Sermon for March 29th 2009

Old Testament reading for this morning places God firmly at the centre of all that we and all that we are.
We are mandated to love God with the whole of our being.
This is the first step in our faith. The first step in our ministry, and it is the thing – the essence – the grounding – the foundation of EVERYTHING we do from that point on. Loving God with the whole of our being is the axis around which all else revolves.
This past week I was in Ottawa attending the national Streetlevel 2009 Conference – a gathering of folks connected by issues of poverty and homelessness. Streetlevel is organized by the Roundtable on Poverty and Homelessness, who are a gathering of representatives of street level outreach ministries from across Canada, including Winnipeg’s Siloam Misson.
The Conference itself had Executive Directors, Board Members, Front Line Staff, Clients, Supporters, policy makers, politicians, and community representatives. Almost 400 people in all gathered for 3 days of worship, reflection, story telling, prayer, celebration and a commitment to the important work done everyday amongst the most vulnerable, broken and needy on the streets of our communities.
It was in a word – INCREDIBLE.
It was busy, exhausting, inspiring, and at times heart-breaking. As we celebrate the good work that is being accomplished, we are reminded of the failures and set backs and the ache of knowing there will always be those we simply can not reach …
The tone of the Conference was set for me when at the first night’s session several speakers noted that perhaps that as a Church we missed Jesus’ real commissioning when we place the emphasis on Matthew where the RISEN Christ commands his followers to go into the world and make disciples of everyone on earth.
They mused on whether the mechanics of discipleship – the action required to do the outreach – was missing the point, and whether we would do well to return to the Gospel of Luke where Jesus addresses the assembled crowd in his home synagogue – his home congregation – and with great flourish unrolls the massive scroll of Isaiah to the words – “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me…” Anointed him to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to set the prisoners free and to proclaim the Kingdom of God !!

What if that – that call to action – was the Great Commissioning of the Church? That was the question posed to us – at the Conference – and today as the Church – what if caring for the outcasts and the cast offs was our Commissioning as people of Faith?What if we are to care for the poor, the addicted, the mentally ill, the homeless, the imprisoned – what if these are the people we are to make, not just disciples of, but to welcome and to include them in our life and work?
What if ?
It’s a radical thought … and in saying it’s a radical thought, there is an understanding of Radical that comes into play that has profound – incredibly profound implications … We use ‘radical’ for anything that is “out there” and that doesn’t fit the norm and is a bit off the wall – Radical tends to be applied to the things that rock the boat and stir the pot and challenge the status quo.
But it turns out that radical is about returning to the basics – to the foundations – the very roots of our faith.
In the modern Church, radical is not the out there stuff that rocks the boat and ruffles feathers, but radical is the stuff that is at the very heart of our faith – the stuff that is really important – and that is the simple idea that God is present and manifest in our lives!!

Speaker after speaker reminded us of the centrality of God in all that we do and in all that we are … trusting in God, not just to strengthen us in our work and ministry, but to heal and render WHOLE those we encounter daily who are in need of wholeness and healing.
The reminder – “I can’t heal any body” helped to recall that it is God who heals and it is God who offers the gift of wholeness.
But the true radical-ness of faith comes in that moment when we realize what a return to the foundations of our faith really means.
The Roundtable on poverty and homelessness affirmed the Ottawa Manifesto three years ago that reads in part:
Abandoning people to poverty increases health problems and welfare rolls, and sometimes drives people to crime – all major burdens for governments, and therefore, tax payers. The generational entrenchment of poverty diminishes hope (the capacity to dream) and the sense of personal value in the individual. Children, the unrealized potential of our nation, when they are born into poverty, start life so far behind others that they may never be able to catch up. The whole of society is enriched when the creative gifts of the poor are supported by governmental and social systems that affirm the value of what they have to offer. When people are shut out because of their poverty, poverty itself “snowballs”, at once increasing our societal burden and diminishing our societal capacity. Homelessness in Canada is a clear and concrete manifestation of this truth.
That is the true radicalness of our faith – embracing our call – our call to include the outsider, to love the unlovable, and to embrace the outcasts.
Discipleship at a distance is easy – radical inclusion is a whole other ball of wax. Glenn Paul writes of radical inclusion when he notes:
“giving some money to a panhandler is something I know I can manage; it can even make me feel good about myself. But embracing him as brother, literally putting my arms around his smelly, drunken, psychotic and possibly bug-ridden person, grappling with the concept that he, too is beloved of God, precious and made in his image – well, this provides and unnerving peek into my own soul.”

This is the moment the seed falls to the ground and dies … the status quo doesn’t cut it … a few coins in an empty cup, or an outstretched hand isn’t enough … the way things were is not how they will be … we are called to more … we are called to:

Therefore, to our brothers and sisters who struggle with poverty and homelessness, we commit to…

LEARN all we can about the systemic, sociological, economic, cultural and spiritual deficits that have left them in this state. We will listen carefully to them, for they are our greatest teachers. We will seek out the knowledge others have acquired, and teach what we ourselves have learned to those who want to care more effectively for people who are poor or homeless;

ACT with diligence and integrity to create with them healthy, nurturing relationships, and safe, secure, dignified homes;

SPEAK on their behalf when their own voices are not heard, and support them in speaking for themselves, to the end that Canadian churches, governments, media and businesses would make the substantial reduction of homelessness, poverty and their root causes a high priority; and

COOPERATE with others committed to these baseline objectives, respecting differences of approach and philosophy.

BEFORE GOD, WE MAKE THESE COMMITMENTS IN THE PLACES WHERE WE WORK AND SERVE, IN OUR COMMUNITIES OF FAITH, AND IN OUR PERSONAL LIVES.

The Ottawa manifesto calls us to faith and in faith we are to learn, act, speak and cooperate – we can no longer simply toss our pennies at the problem and say “Bless you” Now we are to roll up our sleeves and DO.
It is all about going back to our roots – reclaiming our foundations – rediscovering the basics.
We are, as Jesus counseled, to let the grain fall into the ground where it DIES … dies … the seed falls into the ground and dies …
Without the cold and snow of winter there would be no spring … without the darkness of the night there would be no glorious dawn … without the death of the seed there would be no abundant harvest … the seed has to die before it can bring forth new life.
We are the seeds. … we are the seeds that must die to produce an abundant harvest. And this analogy gains tremendous power when we consider that the Church – not just THIS church – but THE Church – is in decline. The act of dying is no longer a theoretical exercise – it is the reality we are living – it is a frighteningly real prospect.
We have become a marginalized minority.
We are poised on the verge of oblivion – and yet – WE ARE THE SEED – the grain that falls to the ground and must die before it can live …WEMUST DIE before we can experience the transformative power of the Resurrection.
Death is a physical reality, yet in the church it has many other manifestations as well.
Dying to the way things have been.
Letting go of the status quo.
Reaching out past our comfort zones.
Living a radical inclusivity – seeing the world in a new way …
ALL of these things represent a dying – and ALL of them offer the promise of a resurrection – a transformative rebirth to the Holy Presence of God in our lives and in our world.
The Lenten Season is a time for anticipating and preparing for the events of Easter. And Easter is about one thing – Death and Resurrection.
AND we are an Easter People. Yet we tend to speak of death and dying in whispers and hushed tones, lest we offend anyone … and we speak of the Resurrection as a one time event that happened long ago in a place far from here called Jerusalem …
We are an Easter People – a people of the Resurrection. We are called to proclaim the life and DEATH and RESURRECTION of Christ. We are people commissioned to go into the world and share the message of hope, and grace and love that issues forth from the transformative power God offers through the Resurrection.
We are to die to the way things are, and instead experience the Resurrection of returning to the foundations of our faith – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me …”

There’s no room for passivity or arm’s length charity. Our call – our vocation – our ministry – is to open the doors of our sanctuary – those doors back there – and the doors right here (in our hearts) AND welcome in those who desperately need to hear and experience the Hope – the life changing HOPE that our faith as an Easter People embodies.
God is present in our world and in our lives.
That is our Covenant with God – God shall be our God and WE – you and I and the stranger, the out cast, the AIDs patient, the orphan, the drunk, the soldier, the baby, the criminal, the minority, the homosexual, the mentally ill, the esteemed elder, the politician, the child, the enemy combatant, the refugee …ALL of us – all of us shall be God’s people.
And that understanding: that all of us shall be God’s people should be more than enough to send us into the world a transformed and resurrected people … may it be so … thanks be to God. Let us Pray.