Sheringham

Licensing Christina Rees; Second Sunday of Lent

Philippian 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-end

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.

We will come back to those words, but first might I say what a joy it is to be here with you and to license Christina this morning. I thank the Vicar for inviting me and also all of you for coming as it’s always uplifting to have a congregation.

And now to those words with which I began: Christ ‘will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory’. You might feel that, even in Lent, this is somewhat downbeat: bodies of humiliation? What is all that about? Well, as I was reading today’s lessons and preparing to be with you, it seemed to me that they were about a very important element in human existence – which is: identity.

Paul speaks of the body of our humiliation not because he preaches some sort of prudish shame about our physical existence but because we are, as we all know, well, less than perfect. Paul, you see, has two words for body. He has one which means flesh and one which means – hmm, character, inner being, what I am terming identity and it is that word which he uses here. This passage has nothing to do with whether we are fat or thin, tall or short, black or white, fit or unfit, and everything to do with who we are in our inner selves, how Christlike we are and how Christ will draw himself to be more and more like us throughout our Christian lives and into eternity. We will be, in the words of the Diocesan vision, transformed by Christ – transformed from the earthly to the heavenly, the mortal to the immortal, the imperfect to the perfect. Only in a few rare individuals does this transformation reach completeness in this life, but for us all and for this reason, Peter Pan was actually right when he said that to die will be an awfully big adventure.

So much, then, for Paul on our transformation from the identity we have in this life to the identity we will have in Christ and to which here, we approach ever nearer. What, though, is this identity? In the gospel, we read Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem, and you will recall that he says this: ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings?’ How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings? Jesus spoke those words as a man around the age of thirty. It is, we might observe, a less than likely way for such a man in the prime of life to describe himself – as a mother hen, shuffling her chicks under her wings, warming them, protecting them. It is a soft image, maternal, not at all the sort of idea we’d associate with a man who walked the villages and towns of his day followed by other young men, at least some of whom carried swords at least some of the time. And yet, it is a very biblical image. God is often described as a bird protecting young – as an eagle in Deuteronomy, as a winged bird in the Psalms. God is described as a mother comforting her child at the end of the book of the prophet Isaiah and as one who taught Ephraim to walk. It is as if the Bible tells us that the identity to which we are being transformed, the identity we have in Jesus, is not one in which our earthly categories subsist. We are not, as Paul says elsewhere, male and female, Jew and Greek; we will not marry or be given in marriage as Jesus says. We are not easily divisible into those qualities which belong to men or to women. We are whole people, humanity, made in God’s likeness and restored through Christ into God’s image. And for that reason, it is not proper to us as Christians to exclude some because in this life, we are gay or straight, male or female, black or white. We are all one in Christ who is all in all and into whose likeness we are being transformed. Which brings me to Christina.

Christina has long been at the forefront of moves to ensure that all are welcome in the Church of Christ and the Church of England. She has terrified and shamed many of us on General Synod and elsewhere with her courageous and direct speeches, challenging norms, reminding us that Christian identity is much more than a cosy club of people who are all much like each other and who meet on a Sunday morning in a building that is usually cold and costs a lot to maintain. She has pushed the boundaries of inclusion, reminding us again and again that the role of a priest, the role of every Christian, is to speak of Jesus to those we meet, to draw others into the household of faith and to be, in whatever way we can be, agents of change, the body of Christ in the world we inhabit. I would say, Sheringham, are you ready for this – but of course, you already know and love Christina and I am sure will welcome her anew today.

The calling which I have described, the calling to be transformed and to draw others to Christ is a calling which belongs to each and every Christian. We might think, what can I do? I am old, I am young, I work, I am retired. But these are not our identities. Our identity is to be as Christ was, gathering, protecting, kindly. We can all show kindness. We can all welcome others. We can all manage our fear of others who are different from us and every time we do so, we take one step further along the road of transformation from humility to glory. As we come to this most holy Eucharist may it be our prayer that God will give us grace this Lent and beyond to follow the call to transformation and be the people Jesus would have us be, in the name…

The Revd Dr Jane Steen, Bishop of Lynn