So on Sunday 29 September 2013 I got the opportunity to preach at the student service at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. George in Grahamstown. I was the first in a series of four student preachers for the student ministry. This was a nerve-racking and exciting experience and one that has taught me a lot.
Reading: Luke 16: 19-31 (Lazarus and the rich man)
Today we celebrate the patronal festival of the
Cathedral, the 160th birthday of the Cathedral and the celebration
of our patron Saints Michael and George. It is incredibly special to be sitting
in a church that for 160 years has been a place of worship, fellowship and a
home to all God’s people. But what does it mean to be a Godly person? How are
we living our lives so that what we celebrate in this Cathedral can be seen
everywhere we go.
When thinking about this reading I was weary
about preaching about something we have all heard before. Deny worldly things
and place all your faith in God. The anti-consumerists sermon that is preached
so often.
What stood out for me in this passage was use
of binary opposites.
·
Rich vs
Poor,
·
inclusion
vs exclusion
·
compassion
vs indifference,
·
faith vs
unbelief,
·
Heaven vs
hell.
Without lessoning the importance of the last 2
I am going to focus on the first 3.
Rich vs Poor, as students and young adults we
are now starting to learn the value of our own money. Whether we earn it, get
it as an allowance or are here on a scholarship. In this parable Jesus is not
saying that to be rich is to be sinful nor is being poor holy, but it is where
you place the power in your life that is important. Are we allowing God to be
in control to grant us eternal riches or are we controlled by our desire for
superficial, worldly power. The type that is instantly gratifying, but short
lived.
By being rich in worldly things have we become
poor in our relationship with God? Where do we start to rebuild our lives when
we feel as if we have lost God?
As
students rich does not only mean to have monetary wealth. We tend to place
emphasis on our social wealth, the number of friends we have, are we invited to
the Rat every Friday night, do we have more than 500 friends on Facebook, how
many followers do we have on Twitter?
What
importance is all of this in our relationship with God?
When we walk down New street can people see
that we are children of God, rich in God’s love or are we hiding this for the
sake of our street cred? If this is the case the power in our life is not that
of God, but a desire to be wealthy in a superficial world. I’m not saying that
you need to give up your friends, or your money or delete your social network
profiles, I am simply saying that perhaps we all need reconsider whether those
that we surround ourselves helping us build a deep and rich relationship with
the Lord or slowly helping us to forget it landing us in spiritual and Godly
poverty. Because in the long run this is the relationship that matters most.
We need to consciously and purposefully give
the power in our lives to God and yes we may lose something by doing this, but
when we are serving a God who sacrificed his own son to save us how can we deny
the relatively small sacrifice he expects from us?
Like the rich man, are we only going to realise
all too late that we needed that relationship with God more than the hundred
likes on our last Facebook status.
The idea of surrounding ourselves with Godly
people lends itself to the next binary that of inclusion vs exclusion
Now we are all faced with the idea of being
included or excluded. Some of it is forced on us by virtue of our gender, race,
or religion, all of these governing the groups that will include us whether we
like it or not.
Here’s an example, Zandile is a child that I
work with every week suffering from cerebral palsy, she cannot walk, talk or
communicate in anyway, none of this is her fault yet she is immediately
excluded from ‘normal’ society.
This may seem like an extreme example but I ask
you to think about what aspects of your
life, that you have not chosen, have granted you opportunities that others may
not have, and what has left you feeling excluded or different?
Then there is also inclusion and exclusion that
is controlled by us. The friendship groups we are in, the activities we partake
in, the fact that we all decided to come to this Cathedral tonight.
What does this mean?
God gave us free will, the will to choose where
we want to be included and where we choose to exclude ourselves. Are we
consciously deciding to include ourselves in activities that will bring glory
to God, are we open to include people who are seeking a relationship with God,
but maybe aren’t at the same point as us or have different opinions to us? Are
we excluding ourselves from dangerous, self-destructive things that may provide
immediate satisfaction, but in the long run leave us feeling empty and alone?
Like the rich man, are we seeking inclusion in the world rather than inclusion
is God’s Kingdom?
The third contrast that is made is that of
compassion vs indifference.
I’m sure as residents of Grahamstown we can all
relate to the rich man as he walks past Lazarus lying on the pavement and pays
no attention to this man with no home. We pass begging hands on the way to Pick
’n Pay and shrug them off or give them a look of disapproval. Our disdain and
indifference towards these people in palpable.
To be different from the rich man, we do not
have to give every person we pass on the street our hard earned money, but we
do need to acknowledge them as people as more than just a body lying on the
side of the road, an obstacle to jump over. Their humanity is as worthy as
ours.
This indifference can be seen in other places in
our lives too.
Many of us also hold strong opinions about every
day issues, be it politics, sexuality or religion.
I
recently read a quote by Rick Warren that ended, “we do not have to compromise our
convictions to be compassionate”.
Our opinions are not going to change overnight,
but we are commanded to love one another as we love ourselves and as God loves
us. We cannot be cold, distant and hateful to those who are different to us.
How do we encourage people to find God when we are not willing to hear them,
love and show them what it means to be a person of God. Are we open to loving
people like Zandile, like the person sitting next to you, like the person who
spreads rumours about you, the person who laughs at your religion or the
homeless child who never gives up? God calls us to love them all
How do we do this?
Prayer?
Instead of shrugging people off, pray for them,
even if you may look a little strange standing on the side of the road, with
your eyes closed, deep in prayer.
And Love,
Treat people the way you want to be treated.
Show love even if you may disagree, with what we may think or how they act.
Doing this isn't easy but, it’s is a struggle
that we will all face together.
So what are the commonalities between these
three contrasts? Is it:
·
Good vs
evil
·
God vs
the world
I will leave you to come to your own
conclusion, but perhaps it is that to do all of this we need God’s
unconditional love as our example.
Now as we consider these three opposites we
realise that the other two, faith vs unbelief and heaven vs hell. If we have
faith then we will be called to love other, include ourselves in God’s army and
find wealth in our relationship with God. And by doing this we will be saved
from a life of eternal suffering and allowed into eternal peace with God.
So I ask that as we leave this Cathedral as
people of God, may we be people that are
compassionate even when it comes with a sacrifice, to be inclusive rather than exclusive and find
our richness in God’s love.
