Homily given by the Reverend John E. Kitagawa at the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the Intergenerational Retreat, Sunday, 27 April 2008 (The Sixth Sunday of Easter), at the Triangle Y Camp Outdoor Chapel, Oracle, Arizona

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

Acts 17: 22-31; I Peter 3: 13-22; John 14: 14-21

Last Sunday’s bulletin advertized this event as the final piece of the Intergenerational M2M Series. To remind you, M2M stands for the process of moving from Maintenance to Mission. The title of the retreat is: Embracing Society in Faith: Reaching Across Class and Ethnicity to Seek Justice. In the past day and a half, we have spent a lot of time talking about poverty, the impact of poverty on the lives of individuals and families, and our response to poverty.

At several points in our conversation, mention has been made of the Evangelical Right. It is important to note that there are Evangelicals who care deeply about and respond to social concerns like poverty. Jim Wallis is one, who with members of the Sojourners Community in Washington, D.C., went through every verse of the Bible in order to learn what it says about poverty. Listen to what they discovered.

First, we were impressed with the sheer bulk of biblical teaching on the subject of wealth and poverty. It is one of the most central themes in all of Scripture. It pervades the Old Testament and, some have suggested, is the second most common topic found there, the first being idolatry. Most often, the two are directly related. In the New Testament, we found more than five hundred verses of direct teaching on the subject. That is one out of every sixteen verses, and that ratio does not include indirect teaching drawn from New Testament doctrines and the actions of Jesus or the Apostles. Jesus talked more about wealth and poverty than almost any other subject, including heaven and hell, sexual morality, the law, or violence. One out of every ten verses in the Synoptic Gospels is about the rich and poor: in Luke, the ratio is one out of seven. James treats the subject in one out of every five verses of his epistle. This, the subject of money, possession, and the poor is hardly a casual concern or passing interest to the biblical writers. The Bible is literally filled with it. In the midst of our study, we began to wonder why the topic had been so completely ignored in all of our church upbringings.

Not only is the Bible strong in its emphasis; the Scriptures are stunning in their clarity on this issue. Wealth is seen, at best, as a great spiritual danger and, most often, as an absolute hindrance to trust in God. The rich are continually held responsible for the sufferings of the poor, while God is portrayed as the deliverer of the oppressed. The God of the Bible has taken sides on this matter and has emphatically chosen the side of the poor. Sharing with the poor is not regarded as an option but as the normal consequence of faith in God[1]. (My bold)

Wallis goes on to say something very challenging—something I believe we ought to bear in mind as we think about ourselves in relationship to poverty:

[The issue] is not what we should give to the poor, but when we will stop taking from the poor. The poor are not our problem; we are their problem[2].

So, what are we to do? As Richard (Kuns) has emphasized in his Prayer—Action—Prayer—Action cycle, that we need to respond in meaningful ways to poverty. In slightly different ways, Juan (Garcia) has also been emphasizing the need for us to work on our responses to the poor. In the Dream-Catching process, I have proposed that St. Philip’s would, as a congregation, affirm and adopt the Millennium Development Goals, originated by the United Nations. Let me remind you what they are:

To Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
To Achieve Universal Primary Education for Children—It is difficult to comprehend that this is an issue in the 21^st century.
To Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women—We are doing better in this country, but we still have a long ways to go.
Reduce Child Mortality—It is difficult to comprehend that this is an issue in the 21^st century.
Improve Maternal Health—It is hard to believe that this is an issue in the 21^st century.
Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Create a Global Partnership for Development

These seem like huge things to take on. You will also notice that these are global goals. Our conversations have mainly focused on America and Southern Arizona in particular. We cannot, however, talk about poverty in Southern Arizona without dealing with poverty in Mexico. Joined together with groups and individuals all over the world, St. Philip’s can make a difference. Indeed, each of us can. When the General Convention of the Episcopal Church affirmed and adopted the Millennium Development Goals (2006), it also affirmed and adopted the Episcopal ONE Campaign, which is formed around the idea everyONE makes a difference. Juan showed the logo and website address during his presentation yesterday. Please go to www.episcopalchurch.org/3654_75414_ENG_HTM.htm.

At this point, I want to remind you that our parish M2M work arises out of Bishop Claude Payne’s book, Reclaiming the Great Commission[3]. In spite of the title, Payne writes about the importance for the Church to live out the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations and the Great Commission to love one another as we hear in the Gospel today. So, let me ask you to think about something very different than most of our retreat conversations, but something we need to think about as we try to discern how to respond as Christian people. Some years ago, I was privileged to take part in the Annual Meeting and Educational Institute of the Global Episcopal Mission (GEM) network last spring. One speaker was a bishop from Pakistan, the Right Reverend Manno Rumalsha. Listen to a paraphrase of what he said about his Church:

In South Asia, it is the poor who have turned to the Gospel in hope. It is the Dalits, the untouchables, the dregs of society, the scum of the earth who populate the Church. In a society which sanctifies the caste system, the poor turn to the Gospel[4].

The Dalits, the untouchables, the scum of the earth in South Asia understand what it means to be rejected by humankind. The Church proclaims that Jesus, God Incarnate, can identify with them. The invisible outcasts are told God calls them to be integral parts of the whole. Those who are forced to do work no one else will do are called to a holy vocation. Those who have nothing are assured that their offerings are acceptable to God. Jesus touches them where they are most vulnerable and broken. They are healed and made whole once again. Their hope is restored, and as today’s appointed Epistle calls, they can account for the hope that is in them (I Peter 3: 16). Those who choose the Church live in the sure and certain knowledge that all things come from God. Is it any wonder they remain faithful, even in the face of bloody persecution?

I am going to close with a brief story about a woman who deeply understood both the importance of responding to material needs and the deeper spiritual hunger of the poor. Her name is Annie Gardner. I thought of her because I recently received news that her son, a good friend, is about to retire from the deanship of the Cathedral in Baltimore. Once upon a time, Annie was a little girl from a very unhappy and dysfunctional family. One of her parents had died, and the other was, to say the least, inattentive. One day, on her own, this child of God wandered into the Church of the Guardian Angel. There she found a loving, accepting, and nourishing community that took her in and loved her in ways she had not yet known. That congregation healed a broken heart and a wounded soul. Annie grew into an active and leading member of that congregation for over sixty years. Annie was in her 80’s when she received the Bishop of Maryland’s Award for Outstanding Service by a lay leader.

There was something a little unusual about Annie. She always has a sandwich in her purse whenever she went to church. Why? She is not hypoglycemic. The Church of the Guardian Angel is in a tough neighborhood. People in the community know they can get help at the parish. So, like Annie had, children and adults wander into the church on Sundays, or any time the doors are open. Annie understood the ministry of hospitality and invited these wanderers to join in worship. A goodly number would tell you that Annie was largely responsible for their decision to be baptized and to join the parish. I once asked Annie whether she ever went home with the sandwich. She smiled and said, “no.” Being a little bit of a wise guy, I asked if she ever ate the sandwich herself. She said, “no, I always give it to someone who needs it.”

May we, like Annie, learn to combine in our beings the instincts and skills to offer the hope of the Gospel and material assistance to the poor and marginalized we have become more aware of this week-end.

AMEN.

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