A Sermon Walking

The phrase "a sermon walking" was first knowingly recognised in 1953 to acknowledge a man who taught much to a world of prejudice and expectation in one simple act.

The man was Albert Schweitzer who came to Chicago as the Nobel Peace Prize winner but who disregarded all the journalists and photographers waiting to meet him in order to help an elderly black woman carry her two heavy bags; his genuine humility and compassion moved a witness to speak of him as a sermon walking.

I was reminded of this by the new vicar of our rural parish whom I met yesterday and who spoke of the meaning of "a sermon walking”. He used the phrase, like many others, as meaning that the measure of someone comes from their (good) actions not who they are: there is truth in this, of course, but in it there is also a suggestion of comparison and judgment in that to be a walking sermon your actions should be moral, admirable. I see it rather differently.

You are a sermon walking in everything you do, whether overtly commendable or “ordinary”. You teach and give and enlighten all the time but may not know it – the sermon is in your humour which lightens and delights; it is in the love you give which enriches the lives of many; it is in your wisdom which causes people to pause and think; it is in your human frailties of ego which reminds those around you that there is a better way. Most of all it is in your efforts and intent to do your best, which is the most powerful walking sermon of all.