Sermon by Reverend Dr. John W. Mann | April 14, 2024

Psalm 23

Last Monday I went downtown to run some errands. First to the tax accountant with the forms neatly signed for submission to the IRS and then to the bank. At the bank there was one teller working and the computers were running slow. Why is it that the person who is always ahead of me in line has some complex process to go through? The meter is running, and the clock is ticking. At least when my turn came, I was thanked for my patience.

Then home to work on worship. That’s when my computer froze, and it took an hour to get it working again. Why so many problems? But they are what we know as “First World Problems.” Weird Al Yankovic wrote a song on the subject:

“My maid is cleaning my bathroom, so I can’t take a shower

When I do, the water starts getting cold after an hour

I couldn’t order off the breakfast menu, cause I slept in till two

Then I filled up on bread, didn’t leave any room for tiramisu

Oh no, there’s a pixel out in the corner of my laptop screen

I don’t have any bills in my wallet small enough for the vending machine

Some idiot just called me up on the phone, what!? Don’t they know how to text? OMG!

I got First world, first world problems.”

But then, I am reminded of perspective, and what it means to view problems from a so called first world perspective. In the last ten years it is estimated that nearly 28,000 people have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea trying to cross from Africa to Europe. They pay thousands of dollars to human traffickers to get a ride from Libya to Europe. People all over the world are literally dying for a chance to experience first world problems.

1500 people died when the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg. We still think of that as a huge deal after more than 100 years. How times have changed. We all know that there is a need for border control, and we feel the tension, the conflict between acting with compassion and decency and guarding our own interests. Trying to remember our own humanity can be challenge in this world of ours.

A woman named Katie Hopkins was for many years a columnist for the Sun newspaper which has the largest circulation in the UK wrote: “These migrants are like cockroaches. They might look a bit ‘Bob Geldof’s Ethiopia circa 1984’, but they are built to survive a nuclear bomb.” Tempering her remarks just a bit on radio she suggested that the best way to solve the refugee crisis was not to shoot them once they were in the water, but to burn all the boats in North Africa. Her opinions tend to generate outrage and that suits her purpose. Outrage sells newspapers.

One outcome is that nearly two million people buy the Sun newspaper every day to help fund Rupert Murdoch’s media empire which disseminates these views throughout the world.

What does it mean to refer to people as “Human Cockroaches?” Some people write it off as merely a sick joke. Millions of human beings have been described in those terms; particularly in places where millions of people have been murdered like mere bugs; from the genocides of Rwanda, to Nazi Germany and down through the ages. The victims of course, were not laughing.

Goodness and mercy seem to be in short supply in our world these days. Maybe it’s because so many of the troubles that plague us can be traced back to two simple words: Me First.

Me First – it comes from our instinct to survive. In some ways we can’t help ourselves. But we also have to blend our me first survival instinct into a thought for the common good because we know we are stronger together than we are alone.

Perhaps of all the challenges we face as human beings and going back into the mists of time to when we first realized we had a soul, is to somehow wrestle with owning the reality of four simple words: I shall not want. Our needs drive us to survive and our wants drive us to thrive. Even if I have everything I need – I still want more.

It’s not wrong to want a better life. A better life described in simple terms –

Enough food to eat.

Enough clothes to wear.

A roof over their heads.

A job – which means going to work in an environment where military factions and war lord gangs aren’t trying to kill you.

Safety for their children.

A sense of security.

Opportunity – which means, “Just give me a chance.”

It’s not for me to say that they should be content with their lot. It’s better for me to say that I should find contentment with my own lot.

I went to Jamaica one time with folks from church for a work camp. One day we went into town – Ocho Rios – to have a look around. A look around meant the “tourist friendly” zone which was a fairly small section of town filled with “tourist friendly” shops.

I and another guy decided to get some lunch, so we went in this place to get a meat pie and a Red Stripe beer. It cost about a pound. We went outside and sat down to eat. People were watching us eat.

From the moment we stepped off the plane people were watching us. Some of them would approach with offers of help. Carry our bags or get us a taxi or provide some assistance we had not deemed necessary. Not to help out of the goodness of their heart, but out of the hunger of their need. The offer for help came with the request for money.

And even if the offer of help was turned down the request for money still came – “Hey rich American, come on man give me a dollar!” It puts you in a position where you don’t feel so good. You either give out many dollars or you say, “No!” or you ignore the person altogether. And women coming up to you constantly trying to sell you something and they have this plaintive, “Please, please sir, please!”

So me and my pal were sitting there eating our lunch and I noticed one guy standing a few feet off, just watching. About the time we finished and wadded up our wrappers to throw in the bin the guy came over and I thought, “He’s going to ask for money.”

He said, “Can I have your empty bottles? I can get a dime for the deposit.”

The guy had stood there for ten minutes so that he could collect 20 cents.

I shall not want. If I could get my head around that reality then I would be truly blessed. And all the other scenes that the poet describes would fall into place –

If I shall not want, then I can appreciate green pastures.

If I shall not want, then I can be at peace in the silence of still waters.

If I shall not want, then I can travel lightly along the right paths.

If I shall not want, then I’m not afraid of what I might lose while traveling through the valley of the shadow of death.

If I shall not want and I come upon times of feasting in the presence of my enemies, then I need not say, “Ha Ha! Too bad for you – human cockroaches!”

Maybe I could instead say, “There’s plenty here to go around. Come, sit down and join me as a friend.” Surely, I could find within me some shred of decency that if my cup is running over, I would rather see it shared with someone who is thirsty rather than spilled on the ground.

“He anoints my head with oil…”

Imagine that you are looking out into the world and see all the people of the world looking back at you. Some of them are smiling and you somehow sense that they wish you nothing but goodness and mercy for your life. You sense God’s Spirit amongst the people – it’s there but you just don’t seem to have the words for it. And you’re carried through the throngs of people and some of them are reaching out to you and saying, “God bless you child.”

Life is centered and it just seems so right and you’re just soaking it in.

I describe what children are sensing when I carry them through the congregation after they are baptized.  Of all the ways that you can be described as a human being, the most important one is from God who said, “You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.”

We are God’s children. None of us are human cockroaches. Hating the haters doesn’t make the hate go away. God have mercy on this human race, those of us who want and those of us who need.

If I shall not want, then surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I like to think of it this way –

In him was life and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.”

When you walk in the light of goodness and mercy you cast a shadow. Your shadow follows you. Walk in the light then and let goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life. Amen.