Bishop Jana – Bp Emeritus Walter’s 45th Ordination Anniversary

Numbers 11:4–6, 10–16, 24–29; Psalm 19:7–14; James 5:13–20; Mark 9:38–50

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a great pleasure and privilege to be here at St Luke’s today with you, celebrating Bishop Emeritus Walter’s 45^th Ordination Anniversary – almost a whole lifetime spent in service of the church, of Lutherans here in the UK, especially, of course, of Polish Lutherans and of all you good folk here at St Luke’s. More of that later: but let me just start with a story about my home country, Latvia. This was brought to mind by the first reading we heard – the marvellous, funny, insightful and challenging story about Moses and the rebellious Israelites.

Latvia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It was, as in most of Eastern Europe freeing itself from the long, frozen sleep of the Cold War, an almost bloodless revolution: instead of fighting, people sang a lot, huddled behind makeshift barricades, symbolic, ramshackle affairs that would have resisted no determined attack by Soviet forces. Now the leaders of the USSR tried to persuade the Baltic States and other countries longing to escape its shackles that they should not be trying to go it alone, because they would not be economically viable, and people would be doomed to endless poverty. And the cry that went up from the barricades was – “Kaut pastalās, bet brīvībā!” which might loosely be translated as „Even if we have to wear home made sandals, we want freedom”.  These days we hear rather less about that, I’m afraid: people are suffering quite badly in the economic crisis, and are rather longing for the Gucci sandals of yesteryear.

So this incident that we read about today reminded me of that time.  We heard about the Israelites in the desert, free from their long, brutal oppression in Egypt, suddenly finding themselves fed up of manna and quails graciously provided by God, and longing for the „the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic”. You can just imagine the fury, the disappointment and the frustration that Moses felt, listening to the people whom he had risked his life to save, to bring on their journey to the Promised Land: and now all they want is to head back to Egypt, and slavery, and subjugation, and all for the sake of their bellies. Moses, who seems positively to be boiling over in frustration, places himself before the Lord, and pours it all out.

“Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?  ¹²Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,’ to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors?  ¹³Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’  ¹⁴I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.  ¹⁵If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once — if I have found favor in your sight — and do not let me see my misery.”

And God gives Moses the answer: Delegate. Don’t even try to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for you. Share the load: and the seventy are gathered for the Lord, and set aside for his service.

In the letter of James we heard the advice given by the writer to early Christian communities dealing with another sort of crisis altogether. What to do when members of the church are ill? No National Health Service to rely on, medicine a bit hit and miss at best – how can people be helped? Again the answer turns out to be sharing: the sick are advised to call the elders of the church to pray for them, asking for healing. What to do about the burden of sin? Again – share it. Confess your sin to another, and share in mutual forgiveness and reconciliation.

And when we come to the Gospel, we find Jesus’ disciples dealing with yet another crisis: what to do about those ‘who are not following us’. Interestingly – the disciples’ objection is not that the ‘someone’ is doing anything bad – not at all! They are casting out demons. They even seem to be doing it in Jesus’ name. So what is the problem? ‘he was not following us’. Us: not Jesus, us. This sounds rather like an early attempt to define who is in and out in Christian circles: this unnamed healer is obviously not one of the inner circle of friends, not under their control: so what is to be done? Jesus gives them, and us, a valuable lesson in acceptance and tolerance. Who is not against us is for us: whoever does a deed in Jesus’ name, will not long resist following him.

I wonder how often the lessons of these texts have passed through Bp Walter’s mind during his long service to the church. Pastors and church leaders throughout the centuries have dealt with problems exactly like these time and again. What to do when relationships between you and your flock break down, like the conflict between Moses and the Israelites? What to do when the burden of dealing with all the problems of ministry is just too heavy to carry? How to care for the sick, the distressed, the wanderers and lost sheep? Who is a true Christian? Who is a member, and who is not? How to be welcoming to everyone who comes ‘in the Name of the Lord’?

For sure, though, the ways in which Bp Walter has resolved the issues have not differed from the ones Scripture has pointed us towards today, and which wise church leaders have employed through the ages.

• first and foremost, when faced with a problem or a crisis, lay it before God. Unburden yourself to him: and it’s even OK to be angry when you pray. Moses was, and no bolts of lightning hit him. Quite the opposite: out of his furious, frustrated encounter with God comes renewal of leadership within the community
• secondly, we, pastors, bishops, chairmen, cannot do it all by ourselves. Indeed we shouldn’t be doing it all. Moses had 70 helpers:  and Jesus in his turn sent out the seventy to continue his own ministry. James advises the elders to heal, and Christians to comfort one another. We, really, are here simply to enable your ministry to each other and to the world
• thirdly, the church is not ours to organise, to define or to place limits on. The Church is the Lord’s: he guides us, he cares for us and supports us; and he opened his arms wide on the cross for each of us. God’s grace is so much more gracious, His love so much more loving and His power so much more powerful than we can begin to imagine. Sometimes we, poor, blind, incapable, limited human beings can’t see where God’s will is in our lives, in the church or in the world: but it is always there, and always perfect, reviving the soul and giving wisdom to the simple.

So here’s to the next 45 years of service – for Bishop Emeritus and for all the servants of Christ. Amen.