Second Sunday in Lent

Sunday, March 8, 2009

St. David’s Episcopal Church, DeWitt NY

The Rev. James C. Bresnahan, Interim Rector

“It’s Not All or Nothing”

Mark 8:31-38

Then Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Who would have imagined a year ago that we’d all be witnesses to the collapse of the global economy? Hundreds of millions of people the world over thrown out of work; entire countries gone bankrupt; suicides multiplying, born out of despair and the shame of impoverishment; life-savings gone down the drain and the better part of pension accumulations; burdensome and crippling debt laid on people whose home values have deteriorated while their obligations have escalated.

Retirements postponed, college made unaffordable, home evictions, cars repossessed, and for the poor prescriptions unfilled, meals skipped, children hungry.

And this in the wealthiest country in the world!  What must it be like for the poorest countries of the world now made even poorer?

We are witnesses to all this, and not necessarily from a distance.  Many of us are seeing our own savings, our own earnings in free-fall and our own jobs threatened.  Or we see it happening to a son or daughter, a grandchild, a neighbor, and fellow-members of our congregation. Others too may be affected who are not disclosing it.

Two decades ago I heard a about a man in our area who had lost his job and felt terrible shame.  He told no one, not even his wife.  Every weekday morning, as before, he would get up, shower and shave, get dressed, eat a quick breakfast, pick up his satchel, and head off as if to work.  And each workday at 5:30, like clockwork, he would return home for supper.  He did this for months, with his wife never knowing, until one day he mustered the courage to tell his priest. We don’t know who and how many people this collapsing economy has affected.

At the same time as so many people are in difficulty, some in our land have become wealthier than ever from scandalous greed, and behavior bordering on criminal, by actions undertaken without moral compass or even a scintilla of concern for the greater good.

How stark the contrast between them and veterans home from the war, who have suffered brain damage or other injury or lost limbs and made great personal sacrifices for the greater good, and now find a job hard to come by!

The Gospel of Mark, from which we read today, was written in disturbing times of its own.  A time when stability had evaporated and turned to chaos, fear gripped the Jewish populace, and people were set against each other,

It was the time, spread over years, of the Roman invasion, which brought the slaughtering of Jewish villagers, the plundering of property, the siege of the capital. Families were torn apart over whether to fight or give in or simply to flee.

Evidence is scant about what Jewish Christian communities did.  They seem to have taken a pacifist position, suffered persecution for it at traitors; likely many were killed anyway, lanced or crucified by the Romans as they moved toward Jerusalem. By the time the war ended, over one million people had been killed; near to a hundred thousand had been enslaved. Many others were reduced to beggary and scrounging for their daily bread.

Recriminations flew back and forth over who had caused it all – who was to blame. How had things turned so bad and why?

All that formed the backdrop of today’s Gospel reading and its call for followers of Jesus to be courageous in the face of suffering and not to back down from conscience and conviction when confronted with raw power and deadly threat.

And that leads me to ask what our role is as church in the face of the challenges of our day?  How do we as a Christian congregation respond to the current economic and human crisis, especially when it is on so large a scale and so much seems beyond our influence?

I begin with this: Because we cannot change everything is no excuse for not changing something. Because we cannot change big things is no reason for not doing small things. Because we cannot help everybody is no excuse for not helping somebody.

Let’s look at that first with regard to food, one of the most basic needs.

Before the collapse ever happened, food pantries in our area were struggling to find the resources to provide food to people in need. Now needs are much greater.  And people who never thought they would ever need a food bank now do. Greater need! Greater numbers!

When I walk into our church building, as I do most days, through the door by the secretary’s office, the first thing to catch my eye are boxes and cans of donated food on the floor.  There’s not a lot there, and there has not been a lot for some time now.  And it has not been because it has been taken away.  I want that to change!  We should not expect to be fed at the table of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist without caring for the feeding of those who hunger daily.  

I invite you this week and in the months to come, when you shop, to imagine one more person in your family, one more child in your household, one more guest at your table, and buy and donate food for that adopted family member.  Let’s make that entry area swell with food.

Second, I belonged to a congregation once that had on the average two dinners a month.  The one was its regular monthly fellowship dinner for members and guests.  The second was called a Community Dinner. Any and all in the community were invited to that second dinner and the meal was free, prepared by church members.  It was not elaborate, often spaghetti and meatballs, or something the like that was easy to prepare. But the tables were set nicely and decorated with flowers and candles. And the food was served at the table, restaurant style.  Most of those who came, sixty or so at a time, were in need, but others came too because they were living alone and wanted someone to eat with and be with.  These are meals that have preserved people’s dignity, because a parent could say to his or her child,  “Come on, we’re going out for dinner tonight.”  The dinners have been going on for years now and they continue to grow. And there has never been of shortage of people who have wanted to cook or donate ingredients.

Next, some words about another basic need – clothing.  If you’re anything like me, you have too much clothing, not too little. Large numbers of refugees are flooding into our community soon from Iraq, from Burma, and other far off places in our world.  The fortunate ones arrive with a single suitcase of clothes – not much more.  Little or nothing for cold winters, or for children who are growing and outgrowing the little they do have. 

I understand we may have a box in some storage area where some donated clothes are lingering.  Let’s change that.

Let’s have a large box right in our view.  And let me invite you this week to go through your closets and chests and set aside any thing you haven’t worn the last twelve months and bring it to church for people who will wear what you haven’t.

Beyond that, I want to encourage you if you are not doing so already already, to find a way to serve those who are in great need. If you are interested in helping refugees, I can help you become involved in that.  If you want to volunteer to assist at a food bank, let me know.  If you want to work on our newly re-formed outreach committee and help to re-imagine what we can do together, there’s a sign-up sheet in the hall. 

Whatever the case, let’s all commit ourselves to no longer bemoaning what is and focus our attention and efforts on helping one person at a time and meeting one need at a time. And who can say what may come of that if we all make that commitment and all act out of a holy imagination?