Saints Simon and Jude, 28th October 2021
Simon and Jude are little known and, indeed, Jude has attracted to himself the title ‘patron of lost causes’ because, supposedly, few people would pray to a man otherwise known as Judas. But we were reminded last night, by Paul, that it’s not the personal qualities of a disciple that necessarily fits them for office:
How many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, how many were influential people or came from noble families? No, it was to shame the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning, and to shame what is strong that he chose what is weak by human reckoning.
(1Cor. 26-27)
And goes on to argue that this was to demonstrate, in his case, not his own power but the power of the Spirit. This is worth bearing in mind when we begin the process of engaging the whole Church in a synod. All of us have to put aside any pretensions to power of our own and realise, instead, the gift of the Spirit given to each one of us to be exercised for the good of all. Immediately, all sorts of structural issues come to mind and suspicions that it’s really just another exercise in maintaining the current state of power-sharing in the Church – yet another green washing, or whatever colour is appropriate to holiness. It may, to some, already seem a hopeless cause. But our hope is not in hopeless people but in a Christ whose hopeless cause was the vehicle for God’s will to be done whatever the world’s judgement (which includes, of course, our own). Our faith, after all, should not depend on human philosophy but on the power of God. (1Cor. 2:5)