Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 25:31-40
"31When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40 And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'
“If my father dies, I’ll show them some personal stuff!”
It was a passing conversation at the water pick-up spot at Kilmarnock Baptist Church yesterday afternoon.
The woman pulled in behind me as I was loading some water into my car to deliver to the Hispanic workers at the Pride Of Virginia Oyster and Bait Plant outside of White Stone.
There were no attendants, and as she stepped out of her car, she asked if we were supposed to load our own water. I explained that yes, we were, and then helped her load a couple of boxes of water. As I was doing that, she asked if I knew where she might be able to pick up some ice. When I told her I wasn’t sure, but thought there might be a place in town closer to the food lion, we began to talk about everything that has been going on over the last 10 days.
As we began to talk, her frustration was evident. Within a couple of minutes, I knew that she was from Wicomico Church, she still had no power, was one of the ONLY people in the town who didn’t, that she has a 92-year-old father who suffers from congestive heart failure, and a husband who is recovering from heart surgery, if memory serves. I asked if she had stopped to speak to any of the crews that were working on power lines around the area, and she had, and the man with whom she’d spoken had taken her name and address down and added it to a list from which he seemed to be working. She wondered aloud what she needed to say to make it clear to them what constitutes an emergency. I commiserated, commenting that, though it is difficult, it’s not so bad unless you are involved in a critical situation like she was, and that things change a LOT when you start to deal with ‘personal stuff’. Hence, her comment about what would happen if her father died.
I asked her if she had eaten lunch, and she had not. I explained that she could go into the basement, there at the church and either eat there or get the meals to go. She said she wished she had known about the meals earlier, since she’d just come from the tri-star supermarket and had bought things to make lunch. I let her know that dinner would also be served beginning at 5 and going until 6:30. She left no less frustrated, but hopefully a little relieved by having shared her burdens.
I need to tell you all that this whole experience has humbled me – again.
I’ve realized that I really don’t need a lot of what I have. That life is possible without access to the Internet or email, or cable, or air conditioning, that there are still ways around the loss of indoor plumbing.
I’ve learned that to give really IS better than to receive, but that receiving has its upsides.
I’ve learned to appreciate a cup of coffee in the morning, especially when it is made possible by a friend’s lending their generator to power the refrigerator, and freezer, and oh, there’s an extra outlet, let’s plug in the coffee maker, and while we’re at it, why don’t we bring the little TV in and let the kids watch a movie on tape.
To give, to be ABLE to give, really is a blessing.
As a church, we were able to provide shelter to people here, downstairs, and over at the parsonage on the day of the storm. Even without power, or running water, the light of Christ was still shared, and I don’t mean by the candles alone. If you have a minute, read the note in the bulletin about that. To Kayla and Amber, thank you for being examples of Christ-likeness, in watching and mopping and wringing and replacing the towels that kept most of the water out.
On the morning after the storm, I got out and drove around. It really was striking how beautiful a day it was, after the kind of day Thursday had been. I drove down Sharps Road, and was amazed at the way people were working together to clear out the worst of the debris. Some heavy equipment, tractors, and lots and lots of chainsaws were getting the job done. Some of the men and women had on official uniforms or vests, but most of them did not. Most were just … neighbors and friends, taking care of each other.
The passage this morning speaks to that.
'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;’
Think about that for a minute. Those who have done what follows, they will inherit the Kingdom of God –
Here’s another 25-cent word: eschatology. It means the study of the end times. Generally, we hear the term ‘Kingdom of God’ and think ‘Oh, Heaven’.
That’s not how Jesus spoke of it. He spoke of it being immediately present.
Luke 17:20 Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, "The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21 nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you."
Some translations have the word ‘among’ as ‘within’.
If we are to be living out this faith, this belief that Jesus really does change lives, then it is evidenced through our actions.
It would be naïve to think that everyone I saw helping everyone else over these last 10 days and say that each and every one of them was doing it out of Christian love. There were probably those who were simply doing it because they were raised right by their parents. There are, I’m sure, others who were doing it out of a sense of duty or obligation. Certainly many of the police, rescue, and emergency crews were doing it because that is part of their job description. I can only hope that the majority of them did not and are not doing it ONLY because of that.
But we are gathered here today not because of hurricane Isabel. We don’t sing the hymns we do because it feels good to do good. We don’t give of our time and finances because we know that it will be for a good cause, or put to good use.
We do this, we gather, pray, sing, and give, because it is one part of our worship. We do that other, out there, reaching out, sharing, caring, giving, feeding, clothing, cooling, powering, sawing, dragging, cleaning, because it is as much a part of our worship as what we do here on Sunday mornings between 11 and noon.
Jesus is saying that in doing these things, to the least of these, who are members of my family, we are doing it to him. I’d like to just touch on a couple of points here: the first is this. In my mind, in remembering this verse, what I remember is ‘if you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done it to me.’ But I left out a critical bit: ‘who are members of my family’.
What is Jesus saying about his family, about the family of God? Is he stretching the meaning of who is to be included in that family?
I’m not going to give an answer here today. It’s just a question to ask yourself, reflect on, and decide … who IS my family?
The other point is this, and it is spoken from experience.
When you are on the receiving end of one of these actions, you don’t think of yourself as being in the role of Christ. What becomes obvious to you is that the person who is caring for you – who is bringing that food, or drink, or visiting, or … welcoming you, is the incarnational witness of Jesus Christ.
A week ago Saturday, I received a phone call from Jesus. He was inviting Leslie, the kids and I to come over and take showers. His VOICE sounded like Elwood, but the spirit behind the words was all Christ.
The end result is that, whichever side of this event you are on, you experience Christ.
Driving down Rt 17 on Thursday, I drive by at least a dozen churches. This one happened to be down somewhere between Gloucester and the Coleman Bridge. In the past, it has caught Leslie’s and my attention. It sits an empty lot away from another church building, and we can’t help but compare the messages that appear on their respective marquees.
Thursday was no exception. The first, the larger of the two, had a simple message:
“Clothes and Free Dinner, 5-7PM Tonight”
The next, had a little more involved message:
“Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people”
Having just spent the previous week dealing with the aftermath of Isabel, my first response was “hands down, I’d rather stop at the first place”. Not that there’s anything wrong with the message on the 2nd marquee … it’s a question of appropriateness to the context.
Which of the two would have drawn you in? I suspect that, had the woman I met yesterday driven by, she would have opted for the first church as well. People in need should rightly tend to those needs first, or be helped with meeting those needs.
My first, judgmental reaction was, ‘that second church is a little disconnected from the situation around it than the first. Let’s take care of people’s physical needs first, THEN we can talk about praising the Lord.’
As I was preparing, I looked up the second marquee’s scripture reference, and found it to be the first verse of Psalm 117.
The first words of the second verse slapped some sense into me:
2 For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth forever. Praise ye the LORD.
There is a place for both messages on the marquees of our lives; I trust that we will never separate them from each other, because ultimately, they both are saying the same thing.
Let’s pray.
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