St Mary’s Swansea - 60th Anniversary -The Dean of Brecon
Sunday 26 May 2019
St Mary’s Swansea: Anniversary of the Rededication of the Church after bombing
Acts 16. 9-15 / Psalm 67 / Revelation 21. 10, 22 - 22.5 / John 14. 23-29
The Very Reverend Dr Paul Shackerley
Dean of Brecon
A man came upon a construction site where three people were working. He asked the first, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am laying bricks.” He asked the second, “What are you doing?” and the man replied: “I am building a wall.” As he approached the third, he heard him humming a tune as he worked, and asked, “What are you doing?” The man stood, looked up at the sky, and smiled, “I am building a cathedral [Church]!” I suppose, being the Church, will depend if we see ourselves just laying bricks or building walls. Or, we can see the vision to witness to the Gospel to build the Kingdom.
Still in Eastertide, I couldn’t have wished for a better reading than the one chosen by the Church and presented in the lectionary for today. It’s the story of the new Jerusalem, cited by John the Divine in Revelation Chapter 21. Historically, by one calculation, the city of Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured then recaptured 44 times. This remains the repeated past and present reality of that holy city, Jerusalem. Yet, it is filled with imagery, water of life, tree of life, healing of the nations. It refers to much of the vision found in Ezekiel, who wrote about a river flowing out the thriving urban landscape, wondrously healing the nations, a message as powerfully pertinent for our national and the world.
And like Jerusalem past and present, St Mary’s Church is no stranger to conflict, destruction and change since its beginnings in the 14th Century. Your roots make interesting reading. The collapsed roof in 1739, resulting in re-build, expect the tower. Renovations again in 18879 and 1882, only to be flattened again in 1896. Then of course, flattened in the Blitz in 1941, and not being rebuilt until 1950s.
Jerusalem, a city sanctified by religion and tradition, by history and theology, by holy places and houses of worship, a city revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It reflects the fervor and piety of the three major monotheistic faiths, each of which is bound to Jerusalem by veneration and love. It is a beautiful, vibrant, modern metropolis where every ancient byway tells a story of faith, siege, prosperity, and grief. But, to study Jerusalem—its tumultuous history, dramatic architecture, politics, power struggles, commerce, and shifting population –is to gain an invaluable understanding of three of the world’s major religions and the global impact and legacy of their long long-simmering conflicts and periodic alliances, which exist today. Like Jerusalem the city, whose history has shaped its identity and purpose as a holy place, St Mary’s Swansea’s history has also shaped your identity and purpose as a holy place.
John the Divine, in writing about the new Jerusalem, knew the history of that great city. A city of the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. John's elaborate description of the New Jerusalem retains many features of the Garden of Eden and the paradise garden, such as rivers, a square shape, a wall, and the Tree of Life.
Whatever we might think of the Church and this Diocese, and yes it has declined and is unpopular, our faith continues to be nurtured by our worship together and feeding on the Bread of Life, who came to show us that our fleshly and earthly lives are of cosmic and divine value. God invites us to be faithful in worship and service. faiths, each of which is bound to Jerusalem by veneration and love. That’s why we are here. That’s why Christians who have worshipped here since the 14th Century have loved this place, and cared for it, through devastation and destruction, through conflict, but also in shared vision and ministry. The place, not just of architecture, stone and stained glass, but a spiritual home where you celebrate the birth of babies, marry people in love, and grieve the loss of loved ones. These occasional offices are needed more in this age than any other era, which offer symbols and continuity that express life experiences.
What John the Divine reveals to us about the New Jerusalem is that we have glimpses of the new Jerusalem here on earth when we gather as the Church. Because a New Jerusalem consist of three aspects: it’s a community of believers who guard and teach the faith and serve those outside the architecture; it’s a place of healing; and finally, it’s a place of vision. In the new Jerusalem, the gates are never shut.
Here in your present life worship remains the constant. We use sacraments and signs, images and words, that offer glimpses of the divine reality that lives in each one of us. Here in your special and holy place, you encounter God amid the shadows and uncertainties of your daily lives. There we shall see God in the bright light of eternal day and in the delightful rest of eternal sabbath. In the celebrated words of St. Augustine, ‘we shall rest and we shall see; we shall see and we shall love; we shall love and we shall praise. Behold what shall be in the end and shall not end.’
We do not now live in that great city, but from time to time we find ourselves, perhaps to our surprise, in one of its near suburbs, Swansea city. And so, as John might put it, we catch a glimpse of its golden crystalline walls, its gates of stupendous pearl. These glimpses may happen in any of countless ways. It may come as a strange warming of the heart. A refreshment of hope and courage. An assurance in time of hardship. A beauty that beguiles and delights. The creator of all things, the lord of all time is versatile in giving us glimpses of that great city, reminders of our true home. We cannot dictate when these glimpses happen. We cannot predict when they will happen, but we can remain faithful, knowing the glimpses will come as encouragement, showing themselves in the minutiae of expression of love and compassion. We simply leave ourselves open to recognize, welcome and celebrate them when they occur.
In 1804, the English poet William Blake composed Milton a Poem. Though highly critical of his own Anglican Church and all forms of organized religion in general, Blake was thoroughly inspired by biblical story and metaphor. With Jerusalem, the short preface to the epic poem, he drew on the fanciful legend of a young Jesus once visiting England during his supposed “lost years,” With biblical imagery – and, in particular the Book of Revelation – Blake describes a Second Coming of sorts; when a longed-for heavenly Jerusalem would once and for all dispense with whatever human condition would prevent just such a thing. For Blake, it was the “dark satanic mills” of the dehumanizing aspects of the emerging industrial revolution in his own era. Later set to music by Charles Parry in 1916, in order to bolster British troops in the First World War (and later Britain’s suffragette movement), it became beloved as Britain’s “unofficial” hymn. It was these lines that began the pompous opening ceremony of the 2012 summer Olympic games in London; as billowing smokestacks rose up out of a pastoral countryside scene, drowning out a child’s voice singing these lines,
And did those feet in ancient time
walk upon England’s mountain green
And was the holy lamb of God
on England’s pleasant pastures seen
And did the countenance divine
shine forth upon these clouded hills
And was Jerusalem builded here,
among these dark satanic mills?
We do not grieve the past, rather find strength in what is ahead for this and future generations. We need places like this community and church to teach each other the heartbeat of faith in our history, our stories and our struggles, to reveal to us afresh the Bread of Life who has come. We need schools of prayer and places of spiritual learning, places like this where we can travel together deeper into the heart of God. We might only catch glimpses of him in hearing the coughs and tickles, but he has resourced us in Word, Intercessions/prayers, coming together as community, and in the Sacrament of bread and wine, where we feed on him who died and rose again for us, and lives forever. So, clear your throats, murmur your stories to this generation, and God will be known to you and those who do not yet know him. This is your task because you reflect the coming New Jerusalem. This church is the repository of community identity and memories. These treasured glimpses are what we celebrate today as signs of the New Jerusalem yet to come in its fullness.
END
Comments