Reflections for King’s-Edgehill School Cadet Church Parade, 2024
admin | 18 April 2024Church Parade Reflections 2024: To Govern Is To Serve
To Govern Is To Serve I
The image of the Shepherd is everywhere a symbol of government both divine and human. It is a powerful feature of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Scriptures of the New Testament. It is also an image for kingship in the ancient world, from The Epic of Gilgamesh through to Homer’s Iliad and beyond. For the ancient Greeks, the image of shepherding in terms of kingship reflects the divine government of the world itself. It is “a natural and an universal symbol of divine and human government“. Divine and human meet in the image of the Shepherd guiding and caring for the sheep. It is most powerfully captured in the image of Christ the Good Shepherd which we heard in the lesson which Spencer read. The critical emphasis is on the idea of the “good” shepherd.
In The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest literary works of our humanity, Gilgamesh is at first portrayed as a bad king because he uses the people of Uruk for his own self-interest. The people see his behaviour as the antithesis of what he should be: “The king should be the shepherd of his people … wise, comely and resolute,” they say. To be a bad king is to be a bad shepherd in terms of human government because it does not respect or care for the good of the people. The bad shepherd serves only himself at the expense of all others. In a profound image, Enkidu is created to be Gilgamesh’s friend and equal, his second self. Why? So that Gilgamesh can come to learn what it means to be a good king, a shepherd to his people.
The theme of the divine shepherd is emphasized in the Hebrew Scriptures: “Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.” We heard these words at the opening of the Advent Christmas services in our School Chapel. It is the idea of God as a Shepherd, the Shepherd of Israel, which in turn shapes the imagery of human rule in imitation of God’s rule, such as David as the Shepherd King or the prophet Isaiah looking for the redeemer and deliverer of Israel as one who will “lead his flock like a shepherd, and gather the lambs into his bosom.” Lovely images.
Plato, too, explores the theme of government through the idea of the shepherd in the Republic, building on the question which The Epic of Gilgamesh raises about what it means to be a shepherd. The sophist Thrasymachus claims that the shepherd is only out for himself but Socrates shows that is what it means to be a false shepherd. The true and good shepherd is one who looks out for and cares for the sheep of his flock, first and foremost. It means acquiring the art of care which seeks the best for those under the shepherd’s charge. To serve them, not oneself, belongs to good order and justice.
Such images and ideas have influenced and contributed to the idea of Christ as the Good Shepherd. It builds on those earlier images but intensifies the idea of care in a most radical way. The Good Shepherd is equally the Lamb of God. “The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.” This challenges our thinking about rule and order; it is not about dominating others but serving one another. To govern is to serve.
To Govern Is To Serve II
The dominant icon in the School Chapel is the image of Christ the Good Shepherd. Here at Christ Church the dominant icon is the image of Christ Crucified. The two images complement each other. They go together. The story of Christ as the Good Shepherd is a traditional Eastertide reading. Christ is the Good Shepherd because he lays down his life for us. Thus the image of Christ the Good Shepherd, like the resurrection stories, makes visible what is hidden but present in the passion. It is about the radical life of God given for us so as to be lived in us.
But how? Through sacrifice and service. Through learning to live beyond ourselves. Leadership is not about power and domination; it is about service in the pursuit of what belongs to the good of each and all.
Deo Legi Regi Gregi is the motto of the School and the College since their foundations in 1788 and 1789 respectively. That motto is fittingly complemented by the Edgehill School motto of fideliter, meaning faithfulness. It signifies the idea of faith and commitment to the principles of service in terms of Deo – for God, Legi – for the Law, Regi – for the King, and Gregi, for the people. The educational project of the School is about an education that contributes to a life of service and care in all walks of life. It signals the ideal of leadership as service, not self-interest and domination.
Thus the image of Christ the Good Shepherd is about the life of God in us in our lives of service to one another and to God. To govern is to serve.
To Govern Is To Serve III
The first lesson which Ava read comes from one of the loveliest love poems of the Hebrew Scriptures, The Song of Songs. Its erotic and intimate images are classically and traditionally understood to reflect the love and care of God for our humanity within the created world. That world is portrayed as a garden loved by God. The idea is that we find our purpose in our lives with one another and with God and within creation; not in flight from it. It is about a life lived for an end and a purpose. It is the very antithesis and counter to our current culture and its crisis of meaninglessness.
The reading deepens our understanding of the story of creation in Genesis. Our humanity finds its place within the order of nature and learns that our vocation is to act as God acts in relation to the world. We are, famously, given “dominion” over everything in the created order, but that has been famously misunderstood by many, including many Christians. That biblical idea of domination can only mean acting as God acts, which is to say, in loving care and service. That means stewardship, the opposite of the exploitation and domination of the world and one another. We are called to act as shepherds who care for creation. When we think that the world is just dead stuff for us to manipulate and use however we see fit, we discover how bad that is for the world and for ourselves. We forget two things: first, that the world of nature is greater than ourselves; second, that we have a place and a purpose in the world. In religious terms, it means living for God in and through our lives with one another.
The Song of Songs awakens us to the beauty and delight in creation and in one another. “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” One of the great Easter hymns by John of Damascus written in the eighth century builds on this imagery in terms of the resurrection. “All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying from his light,” the light and life of God made visible in the passion and resurrection of Christ. God is the beloved and we, too, are beloved of God, called to take delight in all that belongs to God’s creation. Once again, the image of shepherd appears but now explicitly in terms of God’s love. “My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he pastures his flock among the lilies.”
The resurrection recalls us to creation as a garden in which we live. “O you who dwell in the gardens, my companions are listening for your voice; let me hear it.” The idea of love and the good shepherd come together to open us out to the radical life of God in whom we find our highest good. It is found in purposeful conversation and dialogue, in learning and service, in prayer and praise, and, ultimately, in the praise of God for his goodness. To govern is to serve.
To Govern Is To Serve IV
This runs counter to the forms of power as domination past and present in the many different forms of tyranny: totalitarianism, narcissism, anarchy, bureaucratic overreach and control; in general, the technocratic culture which negates the agency, freedom, and dignity of others. Augustine, looking back to Cicero and Plato, defined its common feature as libido dominandi, “the lust for domination” that belongs to the city of man in contrast to the city of God. We presume to put ourselves in the place of God having misunderstood the almighty power of God. Instead there is the constant struggle for power as domination, famously captured in Nietzsche’s phrase, “the will to power.” This negates or denies the will to truth and leads to the dog-eat-dog world of endless conflict and division, a world of fear and hatred, the war of everyone against everyone. This results in seeing all institutions in terms of power and domination; not service.
The image of Christ the Good Shepherd is an image of gathering, the gathering together of each one with each other. As Luke puts it, God is like a shepherd who seeks out the one lost sheep, like a woman who seeks for the one lost coin, and like a father who runs out to gather into his embrace the lost or prodigal son. The point is not about asserting the priority of the individual over and against the whole community but rather honouring their mutual interdependence and relationship. The care of the Good Shepherd highlights the paradox of “the sacrifice of one for all, and the sacrifice of all for one.” Christ the Good Shepherd is the Lamb of God. As Jesus says in his approach to his passion, “The Son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.”
“Kings shall be your nursing fathers,” as Isaiah puts it. Jerusalem is imaged by Paul as the city of God “which is above,” which “is free; which is the mother of us all.” Yet Jerusalem as the city of man is lamented by Jesus as having betrayed itself. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto you.” This is the human city in disorder and disarray. “How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing, and you would not.” It is an indictment against power as domination which destroys life.
The medieval historian Jacques Delarun in his book “To Govern Is To Serve” highlights the importance of the shepherd image of governance. He chronicles some radical experiments in the ordering of monastic communities among a number of 12th and 13th century orders influenced by the charismatic figures of St. Dominic and St. Francis. They were attempts to embody the radical concept of Christ as the shepherd of the sheep who cares for one and all equally; at once for all together and for each one individually. St. Francis speaks of himself as governing sicut mater, as mother. Pastoral government is about nurturing and enabling growth not suppressing or smothering life.
This way of thinking is expressed in an icon, present and visible both here and in the Chapel. It is the icon of Christ Pantocrator. Christ as the ruler of all. Contrary to our sense of power, the icon reveals the idea of service and sacrifice. Christ has one hand raised in blessing while holding an open book with the other. Christ Pantokrator is Christ as Teacher; this is in contrast to other images of Christ Pantocrator holding a closed book symbolizing Christ as the merciful judge of all creation. The writing is in Russian and in the Cyrillic script. The book is The Gospel according to St. Matthew opened to a significant passage known as one of the “comfortable words.” Comfortable here means words which strengthen and nourish us, words into which we may grow and live more fully.
What is written? They are the words of Jesus to us: “Come unto me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” or refresh you, echoes of the garden in The Song of Songs and of the garden of the resurrection. But the passage ends with the words, “take my yoke upon you and learn of me.” Learn what? The way of service and sacrifice, bearing and forbearing one another’s burdens. “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Why? Because of the passion and resurrection of Christ which makes known the eternal life of God, “whose service is perfect freedom.” To govern is to serve.
The resurrection does not eclipse the passion and death of Christ; it makes visible what is hidden and present in the passion. The cross is not eclipsed but lifted up before us. Christ crucified is the book of love opened for us to read. In the stories of the resurrection, the wounds of the crucified become the marks of love. This signifies the idea of loving service in contrast to power as domination. Service is cross-shaped.
Such is the teaching of Christ the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. The divine life is made visible in the passion and resurrection of Christ. This is an insight that belongs to other spiritual traditions. It highlights the principle of life that is greater than sin and death, greater than human pretense and folly, greater than all the forms of power as domination.
All forms of leadership are really about service whether as prefects and stewards, as captains and teammates in athletics, as actors and musicians, dancers and artists on stage, on show, or in concert, as servers and readers in Chapel, as officers holding rank in the Cadet Corps, as head boy and head girl, or, as students and teachers in the everyday experience of the life of the School. Our parade through the Town of Windsor is not about power and conquest. It is a witness to service and education, a reminder to the community and to us about the commitment to serve. It means governance over ourselves in the pursuit of the good of all. Such is the nature of the ethical thinking that belongs to the spiritual pilgrimage of education. It is the constant challenge for us in our lives and for our institutions. It is about the good in the image of Christ the Good Shepherd.
To govern is to serve.
(Rev’d) David Curry
Church Parade Reflections Christ Church,
April 17th, 2024
The student readers were Vinnie Armstrong, Sadie O’Callaghan, Gabby Shaw, Alex Graham, Sofia Ning, Skye Hussey, and Jack Sangster.