Matthew 25:35-40 (NIV)
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
These past months with COVID-19 have brought interruption, disruption and loss to many of our lives. For most it has been a time of worry and fear and powerlessness. Some of us have had to reconfigure our lives around work and home and family. For a few it has been a gift of time to live our lives in a different way.
But most of us long for a return to normal, the life we were living before COVID-19. When we could travel, shop, visit, hug and go to church and community functions without worrying about distance, without the fear that you or someone you love could be infected with the virus. We just want our lives back.
And then in the midst of the outbreak the cracks in our society started widening: first it was the long term care centres, then it was noticed homelessness was a real problem, then people with addictions were dying in greater numbers, poor people in poor congested neighbourhoods were more likely to contract and spread the virus, and visible minorities were being attacked. Then other things began to become prominent in our collective consciousness (or at least in the news): the death of George Floyd in the United States did not become a hidden statistic but a symbol and a rallying cry around the world against systematic racial discrimination - events that followed in Canada emphasized that Canada is not exempt from such behaviour and its consequences.
Increasingly our frame of reference is shifting: although we have been aware that gas “gouging” in the Powell River area has been evident in recent years, our concerns over food availability at reasonable prices and affordable housing costs are rising. The economy of our area and our country is fragile and people’s lives and livelihoods are being pushed to the limit.
I don’t know what normal you are hoping for but the old normal that hid problems, pushed them aside or eradicated them altogether with rhetoric
that proclaimed something was being done or would soon be done. That’s not the normal I hope for.
I want (my greatest hope) is that we have learned a lot from this interruption in our lives - that it becomes an opportunity and that a new normal will prevail. A new normal where the fragility of human life is put first - so that care not cost or profit is the foremost concern of long term and respite care, so that safe drugs are available and the homeless indeed have safe and secure places to sleep and put their possessions, so that people and families have enough to pay for both for rent and food. And I want things to change because no one deserves to be called names, attacked or abused in any way because of the colour of their skin, their religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation- ever!
In Matthew 25:35-40 passage we have a taste of how interconnected we all are: we are all brothers and sisters - we are all family- we are all called on to notice the need of others. This passage is a template for a vision of society in which people with a good heart, a compassionate heart, have an effect on the policies and rules which govern our society.
We know the problems which surround us, we know that those problems can be addressed and indeed many of them have been, but will we, as individuals and a society, have the courage and fortitude to not to fall back into turning a blind eye and leaving it up to others to work out. This passage in Matthew says it is our responsibility to notice, to learn, to be open to changing our minds and our hearts because that person - that one - is your brother and this one is your sister.
Think about it: What do you hope for?
Do you really want things to go back to normal?
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
These past months with COVID-19 have brought interruption, disruption and loss to many of our lives. For most it has been a time of worry and fear and powerlessness. Some of us have had to reconfigure our lives around work and home and family. For a few it has been a gift of time to live our lives in a different way.
But most of us long for a return to normal, the life we were living before COVID-19. When we could travel, shop, visit, hug and go to church and community functions without worrying about distance, without the fear that you or someone you love could be infected with the virus. We just want our lives back.
And then in the midst of the outbreak the cracks in our society started widening: first it was the long term care centres, then it was noticed homelessness was a real problem, then people with addictions were dying in greater numbers, poor people in poor congested neighbourhoods were more likely to contract and spread the virus, and visible minorities were being attacked. Then other things began to become prominent in our collective consciousness (or at least in the news): the death of George Floyd in the United States did not become a hidden statistic but a symbol and a rallying cry around the world against systematic racial discrimination - events that followed in Canada emphasized that Canada is not exempt from such behaviour and its consequences.
Increasingly our frame of reference is shifting: although we have been aware that gas “gouging” in the Powell River area has been evident in recent years, our concerns over food availability at reasonable prices and affordable housing costs are rising. The economy of our area and our country is fragile and people’s lives and livelihoods are being pushed to the limit.
I don’t know what normal you are hoping for but the old normal that hid problems, pushed them aside or eradicated them altogether with rhetoric
that proclaimed something was being done or would soon be done. That’s not the normal I hope for.
I want (my greatest hope) is that we have learned a lot from this interruption in our lives - that it becomes an opportunity and that a new normal will prevail. A new normal where the fragility of human life is put first - so that care not cost or profit is the foremost concern of long term and respite care, so that safe drugs are available and the homeless indeed have safe and secure places to sleep and put their possessions, so that people and families have enough to pay for both for rent and food. And I want things to change because no one deserves to be called names, attacked or abused in any way because of the colour of their skin, their religion, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation- ever!
In Matthew 25:35-40 passage we have a taste of how interconnected we all are: we are all brothers and sisters - we are all family- we are all called on to notice the need of others. This passage is a template for a vision of society in which people with a good heart, a compassionate heart, have an effect on the policies and rules which govern our society.
We know the problems which surround us, we know that those problems can be addressed and indeed many of them have been, but will we, as individuals and a society, have the courage and fortitude to not to fall back into turning a blind eye and leaving it up to others to work out. This passage in Matthew says it is our responsibility to notice, to learn, to be open to changing our minds and our hearts because that person - that one - is your brother and this one is your sister.
Think about it: What do you hope for?
Do you really want things to go back to normal?
