Philippians 2: 1-11
John 12: 20-32

"Get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight".  Proverbs 4:7

I want to break with convention this evening and take a liberty by offering not one – but a number of texts – for this sermon from a variety of sources.  First from the Book of Proverbs – "Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight."

And then a Proverb of a different kind "Education is a treasure which no thief can touch".

And then from some of our conference members:

"The outcome of Education is the transformation of society – but it has to be education with a human face."

Again:   "I am because we belong together."

And: "If we pursue perfection – as Anglican Colleges and Universities we can gain excellence.  And excellence and perfection is God's business."

These are some of the key words and phrases – texts we have given to each other over the last few days and shared with each other.

From the scriptures - "Get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight."

As we gather together at our closing Eucharist I want to ask what are the moments, what are the memories that will long linger with you?  What will you take home with you?  What are the things that have most struck you from CUAC's 6th conference.   Among mine are the blowout of that rear tyre on the motorway at 60 mph.

Then -
The colleges and churches we visited in China.  6,000 people in the church which looked like an ark, or an elderly professor talking with such affection about his grandfather a Bi-shop.  I thought for a moment he was describing a shop selling bicycles.

The staggering changes and developments that we saw in China.  The vast resources being poured into University Education there.

OR will  your memory be of the generous and gracious hospitality of our hosts at Chung Chi College and the endless patience and care  of Andrew and his team and Professor Leung who have attended to our every need?

OR will it be insights gained from our visiting speakers as well as from each other?

OR will it be the new friendships made, the relationships established the way we have strengthened each other in our Anglican and Christian identities?

For me one of the lasting memories came in a totally chance encounter at the White Swan Hotel – talking to a young woman who, after a process lasting over 3 years, had been given permission to adopt a baby.  Rebecca – for that was the baby's name, had been with her adoptive mother and family for 2 days – and the joy and the delight and the tenderness of this newly forming family was a wonder to behold.

Over 3 years to get to that point of the longed and hoped for becoming real.

In CUAC, for the hoped for to become real has taken us a bit longer.  So what will be the lasting memories for you?  And how will you begin to share the vision of all that this Conference has meant/and given you with your colleagues and students in the months that lie ahead? And how can we ensure that one of the outcomes will be that our Anglican Colleges and Universities are drawn more closely together, not only in our common identity but in the way we develop our relationships and partnerships over the Communion.

I hope its been the case that new partnerships have been explored and that new opportunities will be pursued with each other between Hong Kong 2008 and the next time we meet again – at Sewance – the first time we've met in the USA – in 2011.

So "Get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight.

Over these last 15 years the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion have accomplished a number of trend setting achievements.  We've developed exchanges for students and faculty.  Service learning opportunities have been taken up.  We've developed courses and programmes and shared resources.

We are learning to generate trust and a common commitment to each other – so that CUAC is becoming ours rather than theirs – whoever they may be.  Remember "I am because we belong together".  After all we share the common task of providing first rate learning environments for our students, opening our doors to generations of students from all faiths and none.  And all held within and under-girded by our Anglican and Christian traditions, beliefs and witness.

Rightly, so much of what we are about flows from the qualities we see in the giver of our faith, and our 2 readings from scripture illustrate these.  In the passage from Philippians we read that Jesus did not snatch at equality with God, but rather he emptied himself and took the form of a slave/a servant.

And it is that capacity to put the interests and well being of others ahead of his own that gives Jesus authority and stamps him with integrity.

Service is the hallmark of his character.  It must be the benchmark, the litmus test, of all our efforts to follow him.
However much we are preoccupying ourselves with running our affairs efficiently – and we all have to – we know that a University, a College can never be just a business.  Its bottom line cannot ever be its balance sheet. 

Our task is to create a community – a community of learning where everyone matters where we support each other, where every member has a real prospect of opportunity, development and growth.

As we give time to each other and as we put our facilities at the disposal of all our members, so we are working out the meaning of service in our own day.  How are we as colleges and universities helping our students to engage with the world around us, and so become servants of others?

How do our lecturers and researchers contribute to the well being of our societies and our world?

Now, it's not very fashionable to talk in this kind of way at the start of the 21st century.  Certainly in the UK the mood is that we are supposed to live just as we please or whatever way we choose.    But this individualised and relativised monochrome, and sometimes hedonistic, way of living breeds monsters, destroys community, leads to the ruin of many a social project and dashes every dream about a social and world order built on mercy, pity, peace and love.

The noble ideal of service, seeking each other's betterment, putting the interests of others before our own, working for the common good – needs to run through the whole of our CUAC operation like lettering through a stick of seaside rock.

I vividly remember a conversation I had at my first CUAC conference in Delhi in 1996.  We visited one of the Anglican Colleges in India and I remember talking to the Principal.  I asked him what his college most needed – thinking he would say more money, or more books for the library, which had many empty shelves, or more computers to replace the two old models that were there.

Not a bit of it.  He replied "we don't need more resources, all we need is more able and dedicated teachers to inspire our students to see that their privileged education is not simply for their own personal and financial advancement but for what they can offer back to our society, for the benefit of those less fortunate than themselves.  That lies at the heart of the matter.

And then from John's gospel we heard how Jesus disclosed the deepest secret of his being, the scope of his vision for humanity, the purpose of his coming amongst us.

Notice that this moment of self disclosure had long been hinted at but eventually took place only when Jesus and Greeks were gathered together in Jerusalem.  The arithmetic of Greeks plus Jews equals everyone.  Just as 2 + 2 = 4.  Greeks and Jews = everyone.   Put them together and you have nothing less than the whole human race".

True Anglican vision like that of its founder is inclusive, indeed universal.  And that too has to mark our endeavours.  The Anglican way is the way of conviction and openness.  Conviction to the truth, but always open to the new insights the Holy Spirit is teaching us – all held with tolerance, inclusivity and charity.   Centuries ago St. Augsutine said, in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love.

Though it might sound like a tautology, a university is nothing if it's not universal.

People meet across disciplines, teachers and students learn together, character is formed, an unforgettable time in our lives is stamped with the imprint of excellence.  It doesn't need anyone else to tell us this.  We know it.  It's our core business.  Service, Character and Excellence.

And we have to remain faithful to this ideal despite the pressures on all our budgets and the threats and challenges from our governments.  And we have to remain faithful to this ideal together and not least for the sake of the Anglican Communion.

The CUAC  colleges and universities have been learning a lot about working together over the last 15 years.  They/we have been learning that forging a unity together is greater than the sum of our separate parts.

Get wisdom get insight, above all get insight –

Get understanding, perception, discernment, vision and that elusive quality of being able to see beneath and beyond the surface of things.  To be able to get to the heart of the matter despite all the complexities, paradoxes, questions and contradictions of our age.

With one eye firmly fixed on the opportunities and challenges which face us in the here and now, but with the other eye equally focussed on the rich tradition of our Anglican Foundation so as to "Get wisdom, get insight… but above all get insight."

Our age urgently needs institutions of higher education such as ours, which live and breathe unity, wholeness and coherence.  Institutions which are prepared to challenge – if need be – the political fads and fashions of the day.  Institutions which will take the time and the risk to encourage the longer term view.  True to themselves but above all true to the selfless, generous and self giving love of the one who inspires all our endeavours, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

One final comment.

By coming together as a community under God we express the deep down truth that we can only become what we are meant to be as we learn to share – share each others company, our goods, our needs, our forgiveness, our love – our very lives.

That's why the sharing of bread and wine remains the most potent symbol at the heart of all our gatherings.

And only as we learn to share and live together and to make communion with each other will we be drawn into the life of God the Holy Trinity.  And only as we learn such a way of life will we begin to reflect God's life and love for everyone.

The Christian tradition tells us that all human beings are made in the image of God.  Maybe we have, for far too long, thought this means that each and every single individual is made in God's image.  But what if this isn't the case?  What if it should be that it is WE  (we, us, collectively and together) who are made in God's image?  What if it should be the case that it is only communities that can reflect God's nature – since Father, Son and Holy Spirit are community perfected?

It would remind us that we cannot exist as persons outside our belonging together as community and that we can't exist as individual institutions without belonging together, together to be formed into his very image, the image of the Three in one, three persons, intermingling, interflowing, constantly exchanging, giving and receiving, held together in a kind of dance or harmony by the ever-flowing energy of love.  Intermingling, inter-flowing, constantly exchanging, giving and receiving, held together in the harmony of God's ever flowing love.  Now there's a vision not only for CUAC, but for our life together within the Anglican Communion.

An now is the time
And this is the place
And we are his people to make it so
Amen