Are You a Sheep or a Goat?

     Tony Norman had a brilliant observation in his column in the Post-Gazette this week.  He was walking down the Boulevard of the Allies on his way to work when he saw a policewoman standing beside a barrier.  He asked her what was going on, thinking that it had something to do with the Tom Cruise movie that was filming in Pittsburgh..  The cop told him kind of impatiently that it was Veteran's day and that there was going to be a parade.  Norman said that he was embarrassed by this and went on his way.  He commented about how strange it is that we seem to ignore veterans except on this one special day.

     A sparse crowd with flags in their hands watched at lunchtime as the veterans paraded and the marching bands provided music for the event.  In the closing moments, a conglomeration of homeless veterans, dressed in a motley array of uniform parts joined the parade.  Norman commented that what they received from the crowd was respect, even if it didn't amount to anything tangible like a warm bed or a full stomach.

     Homeless and unemployed veterans are all around us, our indifference to this ought to shock us and make us uncomfortable; but only one percent of us have served in these wars that our country is fighting, and when our veterans come home, they sometimes find a country that they don't recognize.  There was a time in the middle of the war in Iraq when the paper published the number of soldiers killed and wounded each day.  We were more involved in that war than we are now.  It was the time after the events of 9/11 and we were all scared and a bit paranoid.  Our wars have now moved mostly off the front page, but the soldiers are still very involved.  they are giving their lives and their limbs every day in pursuit of I'm not sure what in Afghanistan.

    Those homeless veterans are only a small contingent of the people in our society who are in terrible need.  We need constantly to be aware of them and focusing our resources on taking care of their poverty.  Not only their poverty, but all of the poverty and need that is so very much around us these days, with unemployment, homelessness and foreclosures abounding.

     In Matthew's Gospel, the last story in the twenty-fifth chapter tells the story of the final judgement, when the Son of Man comes "in his glory with all his angels with him and separates us from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats on his left.  He will tell the sheep on his right hand to come into the Kingdom prepared for them from the beginning:  Because when I was hungry, you fed me; when I was naked, you clothed me; when I was in prison, you visited me; when I was sick you took care of me; when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink.  The righteous said to him:  when did we do these things to you? And Jesus answered them:  when you did these things for the least of those who are members of my family, you did them for me.  Then he told the goats on his left hand that they were accursed and were to depart from him into the fire prepared for the devil and all of his angels, because they did nothing when they saw him in these terrible conditions.

     It is a breathtaking parable, and the summation of what Jesus has taught to all of us in his ministry on this earth.  What strikes me in this story is the intimacy of the people as they help those in need.  The giving of something to eat and to drink, the visiting in prison, the clothing of the naked.  These aren't remote things don by another for our sake.  They are events that involve us in the lives of those whom we are helping.  When we do this, there is a very real possibility that we will get to know these people.  These are events that take our time and our effort, not simply our wealth.  That is the hard part of our charity.

     This is our time for stewardship in this parish.  We talk a lot about money, how we need to meet the budget and how important it is for all of us to give.  We have been reminded of the good things that we do as a parish in response to the human need around us.  They are all good things, and many of us are involved in them, and many more of us could be.  We all don't have to be like Mother Teresa, we can simply do what we can in this world.

     Rosie and I volunteer for Meals on Wheels every week.  It's really no big deal, many of you do things that are even more helpful.  We have done Meals for a long time.  The program is fairly simple.  It takes us into people's homes and lets us see how they are doing.  One of the principal reasons for the program is to keep contact with these people so that we can know their needs other than food. We have casual conversations with them and get some understanding of who they are.  We get to know their caregivers and their dogs.  Volunteers are there every day to see them so that they know that somebody cares.  What is amazing to me is how important that is to all of us.  Simply that somebody cares.  Most of the time, we don't need much, they don't need much, we all get along fine.  But every once in a while, it is nice to know that there is someone to talk to.  Somebody who is able to do something for us, even if it only bringing a meal to the door.

     If you really listen to Jesus' parable, you get the sense that the people who are caring for others hardly know that they are doing anything important.  When did we do these things for you? they ask Jesus.  They are hardly aware of their thoughtfulness.  I think that is what our faith requires of us; to have our love for each other so ingrained in us that we hardly notice it.  That is the key to the Kingdom of God.  Whenever we act like that, a little bit of heaven appears on earth, and the Angels sing.  And most important of all, our Lord notices.