The Work of the People

Psalm 100, Matthew 25:31-46

November 23, 2008

Rochelle A. Stackhouse

Okay, the gospel this morning made clear that we will be judged by our actions, and I definitely want to spend my time in God’s kingdom and not in eternal punishment, so let’s see how I’m doing on the instructions:

· When someone is hungry or thirsty, give them food and drink. Okay I bring food every Sunday for the Food Bank, I’ve got a turkey ready for the DESK Thanksgiving dinner, and maybe I’ll pick up another turkey because I read in the paper Nancy saying that the Food Bank is really short this year. Oh and I did work at the Columbus House dinner once this year. So, food and drink: check!

· Welcome strangers. Hmmm, this one’s a little complicated. Who’s a stranger? We had new neighbors move into our block this summer and I took them some flowers and offered to help them. Oh, and here’s a new face in worship this morning: Welcome! So, strangers welcomed: check!

· Clothe the naked. Well, I did take some clothes to Goodwill. Not sure that counts. Oh, I know, I’ll get hats and mittens for the mitten tree during Advent. Maybe I have more work to do on that one, but for now, clothing naked, check!

· Caring for sick. I’ve done some visiting and food bringing, and even though some of it is because of my job, I think that counts. Oh yeah, and I’m a mom and have done my share of caring for sick kids and I hope that counts. Caring for sick: check!

· Visiting prisoners. Well, that’s a bit harder. I don’t know anyone in prison right now, though I have visited prisons in the past, including Sing Sing which ought to count double. That one I may also have more work to do on. Maybe half a check.

So, is it that simple? Is Jesus saying to us that we each should make lists like this on an annual (Monthly? Weekly?) basis and check them off to see how we’re doing? Is that how we get to move to the sheep side of the judgment equation?

You know, on one level, I think it is that simple, and that we go astray when we try to make it more complicated, often resulting in us making excuses for what we believe we can’t do because it is too complicated. Should I give money to beggars on the streets of New York, or New Haven because if I do, they might not use it for food but for alcohol or drugs? Do immigrants who have entered this country illegally count as strangers I need to welcome? We can make it as complicated as we want, but, like the parable of the talents we spoke about last week, the general drift here seems to be that the goats did nothing wrong, rather their wrong was that they did nothing at all, and none of their excuses were convincing to the King.

There are other layers to this, however, and this is both a critical and a difficult time to talk about them. Jesus explains that whenever the sheep cared in one of these ways for those seen as “least,” those that Jesus considers part of his family, his brothers and sisters, then the sheep cared for Jesus. The hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and prisoner are not just the nameless and faceless, they are Jesus’ relatives. If we call ourselves by Jesus’ name, Christians, then they are our relatives, too. We are in some kind of relationship with them through the body and blood of Jesus, and that blood is thicker than all the other things that might divide us. We are family, and a family takes care of one another.

What’s both critical and difficult about this right now is the very serious shape our economy is in, not just in the U.S., but globally. Those who are hurting the most are the least in our world. Do you know that the estimate is that in 2008 nearly a million Americans have lost homes to foreclosure? Many of those families were tenants in buildings that faced foreclosure because of defaulting landlords, and many of those families were the working poor. Again, the “least.”

It makes no difference to Jesus how people ended up hungry, naked, sick or in prison, however, at least in the way this parable is told. Some years ago there was a popular phrase used to complicate again this simple call to help. Remember “the deserving poor?” I always wondered if that meant they deserved help or they deserved to be poor. I think the politicians took the latter meaning. But by the blood of Jesus, by the image of God imprinted in them at their creation, these are our brothers and sisters.

In this context, these words of Jesus, about how the family cares for one another, take on new urgency. And the church as the flock also takes on new meaning. We are not each meant to cover all these needs alone, standing before God with our completed checklists. We come together in the church to work together, each according to our abilities, complementing each other’s gifts as we care for one another and those members of our family outside these walls.

The reading from the Psalm today began, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord.” This Psalm is a call to worship. At first I wondered why the lectionary choosers put these two passages together. Then it occurred to me that the reading from Matthew is also a call to worship. The other word we often use for worship is “liturgy,” a word that comes from a Greek root meaning “the work of the people,” and our work happens wherever and whenever we are with members of Christ’s family. Our work is worship and our worship is work. We gather here to come before God with thanksgiving, as the Psalm sings. In the midst of hard times, we come before God with thanksgiving, as much as we do in good times. For God has not abandoned us to struggle alone against whatever challenges we face: economic, medical, emotional, relational. Thanks be to God! God has not abandoned anyone to struggle alone, whether or not they are part of a church. The sheep in this story are those who understand that, and who understand that they are the hands of God reaching into those places where people are most alone and calling them out into a place of joy and thanksgiving, that the noises of their sobbing and angry shouts might become noises of joy. The “work of the people” is to praise God and to work for God’s people.

In these hard times, Jesus comes among us incognito, and Jesus works through us incognito, and we rejoice to imagine that this is even possible. Now, as much as ever, we need to be the church for each other and for all the others out there: hungry and thirsty, strangers and naked, sick and prisoners, and anyone else who might be defined as “least.” When we encounter them, we encounter Jesus, and when they encounter us, I hope they encounter Jesus. Now, as much as ever, we need to come together to worship, to thank God for each other and the other blessings of life, to be reminded about our family and how God’s family operates, to sing and pray with energy and so find ourselves energized not just to come to church, but to be the church. Now, as much as ever, we need to remember and claim our vision of what it means to be God’s people. Please turn to the page in your bulletin where you find Redeemer’s Vision Statement. I want us to read together just that first paragraph, which is as fine a summary of these two Bible readings today as I have seen.

“We are the Church of the Redeemer, United Church of Christ, an inclusive community committed to the worship of God, the work of justice, and the recognition of our common humanity in the struggles of life.” Come and worship here; go and worship out there, and expect in both places to find Jesus when you arrive. Amen.