In late April of this year in southern Zambia, Africa, an eight-month old baby named Lumba, which means "we are thankful (to God)", became sick with malaria. The parents of the little boy began desperately borrowing and begging, trying to collect enough money to buy anti-malarial drugs from the nearest clinic. After two days they had collected the money: two days to borrow two dollars for life-saving treatment. Then they spent two hours walking through the bush to get to the clinic. But at the gates of the clinic, the mother called to the father. She said their child had died.

When I hear a story such as this I often throw my arms in the air and say, "What can I do? What can one person do for a family so far away, so removed from my life?"

But, there is more to this story.

Little Lumba is only one in a country of many suffering abject poverty. Lumba is indeed, the human face of the debt crisis in Zambia. The country owes over seven billion dollars to foreign creditors, the largest single creditor being the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These debts are unjust, since the country had little say in incurring the debt, and receives little if any benefits in return. In recent years, Zambia has spent three times as much servicing its foreign debt as it has spent on health care. Health budgets have been slashed and user fees introduced at a time when unemployment, poverty and poor health are on the increase. Even though malaria is one of the primary causes of death among children under five, municipalities cannot afford even the modest cost of spraying and fumigating to eliminate mosquitoes. Hospitals are obliged to sell their services in order to recover costs. This has led to a two-tier system where those who can pay for medical services receive quality care, while those who cannot afford it suffer long waits, lack of drugs and, all too frequently, death.

And so, again I ask what can I do? What can we do? What can a small congregation in small town/rural Alberta do when a whole country is suffering?

But again, there is more to this story.

For Zambia is not the only country that faces a debt crisis. There are many other countries who owe millions and millions of dollars to the IMF and the World Bank. And there are many other countries whose debt loads seriously affect the welfare, the well being of their people. Countries life Angola, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Congo, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Laos, Malawi, Morocco, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Vietnam, and Zaire. The list goes on.

And so, again I ask, what can I do? What can we do? What can a small congregation in rural Alberta do? What can the United Church of Canada do? What can all Christian Churches in Canada do? What can the country do for other countries, for other people? People like you and me? People with hopes for the future, hopes for their children. People with worries and joys and fears and laughter and sorrow. People like you and me. People who are struggling to survive against a world that is much harsher than you and I could ever imagine. What can we do for them?

The wisdom of God shows itself in the Leviticus passage we heard this morning. In the beginning of time God knew that human beings would have a difficult time with money. God knew that inequities would develop and so through Moses, God gave human-kind the year of Jubilee.

"You shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return to your property and to your family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap or harvest. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you."

In this year of Jubilee land is given rest, debts are forgiven, and slaves return to their homeland. God says to Moses on Mount Sinai,

"[39] If any who are dependent on you become so impoverished that they sell themselves to you, you shall not make them serve as slaves. [40] They shall remain with you as hired or bound laborers. They shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee. [41] Then they and their children with them shall be free from your authority; they shall go back to their own family and return to their ancestral property. [42] For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves are sold. [43] You shall not rule over them with harshness, but shall fear your God."

There are two parables told by Jesus about debt where Jesus uses debt as a metaphor for sin.

Listen now to one of these parables. Matthew 18:23-35

In this parable, the creditor needs forgiveness as much as the debtor. But to be forgiven, the creditor must be forgiving. However, perpetual, unpayable dept is what we are talking about today. This kind of debt denies the debtor the right to be God's servant and binds both debtor and creditor in an unjust social and economic structure, contrary to the vision of the kingdom of God. Only when the creditor releases the debtor will they both find freedom and peace.

God knew that there would be inequities and so God provided the year of Jubilee, a sacred year of renewal. -A year for hope and restoration.

Throughout the world churches are calling for Jubilee. Churches are calling for debts to be forgiven and slaves to be returned. Throughout the world churches are urging all people to join the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt relief by signing a petition. It is hoped that 200,000 signatures will be gathered world wide. The United Church of Canada is aiming to gather 50,000 signatures.

And, so it may surprise you, pleasantly, that today, after hearing these stories of poverty, I am not asking for money. For money at this point would be a Band-Aid solution. I am asking for your awareness, for passion. I am asking for your signature. I am asking that you help the Biblical Jubilee become a reality today for the poorest of the poor in our world.

Everything we own, everything that we call ours, comes from God. The Genesis passage proclaims this. God says to Moses, "They are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are not aliens and tenants. God alone is Lord both of the land and of the people, the Law and the Prophets forbid perpetual debt and the injustices it raise.

In the United Church we pray, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. But in the book of Matthew and in the Presbyterian Church it is forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. God, the gracious creditor, freely forgives the debt. God freely forgives sin.

back to sermon index

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined. The yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, has been broken.

This passage from the book of Isaiah is the beginning of a prophetic hymn of thanksgiving. There will be a reversal of fortune for the people of Galilee. Presently there is much darkness and gloom for these northern people. Our passage has strong imagery of what the darkness is like. The people are heavy laden with a yoke of burden. They carry heavy bars across their shoulders. Their oppressor keeps them in line by beating them with a rod. The northern regions are occupied by the Assyrian army. The people in darkness are not free. They are under the control of others.

When we are in darkness; what is it like? What are the dark, muddy times in our life?

A man grieves the loss of his love as she leaves him for another man. A woman struggles through life with an alcoholic husband. A man takes a sledgehammer to a video lottery machine because his wife has gambled away their life savings. Children watch in horror as a fight between their parents escalates to the point where the husband threatens the wife with a knife.

When I worked in a hospital I met a woman named Judy. Judy had a rare bone disease that struck at anytime. When it did struck it left her paralyzed. She had a neighbour that would check on her every morning. More than once she had fallen and couldn't get up. More than once she had laid on the floor for hours, waiting for her neighbour to come in the morning.

When I had met Judy she was in her bed, drawing. Every time she went into the hospital she would draw in her memory book. She would mostly draw pictures of her garden, which she always wanted to go home to. "Oh, just to look out my kitchen window to see my beautiful garden."

Judy had had a hard life. She had a husband who abused her. And she had had this bone disease. But she had an amazing faith. When I would go to her to visit, I wouldn't know who was benefiting from the visit more, her or me. She was a joy, I always felt better after listening to her stories, her passion, her out look on life. She would let me view her memory book. She was a talented artist.

She would pray and have visions from God. Then she would draw what she had seen.

The second time she had returned to the hospital, she had again fallen. It had been less than a month from the last time she was admitted. She had been moved from floor to floor and by the second week she was losing her patience with her body. She was sick of being sick. She was discouraged and bored with being in the hospital. She was in the darkness, heavy laden with a yoke of burden around her neck.

So, she prayed to God. And there in the darkness, she heard. "Be patient, you will be shown the way." God told her to be patient with the healing of her body. Her body would know the way.

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.

God comes to us in the darkness.

Denise Briebler a United Church of Christ minister in Illinois writes about time she spent with her son Benjamin when he was first born. She remembers getting up in the middle of the night to nurse him. She would never turn on the lights, preferring to sit quietly in the darkness.

In those few months after Ben was born, this became her favourite time to hold, cuddle, and nurse him. She would sit in the rocking chair in the living room. Sometimes she would listen to quiet music. Sometimes she would listen to the silence.

One night, as she held Benjamin in her arms, she snuggled into the rocking chair and closed her eyes. She enjoyed feeling Ben's breathing and the warmth of his little body. She enjoyed feeling him rest in her arms.

In that moment, she knew that God was holding her in the same way she was holding Ben. God had found her in the darkness and she rested in God's arms.

"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." Matthew states that Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus comes to the world and proclaims the Good News. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." Sin can be forgiven. Faith saves.

Matthew then goes on to tell of the beginning of Jesus' ministry. For, at this point in the story Jesus has been baptized and has gone into the desert to be tempted by the devil for forty days and forty nights. Now, we join Jesus calling his disciples. For, even Jesus couldn't do it alone. He needed to work with others. Jesus proclaims the kingdom and invites people to come forward and be part of that kingdom, to help build that kingdom.

Jesus met Simon Peter and Andrew. They were fishing and Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Immediately they left their nets, was Jesus looking for people who went with their gut instincts? They certainly did not think this life-changing event through before they signed up. Or maybe they were in the darkness and looking for a great light. Maybe they were sick and tied of throwing those nets into the sea, day after day, dragging slippery, stinky fish into the boat, day after day. Maybe they were only fishermen because their father was. We don't know. What we do know is that they said yes to the call. They became fishers of people. They worked to help build the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed. You and I are contemporary disciples of Jesus. We too have been called to help Jesus fish for people. We have been asked to throw out the wide gospel net and bring people into the kingdom, this new family that Jesus is forming.

So, here is my question: "Have you caught anybody lately?" Most people in mainline protestant denominations in North America have not caught many lately. We have been in decline, for sometime. We seem to have gotten out of the fishing business!

It may seem so ordinary, such an unspectacular way to begin a gospel. Just going out and talking to these fishers, telling them that Jesus is going to teach them to fish for people. And yet, probably most of us were brought into the kingdom in an unspectacular way.

There may be some people here this morning who became Christian in a blinding flash of light, perhaps in a dramatic, mountain top experience. But, I expect that most of us got here through less dramatic, but by no less divine means. Most of us were brought here by loving parents who brought us to church every Sunday. Others may have been invited here by a friend who sat next to us at a desk in the office, or someone we talked with at school, or a friend in a club.

Have you reeled anyone in lately?

In a recent study of why people do not come to church, the number one answer given was, "No one ever asked me." Rather unspectacular isn't it? People will come to church if they are asked. Why did the disciples leave their fishing nets behind and follow Jesus? Well, first and foremost, they were asked. We all love to be asked. So now I will ask something of you. I am asking you to ask a friend to church next Sunday. Next Sunday lets fill the place. Think of it as a homework assignment. Ask a friend to church.

Cast your nets.

Jesus is asking you and me to be a part of the kingdom. Jesus proclaims the kingdom of love, peace, justice and hope and then asks each one of us to be a part of it. Jesus personally invites each one of us to be a part and help built the kingdom to come. "Follow me" Jesus says, "I will make you fishers of people. Follow me and we will build the kingdom together."

back to sermon index

Last week we heard the beginning of the first letter to the Corinthians. It tells us that something is amiss in Corinth. This letter that Paul writes to the church begins "I appeal to you that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. It has been reported to me that there are quarrels among you."

Unfortunately Paul does not come out and clearly state what the quarreling is about. In fact, in all of his letters rarely, if ever does he says, "And now I am going to talk to you about the problem you have with..." Rather we must infer the context of this letter.

Whatever troubled the Corinthians, they seem to have had some sort of problem with spiritual pride. They seemed to be fixated on the exalted, risen Christ, with little appreciation for the crucified, suffering Christ. Therefore, Paul preaches the cross to them and reminds them of the suffering and torture that Jesus went through and how this reveals God's power and wisdom.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God," Paul writes to the Corinthians. "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?"

"For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Paul displays his keen awareness of the values of the people to which he speaks. If Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, what do rural Albertans desire? What does our society, our church, what do we see as wisdom?

Some of us value tradition, many of us value prosperity, others value the family. But, the foolishness of the world is illustrated by the way our thinking is constantly changing. A culture usually believes that the values it holds are the correct values (that is why they hold them). We usually think that we have got it right and we may look down our noses at the foolishness of past generations. However, our vision is blurred, our perspective is stunted. Every generation, every culture has blinders.

A corporate president talked about one of his vice-presidents to his minister one day at coffee time. "You know, that man is quite a fool," he said. "That idiot comes up with about one good idea for every ten which he proposes in our company."
"Well, " asked the minister, "why on earth do you put a guy like that in charge of your marketing division?"
The president replied, "He's the only guy I've got who has one good idea!"

Every culture thinks they have got it right. But, the constant ebb and flow of our values points to the foolishness of our worldly wisdom. We can think for a moment about how our Canadian mainstream attitudes toward the role of men and women in our society has changed just in the past 25 years. Or, how our view of the treatment of animals has changed, or the way we treat the environment. We can shake our heads or look down our noses at the foolishness of Canadian culture in terms of these issues only 25 years. We can easily see how the wisdom of the world has changed. The wisdom of the world is a house built on sand. It is continuously changing.

But the wisdom of God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The wisdom of God is eternal. We can see this by picking up the Bible and reading of the teachings of Jesus. We can marvel at Jesus' words today like they marveled at his teachings 2000 years ago. Who else could we say that of? What other thinker in our history holds up to 2000 years of worldly wisdom?

Take for example Sir Isaac Newton, or Albert Einstein, or Aristotle, Immanual Kant or William Shakespeare - all of these men were great thinkers in their time. While they are still honoured and read, their thinking has limitations. Sometimes, we say of these men, "They were ahead of their time." Sometime we say, "He was a pure genius." But, we can also say, "They had limitations to what they thought and wrote because of their era. They were influenced by their era. That thinker is the foundation of what we now know and believe to be true, but it is limited by their culture's values and wisdom."

Truth never changes. True wisdom is eternal. God's wisdom is eternal. We can never say, "Oh, Jesus said that only because he was a rabbi in the 1st century." Jesus' amazing, radical wisdom still rings true to us today"

Let us take one of our treasured values in our culture, our worldly wisdom, and see what Jesus has to say about it. Let us look at family values. What does Jesus say about the family?

In Matthew 8:21 one of Jesus disciples says to him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him "Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Harsh words, not very pastoral of Jesus. What else does Jesus say about family?

In Matt 10:37-39 Jesus says, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy or me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy or me. Those who find their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

Jesus invites us to be foolish in the world's wisdom and risk the family, risk our relationship with the family for his sake. We cannot grow in our own faith in Christ if we cling to our parents. We must move away from our parents faith in order to claim our own. That is part of what my confirmation class is about. We are exploring our faith so the students can claim it for themselves. It is likely that their faith will be different from their parents.

Lastly, Jesus challenges his followers with the very language they use for members of the family. "Call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father - the one in heaven." Matt 23:9

St. Francis of Assisi was one person who took all these instruction on the family very seriously. He understood that if he were to stay with his family he would not be able to be a follower of Christ. Some people here have heard the story of St. Francis before. But there are parts that are worth repeating which clearly illustrate God's wisdom through Christ. There are parts of St. Francis' life that clearly illustrate Jesus' wisdom, specifically in terms of the family.

St. Francis received a call from God to rebuild the church. Francis came from a wealthy family and in the beginning of his ministry used his families' money to help the poor and rebuild the church. Francis' father was not pleased with his son's new calling in life. One night Francis' father dragged him home through the streets of Assisi and put him in the cellar with irons locked to his legs.

Days later another confrontation brought father and son before the bishop who acted as a judge. With a crowd looking on, the priest ordered Francis to return the money to his father. Francis obeyed by laying the money at his father's feet. Then he said, "The clothes are his as well. I give them back." He stripped himself and stood naked until the bishop gave him a robe. "No longer will I call him Father," declared Francis. "Now I will only say, 'My Father who art in heaven,'"

St. Francis went on to rebuild the church building, however, he became know for rebuilding the spiritual foundation of the church. Today he is honoured by both Catholics and Protestants as a great holy man - a great holy fool, a fool for Christ.

So, where is the good news in all of this? Paul writes to the Corinthians, "God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe." The good news is faith saves, not wisdom. There is no skill testing question to get into kingdom of heaven. We don't have to get it all right.

By most standards Julie is a fool. She has been married three times. She has very little people skills. She does not know how to communicate well or deal with conflict. She does not think clearly or logically. But, Julie's faith is undisputed. More than once she has sold all her earthy possessions to follow Jesus. It is not the wisest thing to do. Most people will tell you it is down right foolish to sell all your things in search of Jesus. Julie's faith, not her wisdom is what brings her fulfillment, comfort, and liberation. Julie's faith, not her wisdom, or lack there of, is what brings her to the Kingdom of God, where the wisdom of the world is foolishness.

The good news is, we don't have to be wise for salvation to be ours. The good news is, we are foolish, we know little, our values change, our wisdom is a house built on sand, but wisdom does not save us. Faith saves.

back to sermon index