Sermon for Laity Sunday

              "Do You Hear the Voices?"

         Mike Nelson, Community Outreach Committee

              Scripture: Psalm22: 1-5 & Luke 6: 17-21

Listen to the voices.

 The voices are calling us to answer  one of the very first questions asked in the Bible.  After Cain murdered Able, when God was seeking his child, he asked Cain, Where is your brother?  Cain answered him with a question: Am I my brother’s keeper?  Over the centuries human kind has responded to this question in its response to Tsunamis, earthquakes and natural and man made disasters.  In the New Testament, thru the gospels and the letters of the Apostles, the answer to this eternal question, for a Christian, must be a resounding YES!!!

The needs of community haven’t changed a great deal from Christ’s time.  We are still struggling with illness, hunger, hatred, fear, and homelessness.  Even in our own local community the current demand for food and medical assistance outstrips the availability of resources to meet the needs.  Our local food shelves,, The Anoka County Brotherhood Council (ACBC) and Community Emergency Assistance Program (CEAP) all to often find their shelves nearly empty with more hungry mouths queuing up at the door. We recently noted in the local newspapers that the ACBC has extended their hours to accommodate the demand for services.  Jesus, when faced with thousands of hungry people by the Sea of Galilee, multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed the crowd.

 Our hospital emergency rooms, especially in our large public hospitals like Regions and Hennepin County Medical Center find their emergency rooms overflowing with sick and injured patients who, because of any number of combinations of circumstance, do not have access to medical care other than through the hospital emergency room.  Time after time in the New Testament, we read of Jesus healing the leper, making the blind see and in the case of Lazarus, bringing people back from dead.

You heard the voices on the recording; the voices are those of people, families, in crisis calling a Twin Cities family shelter program, Families Moving Forward.  Families Moving Forward is one of only 2 family shelter programs serving Hennepin County and the northwest Twin Cities suburbs.  They have the capacity to serve 4 to 5 families (15 guests) at a time, providing shelter, food, child care and life skills and work programs for the families they serve.  This program receives over 1,200 calls a month for their help.  Nearly 300 of those calls for help come from Anoka County residents, because there is no family shelter program serving Anoka County. 

Several Sunday’s ago, a member of our congregation raised in joys & concerns, a concern for the homeless person who apparently was sleeping in or near her back yard here in Anoka.   This last week’s Coon Rapids Herald, in an article on homelessness, gave some examples of how the homeless are finding shelter, including Ashley sleeping in a porta potty in Pheasant Ridge Park, Nate under the skate board ramps at Sand Creek Park and Jennifer sleeping in her mobile home, a 1986 Toyota.  Homelessness, to most of us, is an invisible problem as we sit at our dining tables with a full meal before us, our homes heated and cooled to a comfortable level and we know that we will be able to sleep in the comfort of our own beds in our own homes BUT on a January night in 2009 there were over 1,000 people in Anoka county that were counted as homeless.  Of those more than 1,000 people, over 300 of them included children in families, some sleeping in the streets, some in their cars and some provided sleeping space from family or friends.

Three weeks  ago, we celebrated Children’s Sabbath. The mission statement of Children’s Sabbath is ”….To unite religious congregations of all faiths across the nation in shared concern for children, and common commitment to improving their lives and working for justice on their behalf…….”

To paraphrase from the materials from the Children’s Sabbath bulletin, we were given a picture of what a better tomorrow should look like for our children and our families.  “Set on paths of promise, with the family income,

health and mental health care, safe & loving families and successful, supportive schools putting them on the path to a bright future  -… our nation and our families will be more successful through the contributions of every person.”. 

As we look at the reasons for homelessness, we find, in many cases, a spiral.  A spiral beginning with loss of a job, then health care, then grocery dollars and then a safe secure place to live.  We are given a challenge in our faith to reach out and change this spiral by assisting those finding themselves in these straits by looking for ways to provide food, medical services, job assistance and security.

The Bible is quite clear about our obligation to support those less fortunate than us.  From the time of the writing of Leviticus, the book of rules for the Jewish nation, it was a religious dictum to care for the human family members who fall on hard times.

“If any of your Israelite relatives fall into poverty and cannot support themselves, support them as you would a resident foreigner and allow them to live with you. Do not demand an advance or charge interest on the money you lend them. Instead, show your fear of God by letting them live with you as your relatives” (Leviticus 25:35-36 ).”

In the New Testament we hear time and time again in the parables and teachings of Jesus about how we are to relate to one another, as clearly and inclusively told in the gospel of Matthew:

“Then the King will say to those on the right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.' Then these righteous ones will reply, `Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?' And the King will tell them, `I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'” (Matthew 25:34-40).

In our church community we participate in several charitable activities to support some of these efforts, CEAP, ACBC, Meals on Wheels,  and Alexandra House, among others.  Since last March, members of our Community Outreach Committee have been involved, along with a number of other local communities of faith, in the process of exploring the need for a shelter for homeless families in Anoka County; finding a model for providing a family shelter program that can provide comprehensive services to homeless families; creating a program that we believe will meet a part of that need within the abilities of the involved communities and finally moving towards implementation of the program.  You’ll have the opportunity to learn more about this program and organization, Family Promise of Anoka County during the adult education program on Sunday, November 22.

During the Children’s Sabbath service, the question was asked, Where was God in the case of families and children in need?  The answer we need to hear and respond to is the answer that our young people gave, the answer that author Depak Chopra gives in his book, “The Third Jesus”, that We are God: God with us and God in us and that we can make the difference.

Do you hear the voices?

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