Preach it!

 

                                              La Sagrada Familia (the Holy Family) -- Kelly Latimore

 When [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,  and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” 

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

Luke 4: 16-21 NRSVue 

Preach

To preach is to deliver a sermon or an otherwise powerful message. You may go to church to hear the minister preach, and you may preach tolerance to your friends.

This week the British High Court used its "pulpit" to rule that the government's controversial plan to deport migrants to Rwanda is lawful, the High Court. The court ruled on Monday that the scheme did not breach the UN's Refugee Convention or human rights laws. From what I can gather this is the highest authority, at least from a legal standpoint.

There is another form of authority which isn't recognized in the same way which is the moral authority of the Church of England. Over the past few months the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, bishops and priests, have been speaking forcefully against this miserable plan to foist migrants off on an African nation in supect conditions. They have done so in interviews open letters, opinion pieces and from pulpits. All these venues have drawn on the witness of the scriptures, the prophets, Jesus in the gospels, and the New Testament letters 

In his Easter sermon, shortly after the policy was announced, the Archbishop of Canterbury said it “cannot stand up to the judgment of God”. He said: “Sub-contracting out our responsibilities, even to a country that seeks to do well like Rwanda, is the opposite of the nature of God who himself took responsibility for our failures.”

These direct criticisms have rankled both small-c and Capital-C conservatives in the media and the CofE leadership has often been eloquent in their rebuttals. I laughed out loud at the fatuous bluster of one Member of Parliament a couple of days ago   

the Independent 

A Tory MP has launched an attack on Church of England bishops – and is facing mockery after he said they should stop "using the pulpit to preach from". Jonathan Gullis was told to "look up the meaning of Bishop in the dictionary" after blasting the senior clerics for "preaching" about refugees. 

It comes after the prelates criticised the government's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and said the idea should "shame us as a nation".In June the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, and 23 other bishops had said refugees were “the vulnerable that the Old Testament calls us to value”. 

They went on to urge the government to scrap the Rwanda plan, branding it “immoral” and against the teachings of Jesus to offer hospitality to strangers.

As someone who has probably preached a couple of thousand sermons, all referring to scripture, and often on social justice issues, I am glad that this MP was challenged for his dopey indignation. There have been lots of occasions when someone has commented about being "preached at" in social settings, unaware that I was a preacher, and I would innocently ask if they meant that preaching is a good thing. 

In some expressions of Christ's body exhortations from the pulpit are met with an appreciative and spontaneous  "preach!" or "preach it!" While that might cause a stir in mainline/oldline churches, some affirmation of the witness of the preacher and the work of the Holy Spirit could be a breath of fresh air. 

Oh yes, God bless the Christian clerics of several denominations in Britain for their faithful witness.