I noticed the word “Guard” in our 2nd Reading today. (2 Timothy 1:6-8,13-14) We’re told to guard the faith; and that word “Guard” immediately made me think of the Queen’s Funeral two weeks ago, and all the Guards we saw there. You can see and hear me give this Homily on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmXM6TY6FeQ
What struck me most about them was their stillness. If, like me, you’ve watched the TV series showing us the life of those Guards, you will know that they’re extra fit young people full of energy, trained to take part in war and conflict, and to do things that most of us would find nigh on impossible. Yet here they were, standing, or marching slowly and steadily in perfect unison, in a way that showed complete control. I did wonder how they would have reacted if some terrorist had tried to disrupt things, and I suspect that in that situation they would then have acted fast and decisively, and would have been well able to use those guns they were carrying.
So, to guard something is to be very much in control of oneself, to know when to speak and when to be silent, when to act and when to be still, and never to panic. For a Christian, this must surely mean having a deep faith in God, a faith that whatever happens, even death itself, nothing can separate us from God’s love. And here I suggest that we’re helped by Jesus’ words from the Gospel (Luke 17:5-10) where he tells us that thinking everything depends on us, that we must build up an enormous amount of faith if things are to be accomplished, is quite wrong. We only need a tiny amount of faith, the size of a mustard seed, for God to work in us and through us. To have a deep faith is quite different from having a lot of faith.
Jesus goes on to give us a story of slavery, which we may well find hard to understand. The point is that when Jesus uses the word “slave”, we need to realise that most slaves in those days were not like those in the horrendous African Slave trade of 200 or more years ago. Slaves were mostly well-treated and often after some years of service were given their freedom, working for their previous master in a way that made money for both of them. It was a system where everyone knew what they were supposed to do. But we also need to be careful how we interpret this story, because all too often we tend to think that these stories, these parables, that Jesus tells us, are meant to teach us what to do; but actually almost always their main purpose is to teach us what God is like. And that’s the point here, for Jesus is teaching us that God is reliable and disciplined, that God doesn’t chop and change his ways, as the pagan gods seemed to do, according to how they felt; and that therefore we can rely on God to be consistent. Thus, when we’re encouraged to guard the faith, we’re being encouraged to be more like God, the great guardian of us all.
The other thing about being a guard is that guards, when on duty, have to be patient. They may have a long shift and it doesn’t go any faster if you watch the clock. And that takes us back to our 1st Reading (Habakkuk 1:2-3,2:2-4) where we are told that to trust in God, in the vision that God has for us, we have to remember that “If it comes slowly, wait, for come it will, without fail.” We tend to think that if we don’t get an almost immediate answer when we turn to God, then God has failed us; and the point is that this isn’t true. Often, we only discover that we’ve had an answer to our problem a few months or even a few years later. Then we look back, and can see how God was at work in our life, even though we didn’t notice it at the time. I have a lovely 250 year old Grandfather Clock in my house; and the other day, thinking about God and time, I watched it to see if I could see the hands move. Well, they certainly moved, but so slowly that I could not see it happen. It’s the same as plants in the garden isn’t it? They grow, but we cannot perceive their growth. Joining the two thoughts together, we can then see that God is always to be trusted, is always reliable, but because God’s time is not our time, we cannot usually see immediately how his reliability reveals itself.
So if Christians are meant to be like God, then the Church too is mean to be God-like, and that means proclaiming and sharing the faith quietly and consistently, in ways that the world may consider unsatisfying. The world wants quick easy answers, but God, and the message of God that we are called to share, is not like that.
There’s one more thing I want to add. Every 2nd of October, if it isn’t a Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of the Guardian Angels. This is the Church’s belief that God provides for each of us what we call our Guardian Angel – an angelic power that watches over us in a unique and personal way. Angels are of course, emanations from God himself, and so we are affirming that in a wonderful way, God’s care and concern for us is as personal, is as close as it is possible to be. God watches over us. He cannot of course prevent us from making mistakes, because he's given us free will, but that doesn’t stop him endlessly loving us, showing a patience for us, watching over us, in ways that are quite beyond belief. The guards who were watching over the Queen as she lay in state, and as she was moved from Westminster Hall to the Abbey and then on to Windsor, did not stir from their duty but with amazing discipline did what was required of them; and although I expect that they found it pretty tiring, I bet that they now look back on that time as something that they feel privileged to have been part of.
Sadly, we are rarely as dutiful as they were on that occasion, and we’re certainly nothing like as careful and watchful as we could be; but despite our weaknesses we are called to watch over each other, as God watches over us. I’m sure that is why the Church gave us that cry from today’s Psalm for us to proclaim for one another “O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’”
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