Values Day.

Every year, the “Christian Ethics and social Action” (CESA) committee of the Wesleyan Reform Union produces resources in support of examining a subject of relevance to the current age. The idea is that we can examine a theme and how to apply our faith to it.

This is traditionally used as the basis of a service during the month of February. For 2021, the theme chosen by the CESA committee is Racism, and our Christian reaction to this.

For the fruits of His creation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytfKBZaOuVU

A church leader came up and tried to trap Jesus. “Teacher” he asked, “What must I do to live forever?” Jesus said to him “What does the bible say? What do you think it means?” The man said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbour in the same way as you love yourself.”

“That’s good,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But the church leader wasn’t happy that he had failed to trick Jesus, so he asked “Who is my neighbour?”

Jesus replied, “A man was walking home one Sunday morning and he was mugged. His attackers beat him within an inch of his life, robbed him of everything he was carrying, and left him on a bench by the roadside.

At about midday, a church pastor was going down the road and saw him there, but he was late for lunch, and had an afternoon preaching appointment, so he left him there.

A bit later, a group of church stewards came past, but they were worried about the reputation of the area, and they thought that it might be a set-up so that they could be mugged as well, so they left him there.

Later still, an immigrant walked past. He stopped and examined the man, making sure that he was still breathing. He didn’t speak much English, but phoned his son who ran a taxi. His son came straightaway, talked to the man, took him to the A & E department at the hospital and stayed to find out what would happen to him.

When they discovered that he was going to be admitted, they left him a phone and the son’s number so that he could call for a lift when he was well enough to go home.”

“Which one of these people were neighbours to the man who was mugged?” asked Jesus.

“The one who did something for him.” the church leader replied.

And Jesus said to him “Go and do the same as him for other people.”

Based on Luke’s gospel, chapter 10, verses 25 to 37.

If you don’t immediately recognise this story, it may help you to know that in the original version, it is usually called the parable of the good Samaritan.

Don’t judge a book by its cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_F0dAH-rHs

Although the word ‘Racism’ does not appear in the Bible, the subject of racial tension, prejudice and hatred is self-evident throughout. From the Tower of Babel, to the journeying of Abraham, Jacob’s family, Joseph, the slavery in Egypt, to Deborah, Gideon, Samson, David and the Philistines, to the Exile and the horrors of Psalm 137, we see that the racial and nationalistic tensions of our day are echoed throughout the Bible.

Clearly the problems of racism are not new! Some of the stories could be taken from the more prejudiced of our newspapers. And yet, the message of much of scripture is that in spite of such attitudes amongst people. The purposes of God will triumph.

Jesu, Jesu, Fill us with your love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvQz513Jl8M

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.”

Most people in the English-speaking world would recognise the phrase “a good Samaritan in the context of a kindly stranger doing something good. In our usage, the word “Samaritan” is inextricably linked with goodness.

This was not the case for the original hearers. The people to whom Jesus was speaking would have hated Samaritans with a passion. We are told that Jews would not share cups with Samaritans. Jesus was rejected in Samaria when they heard that he was on the way to Jerusalem.

Whilst this may seem strange to us, we do not have to dig very deep to find examples of prejudice in modern life:

There are people who will not shop in businesses run by those of a different race, or religion.

There are places where people who are born in another town, or county are not welcome, places where you can be beaten up for speaking with the wrong accent. George Bernard Shaw is credited with saying “It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him” Although my knowledge of other places is limited, I guess that a similar reaction is true in many countries.

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is a desolate place, passing through inhospitable territory. “Going down” is a good description, the road falls 3300 feet in 17 miles. I understand that the road was notorious. The Priest and the Levite were both described as going down the road, in other words, they had performed their religious duties in Jerusalem and were going home. Consequently, there would have been fewer problems of ritual uncleanliness for them, Jesus does not seem to have much time for them.

I wonder what the hearers would have expected him to say next? Certainly not that the hero of the story would be a hated foreigner. To suggest that a foreigner, who followed a different religion, might be closer to the will of God than a pious Jew was deeply shocking, and potentially offensive.

Many years ago I knew a young man from church. One day, I was standing outside the shop where I worked and this young man walked past in company with another young man. The other young man was not known to me, but his appearance made me think “I wonder whether his parents know that he is hanging out with someone like that?” Of course, eventually this second young man came into the shop and was perfectly pleasant and personable. I would have had no reservations about my son hanging out with him. I had made a prejudiced decision. To use an old fashioned expression, I had judged a book by its cover.

Throughout them old testament, there are reminders of the obligations to foreigners. There are many reminders that the Jews were once foreigners in an alien land.

The foreigner living in another country is very vulnerable. I can remember going to Russia in 1973. I knew nothing of the language, although I had learned the alphabet so that I could at least pronounce the words I saw. Obviously, after a few days you learn a few words, “please, thank you, exit, entrance, gents”. But on retuning to England two weeks later, the overwhelming impression was that I could now read the signs around me, I was part of what was going on.

And yet, it seems that there was a need to remind the people of their obligations to foreigners! Many of the people knew what the law said, as did the questioner, but there was debate about what “neighbour” meant. Did it just mean the person next door? Could a non-Jew be your neighbour? Jesus clearly thought that the term was much more inclusive than some of the people of the day.

In the letter to the Hebrews, we are told “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” (13:2) The word translated show hospitality literally means love foreigners.

• One of the key things that fuels Racism is to group all people of a skin colour, nation, culture or religion into one group and judge them by stereo-types.

• To say, they’re lazy, poor, uneducated, un-achievers, dangerous, after our money or carrying a knife.

• Individuals or whole organisations can be plagued by this wrong attitude. It fails to recognize and devalues the individual.

• It can lead to anything from people getting the cold shoulder, to not getting jobs, to being arrested, being shot on the streets, to the gas chambers.

At the west side of the town where my father lived there was an area of terraced houses such as you might find in many industrial towns. Two sisters lived there, who were members of the church which my father attended. Over the years, it was an area where many immigrants had settled. In the way of these things, the men had come to England before the rest of their families. This meant that they had noone to do the tasks which in their culture the women would do. Simple domestic tasks were a mystery to them. Despite the fact that these men were a different colour and followed a different religion, these sisters sewed buttons, mended garments and baked for all the men. They were know as “Aunty” by all the men in the street. This is “loving your neighbour”. This is showing a love of foreigners and strangers.

In deliberately using a hated foreigner as the example of the person who “Loved his neighbour as himself”, Jesus is demonstrating that he has no time for the petty prejudices and jealousies that interfere with God’s purposes. Today, Jesus would be saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.

The family of man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjsR7eqqHug

Prayer:

O Lord our God, in your mercy and kindness, no thought of ours is left unnoticed, no desire or concern ignored. You have proven that blessings abound when we fall on our knees in prayer, and so we turn to you in our hour of need. Surrounded by violence and cries for justice, we hear your voice telling us what is required, “Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mi 6:8). Fill us with your mercy so that we, in turn, may be merciful to others. Strip away pride, suspicion, and racism so that we may seek peace and justice in our communities. Strengthen our hearts so that they beat only to the rhythm of your holy will. Flood our path with your light as we walk humbly toward a future filled with encounter and unity. Be with us, O Lord, in our efforts, for only by the prompting of your grace can we progress toward virtue.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sisters of Mercy of America

It is God who holds the nations in the hollow of His hand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOrYR32pM2w