Sermons

November 23 , 2008
‘Feed, water, clothe, welcome … ?’

Reverend Philip Cable

Based on Matthew 25:31-46, and the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh in The Art of Power

Dilemma for many with the Matthew passage:

At first sight it seems too BLACK and WHITE.

Goats on the Left ...........................Sheep on the Right

Did not feed, water, ......................Did feed water, clothe,
clothe, welcome least .....................welcome least

Visit sick & imprisoned .................visit sick and imprisoned

It all seems so Cut and Dried

Eternal Damnation.........................Eternal Life and Blessing

Many of us get stuck reading this here.
It just doesn’t seem fair!!!!

What if I didn’t have the wealth and resources, gifts and skills to feed, water, clothe, welcome least … visit sick & imprisoned?

If this is the case for you, I would invite you to consider your ‘Black and White Blinders’ might just be the problem here. (And not the text).

I believe nothing in life is Black and White … Life to me is more varying shades of grey on my not so good days; & dazzling technicolour on my great days … when I’m aware of and in touch with the abundant, generous, compassionate Love of God.
So lets back up to shades of grey first.

Firstly: there is nothing in the Gospel of Matthew to say that the sheep on the right were able to manage to do every one of those tasks each and every time a needy person entered the realm of their existence. In fact to me their surprise seems to suggest that at some point without thinking about it they passed through the very wide door of acceptance and entry into blessing.

At some point in their natural way of living they fed, quenched, clothed, welcomed, or visited sick or imprisoned … at that time they broke open the doors of God’s Realm forever … for eternity … for eternal access.

Not Black of White … do it every time or you are out … but hit the grey zone, nurture the lighter grey zone to see opportunities and increase your chances of ending up on the Servant King’s right hand side … blessings, shared with all and Eternal Life, with justice and lasting peace thrown into the deal.

Oops … See how quickly we just slipped … oh so naturally into dazzling technicolour blessing. I am having a good day!

But wait, wait … lets go for due diligences and back up again to shades of grey … because there is still the problem of our Goat nature butting our heads up against Hell Fire, Eternal Pain, Punishment and Damnation; when we fail to feed, quench, clothe and welcome the least, visit sick and imprisoned.

Well I don’t know about you, but I think if someone can make this earthly passage and never manage once to feed, quench, clothe or welcome the least … not once at all … even by mistake … and failing pulling off just one of those kind acts doesn’t at least once visit a sick part of creation or an imprisoned part … then where have they been. Certainly not walking the streets and traveling the byways that life takes me down literally or figuratively.

Further more … in those moments that I feel even too depressed to find my socks – let alone pull them up and get going – let alone reach out to my suffering fellow travelers … I think I experience eternal pain, eternal suffering … for it feels in those moments like the crushing sense of the suffocating depression and despondency will never end.

Could that be what the Gospel writer is alluding to?
Eternal Damnation is nothing more than this intolerable, seemingly infinite moment of feeling cut off from the real purpose and meaning of life. The opportunity to participate in something infinitely larger than my little seemingly unmanageable doings.

Paradoxically Eternal Life is also no more than being fully present in this very moment to the fullest potential of my ripeness or maturity to engage all of myself to all of life.

And this being the case why would I choose anything less than feeding, quenching, clothing, welcoming the least and visiting the sick and imprisoned? Why would I choose anything less than living in God’s technicolour creative process of seeking justice and making lasting peace?

I don’t have to save the whole world. I am not in contact with every corner. Grace just nurtures me to do my part with as much joy and vitality as comes my way, with the free gift of my next breath. Then my natural process will breathe out, let go, and free me up for the next moment, and the next encounter with free breath and the next opportunity to feed, or quench, or clothe, or welcome another least, or visit another sick or imprisoned.

To Christ my Royal Kin and to God our awesome Creator be All the Glory and Praise.
Amen

The Rev. Philip Cable
Minister; Emmanuel Howard Park United Church.