17th Sunday after Pentecost* Sept.27,2020* Obedience

Levi Viloria Albania, United Methodist Church

Psalm 25:4-9

Ezekiel 18:25-28

Philippians 2:1-11

Matthew 21:28-32

The current pandemic situation presents an emerging new normal for everyone. Church doors have relatively been closed recently but worship and service, our pagsamba at pakikibaka, pagpupuri at pakikipagkapwa, ang pagsamo at pakikisalamuha, Sa pangalan Niya… (Granada, 1989) continue. It is also an opportunity to reflect and examine ourselves and ask what kind of Christian are we? And, what kind of Christians do we aspire to become?

The Bible readings for today, particularly the Gospel, speaks to us about obedience among other virtues and values. In this parable, Jesus admonished those who considered themselves righteous; while those considered sinners (e.g. tax collectors and prostituted women) were listening to John the Baptist, believed him, and were repenting.

This brings to mind a story some of us may be familiar with. It is about a little boy holding a Bible while praising God openly in a community park “Alleluia! Alleluia! God is good all the time!”. He exclaimed all these without worrying if anyone could hear him. A young man who had just finished his graduate studies in a prestigious university came walking by. Feeling very enlightened in the ways of truth, he asked the little boy what he was happy about. 

The boy enthusiastically replied,

“Don’t you have any idea what God is able to do? I just read that God opened up the waves of the Red Sea and led the whole nation of Israel right through the middle.” The enlightened man laughed lightly, sat down next to the boy and began to try to open his eyes to the “realities” of the miracles of the Bible. “That can all be very easily explained. Modern scholarship has shown that the Red Sea in that area was only 10-inches deep at that time. It was no problem for the Israelites to wade across.” The boy was stunned. His eyes wandered from the man back to the Bible laying open in his lap. The man, content that he had enlightened a poor, naive young person to the finer points of scientific insight, turned to go. Scarcely had he taken two steps when the boy began to rejoice and praise louder than before. The man turned to ask the reason for this resumed jubilation. “Wow!” exclaimed the boy happily, “God is greater than I thought! Not only did He lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, He topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in 10-inches of water!” (Assey, 2020).

Woah to that little boy’s faith, we must say. Indeed, it is easier for a child, a noob, to have complete trust and confidence in God and His Word than for the someone who has lived his/her entire life reading, questioning, and rationalizing its existence. 

In verse 31b-32, Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

If we ask ourselves today, how quickly have some of us, “the enlightened”, judged others simply by their current predicament or actions, without really understanding their life history, their context, and realities?

Today’s Gospel has certain parallelisms with the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. In that narrative, Jesus said that it was the repentant tax collector (publican) who went home justified before God.

As a young kid, I was taught that God’s grace is with each of us throughout our lives. By grace God prepares us, justifies and restores us, and then continues to grow us into followers of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus explicitly said that we are supposed to believe what John the Baptist has taught – that Jesus will bring God’s salvation, He will proclaim judgement, and give eternal life to those who believe and follow Jesus. 

What can we do if unlike Jesus, we cannot walk on water, do not have the power to change water into wine, raise anyone from death, and feed the multitude? How do we express our love for Him and keep His commandments? It is written everywhere in the Bible and still much relevant today. Love those who He loves: the poor, hungry, homeless, prisoners, persecuted, lonely, and hopeless. Have preferential option for the marginalized, disadvantaged, disenfranchised, isolated, and excluded. Today, more than ever, we can practice we have always been professing!

We can start by doing acts of compassion and justice and be God’s work of mercy today!

Live, Jesus, in our hearts forever!

Sept. 20,2020*16th Sunday after Pentecost* And the Last Shall Be First

https://asanefaith.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Parable_of_the_Workers_in_the_Vineyard.jpg

Deborrah Ramos Reyes, Ed.D. (Associate Professor of ““““““““““Liturgy and Music, Union Theological Seminary,Phil

Psalm 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18,

Isaiah 55:6-9,

Philippians 1:20-24, 27,

Matt 20:1-16    

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.  “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’  So they went.“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ (vv. 1-7)

News of lowly paid workers literally drowning in pools of miseries is nothing new in the Philippines. These are also the people who are haplessly paid the least and helplessly deprived of safety gears and safe working conditions. When without job calls, they scavenge for recyclable trash, and in their inactive hours stand on wait for news of job opportunities.

There are more and more people facing less fortunate situations. They are our socially crippled and deformed neighbors who populate the underbellies, cracks, and margins of our cities and townships. The world around them maybe reaping the blessings of the exchanges among the rich and privileged , but the underclass stay in the margin . They are simply forgotten, abandoned, and reduced to standing by idly in the streets (istambay) waiting for some good news of pagkakitaan.

These people are our neighbors and they are not unlike the “istambays” or unemployed workers in our text.  They  are discriminated against by the privileged and those blessed with opportunities because of their “irregular” status in all things. They are, in the eyes of the “firsts” in our current social ordering are eye sores and dregs of society. In many cases the istambays and the poor are even thumbed down whenever they raise their voices in organized protest. They are looked down as an annoyance and a disturbance to the peace of the privileged. When it comes to social graces, the istambays  are expected to be the least and last. 

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.  When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.  ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ (vv. 8-12)

The grumblings of the “firsts” maybe being popularly interpreted at present through the lenses of workers receiving and experiencing unjust wages and unfair working conditions and, thus, problematizes the employer in the parable itself. However, even in its conventional or traditional meaning, the parable is very clear about what it is saying about the republic of God.

In the republic of God, which the parables of Jesus are about, social expectations like the above – of the firsts being always firsts – holds no sway. In the republic of God the social imagination of the privileged is subverted and negated. In the republic of God, the hierarchs of class society are to dictate the terms no longer and that their basis of privilege have withered away.  The republic of God was inaugurated precisely for those who were marginalized and forced into “standing by” waiting endlessly for the morsels of the rich.

“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.  Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (vv 12-16)

The republic of God as narrated in this parable of Jesus rouses hope among the istambays sa kanto, i.e., forced into joblessness, helplessness and hopelessness by unjust systems of relationships. The poor and marginalized may be the least and the last now but the gospel of God’s republic proclaims an egalitarian order that values everyone as deserving of a place and a plate in the banquet of abundance. 

Prayer

Most merciful God of justice, whose heart is with the poor and underprivileged, help us see your design for our lives and our need to participate in your work of social reversal. This is our prayer in the name of Jesus, our liberator. Amen.

Loving Mercy in the face of the unmercyful

Deaconess Joy Prim, UMC (Missionary serving in Hong Kong)

September 13, 2020, 15th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12 Sirach 27: 30-28:7 Romans 14:7, 9 Matthew 18:21-35

As the months of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to add up, there are governments around the world who have tried to provide economic support for the majority of their citizens. Yet, over and over again, there are repressive governments who choose to forget the most oppressed and neglected communities whether that be in urban poor communities, and the distressed sectors like that of migrant workers. Meanwhile governments pass social distancing policies which the police enforce more strictly in the communities left out in the name of public health.  Leaving the rich, richer and able to gather without threat of arrest. 

My first Sunday in Hong Kong as I joined Overseas Filipino Workers to enjoy the day together along Charter Road, the number of police in our midst was painfully obvious. They roamed through in larger groups than the government allowed “groups of 2” writing citations for violations of social distancing policies and handing out flyers telling the migrant domestic workers to “Stay home to prevent the spread of the virus.” Their home being their workplace. This level of police enforcement was not seen during the week but only on Sundays, the most common day off for OFWs working as migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong. In reality there are little to no reports of police enforcement other days. 

One OFW explained, this was her first day out of her house to rest in 3 months. Her employer took these flyers very seriously but still let her go out to do the shopping and taking care of the kids. After three months, she had begged for 1 rest day to see her friends and send money back to her family in the Philippines. Why did she have to beg for so long to finally be allowed her legally mandated day off? While her employer continued to enjoy their weekends off from their work and time to rest with their family. She had been forced to stay home, in her work place, and continue working through her day off. 

How many more OFWs like her, are stuck working through their rest day? The HK government tends to treat migrant domestic workers as possible vectors of the disease while being quite stingy in including MDWs in their social protection plans. While their employers benefit from social protections, they continue to expect their domestic workers to continue to serve not six but now seven days a week. Just as the unmerciful servant refused to show mercy. 

What would Jesus say of our actions in these pandemic times? 

Each Sunday, OFWs who can go out join together in groups to educate their fellow OFWs on the newest HK social distancing policies. They used Tagalog language in educating fellow OFWs. They distribute hand sanitizers and masks to keep each other safe. They offer Know your rights webinars through zoom, in compliance with social distancing protocol, and also to l reach out those who are not allowed to go out

I learned   that in the Philippines, a community kitchen to help feed poor communities forgotten the government has experienced harassment and the staff got arrested.  Jory Porquia, a humanitarian worker and community organizer was killed the day before the Labor Day.   In the midst of crisis and pandemic, the government has prioritized the passing of the Anti-Terror law over ensuring access to PPEs for health workers on the front lines fighting the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

How can we continue to live into our calling as Christians to love mercy, act justly, and walk humbly in Jesus footsteps to uplift those forgotten and ensure that no one is left behind? As the pandemic continues without an end in site so must our actions of mercy, love, and justice with more creativity to adjust to these uncertain times. For that is what Jesus called us to do. ##

September 6, 2020, 14th Sunday after Pentecost*The call of the loveless and cruel world

Ms, Patis Mungcal, NCCP

Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9

Ezekiel 33:7-9 

Romans 13:8-10         

Matt 18:15-20

Almost everyone I know is grieving. The past months in the pandemic have put us under different states of disbelief, denial, anger, discomfort, exhaustion, and now, grief. Some may have hidden it better than others, but the untimely creases on our foreheads, somber look in our eyes, frequent deep sighs, and longingness in the sound of our voices reveal our true state.

Filipinos are dying in thousands of different ways each day, may it be through natural causes, weak government response to the pandemic, hunger and deprivation, inaccessibility of basic social services, isolation, repression of basic human rights, and political persecution and attacks, among many others. And for the most of our Filipino siblings, the “lost”, the “least”, and the “last”, the situation is becoming harsher by the day. To summarize in few words: we are in a season when deaths and killings are being normalized.

The loss of life is being normalized as the number of COVID-related deaths grow, as food and shelter remain a challenge for the poor, and as attacks against those who fight for our rights persist. These past weeks, we are grieving the gruesome killings of rights defenders Randall Echanis, Zara Alvarez, and Bae Celis. Morbid crime scenes that should only exist in macho action films unimaginably happened to them. As if these weren’t enough, up to this day, activists and rights defenders continue to receive threats.

I remember a few weeks ago when my dear brother who has autism randomly came up to me to say, “Patis, mag-ingat ka. Marami nang pinapatay na activists…” with concerned look in his eyes. I heartbreakingly see this as a genuine response to the times, a response driven by love.

This has been reaffirmed in Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which he gave the clearest presentation of the Christian doctrine. Writing from Corinth, Paul is witnessing injustices and inequality right before his eyes. It is in this situation when he made a remarkable call to the church, a summation of the doctrine, the greatest commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself… love is the fulfilling of the law.”

A social order such as the one we live in today is, from my perspective, a loveless system. A loveless system is when the powerful few continues to lord over the already suffering and grieving majority. When deaths and killings, instead of life, have been the language and motivation of the rulers. Above these, love is about baring and dismantling the very ‘lovelessness’ and cruelty of our society.

But how can grieving people like us emulate love? The question is deep, but the gospel of Matthew made an essential recommendation to the church-people: for us to gather and defend those who were hurt, harmed, and sinned against. Jesus, the Advocate, is setting a high bar for us to take the side of the offended. We do this not by taking a neutral stance, but by exhausting all means for the pursuit of truth and accountability.

This passage came shortly after Jesus exhibited concern to the “little ones” or those who are the least in the community. He connected the picture of the “little ones” to the “lone sheep”. In Matthew, there was no hint that the lone sheep was more sinful, undeserving, or inferior of the 99. The sheep may have wandered off from the flock maybe because its access to food was blocked by the 99 or maybe was left behind. In the end, these stories invite us to focus on those who are vulnerable, marginalized, or those who have the least power and most to lose (life).

I started my reflection with grieving and loss of life. Let me now invite you to follow the greatest commandment handed over to us, let this be our guide. The call to us Christians and to all those who pursue justice and peace is to love. For us, when we love people, we unite and commit ourselves to working against the structures that destroy life. To love is to refuse to live in a situation that alienates us from one another. To love is to struggle against the lovelessness and cruelty of the world. To love is to build a community where life and rights are upheld and justice and peace are lived realities.

It is my utmost prayer that we will find each other in the same journey toward that future.#