Isaiah 58:6-7: Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Today we are taking up a special offering for the people of Haiti. As you all know, untold thousands have died or been injured since the earthquake that shook the country on January 12. They don’t have the heavy machinery to pick through the rubble, so many remain trapped. Three million people, about a third of the population, need food, water, and other sorts of aid. This is also Human Life Sunday, when we pray for the end of abortion in our country, and take a special offering to help a crisis pregnancy center.
Why would we include a special offering for the people of Haiti in our worship service? Why would we mention an unpleasant and controversial subject like abortion? Aren’t we in danger of turning the church into a social service organization? Don’t efforts like this politicize the church? Isn’t the purpose of the church to preach the gospel and worship God?
Questions like these assume that we need to choose between worship and mercy, but that is a false choice. Mercy detached from God’s mercy to us in His Word and Sacrament is no more than do-gooding; worship that is not hospitality, and worship that does not flow out in generosity, is nothing more than Pharisaism.
That’s why it’s important to have a Eucharistic context for our offerings. The feast is our model of Christian charity. At times, Jesus commands people to give away everything and follow Him, but for most believers Jesus commands us to give from what we have. We give from the abundance of the Lord’s blessings, sharing food and table with those who are in need.
Isaiah is talking about fasting, but the rest of Scripture shows that we are perfectly justified in making precisely the same point about feasting: “Is this not the feast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?”
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