Sermon by Dr John Davies

The collect for today’s festival reminds us of the Venerable Bede’s account of Aidan’s holiness, namely that he was a gentle bishop, that he proclaimed the Gospel of Christ, that he taught with simplicity and humility, and that he showed great love for the poor.

What so many find attractive about the saints who are household names is that their teaching was matched by their lives.

Francis of Assisi took to caring for the poor, especially those suffering from leprosy.

Catherine of Siena, whose fame for her visions and raptures and long periods of fasting spread far and wide, was also known for her deep engagement in communal affairs and was someone to whom people readily brought their quarrels.

Mother Theresa worked out her Christian faith by taking in the orphaned street children of Calcutta and those dying in poverty, and caring for them.

And one suspects that it’s not so much the miracles attributed to them or the aid of their prayers that holds the most attraction, but their credibility as men and women for whom the Christian faith consisted of more than devotional exercises. They were — following the exhortation of James — “doers of the word, not just hearers”.

And in this context we could mention devout Anglican Christians such as Josephine Butler who campaigned tirelessly to lift women out of poverty and prostitution; Florence Nightingale who devoted her life to reforming nursing care; and William Wilberforce the Member of Parliament and Clapham sect of evangelical Christians, best remembered for the crusade against slavery.

And Aidan, the patron of this church, falls readily into the role of saints who were so grasped by a vision of God that it radically changed their lives — and led others to glimpse the value of that vision. So today it is appropriate that we ask God to “grant us to live as he taught, in simplicity, humility, and love for the poor”.

And the Letter of James, the second lesson this evening, offers a sound basis and strong encouragement.

We are part of God’s new creation. We are baptised Christians who are given new birth by the word of truth, and we are granted gifts that give us the strength and ability to live the life of faith.

We are not lost in a chaos of desires which are ready to lead us astray in any direction. There are plenty who think they are, and will blame society and others for their behaviour. Rather, says James, we are God’s children who have the gifts to take responsibility for our lives. Society may be blamed for much, but James, the sender of this letter (and remember here that he’s addressing the church, a community of faith and mutual support) — James insists — insists — that humans take responsibility for the evils that come about through disordered desires; we have the wherewithal to do so.

And he offers the example of speech, to which he says we should give attention — an exhortation we might consider timely, bearing in mind the aggressive nature and vitriol which characterises so much of today’s social media and the language of politics.

James exhorts us to be ready to listen and slow to speak because human anger can never become the vehicle for divine justice. And anger exemplifies the way in which the passions as a whole distort and poison the soul. Instead, in a striking contrast to the harsh words of “sordidness and rank growth of wickedness” we should welcome with meekness the implanted word, which has the power to save.

And it’s interesting to observe how, throughout his Epistle, James involves all parts of the body in the working out of our faith. The tongue speaks rarely but never in anger. The ears hear the word. The eyes see and remember true images. The hands and other parts of the body will carry out the deeds that are the practical evidence that a person knows the law of freedom. And then the heart, which must not be deceived by a religion that’s never put into practice.

So by working together references to all parts of the body James presents a picture of “the implanted word” governing all our activities.

The word of God must be planted in us. Saints have the law of God planted in them. It is not experienced as an external imposition. The law of God comes up from the very roots of their being because now the law has been planted in them. It’s part of their lives.

“Take care and watch yourselves closely,” say Moses to Israel, “so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life.”

A little later on, just before Moses died, and on the point of entering the promised land, he said,

“You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul.” (Deut. 11.18)

That’s the level that we’re at. The level of the heart and soul. It has little to do with the surface of one’s life.

Lots of people are blessed at the surface of life and cursed at the deepest level. Then there are those who have no money, no status, no power, no wealth. Yet they are radiant with joy, because they are following God’s command at the deepest level. And they have discovered the unconditional love of God.

But the fact that God loves us unconditionally, even when we display the worst example of ourselves, does not exempt us from taking responsibility for our behaviour.

And this is what James is at pains to communicate.

But it is also true to say that the one who loves us unconditionally, loves all of humanity unconditionally, and with the same all-embracing love. And the fact that God loves us intimately and personally doesn’t mean that God loves anyone else less or differently. Uniquely yes. But the heart of God is the heart that embraces the whole of humanity.

Intimacy with God means solidarity with the people of God. God pitched a tent among us and took on our flesh, so that there is no human flesh that has not been accepted by God. The saints we remember and venerate are those who in their different ways were grasped by this vision, and did so in a sustained unfolding of their lives and in contact with the ordinary demands of reality.

Thus we can make the prayer for today’s festival our own, and try to remember it: “Lord, as Aidan taught us, help us to live with simplicity, humility, and love for the poor.”