Deuteronomy 26:5-10
A wandering Aramean was my father; he went down to Egypt and lived there, he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon they became a great nation, mighty and many. The Egyptians abused and battered us, in a cruel and savage slavery. We cried out to God, who listened to our voice, saw our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight. God took us out of Egypt with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great, with signs and miracle-wonders. God brought us to this place, gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. So here I am. I've brought the first fruits of what was grown on this ground, O God.
2 Corinthians 8:5-13
This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives. That's what prompted us to ask Titus to bring the relief offering to your attention, so that what was so well begun could be finished up. You do so well in so many things - you trust God, you're articulate, you're insightful, you're passionate, you love us - now, do your best in this, too.
I'm not trying to order you around against your will. But by bringing in the Macedonians' enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, I am hoping to bring the best out of you. You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us - in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.
So here's what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart's been in the right place all along. You've got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can't. The heart regulates the hands. This isn't so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you're shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written,
Nothing left over to the one with the most,
Nothing lacking to the one with the least.
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This past week, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled, by a vote of 5 to 4, that the health care package proposed by the Obama Administration is constitutional. The process continues. It isn’t completely a done deal, but it’s just about there. Some interesting notes are the violent racist reaction to “Obamacare”, the accusations that he isn’t really American, that socialism is undermining the country - and in a really very sad commentary, Rush Limbaugh announcing that he will move to Costa Rica - except that they also have socialised medicine. In fact, most of the major modern powers have socialised medicine. It is Interesting to look back at some of the prior steps leading to such a process.
First, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, a series of economic programs implemented between 1933 and 1936. The programs were a liberal response to the Great Depression, and focused on the "3 Rs": Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression. These were either presidential orders or laws passed by Congress.
Second, Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, and was elected President in his own right, winning by a large margin in the 1964 election. As President, Johnson was responsible for designing the "Great Society" legislation that included laws that upheld civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, environmental protection, aid to education, and his "War on Poverty."
Here in Canada: Tommy Douglas, elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1935 as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party; who left federal politics to become the Saskatchewan CCF's leader and then the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961. His government was the first social democratic government in North America, and introduced the first single payer, universal health care program on the North American continent. After setting up Saskatchewan's medicare program, he stepped down as premier and ran to lead the newly formed federal New Democratic Party, the National CCF's successor party. Douglas was elected as its first federal leader in 1961.
...and we had Dr. Orville Hjertaas, a leading figure in the development of the health services in Saskatchewan, and one of the fathers of medicare. As a member of the Health Services Planning Commission, he helped organize the first two experimental health regions in the Swift Current and Weyburn areas in 1945-46. He played an instrumental role in the implementation of Medicare in Saskatchewan in 1961–62. As one of only two physicians willing to accept appointments to the Medical Care Insurance Commission, he served as its vice-chair. In response to the doctors’ strike, which he refused to join, Hjertaas helped establish the first of the province’s Community Clinics; under his directorship, the Prince Albert Community Clinic pioneered group practice arrangements as well as an approach to Health Care delivery which emphasized prevention.
Both our countries have always promoted ourselves as places of refuge and assistance. We both were founded, one way or another, on biblical principles of sharing and compassion. Much of Canada’s social policy was influenced by the churches - particularly the newly-formed United Church of Canada. Much of American social policy can be traced to the same roots.
Yet, along the way, many have forgotten that we were immigrants to this place. Our families came from elsewhere. Our ancestors came here full of hope in a new life. We did not get the things we have through our own hands, but through the hands of many people who saw promise in a new country. My grandparents on one side, made the difficult journey across the ocean, with seven children. They left difficult circumstances in northern England. When they arrived here, they were welcomed and helped to settle, by others who had also come here. My grandparents on the other side emigrated from Ireland and were able to find employment and assistance.
But there has also been a selfishness in our history. Canadians of Japanese descent, some second and third generation, were discriminated against simply because of their racial roots. Japanese, Germans and Ukrainians were at various times interned in camps because of their ethnic origins. In many cases the churches opposed the internment, but in many cases the churches also supported them.
When our earliest ancestors came here from Europe, they made the assumption that the land was here for the taking. Christian ethics and honesty didn’t apply in dealing with our aboriginal brothers and sisters; we cheated them of their heritage, and their lives. We have, through the years, assumed that what is here is ours and we have the power to give or take...and we begin to discriminate against newcomers on the basis of ‘we were here first’, except that we weren’t.
In recent years, in debates around immigration, refugees, health care and social benefits - in both countries - we hear griping about those who come here and live on welfare, when in fact most don’t. We behave as if all those who are poor are out to cheat us somehow. We bemoan the number of refugees who don’t work, forgetting that often they cannot until their refugee claims are approved. We gripe about the drain on our health care system, as if somehow we have more of a “right” to it because we were here longer. More and more refugees are being sent back, some to certain death in their home countries, for no better reason than prejudice. Fear and selfishness are replacing our generosity and open-ness; rudeness and bullying are replacing our compassion and care.
In fact, that is not a biblical nor a Christian attitude or response. The passage from Deuteronomy notes a person whose father was a refugee, an immigrant to another land; from a place of slavery to a place where it was possible to live and grow. They were commanded by God to offer the first fruits each year; but inherent in their faith was that no stranger would be turned away either, but treated as a welcome guest.
Paul writes to the churches in Corinth about radical generosity. Some Corinthian congregations had money, others were struggling. Titus comes up with the radical idea of taking the surplus offering and assisting the churches which had less. Some of these churches were new plants, many of them not Jewish congregations, some of them immigrant congregations. Here is Titus saying “the rule of the Gospel is generosity, so that all can share in all good things.” Listen again to the words:
“The heart regulates the hands. This isn't so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you're shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written,
Nothing left over to the one with the most, nothing lacking to the one with the least.”
Although I didn’t read Mark’s Gospel this week, it also contains a message and a challenge. It’s the story of Jesus going to see Jairus’ daughter, and healing a woman along the road. There’s been the sentiment circulating on the internet that health care is also biblical - Jesus healed people whether they were rich or poor, and didn’t draw lines of distinction. What he had was available for everyone.
All our biblical stories are meant as both comfort and challenge, but we have all too often managed to ignore the challenge part. Oh, we are generous in many ways, but we are not open about our generosity. On this Canada Day weekend, I want to remind us of something: we are a people blessed by God. We are a people who value all of God’s people - whether they are like us or not - no matter how much education they have - or how little - no matter if everyone calls them by their official titles - no matter if they have a big house or no place to call their own - no matter if their ancestors came here in the 1700's - or are one of our first nations - or if they came just last week on a container ship and claimed refugee status!
We are challenged by Jesus, a person who was able to turn a few loaves and fish into enough to feed thousands, with baskets left over. We are challenged by Jesus, who stopped to give medical care to a nameless woman, even while he was rushing to help the daughter of an important man. He showed in the clearest way that abundant life and healing was possible for both! We are challenged by the one who said that he came that all may have abundant life.
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Sources:
1. “When Need Gets In the Way!” A sermon by Rev. Beth Johnston, Kings United Pastoral Charge, Prince Edward Island
2. Information about Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Tommy Douglas and Orville Hjertaas taken from Wikipedia links. In the case of Dr. Hjertaas, personal recollection as well.
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