‘Do not worry about tomorrow’, making sure everyone can hear the good news. A sermon for Racial Justice Sunday 2023, Adel Parish Church.
Matthew 6: 25 – 34
‘Where were you when…?’ Every generation has it’s ‘Where were you…?’ moments. Something so shocking that people remember where they were or what they were doing when they first heard the news…I wonder what yours is.
The assassination of JFK? England’s football world cup win, or Roger Bannister’s sub 4 minute mile (depending on your sport). The death of Princess Diana? 9/11?
Often, these moments are disasters or killings because they shock us the most – we struggle to take them in and the event is linked in our memory with how we found out. Sometimes though, an event only becomes historically important because of what happens afterwards.
I suppose one of the landmark moments from my adult life was the murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence in London in April 1993; but I have only a hazy memory of hearing the news. It was a terrible, racially motivated crime…thankfully rare enough in Britain to be shocking front page news. But sadly, common enough to fade fairly soon from the headlines.
And yet, the name of Stephen Lawrence and his parents Doreen and Neville are familiar to many. Why? Because of what happened next and what it told us about our institutions.
Despite the testimony of a friend who was with him, despite widespread knowledge of the identity of Stephen’s attackers, no arrests were made for two weeks, and it was nearly 20 years before anyone was convicted.
A later enquiry found this was largely because of racist attitudes in our police and justice systems. Stephen was a young black man…the assumption was made that he must have been at least partly to blame for what happened. As a young black man, surely he was involved with a gang…his death presumably part of a continuing feud. A young black man out late at night, surely planning to cause trouble…
Stephen Lawrence is remembered because his parents and friends demanded justice for Stephen, and changes in the society that failed him so badly.
This Sunday is recognised by all the major churches of this country as Racial Justice Sunday. It began in Stephen’s own church, the Methodist church, in his memory. This is Stephen’s legacy – the acknowledgement that racial justice is the church’s business because at the heart of Jesus’ teaching is a call to justice for the marginalised. This year its focus is on the 30-year anniversary of Stephen’s death, what has been achieved and what is still to do.
We can see why 2023 is significant for Stephen’s family and community…but what of us? Why should we remember? I’ve never been involved with people who would use violent racist language, let alone physically attack someone because of the colour of their skin…I suspect the same is true for you.
Racial Justice Sunday, calls to remove statues of people involved in slavery…it’s as though we’re being asked to feel guilty for things we had no part in…the slave trade…racism in the 1990s Metropolitan Police…
So why mark Racial Justice Sunday? Well firstly because recent reports suggest black and minority ethnic people are still treated differently. They’re more likely to be excluded from school; stopped and searched by the police; arrested; prosecuted. They are less likely to be given bail, and their sentences are more severe.
But more importantly I think…simply because, in the words of an old Sunday school song…’we have decided to follow Jesus’.
Today we heard Jesus’ teaching about trusting God rather than worrying about how our basic needs will be met. Perhaps I should’ve written a sermon considering what that might mean for our lives today…
But then I thought about the people of Syria and Turkey…and what this passage means in their context. I am pretty sure Jesus would not be walking around telling those who have lost everything not to worry about where food or shelter might come from…he would be giving practical help…or at least listening and holding people in their pain.
Equally, I can’t imagine Jesus telling people not to worry about tomorrow when they fear their children may be criminalised…or a minor foolishness will spoil their life chances just because of their colour.
Jesus tells us not to worry about material things, about what might happen tomorrow, because life is more than this. This seems an obvious statement – but it does ask the question, then what is life? Life is for relationships, with each other and God; life is for enjoying the wonders of God’s creation; life is about music, sport, poetry.
Jesus tells us not to worry about material things but strive instead for the kingdom of God. A life spent worrying about stuff is missing out on all that makes it a human life as God intended it to be.
Good advice for most of us…to focus less on the material and more on what gives life in all its fullness. But what about those who have no choice but to spend their lives worrying about where their next meal will come from? Those who live with fear of what injustice tomorrow might bring to them or their children?
Lives spent worrying in this way are not human lives as God intended. So if we’re serious about seeking the kingdom of God, then I guess this also involves working to ensure fewer people have to live this sort of life.
We are a generous community – ready to give to those in need. Today we’re also asked to be ready to listen, to acknowledge the pain our black and ethnic minority brothers and sisters have about the past, and seek to understand what they go through still today.
Observing Racial Justice Sunday is not about feeling guilty, or dismissing lives lived in good faith, in a world not of our making. It’s about recognising how people feel, by giving them the space to tell us. It’s about striving for the Kingdom of God, where everyone has the possibility of hearing Jesus’ call to stop worrying about tomorrow.
'A little surer of being a little nearer...' 