What We Believe - 2

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

February 12, 2017

What We Believe - 2

Selected Texts

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Lord, when was it

that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you?

Truly I tell you,

just as you did it to one of the least of these

who are members of my family,

you did it to me.

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.

Lord, when was it that we saw you a stranger …

and did not take care of you?

Truly I tell you,

just as you did not do it to one of the least of these,

you did not do it to me.”

These are our Lord’s words,

words straight from Jesus,

words found in Matthew’s gospel,

the twenty-fifth chapter;

words directed to you and to me:

What we do to the least,

what we fail to do to the least,

we do to our Lord Jesus Christ.

This we believe.

Do you remember what we talked about last week—

that we learned that we state our faith

and bear witness to  “God’s grace in Jesus Christ

in the creeds and confessions

found in our Book of Confessions.

In our creeds and confessions

we declare to ourselves

and to the world

who and what we are,

what we believe,

and what we resolve to do.”

And our Confessions in turn help us

to understand what we believe

and what we resolve to do

as we read Scripture;

as learn from Scripture,

as learn from both the Written Word

and the Living Word.

So we hear our Lord’s words:

what we do,

or what we fail to do to the stranger—

the stranger,

not our friends,

not one another in church,

the stranger—

we do as well to our Lord himself.

These words sound radical,

and yet they were hardly new,

much less radical,

when our Lord spoke them.

Jesus was simply emphasizing lessons

we find throughout the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures,

the books of the Old Testament,

which we have to remember

was our Lord’s Bible,

the written word of God found in the Law,

the Prophets,

the Psalms, and the Proverbs.

Look after the poor,

care for the widow,

tend the sick,

and, welcome the stranger and alien:

This we believe,
and because we believe

this we resolve to do.

Go all the way back to Moses’ time

more than a thousand years before the birth of our Lord.

No sooner had the children of Israel settled on the land

given them by God

following their forty-year sojourn through the desert;

no sooner had they begun to establish their homes,

plow their fields,

harvest the fruit of the trees,

when God said to them:

“When you reap the harvest of your land,

you shall not reap to the very edges of your field,

or gather the gleanings of your harvest.

You shall not strip your vineyard bare,

or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard;

you shall leave them for the poor and the alien.

(Leviticus 19:9)

We can imagine, can’t we,

the reaction from God’s children,

the reaction any of us might have had

to such words:

“Hey, wait a minute.

I plowed that land,

I planted,

I tended,

I weeded,

I cultivated,

I harvested.

Everything that came from that land,

came from my efforts,

my sweat,

my long hours,

my hard work.

And now you are telling me

that I am supposed to leave a portion of my work,

my efforts,

for the poor,

the alien –

people who are strangers to me?”

To that question, that bitter complaint,

God responds simply,

firmly,

unapologetically,

“Yes.

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you to do.

Need I remind you that all you have

has come from me in the first place?”

God leaves no doubt as to God’s concerns,

calling us to holy lives,

and our holiness is reflected in many ways,

including how we treat the poor,

the hungry,

…and the alien:

“The alien who resides with you

shall be to you as the citizen among you;

you shall love the alien as yourself,

…You shall not oppress a resident alien;

you know the heart of an alien,

for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”

(Leviticus 19:34; Exodus 23:9)

How often does God make so clear

that God’s concern is with the poor,

the stranger, the alien?

Dozens of times

as we read through the pages of the Old Testament.

The children of Israel

should not have been surprised by this.

After all, the land where God called

the Israelites to settle

was the crossroads of the known world,

where people from every nation,

where people from east and west,

from north and south,

all passed through;

some as quickly as possible,

in a hurry to get from one place to another;

others settling for a short while;

while still others stopped

and settled permanently.

Assyrians from the north who traveled south to Egypt;

Ethiopians from the south

heading north to Tyre or Sidon;

Persians coming from the east,

North Africans coming from the west.

The most recent addition to our Confessional Book is

the Belhar Confession,

a Confession written in response

to the apartheid struggle in South Africa

not that long ago,

the white minority pitted against the black majority,

racism, bigotry,

hatred, violence seething everywhere.

Into this cauldron stepped the church,

reminding followers of Christ

that we are all called to lives of peace,

lives of reconciliation,

holy lives.

Among Belhar’s statements reflecting our lives

as children of God and disciples of Christ are these:

“We believe

• that God has revealed himself

as the one who wishes to bring about justice

and true peace among people;

• that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity,

is in a special way the God of the destitute,

the poor and the wronged;

• that God calls the church to follow him in this;

for God brings justice to the oppressed

and gives bread to the hungry;…

• that God supports the downtrodden,

protects the stranger,

helps orphans and widows;

and blocks the path of the ungodly;

• …that God wishes to teach the church

to do what is good and to seek the right;

• that the church must therefore

stand by people in any form of suffering and need,

which implies, among other things,

that the church must witness against

and strive against any form of injustice,

so that justice may roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream;”

We are to do what is good;

we are to seek what is right;

we are to stand by those in need:

the suffering,

friend and stranger alike;

and we are to witness against,

strive against

any form of injustice,

so that justice may roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

This we believe,

and so this we resolve to do.

We are in the midst of a

furious debate in this country

and indeed throughout the world

over immigrants and refugees—

aliens and strangers.

Men and women who have fled their homes—

more than 4 million just from

the war-ravaged nation of Syria.

On average, 30,000 men, women and children

become refugees each day – each day! -

desperately seeking safety, shelter,

refuge,

food, medicine,

…hope.

What does Jesus call us to do?

What are we as children of God

and disciples of Christ to do?

What do we believe?

What is it we should resolve to do?

The great preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick wrote,

“Vital fellowship with God

ought to make us gracious,

magnanimous, and generous….

If in Jesus Christ … faith has come to us,

through no merit of our own,

…ought we not, humbly,

without dogmatism or intolerance,

and yet with passionate earnestness,

share our best with all the world?”

And isn’t our best

compassion,

acceptance,

tolerance,

grace,

love?

Isn’t this what we believe?

And so,

shouldn’t this be what we resolve to do?

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Lord, when was it

that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you?

Truly I tell you,

just as you did it to one of the least of these

who are members of my family,

you did it to me.

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.

Lord, when was it that we saw you a stranger …

and did not take care of you?

Truly I tell you,

just as you did not do it

to one of the least of these,

you did not do it to me.”

Sisters and brothers:

this is the Word of the Lord.

AMEN