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Christ the King
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 20th November 2006
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Did you see the letter in the SCMP this week?
On Wednesday about "religious interference".
The writer said
• "I strongly believe that the world could be a peaceful place if it could be rid of religious interference – from East Timor though Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the eastern countries of Europe and all the way to Northern Ireland. Why cannot religions and politics be kept separate? Why should people suffer from interference from religion?"
I may not resist writing a response!
The writer appears to misunderstand the nature of religion.
Faith and politics are inextricably linked.
To start with, they involve people –
• and wherever there are people, there's politics.
Reflect for a moment on where you work.
Or remember those big family gatherings.
But also, religion has a lot to say about the way the world should be
• and how leaders should govern.
Leadership is central to the theme of this Sunday:
• Christ the King.
Christ our "servant king".
Jesus, a leader, who washed his disciples' feet.
Jesus who was killed by the Romans, the political power.
That newspaper letter said "the world could be a peaceful place if it could be rid of religious interference".
Rabbi Michael Schwartz said the opposite at a lunch at the Cathedral two weeks ago.
Rabbi Michael is from Israel –
• where religion and politics are twins.
He knows the situation there,
• yet he said that religion is a force for peace.
It's the best in religion that inspires people to peace;
• to see their enemies as children of God.
Last week I mentioned the wonderful, recent story in the Holy Land.
A Palestinian girl was killed by Israeli soldiers,
• but her parent donated the dead girl's organs to three Israeli children so saving their lives.
Sadly, terrible things are done in the name of religion.
Many people have enough religion to hate, and not enough to love.
But Rabbi Michael is right.
Faith can inspire wonderful things.
Desmond Tutu is an example – a former Archbishop of Cape Town in South Africa.
He was a leader in the anti-apartheid movement.
He said "How anyone having read the prophets could say, 'Do not mix religion with politics' is quite baffling. Which bible had they read? In situations of injustice nothing could be so revolutionary and so subversive of the status quo than the Bible and its prophets."
The Bible shows us God works for liberation.
The Exodus – the people of Israel escaping from Egypt is a political act.
God intervenes
• and takes sides with the oppressed, the exploited ones, the downtrodden, the marginalized ones.
He doesn't sit on the fence!
He took sides against the powerful on behalf of the widow, the orphan and the alien –
• classes of people who were often at the back of the queue, at the bottom of the pile.
Those people include the hungry and thirsty,
• the stranger and the naked,
• the sick and in prison.
The people in this morning's Gospel readings –
• the parable of the sheep and the goats.
Those destined for eternal life are those who feed the hungry,
• welcome the stranger,
• clothe the naked,
• visit those in prison.
It's a powerful message about faith and action –
• about how our religion calls us to help those in need.
And in today's world it is a political message.
Political because the hungry,
• the stranger (or the immigrant),
• those in prison
• are affected by global politics and economics.
The hungry of the world wait for rich nations to stop the politics and provide help.
Immigrants are excluded from the lifestyles and opportunities in wealthy countries.
People in prisons are suspected of terrorism even if there's no evidence.
Did you notice the beginning of the parable?
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory… All the nations will be gathered before him".
Today all the nations are closely linked politically and economically.
Hunger, sickness, prison are international issues.
The WTO meets here in Hong Kong in a few weeks.
Global attention will be on us.
The authorities are bracing themselves for demonstrations.
• Apparently there are no police holidays allowed in December.
Many people of faith have a keen interest in the WTO discussions and decisions.
A keen interest because their faith inspires their concern for the needy
• and the downtrodden
• and the marginalized.
A keen interest because their faith inspires them to be political.
Trade is an issue we are all caught up in.
Free trade and Fair trade is on the agenda of the WTO.
Complicated issues of subsidies to farmers.
Wealthy countries encouraging developing countries to share in free trade,
• whilst at the same time subsidizing their own farmers and giving them an unfair advantage.
Poor countries being able to produce goods at much lower cost,
• because their work force is so much cheaper.
One of my theology professors said that buying a banana is a political act.
When we buy a banana we support the trade of bananas
• and we affect the lives of the people who grow bananas.
Often the food we buy is grown in another country.
Often we when buy goods most of the money goes to the trading company, the middle men,
• and not much reaches the farmers and their families who live in poverty.
I've spoken about fair trade products before.
Products that give a better deal to communities in the developing world.
I've not seen fair-trade bananas in Hong Kong,
• though you can get them in supermarkets in England.
But there is chocolate.
Here's an example.
It's called "Divine – heavenly white chocolate with a heart."
It carries the Fair Trade logo which guarantees a better deal for Third World Producers.
It also says "a fair deal for cocoa growers" –
• in this case, small-scale farmers in Ghana.
Rigayato is a young woman in Ghana where her family has a cocoa farm.
Often small-scale farmers in developing countries don't have the power to obtain good prices for their produce in the international trading market.
One result is that children like Rigayato may not be able to stay in school.
But prospects are better for her family since joining a farmer's cooperative
• which sells cocoa beans to make chocolate like this.
Rigayato says
• "Fairtrade has changed my life –
• when we sell cocoa we can rely on getting a fair price for our beans,
• which manes I am able to stay at school.
• At harvest time I help cut open the coca bean pods,
• and profits made by the co-operative have paid for a village well
• and for machinery to improve our farms.
• On school days I get up at 4.30am and go to the well to collect water.
• Then I collect wood to sell by the roadside to earn money to pay for my breakfast and lunch.
• Sometimes I save and buy books.
• The cop-operative uses some of the income for education.
• So I am going to apply for a scholarship.
• In Ghana more boys get the chance to continue their education than girls.
• My dream is to be a scientist and to look for cures for diseases."
Free and fair trade very much apply to the parable of the sheep and the goats.
Buying this chocolate,
• or fair trade coffee,
• or many other fair trade goods,
• makes a real difference to the lives of the hungry, the thirsty and the naked in developing countries.
We can make a difference just by buying these products.
And you can eat them while you decide on whether to protest to the WTO.
Martin Luther King was another famous Christian who got involved in politics –
• the civil rights movement in the United States.
He said " Any religion that professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social condition that cripple them is a dry-as-dust religion."
I'd better write that letter to the SCMP.
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