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I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God
in Christ Jesus.
St Paul deserves the reputation he has long had as the first real theologian
of the Christian faith. Not just because of what he wrote - and his theology
is profound and thoughtful - but because of how he expresses himself.
Paul writes with urgency, with flair - above all with passion.
Today is passion Sunday and we do well to remember the passion for Christ
that stirred Paul. We do well to remember the way in which his words have
stirred people through the ages - and stir us today, if we but let them.
Here he is, writing to the Christians in Philippi, the leading city of
the day in Macedonia which he probably visited between 49 and 52 AD. It
was a church he had a warm regard for, having visited it perhaps a number
of times. And now he writes to the Philippians from prison, and the whole
letter is full of references to suffering, to hardship, to loss. But despite
this, Paul calls for rejoicing, for hope. Writing to a church which had
perhaps lost sight of the reason and end of faith, Paul emphasises with
passion the need to run the race that is set before them as Christians.
To keep in view the prize for which they run - the very reason for life
itself. There is a goal here; a goal, an eschaton, a glorious end to which
all life tends. The prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Just as Jesus suffered and died, and was resurrected, so faith in God
calls us onwards to the new life that is beyond suffering and imprisonment.
Like the Philippians, we too can lose sight of the goal, the end of life.
That we are called to run a race, an arduous race, set before us - a race
towards the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Perhaps
we get tired; perhaps we forget what the heavenly call of God in Christ
Jesus is all about.
I think today, as we remember St Paul's passion, we need to remind ourselves
of others who have run the race with passion; who have not forgotten the
heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
You might think that this heavenly call is a call to heaven - to leave
behind the changes and chances of this fleeting world for the comfort
of the everlasting arms of God. And perhaps this is one aspect of the
heavenly call of God.
I think we need also to bear in mind those words we say each time we pray
the Lord's prayer: Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. The
heavenly call is not to pie in the sky when you die, but we are called
to run a race towards the realm of God which is one of justice and love,
peace and freedom, here on earth.
Such a vision, such a call, a heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus, has
motivated Christians through the ages. Sometimes at great cost to themselves;
sometimes over many years of struggle. Of intense political engagement;
or intense personal change. Think of Martin Luther King, who paid the
ultimate price for his dream of a different society. Think of John Newton,
the slaver owner who once was lost and then was found.
You can see both intense political engagement, and personal change in
the years that ran up to 1807 - the anniversary that we celebrate today.
Had parliament heeded the public voice, abolition would have been passed
long before 1807, but because of the vested interests of many who were
directly involved with the slave trade, it was a real struggle. We remember
William Wilberforce particularly - someone who ran the race doggedly:
he was a zealous, single minded campaigner who got his teeth into a major
moral issue and didn't let go. The way in which he was able to bring the
abolitionist case to the centre of political life was crucial - he brought
the issue to parliament; he lobbied in both Houses, in the corridors of
power, he ensured that the harsh realities of the slave ships came to
parliamentary attention.
But he wasn't the only person running the race. Often sidelined was Thomas
Charkson, who masterminded the popular abolition movement, working the
country, stirring people, travelling tens of thousands of miles and facing
personal dangers and distress, but managing to arouse public feeling against
the trade.
And then there were other factors too, to remember. There were poor black
people already living in London - and their plight broadened out people's
perceptions of the issues of justice and domestic work and slavery in
Britain. It was an issue that was on the doorstep, not just over the other
side of the Atlantic.
The slave revolts against the barbarism of the slave plantations and the
savagery with which they were quelled also played an important part in
changing public opinion. It was lawful to kill and destroy such negroes
who absent themselves from work: branding and rape were commonplace. from
1707 punishment for rebellion included nailing them to the ground, and
applying fire by degrees from the feet and hands, burning them gradually
up to the head. the 1736 Antigua rebellion ring leaders were broken on
wheels, or hung in cages to die of thirst; or burned to death. And yet
the slaves continued to revolt. There were over 250 shipboard rebellions,
and Jamaican slave society faced a serious revolt every decade - in 1760
30,000 slaves revolted. Right up to 1831 there were still revolts and
rebellions throughout the Caribbean.
The race was run not just by campaigners here in Britain, worthy though
they were; but also by slaves against all the odds, desperate; passionate
for freedom. If you've seen the film Wilberforce, you will have encountered
the Black campaigner Equiano - the ex-slave whose writing and influence
represented the millions who were silenced by brutality. He, like so many,
ran the race of freedom.
This Passion Sunday - as we begin to turn our faces more firmly towards
the end of Lent and the Easter promise of new life, let us remind ourselves
of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus to which we respond. This
is a call for justice, for freedom, for love in the world; a call to which
we must respond. For there are many ways in which people are enslaved
today - those who are caught up in the sex trafficking trade; migrant
workers; children to name a few. What are we doing? How are we running
the race? Where is our passion?
Jonathan Sacks, on Thought for the Day on Friday, reminded us that until
all are free, none are truly free. This is a heavenly call of God in Christ
Jesus. A call to inspire us as we look towards the passion of Christ and
the resurrection we celebrate at Easter. The resurrection that is the
ultimate freedom, the freedom of a promised land after the years of running
the race through the wilderness. Let us re-commit ourselves to the race,
a race towards freedom for all.
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