Promised Land through the area that is now the Kingdom of Jordan, in the area close to the Biblical Philadelphia of our second lesson. To that place, in recognition of faithfulness and patient endurance, God offered the open door, that no one could shut. That door is standing open, as I pray the door of this Cathedral will stand open, and the hearts of all who worship here will stand open and will turn in love to their neighbour. I was given the key of the door tonight, by the Churchwardens, this I share with you all. This is not my Cathedral, it is your Cathedral, it is God’s house, it is a place of healing, a place of prayer, a place where, please God, we may raise money to open doors for other people, a place of peace and stillness in which we may know the presence of Christ, drawing us closer in unity and love and hope.

I cannot believe that I am Dean, but apparently it says so on the service sheet, so I must be. Yet I have no more power of choice than anyone else, each of us can chose to make the lives of those with whom we come in contact easier or more difficult. Places of work can be made happier or more burdensome by the acts and words of those within them; families can share or can demand rights, people in public service can by their attitude spread pleasure to others or inflict others with grumpiness. The words of Psalm 103 remind us of the frailty and passing nature of human existence, “We flourish as a flower of the field, for as soon as the wind goes over it, it is gone, and its place shall know it no more.” We have, for the space of our fragile, mortal lives, the power of love, stronger than death, to act with others and for others. Let us use it wisely.

We are about to move to last part of this service; a time of reflection on our own particular open doors, a chance to give and commit, but mostly to pray that within us Christ may reveal his will, his direction and encouragement; to confirm us and affirm us in all that we are attempting in his name and to know the presence of his Spirit in our lives. I would really like us to stay, not only silent, but still, especially in the silence. None of us need the service booklet after we have sung the next hymn, so let us put it down and forget it and let us listen to Mary and to Katy and, more importantly to God. Let us be as quiet as we can for those around us and be led in our prayers by the brothers of Holy Cross Monastery.

For a long time I have dwelt upon what I might say tonight; the burden of preaching is a heavy one. If I have dwelt on the lack of straw excessively I apologise, but for the open door, that Christ holds before us, I give thanks and praise. May those who are seeking it have their way revealed to them and may those who can open a door for another – and that is all of us in some way however small – do that, tomorrow, or maybe even tonight. Do not leave it too long, or you will forget. In giving, we shall ourselves receive – whether healing, peace of mind or, probably most precious of all, forgiveness.

Ends