The full text of Bishop Robert Thompson’s sermon delivered at the Kingston Parish Church on January 1.

Sermon Text: Philippians 2: 9-11

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

THE story is told of a woman who, in speaking with her nephew after Christmas, said in the most apologetic way; “I am sorry you don’t like the gift I bought you, would you have preferred a small cheque?” I don’t know what answer the young man gave, but I hope none of us would have received the wrong gift this Christmas.

Sadly, some did, and not only because they found themselves on the wrong side of the political equation; but because their insatiable demand for more stuff made it impossible to receive the real stuff — the acknowledgement that Jesus Christ is indeed the Ruler and Governor of our lives. That is the central theme of Paul’s letter to the Philippians.

Paul wants Christians to work out their salvation with “fear and trembling”, acknowledging that we stand accountable before God for our actions. At the same time, we must know that God is already acting in our lives and will therefore sustain and enable us by His grace to make judgements that are acceptable and good. This affirmation that God is already acting in my life is what gives me hope as I enter a New Year.

O yes, we have been promised bitter medicine, but that is not the only promise I choose to claim in 2012. My faith in the most Holy Name of Jesus says to me and it says to you, God has not deserted us. His irrepressible freedom is at work, and those who choose to acknowledge this will find surprising things taking place in their lives.

It is generally accepted that fixing the economy is the most urgent task of the new Government. Beneath the surface of all the discussions surrounding the economy, there is a deeper discourse, which I believe is sadly lacking. It is a discourse about habits and values, and raises questions about who and what we want to be — as individuals, as a nation, and as a human community. By and large, the media, politicians and business leaders aren’t interested in leading such a discussion. Instead, they want to know how quickly we can get the economy up and running.

I want to suggest that instead of asking when will the economic crisis be over, a much more important question would be; “How will this crisis change us? How will it change the ways we think, act, and decide things as Jamaicans, how we do business, and how we live our lives?” Christian faith can’t answer all our questions; it can, however, if we so choose, inform the way we think, act and establish priorities for our lives and our nation as a whole.

Abundance and Generosity

There are three things I hope for this year.

First, that as Christians we shall become more active in sharing, through love, the truth about God’s generosity. On Christmas Day, the church proclaimed that, through the Incarnation, God identified Himself with suffering humanity. He did not merely look upon our sufferings with compassion. He did not simply relieve those sufferings by His own action, or through the activity of His disciples. He did not merely promise happiness to those who bore their sufferings with patience. He took those sufferings upon Himself. The infinite God made Himself vulnerable.

God is not at a distance, up there somewhere, looking down upon us with sympathy. He is one with us, demonstrating by His own experience what it means to suffer, without becoming a victim. This closeness which God shares with us is not always a welcome message, we like to wallow in our sufferings, to give way to self-pity and to let others know how life has been terrible towards us. Jesus taught us how to accept vulnerability, not by hardening our hearts, but by opening them in love to the heartbeats of our fellow human beings and to God Himself.

It occurred to me that because so many are driven by the fear of scarcity, the fear that there isn’t enough for everyone to have a reasonable share, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to open our hearts to each other and to God himself.

The response most of us make to that deep, fearful, anxious conviction that there isn’t enough to go around, and that no more will be given, is to keep everything to ourselves, and to get good protection so as to keep others from getting what we have. It is this myth that drives our politics and our religion. In contrast to this idea that there isn’t enough to spare, there is the generosity of the Creator God.

And because the world is held in the hand of this generative, generous God — scarcity is not true. What if we were to accept this idea as Jamaicans? What if we were to accept an economy that underpins the “abundance and extraordinary generosity” epitomised in the gracious self-giving of God in Christ? Then, perhaps, we would begin to witness a different balance sheet in our GDP. One where there would always be enough.

Social Inclusiveness for Stability

Which leads me to the second thing I am hoping for this year… and that is a rediscovery of our interconnectedness with each other as Jamaicans.

Since we are told that the economy will loom largely in our nation’s business this year, it would be wise to remind ourselves that the word economy comes from the Greek word for ‘housekeeping’. If we accept this, it means that economics, regardless of party colours, is primarily about the decisions we make so as to create a habitat where everyone feels he or she belongs. This household, this national habitat, this place we call home, Jamaica land we love, is the place where none of us can say we have no need of the other.

And if this is such a place, then we require from our leaders good housekeeping practices. That will guarantee that this common life we share promotes the kind of stability that will allow the members of the household to grow and flourish and act in useful and productive ways. A functioning household does not give priority to one group over another.

‘Housekeeping’ is about how we use our intelligence to balance the needs of those involved and to secure trust between them. This year, as we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Nationhood is a good time to remind our leaders, and ourselves, that an economic policy that wanders too far from the basic objectives of good housekeeping will always be a recipe for social dislocation. In other words, the good housekeeper will bear in mind the damage that manifestly results from an economic climate which is reduced to a search for maximised profit independent of the social reality.

The Africans have a word that could well teach us something we have all forgotten about our interdependence. The word is “Ubuntu”, which means, “My humanity is bound up with your humanity, I cannot be me without you, neither can you be you without me.” I am a person because I belong. I participate, I share.

When you don’t believe you belong, you are not likely to make sacrifices for the greater good. I hope our new prime minister will be someone who promotes the “Ubuntu spirit” by being open and available to others while, at the same time, affirming their self-worth. Nothing short of that will work in the Jamaica of today.

A Place for the Poor

My third wish for the New Year is to make the poor my missionary priority for 2012. I am no economist and, therefore, I am in no position to advise on economic matters. What I can and must say is if our economic and monetary policies are shaped by market forces alone, and therefore, with little regard to the social reality of the marginalised, no one, in the long run, benefits. We can try to insulate ourselves, but in the end, the wall that separates will come crashing.

Jesus frequently points out in the Gospel, that only when we are prepared to live our lives through the eyes of the poor will we make different economic arrangements. He challenged the rich young man who came to Him enquiring about the good life, “You lack one thing: go sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” The wealthy man was saddened by Jesus’ reply. The cost was too great for him. It was inconceivable for him to think of parting with his wealth. Not many wealthy people are willing to part with their wealth, even to follow Jesus.

It never fails to amaze me, that when successive governments speak about a social contract, the poor are usually excluded from the equation. We make a terrible mistake when we assume that the poor have nothing to contribute to the social capital. History teaches us that when the gap grows between the rich and the poor, when the middle gets increasingly squeezed, and those at the bottom are almost completely forgotten, social bonds begin to unravel and resentment sets in. To our peril, we continue to ignore the voices that speak about these social disparities.

The Apostle Paul acknowledges the value of every member within the Christian community. To suggest that the contribution of some members should be given priority over others was anathema to Paul. For Paul, as for members of the body of Christ, diversity of gifts and functions does not lead to diversity of worth, esteem or status. Rather, he affirms difference in terms of individual gifts and needs, including capabilities, but all equally and fully members of the body, with the vulnerable particularly acknowledged because “those parts of the body that seem weaker are indispensable” (1st Cor.12:22).

This model of participating members of the Body of Christ is applicable in society as well as in the church, and most relevant for a society like ours where so many of our people feel excluded from conversations that impact greatly on their lives. The poor must not be seen as the subject of our benevolence, but as part of the social capital for national development.

These are extraordinary times, impacted by an unstable global economy and a social context with multiple challenges. We are confident that with God’s help and through the discerning guidance of His Holy Spirit, we will journey into the New Year with a new Government as trusted stewards of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

My plea to you is that in the midst of all our festivities we will, once again, reflect on why this season is given to us; that as the Word of God becomes flesh once again and finds a home in our hearts, we may claim life instead of death, hope instead of despair, justice and peace instead of violence and terror.

The exciting and challenging consequence of knowing that God continues to be at work in our lives, is to also know that only through our hands of love and witnessing to God’s grace, that God’s Word will become flesh in this our beloved land. May God give us the grace to see and the faith to respond to His call to be bearers of His unquenchable hope this New Year.

— Bishop Thompson is the Anglican Suffragan Bishop of Kingston