“Holding out hope to others”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, July 21, 2022
Romans 15:1-13 (Forward, p. 84) CEV p. 1186
At first it may seem that the passage chosen for today is composed of two very different and unrelated sections, verses 1-6 and verses 7-13. Indeed, in many Bibles they were divided into two separate paragraphs. However, it may be seen, by comparing them together that they have a common theme. Both of them talk about hope, hope especially as extended to others.
The first section, to my mind, speaks of holding out, extending, hope to our fellow Christians. It speaks of bearing with them, putting up with them, even you don’t happen to agree with them. That means not putting them down or insulting or demeaning them just because you don’t see eye to eye on certain matters. (In case you’re wondering, this kind of put down occurs all the time in Christian circles, sometimes to do with theology or liturgy, sometimes to do with one’s stance on the Bible or some social or justice issue, and sometimes just in the matter of how things are done if they aren’t done ‘in the way you like it.’ I have seen people publicly labelled and demonized in a church setting simply because of a difference of opinion). And so, sadly, if you found the subject of such put downs, it would be easy to feel excluded and rejected and be disheartened by the whole thing and lose hope.
The second section speaks of offering hope to outsiders—in this particular case, to the Gentiles. However, it can easily—and logically—be applied to any person who feels themselves to be on the outside of the faith community. Here I think of the drummer in a rock band that I invited to church. He replied, “Oh, I don’t know what God would do if I showed up”. I replied, ‘Why don’t you come, and try Him.” However, in his words, I suspect that he was also wondering about the congregation as well, as he came across as somewhat wild and woolly and dishevelled. I’m afraid that lots of people inwardly feel that they would not be welcome in our church assemblies and so don’t risk the possible rejection by coming.
And yet, I think that God is calling us to offer hope, to extend hope, to all and sundry, regardless of who they are, what they do, where they come from, or what they believe. After all, that is what God has done for each of us in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Forward notes: “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (verse 7).
“Much of my work is with those experiencing homelessness in New York City. Over the years, I’ve been asked again and again, ‘What should I do when someone on the street asks for money?’ And over the years, my answer has stayed the same: ‘Give it to them.’
“It’s not a very popular answer. There’s anxiety. What will they spend it on? But the answer doesn’t matter. No one asks how we will spend our earnings before they pay us or how we’ll use a gift we’re given. When we meet a person in need, we should give what we can to help them make it through the day.
“Acceptance abounds in today’s scriptures, from the Israelites who find a new way to live with their neighbors [Joshua 9:3-21} to the psalmist’s gratitude for God’s forgiveness and faithfulness. Even when we are called to repentance, we know God’s love for us is steadfast. It enables us to try again. Just as our stories are not yet over, what if we could love the same way—with welcome for those we meet, however we find them?”
MOVING FORWARD: “What keeps you from giving generously?”
A concluding note: As a former social worker still involved with street people and those who are homeless, I feel that I must disagree. Sometimes we must act on behalf of others, take responsibility for others when they aren’t able to do so for themselves. One simply doesn’t hand over the car keys to someone who is already hopelessly intoxicated, and once again, you would never give the person a kind of food that you know the person is terribly allergic to and that could possible kill him or her. In both cases, the keys and the food, like the money, are neutral in themselves, and should well be a matter of personal freedom, but for the sake of that other—and community at large—you take that freedom away from them and act on their behalf. That is what Christian caring is truly about. Freedom isn’t everything; it stops when harms the person or someone around them.