On the Solemnity of St. James the Great – our patron. Fr. Mark Greenaway-Robbins, July 27th, 2014.
From a news report posted yesterday: “A week ago the Christians in the city (of Mosul) were told they had until July 18th to convert to Islam, pay a special tax, leave, or, in the words of a statement by the jihadists, they would have ‘nothing but the sword.’ But then the jihadists changed their mind: paying the tax was no longer an option and all Christians were told on July 18th that they all had to leave by the next day— or be killed. Most fled.
But Canon Andrew White - dubbed "the bishop of Baghdad" for his work at St George's (Anglican) church in the capital, said they were trapped in the desert or on the streets with nowhere to go. "Things are so desperate, our people are disappearing," he told BBC Radio 4's Today. "We have had people massacred, their heads chopped off. Are we seeing the end of Christianity? We are committed come what may, we will keep going to the end, but it looks as though the end could be very near." http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/26/christians-iraq_n_5622948.html
This sounds reminiscent of the treatment of James, the disciple of Jesus and patron Saint of our Parish: “About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword.” (Acts 12.1-2.)
Today we have been able to gather for Christian worship without fearing for our safety. The experience of our sisters and brothers in Iraq, at this very moment, is very different. They know what James experienced in way most of us cannot imagine.
Yet many of us come to Mass occasionally on a Sunday and yet we think of ourselves as regular parishioners. Recently, I explained to a former parishioner of mine, from another diocese, how
the pattern of Sunday worship at St. James is not a weekly, or near weekly, attendance by most parishioners. This is what she wrote: “If you are a Christian then surely you would attend every week to thank God and also say sorry. Is that not right?… Very simply… what matters is what God has done in Christ and what he continues to do by sharing the new life in Christ with us week by week. And we must continue to say thank you WEEK BY WEEK.” This former parishioner then proceeded to quote from a sermon she had recently heard: “we come Sunday by Sunday to renew that membership in the Eucharist and to receive again the strength and insight to be the body of Christ in his world.”
Greatness resides in service, service which is the fruit of sacrifice. How many Christians in Iraq today can only dream of the freedom we have to gather for the Eucharist and practice our Christian faith with freedom?
Why would we choose not to gather each and every Sunday to share the new life in Christ through Holy Scripture and the Sacrament? James was the first apostle to die for the Christian faith. Known as ‘James the Great,’ he embodied the teaching of Jesus: “Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mt 20.26-28.)
Each of us is called to this kind of greatness. None of us know how our journey will unfold. We do know that the grace to serve is given to us through participating in the sacrifice of the Mass. So participate, weekly – Sunday by Sunday – for the transformation and healing of the world.