I’ve always enjoyed singing the hymn “Lift High the Cross”; what more fitting symbol of the Christian Gospel could there be than the Cross?
It has taken the combined theological insights of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Lutheran Evangelical Church in Canada to come up with something better: November 22nd is “Lift up National Housing Day”:
On November 22, Lutherans and Anglicans are called to lift up National Housing Day 2014, learn more about the issues contributing to poverty, homelessness and substandard housing, and advocate for changes.
It goes without saying that neither denomination feels inclined to house the homeless in their increasing number of empty church buildings.
While my link is not directly related to this post, I thought that I would post it here as it is a great reminder of how we should be treating each other. It is in the most recent edition of Faith Today and written by the President of Ambrose University in Calgary (affiliated with the Alliance and Nazarene churches). I think he hits the nail on the head.
http://digital.faithtoday.ca/faithtoday/20141112#pg50
Thanks for that reminder, Ed. I found Gordon T Smith’s article quite helpful and challenging.
While I fully embrace the teachings of our Lord and Saviour I am mindful that he was never a socialist (at least not in the current day political sense). I do not believe that it was ever His intention for us to rely upon governments to do those things that He teaches us to do. Just look at how He worded Mark 12:31
“And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
The pronouns “Thou”, “thy” and “thyself” are all singular and not plural (i.e. “You”, “your” and “yourself” are plural pronouns). This makes it perfectly clear that this is a personal / individual responsibility and not a group (and certainly not a government) responsibility. (But those who have lost the Authorized / King James Version Holy Bible and drifted to one of the new age versions will of course miss this important detail.)
Similarly John 13:34
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
Notice that although the plural pronoun “ye” is used He still makes the distinction of this being personal and not group intended by saying “one another” instead of “each other”. So the new commandment is given to all (that is why He says “ye” instead of “thee”) and it is personal / individual in intent and design (that is why is says “one” and not “each”).
I have no issue with my Church encouraging me to be personally involved in something like Habitat for Humanity. I do have an issue with a church being a lobbyist for socialism.