Emmanuel Church, Bungay, Suffolk

The Minister's Sermons

Harvest Festival 2004 "Waste not, Want not" (Luke 16:19-31) by Revd Bruce Waldron - 26th September 2004
Jesus told this story to his disciples ...

	"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house - for I have five brothers - that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"
When we began worship this morning, we thanked God for all the delights of the harvest. But one of the realities of our receiving a greater share of God's provision for our needs than other people in the world, is that we participate in world where there is such a huge amount of waste. Well most of us do. One of our ladies told me yesterday that, being of the breed who have been through the war years, she has only a small bag of waste every week.
Of course, another aspect of Britain's opulence is that we have another problem with waste. Many people in Britain have a waist that's far too big in circumference. We consume more than is good for us, and often of the sort that isn't good for us.
I remember my Mum used to say to me, when I didn't want to eat my cabbage, "Don't waste it. Think of the starving children in India." I had two responses. The starving children in India were very welcome to have my cabbage. I would gladly give it to them. I never actually said this because my Mum was very accurate with the jug cord.
The other response (not spoken to Mum) was to wonder what on earth the starving children in India had to do with me thinking that cabbage was a terrible thing to inflict on a healthy growing boy, who knew that real food was made up of four food groups … pies, chips, chops and vegemite sandwiches.
It is hard to connect the link between us having so much that we can choose what to eat, eat too much of it and throw out what we don't need - and all of this being in some way related to much of the world having vastly inadequate food, clothing, shelter, safety and opportunity. But our abundance of wealth is linked to the starving world's poverty. International Trade practices keep many communities permanently starving - so here, we look for fairly traded goods and are willing to pay a little bit more for some things to ensure that as far as Trade justice goes, we can at least signal our willingness to share our wealth a little bit more fairly.
We can also look at the link when we are shopping. Go on the web. Type in "Fair Trade" on your Google search engine and find out what brands of goods you can buy that will support companies who pay a fair price to producers and labourers who manufacture their goods. If you do, you will pay a bit more for your shirts, coats and shoes but you will be sharing a little more fairly with the people who are so poorly treated, mostly because the rich nations want ever cheaper goods and more of them.
You can tell your shopkeeper that you are looking for fairly traded goods and will buy the brands that are ethically made. She may think you are mad but she might also start trading with a company that's trying to compete ethically in a very cut-throat world. Companies like that need support if they are going to survive and if Christians don't support them, who will.
This story of the rich man and Lazarus is all about a person who wouldn't share his wealth. Maybe he thought the poor man at the gate wasn't worthy of his assistance. Maybe he never noticed he was there. Maybe he didn't care he was there and didn't see him as properly human. Maybe he could only see how much he enjoyed his own wealth. The point is, he didn't share, and he could have, and he should have. And there came a time when it was too late, and all the sorrow and "I should have's" in the world, made no difference. The gap was final and the rich man was, finally, no longer immune from the pain to which he had contributed. That is one of the profound realities of life that many people don't seem to grasp but Jesus did.
This story isn't about how terrible judgement is, nor is it a theology of hell and death. What Jesus was pointing out in this story is that there comes a time when the opportunity you had to do good, is passed, and it's too late to make it right. Take the opportunity while you can. God is not neutral about this. The God of Jesus cares profoundly for the children starving in India, the workers slaving for a pittance in China and the peasant struggling with cash crop poverty in Kenya. We have the means to make a difference, even if only small, and we are challenged to use it.
The waste we talk about isn't just about plastic bags, though they can do terrible things to the environment we share with other forms of life. Waste isn't just about the meat we throw out or whether we learn to live more thoughtfully with respect to creating waste products. All of these are important. But they don't come close to touching the waste of people's lives who never have a chance to escape the misery of endless poverty and hopeless labour because the trade exchange systems are designed to keep them there, and because people don't care enough to make things change.
We will do what we can. When we come to our offerings today, the young people are going to bring their Mission Boxes to the foot of the cross. A way of saying, "We follow you Jesus, and we care." We will go out afterwards into the Emmaus Room and drink fairly traded tea and coffee. A small way of saying "We follow you Jesus and we care." And we might go and buy a pair of Khulani Moccasins. Recently, a newspaper reported ...
	You have nibbled your Fairtrade chocolate and washed it down with some Fairtrade coffee. Now you can stroll to buy your groceries with similar contentment, as Britain's biggest shoe retailer has given us ethically friendly footwear. Pop into your local branch of Clarks and you will see one of the most ground-breaking shoes on the market. The Khulani moccasin - named after the orphanage that inspired the initiative - is the first fair trade shoe to be offered by a mainstream retailer. They will be manufactured by villagers in Durban, South Africa, and sold in outlets in Britain and the United States. Designed by Lance Clark, a sixth-generation member of the family, they are sleek, simple and stylish shoes. For each pair sold at £29.99, the orphanage will receive £5, with an additional £2 going to the village women who stitch them.
I found the article by typing "Fair Trade" into Google on the web. The information is there if we care enough to look for it. But we have to care. The rich man, in Jesus' story, didn't, and he could have. And there came a time when he realized he should have. But it was too late then.
We do thank God for the Harvest. But we do it in a way that we know God is going to smile about. And as we share all the goodness that God has given to us, we will remember, that God's harvest is there so that all people may share of its bounty, not just the people who have the control of where the bounty goes.
Enjoy your fairly traded coffee after church and as you walk out the door, look down and see if you need some fairly traded shoes. And if you buy some, tell them why you are buying that brand. And if they ask where you heard about this brand, just say, "Lazarus sent me."