The Sub Dean's sermon preached at the Choral Eucharist on Sunday 9 February 2025.

Around ten years ago we were on holiday in Umbria, enjoying the delights of hill top medieval towns and glorious Romanesque churches, not to mention the regional food and drink which were amazing. A friend recommended that we visit Terni Cathedral. It was akin to someone suggesting visiting Wakefield or Bradford Cathedrals – both dear to my own heart but very much post-manufacturing cities. Terni is a rather unprepossessing industrial city and well off the tourist trail. The cathedral itself hasn’t a huge amount of architectural merit, having been rebuilt and remodelled many times. But when you walk into the nave and then turn to face west you come face to face with a breathtaking mural by Ricardo Cinalli who created it at the beginning of the 21st century. It depicts the risen Christ ascending into heaven with a net in each hand bursting with all sorts and conditions of people, representing people of all faiths, ethnic heritage, gender and sexuality. It was commissioned by Archbishop Paglia whose ministry in an overtly anti-religious and anti-church city centred on our reliance on God’s mercy to all people. Christ ascends with all manner of wounded and suffering humanity, from the earthy city to the heavenly. It has drawn admiration and horror in equal measure, not least because the people are naked, stripped of power, status and influence in a show of radical poverty. Some have accused the Archbishop and painter of blasphemy and have campaigned to have it removed but it’s still there if you are ever passing that way.

Whenever I hear this morning’s gospel reading my mind goes back to that mural in Terni. And it is such an appropriate gospel passage as we celebrate Racial Justice Sunday and Bonnie’s baptism. Today we rejoice as Bonnie becomes part of Christ’s family, a beloved and cherished child of God and our sibling. The church into which she is baptised is flawed and broken but with God’s grace and a renewed humility is called to live out the good news of Christ, bringing God’s light, hope and peace to a desperate and needy world. In our second reading, St Paul writes how he is unfit to be an apostle for he persecuted the church and yet he states, ‘By the grace of God, I am what I am, and God’s grace to me has not been in vain.’ The mural in that Italian cathedral reminds me of the phrase used by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that we are the rainbow people of God and that our diversity and differences are not disadvantages but blessings for the whole of humanity. Today we celebrate our own share in that rainbow where all are called to bring colour to the whole picture of God’s amazing creation. We celebrate the diversity of our Cathedral community, our diocese of Southwark and this wonderfully vibrant part of South London where all are valued and celebrated and where we can champion the dignity of all people, not simply those who are like us.

Many of you heard Mark last Sunday outlining our renewed Cathedral vision, Making space for love with heart, mind and soul. Copies of the booklet are available and you can catch up with Mark’s presentation on YouTube. He talked about our values of integrity, kindness, justice and courage. It seems to me that in our current world situation we are going to increasingly need to encourage one another to live out these values individually and as a community, for the gospel values of treating all people with respect, kindness and compassion are under threat. The new administration in the United States is rapidly showing itself in its true colours and at odds with these values and scapegoating ‘the other.’ It is simplistic to label their plans as crazy for they are dangerous and dehumanising. The proposal to remove the Palestinian people of Gaza from the rubble of their homes and build a riviera resort for the rich strikes at the very heart of people’s right to a homeland, to belong to a particular place and to be stewards of God’s creation. It is nothing less than ethnic cleansing.

Many of us cheered Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, when she spoke truth to power in asking the new President to have mercy on those who are fearful of what the present and future holds in the light of the new Administration. She embodied our values of integrity, kindness, justice and courage and her example has encouraged others to do the same. It is easy to imagine that it is simply an American problem but we have to look no further than our own neighbourhoods and national life to see similar trends. Last week there was a far right march in Waterloo and we witnessed horrific racist attacks against migrants and refugees in the riots last summer, preaching a racist message of hate. It is not something we can leave to other people to do on our behalf. In our first reading, the Lord speaks to the prophet Isaiah, ‘whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ To which he replies, ‘Here am I; send me.’ Bonnie’s baptism today reminds us that we are all called and baptised into one body. So when one person is not valued and respected, then none of us is; when someone is treated as ‘the other’ so are we all. The things that make us different and unique are gifts to enrich the whole of humanity. Today’s gospel reading shows how people were transformed by an encounter with Jesus. The fishermen were exhausted, having worked through the night and caught nothing. Jesus asks them to try again. There is clearly something so special and attractive about Jesus which Peter immediately recognises and he lets down the nets again. With the abundance of God’s grace their nets almost break with the catch and the boat is on the point of sinking. Peter has the humility to respond to God’s grace and he leaves the familiar and the everyday behind and becomes a follower of Jesus. I wonder how you and I would react? Would we have the courage and integrity to respond to God’s call?

Our diocese of Southwark has pioneered an Anti-Racism Charter, making it clear to all in our communities that everyone is equally valued and cherished as God’s beloved children. As part of our Cathedral journey of justice and courage we will be exploring what this means for us in the coming year. For Bonnie as she begins her pilgrimage of faith and for all of us as the people of God in this place we  need to hear anew the encouraging words of Jesus to his first disciples, ‘Do not be afraid.’  ‘Do not be afraid.’

This is not a solitary path that we walk as we seek to challenge injustice and the abuse of power, but one that we take together, drawing strength, inspiration and hope from one another and from the God who makes all things new.