"NEIGHBORS IN NEED"

A sermon by Rev. Mike Poage,
Fairmount United Church of Christ,
Wichita, KS
Sunday, October 7, 2007
COPR.2007 BY M.POAGE

(Scriptures: Habakkuk 1:1-4 and 2:1-4, Luke 17:5-10)

 

I want to begin with the following prayer for those in need, written by an early church leader named St. Anselm. It is a prayer from the 11^th Century and the 21^st Century.

Let us pray: "We bring before you, O God, the troubles and perils of people and nations, the sighing of prisoners and captives, the sorrows of the bereaved, the necessities of strangers, the helplessness of the weak, the despondency of the weary, the failing powers of the aged. O God, draw near to each of us, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Strength. Amen."

I wrote this sermon in Council Grove. Yesterday!!

So, it is a "new" sermon, not one I pulled out of the files. I did a wedding for friends from the first church I served in Council Grove from 1985 – 1991. The wedding was at 6 p.m. Yesterday!

So I spent the afternoon at some other friends’ home – they were away –writing this sermon.

It was strange, I visited with these friends earlier in the day before they left and got caught up on some of the Council Grove news. And even though the last sermon I wrote in Council Grove was for Easter Sunday, 1991, all the stories and news I heard was basically the same. Some of the names had changed but the events, the joys, tragedies, the needs of the people were the same as 16 years ago.

The rehearsal dinner on Friday evening was at my old church. That was also strange. At one point I walked out of the Fellowship Hall intending to take a look at the beautiful sanctuary – but it refused me.

It was pitch dark and I found myself staring into the dark hollow, hallowed space where I could only assume people just like us gather each Sunday morning -- bringing with them their stories, their good and bad news, the joys, the tragedies, the needs we all face.
 

And today, across the world, Christians are gathering to pray, sing, listen for the word of God for them, and to celebrate the sacrament of communion, the sharing of the bread and the cup. We gather at the welcome table, refused by no one, no matter where we are in our journey -- even if we find ourselves staring into the dark hollow space where we hope there is a sacred light.

All around the world our neighbors are as needy as you and I. We, however, might define "need" differently.

Some people live on a dollar or less a day. If you possess $2,000 in any form, you are richer than half the world’s population.

As soon as our granddaughters, Luisa and Mieke, were born this summer, they carried on their shoulders a $30,000 debt. Why? Because the national debt of the United States is now almost 10 trillion dollars -- something my banker did not know -- which means the portion of that debt for each of us is $30,000.

The U.S. actually has a fund to which you can contribute to help reduce that national debt of 10 trillion dollars. One wealthy lady even willed her entire estate of $1.3 million to that fund. I don’t know how small a part of the interest on that debt the woman’s estate paid for.

This past week the President vetoed a $35 billion bi-partisan bill aimed at expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program which is a block-grant given to states and is funded by an increase in the tobacco tax all to be reviewed in 5 years. I just ask you to dig a little into the information and misinformation regarding that disastrous veto and think about the 15 House [of Representatives] votes needed to over-ride the veto.

I mention all this so-called "political" stuff because it is not just political -- it is real life, and real spiritual life, and real Biblical life.

Listen to Habakkuk, one of the 12 "minor" prophets:

We are all ministers (according to our bulletin), but we are also prophets -- bringing to the powerful words of violence and injustice, lifting up the ruins that the powerful have brought down upon us, and, especially, our weakest neighbors.

But we are also prophets that bring another message -- for violence and injustice are not the complete story. Habakkuk, giving us words from God, continues:

Write it so clearly that someone rushing (or running) by – like most of us in our daily lives – can’t miss the plain wording.
 

And in the reading from Luke’s gospel we hear:

They are desperate, for whatever reason, to gain spiritual strength so they can meet the needs of their neighbors and serve as prophets in speaking truth to power.

And Jesus responds with words about the tiny mustard seed and says that if you just had even the faith of that seed, o, what you would see grow!!

In other words, are you ready to take that step into the dark hollow space of the unknown and unseen for the sake of increasing your faith?
 

Fairmount United Church of Christ is facing such a step.

None of us is alone. We are ministers and prophets. We may also be afraid in spite of all the uplifting words from God’s messengers about not being afraid.

There might be anger: How did we get into this situation?

There might be questions: How did we get into this situation?

There might be relief: Thank God the budget will be closer to "reality," whatever that is!!

Maybe there is even hope such as that in the words of the politician, writer and prophet, Vclav Havel:

That’s what I am going on -- from now into 2008 -- but I will not do it alone.
 

So the oracle that God said was seen -- as a vision is seen -- by a person with the strange name of "Habakkuk." And that so-called "minor prophet" urges us to believe in that day: the day that can overwhelm the troubles, the violence, the injustice, the dark hollow space before us.

The day is surely coming -- which tells me that God has not given up on us, and we dare not give up on God.

Amen.