What Was So Special About Bishop Curry’s Sermon?

They are still talking about Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s sermon at Harry and Meghan’s wedding.  He’s a surprise break out star, they say.  He stole the show, they say.  

There were those who said he was too long, too self-indulgent, too political for a wedding - especially a royal wedding - but for the most part, people have been ga ga over his sermon.

Why?

When you get down to it, there wasn’t really anything all that special about it.  Don’t get me wrong - I loved it, as I love all of Bishop Curry’s sermons.  But that’s just it - it wasn’t all that different from his usual sermon.  Or those of countless preachers holding up the Love of Christ.  

Here are a few thoughts about what made this one special even in - and maybe because of - its ordinariness.

1. The Length.  The press was abuzz about its length.  Fourteen whole minutes!  As if that were any great amount of time.  Sure, a typical sermon comes in at just about 11-12 minutes, but every Sunday, Anglican clergy around the world go over that allotted time.  15 minutes, 17 minutes, even 20 minutes is not so odd.  For some preachers, at 14 minutes, they’ve just finished clearing their throats.
2. The style.  This is what enthralled and appalled so many.  Many were worried he would knock down the candlesticks with his gesticulations.  But come on.  I don’t think all Church of England clergy are such stiffs.  I know several, and they embrace a more energetic preaching style, too.  Did these people not know how preaching is done, especially in the African American context?  I watched that sermon three times, and never once did I see anything out of the ordinary for a lot of preachers.  Bishop Curry just does it extremely well.  In fact, I’d say he’s a master, much like, say, Duke Ellington was a master of jazz, or Wayne Gretzky was a master of ice hockey.  You don’t invite Ellington to come play Bach, and you don’t invite Gretzky to play football.  Actually, I would argue that the young couple DID know exactly what they were getting, that this very sermon is exactly what they hoped for, and that this particular sermon spoke to their hopes and dreams in a way few others could have.
3. The political nature.  When I saw people writing about that, I had to go back and review the sermon.  Political?  Oh, sure, he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - a minister.  And he cited Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ, a Roman Catholic priest.  Sure, he mentioned slavery and poverty and hunger, but they were always in the context of the power of love.  Was that wedding material?  Of course it was!  Marriages - especially Holy Matrimony - take place in the real world.  Married couples have to work together to fulfill their ministry.  And yes, marriage is a ministry in which the two work as one to be lights of Christ in a dark world.  From my vantage point, there are many wedding sermons that call upon the couple - and all others present - to use their love to reach out beyond themselves.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said that when people complained about his sermons being political he countered that all preaching must be political because the gospel requires it.  To preach the gospel means always to address how we are called to treat each other, care for each other, see Christ in the face of each other.  
4. Someone complained that he took the spotlight off the couple.  As he should.  In Anglican theology, all worship, all liturgy, exists to focus light on Christ.  It is in the context of worshiping God that we also witness and bless other events - such as weddings, but also funerals, baptisms, confirmations, or ordinations.  It is never just about the couple (in the case of weddings) - it is always first and foremost about God.  And for my money, Bishop Curry shone that light brilliantly.
5. The “blackness” of the wedding as a whole.  There is no getting around it.  Part of the buzz surrounding this sermon had to do with the blackness of Meghan Markle, with her mother, with the choir, with that tremendous young cellist, with the queen’s chaplain.  Bishop Curry’s sermon was, perhaps, the most out-front aspect of it, but it was only a part.  Yet ... his part was crucial, and I believe it will have lasting effects we can not yet anticipate.  I say that because he preached not only about sentimental love, which does plague far too many wedding sermons.  No, he preached about love when it is hard, when it shines through pain - like the pain of an enslaved person in a strange land or someone treated like a third class citizen in their own land.  It is the costly kind of love that Jesus exemplified and then called his followers to live.  That is a sort of love well known in black America, and when it is given room to breathe, it speaks loudly.  I am reminded of the German theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He was a young man already with a PhD and a position at a university when he travelled to America to experience Christianity here.  The white churches preached the same sanitized faith he had experienced (and participated in) in Germany.  But when he visited black churches, he was changed forever.  There, he saw the Holy Spirit on full display.  No apologies for being expressive, but power and grace were abundant.  When he went back to Germany, it was his experience with the black churches that gave him the fortitude to become an agent of opposition against the Nazis.
6. I suspect this is the impact that Bishop Curry’s sermon might have.  The young royal couple, if nobody else, will always remember his words and his admonition to walk the way of love, especially toward those who experience so much harm at the hands of society.  Through them, and through countless millions who saw the sermon, some little (and maybe some great) good will come of it.  
7. In the end, I suspect the big stir was all about expectations.  People came to watch royals and got the Gospel.  They expected maybe a quiet, dignified, five minute homily that would cause nary a breeze, and they got the wind and fire of the Holy Spirit, appropriately on the Eve of Pentecost.  I don’t for a moment think that Harry and Meghan didn’t expect and welcome this breath of fresh, life-giving air.  Perhaps it was their wedding gift to Britain (and us).  I, for one, appreciate it.