July 10, 2022

First let me say – Happy 10th anniversary this year to the Two Saints partnership between St. David’s Cordova Bay and St. Peter’s Lakehill. How appropriate that we are finally back at St. David’s for that, after our prolonged time away because of Covid. The church mice missed us and are glad to see us back!

The church is not as full as we would like it to be, so perhaps we should try saying what our first line in Deuteronomy says today: “the lord God will make you abundantly prosperous” – that ought to bring them in, right? This type of scripture has contributed to the so-called prosperity gospel – a dangerous interpretation arrogantly claiming that if you’re the “right” kind of Christian, God will give you all kinds of wealth and good fortune. The flip side of this monstrous claim is that if you are poor and/or if bad things happen to you, then it’s because you’re not a specific type of Christian. Horrible idea that blames the victims; and supports whatever it takes to get as rich as possible. The traditionally understood writer of Deuteronomy is Moses; and God certainly put him in his place when he was not allowed to enter the promised land.

Why any Christians would believe this is hard to understand – did Jesus live in material wealth in his life on earth, or was his life free of suffering? Obviously not, and furthermore he says many things that are the opposite of the prosperity ‘gospel’; although someone might quote Luke 4:7 on this “If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine” (KJV). Who said that, and to whom? … Yes it was Satan trying to tempt Jesus! I found that King James quote from Luke on a Facebook page called Misleading Bible Memes, and next to it was this other quote by Jeff Tiedrich:

"I’ve been searching the Bible for god-given rights and while I’ve found the right to get your father drunk and sleep with him (Genesis 19:30-38) and the right to sell your daughter into slavery (Exodus 21:7-11), I’m not finding any god-given right to an AR-15. Help me, scholars!"

So let’s take that prosperity line from Deuteronomy with a large grain of salt.

And today we also heard the much beloved Good Samaritan gospel. The term ‘Good Samaritan’ has long since entered the English language lexicon as a useful label for many situations in which people run forward to help a person in danger, potentially risking their own lives or safety. Like the CBC headline a few days ago: “Good Samaritans describe saving man from burning car on Toronto-area highway” https://www.cbc.ca/.../toronto-burning-car-highway-1.6513118. Our Thursday Bible Study folks were a bit surprised to see William Barclay blaming the victim in today’s gospel story, supposedly because he should have known better than to be travelling that dangerous road alone. Yet Barclay said nothing about the priest, Levite and Samaritan, also apparently travelling that road alone. So easy to blame the victim – a practise still thriving today.

Since May 2017 in Canada, there’s also a Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act to protect those who call for help in the case of a potential overdose, whether it’s help for someone else, or for themselves. When they call 911, they can be assured that the illegalities of their drug use will not be prosecuted, because the need for urgent help to save a life – is more important. Many people related to those who’ve died of fentanyl poisoning overdose since that time – are left wondering if people around them knew about this Good Samaritan law, which states that: “We hope that the Act will help to reduce fear of police attending overdose events and encourage people to save a life. … The Act also protects anyone else who was at the scene when help arrives.” Despite Canada’s many flaws, I can’t help but be proud of a country this compassionate and generous towards people with addictions.

Well, this has been a fairly serious sermon so far, but that’s about to change. Have you ever read Dr Seuss’s book about Solla Sollew? It’s called I had trouble in getting to Solla Sollew and was originally published in 1965. One of my favourites that I recently read to my visiting grandniece from Winnipeg. The main character or hero is not named but he’s a happy little brown furry creature enjoying life and minding his own business when, out of the blue, bad things start happening to him. Perhaps we can partially identify with his first dilemma: And that’s how it started. Sock! What a shock! I stubbed my big toe on a very hard rock/ And I flew through the air/ And I went for a sail/ And I sprained the main bone/ In the tip of my tail. … Things get a lot worse, and as Shakespeare puts it in Hamlet: ‘One woe doth tread upon another’s heel’. As things keep going badly, our little furry hero hears about a magical city called Solla Sollew, on the banks of the beautiful river Wah-Hoo where they never have troubles. At least very few! And he’s assured that this place is not far and is easy to find. Reminds me of when people would give me directions – back before Google maps phone GPS – and they’d say those dreaded words: ‘You can’t miss it!’ … and of course I usually did miss it! After much trial and tribulation our furry hero gets to Solla Sollew. However, the door is stuck locked -- because of a key-slapping slippard. So he’s invited to go on another search for an even more perfect place, but instead … he resolutely turns back home, and decides that from then on – his troubles were going to have troubles with him.

Like the people in our gospel today, who are travelling on a perilous path, we too can choose to run away from trouble, passing by on the other side. OR we can engage in the world’s woes, well aware that we Canadians are among the most protected people on earth. From our protected context, we have opportunities to speak up for the oppressed in many places. May we keep growing in our awareness of how to be Good Samaritans in a troubled world – remembering Jesus’ lesson for today – that the good neighbour is not the one most like us, but rather the one who responds best to a wounded world with so many vulnerable people needing help. May we use our voices and actions in service of the compassion of Christ, Amen.