There is a set of phrases that have been circulating in the United Church of Christ for several years. There are posters and banners that show the list. At the top of the list is the phrase, “Be the Church.” Those words are followed by a list of imperatives for churches and church members: “Protect the environment. Care for the poor. Forgive often. Reject racism. Fight for the powerless. Share earthly and spiritual resources. Embrace diversity. Love God. Enjoy this life.” We decided that those imperatives would make interesting conversations with other church members and have arranged what we are calling “Occasional Conversations.” These conversations take place following worship. Originally we had planned to have a series of hybrid discussions, employing a conference camera and microphone that would allow a small group in the church and a group of people who would join the conversation by Zoom. However the omicron variant and the subsequent surge in Covid cases has meant that the in-person part of the gatherings is not possible at this time. We don’t have these conversations every week as there are other conversations that occur in this time slot, especially with the annual meeting of the congregation coming in a few weeks.

We started to pursue the imperatives in the order they appear on the posters with a discussion of “Protect the Environment.” Our plan had been to focus our conversation away from the question of “how” to the question of “why.” Instead of discussing what we need to do as faithful Christians to protect the environment, a topic addressed by the Mission and Justice Board of our church and through a One Book all church read this year, we wanted to look at the Biblical teachings that motivate action. We wanted to ask church members why they think this is an important task for Christians.

As we had that first conversation, we noted that the poster itself, while being catchy, doesn’t quite express a complete picture of life as a Christian. First of all, even though it begins with “Be the Church,” it doesn’t really speak of a state of being, but rather of things that should be done. Perhaps it should say “Do the Church” instead of “Be the Church.” Secondly, as several people noted although the list is of good things worth doing, it is far from comprehensive. There are other imperatives that thoughtful people might add to that list. We did, however, have a meaningful conversation about the care of creation and the many places in the Bible that speak of protecting the world in which we live.

Our second conversation will take place today after worship. We’ll be focusing on “Care for the Poor.” Although those two conversations seem to be about different topics, they are, in practice, closely related. As Jane Goodall notes in most of her public speeches, solving the problems of poverty is a necessary part of protecting the environment. When people are struggling to find enough food to survive, they will cut down the trees of the forest, eat food that is not sustainably produced, or otherwise engage in practices that harm the environment. If they have enough income to provide for the basic needs of their families, they are able to take a longer-term view and make different environmental choices. The increasing divide between the world’s richest and poorest people has left many people without the means to do anything more than simply survive, regardless of the environmental impact of their practices.

The very notion that some of the world’s people are able to experience limitless increases in wealth and standard of living is simply not sustainable. We live in a planet with limited resources. The only way for the wealth of the few to continually increase is at the expense of an increasing number of impoverished people.

There are many directions that our conversation might take. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is anointed with costly ointment by a woman while he was in the house of Simon. Some of his disciples were angry at the extravagance of the act and asked, “Why this waste? The ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Jesus replied, saying, among other things, “You always have the poor with you.” This passage of scripture has been mistakenly interpreted by some Christians to mean that poverty cannot be overcome and that trying to address poverty is a useless cause and a waste of money. Such an interpretation, however, is a betrayal of the event reported in the Gospel and a misunderstanding of the context of Jesus’ words. Biblical scholars remind us that in this interchange Jesus is himself quoting scripture. In the 15th chapter of Deuteronomy it says, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land.” This statement follows specific instructions for care of the poor. “If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land the LORD your God is giving to you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.” The statement is then followed by a repeat of the commandment, “I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”

It was in the midst of a discussion of this commandment that the parable of the Good Samaritan arose as Jesus responded to the question, “Who is my neighbor?”

The bible verse is not a capitulation to perpetual poverty, but rather a prediction of the real consequences of the failure to obey God’s commandments. If the people forget that the land is not theirs, but rather that it belongs to God, there will always be poverty and need. We are not called to accept poverty as inevitable, but rather to understand that the poverty of others is the direct result of our own decisions and choices.

The conversation will, I predict, be meaningful and intense. It is, however, just a beginning of a much wider conversation that we need to continue as we seek to be faithful members of the church.