Sermon. November 22, 2020
Rev. John Steitz
The passage in Matthew 25 connects serving people in need with serving Jesus Christ.
Those who are hungry are given food, or not fed. Those who are thirsty are given something to drink or not. Those who are a stranger are welcomed or are not welcomed.
Those who are naked are given clothing or left naked. Those who are sick are taken care of or ignored. Those who are in prison are visited or are forgotten.
In each case to serve the least of these is to serve Jesus Christ. And to fail to serve the least of these is to fail to serve Jesus Christ.
We have people in need today, hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and in prison as in Jesus’ time.
We can add those who are homeless, those who are bullied due to gender identity or sexual orientation, those who are abused in their intimate relationships, and even the cry of the earth facing intense environmental stress. And the list goes on.
The crush of all of these urgent needs can be overwhelming. How do we move forward in a faithful way when we know that Jesus is among the least of these yet what we have to give seems pushed beyond our capacities?
Do we just try to throw some money at it? Or are able to engage in a process that transforms the lives of those in needs while transforming our lives as well?
I will start with a quote by the African American theologian and mystic Howard Thurman. Thurman was a mentor to many people including Martin Luther King, Jr. Thurman’s legacy continues to impact people nearly four decades after his death.
Thurman gave this advice:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
I’m going to say that again.
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Thurman does not negate the urgent needs of the world. The hungry or thirsty, the stranger or the prisoner, the naked or sick. They are not ignored or seen as disposable. Likewise, the bullied or abused, the homeless or the cry of the earth.
What Thurman counsels us to do is to focus on what makes us come alive. It is this aliveness that the world needs because people who have come alive are capable of addressing all the urgent pressing needs in the world.
Marshall Ganz is the son of a rabbi who dropped out of Harvard to join Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964. From this civil rights movement struggle he became an organizer of farm workers with Caesar Chavez where he devoted himself for the next two decades.
Then he went back to Harvard, finished his undergraduate degree and continued on to earn a Ph.D. in sociology. Along the way he developed the Public Narrative approach to community organizing.
Ganz holds that organizers need to ask three questions:
- Who are my people?
- What is their urgent problem?
- How can they turn their resources into power to solve their problem?
Understanding what makes us come alive and do it transforms our ability to address the needs of the world. Instead of being overwhelmed we are energized.
We are able to sustain a commitment over the long haul because dealing with the needs of the world is always a marathon rather than a sprint.
Focusing on Ganz’ three questions transforms the way we approach working on the needs of the world. We are not a foundation philanthropist doling out money. We do not create a patron – client dependency relationship.
Thurman’s personal charge to ask what makes you come alive and go do it is directly related to Ganz’ first question of an organizer: Who are my people?
In the public narrative approach, what makes you come alive is called “The Story of Self.” This is your purpose, your calling, the aliveness that springs forth from your heart.
Who are your people is called “The Story of Us.” Your personal story and purpose meets the story of your people. Story of self merges with story of us. Your purpose and your people become one.
The next question an organizer asks is what is the urgent problem of my people? Ganz calls this “The Story of Now.”
From your aliveness and sense of purpose you are able to focus your attention on the urgent problem of your people. Now you are almost ready to address specific needs of the world.
The final question of an organizer transforms the way you go about addressing the needs of the world. How can my people turn their resources into power to solve their problem?
The organizer, the disciple of Jesus, the spiritually alive person doesn’t do something for another, they work and act together with the person or people in need.
I have shared the wisdom of the Indigenous rights organizer Lilla Watson before. She makes the transformation that needs to happen clear:
“If you come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
The organizer, the disciple of Jesus, the spiritually alive person doing the work of the purpose that makes them come alive…
This is how the hungry are feed, the thirsty are given something to drink, the stranger is welcomed, the naked are clothed, the sick are cared for, and the prisoner is visited.
This is how the bullied teenager is embraced and empowered to face adversity. This is how the abused are encouraged to be set free of abusers. This is how the cry of the earth is heard and the environment is healed.
The Story of Self. The Story of Us. The Story of Now. Together these stories weave a public narrative forward.
What makes you come alive?
Who are your people?
What is the urgent problem your people face?
How can your people turn their resources into power to solve their problem?
When we ask what makes us come alive and we do it we become spiritually alive disciples of Jesus.
When we ask who are our people we focus our attention on who we will engage with.
When we ask what the urgent problem our people face we get specific about need.
When we ask about the resources and power our people have we work to solve the problem and meet the need in a way the liberates, empowers, and transforms both our people and ourselves.
In this way Jesus Christ is served.
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