I don't often publish sermons I have written but this week the beginning is apt for some of what is changing with our new political masters in Wellington. To be clear: I think we needed a change of government, I am not opposed to all changes in the wings. Yet not all changes a change government brings in are to be accepted without comment. The occasion for the sermon was the installation of a new canon for our Cathedral.
Installation
Cameron Pickering, Sunday 10 December 2023
Readings: Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8
Ko te tīmatanga
o te rongopai o Īhu Karaiti, o te Tama a Te Atua
The good
news of Jesus Christ is spoken or written in a language.
John the
Baptist and Jesus spoke their messages in Aramaic, a language not dissimilar to
the Hebrew language of Isaiah.
Such
prophets spoke so they would be understood by their hearers.
Mark wrote
his gospel in Greek. Peter wrote his epistle in Greek. That was the universal
language of the Mediterranean world (incidentally, Greek it was, rather than
Latin, even though this was the territory of the Roman Empire).
Not so many
people today understand Greek or Latin, so we do not have our lessons read from
versions of the Bible in those languages. We like the Bible in our own familiar
language.
For many of
us that is English. Like Greek, it is something of a universal language. But it
is not the familiar language of all peoples.
So we
understand that the process of communicating te rongopai, the good news, goes
from Aramaic to Greek to English to ... Chinese ... Spanish ... Māori – Te Reo
of the indigenous people of NZ.
Te Reo is
not just a familiar language to many Kiwis. It is an official language of our
country. But we are slowly, very slowly waking up to the possibility of being a
bilingual nation.
Certain
moves lately imply a diminution of the importance of Te Reo. We can protest
these changes creatively by ourselves using Te Reo (or permitting its use) as
much as possible.
The best
way to defy our masters in Wellington is to do what even they cannot forbid,
speak Te Reo!
The Good
News – Te Rongopai – is an announcement of the kingdom of God – te
rangatiratanga o te Atua – that God is directly engaged in our world,
reconciling people to himself, putting wrongs to right, working for justice
between and among people, and healing diseases and brokenhearts.
That is a
summary of the vision of a restored Israel which Isaiah begins to announce with
the passage we heard this morning – a vision which through Īhu Karaiti
escalates to a vision for a restored world.
The kingdom
of God – te rangatiratanga o te Atua – has begun, its fulfilment is not yet
complete – our epistle tells us both to wait for that fulfilment patiently and
not to be complacent about our role in bringing it to fulfilment: in verse 12,
“waiting
for and hastening the coming day of the Lord.”
December is
a season of busy preparation for Christmas and that makes the church season of Advent
a fraught time for carving out time to reflect on the first coming of Christ to
begin the kingdom of God and on the second coming of the Kingdom to complete
the kingdom of God.
But this
morning we have a few minutes to do some reflection and on the occasion of
installing Cameron Pickering as a clerical canon of this cathedral, we might
focus that reflection on the role of the cathedral in hastening the kingdom of
God.
Canons are
members of Chapter, the governing body of the Cathedral, brought together to
support the Dean in his leadership of the faith community associated with the
Cathedral.
The
governance of the Cathedral should ask and keep asking, what role can the
Cathedral play in the kingdom of God growing in the world?
In reality,
we get weighed down by mundane matters of finance (not enough!), compliance
(too much!) and so forth. Cameron, help us not to be distracted from our
primary purpose!
To be at
the forefront of hastening the kingdom of God, the Dean, Chapter, the Regulars,
the Volunteers, the staff, all visitors and myself – we - should keep asking,
how can this Cathedral speak Good News – Te Rongopai – to the world – to the
city and to Canterbury?
What
language do we need to speak that Good News in? Yes, in English, in Te Reo, in
Chinese and so on.
To speak
the Good News in English or Te Reo or Chinese or any other language is simply a
starting point in engagement with the language of the culture of the people of
the world whom God loves.
How will we
speak the Good News into the culture of our day, in ways, in forms of
communication which this generation will receive and engage with?
That is a
challenge because Cathedrals have become guardians of traditions of the church
as well as places of intrigue and sacred mystery to which visitors come and to
which seekers of God are drawn.
The culture
of our day represents the traditions of past times evolved and adapted to
present day norms and expectations which themselves will change as tomorrow
comes.
To be a
guardian of tradition and an adaptor to an ever changing world is a huge
challenge, but ...
Cathedrals
need to discern the cultural moment if the Good News is to be proclaimed in a
manner which wins a hearing, leads to changed lives and to a changed world.
One of the
strengths Cameron will bring to the role of Clerical Canon is an ability to
discern the cultural moment.
Cameron,
help Dean Ben and all of us with the primary Christian task of proclaiming the
Good News in ways which mean we herald and hasten Te rangatiratanga o Te Atua.