Somalia; Matthew 7:1-14

 

Rev. George Miller

Feb 5, 2023

Matthew 7:1-14

 

Last week you heard my confession about prayer.  Today, another confession- often, I believe that I and I alone am inspired by the Holy Spirit.

 

It's narcissistic for sure.  My brain operates in such a way that inspiration comes immediately, unplanned, fully formed.

 

To say “The Holy Spirit inspired me,” feels special.  BUT when someone else says it- it sounds crazy, like “Yeah, sure.”

 

Sometimes people will share an idea that makes all my synapses charge and I’m like what “THAT’S the Holy Spirit.”  Other times I’m like “No.”

 

A few weeks ago at the Shepherd Pantry, Clay came to me with a little piece of paper, so polite, so gentle.  He suggested that I or the church may be interested in it.

 

The paper said UNICEF appeals- Somalia. 

 

My 1^st thought was “Somalia?  Haven’t heard about them since the 1990s!”

 

What I said to Clay was “Thanks, but we already have organizations and countries we’re looking into.”

 

My thinking was that there’s only so much a congregation can care and do anything about, otherwise everything falls apart.

 

But a commitment was made to Clay- let me think about what can be done and how this can be shared.

 

Pulled up UNICEF’s page on Somalia.  Hit with the devastating headline- “Humanitarian Action For Children.” 

 

Conflict and disaster has affected children with issues of water, sanitation, nutrition, education.

 

Needs from drought, COVID 19, ongoing conflict, displacement and other infectious diseases.

 

People in need= 7.7 million.

Children in need= 5.1 million.

Girls/women in need= 4.4 million.

Funding in need= $272.3 million.

 

I stopped reading right there.

NOPE!

It seemed too large.

Too insurmountable.

Too unrealistic to make a difference.

 

Now, Defeat the Deficit- that is a finite amount we can do.

 

Haiti- that’s an island where we can personally affect the lives of 50 children at a time.

 

The irrigation system is something that hospitality knocked out with well-made meals.

 

But to play a role in a country none of us are connected to?  To think we can make a dent in $272.3 million? 

 

To think we could make any difference in the lives of 5.1 million children we’ll never meet?

 

NOPE.  Nada. No way.  It felt too hard, too much, too heavy.

 

And dang if Jesus from 2 thousand years ago reached out through space and time to say these words-

 

“Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?” …

 

“Do to others as you would have them do to you…For the gate is narrow, and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

 

There is no doubt that Clay in his humble gentleness, in that scrap of paper he entrusted me with, was inspired by the Holy Spirit.

 

There is no doubt that what Clay did two weeks ago was remind me that I am not the only one the Holy Spirit speaks to.

 

And amid us trying to keep Emmanuel financially afloat, The Shepherd Pantry guests fed, folks in Haiti and Biloxi cared for,

 

Clay had the spiritual, compassionate, Christ like audacity to say “There are children in Somalia saying ‘Help help help.’  Is there something we can do?”

 

The only answer I can give right now is “I honestly don’t know.”

 

Honestly, what can we do?  Should we do?  How do we do it?  Why? 

 

Clay- you have put Emmanuel and me in a place in which the gate is narrow, and the road is hard.

 

Yet that’s what Jesus taught.  That’s what Jesus himself did when willingly took the journey to the Cross and became Christ Crucified.

 

Emmanuel UCC has a history of being a church in which the gate has been narrow and the road is hard.

 

Just our very existence on January 11, 1990 to be a progressive presence in rural Florida.

 

Our choice to call Rev. Barbara Laucks, when all the other pastors in the community were men.

 

Calling me in 2010 even though we immediately lost 19 members.

 

Talk about narrow gate and hard road.

 

Yet you did it.

 

The full year it took to open the Shepherd’s Pantry.  You did it.

 

Faithfully dealing with having a possible sexual predator in our sanctuary- we did it.

 

Being the only church to do anything for Pulse, Parkland, George Floyd, PRIDE- we did it.

 

Partnering with Mount Zion AME, Ride Area SDA, Bible Fellowship, UNITY and Union- we did it.

 

Having the compassionate wisdom to become Open and Affirming to the LGBTQ Community.

 

Building a community garden that anyone of any ability, physical or developmental can use- we did it.

 

Going to Biloxi during a pandemic and a hurricane- we did it.

 

And we are still here.  And there is no doubt that it has led to life.

 

So Clay, I don’t know what we can do about Somali. 

 

No inkling what the Holy Spirit has planned or what it will look like or who would even oversee it.

 

But you have been guided by the Holy Spirit to bring their 7.7 million people to our attention, and we cannot act deaf or blind or ignorant about it.

 

So the question is, what do we do?

 

The question is not what Jesus would want us to do.  Because Jesus already told us.

 

“Is there anyone…who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?...Do to others as you would have them do to you…”

 

“…For the gate is narrow, and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

 

Clay has placed a road before us.  How do we walk this path?  Let us be curious and joyfully waiting to see how the Holy Spirit will inspire us.                            Amen and amen.