Whitegate, Little Budworth, Trinity 2, Proper 5, 9/6/2013
How would you define good religion? The New Testament book of James (1.27) puts it like this:
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
To care for widows in their distress - is a theme in our readings today: Elijah’s encounter in Zarapeth in which he miraculously brought food to a widow facing death through starvation, about to cook her last meal; and Jesus’ restoring to life the only son of a widow in Nain.
The care of widows in their distress is a strong theme throughout scripture; they represent the most vulnerable people in the society of bible times, for in a strongly patriarchal society a woman who lost her sole male breadwinner - a husband or a son - lost with them her only source of income, and would be thrown into desolation. Scripture is strong with demands that such vulnerable souls as these should be cared for, unquestioningly:
When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.
- says Moses to the people in Deuteronomy 24(.21), one of many such commands, and when he explained the ethics of the commandments which God gave him, Moses told the people,
17For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, 18who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing. (10.17-18)
Our God demands of his people that we look out and make provision for the widows among us - along with society’s other vulnerable ones, the orphans and strangers. And that we do so unquestioningly.
Now whilst we recognise poverty abroad, and applaud our Prime Minister’s initiative in hosting discussions this week with charities and companies, aimed at combating malnutrition in the developing world [1], our society finds it harder to deal with poverty at home. We find it difficult to accept that there are very nearby us, the equivalent of scripture’s ‘widows’, ‘orphans’, ‘strangers’, in our society today. And rather than seeking out the vulnerable and caring for them, our society denies their existence or their needs.
A major report issued jointly by a number of mainstream churches recently carries the title, ‘The lies we tell ourselves: ending comfortable myths about poverty’ [2]. It ‘lays bare six myths about the poor which enable the majority to live with the comfortable assumption that both poverty and wealth are deserved’:
One myth is that ‘They’ are lazy and don’t want to work: yet the majority of children in poverty are from working households. In work poverty is now more common than out of work poverty and there is no evidence to suggest that there are families in which three generations have never worked.
A second myth is that ‘They’ are addicted to drink and drugs: but while addiction is devastating for the families and communities touched by it, fewer than 4% of benefit claimants report any form of addiction.
A third myth is that ‘They’ are not really poor – they just don’t manage their money properly: whereas the experience of living on a low income is one of constant struggle to manage limited resources, with small events having serious consequences. Statistics show that the poorest spend their money carefully, limiting themselves to the essentials.
A fourth myth is that ‘They’ are on the fiddle: the reality is that benefit fraud has decreased to historically low levels - the kind of levels that the tax system can only dream of. Less than 0.9% of the welfare budget is lost to fraud, and if everyone claimed and was paid correctly, the welfare system would cost around £18 billion more than it presently does.
A fifth myth is that ‘They’ have an easy life: over half the British public believes benefits are too high, and churchgoers tend to agree. Government ministers speak of families opting for benefits as a lifestyle choice. The truth is that benefits do not meet minimum income standards. They have halved in value relative to average incomes over the last 30 years. And the ill and the unemployed are the people least satisfied and happy with life.
The sixth myth is that ‘They’ caused the deficit: some argue that increasing welfare spending is responsible for the current deficit. Public debt is a problem but why is it being laid at the feet of the poorest?
In 1753 John Wesley said, “So wickedly, devilishly false is that common objection, ‘They are poor, only because they are idle’.” Yet today church-goers and the general public alike are willing to believe that the key factors driving poverty in the UK are the personal failings of the poor – especially ‘idleness’. [2]
And what, again, does the book of James say?
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
We are not miracle-workers like Elijah and Jesus, able to call on the powers of God to bring food to the table of a malnourished widow, or to restore to life a widow’s only son. But we are able to take to our hearts the imperatives of scripture, to open our hearts to the poor among us. We are able to put our hearts to work:
To buy a little extra food and donate it to the Mid-Cheshire Foodbank, which feeds families in crisis, or to volunteer to work at one of the foodbank’s distribution centres in Northwich or Winsford [3]. To befriend the widows and orphans and strangers in our road, in our community. To support the letter sent yesterday to the Prime Minister from church leaders, pointing out that in recent weeks senior members of the Government have given out misleading and inaccurate information about people on benefits and asking for them to be corrected, and for an apology to be offered to those who were misrepresented. [4].
Today’s scriptures display support for the poorest and most vulnerable, at home, without prejudice. Elijah did not question the widow’s need for food by forcing her into a means test; Jesus did not hesitate to respond to the widow’s loss by asking for a doctor’s certificate.
The spiritual, and physical health of our country is strengthened when people of religious conviction embrace the values which the prophets of old, and our Lord, displayed.
Notes
[1] Cameron hosts world hunger meeting, BBC News, 8 June 2013
[2] The lies we tell ourselves: ending comfortable myths about poverty, Joint Public Issues Team of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church: overview and downloads here.
[3] Mid Cheshire Foodbank website.
[4] Bishops and Church leaders call on Government ministers to apologise, Methodist Church, 7 June 2013. Letter to the Prime Minister: PDF download.
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