A Sermon preached on October 12th (Pentecost XVIII) at
St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Isaiah 25:1-9, Psalm 23, Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14
As many of you
know I worked for a large international corporation for many years. And so over
the years I was confronted with lots of new management concepts and fads and
with an awful lot of “management-speak.” One popular buzzword, though not one I particularly
liked, was “walking the talk,” which
really only means: don’t just say it, do it! Senior managers were always very good
at telling middle managers that they had to “walk the talk” for the latest new management
concept, while often being spectacularly bad at it themselves, doing things like
ordering people to be collaborative!
The idea that people
in leadership positions are supposed to set an example and practice what they
preach goes back a long way. Pope Gregory the Great, who has his own window
here at our church to commemorate him sending St. Augustine to England, wrote a
sort of “how to” book for priests called the “Book of Pastoral Rule.” One rule
in St. Gregory’s book is that “the footprint of his (the priest’s) good living
should be that path that others follow rather than the sound of his voice
showing them where to go.” Walk the talk!
But we can go
back even further and into the Bible. St. Paul also repeatedly calls on his
readers and listeners to follow an example, to imitate either him or others: “I
appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy,
who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in
Christ Jesus.” (1 Cor. 4:16-17) “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”(1 Cor.
11:1) In fact we can find a call to imitate Paul in every letter written to one
of the communities that knew him personally, so also in Galatians and one of
his letters to the Thessalonians, and as we heard this morning in Philippians: “Keep
on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in
me.” (4:9) Paul was convinced that what he taught (“the things that you have
learned and received”) about how to follow and live in Christ must and could
also be seen in his, Paul’s words and actions (“the things you have heard
and seen”). Because only if that was the case, only if Paul walked the talk, could
he be a good example.
Today too, Christian
leaders should be good examples and I can think of many of them whom it is
worth trying to imitate. Pope Francis is a wonderful model of a servant leader
and of someone who really tries to practice what he preaches. Archbishop
Desmond Tutu has shown us what it means to forgive and to trust in God’s love
even in the most difficult circumstances. And Archbishop Justin Welby is a
wonderful role model for dealing with conflict and living with good disagreement.
Unfortunately there are also “one or two” bad examples among Christian leaders.
I have recently been particularly saddened by the very public conflict between
the Deans, trustees and faculty of two Episcopal seminaries, EDS and GTS. What
example are these leaders giving those seminarians who are supposed to be
learning how to be examples for their future flocks?
As your priest I
am also supposed
to be an example, whether I like it or not (and sometimes I don’t especially in
such a small city like Wiesbaden: I can’t even get my hair cut without running
into a parishioner!). But that is what I promised at my ordination when I
answered “yes” to the question: “Will you do your best
to pattern your life in accordance with the teachings of Christ, so that you
may be a wholesome example to your people?”[1] Thankfully
this role is not limited to me. You also promise to be an example every time
you recite our Baptismal Covenant: “Will you
proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ,”[2] and
our Catechism also defines the ministry of lay persons as “representing Christ
and his Church.”[3]
And in his
letter to the Philippians Paul is not only setting himself up as an example,
but also calling on all the Christians in Philippi to be examples. That’s
why Paul addresses a conflict between two female believers and wants them to be
of the same mind in the Lord, and to show it to the world. And look at his
other commands: Rejoice in the Lord, literally celebrate exuberantly – so show
that you believe and are glad to believe. “Let your gentleness be known to
everyone.” (Phil. 4:5) Show that you are fearless and that you trust in God’s
care and love. Joy, gentleness, fearlessness and trust are the qualities Paul
wants them to show to the world. Imitate me, Paul says, as I imitate Christ,
and so that others imitate you.
The proper
qualities of a follower of Christ are also one theme of the rather complex
parable we heard this morning in the Gospel reading from Matthew. The story of
the parable was made even more complicated by what we believe to be a later
insertion of an allusion to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70: “The king
was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their
city.” (Matthew 22:7) This is a sort of “I told you so” written after
Christianity and Judaism had divided. But at its core the parable has three
main messages:
- Both in the past and at the time of its telling Israel’s leaders had repeatedly refused to hear God’s call and instead sent away or even killed the messengers – the prophets.
- As a result of this rejection God will now call those whom Israel’s leaders reject, so both Jewish outcasts and Gentiles. Please note Jesus is not saying that the Jews are now rejected, just those in charge whose example was less than perfect!
- But while God does welcome all to the heavenly wedding banquet - that is into the kingdom of God - this welcome comes with expectations. We are welcomed as we are. The only condition is to accept the invitation – but that does not mean we are expected to stay as we are. On the contrary, we are expected to change.
When Jesus encounters
demoniacs, lepers, blind, and lame he doesn’t just accept them “just the way
they are.” He heals, transforms, and changes them. And this does not just apply
to physical ailments. The right wedding robe in the parable stands for the proper
qualities of an inhabitant of the kingdom of God. When we accept the invitation
to the feast, we also accept an invitation to be transformed into the human
beings we are supposed to be, images of God .
What does it
mean to wear the right clothes, what are the right qualities? In Colossians (3:12-13) Paul tells his readers
that as God’s chosen ones they are to “clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” and “above all clothe
yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect
harmony.” In Ephesians (6:11-17) the clothing is described as the armor of God
and consists of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness,
whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace, and the
shield of faith. In fact all
these qualities - love, justice, truth, gentleness, peace, and faith - can be
summarized as Paul does in Galatians (3:27) when he defines one single item of
clothing as necessary: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have
clothed yourselves with Christ.”
As Christians,
lay and ordained, leaders or just normal worshipers, we are called to imitate
the one we follow. We will not attain perfection in this life, that is
restricted to the one who was both fully human and fully divine, but we can and
must still try and grow into the clothes we have been given. As Paul writes,
keep on doing and keep on thinking about “whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever
is commendable,” (Phil. 4:8-9) Part of the good example we set is to show and
tell the world that we know we are not perfect and not complete without God, and
that we need and desire the transformation the journey with Christ offers us.
So in retrospect
it seems that “walking the talk” is not
such a bad phrase after all. Christianity is all about both walking and
talking. As Christians we are called to talk about the Gospel, to proclaim the
Good News and as Christians we are called to try and walk it too, to follow the
Way, as Christianity was once called.
So my brothers
and sisters: Walk the talk!
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