Friday Takes: The Poor and the Sinner

A Family in Distress, the job of the bishop, the UK Abortion Bill, A Bad Prayer, Some Notable Links, Some Poor People, Song of the Week, Read the Comments

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Bit late this morning because my enormous cat, Gloria, slept all night on my head and gave me a stiff neck. She does this every now and then, as a sign of affection, and also when the weather is even slightly cool. Anyway, now that I am sort of upright, let me rustle up some takes.

one

As I was mulling over the question of Bethel Church in Redding this week, I was also corresponding with a faithful reader of this blog, who said that her priest’s family is going through a rough patch. Their child has had to spend a lot of time in the hospital, and they are all worn out and stressed about money. A friend of theirs has set up a way to give. If the Lord so moves you, head on over and read more about what they’re up against.

two

I also happened to see a comment over on Facebook on my post yesterday, about the Church of England, in which I complained about the job description for the new Archbishop of Canterbury. I said that instead of looking for someone who is tuned into the “disadvantaged” and “marginalized” the church should look for someone who can preach the gospel to sinners. The commenter said, but “My Bible is full of references to the poor and what many would consider marginalized?????”

And I think my best thought at the moment would be, yes, of course, the Bible does have an enormous number of things to say about the poor of every kind. There are the materially poor, whom God in the days of ancient Israel, said there should be none of because of the open handed generosity he expected of his people. And there are the spiritually poor whom, centuries later, the Lord came, in the Flesh, to save and redeem. That’s when he said, perhaps sardonically, that we should give everything we have to him, as “the poor you will always have with you.”

There are so many ways a person can be poor, in body, soul, mind, and heart, in good ways and in bad ones. So, when you sidle up to the Bible and want to learn more about ‘the poor,’ you have to keep your wits about you to know what the Holy Spirit is going on about.

As for the term ‘marginalized,’ that is such a politically laden term that I don’t like to use it when reading the Bible. I like the word ‘alienated’ better. We all take a turn being an alien in a strange land, even God himself, who came to his own, and his own did not receive him. We want to be close to each other and God, and yet we are often out on our own, not willing to draw near by the blood of the cross.

To say that a bishop should be able, first and foremost, to preach the gospel to sinners before he concerns himself with the nebulous categories of ‘poor’ and ‘marginalized’ is to admit that the Scriptures are uncomfortably clear about sin. We are all bound together by sin. We all sin. We are all sinners. None of us are good, not even one. Our throats are all open graves and apart from the grace of God, there is no health—especially not spiritual—in any of us. This is a dire circumstance that renders us each poor, that needs a remedy that only Christ, out of the richness of his mercy, can provide. It’s called the gospel. It is the help the human soul requires. A bishop who won’t concentrate on that astonishing news won’t ultimately have anything useful for the poor and the marginalized either.

three

Speaking of the poor and the downcast, the alien and the marginalized, super sad to see the news pass by me the UK has decided to allow abortion all the way up until birth. What a catastrophe. I like what Bishop Strickland said best:

With sorrowful indignation, I condemn the vote by the UK House of Commons to permit abortion up to the moment of birth—a decision so barbaric, so devoid of conscience, that it defies the very notion of civilization. This is not legislation—it is legalized slaughter. It is the cold, calculated permission to tear innocent children from their mothers’ wombs at the threshold of life. What kind of nation, what kind of people, look upon a fully formed child and call her disposable? What kind of parliament declares open season on the most vulnerable and calls it “choice”? Let us be absolutely clear: this is murder. Euphemisms cannot cleanse this evil. The vote in Westminster is a grave offense against Almighty God, a moral descent into depravity, and a sign of a society that has lost its soul.

four

Matt sent me a terrible prayer that the Anglican Church of Canada has added to something called Alternative Collects:

Scandalous God, you sow weeds among the crop,
raise bread with impure yeast,
offer treasure without price
and cast a net that catches good and bad:
throw down our idols of purity and possession,
so that you might reveal in us your wide-branching love;
through Jesus Christ, the stumbling block. Amen.

Oh my word, what a jumble. And to think, they’re not trying to be ironic. This reminds me of when the previous bishop of Central New York tried to preach a sermon on that hymn, “Come, Labor On” only he got confused and mangled any sense of this verse:

The enemy is watching night and day,
to sow the tares, to snatch the seed away;
while we in sleep our duty have forgot,
he slumbered not.

Essentially, he confused Satan with Jesus, and left everyone baffled.

five

I have been diligently catching up on all the people I follow on Substack. I’ve been listening to this Podcast, which I love. And then I read this about the death of the West. And then, did any of you catch Hamish McKenzie’s hope that Substack will produce a garden of delights? And then, also, don’t miss this post.

six

I keep finding examples of poor people. Here is something to watch if you want to feel sick and horrified:

seven

And here’s a song for the week:

Read the comments below the line! Have a lovely day!