Sermon: “Both And”
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
25 April 2010: 8am
The Revd Judith Wigglesworth
- Acts 9:36-43
- Revelation 7:9-17
- John 10:22-30
Red poppies. White poppies. “Either Or?” Or “Both And?”
Last week there was much publicity about the annual white poppy appeal, organised by Peace Movement Aotearoa, being run at the same time as the well-established ANZAC red poppy appeal.
The red, or Flanders, poppy has become a symbol of war remembrance the world over. It has been linked with battlefield deaths since the time of the Great War of 1914–18. The plant was one of the first to grow and bloom in the mud and soil of Flanders. The connection was made, most famously, by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in his poem In Flanders Fields, written in 1915.
Peace Movement Aotearoa states that the white poppy is an international symbol of remembrance for all the casualties of war – civilians and armed forces personnel – and of peace.
Letters to the editor, radio interviews and media comment flew thick and fast last week. Some thought that the timing of the white poppy appeal near ANZAC Day was confrontational. Others thought that it legitimately shifted our attention towards peace, not war.
A clear case of “Either Or”. Or is it? Let’s see if today’s readings, which also may seem to pose an “Either Or”, can shed some light.
In the Passion story leading up to Easter we heard much about the symbolism of the crucified Jesus as the Lamb of God. As the Jewish people converged on Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, a different take on the Passover narrative was being played out by Jesus and his disciples in the upper room. Jesus’ crucifixion became regarded as the ultimate Passover sacrifice, and Jesus became known as the Passover Lamb, sacrificed for the sins of humanity. In the words of the great Easter Anthems: “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast”.
This image of Christ as the Lamb is strongly conveyed in today’s reading from Revelation. In this great vision of salvation, Jesus is pictured as the Lamb who was sacrificed, and whose blood purified the pain and sins of others. A few verses later, and also in today’s reading from the gospel of John, the image of Christ as a Lamb is turned upside down. In a great paradox, the Lamb is also the shepherd: “For the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd and he will guide them to springs of the water of life.”
How can this be? How can the Lamb also be the shepherd?
In Revelation it is recognised that the people have suffered great tribulation, and have wept. But they have also, with the help of God, come through their trials. “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal...God will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. As Canon Jenny said last Sunday at Choral Evensong, we are not asked not to weep in our grief and pain. Rather, we are asked not to despair. So Jesus, the shepherd, will guide us, even as we weep, and God will wipe those tears away. Perhaps Jesus, through his own suffering as the Lamb, is made the perfect shepherd to be present with us and guide us through our own suffering.
On Anzac Day we recall ordeals and tragedy that people went through in the name of war. It is difficult – perhaps impossible – for us to imagine the experiences of those who were caught up in the bloodiness of war if we haven’t been through those experiences ourselves. Yet we owe it to those who did, to remember and recognise their efforts, their sacrifices and their suffering.
That’s why we might wear a red poppy.
Whatever our personal opinions on past or present conflicts, the possible motives behind them, and the justification expounded for them, we gather here as one – the people of God. And as the people of God, we acknowledge that God’s vision of God’s ultimate kingdom is one of peace and unity. This vision is summed up in Revelation:
“There was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages…They cried out in a loud voice saying: Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
This vision is also summed up in a wonderful children’s book, God’s Dream, by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams:
“Each of us carries a piece of God’s heart within us. And when we love one another, the pieces of God’s heart are made whole. God dreams that every one of us will see that we are all brothers and sisters...even if we live in different faraway lands...”
Perhaps this vision of God, this vision of peace and unity, is why we might wear a white poppy.
So with a red poppy we look back, and with a white poppy we look forward. Today in our Eucharistic worship, we stand in the present. But we also look back in remembrance and forward with vision. Listen carefully to the words of the Great Thanksgiving later in the service this morning. We will remember the last supper that Jesus shared with his disciples. But we don’t stop there.
We will look for the coming of God in glory, and we will seek the help of God’s Holy Spirit to be renewed for the service of God’s kingdom. We will stand “united in Christ” and we will “worship God in songs of everlasting praise”. In fact the words we will use echo the words from Revelation this morning:
“Blessing, honour and glory be yours, here and everywhere, now and forever.”
The Biblical scholar Leonard Thompson, in The Book of Revelation, Apocalypse and Empire, wrote that worship is a “radical equaliser that breaks down all boundaries in heaven and earth.”
Worshipping together as a Christian community, and accepting the complexity and tensions implicit in our sacred scripture, is the way that we can live with the paradox of the Lamb and the shepherd; with the paradox of the red poppy and the white poppy.
Worship – the worth-ship of God – is the way that God’s vision is articulated, and the pieces of God’s heart, and ours, are made whole.
Amen.
