Sermon: March 4, 2007 Lent II

Our children will have hope!

-let me remind you of a quote from Augustine that Glynis incorporated into her sermon at my induction

-St Augustine observed: “Hope has two beautiful daughters: anger and courage-- anger at the ways things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are”.

-in the summer of 1989 I went to El Salvador as part of what was called a Protective Presence program

-I went to live among the congregation of Emmanuel Baptist Church in San Salvador

-their minister Miguel Tomas Castro had been captured by death squads a number of years before because he insisted that Christian faith needed to be translated in loving your neighbour, which could mean providing education or health care or a job

-because of international pressure he had been released and one of our churches in Hamilton sponsored him as a refugee

-he returned a few years later to lead the church again

-but the ultra-right wing Arena party had just been elected and those churches who were involved in educational programs, agricultural programs, health programs were afraid because they were easy targets of government criticism

-Emmanuel Baptist asked its partner the Presbyterian Church in Canada if it would send people who would live among them as a means of protecting them from government abuse

-you see El Salvador was ruled by 11 families who owned the majority of the resources and made sure that those who worked for change were disappeared

-when I arrived I had to lie about my reasons for being there—I had to say that I was going to teach Sunday School—the government didn’t mind if people went to church as long as it didn’t translate into activity that might change the world

-I didn’t have to spend much time in El Salvador before I got really angry

-but there were folk in the church and in the community who driven by anger and courage were working, risking their own lives to bring about change to create hope

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: anger and courage-- anger at the ways things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are”.

-I don’t know how many of you saw the movie that told the story of the life of Tommy Douglas known as the father of Canada’s health care system

-it’s worth looking at; it’s worth remembering that Tommy Douglas, a Baptist preacher who took on the Jerusalem of his day and spoke on behalf of those who had no voice, no power, no money

-he exposed a government run by fat cats who interest was keeping cats fat

-and if you were a mouse or a common person—well, you didn’t have a hope

-he shared this perspective in the street and in the pulpit

-he was told by the church’s higher ups that if he were going to preach in this way, he would have to leave the church and he did

-he left the church and went into politics

-and while our health system may not be perfect, we have one thanks to his prophetic leadership that insisted that the gift of health belonged to all, not just the fat cats

“Hope has two beautiful daughters: anger and courage-- anger at the ways things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are”.

-Luke’s gospel more than the others portrays Jesus as one who stood for a set of values that were contrary to the values of those in power

-those in power lived by Empire values

-Empire values were not values that looked out for the poor or the widow or children

-those who sought to effect change were labelled enemies of the Empire

-the Empire in Jesus day was represented by Jerusalem-the centre of political and religious power in Israel

-and that is where Jesus is heading

-it is a significant decision that he makes to turn his face towards those who have always found ways of silencing prophets

-it took a lot of courage to face the powers that be knowing that he would die the same death as prophets before him

-but Jesus is not driven by anger so much as he is driven by love—the kind of fierce protective instinctive love that a mother hen has for her chicks

-Jesus was driven to Jerusalem because of love not just for those who were victims of Jerusalem politics but also because of love for Jerusalem

-Tommy Douglas took up politics because it was a way of bringing hope to the hopeless, a way of changing the way things worked so that the poor could get a fair deal

--I wonder when you were last moved by a mixture of anger and courage to step forth and take an action that would plant some hope in the world

-when did you see an injustice that made you so mad or that broke your heart so deeply that you actually did something about it?

-I know that there are those you in this congregation who are working hard to ensure that Empire values don’t rule at Shire Hall

-you are speaking up though it would be easier to shut up

-you are writing letters, sending e-mails, educating others, mobilizing others because you see the potential of a huge injustice that will be carried on the backs of the town

-even in this small community you believe that there is a danger that decisions will be made by politicians that will not serve the whole community

-imagine in Prince Edward County

-yet you can freely and safely challenge their decisions

-imagine what happens elsewhere in the world where those who seek change are silenced  by prison or by death

-last week I suggested that Lent gives us an opportunity  to ask ourselves the questions: what kind of people do we want to be???

-what kind of church do we want to be???

-are we the kind of people who look at the world and conclude “well, it works for me”

so I have no complaints

-I don’t think we are—but as a church I think we can be more intentional about how to we can be a harbour of hope

-real hope both in Picton and elsewhere in the world

-let me share a story about how 1 church is doing that

-Neil George is a 15 year elder at the church of St. Columba by the Lake in Montreal

-it is Glynis’s home church

-now St. Columba has always had a strong mission program

-but 5 years ago decided that it would focus on one international mission project

-they would educate themselves about it and they would educate the community around them about it

-the project they chose was a Presbyterian World Service and Development project

-PWS&D partnered with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa where AIDS is rampant  -the purpose of the project was to train educators in Kenya who would work at a grass roots level in their own communities in order to educate people about HIV/AIDS

-the goal was prevention

-in the last 5 years St. Columba has raised close to $30,000 for this project

-last year, Neil, the 15 year old elder made a commitment to raise $10,000 for the project

-as of last week-end he has raised $8,000

-he sold MUMS for Mother’s day, he organized a huge Thanksgiving community dinner, and he spearheaded a blues night at a local pub last week-end that raised $5300

-not only is he creating hope for families in Kenya, he is planting hope here—everyone who hears his story things, “well, we can do something like that”

-don’t you think, “we can do something like that”

-Jesus went up against the Roman Empire in order to declare that God has a different kind of vision for the world

-members of Emmanuel Baptist Church worked among the people of El Salvador in order to declare that God had a different kind of vision for the world

-Tommy Douglas went up against the government of Saskatchewan to declare that God had a different kind of vision for the world

-Neil George is looking at the AIDS epidemic in Africa and declaring that God has a different kind of vision for the world

-how can we take our gifts of anger and courage and love and declare to our community that God has a different kind of vision for the world?

Thanks be to God

-the piece of music you are about to hear is by Connie Kaldor

-the words are printed before you

-consider it a time of prayer

-The movie “Catch a Fire” tells the true story of Patrick Chamusso a black South African who during the rise of the African National Congress insists on staying completely out of politics.

-he holds down a job a the country’s oil refinery and carefully toes the hard line imposed on blacks by apartheid

-but in June of 1980 he comes under suspicion and is arrested for sabotage of the oil refinery.

-he is brutally interrogated

-and then his wife is confined and tortured

-thus ends his decision to stay out of politics

-He leaves his family to become a rebel fight with the African National Congress.

-He becomes one of many agents for change in that country and presently runs an orphanage with his wife

-It was easy to understand why he wanted to stay out of the movement to change apartheid

-it was a dangerous and often hopeless struggle

-He was living a fairly comfortable life with his wife and children; why would he change that?

-And then he realized that even by playing it safe, he could not avoid the brutality of the system and he became angry enough to join those who worked to change it

 “Hope has two beautiful daughters: anger and courage-- anger at the ways things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are”.