Homily St Mary’s Marlborough, 9th September 2018
Trinity 15: James 2.1-10,14-17 & Mark 7.24-37
Every month, the Marlborough Churches Together ministers meet, both to support one another, as well as to discuss what we may do together. One of the things we have been doing together for a long time is the walk of witness on Good Friday. And ever since I have been here, every time we meet, this is a point of discussion. Some of us feel that Good Friday is a solemn day, so the procession through the High Street should reflect this. Others feel that a solemn procession is a terribly poor witness to the Christian faith, and we should be more upbeat and joyful to show the good news of the Easter message.
I leave to you to think in which group I may fall, but I do think that too often Christianity is seen as something ‘heavy’, something that weighs you down or restricts you. Every time a rich person is mentioned, it seems, it is in a negative way, as here again in James’ letter. And do we really need to see ourselves as beggars, saying that we are not even worthy to eat the crumbs from under a table, to be sincere and true Christians?
Here we’re seeing an image of three nails. They are probably not that dissimilar in size to the ones that were used to crucify Jesus. The thought of that in itself is rather gruesome, and maybe some of us can bring to mind artwork or images depicting these nails and the wounds they caused.
Discovering Life 