Mar 29 John Keble

The write ups about John Keble did little for me to pursue him further in morning prayer. But I was not moved by the prescribed morning prayer readings, so I looked a little further into John Keble, who died on March 29, 1866. 

It turns out he’s more interesting, particularly thinking about my work life in local and state government, executive and legislative branches, public and non-profit, law enforcement and social service. 

He wasn’t a famous bishop or martyr. He served as a small village parish for 30 years. So those who know his name are probably Anglican nerds, steeped in the history of Church. Yet again, I’m glad the Daily Office includes these lesser-known saints. 

In addition to writing a book of poems which corresponded to Sunday and major feast days, he is known for a particular sermon that kicked off a whole movement to return to the true roots of his Christian faith. While I care less about the origins of the Oxford Movement, parts of that sermon speak to me now, in this time and place. 

He begins by asking how we can reconcile our allegiance to God with our duty to country, especially when that country is “fast becoming hostile to the Church”. That question made me read more, as it seems we could be in a similar place. 

He continues that for people not working in the church, there  is a deep responsibility on those whose careers put them in the position of establishing and holding the boundaries which are needed in a civil society. This is the part I can imagine why this sermon is still used to address incoming judges and officers of the court in parts of England. 

He offers a simple remedy of what we should do:  “each of [us] anxious children, in [our] own place and station to resign [ourselves] more thoroughly to [our] God in those duties which are not affected by the emergencies of the moment. . . I mean, of piety, purity, charity, justice.”

So instead of saying that Church and State should be entirely separated, I hear in this sermon what I’ve always believed. As a person of faith in general, and Christian in particular, I bring those believes and values and trust in God into my daily life and work, including my jobs with the legislature, city management, non-profits, and police. After all, the Church isn’t a building. It isn’t the people we worship with Sunday morning. We, people of faith in the world, are the Church. If we bring our God-infused values into the world, as opposed to checking them at the door on Sunday when we leave the building, we would see a resurgence of the Church, because it would be everywhere, and in everything we do. 

To be clear, I’m not suggesting we need to proselytize; we don’t need to mention Christ or God at all. We just need to act in that way in the world, and people will see it, and lives will be changed. A great example is MLK. I’ve read that while he was a preacher, his most powerful public speeches were not steeped in God-talk. He didn’t need to hit people over the head with the source of his truth. He just spoke his truth, and people heard and lives were changed. 

John Keble concludes his sermon with the acknowledgment that to do this work, to be the Church in the world, is hard; sometimes it’s an uphill battle. It’s lonely; sometimes I feel like it’s me against the world. And any substantive change may be long after I’m gone. But even with these challenges, we are to persist. Because “[we are] calmly, soberly, demonstrably, SURE, that, sooner or later, HIS WILL BE THE WINNING SIDE, and that the victory will be complete, universal, eternal.”

Here’s to John Keble. Here’s to the universal and persistent problems of being human beings in the world, with worldly rulers, and a perceived division between Church and world. And here’s to John Keble’s throw down challenge – let’s lose our impotent view of the Church as a building or a Sunday thing, and let’s go out in to the world as people of Christ. Team Christ, let’s go!