Sermon for Evensong, Headingley St Michael & All Angels, 11 August 2024
Reading: Hebrews 12:1-17
What a week it has been! Like all of us who preach or otherwise have opportunity to comment on events, my thoughts have been influenced this week by events that have unfolded since the murder of three children in Southport. Southport, as it happens, is where I was born, though I don’t have any relatives or friends there now.
I stand, of course, with all people of goodwill in condeming both the initial act of murder, and the violence and rioting that have ensued on the streets of cities across the UK. Injury, looting, arson and the unseen psychological scars suffered by many people in minority communities are an abomination to God. Where, we might ask, is the protection that God has promised us in tonight’s psalm? “Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night: nor for the arrow that flieth by day”1
We have seen rioting on the streets before, 2011 being the last time it spread beyond one city. What seems particularly unusual about this summer’s events is that many of those who took part did not fit the stereotype of a young, poorly educated man from a deprived community. Older people, women and the well-educated were among them. One middle-aged couple is said to have joined in the violence after their usual afternoon game of bingo.
There has already been much speculation about what lies behind the escalation of violence in response to the initial incident. What seems beyond doubt is that what happened on the streets was to a large extent influenced by what happens online. So-called ‘trolls’ on social media, allegedly reinforced by foreign agents seeking to exploit our divisions, have played on existing fears and prejudices to encourage a violent response. Some of these fears may be counted as ‘legitimate concerns’ about the level of immigration, but I suggest that is more of an excuse than an explanation. The real roots of trouble lie deeper than that. Where do we look behind the online trolling and incitement, for an explanation of why some people respond to it while others condemn it?
One factor that I want us to look at, I suggest the most important one, is a sense of community – or the lack of one. The rioters may well consider that they belong to a sort of community, one that mainly exists online. The internet and social media have of course given opportunity for us all to connect with like-minded people wherever they may be. Often for good, but sometimes for ill.
Being part of an online community, though, is very different from being part of civil society. What people really need is a strong, real-time community rooted in a particular place. It is the lack of such meaningful ties, among other factors, that can give rise to dissatisfaction and suspicion of those who are seen as ‘outsiders’.
Look at the contrast between those who came together from far and wide to join a temporary mob, and the many people who afterwards came out on the street to start the process of restoring hope. Churches, mosques, and other community groups have quickly come together to clean up, repair, offer support, and stand in solidarity with those who have to endure the hatred of others. These people may well have communicated through social media groups, but in this instance with their actual neighbours, building on existing local connections or forging new ones in the desire to overcome the forces of hate. The American writer and campaigner for racial justice, Maya Angelou, is credited with saying “Hate has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”
What does our Hebrews reading tonight tell us about communities in general and churches in particular? Let me read you verses 14 and 15 in the Jerusalem Bible translation, which I think puts it very well: “Always be wanting peace with all people, and the holiness without which no one can ever see the Lord. Be careful that no-one is deprived of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness should begin to grow and make trouble; this can poison a whole community”. ‘Depriving people of the grace of God’ might mean failing to share the Good News of his love, while we have seen this week what can grow from the ‘root of bitterness’.
Headingley – as a town, not just the church – does seem to have a stronger sense of community than other parts of Leeds, but I’ve come across many places where the church is the only kind of community association in the area.
We – Christians, church members – can benefit from this kind of community wherever we live. That is the glory of the Church of England’ parish system, and a jewel that perhaps isn’t recognised as such by those who grew up in the church, nor promoted well enough: that to be a Christian is to be received into the sort of supportive and inclusive community that many people can only dream of.
The Gospel properly understood is the ‘good news’ that we take part, not in our own mission, but in God’s mission through Jesus to restore all things to himself. Jesus, who the writer to the Hebrews reminds us “stood such opposition from sinners”. ‘Equality, diversity and inclusion’ is something that companies and other organisations have recently started to take on board as important to their flourishing, but that is not new to us in the church. If we are not equal, diverse and inclusive, how can we be disciples of Jesus?
What also makes the Church stand out from any other kind of community is that it exists not just in the ‘here and now’. The Body of Christ is without boundaries of time or space. When we recite the final phrases of the Apostles’ Creed, it’s easy to miss the significance of what we proclaim: I believe in the holy catholic Church … The Communion of Saints … the forgiveness of sins … the resurrection of the body … and the life everlasting”.
Which brings me, at last, to the first verse of Hebrews chapter 12: “With so many witnesses in a great cloud on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us”. That ‘great cloud of witnesses’ is both the rest of the worldwide church on earth, and all those who have gone before us. We cannot see them, but our faith is that they in some sense can see us and continue to encourage us – nay, to incite us – to “run the race that is set before us”, as they did.
So to conclude, if this week you have been tempted to be cowed by the violence of the few and the forces of darkness that lie behind them, let me leave you with three thoughts: that most people are reasonable, despise violence and racism as much as we do, and want to respond to hate with love; that in standing up to it, online or in person, we take part in God’s mission of reconciliation through the strength of Christ who suffered for us; and that in doing so we are incited, not by trolls, but by this great cloud of witnesses, this community throughout time and space in which we find our life and meaning. Amen.
- Psalm 91:5, Book of Common Prayer Psalter ↩︎