I chose these texts weeks ago -- they are part of the readings from the Ecumenical Lectionary for the 23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time -- this 23^rd Sunday after Easter.  And I will tell you that I’ve had a difficult time with this “Simple Gospel” in this very painful, confusing, and conflicted week -- this gospel, I would suggest, that reminds us that “actions speak louder than words”.  I’ve heard two questions frequently this week:  Where is God in all of this?  And what can I do?  To those questions I would remind us of the Sunday morning question:  Given all this, what do these readings have to say to us today?

 

So where is God in all this?

 

One e-mail I received the other day as several of us were discussing whether to be involved with a prayer service or whether to emphasize prayer in our congregations and homes said, “Is anything more useless than prayer in the face of a catastrophe?  How can typical Christians reconcile their belief that their god is all-good and all-powerful with the heartbreaking scenes of devastation being telecast from Louisiana and Mississippi?  Where was their god?”  I also heard the suggestion, on the other side of the spectrum, making the whole experience a spiritualized nightmare, “Just everyone pray and it will be all right.”

 

Where really is God in all of this?

 

You all know the answer…God is here.  God is with us, wherever we are.  God is in the middle of our lives -- of all of us, in Grand Rapids, in Biloxi, or New Orleans, regardless of the experience, joy, pain, isolation, confidence -- God is in the middle of it all, and never lets go -- no matter how we feel.

 

But, beyond that, in this week, we can be sure that God is with and on the side of the poor.  That message is crystal clear throughout scripture.  We could put dozens of proof texts together to reinforce the message of scripture, for example: Isaiah 58.7 which answers the question, “What is acceptable to the Lord?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them.”  And there’s the very image of the incarnation and ministry of Jesus which put God’s presence among those who are poor, suffering along with them.

 

As I reflect on this week, it is clear who was most affected by the hurricane and floods.  Some 28% of the residents of New Orleans -- something over 100,000 persons in that city alone -- were living in poverty -- a number that is twice the national average.  For so many of them, even if they had a place where they could go, they didn’t have a car, they didn’t have money for a motel on the way, they didn’t have the bus fare, and even if they did, the buses stopped running late on Friday before the storm came in.  Many people, many motivations -- but very many of the people we see on the newscasts now were people living in poverty. 

 

We should never wonder about this.  This week, God surely was in the middle of the destruction -- suffering, if you will -- along with the tens of thousands of people that went without food and water and hope for days.

 

Understanding where God is begs the second question, what can I do?  For it is also a question of, “If that is where God is, then where are we?”  “What can I do” is a powerful question of faith and placement. 

 

For the gospel -- the Simple Gospel -- puts us in the middle of the situation too, “Owe no one anything except to love them” -- no qualifiers or small print.  Simply “love does no wrong to a neighbor; love is the fulfilling of the law”.  Surely that means that “love does right to a neighbor”.

 

At a practical level, it is very clear what we can do.  It is not different than what we are called to do every day -- that you do, every day.

 

Prayer, of course, is an important part of that -- here in this service, in our homes, in our Bible study and meetings -- a constant awareness of what’s going on around us and a discerning of what is our role and what it is that we can do to be faithful to the call of the gospel. 

 

And, in this crisis, as you so often do -- send a cash donation -- to any of a number of agencies, like Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.  Volunteer for the longer term -- the PDA web site is one of those where you can sign up for training to be sent into the region when the recovery phase begins, or maybe later on, consider sharing your home for a time.  Volunteer right now.  As I’ve said, the Red Cross needs volunteers to answer the phone lines this week --even for as little as a couple of hours; or, you can help out in the shelter that will be set up in the old West YMCA -- the Red Cross will train you; or, there will be opportunities to just sit with folks and listen to them.  After September 11, for months, people of faith went to New York to provide that presence.  This tragedy, which has directly affected hundreds of thousands more people, has brought them to us -- to cities and neighborhoods all over the country.

 

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor,” or “do right to your neighbor”.  Have you ever noticed how behavioral love is?  Even among us love is first of all a behavior.  You don’t know that I am in love, not even if I tell you, unless you see me acting it out -- particularly if you are the one I love.  Love is much more than a sentiment; love is something you do, something you show.

 

The gospel is, simply, love.  That’s not a new idea.  Today, it is clear from the scripture and it is clear from our lives in society -- certainly it is clear in so many ways of miracle and selflessness this past week.  It is clear in this service -- we celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.  A sacrament of the behavior of God.  A reminder of the “love in action” that God took in giving us new life in Christ; a reminder of the action that God took in giving us the power of the spirit, indeed, so that we can think and act like God.  That is what we say we believe.

 

But, I rather think that long term it may become more difficult to act that way, so it’s important to reflect for a moment on how we show love into the next difficult months.  It is one thing to respond to the emergency of the victim, with love.  It is more difficult to respond with love and understanding to higher gas prices or increased taxes to pay for a massive new infrastructure, or particularly, to respond with love to the lawlessness we have also seen.  We slip so easily from restoration to punishment.

 

Let me back up to the word from Ezekiel:  “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord.”  There are many things that can be said about this very difficult passage, but surely, it reminds us that God loves the sinner, the evildoer too.  God loves the looter too.  God loves the sniper too.    Where is God?  And where are we?  And what are we called to do?

 

It will be easy to call for retribution and punishment for the wicked.  It will be tempting to put all of our societal energy into isolating and excluding those evildoers in order to punish them and teach them a lesson. 

 

But, this is precisely the time for us, the community of faith, for persons who confess that we are united with and in Christ through the love of God to be very cautious and intentional in our response to the criminals.  For God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.  Even the Old Testament, so full of hell fire and brimstone messages, teaches under it all that God’s behavioral love is the model for us on which to build our society.  

 

It will also be tempting to get caught up in stereotyping and labeling and blaming of victims because they are poor or black, which has already begun.  Or, it will be just as easy for us to get sucked into blaming the government or each other for inadequate response, which has also already begun.  We will waste so much misdirected time and energy.  We go from positive to negative so quickly.  We have done it so many times before.

 

But, this is precisely the time for the people of the church to jump into this disaster, even as it shows up here in town, with as much love, and enthusiasm, and time, and energy, and money as we possibly can.  For “love is the fulfilling of the law”.

 

The word for the day is “love”.  Simply that.  Simple gospel. Gospel demonstrated by God at every turn of our lives.  Gospel that has a behavioral expectation of how we live with each other.  To reach out.  To relieve pain.  To walk with.  To restore.

 

And where is God?  In the middle of our messy lives helping us do just that.

 

In the name of God:  Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.