“Holey Bible, Wholly Community, Holy Faith” ~ Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, 22-23 & James: 2:1-10
September 8, 2024 ~ Northwood United ~ Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook
A pastor arrived at her new church. She delivered a wonderful sermon. It was theologically sound…creative…powerful. People were engaged; they listened; they thought deeply; they went home. The next week, they were excited to hear what the next sermon would contain. To their surprise, the pastor gave the same sermon. They listened; they wondered; and they scratched their heads as to ‘why’? Perhaps, a busy week for the new pastor as she moved into her new home? The elders were quietly unimpressed. Everyone wondered what the sermon would contain on the third week. They returned only to hear the same sermon repeated yet again. A few Board members pulled her aside after the service inquiring about the ever-repeating sermon. They said “we loved your sermon; however, you have preached it now three times in a row. Do you have any other sermons for us?”. The pastor took off her glasses, folded her arms and responded, “oh yes. I do have another sermon. But our church hasn’t followed the first one yet.”
The two passages in front of us have been heard so many times before. We have heard God’s call to care for the poor and vulnerable over and over and over haven’t we? God’s call to care for the widows and orphans resonate through the Prophets and Psalms of the First Testament. We hear Jesus teach and demonstrate living love by teaching care for the most vulnerable. And throughout the letters to the early church, we hear it yet again! The Bible contains countless instances of calls to care for the last and the least in our world. This morning, it might seem like the ever-repeating message. Haven’t we heard this before? Why, yes, we have heard it before; however, as we hear it this morning, the question must be asked if we actually follow it.
In fairness, the challenge in hearing this call has deep roots of turning a deaf ear. Historically, our ancestors in faith didn’t seem to hear or follow this call. James’ command away from favoritism to the rich seemed to fall upon deaf ears. In the early days during the Middle Ages, Christians believed that people begging in the streets symbolized Christ. As such, benevolent care to the poor provided an opportunity to host and serve Christ in their midst. And indeed, in the absence of a social safety net, the poor and vulnerable relied entirely upon the charity of wealthy Christians for their survival. Yet, things changed over time. Famines, wars and plagues resulted in the streets increasingly filled with many begging for their existence. By the time of Reformation, the church had begun to distinguish between the “worthy poor” and the “unworthy poor”. The Reformers were teaching an ethic of hard work and self-reliance ~ we recall the term ‘the Protestant ethic’ from which this arises. The church began to differentiate and slowly the upper-class who faced lost income due to social upheaval were assisted; whereas, others were deemed as lazy and unworthy. Cities banned begging, expelling beggars in an effort to clean up the streets. Favouritism expanded. Over time, European Christians exploited world markets for luxury goods such as sugar and spices. They opened international banks, obtained land in North America by force, and stole the free labour of millions of Africans. It is the same story over and over and over…favouritism for the rich over the poor.
And here we are today, listening to same text and we wonder if this passage is one that we are actually listening to? If it is one that we are obeying? Now to be sure, we are doing great some Outreach ministry that we should be proud of! So many of you have participated in the feeding ministry at the Cloverdale Community Kitchen as we provide food and fellowship. Prior to this, of course, the Hot Lunch Ministry took food into the Whalley community. Christmas Hampers continue to be packed, overflowing with love for those in need. The Refugee ministry has been very active over the past decade. The Shoebox Ministry provides toiletries and other essentials for distribution through the Surrey Urban Mission Society. And this morning, many will support the Emergency Food Pantry with your donations of non-perishables and monetary donations. To be sure, Northwood does a LOT! And to be sure, the need is growing in our neighbourhood as the gap between rich and poor seems to be widening. I wonder how Northwood will be called to further ‘embrace all of Creation with the love of Christ’ as the skytrain comes through? As the neighbourhood expands? As we continue to hear the same call away from favouritism and towards the loving of neighbour.
I wonder if this call might be one that we should consider expanding in other applications? Who, and what, are the rich and the poor that we are called to love? One beautiful aspect of a faith community is fellowship. We call ourselves ‘a spiritual family’ and many of our friends are part of Northwood. As we reassemble this Sunday, I wonder if there is a call to consider the inclusion of others who are new and seeking friendship. We are excited to see long time friends and hear about summer adventures. And that is wonderful. However, we must not exercise favouritism towards those whom we know we know well; towards those who we sit with each Sunday; towards those who we know by name. I think this text challenges us to be a ‘whole community’ where we actively embrace the stranger. Where the people in this section go and speak with others in that section. Where we take the time to stay for coffee and lunch. Where we make room at the table for all. Psychologists are now telling us that loneliness is a rapidly growing problem in our world. Loving others, befriending others is a shift away from favouritism and towards a whole community where all might grow as people of Christ. It allows us to be a ‘wholly community’ a community that is more whole than fractured!
Another application I am thinking of is the upcoming action of voting. On October 19th, it is our responsibility to have thought and prayed deeply on what party is best fit to lead our beautiful province. Recent news in Federal politics indicates that we may have a Federal election sooner than forecast. On the matter of party support, churches are, of course, non-partisan. However, it is our job to charge people to vote in a way that is not based in favoritism. Rather, we are called to vote in ways where love of neighbour is being actioned. It is the job of the political parties to convince you of their ability to do this. Our questions, however, should not entirely be ‘what will the elected party do for me’ ~ that would be favouritism. Rather, we need to consider the vulnerable. How will the elected party care for the poor and marginalized; what is their policy on housing; their policy on refugee immigration; their policy on caring for the environment; their policy on health care. When we consider the way that the elected party might exercise care for others, it is a shift away from favouritism and towards the Golden rule Jesus teachers.
Another area we might apply consideration of favouritism is in the care for Creation. We are just now entering into ‘The Season of Creation’ had a quiet beginning over the past 4 decades but slowly has expanded beyond the Catholic church and into many denominations. We experimented with it last year and it was well received. The season of Creation provides a lens to view the assigned scriptures. This Sunday we might consider how it is that we treat the vulnerable ecosystems that we rely upon for our survival. Humankind has a long history of domination for their own interests. Looking at this text through the lens of Creation care, it calls us to ponder how we might consider the vulnerable Creation in the context of our actions. Are we the rich exploiting Creation for our benefit? Or are we considering the vulnerable needs of Creation and loving Creation as an expression of God? We will certainly expand more on this over the weeks leading to Thanksgiving, but this text certainly is one that calls us to love Creation as we love our neighbour!
I wanted to close with an image for our consideration. The image that I offer is of our Holy Bible. I recall back to my days as a student and professors encouraging us to write notations in the margins of our Bibles. Most of us felt uncomfortable! Marking up our Bibles? Isn’t this wrong, some wondered? The image I will offer is that of a bible with holes. A ‘Holey Bible’, if you will. Jim Wallace, founder of the Sojourners magazine tells to the story of being in seminary, looking through the Bible to find every verse that dealt with the poor and social injustice: the topic that we deal with this morning. The students came up with thousands. They proceeded to cut out each verse relating to the topic. In the first 3 gospels, it was one out of every 10. In Luke, one out of every seven. As they continued cut, much of the Psalms and Prophets disappeared. What resulted was a Bible that would hardly stay together because it was a ‘Holey Bible’…a Bible full of holes. ’Holey Bible, Whole Community, a Holy Faith’. May we live into the way of our faith!
Amen.