In Christ alone

This morning I heard on the news that today was the most depressing day of the year for people. Apart from it being a Monday and the bad weather, it was the day when credit card bills from Christmas would start to come through, the day when the excitement of Christmas had really worn off and the day when we looked forward to perhaps a couple of months of dull days.

But yesterday when people were leaving Church and the subject of the weather naturally came up, there were quite a lot of people who also recognised how fortunate we are here to not have been hit by as many problems as many other places.

It is a good thing to recognise our benefits, and to offer our prayers and thoughts for those less fortunate than ourselves. And in our readings this evening we are given some advice about doing this. In the gospel (Matt. 5:13-16)we are told that we are the light of the world. In other words it’s really up to us to share some of God’s light and his love out into the world which we serve.

And in the Old Testament reading from Isaiah (58:3-11), he tells us a little bit about doing this. He talks of loosening the bonds of injustice, letting the oppressed go free – and to do this we must share our bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into our house, cover the naked when we see them… If we do these things we are told that our light shall rise in the darkness, and our gloom will be like the noonday.

I don’t know how true it is about today being depressing – with Cardiff Blues victory yesterday I can’t imagine any sort of depression !!! But it is true that there are people for whom every day is a struggle, and we must be there acting as a light in their lives.

As we go back through history we find that nearly every revolution began as a follow up to another one – there was war in America, bringing revolution in France, leading to trouble in Ireland. The First World War contributed to the Russian Revolution. The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of apartheid in South Africa happened at similar times.

And 4000 years ago Isaiah was giving a pretty good analysis of why revolutions happen – that is because people are held in oppression, people perhaps don’t have enough food and people fail to have hope in the future…

Revolutions so often begin with queues for bread and empty food shelves… Isaiah understood that. He saw, perhaps not literally, but he saw the dangers of people starving. He saw the dangers of people living without a concern for their neighbours.

‘Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the homeless poor, clothe the naked…’

Today as we look around there are plenty of hungry people. People literally hungry for food – many in far distant places, but some who are much closer to home. There are plenty of homeless people, not just in the big cities of our country, but again much closer to home, and there are plenty of naked people.

They are the people who stand in the job centres, who turn to drink because they can find no other solution to their problems. They are perhaps the beggar on the street, who has lost every bit of dignity in themselves… the naked are all around us.

And we are not just encouraged to do something about it –we are commanded by God himself to go and do something about it ! There was a story about a Christian preacher who was speaking at speakers corner in Hyde Park, and he was asking his audience questions – he pointed to people. To one he said ‘if you had two homes you would give one to the poor wouldn’t you ?’ Yes, replied the man. ‘If you had 2 cars you would give one to the poor wouldn’t you ?’ Yes, said the man. ‘If you had 2 shirts you would give one to the poor wouldn’t you ?’ Yes of course replied the man increasingly inspired by the speaker… And then he said, ‘Wait a minute – I’m not so sure about that – I’ve actually got 2 shirts’ !

We are not called to give in theory but to give ! This morning in the school assembly in Afon y Felin I spoke about Paul – on Friday in the Church calendar we celebrate the conversion of Paul. He had everything in his life prior to accepting Jesus – he had money, he had power, he had probably a nice home and servants who would do anything for him, but I wonder whether anyone really cared for him, and whether he cared for anyone else.

Because part of our make up as humans is to enjoy being cared for, and enjoying caring for others. Paul gave up everything to follow Jesus, but he found everything that he ever needed… Tonight we’ll sing the beautiful hymn ‘In Christ Alone’. And we are challenged to live out those words in our lives because living for Christ means caring for his people, all his people, and trusting in him to supply everything that we will ever really need... AMEN