Given at Christ Church, Worton
Matthew 21. 12-16
“Fame! — I wanna live forever.”
Soon, anyone old enough to remember the original Fame will pretty much have lived forever
So ran the theme tune of a popular TV drama of my youth, about a group of teenagers at a specialist high school in New York for those aiming at a career in the performing arts. The young characters wanted to be famous for their talents – as did the young actors who played them. But we live in a time when people don’t become famous necessarily for their talents or achievements, but often become famous just for being famous. The celebrity lifestyle is one that some people actively chase, indeed that some are willing to degrade themselves to achieve, drawn like a moth to the flame of being a household name.
The Gospels present Jesus as something of a celebrity, followed by crowds everywhere; sometimes, as when he overturned the money-changers’ tables, he could even carry out what we might call today a ‘PR stunt’. Yet the crowds’ attention was often exhausting to Christ; in Galilee, after a day surrounded by throngs of people clamouring to be healed and to be entertained, he would retreat into the hills, or out into the lake on a boat. Sometimes, the crowds followed him even there. As we believe that Jesus Christ was God in human form, we see something here about the character of God that is perhaps a little surprising.
One of the hallmarks of the early 21st Century has been the way that technology has eroded the distinction between public and private life – for celebrities and public figures, certainly, and also for quite ordinary people.
Social media is one part of that. In the early 2020s the lives of politicians, for example, seem to be absolutely toxic compared with the not very long ago days when I was politically active. Many people seem to think it’s their public duty to be as rude as they can be to political figures. While it’s hard to find much sympathy for politicians, just think of how many talented people are put off a career in public service because of this.
Some people seek privacy in the online world by maintaining anonymity. Ironically, these are usually the worst behaved of all; it seems we can become toxic when we don’t need to stand by the things we say. Human beings evolved in a way that meant we had to be accountable within our own communities. The scale of the communities that claim the right to hold people to account online, however, is now inhuman – potentially worldwide and often with no meaningful connection with those they claim to be holding to account.
A lovely place to pray in the gloaming – Christ Church, Worton, 4 April 2023 © Gerry Lynch
The huge expansion of working from home also erodes our private spaces. Some people have always lived above the shop, but nowadays few of us can escape being e-mailed about work in our own homes and at unsocial hours.
One lesson from the life of Christ is that we need to give ourselves the space to escape the clamour that seems to follow us everywhere, to be at peace with ourselves and with God. That can be for just half an hour, as we are doing this evening, or for a bit longer in a holy space like a monastery or retreat house.
We all know that however many people know who we are, only a few people can ever truly know us and love us for what we are. Indeed, Christian teaching is that however well-known we are, only God truly knows us, and loves us more deeply than any human being can. That’s why we need to make space to be with Him in peace and solitude. St Paul teaches that when we see God face-to-face, we will know fully, even as we are fully known. In heaven, we will finally be in the eternal presence of God who loves and knows us intimately – a recommendation to seek God is the best suggestion we ever give to someone who says, “I wanna live forever.”
