The Sub Dean's sermon preached at Choral Evensong on the Second Sunday after Trinity.

Last month a group of pilgrims from the Cathedral walked two days on the Cammino di San Jacopo, the way of St James in Tuscany. It is one of the ancient pilgrim routes that criss-cross Europe, converging on the Shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostella in Spain. There are many other pilgrim ways such as the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome, which is soon to be extended back here to Southwark and of course the ancient route from Southwark to Canterbury. Pilgrimage is an ancient tradition within the Christian church and also shared by the other great faiths. Our earthly journey is a reminder of our exploration of the divine and travelling towards with our goal towards God who is also our companion on the way.

On the Way of St James, there were scallop shells (the symbol of St James) and yellow arrows pointing the way we should walk and it reminded me so much of my experience of the Portuguese Camino I walked during my sabbatical. In Tuscany we had two experienced and wise trekkers who knew the way well so we didn’t have to find the pathway ourselves. Not so for me in Portugal and so those way markers were vital in ensuring I kept to the path in order to reach my goal in Santiago. It is vital to keep them in sight and to look out for them to stay on the path.

There is a prayer for pilgrims walking the Camino which includes,

‘Be for us our companion on our walk,

Our guide at the crossroads,

Our breath in our weariness,

Our protection in danger.’

These words came to mind as I read the first reading this afternoon. The prophet Jeremiah wrote,

Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
   and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
   and find rest for your souls.

It's an invitation which God offers to humanity today as much as in the days of the prophet Jeremiah. And sadly our response has changed little and our voices sound like an echo:

‘We will not walk in it’ and ‘We will not give heed.’

This week we have commemorated the 80^th anniversary of D-Day and the ultimate sacrifice of those who offered everything, including life itself, for the common good and for freedom and peace. There were poignant testimonies by those for whom D-Day was as real this week as it was 80 years ago and who lost friends and companions in the horrors of war. As we pledged to remember and honour them and their sacrifice it feels like we have learned very little in the intervening years. Today we continue to look on in horror at the devastation wreaked on human lives in Gaza and Israel, in Ukraine and Russia and on so many around our world experiencing warfare and the results of the climate emergency. In the words of Jeremiah, these are ‘stumbling blocks against which humanity will stumble, parents and children together, neighbour and friend shall perish.’

We seem intent on following a path centred on the human ego, on power and force rather than the way of God. Time and again we fail to look out for and recognize the face of the divine in the face of those around us.

We could be overwhelmed by the state of our world and all the many challenges we face as the human race. Or we can seek to make a difference, in our neighbourhoods and communities, in the ways we treat one another and the stranger in our midst. By keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, by following the way-markers before us like pilgrims on the Camino we can make a difference as we celebrate the divine in those around us who may be very different from us and yet bear with us the same image of God deep within them.

Stand at the crossroads, and look,
   and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
   and find rest for your souls.