Sometimes, we need to listen to our wake-up calls.
I don’t mean the kind of wake-up call that we arrange in a hotel when we have a flight to catch and don’t want to miss it. I mean the kind of call that upends us where we are going wrong, brings clarity and discernment about what needs to change, and fires us up with new vision and new heart.
In the Old Testament book of Samuel, the young boy Samuel gets a wake-up call as he sleeps in the temple of the Lord. He was living in a time when leaders and people had stopped expecting God to be at work in their lives. There was poor leadership, abuse of power, and the elites who were in charge were not easily held to account. There was a struggle to determine the kind of society that people wanted to live in.
Samuel was an outsider. He didn’t belong in the political or religious elite. But as he lay in the darkness of the temple trying to drift off to sleep, God spoke to Samuel. God called him to listen and to serve.
Samuel’s experience reminds us that there are times across the globe, in any country, and indeed in any church, when those in power behave badly, and when the poor, the vulnerable, and the outsiders are forgotten. In those times, God’s call may come, directly and repeatedly, to those who are willing to awaken, arise, and respond – even when the call feels uncertain and unfamiliar.
I believe that we are in those times now, when we are being called to listen out for and respond to the wake-up call of God.
We are being pulled into a new chapter of global war where perpetrators hide their aggression behind weasel words about pre-emptive action, regime change, and defending international shipping routes.
We are sliding further into a world where tech companies have a huge and often negative influence on the mental health of our young people and yet are allowed to hide behind privacy laws and notions of free speech.
We are on the brink of assisted dying legislation that sells us a lie that dying should be managed swiftly and economically, rather than proper account being made of its true costs and of the value of loving, person-centred palliative care.
There is plenty that the world needs to wake up to.
There is plenty that the Church needs to wake up to as well. I know that there is much that we as a church have got wrong. People have sometimes been hurt within the church. I am thinking particularly of those who are victims and survivors of abuse. Collectively, institutionally, we have often been too slow to admit what we’ve done wrong and to say sorry.
But I also believe that, despite – or perhaps even because of – our brokenness, Christians and churches have something still to offer to the world. As well as hearing our own wake-up calls, we might be part of the world’s wake-up call too.
In our Suffolk churches, day by day, people are loved and accepted just as they are. They are served, through one stop shops, foodbanks, dementia cafés, toddler groups, and children and youth ministries. Churches are there for people who are in need, bereaved, sick, or who are feeling lost and lonely.
Remembering how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, we do the same for others in their hour of need. It isn’t glamorous work, it doesn’t usually lead to thanks, praise, or recognition, but it comes from faith and commitment to service. And it means that the Church of England has a deep, grassroots connection to every part of this county.
When I recently took up my place as a member of the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords, I invited a group of young people, many from local schools, and with Church of England roots, to be part of the day’s ceremony.
I wanted to explain to them the part that I might be able to play, as the Bishop for Suffolk, bringing the concerns of our county – particularly as they relate to agriculture and fishing, education, and the needs of young people – into Parliament. I also wanted them to start to reflect on the role that they might play, as growing young leaders, in making their voices heard for Suffolk young people.
I hoped they would be able recognise that faith can play a healthy and life-giving part in informing political debate, putting matters of human dignity, the care of creation, peace-and justice-building at the heart of political decision making. And I hoped they could be confident that when the Church of England speaks into the debates of the nation, it does so as their church, present and serving in every part of the country.
The Church of England is sometimes accused of being part of 'The Establishment' – and part of the problem. I agree that we need to let go of any delusions of grandeur that we might mistakenly have had.
Instead, we need to start from authentic presence and humble service. We need to start from being human and from listening to where God is leading us.
And in these strange and indifferent times, the voices of our young people will be particularly important. We will need to listen carefully to their thoughts about caring for the environment, building kinder communities, and making education truly accessible to all.
Whether the wake-up call is for our church, our county, or our country, I hope we will be listening as whole communities together and noticing particularly the prompts and challenges that come through the wise discernment of our young people.
As the prophet Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”
