Compassion Drift: Growing our Hearts for People who are Poor

 “Compassion Drift”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, April 27, 2014

Text: Deuteronomy 15:7-11 // Series: (UN)INTENTIONAL

Good morning.  How many of you have these little wind-up robot toys around you house?  I had a little wind up robot growing up – loved the thing.  I’m sure if I kept it, I could sell it on e-bay or Craigslist for… I’m gonna say 30 cents!  Well today we are launching into a brand new spring teaching series here at Jericho and you can see up on the screen that our mascot for this series is a little toy wind-up robot.  He’s kinda cute   

If you are anything like me, some areas of your life fee like that little guy up there.  You wind them up and they go along great for a little while.  But then, after a while, they just wind down.  Things that we were once passionate or excited about now fade away.  This is very natural and normal.

But the challenge is often that we let really good things wind down in our lives and we get complacent and busy and we forget to wind them up again.  The commitment we made at summer camp to speak up for our faith to our friends at school is gone by the time September rolls around.  The New Year’s resolution to get our finances under control evaporates by the time our January credit card bill arrives in the mail.  The idea we had to read the Bible intentionally through Lent disappears two weeks in when some good TV comes on and crowds out that time slot.  We wind up, we wind up but life conspires to wind us down. 

It is a very real challenge to keep the right things wound up in our lives so that they move us along.  So this spring, we want to kick off a conversation on how and why we might wind up areas in our lives individually and corporately.  Areas that, without attention, will simply and naturally wind down.  We’ll be talking about very practical and daily things like time, and money and friendships and we are calling the series (UN)INTENTIONAL: learning to live with purpose.  Because we want every person around Jericho to begin to ask God what areas of their life have perhaps begun to drift and make a series of small or large commitments to recapture intentionality this spring.     

 So let’s dive in!  We begin today with a topic that I have begun to wrestle with more acutely over the course of the past couple of years.  That is the question “how do you maintain an intentional heart of compassion for people who are on the margins?  How do I gain and maintain God’s heart for those who are under-resourced or impoverished?”

My own personal story here stretches back to my family of origin and my early experiences with and perceptions of people who were poor and I suspect yours does as well.  I grew up in Northeastern BC in the oil and gas patch.  We grew up amongst a whole town of hardworking farmers and they didn’t seem to have a whole lot of patience for people whom they perceived needed to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.  I’m sure there were people who were poor in our town, but I don’t remember seeing them very often.  They were mostly hidden from view.  Part of that could be because it’s hard to be a person who is homeless at -40!  I would describe this phase of my interaction with the poor as “outa-sight, out of mind”.

Heart Phase 1 – Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Then, when I was a teen, we moved to suburban Toronto.  But not just any part of Toronto.  We moved to one of the wealthiest suburb, the town of Oakville. Now we didn’t live in a big house, but we were surrounded on all sides by them and people who seemed to have very large incomes.  I was attending a private school and I was part of serving teams there and a general pattern emerged: we would leave our suburban affluence and go to the places where the poor were. Usually this was downtown Toronto but it also included oversees work in places like Cuba, Estonia and work on First Nations reserves on Hudson’s Bay.  But at the end of these stints, we would come home.  And when you get home, sure your life is touched.  You usually experience a sense of gratitude for what you have compared to the people you were serving but after a while – sometimes days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months - this feeling goes away.  And whatever heart of compassion you had, winds down.  Essentially, what I found myself doing – however well intentioned – was parachuting in to “do my bit for the poor” and then I would happily parachute out to a warm bed, a hot shower and three square meals a day.  I felt less guilty about the poor because I was serving the under-resourced, but I’m not sure that I really had a heart of compassion for people who are poor.  This phase might be described as NIMBY – I’ll serve the poor, so long as they are “Not In My Back Yard”. 

Heart Phase 2 – N.I.M.B.Y. (Not In My Back Yard)

Well, fast forward to 9 years ago when we planted Jericho Ridge.  I would go for runs in and around Willoughby and I would see people who were moving into abandoned acreages or pushing their shopping carts up the hill of 200^th Street or standing in the medians asking for money.  And I would jog on by in my $100 running shoes and my dry fit gear and it began to bother me more and more that I seemed to care more for impoverished people in other countries than I did for people here in my own city.  It began to bug me that I couldn’t name a single person who was under-resourced.  The category existed for me, but it was a category, not a set of relationships that was a meaningful part of my life in any way.  And then over the past 2 years, this has begun to get wound up in my heart even more as our family spent time in Tanzania in East Africa, getting to know people who live in abject poverty and seeing the effects of malnutrition and getting to know the names of kids whose lives are so different than yours and mine.  I was getting much more personally connected with the poor 

Heart Phase 3 – Personal Connectivity 

This really came home for me when I was in Dar Es Salaam two years ago teaching the Bible to a group of adults, most of whom have albinism.  And I was teaching on the story of the Lepers who returned to say thank you to Jesus.  And I kept saying “the lepers this & the lepers that” and they kept gently correcting me “Pastor Brad, don’t you mean the person with lepers?”  No I said, I meant the lepers.  No, they gently pressed me. “I think you want to put the person first and their condition second.”  And in that moment I realized that my friends in Africa understood something powerful that I had missed.  I had not been putting the person first and their socio-economics or race or even their disease second.  And it is something that God is still working on in my heart.  I need to continually go through the process of choosing to grow in knowledge

-      Intentional Education – informing myself about the issuesas opposed to keeping my head in the sand.  Because you cannot care about issues you do not know about.  I needed to grow in…

-      Intentional Proximity – putting myself in situations where I could encounter and interact with people who are under-resourced as opposed to avoiding them or just parachuting in occasionally to help them when it was convenient for me to do so.  But you cannot care about things you won’t let into your heart. And I needed to seek out

          Intentional Relationship – to get to know people on the margins as people first and poor second.  To get to know their names & stories as opposed to simply talking in vague statistical generalities about the poor.   So maybe before we go a step further in our discussion today, I want to suggest an action step.  Some of you need to start with Heart Stage #1 – you need to avail yourself of a learning Opportunities [A call for Learning].  You need to open your heart, which means you might need to open your Bible as well as opening some good books or websites that will help you gain a deeper & wider understanding of poverty in our world.     

You see, concurrently with my runs through Willoughby, I continued to read my Bible and I was overwhelmed by how much God talked about His care for people who are poor!  I came to discover that there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible which talk about issues of poverty and injustice – and I had missed them.  Sure, I’d read them. But I hadn’t really paid attention to them and let their demands seep into my day to day life.  Even reading the book of Proverbs with our kids this past week, we kept coming across verses like 29:7 – “the godly care about the rights of those who are poor” or Prov 14:21 – “Blessed are those who help the poor”.  Jesus says in Luke 6:20 ‘ “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours in the Kingdom of God”. But the verse that intrigues me and has gotten me thinking about how I should live and act on a day to day basis is found in Deuteronomy 15:7-11.  These verses help me understand not only what not to do – God says you and I are NOT to be hard-hearted or tight fisted.  We are NOT to be mean spirited and withhold help that is within our ability to give. We are not to help those who are poor begrudgingly… But it talks about what I should do and more importantly, HOW I should do it.  God invites you and I to be generous towards those who are under-resourced, to lend them whatever they need.  To give generously and not begrudgingly because God cares about the heart behind the cheque, not just the amount on it.  And the result?  The Lord will bless you in everything you do.  That’s a pretty amazing promise to lay hold of! 

One thing I love about Jericho is that there are so many great people here who are deeply involved in the plight of those who are under-resourced around the world.  You met our team that just got back from Guatemala last month – any many of you here gave towards providing wheelchairs and houses and food and clothing for families who are in need in Coban.  I LOVE the fact that when applications are distributed this fall, the 2015 team will fill up again.  There’s a heartbeat of compassion in this church!  But I also love that it’s not just once a year cross-culturally that this heart gets expressed.  I want to invite up Joel Schacter to share a part of his story    with you.  Joel has been on our Elders team here at Jericho and he currently serves as a weekly volunteer and a board member at the Langley District Help Network, which is the charitable agency that runs the Langley and Aldergrove Food Banks.  So Joel, talk to us about   

1)   What got you started working with the food bank as a volunteer?

2)   What perceptions did you have about people who are poor when you started volunteering?

3)   What has changed for you? What have you learned about yourself?

Thank you for sharing, Joel.  You know, here in our community, the Langley Food Bank gave out over 2 million dollars in assistance last year!  Take a look at this Chart: Number of Hampers distributed by Food Bank by month in 2013.  Never a month less than 1100 some months, almost 1900 grocery hampers distributed!  It’s an amazing story of God’s people standing with the poor.  This brings us to our second action item:

A Call to Repentance

For some of us, we might be educated about the plight of those who are poor so we don’t need to pursue intentional education, but we may just need to pursue intentional repentance.  Because along with all of that information, we also possess attitudes that run completely counter to what God will hold us accountable to according to Deut 15.  This morning, I ask what’s in your heart that you might need to be rid of when it comes to the poor?  Action Item #2 - EMPTY Your Heart

          What prevents you from intentionally helping the poor? 

-      Apathy

-      Thoughts of superiority

-      No margin in your life (calendar, financial resources, abilities) 

-      Judgmental attitudes

I love Joel’s story and his journey from an attitude of “those people” to an attitude of generosity, recognizing the vast diversity of unique reasons and histories and experiences that might lead people to being under-resourced in our city and in our world today.  Here I love the words of Catholic social activist Dorothy Day who said

“The Gospel takes away our right forever to discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving poor.” (Dorothy Day)

My response to those who are poor cannot be to try and judge whether or not they are worthy of receiving assistance.  Will they make a good choice with the resources provided to them.  That call isn’t up to me to make.  If I refuse to help and the needy person cries out to the Lord, that will be counted as sin against me, says Deut. 15:9.  Don’t let a heart filled with judgmental attitudes towards those who are living in poverty prevent you from sharing freely and living with generosity toward people in need.  One of things that Joel’s story teaches us is that people who are under-resourced have much to teach us.  And so we need to heed the

A Call for Compassion [photo]  and ask ourselves:

What might my brothers and sisters living in poverty have to teach me but I am unwilling or unable to hear?”

Sometimes, you have to get on the ground – intentional proximity - in order to open up your eyes and your ears.  I am going to ask Ben Bueckert and his dad Darryl if they would come and join me here.  Ben…  you and your family recently spent time in Mazatlán, Mexico serving with La Vina, which is a compassion ministry of a local church there.  And you have some pictures you would like to show us.  Tell us a little bit about your trip.

[18 slides… Darryl to coach Ben through the stories]

Let’s thank Ben (and Darryl) for sharing with us this morning.  The thing I love about that story is that it provides a strong invitation for you and I to

3.  Let God FILL Your Heart with HIS HEART

You might feel overwhelmed and say “I don’t know where to start!”.  The starting place is the same for everyone on this journey.

-      Begin to pray.  Ask God how He wants to grow your heart for those on the margins and the under-resourced

I am not going to stand here and tell God wants you to move to Mexico for a season like the Bueckerts, or that God wants you to start a charity focused on rescuing kids in East Africa or that God wants you to join the team to Guatemala next Spring.  I don’t know the specifics of what God will whisper to your heart as you are open to Him.  I don’t know specifically what God requires of you, but I do know He expects every single one of us to seek justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with Him.  Which means that not only should you heart and my heart be open but our feet should be  

-      Be ready and willing to act when God brings someone across your path (carry granola bars or gift cards or $10)

There are families who carry a box of granola bars around in their car or purse so that when someone approaches them for food, they have a response.  Or when someone says “can you help me?” they are ready to respond with a “yes” or to direct them to the Gateway of Hope or the Food Bank.  Maybe today you need to get yourself ready to say “yes” when asked for help.  Maybe today you want to take a step and 

-      Get involved in a global project as a family

Many people from JRCC sponsor children or have a plan to spend some time cross culturally as a family.  Maybe today you need to stop talking and thinking about it and start saving for it and planning it.  Maybe you need to make room in your budget for people who are poor.  Give to a project – Lindsay Schacter is one of our supported workers who works for GAiN, Global Aid Network.  She would be more than happy to put you in touch with a project you could link up with.  Look for our annual Gift Guide – it’s not too late to invest in those projects.  Get involved – it changes your perspective when you are personally invested in the game!  Maybe you  

-      Find somewhere to hang out. Get to know the people there and let them get to know you (reduces objectification)

There are volunteer packets available at the Welcome Centre for the Langley Food Bank, pick one up.  Talk to Joel, talk to the Bueckerts about coming down in 2015 for a visit in Mazatlán…  Get to know the name of one person who is living in poverty and hang around long enough so they get to know your name. 

If you want us to help keep you accountable for a commitment you are making today, tweet us @jerichoridge. Use the hashtag #intentional

We are going to respond in song.  Prayer team is going to come and our goal in this time is to stand with you as you and I invite God to grow our hearts and our compassion for those who are in need around the world and here in our city.  I want to invite you to stand as we sing…  First song is a song of surrender and it invites us to offer our hearts to God so that He can fill them.  Because we want to act not out of guilt but because we have truly understood God’s heart for those on the margins.  The second song calls us to action.  Would you stand with me as we pray:

Compassionate and Loving God,

We praise you for the many gifts you provide us.

May we be mindful of those who go without, each and every day.

Help us to provide the resources needed for our brothers and sisters

Burdened by the suffering caused by poverty and oppression.

Let our work this day be a reminder of our interconnectedness with all your beloved children.

Open our eyes to see the needs of this community.

Cleanse our ears to hear the cries of the poor.

Anoint our hands and feet to be instruments in fulfilling your justice.

We ask this all through your Son, Jesus Christ.