Sermon on the plain

Summary

I met the most amazing man recently, a man who seems to embody, as much as a human can, the heart of Jesus.  This man loves the Lord, and so, loves God’s people, whoever they might be.

While in Egypt for our Association of International Churches pastors’ conference we stayed three nights at Anaphora, a Coptic Christian retreat center out in the desert to the Northwest of Cairo.

Bishop Thomas, the man of whom I am speaking is the founder of the retreat center, Anaphora.  He is the founder, for it is his vision for the body of Christ, that has willed Anaphora into being.  In Bishop Thomas’s words, “Anaphora came about as a natural result of walking with God.”

As its website shares: “Anaphora’s vision derives from its name “anaphora”, a Coptic word meaning “offering” and “uplifting.”  The Anaphora community aspires to uplift people… Anaphora was inspired by the spirituality of the monastic life.  It was designed to create an environment of peace, serenity, simplicity, and most important of all, love.

Anaphora also provides a quiet contemplative environment where Christians can be trained to serve their communities, and to see Christ through the empowering of others.”

Wow!  Now that’s a mission statement for God’s work.

Bishop Thomas told us a story that seems to be a key foundational part of his vision for Anaphora.  This story comes from his childhood.  He shared with our group that when he was 10 years old his loving and generous grandmother decided that because of her wealth and her community’s needs she would start to feed the poor.  She had a kitchen and serving counter built so that the poor of the area could come and receive a meal.  The thing is little Thomas did not think his grandmother was being generous enough.  He asked her, “Why do you offer them food, but do not bring them to eat in your home?”

This idea was shocking to his grandmother, the entire family, and frankly, their whole sense of class as wealthy Egyptians.  Little Thomas hurt his grandmother, because she was truly doing a good thing for the poor, though she was never going to bring them into her home.

So, Thomas decided that he needed to eat with the poor instead of his family, a decision which was also hurtful to his grandmother, but his sense of faith called him to meet more than their physical needs, but also the need to be treated as people.  So, he ate outside with the poor.  It was there, where Thomas met an older man who had nothing earthly to claim as his own, but was full of wisdom and love.  Gularki in Coptic, or George in English only would accept one meal per day, and that meal George and Thomas would eat together.  Thomas would set a nice table at which they could share their food and a conversation. George opened his life to Thomas so that he could truly meet the poor, and understand their lives.

They ate together for three years.  Then one day George did not appear.  Thomas looked for him everywhere without finding him.  Finally, as a last resort Thomas went to the morgue and described his friend George to the workers there.  He was told that George had been found dead and was buried a couple days before.  There had been no one in attendance at his burial.

In closing Bishop Thomas said, “A boy could not bring him into the home, but a bishop can.”

Initially Thomas did not want to become a bishop, and refused the Coptic Pope’s offer.  His Pope told him to, “Go and pray.”

While praying Thomas heard a voice say to him, “A bishop can lift up.”

So, Thomas accepted the calling to be a bishop so that he could be, in his words, “A hand from underneath to lift people up.  And you can only lift people up if you kneel down.”

I had not intended to share with you about Bishop Thomas this morning, but when I read Jesus’ words again, that he preached to the people that day, I immediately thought of the Bishop’s words, and his kind face.

When Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.  Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” I realized that he was not simply speaking to the poor, the hungry or the sad and bereaved, but he was speaking to his disciples who would be the ones who would be called to feed, to wipe the tears of, and to share and be, the kingdom of God for those in need, for the world.

In other words, the poor, the hungry, the un-consoled, and the persecuted are blessed because they have encountered the Kingdom of God, in Jesus Christ himself, but also by meeting and being actively loved by his followers, you and me.  We need to follow the example, first of Thomas’s grandmother who saw a physical need and met it, and then we need to remember the question that ten-year old Thomas asked, “Can we not bring them [the poor] in?”

Jesus calls us to meet the needs of our neighbors, of the world.  Even more, he calls us to engage with our neighbors that we might meet their spiritual needs as well.  These are our callings as Jesus’ disciples.

This might be why Jesus continues his sermon with, “But woe to you who are rich…Woe to you who are full now… Woe to you who are laughing now…?”

Is it because those who are rich, who are full, who are laughing, have not met the needs of those in need?  Is that their woe?

I am not sure.  Yet, I think the blessings of which Jesus speaks are related, conversely to the woes that Jesus names.

To be rich while others are poor, to be full while others are hungry, to be able to laugh while others weep, to only be lifted up by the world while others are persecuted and put down, in Jesus’ eyes this is cause for woe.  For if you are not living your life, and at least trying to be a blessing in other people’s lives, at least trying to be a blessing in the hurts of the world, at least trying to be the blessing that Jesus calls you to be in the midst of another person’s needs, then woe be upon you.

Maybe another way of putting this is, “If you are not a part of the solution, then you’re a part of the problem.”

Jesus calls us to be a part of the solution, to be one of his blessings alive and active, full of forgiveness and love for the world.

One of my mornings at Anaphora, I awoke early, so I went to try and capture a photo of the sunrise over the desert.  I wasn’t successful, but when I stepped into the main building for a cup of hot tea to warm myself, for it does get cold in the desert, Bishop Thomas was sitting there also having his morning tea.  So, I thought, I can at least say, “Good morning”, which I did, and that led to a conversation, and an illuminating one at that.

Bishop Thomas shared with me that he never asks anyone who comes to Anaphora about their faith background.  He believes that Jesus’ Christian church has been torn apart, almost right from the start, by people separating themselves by theology, rather than uniting themselves within Jesus.  As he put it, “We have torn Christ’s garment into a thousand pieces.”

He said, “We don’t have to have organizational unity [as Christians] but a unity in the heart of Christ. I want to kneel down and knit the garment of Christ together again.”

Bishop Thomas is trying to live a life of blessing, not one of woe.  I don’t want to be woeful, and I don’t think you do either, instead, let us pray, and then act in response to our prayers as Jesus’ blessings in and to the world, in and to the lives of all who have need.  Let us kneel down, so that we can lift others up, as Jesus lifts you.

Amen.

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