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Introduction - Padre Mark Perry
Good morning. I鈥檓 Padre Mark Perry, Resident Chaplain here at St Clement Danes, the Central Church of the Royal Air Force, located in the Strand, Westminster, in the heart of London. The church behind me suffered devastating damage during the Blitz of 1941. Yet, out of the ruins of war, it rose again. Rebuilt in the 1950s as a memorial to those who served in the Royal Air Force. It became a powerful symbol of resilience, unity, and hope - an enduring reminder that light can shine even in the darkest of times. It remains the spiritual home of the Royal Air Force family, in all its diversity of humanity, and for wider community benefit.

Today, our service commemorates the 25th Anniversary of the lifting of the ban on LGBTQ+ personnel serving in HM Forces. There are representatives from all three services, Royal Navy, Army, and Royal Air Force. To signify and commemorate this occasion, the Royal Air Force Silk Ensign will be carried and escorted into the church.

And so, we begin our worship with that great hymn of thanksgiving, 鈥楢ll people that on earth do dwell鈥�, written by William Keith with music by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Hymn
All people that on earth do dwell (Old Hundredth, arr. Vaughan Williams)

The Bidding Prayer - Padre Mark Perry
In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we come together in St Clement Danes, the Central Church of the Royal Air Force, the RAF鈥檚 family church.

We come to offer our prayers of thanksgiving, to sing our hymns of praise, and to pray for those in need. We pray also for those who have served and serve today in the armed forces of the Crown.

In doing so we acknowledge those times when we have fallen short in our discipleship of Christ, we express our penitence and seek forgiveness confident in the knowledge that God's healing and life-giving presence is with us always: as we say together the Coventry鈥檚 Litany of Reconciliation

Coventry Litany of Reconciliation

The Absolution
Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

The Royal Air Force Collect
Almighty God, who has promised that they who wait upon thee shall renew their strength and mount up with wings, as eagles, we commend to thy fatherly protection all who serve in the Royal Air Force. Uplift and support us in our endeavour, that we may be a safeguard unto our most gracious Sovereign King Charles III and a sure defence to our homeland. Help us to fulfil our several duties with honour, goodwill and integrity, and grant that we may prove to be worthy successors of those who by their valour and sacrifice did nobly save their day and generation. Amen.

Music
Psalm 124 (Sung to a chant by Sir Henry Walford Davies, first RAF Director of Music)
Sung by the Choir of St Clement Danes

The First Reading
read by Corporal Emma Ferguson
1 Samuel 18: 1-5

Hymn
God is our strength and refuge

The Second Reading
read by Caroline Paige
Galatians 3: 23-29

The Sermon -听Reverend (Group Captain) Ruth Hake

It is a real privilege to be here with you this morning on this 25th anniversary of the lifting of the ban on gay members of the Armed Forces. Perhaps a moment that didn鈥檛 quite mark the end of injustice for those of you sat here today, and many others who have or would have served our nation with honour, but rather perhaps it marked the beginning of the end.

Now I have to admit that on the 12th January 2000, I was not in the military. I was a first year ordinand, training to be a vicar. And I was getting to grips with this passage in Galatians, because I had to preach on it, for a sermon class.

The Divinity Faculty had to use a particular Bible translation, one of hundreds there are out there, all of which attempt to achieve the most accurate representation possible of the source documents which are mainly in Greek or Hebrew. It was the NRSV. This is the New Revised Standard Version. And it renders this passage 鈥淔or in Christ Jesus you are all Children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham鈥檚 offspring, heirs according to the promise.鈥�

This version of the bible deliberately uses inclusive language, or at least, inclusive language as it was understood in 2000. And that is good, this whole passage is about radical equality. It is not just about certain people being given this gift of being a child of God, it is about the fact that everyone regardless of anything about them is equal under God, is just as much God鈥檚 child as the next person. There is no Greek nor Jew, no race distinction is possible. All are equal. No slave or free, and this is one we don鈥檛 like talking about- because slavery is so abhorrent, and yet it has been many human being鈥檚 reality throughout human history. Here we are told there is no place for it. In God we are all equal. And that speaks through all those layers of injustice Actual slavery, but also those more insidious layers, class, status, institutionalised inequalities, rules that ban certain people from doing certain things, keeping people in their place. Criminalising people for being black, for being poor, for being gay. Whether you are free, with all the status imaginable, or whether you are oppressed, enslaved, discriminated against, God says all are equal- so all our efforts to say that some people are worth more than others, are wrong.

We still have a lot to learn from this call to radical equality that was made 2000 years ago in this passage from Galatians. There is no male nor female. It doesn鈥檛 matter what gender or sex you are. We are all equal, we are all equally loved, we are all equally wanted by God our Father.

So this passage of all passages, surely inclusive language should be a good thing right? I am generally a big fan of inclusive language, I know we all catch ourselves sometimes saying something that grates even as we say it, we are all products of our own generations and experiences, but generally I try to be as inclusive as I can be in what I say because, exactly this passage, there is no Jew nor Greek, nor slave, nor free, nor male nor female, we are all one in Christ, there is no wriggle room!

And yet, one of the things I was taught in my three years studying history before I became an ordinand, was to at least check the original sources. I did think it was important to have a look at the original Greek, and see what the words are there that are used inclusively in this translation. And the word which we have as children, is here son in Greek. And according to my Greek lexicon, possibly meaning legitimate son.

Which leaves me wondering, why? Why, when the writer of this passage goes to extreme lengths in the rest of it to say how much gender and status and position doesn鈥檛 matter at all, why do they use a very specific word which is gendered and carries status at the beginning? Why not use the word Child, if we are all one in Christ Jesus?

I think (again, all errors are my own) I think, it might be because the writer of this passage was very aware of the society in which they were writing. In that society, a 鈥榗hild鈥� didn鈥檛 necessarily have any rights. A female child, a slave child, potentially a child from a different race may not have had any rights. So if we are all one in Christ, and we are all heirs of him according to his promise- we all inherit the kingdom of God, from our heavenly father, we need to be given the rights of sons in order to have the inheritance of God鈥檚 blessing.

The radical equality is even more radical than it might first appear. Its not the equality of the lowest common denominator. We aren鈥檛 being told that under God we should all be equally down trodden, that under God, we should all be of equally low status, we are told, that under God we are all to be equally privileged. That with this equality comes a genuine raising up of status, that all people regardless of how we as humans have treated them, are treated as the highest possible status. This is the equality we are called to in this passage in Galatians.

Which is why 25 years ago, the removal of the barrier for service, wasn鈥檛 the end. Removing a barrier is important, it really is, but real equality is when everyone is given not the lowest common denominator, but the highest common denominator of equality, we are all given the rights and position of the most privileged. No one loses, its not zero sum, when this happens, everyone gains, and we all in the words of the author of Galatians, if we belong to Christ, then we are all Abraham鈥檚 offspring, heirs according to the promise. Amen.听

Music
O for a closer walk with God 鈥� David McGregor
Sung by the Choir of St Clement Danes

The Prayers -听Reverend (Squadron Leader) Andrew Chapman

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness, bless our Sovereign King Charles and all who are in authority under him; that they may order all things in wisdom and equity, righteousness and peace, to the honour of your name, and the good of your Church and people; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God who created the stars, the heavens and the earth, we commend to your fatherly protection all who serve in the Royal Air Force, that we may be a safeguard to our most gracious Sovereign King Charles and be a sure defence to our country. Protect and support. us, and our families, as we seek to serve with integrity and respect, and grant that we may prove to be worthy successors of those who by their valour and sacrifice did nobly serve their day and generation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lord God, we pray for all who suffer as a result of conflict: those wounded in body and spirit, and those made refugee or prisoner of war. We ask your blessing on those who still suffer and those who still grieve: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Almighty God, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed: kindle, we pray, in the hearts of all people the true love of peace, and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility your kingdom may go forward, till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Heavenly Father, you love all that you have made, let not the pains of the past, cloud that love we have one for the other within your creation. As we remember the lifting of the ban of LGBTQ+ community serving in the Armed Forces 25 years ago, help us to be worthy successes of those who did not enjoy the same freedoms we have today. This we ask in the name of Jesus, who鈥檚 love for humanity unites all peoples. Amen.

The Lord鈥檚 Prayer

Hymn
Lord for the years

The Blessing - Chaplain-in-Chief
God grant to the living, grace; to the departed, rest; to the Church, the King, the Commonwealth, and all people, peace and concord; and to us and all his servants, life everlasting; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you always. Amen.

The National Anthem听

Recessional Music
Spitfire Prelude 鈥� William Walton
played by the Central Band of the Royal Air Force