During the American presidential campaign of 1956 Adlai Stevenson said of General Eisenhower that, He has dedicated himself so many times he must feel like the cornerstone of a public building.’ The cornerstone of this building was dedicated on Oct. 8th 1747 – for some reason by the Bishop of Llandaff acting on behalf of the Bishop of London. Eisenhower was, we assume, dedicating himself to the service of the American people, and doing it so often that his opponents were casting doubts on his sincerity. Each year we rededicate ourselves to the service of this church but are we sincere? What does it mean to be dedicated? The origins of the word are religious: to dedicate means to devote with solemn rites to the service of God’. It comes from the Latin which means literally to speak about and hence to proclaim, devote or consecrate.
So today as we hold our annual Dedication Festival we speak about and celebrate the existence of this church and congregation; we give thanks for all those who down the ages have dedicated themselves to the work of the church in this place and we rededicate ourselves to that work and witness.
But in order to do that we have to explore how we might best express our dedication. In the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ we find this curious observation. You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No-one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it’s going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, its always because those dogmas or goals are in doubt.’ Is there then a relationship between dedication and religious fanaticism? And does it arise out of doubt as in the preachers note to himself in the margin of a sermon Argument weak – speak louder.’ As honest Anglicans with a certain amount of doubt or at least wistful uncertainty we are unlikely to be accused of fanaticism. But does that mean that our degree of dedication is thereby weakened for fear of seeming fanatical? What would un-fanatical dedication look like?
Jesus is walking in the portico of the Temple. It is the Feast of Dedication the time for celebrating the victory of Judas Maccabeus. The Maccabees had defeated their Syrian overlords and removed the pagan statues which they had set up in the temple. They had cleansed and rededicated the Temple and every December the event was remembered in the Feast of Hanukkah or Dedication. As Jesus visits the Temple the Jews demand to know clearly who he is, what sort of leader he claims to be. Jesus tells them that they have all the evidence they need they have simply failed to understand and believe it. They do not belong they are not part of the flock given by God to his Son, the Good Shepherd. Understanding and believing arises therefore, out of a sense of belonging, being somehow at home. Jesus’ Jewish opponents have been unable to enter his space, to try to see things for a moment through his eyes. They are unable to enter into a new way of seeing and experiencing God.
They have been unable to enter the new building which Jesus is constructing in his teaching, in his relationships and in his deeds. The foundation stone of this new home is for them a stumbling block. And yet it need not be. With Jesus as the cornerstone the new building can be built of many different kinds of stone for the living stones of which it is constructed come in many varieties. We only have to look round at ourselves to see that that is true yet each one of us is a living stone in this spiritual house. Some of us may feel like a threshold stone, some may be part of a central arch, some may surround a window, others belong down in the kitchen, some may feel newly carved others a bit worn down this metaphor can easily get out of hand
Seen in this light, however, our being dedicated must involve a commitment to caring for the place which we call our spiritual home. Whatever doubts we may have wherever we may feel ourselves to be in this community we are dedicated to holding part of it up, because we feel we belong here, we can find God here. A living stone holds up this spiritual house with prayer and service, friendship, time and of course money.
Christians can be every mixed up about money. We don’t like talking about it in Church. We know that in some churches Christians are unabashed by the idea of publicly praying for money and more often than not getting it. We are abashed by that idea. We suspect it of being a form of blackmail. If you pray for money people feel more obliged to give so that it won’t seem as though God hasn’t answered our prayers. We don’t want to pressurise people perhaps because we are afraid of a negative response not from God but from each other perhaps we aren’t such a committed congregation as we suppose perhaps people will drift away if we ask them for money.
The time has come to put these fears to the test. We need money for the accommodation of a new curate we need money to provide more rooms for our growing Sunday school work and to enable us to build more contacts with the wider community we need money to maintain all our present activities located in this building. We cannot stand still without more income we will have to curtail our activities and to shrink. With increased giving we can grow and develop our mission to be a hospitable, compassionate, thoughtful and dedicated Christian community at the heart of Hampstead.
St Peter encourages his readers to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. We assume by spiritual sacrifice he means prayers and more time for praying. But the spiritual isn’t necessarily to do only with the immaterial. Money can also be a vehicle for spirituality. The way we earn it, what we choose to do with it, and the way we feel about having it or not having it these are all spiritual issues. So, to come back to the meaning of dedication; we will at the conclusion of this Eucharist re- dedicate ourselves to the service of God , not as fanatics, nor as vacillating half believers, but as the honest faithful who find here a home which is generous to our doubts and encouraging to our beliefs; we will re- dedicate ourselves to making this a place in which others may feel welcome to explore their values and their faith and so live their lives courageously; we will re-dedicate ourselves to learning the story of God in Jesus Christ and find there the strength to overcome our weakness and our sin, and so care with greater passion for those who need our attention and our generosity; and we will re-dedicate our wealth in whatever form that takes to building up this house of God. That quote from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ maintained that no-one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow.’ But here we are called to join in the song of all God’s people that the sun of righteousness will rise each and every day with healing in its wings.
Amen.
Stephen Tucker