Sermon for Sunday 21st June 2026, Trinity 3

By Rev Petra Elsmore

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READING

Leviticus 19:33-34

33 ‘“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill-treat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

 

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OPENING OF THE SERVICE

Today we gather on Father's Day, and we also mark Refugee Week and Sanctuary Sunday. These may seem like very different occasions, but giving that this year the Sanctuary Sunday falls on the same day as Father’s Day, I would like us to consider the experience and challenges of refugee fathers, as well as to celebrate those whose love, care, wisdom and generosity have helped to shape our lives.

 

I also want to acknowledge that this day can bring different emotions for different people, that thinking about fathers and fatherhood may be painful to some. And so in our worship today we ask God, our heavenly Father, to give us comfort and hope where we need it, but also to fill us with love and compassion for others.

 

QUIZ

As we often do on the Father’s Day, I start with a Quiz, this time about Fathers from famous films and books, to help us think about some special qualities and characteristics of those Fathers.

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Q1

Question: Which father worked for the Ministry of Magic, loved Muggle inventions, and opened his home to an orphan boy when he needed a family?

Answer: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and the Harry Potter series; Father - Arthur Weasley.

(Welcoming, open-minded, kindness, hospitality)curious about people who

 

Q2

Question: Which anxious father crossed the ocean in search of his son after he was captured by divers?

Answer: Finding Nemo; Marlin

(Love, resilience, trust, and finding help from others during a difficult journey)

 

Q3

Question: Which father welcomed a small bear into his family after finding him alone at a railway station?

Answer: Paddington/ Mr Brown

(Patience, hospitality, kindness, making room for someone who doesn't quite fit in, being ready to adjust our own set of beliefs).

 

Q4

Question: Which clever father risked everything to provide food for his family and neighbours while being hunted by three farmers?

Answer: Fantastic Mr Fox/ Mr Fox.

(Resourcefulness, cleverness,  protectiveness, care for family and community)

 

Q5

Question: ”What was the surname of the widowed naval captain who was a father to seven children and who had to flee home from the Nazis?

Answer: Von Trapp

(Courage, overcoming grief and caring for family, determination, standing for beliefs in politically unsafe times)

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Q6

Question:    Which father was portrayed by Gregory Peck in 1962 adaptation of To Kill a Mockinbird?

Answer: Atticus Finch

(Compassion, fairness, standing up for justice).

 

And the characteristic of those fathers - love, protectiveness, hospitality, kindness, courage, resilience, resourcefulness; providing for family under any circumstances, standing up for justice.

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Let me tell you a story about a father.

 

A STORY

 

A father is making one of the most difficult decisions of his life. He has received a warning that remaining where they were would put his family in danger. There are reports that violence may be coming, that they are no longer safe in their home. There is no time to waste. He wakes his wife. They gather what they can carry. There are no farewells to their friends or chance to put affairs their affairs in order. They have no opportunity to pack their possessions properly, rather they have to grab few things, only the absolute minimum, nothing more, everything happens so quickly.

 

Before dawn, they are on the move. They travel simply, their child is too young to understand why they are leaving. He sleeps as his parents carry him into an uncertain future. The family crosses a border into a foreign country. They don’t know how long they will be there and they don’t know when they will be able to return home if at all. They have no idea what awaits them on their journey. Not knowing makes it more fearful. Behind them lies danger. Ahead lies uncertainty. The father felt that the only choice he had was choosing between the pain of leaving or the danger of staying. It was the hardest choice he had to face. But he could not stay, he could not do it to his family, to his child. And so they fled.

 

They become strangers in a land which is not their own. They must learn how to survive away from their family,  they have to put the life they had known behind them. Fleeing from danger, would they find welcome or hostility? Would they be safe? What kind of childhood would he be able to give to his child? All those questions, everything seems to be out of his control.

 

At this stage, the father tries to think about one thing only, to keep his young family safe, the rest he will have to figure out later, it has to be one step at a time. They don’t talk, he and his wife, the only way to hold on to their courage, is to do this journey in silence. They pray.

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This story is a story which is lived over and over and over again, by so many fathers, just the details differ, different places, different conflicts, the same dangers and desperation. Ordinary fathers trying to protect their children, their families.

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This past week has been Refugee Week, which concludes today. It can sometimes be difficult to think clearly about refugees and asylum seekers when we are surrounded by news reports of conflict, political debate and concerns about immigration. There are strong opinions often expressed, and it can be easy to lose sight of the individual people behind the headlines. And at the end of the day, it is all about ordinary people, people just like me or you, people like our friends, or like our children. This is a story about ordinary people who hope to live ordinary lives.

 

Let me ask you several questions. We don’t have to answer them out loud, just ponder them, and perhaps some of those questions you can return to later, as you may think about the fathers you know and consider the refugee fathers you don’t.

 

What do you think makes a good father or a good parent? 

 

When you think about the fathers in our quiz, what qualities stood out? Was it strength? Courage? Wisdom? Protection? Kindness? Hospitality? Perseverance?

 

What do most fathers / parents want for their children?

Is it really so different whether they live in Buckinghamshire, or Birmingham, Beirut, Khartoum or Kyiv? If they are from UK, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria or Ukraine?

 

What are the fears that fathers carry for their children?

 

What would you be prepared to leave behind, if you believed your child was no longer safe?

 

How far would you travel to protect your son or daughter?

 

How would it feel to arrive in a strange place, unable to provide for your family in the way you once could and totally depend on the assistance of others?

 

How would you hope others would treat you, your partner and your children?

 

Think back to the story, I have started with, 

 

If we met that father today, would we see a refugee first—or a parent trying to do what any loving parent would do?

 

As I was preparing for the service today, I read once again a famous poem about the experience of being a refugee called Home by Warsan Shire….it is an excellent poem, but rather descriptive and therefore quite hard read 

 

It says:

"No one leaves home unless

home is the mouth of a shark

you only run for the border

when you see the whole city running as well…"

 

And later

 

"you have to understand,

that no one puts their children in a boat

unless the water is safer than the land"

 

Earlier today we read

 

from Leviticus:

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill-treat them. Love them as yourself"

 

And we remember the story of the sheep and the goats from Matthews Gospel: Come, the kingdom is prepared for you 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’….whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 

At the heart of both of these readings is encouragement to be compassionate and loving and caring to those who are in a desperate need. The reading from Leviticus says Love them as yourself….

 

Amnesty International sums it up this way; People are displaced and seek refuge because their home environments have become too dangerous or unliveable to stay. These forced movements are driven by a complex mix of armed conflict, systemic persecution, environmental disasters, climate crisis or extreme economic collapse.

 

These are serious problems that need to be addressed, they are very complex problem, but we need to remember that the problems are not the people and the people are not the problems. 

 

“no one leaves home unless

home is the mouth of a shark”

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Let’s go back to the story with which we started.

 

The escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’

 

Those who seek refuge, those who flee from their home because it was no longer safe, they look for safety. But sanctuary is not only about a safe place it is more than that, it is about welcome and compassion we are willing to extend to those who have lost everything. It is also a choice to let ourselves be ruled either by fear and division or choosing hospitality, and compassion and love.

 

May we be guided by Jesus as we ask for grace and the courage to offer help and welcome to those who need it. Amen

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