The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

I have rather mixed feelings about Dedication; renewing and refreshing of our commitment to the church is clearly desirable and it’s harmless enough to remember, with gratitude, the commitment of our predecessors in building this church. But there is a sort of backward looking introspective self-satisfaction and self congratulation about it too and it seems to me to be in danger of concentrating our minds on aspects of our church life which are not the ones on which we should be focussed.
This tendency to inward looking complacency has some of its roots in ideas like those in the passages we heard today. They are about being chosen. In John the flock has by faith, and grace, recognised its leader; that it knows its shepherd’s voice seems to be because it belongs already; Jesus harsh on those who were told, but didn’t believe. Unsurprisingly, the lucky few who had heardand believed felt pretty pleased with themselves. The theme is taken up in Peter’s Letter where we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation a people for God’s own possession.”  Those who do not belong, stumble because they were destined to do so. Bad luck, but there it is.
These rather unappealing sentiments, are explained in part by the context in which most of the New Testament was written; John is writing for a particular community which is, evidently, persecuted by the more orthodox Jews around it. The community  needs to believe in its very special position not just to keep up morale, but to protect itself from  lure of easier beliefs and to justify social stigma and ostracism. In Peter’s Letter we sense  the same feeling of luck and relief: “once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” This mercy is not something that we have done anything to deserve; we receive it like newborn infants receive milk; we are capable only of longing, not analysing and choosing what we long for, any more than a baby can choose not to cry to be fed.
The Jews had a similar consciousness of the chosen status, and again it’s a matter of grace, in the case of Jacob, almost capriciousness. Jacob as delinquent and deceitful younger son is an exceedingly unlikely choice as the father of his people. The activity of grace is not only unpredictable but paradoxical.
In each of the readings there is a connection between being chosen by grace and the experience and enjoyment of place. Jacob is promised the land on which he lies. And the place is sanctified and marked with a stone- the stone which, as a pillow, generated the dream and the vision of promise for a chosen people.
John’s flock have their place too; they are protected by the sheepfold of which Jesus is the doorway, but  it’s Peter who takes up the theme of sanctified stone; for him Jesus is as a corner stone, the block upon which church is built and we are masonry which make up the building, imitating and relying on our foundation.
I wonder what sort of building Peter had in mind for this metaphor. It can’t very well have been church buildings as we know them as none existed at this early time. Perhaps a palace or temple is envisaged as the people are called a royal priesthood. although one can’t help feeling that he also has the ambiguity of home in his mind- which we use to mean a building and family.
Perhaps for this reason, it is a metaphor which has in some ways had an unfortunate consequence, parallel to the consequences of feeling chosen. Christian churches often have an ostentatious façade, but they are essentially interiors, to house the congregation and focus them on usually the altar -but in other churches the pulpit or a shrine. The feeling is of safety and comfort and it can distracts us from our mission, by concentrating our attention inwards. Sometimes that attention becomes an obsession with the beautification of the building. There are many beautiful churches in Christendom and my idea of a good holiday is to see at least two a day, but this is just an aesthetic pleasure and seldom a spiritual experience. Churches and other religious buildings are among the most impressive marks Christianity has made on our civilisation, but I think Jesus and the early Christians might have been rather surprised to see just how much money and effort has been piled into buildings. St Paul’s cathedral has come quite a long way from Jacob’s upended pillow.
 These are somewhat anachronistic reflections and, it’s perhaps more helpful to see a parallel in how inanimate stones can be inspired as they become sanctified in God’s service. Passive stones are like new born babies in that they have things done to them; they receive grace and love from God without deserving it and are built up, as we are into a church- a building and a community.  The metaphor goes further;  Peter’s stones are inspired; they have become living stones. This has literal implications for us later Christians; our buildings, made to worship God, are living, organic structures and like the communities which use them they need to change, grow and adapt.
Our reaction to that love and grace is, naturally, gratitude and we show our thanks in part by trying to make our churches, and all that goes on in them, beautiful  and with luck- and more grace-reflecting something of God’s glory. More importantly, however,  the great consequence of being chosen should be the desire to spread the word to others. It is not that grace is limited or that salvation is ticketed. We have been thinking this year about growing our church and more recently about the role of the wider church in London. Many ideas have emerged from both discussions, but the common theme is, I believe, the need for us to be instruments of God’s love in the world.  All our ideas will need us to change and grow and adapt to come to fruition.
A little more significance can be squeezed out of the building metaphor. Ancient public buildings were very public; the temples of the Greek and Roman world usually housed a cult statue inside but their real purpose was to shine out from headlands and hills proclaiming the wealth and power of their builders. Sacrifice went on outside. The Temple in Jerusalem follows this pattern- only, of course the inner sanctum contained no statue to the astonishment of the gentiles. The public spaces, the courts and colonnades- like one under which John’s Jesus shelters from winter weather, were a grandiose statement, open to all or all Jews anyway.   Christian churches when they were built had, as I have said, the reverse orientation (and significantly imitated civil basilicas, not religious temples). Peter may be thinking of the public building that he might have known, buildings with a message to proclaim. The Christian community is to respond to God’s love by telling others about it.   The apparent self congratulation and insularity of the chosen is to be reversed, by demonstrating and realising God’s love among ourselves and our neighbours we shall shine out and with God’s help bring light to a dark world; “proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness”.
Seen in this way, as means of spreading  light and love outwards, I am much more comfortable with the idea of Dedication, not just of this church and it community, but ourselves as its component parts. It is appropriate then that Dedication Sunday should start our Stewardship month and I want to end by encouraging you to think of ways in which you can contribute to our church life to make it a beacon to draw others to experience God’s love. Please consider carefully whether you should give more financially- you might try comparing what you do give with other items of your expenditure; similarly please think of ways in which you might give just a little of your time (as Church Steward, for example keeping the Church open to visitors) or your skills, as a Junior church helper or teacher (actually it’s enthusiasm, rather than knowledge or experience that counts in bringing our children into the life of the church) . But as important as money, time or skill, are ideas. Without sharing your thoughts and aspirations, you will feel no ownership or commitment to this church and without those we cannot grow and fulfil our mission. So please think hard about what you can give to this church so that it can give life and love to the world in which we live, shining like a city that is unity unto itself.  Amen