Sermon for Christ the King - 2007
In the last decade an intellectual war has been going on, a battle for the hearts and minds of the nation, if not its very soul. This seemingly invisible war is between believers and unbelievers and the battlefield is the imagination. Ticket sales of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was a clear victory for the Gospel but retaliation came in the shape of the hugely popular, but intensely trite, Da Vinci Code. Founded on a powder cake of fantasy, misinterpretation, and mindless prejudice Dan Brown’s airport novel entices its readers to think that they have stumbled upon a great secret; that the Church is corrupt and most of Christianity is a fourth century invention. Cinematic rebuttal came in the form of a rather good adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; CS Lewis admired and timeless Christian allegory.
Then in the last year, Professor Richard Dawkins, penned The God Delusion, which instantly became a bestseller. Poorly written and packed with intellectual half-truths it presents a view of religion and Christianity which seem unrecognisable and dogmatic as any fundamentalist. Dawkins aims, the blurb states, to drive out from the reader any last vestiges of belief by the last chapter. Strangely for an academic, Dawkins, never bothered to approach even the most moderate of theologians.
On the same bandwagon we will soon have showing in the movies, Philip Pullman’s atheistic books for children, His Dark Materials. The first book called Northern Lights is released as The Golden Compass in the next few days. In a number of lectures and interviews Pullman has been explicit about his purpose. 'I hate the Narnia books, and I hate them with deep and bitter passion’. His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series as Aslan the Lion. "My books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed.
The first book of the Pullman fantasy begins from an alternative universe ruled by senile despotic God called The Authority. It would be easy to let him off the hook since this particular world is not of our own. We might forgive him that the Church, otherwise known as The Magisterium, is nasty and secretive, priests are murderous nasty or drunk. Yet as the books move on we see the plot intersect into this world and the authors’ agenda becomes clear. The Kingdom of Heaven is to be overthrown and a republic, with all the benefits, set up instead. In the plot one of the characters, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman 's hatred of Jesus Christ.
How different this is from the good news of Jesus Christ who even when nailed to a cross taught forgiveness and love. ‘I promise you that today you will be in paradise with me’.(Luke 23.43). His whole life was one of being poured out for others. To quote Paul - ‘He always had the nature of God, but he did not think by force he should try to become equal with God, instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had and took up the nature of a slave.’ (Philippians 2.6-7) Likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven is not a fascist rule but a communion, a fellowship, where Christ calls us not servants but friends (John 15.15) who know the Father’s plan for the healing and redemption of the cosmos. In particular this kingdom is a radical kingdom for the poor. (Luke 6.20) ‘Blessed are you poor for the kingdom of heaven is yours.’ So if we speak of Christ as a king then his crown is not of gold but of a crown of thorns. To quote Isaiah and the ancient liturgy; by his wounds we are redeemed. (Isaiah 53.5).
Finally, how should the Christian fight this war for the imagination? There are two extremes. The first, I see a lot in the more traditional churches and is a feeling of complacency often expressed with a slight dismay that young people don’t come to church anymore. Each of us has to measure in our minds whether the campaign for Christianity is worth winning in our corner of the world. If we want our children and grandchildren to have a Church in twenty or thirty years time then we need to fight for it. I want to say to specifically St Clements (Aberdeen) folk that this congregation’s survival is not dependent on fighting diocesan funding plans but each of us being instruments of good news. Too often we have perceived the battle as being with diocesan committees. The battle is not “in” the Church but outwith. The battle for St Clements begins not here but in our homes, schools, and workplaces. Unless we are explicitly talking about Christ in these arenas nothing will happen.
Secondly, the Gospel is about truth in love, not truth in hate. We could all get a bit more fired up and be zealots for the Kingdom of Heaven. That would be great but we should not do so in a way that is obnoxious, let alone violent. No doubt, many of our detractors would like nothing better than for us to seen be screeching words of hatred and waving placards. It would confirm their prejudged image that essentially all believers are aggressive fundamentalists. Therefore sent out as God’s sheep we must be as Christ said, innocent as the dove and wise as the serpent. (Matthew 10.16). This means acting peacefully, listening to difficult questions generously, and where possible appealing to criticism and cynicism with imagination. This is at heart the path of love and charity. Only by this way can we dismantle the republic of heaven that many would seek to build here on earth.
**
Notes
Then in the last year, Professor Richard Dawkins, penned The God Delusion, which instantly became a bestseller. Poorly written and packed with intellectual half-truths it presents a view of religion and Christianity which seem unrecognisable and dogmatic as any fundamentalist. Dawkins aims, the blurb states, to drive out from the reader any last vestiges of belief by the last chapter. Strangely for an academic, Dawkins, never bothered to approach even the most moderate of theologians.
On the same bandwagon we will soon have showing in the movies, Philip Pullman’s atheistic books for children, His Dark Materials. The first book called Northern Lights is released as The Golden Compass in the next few days. In a number of lectures and interviews Pullman has been explicit about his purpose. 'I hate the Narnia books, and I hate them with deep and bitter passion’. His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series as Aslan the Lion. "My books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed.
The first book of the Pullman fantasy begins from an alternative universe ruled by senile despotic God called The Authority. It would be easy to let him off the hook since this particular world is not of our own. We might forgive him that the Church, otherwise known as The Magisterium, is nasty and secretive, priests are murderous nasty or drunk. Yet as the books move on we see the plot intersect into this world and the authors’ agenda becomes clear. The Kingdom of Heaven is to be overthrown and a republic, with all the benefits, set up instead. In the plot one of the characters, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman 's hatred of Jesus Christ.
How different this is from the good news of Jesus Christ who even when nailed to a cross taught forgiveness and love. ‘I promise you that today you will be in paradise with me’.(Luke 23.43). His whole life was one of being poured out for others. To quote Paul - ‘He always had the nature of God, but he did not think by force he should try to become equal with God, instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had and took up the nature of a slave.’ (Philippians 2.6-7) Likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven is not a fascist rule but a communion, a fellowship, where Christ calls us not servants but friends (John 15.15) who know the Father’s plan for the healing and redemption of the cosmos. In particular this kingdom is a radical kingdom for the poor. (Luke 6.20) ‘Blessed are you poor for the kingdom of heaven is yours.’ So if we speak of Christ as a king then his crown is not of gold but of a crown of thorns. To quote Isaiah and the ancient liturgy; by his wounds we are redeemed. (Isaiah 53.5).
Finally, how should the Christian fight this war for the imagination? There are two extremes. The first, I see a lot in the more traditional churches and is a feeling of complacency often expressed with a slight dismay that young people don’t come to church anymore. Each of us has to measure in our minds whether the campaign for Christianity is worth winning in our corner of the world. If we want our children and grandchildren to have a Church in twenty or thirty years time then we need to fight for it. I want to say to specifically St Clements (Aberdeen) folk that this congregation’s survival is not dependent on fighting diocesan funding plans but each of us being instruments of good news. Too often we have perceived the battle as being with diocesan committees. The battle is not “in” the Church but outwith. The battle for St Clements begins not here but in our homes, schools, and workplaces. Unless we are explicitly talking about Christ in these arenas nothing will happen.
Secondly, the Gospel is about truth in love, not truth in hate. We could all get a bit more fired up and be zealots for the Kingdom of Heaven. That would be great but we should not do so in a way that is obnoxious, let alone violent. No doubt, many of our detractors would like nothing better than for us to seen be screeching words of hatred and waving placards. It would confirm their prejudged image that essentially all believers are aggressive fundamentalists. Therefore sent out as God’s sheep we must be as Christ said, innocent as the dove and wise as the serpent. (Matthew 10.16). This means acting peacefully, listening to difficult questions generously, and where possible appealing to criticism and cynicism with imagination. This is at heart the path of love and charity. Only by this way can we dismantle the republic of heaven that many would seek to build here on earth.
**
Notes
1. We celebrated this feast a week early so that next week we could have our patronal celebration and AGM.
2. At the end of this sermon it struck me that I could have mentioned the Lord of the Rings trilogy which came out in film in the last few years. Tolkien like Lewis used this as an allegory to Christianity. It is harder work to get the parallels with the Gospel but they are there. I suppose the most obvious is the name of the last part; The Return of the King.
