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The Third Sunday After Pentecost
Keep, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy household the Church in thy steadfast faith and love, that by the help of thy grace we may proclaim thy truth with boldness, and minister thy justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 6)
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The Third Sunday After Pentecost
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A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
✛
Non vestra sed vos - 'not your things but you'
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV)
Last week my wife and I went to see the film ‘Woman in Gold’ which tells the amazing story of Maria Altmann, who had to flee Austria at the beginning of the Second World War. As a Jewish Refugee who had found a home in Los Angeles, she never forgot what happened to her family in Vienna at the beginning of the Second World War. Her quest was to recover a painting by Gustav Klimt of her Aunt Adele that had been stolen by the Nazis. The film is very moving – the flashbacks to Vienna in the 1930’s are poignant and as the film progresses one is suddenly made sharply aware that the story is not so much about retrieving a work of art that had been stolen but much more about family, memory and a passionate need for justice.
Against all the odds and with no real resources, Maria Altmann took on the government of Austria. The Klimt painting, ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer’ had, many years since the Second World War, become a kind of national icon for the people of Austria and had pride of place in the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna. There was no way that an old woman in Los Angeles was going to claim ownership of the painting let alone arrange for its removal from Austria. But she did, and after taking her case all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. In so doing she did not simply restore honor to the name of her family, she kept alive the memory of those who could have been forgotten – who had no one to fight for them.
After seeing the film, my wife and I hurried to the Neue Galerie in New York and saw the painting with fresh eyes, realising that the story behind it is less about possessions and more about the difference one person can make.
The motto of Saint Chad’s College, Durham, – my old college – whose Chapel choir are leading our music today is Non Vestra sed Vos’ – literally, not your things but you. It is a good motto – the college used to be a Church of England seminary until the mid 70’s – where men were trained regardless of their means. However, the ethos and the motto are still important for the students who are singing here today: Not your things but you.
It is easy to think that we are powerless to change anything in our world but this is not what Christians believe. The prophet Ezekiel reminded us that God sees things differently and can turn things upside down – the high will be brought low – the green tree can be dried up and the dried up tree flourish. In words that mirror the Magnificat, God changes our perceptions: “He hath put down the mighty from their seat : and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things : and the rich he hath sent empty away.”
Jesus teaches us that the values of the Kingdom are not the values of the world in which we live. If we were to invent a parable about the Kingdom of God we might think of an example that is great and powerful – something organized and having influence. But the example that Jesus gives is that of a mustard seed- a tiny seed, but one that is pungent and whose presence is felt.
In our epistle reading, Paul says: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Our baptism into Jesus Christ means that we have become like Christ and, therefore, our view of the world is changed as we are changed.
Recognising the values of the Kingdom requires us to get our priorities right in our lives. We must always remember that in the bible, the opposite of poverty is not wealth – it is power. Making ourselves small and sometimes powerless can be a catalyst for change in our own lives and those around us. Non Vestra sed Vos – not your things but you.
That is the challenge to us today: to make ourselves small as the seed of the Church – allowing ourselves to die to Christ in order to be born again in his likeness; to use the things that we have, whether they be wealth or possessions or influence, to better the common good. When we try to do this we are true to our baptismal covenant and we help build up the community that bear witness to Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God in our broken world.
This ‘bearing witness’ has a simple word in the bible and the Christian Tradition but a word that reminds us that bearing witness is costly. The word is ‘martyr’. Now, I doubt whether Maria Altmann ever thought of herself or even her family as martyrs but her determination not to allow a memory to die and to honor her family whom she never saw again is a powerful encouragement to those of us who may also think we cannot change anything. But it also means that we open ourselves up to the cost of bearing witness to the values of the Kingdom of God.
The early martyrs of the Church were often called ‘The seed of the Church’. Their witness to Jesus may gave been small in the course of the world’s history but they reflected Christ in their lives and we can do the same today.
On March 24th, 1980, Archbishop Oscar Romero was celebrating mass in a hospital Chapel in San Salvador. The Gospel reading was from John’s Gospel and he read the words of Jesus “Unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and dies it remains a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24) In his homily, he said this:
“Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grains of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies.. . . We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us.”
‘an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us.’
As he finished these words the gunman shot him dead at the altar.
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
