Together on the Journey: A Weekly Blog from Fr. Andrew Sheldon

Throughout the Church Year, we commemorate individuals whose contribution to the faith and Church are worth remembering, celebrating, and emulating. This past Wednesday, we remembered St Vincent. Vincent was an early 4th century Deacon who served the church in Saragossa, in what is modern-day Spain. Vincent would have remained relatively unknown except that he assisted a Bishop, Valerius, who had a significant speech impediment. As such, Vincent was often called upon to deliver messages and homilies that were written by the Bishop but spoken by Vincent. In the early 4th century, the Roman Emperor Diocletian began a systematic persecution of Christians. This persecution came to the Iberian Peninsula and Bishop Valerius was brought before the courts by the Governor. He was accompanied by Vincent. When it came time to defend the church, the Bishop turned to his Deacon and Vincent offered an impassioned defence of the Christian faith, and a fierce condemnation of the religion of the Empire. As a result, the Bishop was merely exiled, but Vincent endured a horrible death at the hand of cruel executioners.

And so, what do we remember, celebrate, and emulate when it comes to St Vincent? Quite simply it is the importance of speech; of articulating in spoken words the faith that is in us.

Now having said that, I do want to affirm the importance of actions. Indeed, I do not hesitate to affirm the primary importance of action. But we are also called to speak. St Paul wrote that: “If you believe in your heart, and confess with your lips, that Jesus Christ is Lord, you shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9). We may be quite comfortable believing in our hearts and, in many cases, quite comfortable expressing in our actions that Jesus is Lord. But confessing with our lips is a decidedly different matter. As a denomination, I would have to say that Anglicans tend to suffer from a significant speech impediment.

This past week, however, we experienced an exception to that tendency. The Right Reverend Mariann Budde, the Anglican Bishop of Washington D.C., preached a sermon at the Inauguration Prayer Service in which she, in no uncertain terms, reminded President Trump of what the scriptures have to say about how we treat the last, the least, and the lost of our society. She spoke. She spoke the truth to power. And power responded – not with exile or execution, but certainly with excoriation.

Bishop Budde has reminded us of the importance of speech; the importance of speaking up. By all means, let us continue to believe in our hearts. Let us continue to engage in actions that express care for each other, and especially for the most marginalised of our community. But let us also learn to confess with our lips. To articulate in words the faith that is in us. To speak truth to the powers that oppress the less fortunate. And in so doing, to remember, celebrate, and emulate St Vincent.

Andrew +