Second Sunday of Epiphany – evening
Sunday 19th January 2020
Epiphany 2 – evening
Ezekiel 2.1 – 3.4
Gall 1. 11 – end
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
As we begin this week of prayer for Christian Unity I think I will entitle this talk – “Reluctant Witnesses” . Because it seems to me that something of the post-war (WWII) enthusiasm has gone out of our ecumenical initiatives. In the aftermath of that great and ruinous conflict it was felt that the Christian churches could greatly help the recovery of a war-torn continent and world by demonstrating a willingness to come together; to bury some centuries-old enmities; to recognise the validity of each others’ forms of worship and modes of authority.
To some extent, I think the aims were successful. Certainly there is far more open friendship and acceptance between Christians of different denominations and even we religious professionals have been known to socialise on occasion! No longer (thank the Lord!) would Anglicans whisper in hushed tones to each other about someone who had attracted notoriety on themselves “Well, of course, he (or she) is a Roman Catholic!” – this was something my mother overheard as a girl and she thought it must be something dreadful!!!
But there are still problems of course. Because I am not male, I cannot be recognised as a priest by my Roman Catholic brothers – although to be fair – they do not think my male Anglican colleagues are fully priests either! And those of us who are Church of England are not too sure about the validity of communion in non-conformist churches where the ministers are not ordained by a Bishop! But the one thing we can and do all do with each other is pray, and natter and swap stories about our respective flocks and laugh together – often at the frailties of our respective institutions to cope with the changing world in which we find ourselves. I’m not sure if it all makes God weep or roar with laughter – but we do acknowledge that we all serve the same God.
In the past year or so I have – somewhat reluctantly – taken out a subscription to Netflix. Anyone else here? I say reluctantly, because part of me feels that the terrestrial channels should provide more than enough entertainment and distraction – but then there are some really interesting films and programmes coming out of the newer internet platforms, so I have been sucked in.
Just last night I found myself watching the film the Two Popes. Anyone seen it?
It is a fictional representation of the growth of relationship between Benedict XVI and Francis I or Cardinals Ratzinger and Bergoglio as they are at the start of the film, but it is based on actual events. We see something of the arcane process of the election of a new Pope following the death of John-Paul II. And while some of the younger Cardinals are clearly hoping for a moderniser to be elected and even vote in the early ballots for Bergoglio – who as an Argentinian is a rank outsider, it is the forces of conservatism who win the day. Cardinal Ratzinger ascends the throne of Peter and becomes Pope Benedict.
Jorge Bergoglio heaves a sigh of relief, returns to his beloved Argentina and the support of his favourite football team and begins to dream of retirement to run an ordinary parish.
Time passes and out of the blue Benedict summons his Argentinian Cardinal Archbishop to Rome, just as the latter wants him to give permission for him to retire. When the two men finally meet in private they begin by disagreeing on most points of theology and church order. Benedict is clinging to the established traditions of the church and Bergoglio is desperate for change, but if that is impossible, then he wants no part of it. And just as he arrives in Rome the scandal of the Vatican bank and the mounting rumours about Catholic priests across the world being involved in child abuse are greatly undermining Papal and Vatican authority. The sheer loneliness of those who exercise high authority in the church becomes apparent and the cost in personal terms to these two men of having turned their backs on simple human pleasures and relationships is heartbreaking to see.
And against his initial will, the Pope comes to realise that in Bergoglio – despite all their differences, he has a friend who will counsel him and pray with and for him. And after a period of feeling dis-engaged and detached from God, he finds God speaking to him through the voice of his old opponent and new friend.
And in the film, this is what convinces Benedict to renounce the papacy causing a new convocation of Cardinals to be called who this time will elect Bergoglio as Pope – the Pope Francis I that we have still. Benedict has come to accept that the church needs the sort of change his friend can bring but which he is temperamentally and physically incapable of effecting. Bergoglio is horrified – feeling that his past failure to oppose oppression and corruption in Argentina make him unfit for the papacy. But of course it is that very experience that equips him to deal with or attempt to deal with all that is wrong in the Vatican.
The closing shots of the film see the two elderly men (Two Popes) watching Germany play Argentina in the World Cup – enjoying the game and some friendly rivalry (Germany won!)
It made me think of our readings this evening – of Ezekiel who is made to consume the bitter tasting words of God that will completely consume him; God is making a total claim that extends to the prophet’s physical body. He must be one with his people, in their own dis-ease and desolation, just as St Paul spoke of bearing in his own body the sufferings of Christ – Just as Ratzinger and Bergoglio in their own ways and contexts both fail and succeed in bearing the costs of denying their own humanity that is demanded of them.
Both Paul and Ezekiel – and I daresay most Christian leaders – have commissions that serve the Epiphany promise that God would bring light to all people – including the Gentiles. Ezekiel taught that God’s presence was not tied to any place and is present even to the Jews in exile. Paul too challenges racial and religious separation and superiority of his own nation. Both of them along with most of us – share a vision for the salvation of the whole world.
We may recoil from the cost of the vocation that God demands of some of his prophets and priests, but can we dismiss the invasive, generative power of a mind and will that prevails over characters like Ezekiel and Paul? Like Benedict and Francis? So when we see and hear them speak and act, we find they draw us into faith, away from our sense of alone-ness and towards a story of redemption and forgiveness of sins committed.
Thanks be to God.