Sermon Archive
Freedom to make a difference
Sermon preached by Clephane Hume at Holy Communion on 29 August 2004
Jeremiah 2.4-13 ; Luke 14.1, -14
Last weekend I read the story of a conservation project. Birds had been carefully reared at Whipsnade Zoo and then taken, gently packed in cloth bags, to a suitable place for their release. The writer described the scene thus - 'One of the white bags was laid on the ground and its mouth was carefully opened by the warden. A little head poked out and glanced around. Then the youngster dashed like lightning into the vegetation and vanished. Freedom!'
And so the people of Cambridgeshire are going to be able to share our experience of being woken by corncrakes, those elusive avian alarmclocks. I actually saw one in Iona this year, with mixed feelings, at 4.45 am. (From my bedroom window!)
But I want to focus on the writer's last word ? freedom. It must have been bit like a second birth for those baby birds.
Freedom ? that is what can make a world of difference ? the theme of our Festival here, and something which has been echoed, in various ways, in other locations around the city. Some of the situations will be familiar, or bring back memories, others are outwith our ken. They are things which we can only begin to imagine.
In some cases, people are searching for freedom from their history. Personal ? such as individual abuse, problems with addiction, or memories of difficult interpersonal relationships. In other circumstances it is their national history ? such as in countries which have suffered years of occupation and domination by others. Witness the experiences of our link congregation in Viljandi, Estonia. I learned not to call myself an occupational therapist in the Baltic States ? the word 'occupation' has different, distinctly negative connotations. The recent celebrations in Paris focused on an anniversary of liberation, but we can see from places such as Northern Ireland, how big a part history still plays, imprisoning people in their daily lives. Our forthcoming link with the Diocese of Connor is teaching us that in the church context.
Today, the Festival reminds us, oppression occurs in other places. Something which the people who demonstrated against the inclusion of the Chinese army in the Tattoo were trying to tell us - in respect of Tibet. Those of you who have seen the dramatisation of Raja Shehadeh's diaries of the occupation of Ramallah, will have gained an insight into what life is like under curfew. He describes freedom as control over one's world, to make day to day decisions. We take that for granted. Counselling or psychotherapy can help to heal individual memories, but when children grow up in a climate of fear, perhaps complying with the whims of a dictator like Saddam Hussein, the damage is difficult to reverse. Freedom to move about, to play, is not an option. Freedom from anxiety is a dream...
And that doesn't mean the concern of the people at the marriage feast to demonstrate their status. It is deep rooted fear, for yourself and others, as well as your country.
Freedom from poverty is well recognised - we regularly see the evidence of dire poverty on our TV screens. In the story of the marriage feast, St Luke exhorts us to remember those who are marginalised because of their circumstances, to give them their due place in the world. Which would indeed make a difference.
A (debatably) more light hearted glimpse of freedom came from Lisa Wright, in her look back to life in a rectory in the 1950s. How many people now are familiar with the drudgery of the weekly wash day? Laying the fire and polishing the grate? Going further back, earlier in the week one of our older members told me of the zinc bath in front of the fire and how she hated the cold bathroom when her family moved to a house with a real bath with taps. But within all that, have we ever had to worry about where our water was coming from?
Images of women walking through chest high filthy water in order to collect some that is safe to drink, have come to me from Bangladesh, where the floods are likely to take considerable time to disappear. Which reminds us that freedom from pollution is also something to aim for in our world.
GO MAD says the petition at the exhibition in the Botanics ? compellingly beautiful photographs of the earth from the air, which in fact illustrate the damage we are doing to our planet. Go Make a difference. Save resources such as water, electricity, and paper.
In its imprisoned Writers sessions, The Book Festival has highlighted freedom of expression for authors.
The people of Myanmar and other countries where people are imprisoned for not conforming with those in power, know all about that. U Win Tin whom we are supporting (fill in the post card on the pew if you haven't yet done so) is sadly only one of many people who are suffering because of speaking out against brutality.
Someone who came in here during our festival of spirituality had just had a holiday with friends who had moved to a tranquil place 'away from it all'. She was reflecting on the experience. 'We can't run away,' she said, 'the church must speak out about these things. We must be political.'
I think she is right. Because we can speak out. We have Christ as our example for that. And freedom of speech is something that we don't appreciate having, because we don't know the opposite.
Here in St John's, Michael Jessing's icon of the baptism of Jesus also speaks of freedom. Our freedom through baptism. He symbolises this in the goldfinch. You will probably know the picture in the Uffizi ? the Madonna with the goldfinch, in which the Christ child is holding the bird. Michael explained to me that his representation has the bird flying free. Take a look at it. And think about what he is saying. Christ has set us free.
I give my final thought on freedom to Muriel Spark, asked (at the Book Festival) how her conversion to Roman Catholicism affected her. 'It gives me a feeling of security' she replied. For her, faith means freedom from doubt. We may not experience the same level of certainty, but the promise of new life and freedom which our faith gives us is one for which we should be eternally thankful.
And by sharing that vision, we can make a difference.
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