Far from the sinful city
Preacher: Revd Giles Dove, University Assistant Chaplain
Readings: James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8; Mark 9:30-37
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
I have already discovered that starting in my new role as Assistant Chaplain here this semester provides me with a wonderful opportunity to learn more about wickedness of every kind. It strikes me that a university situated in relative isolation and seclusion, far from the sinful city, is the ideal context to learn more about sin, vice and wickedness.
“What’s wrong with sin?” I hear you cry. The trouble with sins and vices is not simply that they are desires that make us feel guilty or ashamed, nor that they are forbidden behaviours. What makes sins and vices toxic is that, when indulged in, pursued and explored they open up extraordinary levels of harm and hurt and diminishment of our lives. The deadliness of wickedness is the harm that it brings upon us. That’s what makes vices ‘vicious’. It’s that they are attitudes and behaviours by which the self is damaged, wounded, diminished, distorted and, if not destroyed, then isolated. That’s not the whole story, of course. It’s not just the self that suffers. It’s others who suffer too. That’s what’s wrong with sin.
Now, I would like to move you all into a state of suspended reality. Imagine, if you will, an entirely fictional royal and ancient British university known as the University of St Margarets. The Governing Court of St Margarets has supported its Principal in a recent strategic review of the University. This ancient and venerable seat of learning is also a dynamic and developing institution, taking off in new and exciting directions. Imagine, if you will, that the review has produced a recommendation that it should create a new School of Sin Studies. Corporate Communications has issued the following official announcement:
The University of St Margarets is proud to announce that it has received a multi-million pound donation to establish the world’s first School of Sin Studies. Having consulted with the Scottish Funding Council and with Universities UK, it has been agreed that this pioneering school will have several teaching posts and be allowed to offer both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Sin Studies. A committee is being established to appoint the first Head of School who is expected to be a leading world expert on sin – and may well be recruited from the United States of America, where many scholars are known to be devoted to sin. Her or his first task will be to recruit two dozen academic staff who are able to commit themselves to a programme of sin for a period of several years. Students will be admitted to undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes in two years’ time. These programmes are expected to be popular and to appeal particularly to the very many young people who have a keen interest in every aspect of sinning.
Full details of the teaching posts to be created await the arrival of the first Head of School but the University is able to announce that a very generous endowment has been provided for the Professor of Greed, and an even larger one for the Chair of Gluttony. The Principal, Dr Screwtape, has said that she hopes that the School of Sin Studies will become the envy of several other schools and a source of huge pride to St Margarets. The School already has a motto “Hate the sin but love the sinner.” But mottos are always better in Latin aren’t they. So, courtesy of the Head of Classics, we have “Damnato peccato, peccator diligendus” – more accurately translated as “When the sin has been condemned, the sinner must be loved.”
Imagine you now go on to discover that this imaginary Principal is aware that the funding for this entirely fictional School of Sin Studies has come from a consortium of St Margarets alumni with a known background in organised crime and narcotics trafficking. The Principal had overridden the University’s Ethics Committee and decided to accept the donation because it is only by studying sin directly that one can hope to understand its impact on humanity. End of story.
Pride. Greed. Wrath. Envy. Lust. Gluttony. Sloth. The Cardinal Sins. The Capital Vices. The Seven Deadly Sins. Call them what you will. They are not good news, and a life lived in pursuit of vice is not a life well lived.
In his Epistle, St James writes: Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
Envy and selfish ambition are to be found in almost every family, community, institution and nation. We may not all be in a position to address this problem of envy and selfish ambition at national or even community levels, but we ought to be able to address it personally and, maybe even institutionally. So, how might we start to address it? The first step is to admit to yourself that you are envious, for many people feel envy while they are quite oblivious of it. Then you have to reassess your priorities. Are wealth, good looks, fame, power, and craving the attention of others really the most important things in life?
What does your best life really look like? Our aim ought to be for mutual love and self-sacrifice in the service of others, and an awareness that God loves us; then we will be more satisfied with what we have and who we are.
As a pal of mine wrote a few years ago: “The delusions of which the human mind is capable are manifold and varied … We are imperfect creatures in every respect, and it is our job to lend wholeness to those who are shattered and unhappy … Every day we should try to make life better for those around us, and for ourselves. We should try to be kinder.”
James exhorts us to show by our good life that our works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. In today’s Gospel reading, the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest among them, but would not admit it. So Jesus asked a little child to stand in the middle of the circle of 12 disciples, saying, “Whoever wants to be first must be last and servant of all.” Learning to serve, rather than seeking to sin, may be a wise course to follow as you seek to lead your best life far from the sinful city.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.