After the apostles finally understood that Jesus had risen
from the dead and they experienced the ascension, they began to discover the ministry
that Jesus had sent them on. It is our ministry too. Their job was to build the church, and to continue
the work that Jesus had done in taking care of the poor and the afflicted in the
world. In our time, it is a little bit
daunting to do this because there is so much misery in the world. I have always been impressed by organizations
such as Doctors Without Borders who go anywhere that there is pain and try to
help. They aren’t afraid of the
political consequences of going anywhere at all, as long as there is a great
need. They have done some wonderful
things in this world and they deserve our deepest respect and whatever way that
we can help them in what they do.
I think
of them when I look at the devastation that has happened in Nepal and in Tibet
around Mount Everest. I can hardly
imagine what it must have been like to stand on that great mountain and feel
the effects of a massive earthquake. It
caused an avalanche that destroyed several of the climbing camps on the
mountain. Thank God that there were some
people around who were able to help, and who continue to help in those ruined
places. What drives organizations like
Doctors Without Borders is compassion; simple care for others. It isn’t a desire for wealth or anything for
themselves. It is instead a sense of
responsibility to other people on this planet who are in desperate need and
have no way at all to take care of themselves.
That
simple phrase: God is Love was the
model for what Jesus brought to all of us in his too short life. Constantly, he cared for others instead of
himself, and that is the love that he commanded his disciples to continue to
show to the world. It doesn’t always have
to be something that we do on a massive scale. We can take care of people in our everyday lives,
if only we will look.
Every
week in the Post-Gazette there are
stories of people who have gone out of their way to help others. The paper
calls these Random Acts of Kindness.
Somebody pays the bill for a group in a restaurant, or helps somebody
with a flat tire. These are simple
things that mean a lot to the recipients.
More of this is what is needed in this world. The curious thing about random acts of kindness
is that we read them in the paper. These
are simply the everyday acts that we all need to do to help each other. That is what I mean by Jesus’ command
to love one another. Look for ways. It really isn’t hard. It just means looking with compassion on the people
around us and thinking about what they need. Doing this in small ways can also take care of
the larger issues that plague us.
When I
look at situations such as have occurred in Baltimore in recent days, I know
that a lack of compassion is at the root of much of it. It isn’t only the cruel way that one man was
treated by the police after his arrest; it is much more than that. There is a lack of compassion for the poverty
that infects many of the neighborhoods where the people are living. Unemployment is has high as fifty percent in
these areas. It is inevitable that
frustration with a lack of wealth and the inability to produce enough to make
life minimally comfortable will lead people to desperate measures. This is what happens in our inner cities, including
a number of places in Pittsburgh.
I have
preached a number of times in Homewood at the Church of the Holy Cross.
I have loved that parish since my friend Junius Carter
was the Rector. Father Carter died a few years ago, but we were good friends in
the turbulent times in the seventies when there was almost a revolution in this
town in terms of racial equality. I have
felt an attraction to Homewood because my father was brought up in that
community. This was in a different time;
in the early part of the twentieth century.
That neighborhood has changed considerably over the years. There are abandoned apartment buildings all
over the place; fires get started because homeless people go into vacant houses
and start fires simply for heat.
There are signs up all around on those streets
saying “Don’t Shoot, We Love you”. Can you imagine the reason for this? There is a lot of poverty and violence and
people with guns in Homewood, and a lot of good people who would like to stop
it. There is a lack of trust between the
people and the police, because the police look at the black residents with a
prejudice. It isn’t just the color of
their skin, it is a deeper prejudice: that those who are black are being judged
as guilty of anything that is going on in the neighborhood, before they have a
chance to speak. That creates a climate
of distrust. There have been attempts to
create a better climate, but there is a cynicism among law enforcement and
increasingly among the people that makes change very difficult and this
continues the distrust of the community.
So, what
do we do about it? I think that Jesus
has the answer in his simple command to his disciples to love one another as I
have loved you. Not really very simple
at all, is it? It involves all of us
looking at each other as brothers and sisters, wherever we are. Let
your compassion loose. Do what you can for
your neighbors every day. It will make a
big difference.
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