Readings: Jeremiah 33: 14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Today is the 8th time, within this congregation, I’ve offered a sermon to launch the Christian World Service Christmas Appeal. And, of course, that’s just during my ministry with you. The Christmas Appeals have been running since 1945 – all of my life time and a little more. Eight times we have considered together how healing and hope might be brought to the world. And then, of course, there have been countless other times – on the Sundays in between - when we have focussed on the unfair and unnecessary deprivation and suffering experienced throughout the world, caused by crippling poverty, unjust systems and oppressive structures – and Jesus’ call to change this situation. It all feels a little overwhelming – because if there’s one thing that’s sure, the poverty, deprivation and suffering have not gone away in those eight – or sixty-seven years. People still suffer, people are still treated unjustly, people still live in appalling circumstances in this world where, if resources were allocated fairly, there would be enough for everyone’s need – just not enough for everyone’s greed.
Within this life-time context, it’s possible that we might all feel just a little hope-less. “What’s the point of yet another Appeal?” Why preach another Christian World Service sermon? With poet Hayden Carruth, we might wonder whether there is any point in saying anything more about what seems a hopeless case... Carruth’s poem comes out of the US context – at the time of the American war in Vietnam. It’s entitled “On being asked to write a poem against the war in Vietnam”[1]
Well I have and in fact
more than one and I'll
tell you this too
I wrote one against
and another against
against the one
I was in
and I don't remember
how many against
the three
when I was a boy
Abyssinia Spain
and not one
breath was restored
to one
shattered throat
mans womans or childs
not one not
one
but death went on and on
never looking aside
except now and then
with a furtive half-smile
to make sure I was noticing.
Reflecting on Carruth’s poem, and writing for today – for this HIV-AIDS Awareness Day – yes, more misery and anguish – Art Ammann, who founded Global Strategies for HIV Prevention writes “Upon reading the poem I felt an immediate sympathy, realizing that I too was having difficulty in writing a commentary about the pain and suffering of HIV because Ihad written about it so many times before — and the pain and suffering was still there.”
Ammann continues “I haven't written any poems, but I've written many narratives about an epidemic that seemed so perverse and persistent, with the horror of HIV taking its special toll on defenseless women and children. “Surely God would hear their pleas,” I often thought. But I do not pretend to understand these things. I only know that in spite of the intensity of the pain and suffering, the people I met could only endure with a belief and hope in God.”
On this day on which we are invited to be aware of the way in which HIV-AIDS continues to devastate people’s lives in the poorest countries; and
on this day when we are invited to focus our attention on the way in which Christian World Service – particularly with its partners in Haiti, India, Fiji, Palestine and South Sudan – works toward healing and wholeness for the whole world,
on this day - we focus on that theological concept of hope. It’s a hope we’ve sung about
Never alone, though human error, turmoil or terror shake every bone,
hope is our song: hope that is joyous, born with Christ Jesus, where we belong –
It’s a hope that goes way back in time – belief and hope in God, even when life is held by the merest thread. The book of the prophet Jeremiah has, as its principal subject, survival. It is an attempt to come to terms with and move beyond the destruction wrought by Babylon’s three invasions of Judah and its chief city, Jerusalem in the 6th century before the Christian Era. This prophetic book “sears the soul, challenges the conscience, and promises hope to the wounded in body and spirit” [3]
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah
It’s this hope for justice and righteousness in the land, to which Christian World Service calls us this year. This year, the Christmas Appeal theme is “Save my Place: my place to till and keep”. We’re being asked to recognise “the powerful and profound desire for people to have a place to call “my place”. When this need is met, it provides security and hope. Deny this need to have a land or place, and the reverse is true. Despair and fear result. We see it in our shared Judaeo-Christian heritage, where the bloody repercussions continue in a so-called Promised Land where assumptions were made of ownership while indigenous inhabitants ignored. It’s part of our shared history here in Aotearoa-New Zealand. Land loss drove many European ancestors here, while for Maori the theft of land is still an issue.”
“Globally, this battle about owning land continues to rage. Land grabs are robbing people of their place to till and keep – in the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, South America and Asia. “My place” turns into ‘their place”, a modern scandal. Commonly owned land is being seized or sold into private hands. The equivalent of eight Great Britains, that is about 200 million hectares of land, has been land grabbed in the last ten years.”
“In Columbia, the UN reports that an area the size of Switzerland has been stolen from its rightful owners. In Uganda a farmer woke up one day to find his ancestral land had been ‘sold’ when the bulldozers began crushing his crops. Tragically, it’s a common story. Places ‘to till and keep’ are unjustly stolen again. Big business ... big agriculture is pushing small farmers out of the way for monoculture and bio fuels. CWS tells us that in a world where we grow 50% more food than we need, nobody should go hungry, or lose ‘my place’. [4]
On this Advent Sunday – on this day in which we focus on hope – we’re not just being asked to write another poem or preach another sermon; we’re not being asked just to speak about the atrocities of land grabbing – or the lack of medication available for AIDS sufferers in Africa; and we’re certainly not being asked to have a warm fuzzy hopeful feeling. As Christ’s body, we are being invited – encouraged - implored to be the Good News of Jesus Christ – to recognise the decisions we make in our lives can make a difference in bringing about justice and righteousness in the lands of this planet, our place, which we share with such a diverse community of peoples.
As Art Armann continues to work tirelessly for HIV prevention – and especially trying to reduce suffering and death for women and babies who suffer from this dreadful disease –he acknowledges that hope is not so much about waiting for God to intervene, as in recognising that God is waiting for us to intervene – to be the hands and feet, the hearts and minds of Christ, to bring about justice and righteousness for the land and its peoples.[5]
In spite of the overwhelming challenges, transformation can and does happen. People like Art Armann – groups like CWS and its partners – Churches like Knox are standing up to and confronting the massive injustices of the world. We have before us today, a banner and candle signifying Hope – to be joined by peace and joy and love in the weeks to come. Let’s not leave these lying on the Table as pretty symbols; rather let their images burn into our hearts so that we may join the way of Jesus - becoming the hope for the world – preparing a place of welcome in the land where all can live in justice and peace.
[1] "On Being Asked to Write a Poem Against the War in Vietnam" by Hayden Carruth, quoted in A Season of Difficult Hope http://www.journeywithjesus.net/index.shtml for 1 December 2012
[2] Shirley Murray “Nothing in all creation” Hope is our Song
[3] Kathleen M. O’Connor “Jeremiah” in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible 2003, p.1051
[4] Quoted from ”Save my Place” Christian World Service resources for 67th Christmas Appeal 2012
[5] Art Ammann “A Season of Difficult Hope” http://www.journeywithjesus.net/index.shtml for 1 December 2012 Art Ammann, the former Director of the Pediatric Immunology and Clinical Research Center at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco
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