Revd Mark Bonney
Perhaps I’m just a miserable,
nearly middle-aged fogey – but I can’t quite get a grip of all the
‘phone-in celebrity voting competitions at the moment- On Friday night it was
the final of Fame Academy (I even know who won – but I didn’t
watch!). There was that ridiculous programme a several weeks ago in which
‘B’ grade celebrities found
themselves hoarded together in a jungle and had to do ridiculous task, the
there’s been Celebrity Big Brother (which I didn’t see anything of – I
think they were ‘C’ grade celebrities – the names I read meant nothing),
last Sunday evening saw BBC Sports Personality of the Year; slightly better
entertainment was provided by Great Britons (although it was disappointing at
the level of the names that made it into the top 20) As I queued up in
Sainsbury’s last week I was assailed on either side with OK, Hello
and other such magazines that wished to enlighten me about the latest celebrity
marital and relational fallout. And then of course there are the actually
important personalities that dominate the world stage – Saddam Hussein, Tony
Blair (but not his wife), George Bush and the rest - all surrounded by image
makers, press officers and the like – the cynical might say they’re there in
order to doctor the truth – the kinder amongst us might say they’re there to
help them the face the strains and stresses of being a ‘personality’ –
there are probably some who genuinely don’t seek the limelight. Even
the new Archbishop of Canterbury will be managed soon by his press officer and
the media watchers at Church House (it’ll be interesting to see how malleable
he is!)
This is a sermon and not a
psychology talk – so I won’t try and postulate why we lap it up – it’ll
all be to do with various unfulfilled wishes and desires within ourselves –
various hopes and aspirations that we project onto others and live out by seeing
these ‘personalities’ in some kind of fanciful way.
This personality thing even
happens in churches: some people will travel miles to go to a particular church
because of who the priest or minister is – difficult to have any sense of
Christian community in that context –- when a parish priest moves on so do
some of the congregation because they don’t like the new person. And when that
happens the question is begged – who were they there to worship in the first
place?! But I digress.
Of course we cannot be
‘personality-less’: all dull boring, grey and colourless – God forbid –
communities need leaders, and leaders have a habit of being ‘personalities’.
But the point I’m getting to is to do with where such personalities point.
Whether we’re talking about the well-known cult personalities or whether
we’re talking about ourselves – where do we point? Too often the pointing is
towards the self – in little and big ways demanding love and attention,
wanting to be the centre of attention..
In today’s Gospel we have the
second of two instalments about John the Baptist – John the Baptist is the
long-haired lefty of the NT. A striking and dramatic figure, but one who is
always pointing away himself. The writer gives him that role and it’s acted
out in the passage we heard. John rejects any titles for himself such as
‘messiah’ or ‘prophet’ and points to the one of whom he says “I am not
worthy to unite the thong of his sandal.” John the Baptist was no weak,
lily-livered personality – he comes across as a powerful firebrand preacher-
and people thronged to him and listened – he was listened to because he had a
powerful message, a message that pointed beyond himself – it pointed to Jesus.
There’s a great deal in our
society about self-fulfilment, self awareness, self this and self the other:
some of its important because we’re all special individuals created by God.
John is a little grit in the oyster here because he appears so unconcerned with
self – his selfhood is only fulfilled in pointing to Jesus.
There’s a vital tension here
for all of us to work with. We are to rejoice in being the people God has made
us – rejoice in the glory and variety of our personalities, we should develop
these and enable them to grow -
we’re not to hide our lights under a bushel. But we are to live for God’s
praise and glory and not our own. We are to draw attention to the Saviour and
not to ourselves.
Three little illustrations:
·
The preacher returns from preaching in a prestigious
church, bursting with pleasure that his sermon has been well received. “What
was it about?” he was asked. “Humility,” he replied.
·
Someone gave up running a church group and was heard
muttering, “the Rector never stood up in church and said thank you to me for
all that I’d done – I think I’ll give up going to church.”
·
“You’re very friendly people and I think I’ll come
again,” says the newcomer to the welcomer at the church door., and receives
the reply, “Please do, we pride ourselves on being a welcoming congregation
and it’s always good to hear that we’ve succeeded.”
One of the questions that has to
be asked about the practise of religion is, “who gets to be glorified?”
It’s a deeply uncomfortable question –especially if you’re in my shoes –
I always try to hold onto a definition of a priest that someone gave me which
says “a priest is someone who pulls away the veil from God and loses himself
in the folds.” Who indeed ‘gets to be glorified’ through the use of our
personalities and their growth – we ourselves, the church to which we belong,
or the God who made us and who renews us for his service? Like the Baptist we
are sent from God as men (and women) whose name is John (or Jane, or Michael or
Susan – or Matthew or Henry whom I will baptise soon). Like the Baptist we are
to be the personalities we are, and we do it best by pointing not to ourselves,
but to the one and only living God who is Father Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.