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The
Fourth Sunday In Lent
Readings:
Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2: 1-10; John 3:14-21 In
John’s Gospel we read about God’s great love.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life.” That is amazing
love! A free gift!
A love totally unmerited by us! The ultimate example of love! The
kind of love that should take our breath away! It is the pattern and
model of the kind of love that we, as Christians, are called to show in
our lives. And it is
offered to every one of us. Does
that great love surprise you? Being
loved is always a surprise. The
very fact that someone chooses to love us is exciting.
It supports us in what we do.
It gives us new insight into our value as a human. Even when we recognize our self worth, being loved is still a
startling experience. "Are
we worthy of such devotion?" we wonder.
"Will it last?"
It
is no wonder then, that being loved by God comes as a great surprise to
us. Paul says that we are
created in Christ for good works. God
has crafted us in God's very image.
We are "works of art", part of a great masterpiece
crafted by a genius artist. How
hard it is to take in just how great that love is!
Yet there it is. How
much does God love us? God
loves us enough to have crafted us in that wonderful likeness.
Not one mold, but each unique and wonderful.
Each part of God's plan. What
love that is! Not some
Harlequin Romance kind of love, but genuine and real.
The kind of love that resulted in a work of love so great that it
is beyond our imagination. The
kind of love that transforms whomever it touches! Love
brings joy and happiness. It
also brings vulnerability. Love
is transformative. It is
the Christian way. God’s
love offers us salvation. It
is a gift from God, not something we earn.
During Lent we reflect on God’s love to us.
We prepare ourselves for Easter and the resurrection.
As
we draw close to Holy week we must begin to ask ourselves, how has
God’s love transformed my life? How
do I experience the love of God? How
is the cross a sign of God’s love?
But most of all I must ask how I can lighten the cross that
others carry. Many in our
own cities carry heavy burdens – the sick, the elderly, the
handicapped, the unemployed, the lonely, the depressed.
But the heaviest burdens in our cities are placed on the most
vulnerable, the many children who live with their families below the
poverty line in a country of great wealth. Our politicians take great pride in
assuring us of their best intentions when it come to doing something
about the plight of children living in poverty.
Let me quote what was said in the Campaign 2000.
“Ensuring that all children have a decent start in life pays
off in many ways. Building a nation in which children thrive is the
surest basis for giving all Canadians the best chance of achieving their
highest level of health and well being, and assuring a strong foundation
for sustainable economic prosperity” And yet, what is the reality?
The story might go something like this.
"Val is a young mother of two
children, Heather, pre school age and Russell just beginning
kindergarten. Val is a high-spirited, joyous individual who loves and
celebrates life and her family. But
Val is a woman whose more intimate reflections sound with the sharper
cutting edge of a survivor. Heather in gleeful pirouettes, dances
and claps her way round the front room as she mimics the movements of
her favorite children’s TV characters.
She checks on Mom from time to time to share a new discovery and
to make sure everything in her world is ok. Russell, all rough and tumble, chases
his best friend around the apartment.
Buddies, they shout and pull and tug at one another, like puppies
in a playful wrestle. Tiring of their sport they turn to Mom and beg,
“Can you take us out to play now?
You promised.” Val works hard at two part time jobs
for which she receives minimum wage and no benefits.
From her small income she must pay rent for their tiny apartment,
food, clothing, diapers, hygiene incidentals, transportation and
laundry." Apartment rents averaging more than
$750 a month tap into the food dollars.
Trapped between a low income and rising rents, Val is faced with
“the terrible dilemma of paying the rent or feeding the kids.” (The
Anglican, Johnson, Hutchison, Pryse, Jan.2005)
Using the local food bank, and weekly community church suppers
Val endeavors to supplement her family’s dietary needs. Surprisingly, the balancing act between
rent and living needs is not what causes Val the most grief. She is a
survivor! Val’s greatest
sorrow comes watching her growing children being deprived of the
simplest of pleasures…. Despite her hardships Val remains
strong, hopeful, but comments, “I don’t carry within me a sense of
being poor, but everyday, relentlessly, I deal with the reality of my
situation.” “Reports indicate that 1 in 6
Canadian children live in poverty.
In Ontario, 373,000 to 400,000+ live in poverty. In the city of
Toronto, poverty scars the lives of one child in three.
In York Region, 19,000 children rely on food banks each year to
ward off hunger.” (The Anglican, Johnson, Hutchison, Pryse, Jan 2006) There is nothing inevitable about this
sorry state of affairs. Child
poverty is a product of the choices we have collectively made about
allocating resources in our society, and about meeting the needs of
children and their families.” (Leave No Child Behind, SJAB, Apr.2005) What is being done by our government(s)
to support the children of families living on social assistance and low
incomes? After all, the
federal parliament in the late 1980’s resolved to end child poverty by
the year 2000. Here we are
in 2006, acknowledging that child poverty rates have remained virtually
unchanged. A National Child Benefit was introduced
in 1997. It provides a
supplement of about $125 per month per child.
But the provincial government then “claws back”, deducts the
money from the cheques of parents on social assistance or disability by
the same amount. (Leave No Child Behind, SJAB, Apr.2005) How are we, the people of God, to
respond to this issue? Should
we care? Are these social issues really the Church’s concern?
In our Sesquicentennial year, that wonderful hymn, “Lift High
the Cross” was used in a glorious procession as we entered the Dome.
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus again calls us as a Diocese to
lift high the cross and to unite with him. Where will Jesus’ call take
us? It is a complex issue. Most of our time and effort goes to supporting food banks and other band-aid solutions. Wonderful as it may be, it is not enough. We live in a complex society. The need is on too large a scale for individuals to handle. It is through advocacy that change will come about. This Anglican Church of ours in the Diocese of Toronto has already begun the work. In 2004 Archbishop Terence Finlay met with two key Ontario Cabinet Ministers, Children’s Issues Minister Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, and Community and Social Services Minister Sandra Pupatello, urging them to increase social assistance rates and end the claw back. (Leave No Child Behind, SJAB, Apr.2005) Bishop Colin Johnson made ending the claw back the focus of his remarks at a November 2004 press conference sponsored by Campaign 2000. (Leave No Child Behind, SJAB, Apr 2005) The Anglican, January 2006, with front page coverage, Bishop Colin Johnson, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, the Primate and Bishop Michael Pryse, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada allied their voices to call the people of God to challenge candidates to regard policies regarding homelessness, child poverty and HIV/AIDS as central to their political platforms. (The Anglican: Johnson, Hutchison, Pryse, Jan 2006) This
year the Social Justice and Advocacy Board will focus much of its
efforts on issues of homelessness, affordable housing and child poverty.
Our activities to combat child poverty focus on raising awareness
of the claw back. Our aim is to -
educate for action - the Anglican churches of our Diocese and our
community to encourage the government of Ontario to end the claw back.
How can we lighten the load of families
like Val and her children? God
calls us to “take up the cross”, to be the voice of the voiceless.
Let us live out that call. Let
us stand together bearing the cross and proclaiming Jesus Christ in our
broken world. Let us show
the love of God in action. Amen.
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