Sermon Trinity 12 Year A
27th August 2023
Llandaff Cathedral
The Dean – Fr Richard Peers SMMS
The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David
When I was a teenager I wanted to be a philosopher. There was something noble, I thought, and still think, about the art of thinking.
Somehow I had read Plato’s account of the death of Socrates.
It is a tremendous piece of writing.
Socrates had been condemned to death by his fellow citizens for not teaching the worship of the gods.
The sentence of death was by self administered drinking of deadly hemlock.
Sadly, it is hard to imagine any current philosopher creating such a stir that they would face a death sentence.
The death of Socrates is a reminder of the seriousness of philosophy and of death. The provisionality of life, its fragility, is at the heart of our humanity.
Another, fictional, account of a death has also been significant in my life.
It is the death of Aslan in CS Lewis’s Narnia books.
It is another extraordinary scene. Aslan, the Christ figure, the great lion of the books is brought to the Stone Table, shaved, muzzled, bound and killed.
The witch’s last words to him are “despair and die”.
We have stone tables here in our cathedral church. The stone altar in the Dyfrig chapel, now set aside for private prayer and where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved.
And also our beautiful High Altar. Part of the work of George Pace in the rebuilding of this cathedral after the second world war.
We are not currently covering the High Altar with the altar frontals. It seems to me significant that we can see the stone. That this is a stone table – perhaps I’ve been too influenced by Narnia and the death of Aslan.
We also have our wooden altars, in the Teilo chapel, the Lady Chapel and here under the Majestas our nave altar.
As we begin our liturgy you will see those of us who are priests kiss these altars, and, on solemn occasions, burn incense around them.
The altars in this church are not just another piece of furniture, a convenient place to put the bread and the wine. The altars stand here day by day a reminder that Jesus, who died and rose again, is the heart, the centre, of our Christian faith.
They are a reminder that death is never the last word. that death and despair are never the end.
Day by day at 8am the Eucharist is celebrated at our altar here.
If you have not been yet please consider coming; perhaps one day a week. It is very beautiful.
When this church was built, early in the twelfth century, each priest would have celebrated the Eucharist individually. That’s why churches like this have many altars. The Eucharists would have taken place early in the morning and there would often have been simultaneous celebrations. I’ve seen this in traditional monasteries in France and it is quite extraordinary.
But here in this Cathedral we celebrate daily, together, at the nave altar.
This is important, I believe.
While the weather is good enough we keep the great west doors open.
Sometimes I think that there are only two essential elements to Christian prayer:
The praying of the psalms and the celebration of the Eucharist.
When this church was built it was in a Christian world, what is often called Christendom. Like it or not we don’t live in such a world now.
I think that demands a boldness from us.
That’s why we celebrate at this nave altar with the doors open.
Every morning hundreds of people pass those open doors. Runners, joggers, dog walkers, those on their way to work or back from a night shift.
Between 6 and 7am on weekday mornings are when I have the most significant pastoral encounters of the week. Those facing death and despair come into this building almost every day. Those considering suicide, those whose marriages and relationships have come to an end, those whose children have gone off the rails, those who need to make their confession, those who don’t know what it all means.
They see the doors open and they come in,
Every day they see these doors open, they see us, however few, celebrating the Eucharist, the lights are on and incense perfumes the air, and they know that this is a living, worshipping space, just as it has been for the 900 years in which this particular building has stood, and the 600 years before that in which this has been a place of Christian worship. 1500 years of Christian worship.
By celebrating at this central altar, by opening the doors we are saying that there is nothing apologetic, nothing pinched, nothing embarrassed about our faith.
We are confident, bold, in the good news we have to proclaim.
The philosopher Socrates four centuries before Christ demonstrated what we now call the Socratic method. That exchange of questions, that seeking after truth which smashes fake news and lies of all kinds.
That is the model for Christian witness in our times. That death and despair is never the end because there is always more.
In the psalms, the prayer book of the Bible Psalm 24 is one of my favourites:
As you come to celebrate the Eucharist here at the nave altar. My encouragement to you is to be bold, be confident.
Fling wide the gates,
open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in.
Who is this great king?
He is the LORD, strong and mighty.
As you, occasionally sit and shiver with our doors open.
As we face, you and I, and every human being, the great questions of life and death we proclaim that death and despair are never the end.
An unexamined life, said Socrates, is not worth living.
Here, in this cathedral, day by day, we boldly and confidently celebrate the examined life. It is a wonderful adventure.
Fling wide the gates,
open the ancient doors, and the great king will come in.
Who is this great king?
He is the LORD, strong and mighty.
As St Paul says in today’s reading from his letter to the Romans:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God— what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Fling wide the gates.
Oikodomeo 