Sermon\nText: Revelation 21.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen\nI saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth\nhad passed away\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the tumult within\nJamaican politics beginning in the mid-sixties and continuing for the next\nthree decades, it is easy to forget the scholarly and pioneering contributions\nwhich Edward Seaga made to the Living Heritage of our national life. I will leave others to judge whether he\nsucceeded to weave something of a religious and social synthesis that\ncontributed to our common life. What\ncannot be ignored was the important role religion and culture played in his\nlife and thought. Seaga remained an Anglican to his death but recognized the\ncritical role which Revivalism and folk culture played in shaping the world\nview of the Jamaican people during and long after slavery. That, he believed,\nis the undisputed fact of our history and must be accounted for despite\nwhatever resistance came from the social elite. \nWithout this affirmation, the majority of Jamaicans are not likely to\nfeel they belong to anything. And where\nyou do not belong, you are not likely to feel like an equal partner, and\ntherefore, not likely to make sacrifices for the collective good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, a grateful\nnation joins with Carla, Anabella, Andrew, Christopher and Gabrielle in celebrating\nover five decades of public service by Edward George Seaga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The book of Revelation,\nfrom which our second lesson was taken, is a tale of two cities. One city reflects the corrupting influences\nof a world which was no longer sustainable; the other city reflects God\u2019s dream\nfor a new world order which speaks of the deepest yearnings of humankind. In this alternate city, the New Jerusalem,\nthe old afflictions of humanity all disappear; the things that make us sick,\nthat grieve the hearts of parents and children are no more. \u201cGod will wipe\nevery tear from their eyes. Death will be\nno more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the former things\nhave passed away.\u201d This City, of which\nJohn of Patmos dreamt, is of course, no actual city. One cannot imagine it ever existing. So why make a big deal about it? Because it is a world God himself promises –\nnot for another world somewhere else – but for this world – A world where God\u2019s\ncompassion, mercy, justice, righteousness, truth and equity reign. God\u2019s dream\nthen, is for humanity to live together, free from all the evil and corrupting\ninfluences that undermine the prospects for a good life. Scripture wants us to understand that until\nwe are able to dream God\u2019s dream for a New World, we will continue propping up\nthe old systems that are falling away. \nSo the Book of Revelation, even with its sometime strange language, is\nas relevant today as it was to the first century Christian community under the\nrule of the Empire. The book speaks not\nso much about the end of the world as the falling apart of a world that has\nlost its relevance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What transforming power\nwill be great and saving enough to break the spell of old social arrangements\nthat no longer serve the common good? \nWhat new thing will emerge that will break the curse of corruption,\nwhich for decades lay waste the valuable resources of our nation and people? What new thing will have the saving power to\nbreak the cycle of violence in this culture of death?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advancing social\nchange, in accordance with God\u2019s dream for the world, may seem very elusive\nwhen we observe what is happening around us today. It may seem that God is not\ncreating anything new, but if we believe this to be true, then we are not\nlooking in the right places. In many ways, the new creation, of which our text\nspeaks, is up to us to embody. It says\nwe must have sufficient trust in God to find and experience the renewal we seek\nand need. Such a renewal can come, only\nat that moment when the old becomes visible as old and tragic and dying; when\nthere is no way out, but to look beyond for the alternative, which God has\nalready provided. We live in such a\nmoment; such a moment is our situation. Yet, despite the fact that we have\nreached many tipping points in our history; despite our weariness about the\nirrelevance of the old social arrangements (which we speak about daily on our\ntalk shows) we find it hard to make the personal commitment to change. Despite\npraying in the Lord\u2019s Prayer; \u201cThy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,\u201d we\nfail to realize our own complicity in blocking the establishment of that kind\nof world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consistently<\/strong> today, we hear the\nargument that human beings cannot change. \u2018You can\u2019t turn back the tide\u2019, they\nsay, so \u2018Go with the flow\u2019. This, sadly,\nis the narrative we have bought into and accepted. We accept as inevitable the breakdown of\nfamily life, and have long given up on promoting civility in our public\nspace. And so; \u201cwhat if there is too\nmuch violence in the media? If that is what people want, that is what they\nshould be given\u201d. I heard that kind of conversation days ago, where it was said\nsociety needs no gate keeper, everyone is his or her own final arbiter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we resign ourselves\nin accepting these things to be true because, regrettably, we have focused our\nattention on personalities and institutions that reinforce, rather than change\nhuman behaviour. Governments reflect what they believe the voters want. Political parties follow opinion polls. The market mirrors consumer choices, and our\ntherapists tell us we are OK as we are. \nThere is only one thing missing in this constellation; the idea that\nwhatever we are, we can still change and become different. I believe it was this idea that ignited\nSeaga\u2019s passion for Public Service. Our people, he thought, do not have to\nremain \u201cno-bodies\u201d; we can grow and develop because each one of us has an\nimmortal longing to be \u201ca somebody\u201d \u2013 to be better than we are. The social\norder is not fixed; conditions can change. \n\u201cGod did not create a system that makes poverty exist alongside great\nwealth; humanity made it, and humanity can change it! The poor have proven that however powerful\nthe forces are working against them, given the opportunity, they will always\nfind the resources to act creatively in their own interest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When a society comes to\nthe collective verdict that it can no longer change, it has reached what\nRousseau, the Swiss philosopher, calls \u201cthe age of incorrigibility\u201d. Perhaps we have reached that point in our\nHistory. The point when we have to turn\nelsewhere, to the only institution that can help us see – not only what we are,\nbut also – what we might become. That is\nto say we have to turn to religion, which of course is why we are here. We are here because ultimately, in the face\nof death, only faith matters. And this\nis why Christian Faith, despite its imperfect manifestations, has such power,\nand why it will never be eclipsed. It\nsets forth a vision of the world in which I have dignity because I can make a\ndifference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Making that difference,\nSeaga believed, went beyond whatever could be achieved through economics and\npolitics. In his contribution to the1963-64 Budget Debate: he said something\nthat many today would find surprising. I quote; \u201cThere will come a time when\nthe planning of the country will not only be concerned with economic and social\ndevelopment but will take into account spiritual development, so that we will\nwork on all three prongs of development in the improvement of the people\u201d. The wonderful genius of\nChristianity is not its creed, institutions or rituals, but the vision of a new\npossibility for human life rooted in an understanding of God, articulated and\nlived out by a Nazarene carpenter. The Church, as well as, our political\ninstitutions has again and again fallen away from that task of completing God\u2019s\ndream for a world where there are no outsiders. In his early years, the young\nEdward Seaga dreamt of that world, where the divisions between the \u201chaves and\nthe have nots\u201d is replaced by a world where everyone would have equal access to\nopportunities that make for a fulfilled life. \nUntil then, the deep distrust between those at the bottom and those\nruling at the top will remain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I say one final thing about\nthis text from the Book of Revelation. \nBecause it gives us a vision of a future guaranteed by God, and not\nlimited by our own efforts, it invites us to embrace new possibilities. Life then, is experienced not simply as a\ntask, but as a mission and that we are a part of that larger story created by\nGod our ultimate Being. Edward Seaga was,\nperhaps, the most enigmatic of all our modern day leaders and our memories of\nhim are equally complex, if not conflicting. \nAnd yet, the common thread that runs through all that has been said of\nhim is that he was a man of vision with a passion for getting things done. This\nis the one thing around which we can unite, regardless of our political\naffiliation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen I saw a new\nheaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed\naway\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you know that your\nfuture is guaranteed through the promise of the Resurrection, you begin to\nwrite your story with a different slant. \nYou can live in the midst of evil, doubt and darkness without being\ndefined by them. This is the message of\nthe Christian Gospel. That evil, and oppression and sickness with all their\ndark and terrible manifestations, do not hold the last word in defining our\nultimate value as human beings. And so,\namidst all the life-denying forces that confront us, God announces \u201ca new\nheaven and a new earth, as the alternative script for living. Glory belongs to God and not to the forces of\ndeath. Once you can genuinely\nacknowledge this; once you can affirm God\u2019s all-encompassing love for humanity\nas we are doing in this service, then we can be assured that all will be well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rt. Rev. Robert\nThompson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Suffragan Bishop of\nKingston<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n June 23, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sermon Text: Revelation 21.1 \u201cThen I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away\u2019. Given the tumult within Jamaican politics beginning in the mid-sixties and continuing for the next three decades, it is easy to forget the scholarly and pioneering contributions which Edward Seaga…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":27072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17769"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27073,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769\/revisions\/27073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI am grateful to Patrick Bryan who cited these words in his book, Edward Seaga and the Challenges of Modern\nJamaica<\/em>, since they remind us that spirituality is not confined to the\nreligious practitioner, but everyone who is willing to acknowledge his aliveness\nin God and in things Godly. Spirituality\nis vital for holding contending views together as it transcends diversity. And\nyet, it is the one thing mission when Government and sectoral leaders meet to\ndesign a social contract. Perhaps the\nchallenge lies with an unwillingness to have a discourse about habits and\nvalues, about whom and what we want to be \u2013 as individuals, as a nation, and as\na human community. We postpone having\nsuch conversations because it is easier to place the blame on others than to\nchange the ways we think, act, and decide things; how we prioritize and value\nour collective interests, and how we live our lives. The young Seaga was right\nin identifying these as spiritual issues, not as activities that take place in\na sanctuary, but virtues that inform the humanity we wish for. We ignore these to the detriment of our\nnational flourishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n