So, my priest, Gil, had to go out of town to preside over a funeral and he left a friend of mine, Chad, to perform our service tonight. Gil suggested that I offer my assistance to Chad, and I did. He asked if I would take the sermon portion of the service and I agreed.

My quick (and first) sermon...the text the Matt. 25:31-46. You are getting a skeleton of text that I filled in as I spoke.
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"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O lord, My strength and redeemer." Psalm 19:14

My rector in Mobile was recently asked why he talks about the poor so much. Matthew 25 is the answer to the question.

This passage, with Jesus saying that favor is bestowed upon those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, or visit the sick or imprisoned is our essential mandate.

More radically, this isn’t just a Christian or a Jewish mandate. The translation is “nations” in plural. Jesus is explicitly saying that this is not just the Jews he is talking about, but also the Gentiles…a Universal Church as opposed to simply the nation of Israel…

To take it a step further, a suggested better translation for "nations" is “all of the people of the world” which I think brings the focus from large groups to the individual. You, me, all of us. I think this is where the focus belongs.

And there is enough work for all of us. There is a website called Globalrichlist.com that tells you what your global standing in terms of wealth is. Laura and I live paycheck to paycheck but we are in the top 10% of the wealthiest people in the world. An annual income of $5,000 is still in the top 15%. There is so much to be done, and that has been left undone, that Jesus’ mandate seems daunting.

I was once in a meeting where some in a congregation were resistant to the idea of helping on a global scale. “Can we really make a difference” was the mood. In the face of such global and local poverty and injustice, it seems that fear turns churches and denominations inwards. I read schism and internal bickering, whatever the denomination, as saying that “we can have no effect outside of our walls, so we will only police within them.”

Fear paralyzes in a time when we are called do our work, our duty.

Some in the congregation in question went so far as to say that they earned their possessions, and so, is this type of thing really their responsibility (?). My answer is “absolutely, yes.”

Jesus’ phrase that “what you do for the least of these, you do to me” may be rhetorical but I see it as recognizing the inherent spark of the divine in everyone else. Especially if we believe that we exist in the image of God (Imago Dei).

I’m then personally left with the weight of the mandate. I’ve come to the realization that I can’t do everything I would like to do but I’m also left with the knowledge that these duties, to feed, to clothe, to visit, to provide, are nonnegotiable. There is always more I can do, and I welcome the guilt that comes with that because it forces me to be mindful of my never-finished duty (this is the appropriate word).

Last week we started brainstorming concrete ways to better the larger community, the people outside of our walls. I can’t wait to continue the conversation.