A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 13 December 2009, Third Sunday in Advent, by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Zephaniah 3:14-20, Isaiah 12:2-6, Philippians 4:4-7 and Luke 3:7-18.
Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent. You doubtless noticed that a pink candle was lit at the beginning of the worship. The pink candle represents joy. The theme and mood for today’s service is rejoice: Rejoice in the love of God.
December 10th is the International Day for Human Rights. We have designated today as Human Rights Sunday. When we see people suffering from different kinds of human right abuses across the board, e.g the millions of people deprived of basic needs such as food, clothes and shelter, many hundreds and thousands seeking justice and freedom are jailed and even killed by the authoritarian government, we are witnessing human rights violations. In such a broken world, how are we, as Christians to understand the concept of “rejoicing”? What is the point of the church celebrating?
This morning, a member of our congregation, Jim Seymour, will share with us a message on contemporary human rights in the context of our Christian faith. Jim has been concerned with human rights issues for years.*
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Rev. Wong :Rejoice in the love and justice of God.
I would like to start with a by discussing an article that I just read--a recent self defense statement by an environmentalist and human rights activist in China. His name Tan Zuoren (譚作人). In March Mr. Tan was put in jail on a charge of committing subversive acts against the State. He was not tried fairly. While he was in jail he wrote a defense statement to contest the allegations by the authorities. The statement was published by the International Chinese Newsweekly. (29/11/2009)
Tan was active in the civil society work. He was one who advocated vigorously for the investigation of the collapse of school buildings that caused the death of thousands of children in the Sichuan earthquake last year. His self defense statement reflects very much his love of and mercy for people who were victims of corrupted power and bad governance. I have seen the glory of God through Tan, his unfailing faith in holding the truth of justice and humanity.
When Tan was arrested and jailed, he appreciated the concerns from his NGO supporters, his village people and even some departments who stood up against the corrupt court ruling, and praised him for having the courage to stand against the corrupt ruling. He regrets nothing that he has done. He said he has honored his society and community and done his best for the public good, though he does feel regret to his family. He has lived a life with human dignity that is admirable and honorable. The authorities have taken away Tan’s freedom, and yet they have never taken away his soul. Here we see a righteous man who shines in his courage to speak up against injustice, and act according to his conscience.
Tan Zuoren is one of many courageous Chinese human rights. Among others, I remember Ding Ziling, a leader of the “Tiananmen Mothers”; human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng; and the AIDS and environmental activist Hu Jia. Elsewhere, we have many witnesses around the world, such as Ms Aung San Suu Kyi who, has been fighting against Burmese military rule; the human rights activists in the Philippines fighting against extrajudicial killings, and so on.
In every single autocracy or dictatorship, there are people who are not afraid but resist corruption and authoritarian rule. These people have risked arrest and even lives. Their mere existence and resistance to authoritarian rule is a strong manifest of God’s cry for justice.
We rejoice because we see hope in these people! We give thanks to these people and to God for God’s never giving up.
Indeed, the prophet Zephaniah had already proclaimed the word of Lord in a hopeful way. Zephaniah 3:18-19: “the Lord says, he had ended the threat of doom (destruction/death) and taken away the oppressed’s disgrace. The time is coming! God will punish the oppressors and he will rescue all the lame and bring the exiles home.”
The oppressed are no longer captives, no longer slaves! They are set free and live without fear. We are able to rejoice because God has promised his salvation and love to those oppressed and outcast.
Mutual respect and the appropriate use of power are cause for rejoicing.
In the Gospel according to Luke, 3:7-18, John urged the believers to both to turn away from sin, and to do something. The converted then came to him and ask what they should do. John told them that one should use power appropriately rather than manipulate, and to share what one has with others, especially those wanting.
In his reply directed to a tax collector and soldiers, John made it clear that these people, who hold power and position (in terms of money and military force) should be honest and not abuse their power or act in their own interest. Specifically: the tax collector should not collect more than the tax legally due; soldiers should not take money by force or accuse anyone falsely. People in authority should be content with their legitimate pay rather than be greedy.
John gave a clear message. Anyone who is in a certain position with influence and power over others should limit their power and avoid any manipulation to harm others. This is very much related to human rights practice, both in personal terms, as well as in terms of the public welfare. For John, the main point was the importance of officials’ integrity and non-abuse of power.
Human rights are not just something high sounding, but something very down to earth. Human rights are about people’s basic need of food, clothes, housing. Human rights are all about respect to people’s dignity no matter who they are. When John told the converted to share clothes and food with others but especially those without, his teaching of faith practice was very much related to our contemporary concept of human rights. Being kind to other human beings is an important foundation of human rights practice.
When we give and share what we have, it is not a matter of superiors helping inferiors. We share because we take every life seriously, as we are all God’s children. I very much agree with the American Catholic priest Father Thomas Doyle, when he shared his thoughts about the mission of the church. “The primary objective,” said Doyle, “is not to be a church to help the poor, but to be a church to honor the poor.”
We rejoice when we are able to share with one another what we have, because we are taking each other as neighbors. We are all God’s children; all deserve respect and dignity even though when lacking in material things. We are all equal in the eyes of God.
It is not inappropriate that the season of Advent and the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights fall at the same time. Indeed, it is high time for us to link up our Christian faith and concerns of people whose human rights are not respected.
We rejoice in the love and justice of God when we are able to respect each other. God makes everything he creates good. Therefore, it is sinful and against the faith of Christ if we keep resources only for our own sake but unwilling to share with others especially who are wanting.
Do we have any business rejoicing in the midst of violence and human rights abuses in the world? Yes, because we trust that our God is faithful, He is God of justice, full of love and mercy. God is right there to stand for the oppressed and the outcast.
Our Holy and faithful God is great. God lives among his people. All flesh shall see the salvation of God through Jesus Christ.
We rejoice that the sharing of power and resources in a respect and loving way has and will continue to enable the world to live a life with joy. Amen.
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* The first part of the sermon was given by Jim Seymour extemporaneously. For his full-length sermon on the subject of human rights, see this website under “November 2007”.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, December 13, 2009
