Pentecost Sunday, 11 June 2000

Gateshead International Stadium

I am so pleased to be with you for this Celebration on this Pentecost Sunday. Mind you, I feel a little like Christopher Columbus on such a day as this. It was said of him: "When he set out, he did not know where he was going; when he got there, he did not know where he was; when he returned home, he did not know where he had been." Well, I was at the Greenwich Dome at 8.00 o'clock this morning; at Canterbury Cathedral for the 11am service; and now here at the Gateshead International Stadium! You can see how I feel!

But it is good to be back in the North East! It is a region rich in beauty and history. Indeed, in terms of Christian history, we only have to think of Lindisfarne, Jarrow and Durham to be reminded of its Celtic roots and of any number of inspiring saints of God.

Speaking personally, my wife and I had seven memorable years at St Nick's Durham and we retain a huge affection for Geordies and Wearsiders even though I support Arsenal FC (!) and not one of the famous sides around here. But seriously, we retain a deep affection for this area and the courage, hope and humour of its people, which is so world-renowned.

In the two readings, one theme is common to both. It is the theme of 'power'. From the Acts of the Apostles: "And they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." And from 2 Timothy: "God did not give us the spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline."

Think of the North East, and all kinds of images of power come to mind. This region gave birth to the Industrial Revolution; its coal mines laid the foundation for our nation's strength; the railways, born in the North East, powered the growth of industry; and the genius of the North East took advantage of the opportunity, and shaped the history of this country.

Similarly with the Church. We have been at the heart of the nation and the heart of change from the very beginning. Christian values, after all, have shaped our laws, our education and civic life. For many generations the Bible was at the heart of practically every family; the scriptures read, known and memorised. Collectively, of course, Christians are still a force to be reckoned with. More go to Church than football matches. Our many Church Schools and our active social programmes are still highly valued by our society and make us important elements in our communities.

But in our own generation, and in many parts of the world, we also know what it is to be weak. We stand, as every generation of the Church has done since that first Pentecost, in need of power - God's Power - to transform and renew our lives.

In preparation for this visit I decided to explore the person of George Stephenson and found his story a moving and impressive illustration of power and weakness. The anniversary of his birthday was, interestingly enough, June 9th - just two days ago. He was born in Wylam, just a few miles away from here. His was a tough life. By the age of 17 he couldn't read or write. But George Stephenson would not allow circumstances to put him down or make him despair. He began night school at the age of 18 and learned to read and write and understand arithmetic. His ability was noted. He became an engineer. He started to speculate about using steam to drive railway engines. His ideas began to work - but he met a great deal of opposition on the way.

When he had to give evidence before a House of Commons Committee one opponent scoffed: "This railway is the most absurd scheme that ever entered the head of man to conceive. Mr Stephenson never had a plan - I don't believe he is capable of one. He is either ignorant or something else I would not mention...When you put to him a question upon a difficult point, he resorts to two or three hypotheses, and never comes to a decided conclusion."

You may know Churches and communities like that, but the point about Stephenson is this. Though he was never in any doubt about the poverty of his background, the many things he needed to know and the opposition he was up against, he was a driven man and he knew what was possible. He knew his ideas could work - and he was not prepared to be driven into despair or forced to give up.

And he succeeded.

And if there was one man whose achievements lay behind the industrial revolution it was George Stephenson. He harnessed the power of steam to drive the railway engine and the rest, as they say, is history. He was, however, also a very humble man, well-aware of his own human weakness, and he offered a penetrating, remark towards the end of his life which spoke to that awareness. He said to a lady who had asked him how he felt about being an important man: "Why, madam, they used to call me George Stephenson; I am now called George Stephenson, Esquire, of Tapton House, near Chesterfield. And, further, let me say, that I have dined with princes, peers, and commoners, with persons of all classes, from the humblest to the highest. I have dined off a red-herring when seated in a hedge-bottom, and I have gone through the meanest drudgery. I have seen mankind in all its phases, and the conclusion I have arrived at is this - that if we were all stripped, there is not much difference."

I admire his refreshing, human and inspiring attitude, for I, too, am convinced that we are all equal in the sight of God, but also as his creatures there is little that we are not capable of. For when God enters the picture, his power can transform the direst situation. But the relevance of George Stephenson is this: he had to challenge the idea that railway engines were incomprehensible and he had to put his ideas to work. In similar ways, the Holy Spirit challenges us and puts us to work.

Today, he asks us to do four things in his power.

The first is to live in the Spirit. Do you recall the story of the dry bones in Ezekiel? Ezekiel is taken to the valley of dry bones and he says: "Can these dry bones live?" His attitude was - impossible. But God is the God of the impossible, life itself is a miracle and each day we are given is a miracle, a gift of creation. Pentecost, therefore, challenges us to think the impossible and to learn the outrageous.

Negative thinking can hinder so much that is good and positive in the life of the Church. It was Leslie Weatherhead, the great Methodist leader, who said many years ago: "one of the hindrances in the Church at present is that it is cluttered up with well-meaning, spiritually-anaemic people who have never taken Christ seriously and who through years of churchgoing, have developed such a thick armour against the shafts of Jesus that his most searching and scathing words neither challenge nor touch them." Well, that may be an unkind thing to say about the Church, because we know that in all our congregations there are devoted men and women who keep the work going. But we recognise a glimmer of truth in his criticism. We know that convention, stubbornness of thought, unbelief and dull habit can keep the Spirit of God at bay. And lest I should be accused of being anti-Methodist, let me say that his words are true of all Churches. You may know the proud words of the Church Warden's doggerel:

"My ancestors have been church wardens
For a Thousand years or so:
And to every new proposal
We have firmly answered,
'NO!'"

But that is the attitude of death! We are called to live in the Spirit. And to do that means that we need a hunger which drives us to a divine restlessness to see his power in our Churches, his laws in our land, his love in our hearts. Without that, we shall always settle for second best. It was the great labour leader, Aneurin Bevan who said sadly after the war: "The biggest obstacle our people face is the poverty of their desire." What a striking and sad observation! The poverty of their desire. Instead of reaching for the best, they settle for something that falls far short.

And this is a danger for the Church, as well. The writer Maurice Siggin recently observed: "The Churches are largely monuments to the piety of the past, spiritual power houses that have suffered a power cut which no one seems able to put right." Now, I do not believe he is right, either in his analysis or his conclusions. Travelling up and down the country as I do, I can think of may hundreds of examples of churches that are making a significant impact on the lives of their communities. And a great gathering like the one here today, mirrored in hundreds of other places up and down the country, gives the lie to those who say we are a spent force.

But we cannot afford, either, to rest on our laurels. Each Church in each generation is called afresh to live in the Spirit. We talk these days of the 'Faith Zone' in the Dome from which I came this morning. Well, I often tell people that my Church alone, the Church of England, has 15,000 Faith Zones, in practically every community of the land. When you add to that other churches - Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Methodist, Baptist, URC and so on and so on - what a great movement of the Spirit could begin if every Faith Zone were fully mobilised for action!

And how can we promote that?

To live in the Spirit, we need too to pray in the Spirit. The first disciples met for prayer before the Spirit descended on them. I have noticed from my study of history - and indeed from my ministry throughout the world - that there have been very few revivals of faith and renewals of the Church which have not been rooted in prayer and worship. Your Church, your denomination, will not know renewal unless believing prayer is at the heart of it all. Perhaps from this great gathering will go out a call to pray; for the witness of the Church, for our land and its great need for God, for each one of us that we shall be people with a living and powerful faith.

But who am I to tell people of the north east about this? You know better than I the wonderful ministry of those early monasteries and convents in this part of England where prayer formed the base of mission and ministry. Starve prayer and you have lean and weak Church life. If our Lord knew of the necessity of prayer, so must we.

And those who live in the Spirit and pray in the Spirit will also act in the Spirit. Pentecost is all about the Spirit giving us his gifts and us allowing him to use us in his service. God takes our weakness - the offering of our lives - and harnesses it to his enormous strength. Power is the result. Power through the combined efforts of thousands and thousands of people. And Christianity from the beginning has been practical; it has changed communities and changes lives. It has issued in health care, in education, in social concern, in welfare. Evangelism which is not harnessed to social concern is not the evangelism that Jesus did. And social action by churches which is uninterested in discipleship and making Jesus Christ known, is not the social witness that Jesus Christ spoke about.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German Christian and martyr, wrote: "The Church is her true self only when she exists for humanity." So, every Faith Zone is called to reach out in faithful action to the world around. Sometimes people say, "the Church is not relevant." But I want to challenge that and to point to the many things we are doing which are thoroughly relevant to the lives of so many hundreds of thousands of people. Nevertheless, there is sometimes a glimmer of truth in that statement. If your church is not in some ways relevant to the needs of your community, then there is something wrong. Start looking outwards, by living, praying, and acting in the Spirit!

And when we do so, we will discover that there is celebration in the Spirit. Today has been a celebration of faith. We are celebrating the fact that, nearly 2000 years ago, a man was born who has changed the face of the earth. We can be proud of him and humbly proud of the fact that we belong to him. He is our Lord and we are walking in his way. We have great news to offer our broken and troubled world. Scoffers continue to churn out the message that the Church is dead. We respond: "Utter rot!" They will go out of business or change their names or go under new ownership long before the Church of Jesus Christ dies.

And why can we be so confident about God will triumph? Because that is his promise; and the gates of hell cannot prevail against his kingdom.

Therefore we celebrate, in spite of the challenges - and they are many - we celebrate a faith which works, a faith which changes lives, and a faith which gives hope, life, joy and peace.

And so, may I conclude with the inspiring words of Sabine Baring-Gould, who in 1865 penned that stirring hymn, "Onward, Christian Soldiers":

"Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane,
But the Church of Jesus constant will remain.
Gates of hell can never 'gainst that Church prevail;
We have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail."

And on this Pentecost Sunday, in this Jubilee year, what a promise that is!

Item from: Lambeth Palace