Sunday 25th March was a remarkable day at All Souls.
In the morning, CHRIS WRIGHT (my Langham Partnership boss) preached a gripping and profound sermon on the crucifixion narrative in Luke 23:26-43 in which he was able to bring out a number of different layers from the passage:
- 4 Last Scenes: full of Scripture
- 3 Last Temptations: full of Irony
- 2 Last Words: full of Hope
Then in the evening, HUGH PALMER (my All Souls boss) preached an equally gripping 3-part sermon on the lessons and challenges we face 200 years after the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade bill (25th March 1807), based on Paul’s speech to the Athenian Areopagus in Acts 17. How we are precisely to respond is a question that is hard to answer; but that we must respond is surely beyond question.
Here is a video that we made specially for the service, aimed to give some crucial background to the bill’s passing. However we can’t remain rooted to the victories of the past – not least because the bill itself did not abolish slavery outright, only the slave trade on British ships; and because of the reality of 27,000,000 estimated to be slaves TODAY.
As Hugh said in his talk, we evangelicals too easily focus entirely onthe family of the redeemed and forget that we are members of the family of humanity. Too often we have simply forgotten that we are human. BUT we would actually mind very much if one of those slaves was actually OUR sister or cousin. See the posting from earlier this month (5th March) and especially the note on Gary Haugen’s GOOD NEWS ABOUT INJUSTICE.
THE SERMONS ARE NOW ONLINE – click on the preacher above to download.
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Thank you so much Mark, was feeling slightly disappointed with the media coverage, and sermons here didn’t really address this issue-so I was looking for some helpful insights. Will read the book & listen to the sermons.
I was particularly wondering about the whole apology thing, as it has been made into a big deal, but I’m not sure I can apologise for stuff I didn’t actually do, or that any of the rest of us can either. However much we may regret and deplore the acts committed by our ancestors.
I was also struck by how many of the commentators on radio 4 while deploring the trade were quite insistent that they personally would not have been involved in the trade had they been alive at the time, which shows that they either are very morally superior or they don’t know themselves or human nature very well. But I suppose that that attitude shows how uphill a task it is to persuade people about sin and it’s universal application.