BEARING FRUIT IN THE MODERN AGE

Sermon delivered on the Second Sunday Of Advent the 9th December 2007 by Fr Nicholas JG Sykes in the St. Alban's congregation of the Church of England, George Town, Cayman Islands in the service of the Holy Eucharist.

Scriptures: Isaiah 11: 1-10     Romans 15: 4-13     Matthew 3: 1-12

Matt 3:8f - The words of John the Baptist: "Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham."

CLARENDON COLLEGE

Just over forty-one years ago I flew from England to take up residence in Jamaica. I had for several years before then considered that my calling was probably to what were then being called under-developed countries, but had only understood Jamaica to be the correct direction of travel after meeting a certain young lady from there who later became my wife. My first posting in Jamaica was teaching at a High School called Clarendon College, and I found myself observing how well or otherwise the children of the school lived up to the national motto of Jamaica, which had become an independent country four years before I arrived.

JAMAICA'S MULTICULTURAL IDEAL

The new national motto at that time as many of us know was "Out of many, one people", which is just a free translation of the American motto "E pluribus unum". I was personally deeply sympathetic to the ideal, and felt that this was a unique contribution that Jamaica could make to the world.

THE CHILDREN OF JAMAICA AND THE CAYMAN ISLANDS

However, the children in the 1960's at Clarendon College, I observed, did not as a whole take to the spirit of the national motto very well, and rarely did I see children of markedly different ethnicity together in friendship groups. It's not that the groups were antagonistic to one another necessarily, but just that to integrate in that way did not come naturally to the majority, and it seemed to me a pity that this was the case.

When we came to the Cayman Islands nearly 27 years ago, I remember noting that children playing together in some yards in West Bay did often seem to be more integrated. Interestingly, Cayman's motto is theologically rather than socially based, and its experience in general is considerably different to Jamaica's, but I consider that, with what could be termed the pronounced "ethnicism" here, Cayman too has quite a way to go to uphold multiculturalism, though it is something perhaps that Cayman in practical terms cannot escape from.

MULTICULTURALISM IN STATE AND CHURCH

It is of course one thing to have in one’s mind what a population ought to do and another thing entirely, to expect that it will willingly conform to a social ideal. Multiculturalism like all other social ideals such as a human rights culture does not have what it takes to drive itself. For that, it needs something greater than itself.

The New Testament shows St. John the Baptist proclaiming: "Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." The Baptist is telling them that merely being Jewish was not sufficient for going back to the way of life charted by the covenant between God and Israel. They could trace their descent from Abraham as much as they wanted, but that did not in any true sense make them covenant members. Although John's message, like that of the Old Testament prophets, was to the Jewish nation, his call for repentance, like that of the Old Testament prophets before him, was a foretaste of the New Covenant in Christ open to all. Isaiah's prophecy in our Old Testament lesson today links the very Jewish-sounding "root from the stump of Jesse" - for we remember that King David was the son of Jesse - with the nations, the Gentiles. The prophecy declares that the nations will seek this root of Jesse. The Septuagint version of the prophecy, which St. Paul quotes in his letter to the Romans, says, "The root of Jesse shall come, he who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles hope." It is easy for us in modern times to forget what a revolutionary thing it was, in spite of the implications of some Old Testament prophecy, for Jews and Gentiles to co-exist as the people of God. We would be right to regard this as the root of multiculturalism. Yet significantly, all these years later, this New Testament type of multiculturalism is still not strongly evidenced by much of a specifically Jewish component within the Church, and there are still many congregations whose ethnic basis is strongly to the fore.

GLORIFYING THE GOD OF JEWS AND GENTILES

As Christians we know we are called to strive for a faithful harmony amongst people of all backgrounds and origins who are found within the company of the church. St. Paul said to Jews and Gentiles in the church he was writing to in Rome: "May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Therefore, undergirding and unifying the people from the disparate cultures he was addressing was the overriding aim of glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It follows from the New Testament perspective, that the lack of this overriding aim must sooner or later sound the death-knell of multiculturalism, and that is one aspect of why the church’s theological witness to the wider society remains essential, as well as its moral witness. This is pertinent to the discussions that are taking place about "The Golden Compass". One radio commentator I heard said approvingly that the church was exercising its duty to be a moral compass to the community, but I think the controversy was more because it was exercising its duty to be a theological compass. The words of St. John the Baptist about God being able to raise up children to Abraham from the very stones are significant also. Jesus too spoke of the very stones crying out in praise of the Messiah should the crowd's voices be suppressed. Although John and Jesus were speaking figuratively, may the expression not also show us the hard and stony hearts that wherever they may be found can be softened by the message of John and by the Gospel of the Lord. Even stones, Jesus and John say, can be softened and moulded to become children responsive to God and His Christ.

I consider that the twin graces of a universal communion of different cultures and types within the Body of Christ and the softening of hearts hardened by selfishness can be applied quite obviously to the current frustrations that we encounter in our day to day experience in these times, here in Cayman and elsewhere, and it is essential for us to remember the Source of these and the many other graces upon which we are privileged to draw. It is the ministry of Christ Himself, who continues to minister from the heavenly throne, the Light of the world that fulfilled the visions of the prophets, and that began in time to dawn upon the world in the ministry of the last of the prophets before Jesus, St. John the Baptist. Owing to this ministry, the ministry of the Christ, we can indeed prevail and overcome, and bear fruit befitting repentance in the modern age..