No strings   Worship with ZIon/Knox PC’s - August 28, 2022

Luke 14: 1, 7 - 14  ‘No strings’

A large church in both membership and size of facility, in a city like many others, assigned the job of ‘outreach’ to a new staff person. Another staff person, who had been working at the church for a few years, expressed their long-held wish to reach out to a government subsidized low rent townhouse complex, about 15 minutes away. A meeting was arranged between the two staff and the executive director of the chaplaincy organization already established to support the residents in the community, and a new Moms & Tots program was born, as per the needs identified by the executive director. The staff put out the call for volunteers and started developing content for the program.

Keep in mind that, as the folks in the housing complex had little money for life’s basics, they certainly didn’t have cars or even bus fare to come to the church. The program would be brought to them. However, meeting in a publicly funded building meant there could be no God-talk → no Bible study, no prayer, no overt lessons in the life & teaching of Christ, no conversations about the participants’ beliefs, in fact, no discussion of faith at all, unless the women attending the program specifically asked about the church or the faith of the volunteers & staff.

After a slow start through the fall, while the residents came to trust the church group, the program blossomed → there were craft days, cooking and baking days, & special festival days for New Years, Valentines, plus strawberry, apple, corn, & maple syrup seasons. There were outings & game days & Yes, the women in the complex DID ask about the faith of the church group and wonderful, candid conversations were enjoyed. In the spring, the church volunteers & staff arrived with a pickup truck with over 100 bags of soil plus plants to start vegetable gardens for 10 families, thanks to a generous donation from a local AA group. That Fall, the residents excitedly, & proudly, brought-in their harvest for the others in the group to enjoy.

For three years, the group developed & shared-in community; they were a trusted part of the ups & downs of one another’s lives beyond the weekly gathering; they gifted one another with the privilege of hearing personal stories; they cried together, but thankfully they laughed more. Over those 3 years, a few neighbours at war came to reconciliation & friendship; women in abusive homes received support & sanctuary from other women in the complex; women who had been called ‘stupid’ so many times they believed it, discovered they had gifts & could contribute to the lives of others; and the staff & volunteers who went into that low income project with charitable hearts, ready to give of themselves, received a lesson in struggle & deprivation & hope. They received warmth & love & joy & the blessing of being witness as the Spirit of God moved, connected & affirmed everyone there.

But Pharisees still exist, and eventually the leadership of the church decided a program that didn’t generate revenue wasn’t worth the hours of the ONE staff person still involved; they were instructed to end the program. The leadership had already cut the budget to zero after year 2; the remaining staff person had been personally covering the costs through the third year.

Christ may not have been talked about every week with the Moms, but His blessings were felt and His Spirit was at work. The Moms at the complex were so grateful for the church program that they initiated a mission to the homeless of that city, because many of them had been on the street in previous years. They approached motels & hotels & the local dollar store for donations of toiletries & mitts & scarves. They put together care packages and hand-delivered them to folks without shelter.

“Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed”, taught Jesus, right here in Luke’s Gospel. ‘Well, of course’, we think, ‘Of course we are called to attend to the poor and needy. That’s the Way of Christ’.

Seems obvious to us, but to the Pharisees, watching Jesus, let’s remember, and waiting for a slip-up, this was more proof of His dangerous, anti-Temple teachings. The Temple Law of the time confirmed their superiority by stating that the poor, crippled, lame and blind are cursed by God; they were the unclean and therefore, must be kept a-part from all good righteous folk, ie, the healthy and the wealthy who must logically be favoured by God.

This is classic Jesus; this is one of the reasons we love Him and one of the ways He is an ongoing challenge for us. He takes a cultural norm, in this case, the shunning of the damned, and flips it on its head – it is especially those who get pushed out to the margins that we are called to seek out & to give aid.

No strings attached.

No quiet agenda or expectations, no favour returned in kind, no gesture of gratitude, not even the peace of knowing they’ve accepted Christ into their lives. Jesus is very clear – you will not be repaid; you will be blessed.

However, our Lord & Friend takes it a bit further than an appeal for donations.

Who are the folks that you invite for dinner at your house? I invite family, dear friends, or people with whom I would like to become friends, or work colleagues – people I know and with whom I share a degree of trust & likeability. Does that sound familiar?

In what context does Jesus talk about these rejected ones? He’s in the midst of a dinner, in the house of a “prominant Pharisee”. He has just been instructing the guests on humility, and segues brilliantly into a conversation with His host about who he should be inviting – not loved ones & friends, not associates with or without status, not the folks with whom he’s comfortable, or those he personally needs to impress, but the very folks that the LAW declares to be unclean, that he may justifiably ignore. He is told to eat with them. In his house!

This passage isn’t about making our donation to the poor & needy and walking away. This is far more – Jesus is talking about forming relationship, about the mutual blessings that bloom with full inclusion in community, in our personal circles. Are we ready for that? Are we comfortable with that invitation list for our Labour Day bbq: the regulars at the food bank because they’re barely hanging on through this wild inflation; the dumpster divers at the back of grocery stores & restaurants that maybe we haven’t really noticed; those who live with arduous physical & mental health issues.

Very honestly, I can’t tell you that I’m ready to offer housing to a homeless stranger - it’s a scary prospect for a single woman. How do we, as a faith family, as the Body of Christ, reach out to include the folks who maybe make us nervous, or against whom we may be holding a bias? I don’t know who said it first, but my Dad would often quote, “If being a Christian were easy, then everyone would be doing it!” This is what Jesus wants for us, to experience the blessings of pure, unrequited generosity, love & grace in His Name.

Jesus asks quite a lot of us, but I believe that’s why He calls & gathers us into community, so we may support one another & engage in God’s purposes together. Is this His call for Zion & Knox, to be the welcome centres for the folks that the rest of the world would rather just ignore & push away? To be sure, we won’t be repaid – Jesus told us that. But we will be blessed – He told us that too! Jesus’ invitation list is worth more of our time, our prayer, our meditation. And while we discern His leading, we are held firmly in His love, no strings attached. Thanks be to God, Amen.