Growling

I really love when our Bible Studies toss out ideas and thoughts that allow me to tie them into my sermons. I mean, I would like to say it was planned by me but I know the Holy Spirit was working in and through the study and my sermon thoughts. For those that don’t know, we are currently going through Rev. Adam Hamilton’s study titled Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived it. It is a look at John Wesley’s, the founder of Methodism, life and how he went through a personal revival with the hope of bringing about a revival within us as individuals. John Wesley never had the goal of creating a new denomination but desired a revival within the Anglican Church, which he was ordained and served as a minister. In fact, while John started Methodism he was never a Methodist member of the denomination. But, John desired that the church truly return to following the teachings of Christ and change their ways.

This led John and his group of Methodists, the name came from their methods of studying scripture and literature to grow their knowledge and spirituality, at Lincoln College to begin to work on Social Issues of the time. Which has led me to a sermon series for the month where we will delve into some of the social issues that our community and world face. See, the Methodists of Lincoln College would reach out to families who were hungry and provide food. They would visit prisoners on a regular basis to offer them hope through Jesus. They would give money to the homeless to help them find food and shelter. He was willing to see Social Justice Issues and Evils on a different level and speak out agains them. He did not remain silent in regards to these issues. I honestly believe that John Wesley would agree with both Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King Jr. when they spoke of silence.

Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” To give you a little background on Bonhoeffer, he was a German pastor and theologian, who was born in 1906 and passed in 1945. He spoke out against the Nazi regime. He spoke out so much against Nazism that they arrested him and sentenced him to death. But Bonhoeffer did not remain silent in the face of evil and Social Injustices. Then Martin Luther King Jr. said “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Wesley, Bonhoeffer, and King would not remain silent about the Social Injustices of their times because they knew silence was just as evil. Friends it is time for us to stop remaining silent about the issues that exist today and we will discuss those this month. I ask that you remove your preconceived ideas and stereotypes as you prepare for each Sunday. Because sometimes we bring those ideas in and we missed the major point.

So, what does Growling have to do with Social Justice issues and Wesley, Bonhoeffer, and King? And what does all that have to do with our text from Matthew chapter 5 verses 1-12? Well, let’s turn to our scripture for this morning and for our series. We will dive into the scripture each week to talk about these issues. So, join me now and here the opening to Jesus’ sermon on the mount.

Matthew 5:1–12 CEB

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up a mountain. He sat down and his disciples came to him. He taught them, saying: “Happy are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. “Happy are people who grieve, because they will be made glad. “Happy are people who are humble, because they will inherit the earth. “Happy are people who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, because they will be fed until they are full. “Happy are people who show mercy, because they will receive mercy. “Happy are people who have pure hearts, because they will see God. “Happy are people who make peace, because they will be called God’s children. “Happy are people whose lives are harassed because they are righteous, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. “Happy are you when people insult you and harass you and speak all kinds of bad and false things about you, all because of me. Be full of joy and be glad, because you have a great reward in heaven. In the same way, people harassed the prophets who came before you.

This opening to the sermon on the mount is typically called The Beatitudes.Many of us are used to the phrase saying Blessed are those who.... So Happy are people sounds strange and maybe a misinterpretation of the scripture but it is not. The Latin word used is “beatus” which means blessed or happy. Beatitudes means those who are blessed or happy. It is Jesus’ opening or greeting for his first sermon. He is acknowledging all those who are present while offering a prophetic voice. There is no explanation that goes with what he is stating just the eight statements. But, maybe it is a call for his followers to do something.

This week we are going to focus on “Happy are people who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, because they will be fed until they are full.” As I read this text I thought about how I said we need to be feeding the hungry in our community because they exist even though we may not see them. In fact, Carroll County Schools is a Title 1 school system. A school is deemed Title 1 based on the number of free and reduced lunches within the school. So, to have a whole system means the county meets the number to be Title 1. Now, what that number is, is a good question. I have searched and searched. During my searching I found some information that I think will help us to understand the need for food in our area.

I would put this on the screen but the font size was to small but through a report found on a State of Georgia Education sight regarding free and reduced lunches, I can give you a good estimate on numbers of kids who may only get one or maybe two meals a day. The numbers for 2019 in our area are pretty amazing, I do not know if that is the right word here. But, here they are the two high schools that the majority of the kids at Concord will go to are Villa Rica HS or Temple HS. Villa Rica has roughly 1580 students with 54.67% on free and reduced lunch, that is a whopping 864 students. Temple High School has 650 students with 57.26% on free and reduced which is 372 students. Think about that just between two high schools, 1236 students. Now Temple Middle has 438 students with 69.51% on free and reduced that is 304 students while Bay Sprins has 782 students and 56.91% on free and reduced which is 445 students. Then we look at the ES Ithica 739 at 50% which is 369, Sharp Creek 565 at 78.1% is 441, Temple has 543 at 65.61% 356, and Sand Hill has 783 at 55.07% which is 431. That is a total of 3582 students, children and youth, which may only receive one and if they are lucky two meals a week day. They might not get anything on Saturday and Sunday.

That is why the summer lunch program is so important. But, is it really enough? I hope you are saying NO! What can we do about this? I mean we do not live in a food desert like many others do. We have access to food. I mean you can go to two different Publix supermarkets, three Ingles, Walmart, plus the vegetables stands and farmers markets. We have access to a number of restaurants. It is not hard to access food for us. But, financially, these families cannot afford to purchase food for their children. They are struggling to make it by with what they have. There are families in the community where the parent or parents are working two or three jobs just to pay the bills and keep a roof over their head.

I mean think about how much your stomach growls as you get hungry. Think about the pain you may feel if you miss one meal. Wednesday night we talked about how John Wesley would fast for two to three days each week. I know I couldn’t do that, I get hangry if I am thirty minutes late for lunch. But, these children might go a day or two with very little food, not because they want to but because they have no choice. I’m sure their stomach is growling right now.

What can we do? Well, first is by supporting the local food banks. I know Bay Springs and Villa Rica HS have food closets. Let’s strive to keep them stocked. Just so you know, I was planning this sermon and series before Emily mentioned the collection, the Spirit works in mystery ways. The other way we can help is through speaking up. How many of you were shocked by the numbers? I know I was. I’m sure many others do not know the numbers too. Our silence keeps allowing this injustice to happen. It is time we talked about it more openly! What does this look like? I am not sure but know it is different for each of us. Crazy idea, maybe a community garden, maybe a fresh vegetable bank not just for members but for those children in need! Let’s start speaking out and working towards a way to stop the growling stomachs of these children in our community.