A Sentinel for the House of Israel

Sermon by the Revd Dr Brutus Green
Readings: Ezekiel 33.7-11, Psalm 119.33-40, Romans 13.8-14, Matthew 18.15-20

So you mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel.

No one who’s been through the army in any capacity will have fond memories of being a sentinel; guard duty – stagging on, as it’s known.

Everyone, soldiers and officers, spends hours staring into the gloom, utterly tedious, uncomfortable, waiting for hours and hours and hours.

And yet, should you fall asleep, even in training, it would be catastrophic; 

and when something happens, it just means hours more in the dark and the cold, awake, with loud bangs going off here and there.

When I think of being a sentry, I think of cramped, cold, tired nights, hallucinating figures out of trees, getting through multiple packs of haribo to stay awake, thinking: ‘the night is far gone, the day is near’

‘the night is far gone, the day is near’.

Being a sentinel.

Unhappy and bad for your teeth.

Now, while the last centuries have seen mostly low-level dug in, hidden sentries; 

in Old Testament terms, they usually have the high ground.

They have vision.

It’s a pop-psychology truth that your focus when you’re walking shows your mindset.

If you’re eyes are up, you’re able to think long term, imaginatively or abstractly.

If you have immediate concerns, anxieties, your eyes will more than likely not get above your feet.

The danger with that is that you walk into things.

The prophet’s eyes must be up to warn the people; 

to keep in mind the long-term goals, the values, the questions of eternity;

to see where God is moving in the world.

But it’s not just distance, it’s also in the detail of the present. 

By the metaphor, most people are asleep, or busy with other things, but the prophet-sentinel must be alert to the truth of the situation;

In 1942 highly trained British observers failed to notice on radar the entrance of the German warships, the Scharnhorst and Geneisenau, into the English channel.

They were not away from their posts, it wasn’t a lapse of concentration; chatting over a cup of tea; 

the failure came from prolonged intense concentration.

They had simply become fixed by their anticipation of what they expected to see.

Or, more simply, think of those times you’ve been searching high and low for the salt but, wait, it’s right there on the table in front of you.

Sentinels, prophets, must see behind the complacency, the accepted, the unnoticed prejudice, the cares of the world.

The deepest needs of society are not so well disguised.

But it’s easy not to see them. 

The kingdom of God is very near.

But we see mostly what we expect to see.

The kingdom of God is unexpected.

But like the men-of-war in the English Channel, it won’t go unnoticed forever.

Finally, no one wants an alarm.

We’d rather pretend not to hear the call, even die in our sleeping bags getting an extra five minutes shut-eye, than having to draw ourselves out again into the miserable night.

Sentinels are not popular.

The prophet must see through what is expected, the clamour of the majority, the easy and the comfortable.

The prophet must have imagination and courage.

And courage is vital.

Isaiah on the subject of sentinels famously proclaims ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news’.

Quite. 

But no one likes bad news.

Rhiannon has several crooked witchy toes, curled like snail-shells, with thick nails like sedimentary rock;

 – and she won’t even touch mine – calls them “scaley” – 

These are the feet of the sentinel – who calls alarm; 

who gets you out of bed.

It’s scaley feet that announce violence and bad news.

And so watch out the sentinel who speaks that bad news to those in power.

It does not go well for the prophets.

Vilified, exiled, beheaded, crucified.

So our Sentinel job spec:

Uncomfortable, boring, unhealthy, dangerous work.

Must be able to maintain long term vision.

Must expect the unexpected.

Must be prepared to be disliked, ignored and murdered.

On a side note, I think the thing that best prepared me for guard-duty was contemplative prayer.

Hours of sitting quietly in semi-darkness.

But then guard-duty was a perfect preparation for parenthood.

Staying awake for days, remaining still in uncomfortable positions. 

At least with babies you can watch television.
We will have to have another so I can get through seasons 7 to 9 of Suits. 

I tried watching it before 2 in the morning but it wasn’t the same.

In all of these what’s most required of us is our attention.

Prayer, being a sentry, the care of the vulnerable means being attentive in the moment.

Now the prophets speak frequently of being a sentinel.

Ezekiel today: for Israel to turn from their wickedness and live.

St Paul speaks of being far into the night, and we hear elsewhere from Paul and Jesus how we must stay awake;

Watch and wait.

To be a Christian is to be a certain kind of sentinel.

Hopefully you’re not too uncomfortable, or bored;

St Margaret’s is not good for your teeth, but hopefully it’s not dangerous.

But sticking with prayer, fasting in Lent, Annual General Meetings, lengthy organ voluntaries, can be testing. 

Trying each day to love your neighbour, especially now they’ve got your number on a street Whatsapp group – sometimes requires gritting it out.

And to keep one eye on eternity – the far-distance – can be costly, takes effort.

Holding our attention to catch the unexpected.

To see the signs of God, to catch within ourselves prejudice and failure of love; taking people close to us for granted. 

And under pressure, do we just go with it?

Relax our faith-commitments, ignore the moral itch at work, the opportunity to be generous; the trial of loving someone when it is very costly?

Are we sentinels?

Prepared to challenge those around us?
To call them to action?

To point out in us, in others injustice?

It’s a strange September.

Children are returning to school after six months.

When did Summer start and end?

Are we progressing out of the abyss, or are we tip-toeing around the cracks?

A lot has been said in the past six months about strengthening society.

About how we look after each other.

We’ve had a national awakening about race.

In a year’s time the memory of our common vulnerability will be lost.

Humankind cannot bear very much reality – 

It’s the role of the sentinel to alert us to danger and to vulnerability.

So as we return to work, to school, to all those areas of our common life, now is the moment to look around.

Who is in danger?

Who is afraid?

Where is help needed?

Who needs encouragement, laughter, friendship, time?
Where can you make a difference?

What is the area of your life you need to address?

Do you need forgiveness?

Do you, at this time, need grace?

I was once on exercise in Germany.

My sleeping bag took a week to get to me so it had been a cold, difficult time. 

I was at the Regimental Aid Post, managing the hypothetical dead and after an attack we were all stood-to, watching, waiting.

Quite suddenly, unexpectedly, an enemy tank appeared 50m away in the forest.

They’re large and move surprisingly quickly.

The words of Jamie Lawson came improbably to mind:

“I wasn’t expecting that.”

But it was awesome.

And kind of terrifying.

We must be alert to the needs of others around us.

We should keep a watch on our own souls.

But we should also be watching for the unexpected movement of God around or within us.

‘for salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers.’

We do not live in a mechanistic universe.

There is plenty out there to baffle and surprise us.

And if we have eyes to see, there is also the movement of God, sometimes near, sometimes far off, but with the power to break, to heal and to change the world.