Today is Safeguarding Sunday and I want us to reflect on our safeguarding practices and how they relate to our Christian faith and the kind of people we are called to be in following Christ. The topic is painfully relevant. No doubt most of us have heard the news this last week of the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, because of the shocking case of John Smyth, a licenced Reader [that is, preacher] in the Church of England, who had physically, sexually and spiritually abused a large number of boys and young men over a period of over 50 years. To be very clear, the Archbishop was not accused of abuse himself but criticised that he failed to act quickly enough when this case came to his attention in 2013. He has taken responsibility for this, and for the failure of others in the wider church in handling this, and resigned.
It is hard to imagine the long term mental and emotional trauma suffered by Smyth's victims, and our first thoughts and prayers must be for them and their families. There are many others who have suffered abuse of different kinds and I am aware that this subject may be a personally painful one for some people here. Others of us may feel disturbed, shocked, angry, bewildered, or deeply discouraged.
We are no doubt all aware that there have been several shocking scandals over many years in the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church, and many other churches involving priests and other church leaders and volunteers abusing boys and girls and vulnerable adults in various ways. This has led to Safeguarding checks, guidelines and training to help to prevent this kind of abuse and deal with it effectively and sensitively when it happens. Such Safeguarding programmes are required by secular organisations, sports clubs and schools as well as churches in the UK. Until recently, there have been less requirements concerning safeguarding here in Switzerland, but this is changing rapidly, both in secular organisations and within Swiss churches. St Ursula's is part of the Church of England, which has a very strict and organised programme of Safeguarding which all churches are expected to adhere to. Despite this high profile failure we have heard about this week, these safeguarding practices can be very effective. Those of you here who are involved in serving with children and vulnerable adults have all been through such safeguarding checks and training.
I will say a bit more about these checks and training courses later and why they are important. But first I want us to step back and set safeguarding concerns in the context of our faith. As a church we are to worship God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to follow Jesus Christ in our individual lives and our community life together. Worshipping God and following Jesus involve obeying the commandments to love God and to love our neighbour. The readings chosen for this morning all remind us of what it means to love God and our neighbour, how we are to care for the weak and vulnerable, and what kind of community we are called to be if we are following Christ. So, let's look at our readings and reflect on how they help us think about safeguarding.
Our first reading is from the prophet Isaiah. God addresses his people Israel as a servant called to act with justice and compassion. Just as God cares for the weak and vulnerable and calls for fairness and justice, so must his people. The prophet uses some vivid images of the servant: 'a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.' Israel is to be especially attentive to the needs of the weak and vulnerable; those who are fragile and damaged – the bruised reeds and dim wicks. We see this in the repeated call of the prophets to care for the poor, the widows, orphans, and aliens in the land. Of course, the people of Israel often failed to live in this way. But Jesus takes up this call to be the servant who acts with compassion and justice as he relates to the poor, the sick and outcasts, treating them with tenderness and respect.
As followers of Jesus, we too are to have a special concern for the vulnerable, 'the bruised reeds and dimly burning wicks'. Those who have already suffered some kind of abuse, like Smyth's victims, may be especially bruised, wounded and fragile and such people need to be treated with sensitivity and care. We must seek to understand the terrible long term mental and emotional effects of abuse. A bruised reed needs tender care and must not be broken. There may be some in our church community who are particularly vulnerable in different ways, whether they are very young, very old, suffering from mental health problems, sick, or emotionally disturbed. A range of people can be vulnerable in different ways; indeed we can all go through particular periods of vulnerability in our lives. This is why Safeguarding, which used to be called Child Protection, is now extended to include vulnerable adults as well as children and teenagers.
Of course, caring for the vulnerable, the bruised and wounded, is simply an aspect of loving our neighbour. In our gospel reading a scribe, an expert in the law of Moses, asks Jesus 'which commandment in the law is the greatest.' It was a kind of test as rabbinic Judaism regarded all the commandments as equally important. But Jesus responds by drawing out two commandments which summarise all the rest. First, he quotes words from Deuteronomy which all faithful Jews still recite daily today: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind”. 'This is the greatest commandment,' Jesus says. “And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Jesus concludes: 'On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.' All other commandments depend on these. Jesus brings together two commandments; one from the book of Deuteronomy and one from the book of Leviticus. He emphasises that these commandments belong together; they are both important. If we are to truly love God with our whole selves, heart, soul and mind, then we will also truly love our neighbour; and if we do not care for our neighbour then how can we say we are loving God?
I am reminded of some words of Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Spanish nun, a deeply spiritual but practical woman, who taught about depths of prayer but also completely reformed the Carmelite order to which she belonged: She said: 'The surest sign that we are keeping these two commandments, is, I think, that we should really be loving our neighbour; for we cannot be sure if we are loving God, although we may have good reasons for believing that we are, but we can know quite well if we are loving our neighbour.'
This is a shrewd comment and reminds us that loving our neighbour is not about vague, loving feelings, but about practical attitudes and actions, and we can have a pretty good idea if we are loving our neighbour or not. If we love our neighbour as ourselves we will want the best for them, as we want the best for ourselves; we will treat them with respect and kindness and work for their good and not their harm. And our neighbours are not just our friends and those like us, but include those who are different from us and those we might find difficult. Jesus makes this point when he responds to the scribe who asks 'who is my neighbour' by telling the story of the Good Samaritan.
As Christians we are called to worship God and to follow Jesus as our Lord, to love God and love our neighbour, particularly caring for the vulnerable and those in need, just as Jesus did. All this is essential to our faith. Of course, if all Christians did this, or at least tried even imperfectly to do so, we wouldn't need to have Safeguarding rules and guidelines. But the sad truth is that human being sin and the church has failed, and we need to confess our failure. Some in our churches have not only failed to love their neighbours but have sometimes cruelly abused them. Tragically, we cannot simply trust in people's goodwill any longer, and we need to have safeguards in place to protect those who are most vulnerable.
So if you are working with children or young people, or have other roles in the church which may bring you in touch with young people or adults who may be vulnerable in some way, you will be required to get confirmation that you have no criminal record from the police or other relevant authorities in any country where you have lived in the last 10 years. Of course, such checks can flag up concerns but they cannot in themselves prevent abuse from happening. That's why all church leaders, and all those volunteering in different roles are also asked to do some safeguarding training.
The training is helpful in different ways; it raises our awareness of how people can be vulnerable, and the different ways people can be abused. In the media, it is usually sexual abuse that has the highest profile, but children and adults can also be abused through physical violence and neglect, and they can be abused emotionally and spiritually, or through unjust discrimination. They can also be financially abused and that is something that has also happened in a number of churches. In one of my safeguarding training sessions we looked at a true case study of an elderly woman who was financially swindled by a young man who had joined a pastoral care team in the church.
All this can sound very depressing and it is. But the purpose of us talking about it is not to make us more and more suspicious of each other, or to put us off volunteering to serve others. However, sadly we do need to have an awareness of some of the risks of abuse and be able to recognise those situations when they occur. Safeguarding training can help us to do this.
I think most of you know that Cecily and Maxine are our Safeguarding Officers. They are the people who will ask you to fill in a form for a safeguarding check or do some safeguarding training. It is a very demanding role they have and we should regularly pray for them, as we will do especially in this service. Let us also respond positively to their requests and co-operate fully with them. We do so not simply to go through some hoops we have to go through, but in order to live out more fully our call to love our neighbour and to care for those in need in our midst.
We all have a responsibility to look out for one another. If we come across any situation in which there are indications of possible abuse we should speak to our Safeguarding Officers and ask for advice. If it involves a child who is clearly at risk we should contact them immediately. But there may be some concerns we have and we are not sure whether they are worth mentioning or not. But please always ask Cecily or Maxine for advice if you have any concerns. Sometimes it may be a safeguarding case, other times it may simply be a situation of hurt or miscommunication that needs to be addressed with another member of the church. But our Safeguarding Officers can advise you. Please also feel free to talk to Cecily or Maxine or myself if the issues we are talking about this morning have touched you in a personal way.
As we follow safeguarding procedures and guidelines, as we learn to be more aware of the risks of abuse and how we can best protect others, let's also remind ourselves more positively of the kind of community we are called to be as followers of Christ. This is described beautifully in our second reading this morning. Paul reminds the Colossians that as God's chosen people, holy and beloved they are to put on new clothes. Paul has in a few verses earlier highlighted the damaging attitudes of the old self that they are to take off. Now they are to put on the new clothes fitting for God's people: compassion and kindness, humility and patience, forbearance, forgiveness and love. (Just to make the point here that for those who have been abused forgiveness is a very, very hard thing and may be a very long and painful process. We cannot push it on people too quickly.)
The Colossians are urged to be a people who love their neighbour in practical ways. This care for one another goes together with a willingness to receive the word of Christ deeply into their hearts, and a grateful worship of God. Our worship of God and the way we treat others is intertwined and Christ is right at the centre: 'Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus' we are told. To do something in the name of someone else is to represent them in some way. If we are representing Jesus, how can we treat others in a harmful, cruel or careless way?
As we ponder the importance of safeguarding and protecting the vulnerable, let us remind ourselves that this is all part of loving God and loving our neighbour. I pray that we can be people who are alert to the needs of others, responding with tenderness and care to those who are particularly bruised or wounded. Of course, we can only begin to love God and love our neighbour because he has first loved us. So, let us not lose heart, but trust the God who loves us and allow his love to shape us, to clothe us, as his people. And whatever we do, in word or deed, may we do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
You might like to use some of these prayers for Safeguarding Sunday.
Loving God,
Help us to be a church that:
Loves, welcomes, protects.
Listens, learns, serves.
Repents, restores, transforms.
Values, cares, believes.
God of Justice and compassion, hear our prayer.
Help us, heal us, guide us, we pray.
In Jesus name.
Amen
Loving God,
We pray for all those who have suffered hurt and harm within the family of the Church,
whether they are known to us or not, we know that you know them by name.
We especially pray for all those who have been abused by John Smyth over many years.
For those who feel trapped, grant them a way of escape,
For those in pain, bring comfort and healing,
For those who seek justice, may they have courage and strength.
As Church we are one body and if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.
Give to all who suffer people who will listen, support, and walk with them we pray,
Amen
Loving God,
We pray for all those who serve in a safeguarding role within our Church.
We especially pray for Cecily and Maxine.
Thank you for their willingness and time they give to fulfil this important task.
Give them your wisdom, discernment, and strength.
Help us support them in their role, remember them in our prayers, and respond to their requests and advice so that we might be a safer place for everyone.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Amen