Andrew Tremlett's Installation sermon
Andrew Tremlett's Installation sermon, 25th September 2022
From the Book of Jonah:
And the people of Nineveh believed God.
And from the Acts of the Apostles:
Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.
One of the delights of being part of a great Cathedral is that you tap into deep roots and a long tradition. In this case, here in St Paul’s, those roots go back to the founding of this Cathedral in the year 604, by Mellitus – then the first Bishop of London – to whom Bishop Sarah stands 133rd in line - and later Archbishop of Canterbury.
By happy coincidence, one of the main sources of information we have comes from the Venerable Bede who now lies in Durham Cathedral and was writing a hundred years after Mellitus.
While Bede tapped into the experience of Northern Christians nourished by Aidan, Cuthbert and Hilda, Mellitus was part of the Southern mission headed up by Augustine of Canterbury at the behest of Pope Gregory the Great.
But it’s Bede who captures a set of instructions given by Gregory in a letter to Mellitus, and it makes fascinating reading.
Tell Augustine that he should be no means destroy the temples of the gods but rather the idols within those temples. Let him, after he has purified them with holy water, place altars and relics of the saints in them. For, if those temples are well built, they should be converted … to the service of the true God.
And a little bit later he carries on:
When one wishes to reach the top of a mountain, you must climb by stages and step by step, not by leaps and bounds....
So keep the temples, but get rid of the idols.
In terms of mission, this is about assimilation rather than exclusion; it is about taking the time to discover what is there and working with it; it is St Paul standing on the steps of the Areopagus acknowledging the religious observance of the metropolitan Athenians and pointing them to the ‘Unknown God’.
It is about acknowledging that all of us – whatever our sphere, however pioneering we think we might be – are always building on someone else’s foundation.
For me personally, that means acknowledging the faithful and fruitful ministry of David and Hilary Ison over the last decade, and of Graeme Knowles and John Moses before. Slightly more dauntingly this list includes William Van Mildert, who later founded Durham University; the poet John Donne and the Renaissance humanist, John Colet.
So no pressure then!
I think that all of us who serve in public life – whether in Parliament, Diplomatic, Civic, Military, Religious, Trades Union, Health, Education or Security - will recognise that we are each called to respond to the circumstances of the day and – for people of faith – to be open to what God may be leading us to in our own time.
But, thinking back to Gregory’s letter to Mellitus, if the recognition that we build on the work of others equates to ‘keeping the temples’, we then have to ask which idols need to be torn down.
Having engaged with the global maritime world through the Mission to Seafarers, and with the world of politics in a number of contexts, my own calling is to draw faith into the public sphere, and the hard choices of public life into the religious realm.
My family who are here from Belgium live in a world with a sharp divide between the sacred and the secular, the principle of laicité. The events of the past fortnight have illustrated a different settlement here in the United Kingdom where faith can be broad enough both to enable the nation to come together in a time of public mourning, but sufficiently comfortable in its own skin as to offer no compulsion, no obligation to participate.
And on that note, with colleagues present from so many institutions, a word of thanks and gratitude, if I may, to all who have served the Crown and country so ably over the past few weeks.
So if Gregory were writing to Mellitus today what might the idols be here at St Paul’s?
I want to suggest three which are all rooted in St Paul’s tag-line of ‘a vibrant church, a national treasure and a London icon’.
A vibrant church
It seems blindingly obvious, but the sine qua non of a Cathedral, the thing without which it does not exist, is its spiritual beating heart.
Cathedrals can be many things – places of commemoration and celebration, holders of memory and temples of challenge, but if they are not fundamentally places of prayer and worship, they should close their doors and re-open as a museum, or art gallery, or concert venue. Good things in themselves, but not a Cathedral.
For once the law is on our side: recent legislation, now being rolled out across the Cathedral sector, for the first time states in black and white that the primary goal of a Cathedral foundation must be the worship of almighty God and the mission of the Church of England.
But, in this case, the law is not sufficient in itself. Faith can never be a matter of legislation or compulsion. It arises from fundamental values which express themselves both in religious practices, but more importantly in communities of action.
That’s what we mean by a vibrant church.
A national treasure
And secondly, St Paul’s is, without doubt, a national treasure – a place held deep in deep affection by the country. But that place of honour can never be taken for granted or assumed; nor – I would argue – should St Paul’s aspire to be a national treasure in a misty-eyed, thespian way.
The story of Jonah’s journey to Nineveh, interrupted by three days in the belly of the whale, actually becomes a critique of religious intolerance and smugness. Jonah falls into the easy trap for the faithful believer in thinking they can read the mind of God, and are dumb-founded when the Lord is merciful and loving.
To maintain and grow its place in the nation’s affections, we at St Paul’s – just as in any other Cathedral – will need continually to listen and learn and to earn that role. So there can be no presumption that this pulpit has some kind of divine right to inspiration or a monopoly on truth.
We must be part of a national conversation: and, my goodness, having spent 6 years in the North East of England, I can only express how important national conversation is.
How are the competing demands for growth, stimulated by tax incentives for wealth creators, squared with those who keep society going and struggle to earn a living wage?
How do we maintain our cast-iron commitments to preserving freedom in Ukraine when society rightly demands that homes are kept warm and businesses running?
How do we foster the Seven Principles of Public life – selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership – in a culture which is shot through with a consumerist demand for instant response, and where actual participation in politics, trades unionism and community engagement are at historic lows?
A London icon
And finally, St Paul’s sits in this iconic London setting: a site occupied by Mellitus 1,400 years ago. But the Diocese and the City of today would have been unrecognizable to him.
By any account, London exerts a powerful influence on the life of the nation and takes its place on the global stage as a megacity.
The question for St Paul’s is how far we engage with and reflect the rich and diverse nature of our communities.
Internally, there are important steps to which the Chapter has already committed:
- Engaging openly, creatively and critically with the iconography which surrounds us in questions of contested heritage;
- ensuring equality of access, including to our fantastic chorister tradition;
- Enabling colleagues to experience St Paul’s as a workplace which lives out both the Christian gospel and best practice in employment.
Equally important are the outward-facing steps we must take to enable of mission of enabling people in all their diversity to encounter the transforming presence of God in Jesus Christ.
For our key partners and institutions here, both in City and Diocese, I thank you for your support in that endeavour.
But to return to where I started.
That ancient letter to Mellitus revealed some eternal truths for us: build on what you find; tear down the idols that distract. Climb the mountain step by step, not leaps and bounds.
To be bold, that is my commitment to you all.
In the name of God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.