EVENTS CALENDAR
Sermons
The Society of the Jesus Creed: A Society for Justice
Listen to the audio (to save a file simply right click the link and select 'Save Target As...' or 'Save Link As...')
Luke 6:20-26 New International Version
20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
The Society of the Jesus Creed: A Society for Justice
To begin this morning I want to ask you to recall the emotion you felt when you heard a particular news story. It happened Easter weekend. It was revealed that in 2007, former junior hockey coach Graham James, who had been convicted in the sexual abuse of two former players, had been granted a “pardon” by the National Parole Board.
Now don’t think about how your mood might have changed as you heard the explanation for such a thing happening—what was your emotion when you first heard of the story? Mine was a combination of anger and disbelief. “A pardon,” I thought, “how does someone who was convicted receive a pardon? Is there new evidence? And if there is how is it I am hearing about it three years down the road? Where does justice fit into this story?
We want justice to be done. But what does that mean? Is justice a sort of moving target? Let me confess that I have been guilty of mistaking justice for my convenience. Twice during my eight years as pastor at Blythwood there has been a strike involving employees of the Toronto Transit Commission, one legal and one not. On both occasions I was seriously inconvenienced. I recognize how immature I am going to sound, but the fact that my commute was disrupted made it close to impossible for me to decide what was right in those disputes in any sort of clear-headed way.
The issues are complex. For example, I don’t know how a city of more than two million people can guarantee the collective bargaining rights of its transit workers and at the same time tell commuters that transit is the better way, except when it’s not running and good luck with finding your way to work. And it’s just better for everyone if I do not get started on the merits of declaring garbage collection an essential service for a city this large. I certainly do not mean to trivialize this issue, but if it were easy to find and maintain justice, we would have done it by now.
Because it hasn’t been in the news actively for many months, some of you may think the land dispute involving the Six Nations of Grand River, Ontario and a parcel of land near Caledonia has been solved. It is ongoing. The latest news I was able to find about the dispute was from February of this year. Haldimand County mayor, Marie Trainer, told The Hamilton Spectator the province is leaning toward giving the Douglas Creek Estates to the Six Nations Band Council, but that she expects it to be some time before a formal decision is reached. The dispute began more than four years ago. One would think that was long enough to discover justice in this situation, but not so.
If this issue is so perplexing, why deal with it? Here are the convictions I bring to our text for today. God is concerned for justice. God is holy. God is righteous. When history comes to its conclusion God will set the world to rights, or will bring justice to our world. That’s the first conviction.
The second is this: if our formation as spiritual people has to do with loving God and loving others, then God’s concern for justice must be part of our love for him and part of what we strive for in the lives of others.
The last thing, which is, I think, a troubling one for all of us, is that God’s justice is very often expressed in the language of turning the up-side-down right-side-up, in other words a reversal of the way things are. You have the language of our text with blessedness promised to those who are poor, hungry and sorrowful while woe is promised to the rich, satisfied and popular. One commentator suggests this is an echo of a theme from the Hebrew Scriptures and points to Isaiah 65 beginning at verse 13. Therefore thus says the Lord God: My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry. And on it goes promising a reversal of fortune for God’s servants who will be the ones who will drink and rejoice and sing for gladness of heart.
Let me then make some suggestions as to how the pursuit of God’s justice needs to become more a part of our love for God and others. First of all, it is possible, I believe, to get glimpses of what justice looks like to God and to hold that picture in front of us as a guide. Second, it cannot be otherwise that the God of grace would always seek a justice that has as its primary concern wholeness and health. We will come back to that idea but deal first with this concept of the picture.
God promises to set things right. Those who are poor will get the kingdom of heaven. Those hungry will be filled. Those who weep will laugh. If you are denounced here and now, forget it—your reward is great in heaven.
What do we do with that? Some think it legitimate to simply say the rewards of faithfulness come in heaven. We must wait. There are two things wrong with that. One is that faithful Christians are to live in anticipation of God’s rule coming into being. The second thing is that a realistic appraisal of our situation here in North America is that we are, for the most part, those who are rich.
I think of our first mission trip to Bolivia in the spring of 2008. The young pastor walked in from one of the jungle areas to ask for our help. He was not only the pastor of the church but also mayor of his community. The church needed a roof. How much did he need? We Canadians know how much a roof costs. He said they could get what they needed for $100. Done!
For me, then, the picture I hold in my mind’s eye has to do with my ability to co-operate with God in his desire to turn the up-side-down right-side-up. Some of our congregation do this as part of their daily work. Two examples come readily to my mind. One is my wife, Chris, who is a resource teacher for the blind and visually disabled, employed by the Durham Region Board of Education.
Chris could tell you about her job far more eloquently and accurately than me, but what makes me so proud of her is the way in which she helps to bring about a reversal of fortunes for the blind. One of the things she does is to help sighted teachers understand accommodations that need to be made for blind and visually disabled students. Technology has helped in her work. But people must recognize that in a world in which sight is so important, doing justice for the blind means that you come as close as humanly possible to creating a level playing field.
The other is Rick Tobias of Yonge Street Mission. I thought of Rick earlier this year when I saw a news item about a branch of the Royal Bank opening . Rick understands there needs to be viable employment in areas of the city in which people are living. The article which spoke about the opening of the Royal Bank also said a Tim Horton’s was on its way this spring and a Sobey’s grocery story would open later this year. Rick’s life-changing work at the Yonge Street Mission has not only been to provide a helping hand but also to make the changes necessary to let people help themselves.
All of this is helping to turn things right-side-up. I probably shouldn’t joke about such things, but after all I thought being able to get a Tim Horton’s double-double every morning was something guaranteed to Canadians in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Once Sobey’s opens up this expands the choices for food purchases and makes it less likely that the poor, who can least afford it, have to depend on the convenience-type store and its higher prices for basic items.
What am I suggesting for you and me? Just this—that part of what it means for us to follow Jesus is to tune our antennae in the same way that we see it in people like Chris and Rick. As part of their jobs they advocate for a turning of things right-side-up for those whose lives cry out for the justice of God. I say you and I need to do the same sort of thing.
Let me give some examples and I’ll start with one that may seem a bit silly, but it illustrates that there is no sense bemoaning what we cannot do while ignoring what could be accomplished. I cannot ride a bike from home to the church. It would take too long, at least tire me out, if not kill me. But I will often take public transit to work. It takes about twice the time, but some of my work involves reading and I can start doing that at soon as I get to my seat and open my brief case.
A few years ago Bonnie Hartley felt led by God to respond to the on-going AIDS crisis in Africa, particularly the number of children who are being left as orphans. If the year on the calendar had been 1970-something instead of 2000 and something, Bonnie, with her nursing skill may have just up and gone to Kenya to serve as a medical missionary. That wasn’t possible. But what was possible was for Bonnie to do some research and present an idea to the Board of Deacons that we take up an offering for Guardians of Hope on the third Sunday of every month. And Bonnie also makes sure the money gets counted. Do you know what? Since 2006 Blythwood has contributed more than $13,000 to this ministry that takes steps in the direction of setting things right for these African children.
Last year Charmaine Lawrence-Whilby heard about another need almost on our doorstep. Flemington Public School is less than five kilometres from our church. School administrators had discovered that many of the children were coming to school without breakfast and with nothing for lunch. A nutrition programme was started which provides, at nominal cost, a hot breakfast and hot lunch and free snacks. Charmaine asked the Board if we could consider supporting this programme. You agreed and this month’s Benevolent Offering will support the nutrition programme at Flemington School and help to turn things right-side-up for these kids.
Here then is an image to keep in mind. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17, there is a story about the uproar caused in Thessalonica by Paul’s preaching. This is what the leaders of those opposed to the Christians said about them when they appeared before the city authorities. “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also” (Acts 17:6). The last time I checked if something was up-side-down already, to turn it up-side-down is in fact to turn it right-side-up. If you are looking then for where God is calling you to work for justice, look for something that needs to be turned right-side-up. That’s what believing the Jesus Creed will mean for you.
