A sermon on compassion and looking for the helpers

Today I led Morning Praise at St Cyr's Church in Stinchcombe, for the first time and with no parachute! - we are in vacancy and none of the other usual Priests or Readers were around.

It still felt important though to refer to last weeks fire at Grenfell Tower in London, as well as the recent terror attacks. Ariana Grande even gets a mention...

The Gospel reading was Matthew 9:35 - 10:8 

 

In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

The last month has seen some massive challenges for our nation, but there has also been compassion and everywhere, signs of hope.

Terrorist attacks in Manchester and London mean that we are facing uncertain times. Then just this week, we’ve seen the awful tower block fire in London.

I must be honest and say the tower fire has completely overshadowed the week for me. Such a terrible event brings all sort of emotions to the surface. Anger, despair, sadness, grief. Perhaps old memories re-surface. It really is heart-breaking and it’s easy to become despondent in the face of such confusion and tragedy. The Queen described this as the nation’s sombre mood.

It is natural to be saddened and upset following these events, but while the emotions are still fresh, amidst it all, it does seem that as a situation becomes clearer, the signs of hope always seem to shine brighter than the remaining shadows.

In these situations, we can often feel like the people Jesus recognised who were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. His first response, was compassion...

An insightful comment by a 1950’s American children’s TV presenter, Fred Rogers, sounds simple but is so true, especially when we have to explain the news to children, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

The helpers, are amazing, aren’t they?  When people help, it really does restore faith in a God who is fundamentally good, who helps, who works through us all for good and there have been many examples of this recently.

We don’t have to look far to see them, the helpers. I don’t know if you saw it on television, but the pop concert in Manchester, which was held the day after the London attacks seemed, to me, to be a bright beacon of hope. I have to say that I hadn’t heard of Ariana Grande, or many of the other acts before, and to be honest, I felt rather old as a result, but this didn’t seem important. Here were young people and families, refusing to give in to terror, there were tears, but there was joy, there was compassion, there was prayer and most of all hope.

This young singer was holding a crowd of confused people together, helping them heal, almost in worship as they remembered those who had died, but also celebrated their lives and the future. These young people needed to know that ours is a hopeful world, not a fearful one and when I saw that clip of a police officer dancing in a circle with others at the concert, then I knew that terrorism will never win.

Then in the London attack, stories of hope, of A&E consultants who, hearing sirens after work that night, turned around and went back to the hospital. The story of a Police Officer, fighting off three attackers, giving others time to get away, the photograph of a man in a crowd getting away from the attack, still holding his pint, giving us all hope in the British sense of what’s important, not to spill a pint – although I’m not sure that’s in the Gospel today.

Then this week after the fire, the outpouring of compassion, of practical help for a community often neglected at the best of times. Churches, mosques and community centres all opened their doors, they were overwhelmed with donations and offers of help. The offering of prayer, community support and hospitality was great to see, a sign of hope and love in terrible circumstances.

So, look for the helpers, have compassion. When we see the lost, needing a shepherd, can we can be the helper, the shepherd? Often help comes from the most unexpected places, like the homeless man who helped treat some of the injured after the Manchester attack. In times of crisis, the instinct to help is often more powerful than anything else.

In the Gospel today, Jesus recognised how times like these were affecting the people around him. Matthew wrote, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

He knew the people were struggling. They were under Roman occupation, they had seen him and their need for him and what he represented was making them desperate.

Jesus first response was compassion, an emotion which can make us vulnerable, it opens us up to other people’s emotions, their pain, suffering, grief but also their joy. But, these people were harassed and helpless, looking for someone to guide them.

Following his compassion, Jesus’ next response wasn’t to dive in and help them all by himself. Instead, he appointed the apostles, in fact, he authorised the apostles. He knew the time had come to appoint labourers to go into the harvest, a harvest of people, waiting to hear about the Kingdom.

And the list of things he authorised them to do was absolutely identical to the things Jesus himself had been doing, they were to proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Well, hopefully that’s what I’m doing now, but we all do it through the way we live our lives, through our actions, through the way we show compassion.

The apostles were to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, - well these aren’t really part of our tradition today. But let’s see; curing the sick, well, we pay tax which supports the NHS. We talk to our friends, and talking is by far the best medicine for good health, especially good mental health. Do we raise the dead? Not literally, but we can help others be born into a new life with Christ. Can we cast out demons? Again, quite an alien concept, but then our healthcare system today is much more aware of mental health problems which could appear to look like this.

They key though, is that Jesus gave them identical powers to his own.

As followers of Christ, through faith, we are the apostolic successors to the disciples. In our own way, we can humbly strive to be compassionate and to talk and to be caring to others in as Christ-like way as we can.

We have been appointed as successors, as the apostles were, to be like Christ, in our human way, to have compassion, to help, to bring a message of love, hope and resurrection. At the same time though, it can often we feel like we have to be the ones to solve the problem, but sometimes, the solution is to empower and encourage others, to authorise the helpers, if not already out there, sometimes all they need is to be asked, will you help with this concert? feed these homeless families?, comfort the despairing, talk to a lonely neighbour?

All of this is challenging when we are struggling ourselves, and that’s okay, sometimes we are the ones who need help. In those situations, the only answer is to accept, be humble, knowing we have given in the past and may give again one day. As Jesus said, “You received without payment; give without payment.” That’s okay, sometimes we need help and sometimes we can be the helper. If all we can offer is compassion and prayer, which when events are so remote may be almost all we can do, then that is still a powerful thing. It tells people they are not alone; every prayer is a sign we are alongside people who are struggling and the world becomes a slightly less lonely place and the kingdom has come a little nearer.

Amen.