Barry Unwin. Venue: Upton Parish Church, 14 May 2017
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” (1Cor.1:10-12)
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labour. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1Cor.3:5-9)
Its now just two months until the release of director Christopher Nolan’s new film Dunkirk. The film celebrates the astonishing rescue of one-third of a million allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk in the early days of the second world war.
Until I moved to Upton last summer I didn’t know that Upton was the home of a Dunkirk hero – Captain William Tennant – of the destroyer HMS Wolfhound. He took on the role of Beachmaster, co-ordinating the evacuation, and was one of the last to leave – patrolling the evacuation beaches with a megaphone searching for any remaining British soldiers.
You can see a statue of him by the Pepperpot. I do hope he makes the silver screen! Perhaps we can add him to the banners celebrating our success in the Sunday Times best places to live ratings!
Now Dunkirk is arguably the biggest failure in British military history, and yet in popular history we see it as the triumph that laid the foundation for eventual Allied victory.
How could such an unlikely transformation have happened?It seems to me that three crucial factors came together.
Firstly, as the Allied forces were being squeezed back towards Dunkirk, King George VI called a National Day of Prayer.
As millions flocked into our nation’s churches – including this one – to pray for the trapped Allied forces, Hitler began to squabble with his generals. Fearing his tank commanders would get the glory, he ordered them to stop their advance when they were ten miles from Dunkirk, and instead sent the Luftwaffe to finish off the fleeing Allied troops.
This miraculous pause allowed time for the evacuation to be organised. Step forward every little boat in Southern England. Pilot Douglas Bader said,
At times it seemed like there were so many a man could walk from Dunkirk to England without his feet getting wet.
And then thirdly Winston Churchill spoke. To a humiliated, divided parliament, he said:
Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
I’m no Winston Churchill, but even without his delivery, those words are still powerful. Many MPs reported being moved to tears by them.
But was emotion all that Churchill was trying to do? Or was there something bigger? You see with our armed forces humiliated, and parliament divided over whether to appease Hitler or fight him,Churchill knew he had to both unite and inspire the nation, by renewing our vision. And it’s about vision I want to talk today.
Our Bible reading – you may want to have it open in front of you – was all about vision in the face of conflict. It’s author – St Paul – arrived in the great Pagan city of Corinth probably in 52AD. He spent 18 months there, and the church he established grew like crazy. But when he moved on – he received news that all was not well. He writes,
Some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.” (1Cor.1v11)
Sadly that’s not uncommon in churches. Not today, not then. Churches have never been museums for the saints, instead at our best, we’re hospitals for sinners. And that means we will quarrel.
Now we don’t know what the quarrel was about – though v12 seems to hint its about leadership and direction.
Do you notice how Paul lists the names of the factions?
- One group claimed Paul as it’s inspiration – after all he was the founder of the church.
- Another group claimed Cephas – or Peter – who was the founder of the Jerusalem Church. He’d never been to Corinth, but his status as one of Jesus 12 disciples gave him a certain kudos.
- And then there’s another group gathered round Apollos – who was an enormously eloquent young preacher – and who was presumably doing things differently to how Paul would have done them.
But of course it’s not the leaders who are squabbling, it’s the followers. And rather like Hitler and his Generals, they’re bickering so much that they’re neglecting their real mission: to proclaim the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So what does Paul do? Well he pleads with them to stop bickering and challenges them to agree with one another. The thing is, that’s easier said than done.
We have bickering here in Upton sometimes don’t we? Anyone reading the Malvern Gazette or the Parish noticeboard will know that there are tensions between the generations and between differing outlooks and visions for our town.
I’m not here to take sides, but I’m sure I speak for most of the people of this town when I say we don’t want there to be division on our council, and we long for our councillors to be reconciled and united in their work. But how can they reach that unity? How do you unify those who bicker?
One way to limit dissent by fear and intimidation. There’s the old line about:
How many mobsters does it take to throw a man down the stairs?
None! He just fell.
Another way is by purge. Get rid of everyone who disagrees with you. The Soviets were fabulous at this. Apparently the KGB HQ in Moscow was such a tall building that you could see Siberia from the basement.
Another way to unity is re-education. That’s a hard one to do short-term, but long-term can be a really effective strategy. That’s why the phrase Fundamental British Values gets bandied around so much today. It’s a government re-education strategy. Just in case you’re wondering which fundamental British values we’re talking about, as it isn’t always clear, Ofsted define them as
- democracy,
- the rule of law,
- individual liberty and
- mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith.
Which all sounds very good as long as none of those values come into conflict. Then you’re labelled an Extremist, so we’re back to Fear and Intimidation.
Here’s a fourth option: the charismatic leader. This is the Harry Redknapp option – you face relegation and financial disaster so you invite a big-personality leader in to rev up the troops and save the day.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t, because unfortunately in the long-term charismatic leaders tend to become dictators and they end up employing re-education, purges and fear to enforce their way.
Thankfully there’s a better way. It’s the way St Paul takes, and it’s also the way Churchill took in the aftermath of Dunkirk. I call it HONEST VISION. Not just vision – honest vision.
The vision of victory Churchill gave our nation in 1940 was painfully honest about how bad the situation was and how hard the future would be. My earlier quote ended, “We shall never surrender…” Listen to how Churchill continued:
Long dark nights of trials and tribulations lie before us. Not only great dangers, but many more misfortunes, many shortcomings, many mistakes, many disappointments will surely be our lot. Death and sorrow will be companions of our journey, constancy and valour our only shield.”
Do you think you’ll find anything as honest as that in an election manifesto this summer? Beware vision that is not also honest!
St Paul’s vision was very honest. Rather than hide the division he names it, and then just like Churchill he paints a bigger vision.
What after all is Apollos? What is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe…I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but has God been making it grow…”
He’s pointing us back to the bigger vision – it’s not about Paul or Apollos or Cephas – they’re all just servants of the real lord of the church, Jesus Christ himself. He’s the one who matters above all their petty politics.
So what can this teach us for life in Upton today? Two things.
First, let’s be honest about naming problems. Let’s not do the embarrassed Englishman and brush them under the carpet. Let’s do the inspired Churchchillian Englishman instead – and name the problems and fix them.
But let’s do it lovingly, with respect. Paul writes to “brothers and sisters” – not enemies. He speaks as an equal, not talking down like a parent. His goal is to unify not vilify.
And the reason Paul can do this is he knows what it’s like to live for the wrong vision. Prior to his conversion he’d persecuted the church, put Christians in prison and organised stonings.
And then one day on the road to Damascus he met the risen Jesus Christ and his life was transformed forever. And after a few initial difficulties, he was welcomed, loved and accepted by the very people he’d persecuted.
Paul can name problems lovingly because he knows what it’s like to live for the wrong vision. I dare say deep down we all know that feeling – search for it – and use it to speak with charity.
And second, let’s commit to discovering and explaining the inspirational bigger vision. Vision is part of the duty of our civic leaders – In fact of all leaders – state, industry, church, sport, school. So share the honest vision– Inspire us – and let’s see if we don’t follow.
And as you do that, the thanks and prayers of a grateful community will go with you.