The Critical 8% - Sermon 22 March, 2009

The Critical 8%

Some while back, I caught a few minutes of mid-afternoon radio. The host was asking listeners to call in and explain the meaning of life in five words or less. Winners would get an Ian Hannimansingh hockey card. One said the meaning of life was, “Guinness and soccer on television.” One wrote on behalf of his Labrador Retriever, “Food, food, swim, more food.” Other responses were, “watching boys eat home-made cookies.” Another, “reaching life’s end without regrets.”

How would you answer that question in five words?

That’s a good question to bring to our encounter with scripture. What do these readings say about the meaning of life? One verse jumped out at me, the last verse of our reading from Ephesians which says, we are, in five words,

“created to do good works.”

These verses from Ephesians summarise the Christian life for new believers. If I can paraphrase a paraphrase, the text says:

“It wasn’t so long ago that you were stuck in your old lives, letting the world around you tell you how to live your life. That’s true for all of us. But God did not turn away from you in frustration. Instead God embraced you with an amazing love and grace, and showered you with unexpected blessings.

Now in return, God has something for you to do. You are required as a Christian to do something worthwhile for others. For someone who sees Jesus as a mentor, this is not an option. It’s an obligation to join God in doing good works.”

We are, in 5 words, “created to do good works.”

This message was not meant only for the Christians in Ephesus. Many now believe that Ephesians was a theological summary, written after Paul had died and used as an introduction to all of Paul’s teaching. It was not meant for just one local congregation; it was meant for the whole church.

We are created for good works? How many of us really believe the meaning of life is found in sharing ourselves with others. Apparently 8% of people believe that.

Statistics tell us that 8% of the population provide 50% of all donations and volunteer time. Many of us are familiar with the 25-75 rule. 25% of any organization contributes 75% of the effort required to keep it moving. But this stat suggests most of the effort comes from a mere 8%.

A few years ago, Victoria College at the University of Toronto, invited the late June Callwood to deliver the initial lecture at the June Callwood professorship of Social Justice. Callwood referred to the volunteers as the civil core of society. She said this unappreciated group has tremendous importance for our communities. The disturbing news is that this group appears to be disappearing.

For years we have been hearing that the majority of this civil core comes from the seniors and from the churches. If you are a senior and a member of a church then you are especially desirable. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know. Groups want a piece of seniors and church attenders because they know you feel an obligation to contribute to your community.

According to a Stats Can study, this 8% of the population provides 17 billion dollars worth of activity to the Canadian society every year. They were blown away by this finding.

In light of this unexpected contribution by such a small group, Stats Can. continued their research. From their data they concluded that safe and civil societies are not created primarily by laws, or police or social services but by unpaid volunteers taking responsibility for others. When this is not present we get isolation and social unrest.

This past week our church was involved in two out of country service -learning trips, one to New Orleans to build houses with Habitat and one to El Salvador to take part it the election process.

In the El Salvador trip, our group from Emmanuel was divided up among a few communities in the region of Usultan. Russ Pastuch, Lynn Solvason and Pam Barron from Orleans United went to Nueva Granada. Jeannie and Iain Page and I ended up in the town of Mercedes Umanya.

It was late in the afternoon in what had been a very peaceful day. There had been some heated arguments and one minor fight, but each difficulty had been sorted out in a reasonable way.

At one of the polling tables we noticed a policeman in a discussion with the table officials. The argument was escalating. As observers, our job was not to intervene in any way, but to observe and evaluate the process.

So I approached the table. More police officers moved in. I looked over my shoulder and saw Iain and Jeannie Page moving closer. So now there were eight table officials, five big police officers and the three of us.

The police officer wanted to vote. The table members said, “You can’t vote with your uniform on. It’s in the rules.” He said he didn’t care about the rules, he was voting. Arms were waving and voices were rising. The table officials conferred and said if he took off his gun, he could vote. These large armed police officers were not happy. The talked, considered the situation and backed down. The officer took off his weapon and went to the polling booth.

We had great admiration for these determined people who despite intimidation, stood their ground. A civil society develops because of the persistent courage and the commitment to justice of so many individuals.

Volunteering not only has the potential to help the receiver, it can also help the giver. We constantly hear that message. The University of Michigan released a study claiming that “people who are caregivers are healthier than people who are not”

Helping others strengthens the immune system. When you no longer have someone to help, your health deteriorates. There are plenty of compelling reasons for us to be investing ourselves in the wider life of the community.

In our congregation , we have many younger folks who lead and support the work of this church but it’s probably fair to say that the majority of our volunteers are retired. The seniors in our communities are a tremendously valuable group with a wealth of experience and resources to share. The disturbing news is that those in my age group and younger, are not stepping forward.

The Canadian Centre for Philanthropy was shocked to see how seriously our volunteers are declining - by 31% in the last three years. Callwood asked, “If this civil core of society continues to shrink what will happen to the poor, the frail elderly, the disabled, the homeless, the young?”

The longer term question is, can we teach the value of altruism to our children?

Most Canadians try to teach children good manners. We want children to be civil and polite, “Say please and thank you.” And that is a good start but being polite does not lead to caring for others. Polite people may not have a kind bone in their body.

We have this new program in our schools to encourage community service.... Community service hours are a help but many selfish folks do their 40 hours and are glad to be rid of the nuisance.

Real empathy is learned and nurtured in childhood. It’s interesting to hear Callwood who has no formal religious connection, claiming that “to leave children on their own to discover this empathy is a kind of spiritual abandonment.”

Children raised in homes that participate in community work and volunteerism tend to care and volunteer themselves. There’s the best solution. When parents volunteer themselves, that greatly increases the chances that your children will also see the benefits and the value of volunteering.

Let’s not overly romanticise the experience of being a volunteer. There are plenty of obstacles when it comes to sharing our talent with others. The Scriptures contain so many examples of human resistance to God’s plans.

In the gospel of John, we have a reflection on the Nicodemus story, the Pharisee who came to Jesus by night because he was afraid of the reaction of his friends and colleagues, if he spoke to Jesus in the light of day.

John says, “God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending the son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.”

That’s a good enough reason to offer our service, to put the world right, to be part of that God light that shone into the world in the life of Jesus.

One of the popular new hymns in Voices United is “I the Lord of sea and sky” It’s a call and response hymn. God hears the cries of suffering or sees a case of injustice but God has no direct way to change the situation and so God keeps calling for volunteers to step forward. “Whom shall I send to bear my light to them...(or) speak my word to them.”

Knit into our very DNA is this deep desire to care for others, to do good? The chorus is our response, “Here I am God, I volunteer, if you lead me, if you help me, I will take this path.”

May it be so for us.

with thanks to: June Callwood, Colin Gibson, Barbara Brown Taylor,William Willomon and Statistics Canada

Comments

WaterBuoy

Posted on: 03/25/2009 08:48

Is it funny that 8% falls between that 1 in 12, or 13? Perhaps just co incidence in space! Then there is all that fallout from heaven ... the other 87 - 88%? Go figure, some say the soul is not a large external matrix that we cannot get over as wee things of vast self appointed love.

Perhaps it is a just a remnant of a distant spacey thought and I have been told many times that thought is a sin. Others find that hard to believe. It leads me to enjoy life as if it were all a joke to see how a limited (mortal) being would behave before allowing them unlimited space in which to behave. Is that a hoot or just a mir whisper when distributed? Is the mind a far stretch of near infinite space ... cosmological thing isolated from m'n a gift of grace in learning tiers (a stage)? Imagine if we could get the others started ... even to laugh instead of laying curses on everything they touch. It is a contagious plague ... like the first born demon that avoided the word of love when laying the curse of a blame ... on Ur! Who left what?

When you discover the answer of the seth/six question the lights arise like a din in the night ... Hebrew Dawning of a th' ought?

Giggle like the devil who learned something of his near ness!

Were we not told to love the enemy and most people hate any sense of intelligence ... the sigh'n of light in the darkness. In spirit doesn't that make to soul into the devil ... a thinking creature that should be taught to love or is that a reciprocal relation that we hate with a passion?

And the light thought was buried in a crypt! The stoics outnumbered the epi curians on earth. Now what about mythical space, is that like rapture ... black flying thing overhead. One must learn to use the mind too, even as a dark mysterious side of the loving heart. You thought the heart was dark ... that's bloody light humours!