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Use me oh God to share your love and your truth. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be a pleasing aroma to you. 

 

I think that every single person knows how amazing Helen and Peggy are as people and as sermon writers and presenters! I am not them, but with God’s help and your understanding and support, I will muddle through my thoughts the best I can knowing that God can take anything and make it beautiful. 

 

With this being said, after reading the Bible passages once, it was clear to me that there was a strong theme throughout them. It was a theme about richness and poverty, independence and dependence and reputation. 

 

In this sermon I will look at each passage (not in the order that we read them) and tell you what applies to our church and ask you some questions to help you to think about how they apply to you personally. 

 

In the passage from James today, James is essentially saying to the church that he is writing to, don’t treat people better or worse by how they look or by how much money they make. In regards to our church, although it may not be as easy to tell the difference between these two groups of people these days as it was during Biblical times, I do believe, because I’ve seen it week in and week out that we don’t have to worry about this. In fact, if this was a report card, I’d give us an a and tell us well done! Many different kinds of people have been a part of our worship services and our community and I think that we all can say that we have made an effort to welcome and embrace all of them. At this church, we treat people according to who they are and how they act rather than what they do or don’t earn. 

 

In regards to acting, James goes on to say that seeing people as equals doesn’t go far enough when it comes to people in need. If we really love our neighbours as ourselves, we who can (and are wealthy) need to give to those in need in tangible ways. Praise be to God, we do well in this department too! We support local causes like Dover court and Spectrum Mother’s Support Society we have the rector and deacon discretionary funds which I as the parish administrator know are used wisely and well. As our passage from Proverbs states it, Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor, so we are blessed! 

 

So this is how I see we as a community treat people in and around us, and it matters not only to God but also the surrounding community. How people see us impacts how people see God. In our passage from Proverbs it says, “Choose a good reputation over great riches; being held in high esteem is better than silver or gold." The world may say that we shouldn’t care what other people think of us, but God says differently. 

 

It is nice and I think easy to give when things are going well. I think that almost everyone, wants to have this kind of reputation. But what about when things aren’t going well? Do you have a reputation for asking for help from others when you need it? For asking for help from God? 

 

In the psalm for today, the writer tells us that our trust (our posture of humility and dependence) in God defines our security- it gives us the same stability as a mighty mountain. I think that everyone wants to feel this kind of stability, but does this describe you? Where do you put your trust? What do you rely on? In yourself? In wealth? In others? Your thoughts and words are one thing but what about what other people see? What does it look like? 

 

In our gospel reading today, we are shown two healings. In both, the sick people’s loved ones  beg for Jesus’ help. We don’t know if they are wealthy or poor but we know that they are spiritually and emotionally poor. They know their need of God for their loved ones and they don’t care what they look like to those around them. Is there a problem in your life that you’re too prideful to beg for God’s help? What about others help? What does this look like?

 

 For those of you who don’t know, my name has been on the “prayers for healing” list in the bulletin for over 10 years. This is because I have Lyme disease and it causes lots of problems in my body and my mind. Do I think that I’ll ever be cured from it? I don’t know, but I do believe in others’ prayers. For a few years, I almost died but I am so much better today. I also believe that God loves me and sees me as valuable. I will keep my name there until I truly know and believe that I’m healed. 

 

Part of the gospel passage for today is about what we believe Jesus thinks about us. When Jesus says to the gentile woman who begs him to heal her demon-possessed daughter, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.” Isn’t he really asking her, “do you as a non-Jew, think that you are deserving of my food”? And when she says, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” She is saying yes, even though we may not be God’s first priority, my daughter and I are worthy because we, like the children, are made by you and are dependent on the true bread of life that only comes from or is you. And Jesus says in response, ““For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” In other words, he says that their belief in him and themselves is correct. They are worthy of his food and her daughter is worthy of healing. Do you believe that God loves you for who you are and that you’re worthy of his food and able to be healed?

 

To summarize, we as a church are wealthy, relatively speaking, and we give to the poor. We don’t discriminate people according to their wealth or lack of it, so we are blessed by God. This gives us a good reputation in our community, which is better than wealth. Because of our circumstances, it is more challenging for us to accept help from others and to see our poverty in relation to God. The ultimate truth is that we’re all dependent on God for both our physical and spiritual health. And when we recognize this by trusting God both in the good times and bad times, with our mind and our bodies, we will feel the stability of a mountain and the security of being surrounded by mountains. Amen.