‘It is a question of a fair balance’. Part of St. Paul’s
second epistle to the Corinthians is a begging letter. In it
he asks the new church in Corinth to give generously to an
appeal he has organised to support poor Jewish Christian
families in Jerusalem. This has been described as ‘Paul’s
Stewardship sermon’ – though it seems to me even more like
an early version of the Parish Share scheme. But before you
all start developing antibodies: no I’m not going to preach
a Stewardship sermon this morning. And yet we can’t entirely
escape from that notion of the Parish Share as a way of
evening out the differences between rich and poor
communities. It is a question of a fair balance.
Paul was fired up by two big ideas. The first was the
revelation on the Damascus road that Jesus had offered his
grace and salvation to him, Saul of Tarsus. As chief
persecutor of the Christian church surely he was the least
likely and the least worthy of anyone to receive such a
gift. And growing out of this experience was the realisation
that salvation through Christ Jesus is offered to everyone,
just everyone. ‘There is no longer Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave
and free man’. Christians were therefore called to strive
for justice and equity, but they were to do so not in their
own strength, but through the grace of Jesus Christ, who
himself became poor that we might become rich.
Just as Paul made this whole principle real by collecting
money for the poor in Jerusalem, we too have to decide on
what real practical steps we can take to promote justice and
equity in our world. In terms of sheer numbers the burden of
injustice is intolerable: so many people are suffering
because of poverty, disease, natural disasters, climate
change, war, religious persecution, and displacement and
migration. Going to the Christian Aid lunch today (and our
thanks to all who organised it) is one small way in which we
can respond to these overwhelming needs.
It is said that charity begins at home. It certainly
shouldn’t stop there: but on the other hand we can overlook
or ignore injustices right on our doorstep. We need to be
reminded perhaps that Liverpool, Knowsley and Manchester are
among the five most deprived urban areas in England (the
other two are Hull and Middlesborough). And as a retired
medic I get more and more concerned about the inequalities
and injustices in health in our country – what Margaret
Thatcher euphemistically used to refer to as ‘variations’ in
health. Life expectancy for instance is much lower among the
poor than in affluent areas, and in deprived communities
infant mortality rates are actually increasing. If you look
at a list of twenty-five common diseases, including cancer,
stroke and heart disease, the burden of illness is much,
much, greater among the poor, particularly in the north of
England. This means that more poor people are ill compared
with those who are wealthy, and that many more poor
individuals have to cope with multiple medical problems.
They do indeed ‘suffer much under many physicians’. The
causes of this excess ill health are many: among them are an
impoverished diet, substandard and overcrowded housing,
environmental pollution, lack of green spaces for recreation
and exercise, and the sheer stress of the struggle to make
ends meet. Whatever the causes may be, countless
disadvantaged people are sucked into a black hole of chronic
or life-threatening disease
This is a sermon, not a lecture, so we’d better leave it
there. But maybe I have said enough to convince you that as
a nation there is something seriously wrong with our sense
of justice. England in some respects is still a developing
country, still a country where much more needs to be done to
bring health, prosperity and well being to the poor, as well
as to the rich. As Christians we have to become a little
more generous - hearted in giving our money and taxes to
deprived communities, and bolder and more confident in
speaking out for the poor and the disadvantaged.
It is a question of a fair balance. And if a fairer balance
is to be achieved, at home or globally, we can’t achieve it
in our own strength. Our efforts can only bear fruit if they
are done in the name of the One who was rich, but became
poor for our sake, and blessed by His grace.