Come and See

John 1.43-end

A Sermon preached at St Philips, Earls Court Road on May 1, 2013, by the Revd Dr Sam Wells

Come and see. Youve chosen a bold vision for your church. Bold, because it sounds so arrogant. Why do you think people should come to you? What makes you so special that you think people should leave their busy lives watching the One show or the Champions League or trying to rescue failing relationships or studying for exams or seeking to make ends meet to come to St Philips and discover anything they dont already know? What seriously do you think people are going to see? Are you going to be promising that people will be jumping out of wheelchairs or opening suitcases of banknotes or all the stunts of tele-evangelism? Who do you think you are? Why cant you leave people alone and respect their privacy? Come and see. Lets start with come. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Philip says to Nathanael what Jesus has first said to Andrew. But when Jesus says it, it means something different. When Jesus says Come, its because hes already done the coming. Jesus has made the long journey from heaven to earth. Jesus has made the long journey from the heart of God to the flesh of human nature. Jesus has made all the running. Is that what youve done when you say Come? Have you made all the running? Have you done the hard yards of making yourself ready, of putting in the wheelchair ramp, of getting your toilets presentable, of making the sockets toddler-friendly, of all the hundred tiny ways in which you subtly say to people, were longing to see you? One night after the evening Eucharist in my first parish a very well dressed but rather eccentric lady, about 50 years my senior, shook my hand in the church porch and leant forward to whisper in my ear, in a quavering but excited voice, Im ready for you. Just beginning to register her perfume, make up, pashmina shawl and heels, I said, perhaps naively, Ready for? She didnt hesitate: To go out! I summoned all my available tact to dodge the date. But are those the words youre saying to your neighbourhood? Were ready for you. We have easyto-follow liturgy and straightforward introductions to the faith, because we dont expect you to know our churchy culture already. We have chocolate biscuits and filter coffee, because seeing you is a special occasion, and instant coffee and custard creams are what you give to people you dont like very much. Were ready for you. We have decent seats you can feel comfortable in and we remember your name the first time you say it, because weve been waiting for this moment all week. Were ready for you. If youre going to say Come, with all the challenge it takes to be on someone elses territory with someone elses manners and all the fears and insecurities and embarrassments that involves, youve got to do most of the coming, youve got to do the hard yards, youve got to work so hard that the newcomer says, Its like you were expecting me you smile, but the real answer is, We were, weve been praying and working for this for months. The newcomer says I cant believe youve put on such a welcome I cant understand why youve done it you smile, but the real answer is, We love you, we havent seen you but we love you, we dont know you but we love you, God has sent you as an angel to us, we treat you as a messenger from God. Yes, by all means say Come, but behind that Come make sure you yourself have, like Jesus, made most of the running, and make sure you can say, albeit in a whisper, Were ready for you. And what about See? In one scene in the film When Harry Met Sally Sally and Harry are having a sandwich in a diner and Sally is so angry with how cocky Harry is about his prowess with women that she fakes an experience of ecstatic excitement right there in the crowded restaurant. After about a minute of drama that brings the whole restaurant to fascinated silence, a waitress approaches a woman at a neighbouring aisle, inviting her order. The woman being served looks aside, intrigued and envious, nods at Sally and says Ill have what shes having. Im not advocating making a salacious satirical scene in public places. But Im wondering, when people do see what the life of St Philips is like, when they see you share in worship the silence of eternity, when they see you speak to one another the truth in love, when they see you join in

community projects or celebrate and grieve together, do they think or say, Ill have what youre having? Think for a moment about how many places there are in our society where people who are not related to one another, who are not of the same age or class, who have no professional relationship with one another, and have no commercial interest, meet and talk and enjoy and spend time with one another. The church is almost unique in this way. Think for a moment about how many places there are in our society where people talk with one another about what really matters in life, in an open way that often involves self-disclosure, and can include exuberant expressions of joy or despair, and yet doesnt hide behind spectator sports or theatre or performance but enables people truly to see one another. Again, the church is almost unique in our world. But when we say See, like the word Come, it requires a conversion in ourselves. When we say Come and see, we are making ourselves vulnerable. Vulnerable to being seen. Vulnerable to being seen as boring, as unattractive, as old, as predictable, as demanding, as irrelevant, as nave, as clumsy, as wrong, as stupid, as uncool. Is St Philips a community that truly sees people, in all their complexity and fragility and longing and disappointment and frustration and curiosity and hunger and hope? And is St Philips a community of people that are prepared for newcomers truly to see them to see beyond the welcome and the prepared parts to the ordinary, the fallible, the foolish, and the uncertain? Leonard Cohen sang There is a crack in everything, thats how the light gets in. The theological version of those words is, Gods divinity shines through our humanity. And that leaves just one more word: and. Think about the difference between those two words. Come is active, requires no brains, no reflection, no wisdom, just energy and humility and willingness of heart. It takes effort, and its a big thing to ask of someone else, but youre asking for their body, not their soul. Its provisional, take-it-or-leave-it, still a little detached, a little timeconsuming but not assuming any permanence. See is more stationary, it invites perception, and understanding, and thoughtfulness, and pondering, and sympathy, and care, and distillation. It doesnt expect physical energy or great movement or exertion. But it does ask for stillness, and depth, and judgement. Thats whats bold about St Philips. Its the and. Youre not happy to settle for come or see on their own. You want both. You invite both. You wont settle for less than both. Because thats what you discover in Jesus. He sees us, in our sin and our striving. And he comes to us, in incarnate, fleshly form. God isnt a distant, arbitrary deity. In Jesus, God comes and sees. And thats also whats meant by faith. Faith sees it sees the truth within the mystery, the soul within the worlds clamour, the love in the heart of creation, the resurrection buried deep in the cross. But faith also comes it reaches out to other believers, it shares the good news with friend and stranger, it practices good news with the least, the last, and the lost. And thats the freedom and simplicity of being a Christian. Julius Caesar did three things. I came, I saw, I conquered. Christians only need to do two. They dont need to conquer. God in Christ has done that. God in Christ in the sending of the Spirit makes a world for us and whispers to us Im ready for you. God in Christ makes a heaven for us so we can say in hope and expectation, Im having what youre having. God in Christ has conquered, so we, in freedom and simplicity, have only two things left to do. Come and see.