07.10.2013
Annual New Law Term Service in St Michan’s Church
The Church of Ireland Annual New Law Term Service took place in St Michan’s Church, Church Street, Dublin, this morning, Monday October 7 at 10.15 am. The Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, officiated along with the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Revd Victor Stacey and the Archdeacon of Dublin, the Ven David Pierpoint. The address was given by the Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, the Rt Revd Patrick Rooke. The choir was from The King’s Hospital School.
The congregation included visiting judges from Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales as well as political leaders, members of the Irish judiciary, An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and the Diplomatic Corps.
The text of Bishop Rooke’s address is reproduced in full below:
Sermon preached by the Bishop of Tuam, Killala and Achonry, the Rt Revd Patrick Rooke, at the Annual New Law Term Service in St Michan’s Church, Church Street, Dublin 7, on Monday 7 October 2013.
Old and New Law Micah 6: 1–8
Luke 10: 25–37
Micah Chapter 6 Verse 1
‘Hear what the Lord says;
Arise, plead your case before the mountains
and let the hills hear your voice.’
I am very aware this morning that I am standing before an ‘assembly’ of lawyers; or more correctly, a ‘disputation’, a ‘greed’, or a ‘quarrel’ of lawyers. All no doubt well practised, or soon to be, in ‘pleading your case before the mountains’ and very skilled at letting ‘the hills hear your voice’.
It is my privilege to address so illustrious a gathering and I am grateful to the Archbishop for his invitation.
The legal world, rightly, is much venerated. You are individuals who have ability and power and influence. You are ‘resorted to’, if I may use such a term, at times of crises and it is your skill and judgement and performance that can determine the shape of your clients’ lives and indeed, not just of their lives but of their wider families, and consequently, of society’s too.
You also, I know, are aware that with such power comes responsibility and with responsibility comes accountability and more than ever individual barristers and solicitors need to keep this at the forefront of all their actions and decisions.
This morning, I choose as my text not the beginning of the 6th chapter of Micah that I have just quoted – but the more familiar text, which comes a few verses later in answer to the question ‘What does the Lord require of you?’
The response reads; ‘to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’. ‘to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’.
The Old Testament is much concerned with justice. The ‘eye for an eye’ mentality pervades this collection of books made up, as it is, of laws and commands and dire warnings.
In it we read of God’s vengeance for behaviour that is bad and his recompense for behaviour that is good. Judaism itself is built on adherence to God’s laws and there is little room for manoeuvre, even for those who might best ‘plead their case before the mountains.’
God is a god of wrath and judgement who punishes the wrongdoer and consequently bad things happen to those who offend.In short, there is not a lot of mercy, (‘kindness’ as some translations put it,) or of humility in the Old Testament.
The New Testament as you are all familiar presents a gentle, merciful God who is a more approachable deity to those of us who have sinned.Here the emphasis is on a God who offers love and compassion and redemption.
These different perspectives are perhaps best seen in the Commandments. In the Old Testament, the 10 Commandments are at the heart of the law but in the New Testament Jesus summarises these as ‘Love God and love your neighbour….on these two commandments depends all the Law’. His summary is somewhat less legalistic and more appealing to many of this generation.
Yet the Christian Church is a church of both Old and New Testaments.Hence we live with the tension between the old and the new law. We profess adherence to the 10 Commandments as they are proudly displayed behind me in this ancient church on either side of the altar, while at the same time, acknowledging that love is all–important.
St Paul reminds us in his first letter to the Corinthians, that without love we are as nothing. We can be clever, honourable and able but if we do not have love, we are only ‘a resounding gong or clanging cymbal.’
Love isn’t about prejudging who is right and who is wrong – who is acceptable and who is not. The new law of love, as proclaimed by Christ, is not about adherence to laws and regulations – it is about action – kindness to all, coupled with humility, ‘and you will live’.
Now, one does not need to be clever to see a conflict of interests here.I’m reminded of my school days when I discovered that I am not good at woodwork. I remember my teacher, at his wits end saying, with a weary groan of despair; ‘Rooke, plane with the grain – not against it’. In this there is a lesson, not just for woodwork but also for life. Attempt to go against the grain and you will have problems – guaranteed!
Yet, Jesus makes clear in the Gospels, that there are occasions when we must be willing to do just that – to go against the grain of received wisdom, or expected behaviour, or personal inclination and self–interest.
The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, says that we must be risk takers – ensuring a fine balance between recklessness and terrified immobility.
In your profession, one might argue, with the lawyer in our NT Reading, that such diversity cannot be accommodated. Your task is to ensure that clearly defined justice is done, that the law is upheld, that offenders are punished and that the scales of justice are evenly balanced.
But let’s go back to the words of the prophet Micah – ‘With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high?’ And he goes on to list all the things that might please God – ‘thousands of rams, rivers of oil, my firstborn child – but no: he has told you, o man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you – to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’.
I suspect that as mercy and humility are not qualities we see in the OT, so also they are not much in evidence either in a law court or in the proceedings of a legal case.
My son is a junior barrister, so I think I know enough of the legal profession, which has sometimes earned its ‘dog eat dog’ reputation. And yet in few other professions or situations are qualities of mercy, (or kindness), and humility more necessary. And I hope I do not seem too naïve in saying that such qualities can co–exist with the pursuit of justice.
‘Doing Justice’ does not negate human compassion. ‘Winning your case’ may bring you satisfaction at one level but does not mean that you are unaware of the sadness of the situation or indeed the mess that people can make of the lives they have been given.
A couple of months ago, I read in the Irish Times of the appointment of two experienced and clever High Court Judges, both female, to the Supreme Court. What pleased me most, was not the fact that this would go some way to achieving a gender balance, but that one is known, and I quote, ‘for her exacting but sensible and courteous style.’ The other for being ‘fair, firm and compassionate.’
Indeed it would seem that those who are most aware of man’s potential for evil can be most aware of his capacity for goodness too. In other words, and though it can be dismissed as simplistic – ‘let he who is without sin cast the first stone’.
And clever and gifted and able though you all are – not one of us is without sin and although any society is built on observation of the rule of law – never let the individual mistake his skill and power as his right with which to put others in their place.
He too is answerable for his life and his decisions and treatment of others. I was impressed a few years ago when I heard someone speak to the headmaster of a prestigious school. ‘I am so pleased to meet you, you’re a very important man.’ The headmaster smiled. ‘No’, he said, ‘I have a very important job.’
I come to this church every couple of months or so. I often see you all rushing around with your ‘black bags’ on your way having prepared your cases, ready perhaps to meet a client in conference.
Alongside this building is the headquarters of the Church’s Ministry of Healing and it is my task to chair this aspect of the Church’s work. People tend to think of healing as physical healing – but in the Church’s healing ministry we are at pains to emphasise the healing of the whole person – body, mind and spirit. In fact without healing of mind and spirit, physical well–being can be far from healthy and certainly won’t guarantee happiness.
You will have witnessed for yourselves in your work, many a person in good physical health who is mentally or spiritually sick. Indeed, your association is probably mostly at the raw stage of guilt and deception and anger and hurt and greed and loss.
As Christian Healing is about the whole person, so our understanding of what God requires of us in our dealings with others demands that we mix the requirement for justice with kindness and humility. For let’s face it, if our Christianity means anything, we have got to believe that redemption is possible.
Of course your job is to fight for and achieve justice but it is also about respecting human beings, showing kindness and acting out Christ–like humility in your endeavours.
In a sense Jesus Christ personifies these two sides of Justice – the Roman Law which eventually was to put him to death but even in the resurrection, when he still bore the scars of his death, he allowed for atonement and mercy and grace.
A recent European ruling states that, even for most serious offenders, the perpetrators of the most heinous crimes, life should not mean life. No human being should be without hope – the hope that is at the core of the Christian Gospel.
Yours is a lifestyle of great pressure; patience and hard work and attention to detail and determination are required in huge bounds. It is a world in which it is easy to succumb to the temptation of power and influence and personal gain. But it is also a world in which the individual who shows courtesy, kindness and humility will stand out as a beacon of light and hope.
This is your privilege and your calling today as it was all those years ago when the lawyer who confronted Jesus was told ‘Go and do likewise.’
May you be blessed in all your endeavours; in doing justice, in loving mercy and in walking humbly with your God.
‘Arise, plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice.’