The Orphan, the Widow and the Foreigner | 104 Houston St. Pt2 | Part 3 (Courtney Clark)

TRANSCRIPT: The Orphan, the Widow and the Foreigner

We are in part 3 of our 3 part series titled Where Do We Go From Here? Last week we talked about Grace and Peace and how it informs everything we do. Grace and peace aren’t created without all of us working as a community to be generous and intentional toward one another. Yet grace and peace can’t stop here, it wasn’t meant for only us, it was meant for everyone. To go beyond the walls in how our church participates in the community its apart of. From the beginning we’ve set the intention to partner with organizations that are already out being the hands and feet of service, being grace and peace. We served in the streets providing basic hygiene goods to the homeless with Project Hope. We helped people in the mobile home community down the street prepare to move when their neighborhood was being torn down. We use local restaurants anytime we’re hosting an event, like the anniversary dinner this weekend will be catered by Doc’s Street Grill just around the corner, they catered last year as well. We collected donations to give to families on the coast after Harvey. We’ve given gift cards for food/gas/clothing to families that have lost their homes or express need. We have continued to collect blankets and clothing for women and children in domestic violence shelters. These organizations have a unique relationship with the community and know the intimate needs of the people groups they serve. We never intended to start our own food pantry we chose to help support the Roanoke food pantry who has been on the ground serving as the hands and feet and already knew the needs in this community. We didn’t start our own non-profit rather we partnered with Denton Country Friends of the Family who has been on the ground serving domestic violence survivors for years and knew the ins and outs of what that transition is like. Feeling heard and understood gives back the humanity that has been stripped from these marginalized communities. The organizations we are partnering with have been started by people within the communities they’re trying to reach and know what they need better than we ever could. We’re starting new partnerships with the community store house who serves families in a wide range of school districts to ensure they have basics like food and clothing, and Noah’s Ministry who is actively seeking to make space for special needs children and their family within the church.

Caring for others didn’t start with us, community service isn’t something new. Dating back to the book of Leviticus we see the Bible urging the Israelites not to forget the orphan, the widow and the foreigner. Let’s look at Leviticus 19:9

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger.”

Here the Israelites are being taught basic laws of their new society after fleeing from the oppression and enslavement of Egypt. This law in particular is saying, when you go pick your harvest usually you go over it a second time in case you missed something, don’t do that. Leave whatever is left for those groups of people who don’t have easy access to food like you do. In fact this commandment in several variations is repeated throughout the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The assumption here is that there is a responsibility for the people who have things to leave any extra for those who don’t. At this time period men had the most social clout and could purchase and sell freely. Operate autonomously. These 3 classes, orphan, the widow, the foreigner of people were the most vulnerable at this time. Children are rated lower than animals, because they can’t give anything. Animals can at least work on the farm children can’t do that. They only NEED without contributing anything in return. If you don’t have a family to care for you and keep you safe, no one else is going to look out for you. They didn’t have social workers or orphanages. They were just sent to fend for themselves in a society who saw them as a burden. Women were seen to only had value as long as they were connected to a man.

A virgin living with her father was cared for until she was married. Once she was married she was under the care and umbrella of her husband. But if her husband were to die and she didn’t have a son old enough to care for her she couldn’t go back home to her father, and couldn’t get remarried. She was alone, with no money or way to make money without begging or prostituting herself. People at this time period didn’t relocate because of a job, or for a change of scenery. They often were displaced because some sort of trauma occurred. The water supply of their village dried up and everyone died or scattered, there was some sort of famine or disease and they were fleeing. Or they were in a marginalized community some place else and are fleeing for their life. This idea of caring for the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner (or immigrant) is echoed over and over again throughout the scriptures. And not just for the religious leaders, or missionaries, but for ALL of Israel, for God himself. God is described in Deuteronomy 10:17 as caring for the orphan, the widow and the foreigner:

God your God, is theGod of all gods, he’s the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome. He doesn’t play favorites, takes no bribes, makes sure orphans and widows are treated fairly, takes loving care of foreigners by seeing that they get food and clothing.

Then goes on in verse 19 to urge all of Israel to do the same:

You must treat foreigners with the same loving care- remember, you were once foreigners in Egypt.

This is actually the most given command in the bible; do not to forget where you came from. Meaning you were once held captive you were once forgotten. Don’t be the kind of people you ran from. Don’t be the kind of country built on immigrants and then be hostile toward immigrants. Welcome those who are lost, oppressed, alone. Not only welcoming them, but serving them, ensuring they have everything they need. This is radical at a time period when everyone is operating from a place of survival, the people groups who required more work than they could contribute were encouraged to be killed off or left for dead.

This urging to care for the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner doesn’t end in the Old Testament. James 1:26-27 says:

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefined before God. The Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Again, here the orphan and the widow are powerless in this society, no status and no one to care for them. James, the writer, is urging his reader to go to these people in their position of pain and be their support when they have none. This offers nothing to the person doing the going/visiting/serving. His urging to bridle your tongue is saying don’t do these things to make yourself look good so you can go about and tell everyone of the good thing that you did. You’re not doing this for you. He is providing them with the freedom to serve in peace and love without expecting something in return. Not using our social position as a position of power to hold it over the disadvantaged but rather recognizing the power we have because of our social position and using it to help support and provide for those who can’t do so for themselves.

Then again we see Jesus himself say in Matthew 25:34-40

Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

Jesus is giving us a picture of what the kingdom of God looks like, and telling us how to participate in bringing that kingdom to the here and now. Not saying if we’re good people who help those who need help we’ll go to heaven one day, but rather. The kingdom of god is available to you, you need only to grab hold and participate in it by showing love and grace and peace.By caring for the least of these you are experiencing and sharing the kingdom of God now.

But the question becomes who are the least of these? We have foster care and social workers for the orphan, widows don’t have limitations on getting a job or the ability to remarry, so those two groups are not necessarily what they once were. So in the 21 century who are the least of these? You could argue that the foreigner’s position hasn’t really changed a whole lot. I would start with immigrant, we STILL have children at the border who have been separated from their families with no real way to be reunited. Immigrants face decades long waiting list for visa status, and have to jump through hoops if they do get a visa. We have a friend who came here to go to school, got a student visa but had to work under the table just to be able to buy food. Then once he graduated couldn’t get work sponsorship in time and had to go back to school for 2 or 3 masters degrees just to be able to keep his student visa. Black people of color experience police brutality and hate crimes at rates that are rapidly rising. 80% of LGBTQ youth have been assaulted or threatened, each instance increases their already high risk of suicide. The disabled community faces a disparity in employment. As of January 2022 the unemployment rate for disabled people eligible to work was double that of able bodied. Statistics show that there are 5.1 million households in the US alone that experience food insecurity, meaning they don’t know where their next meal will come from. This is why we’ve started a partnership with The Community Store house to do what we can to participate in alleviating food insecurity for families in our community. The special needs community is all but forgotten in most spaces, there is limited access to public resources that are then cut off once they graduate out of the public school system. This is why we’re partnering with Noah’s ministry to help facilitate safe space and educate people on the reality of life for special needs families. 57% of homeless women are homeless because of domestic violence. This is why we partner with Denton county Friends of the family to collect clothing and linens for women and children transitioning away from violent homes. I could go on, the list of marginalized communities is not short. Significant disparities exist for marginalized people in every aspect of their lives; health care, employment, housing, access to services like welfare, Medicare/Medicaid, disability etc. Not to mention the acts of violence and stigmatization they face on a daily basis, often suffering silently as victims of assault, abuse, exploitation. So who are the least of these? Anyone who has ever felt less than, who has ever been harmed and had no place to turn because they wouldn’t be believed or cared for. Anyone who has felt unsafe in their own home or walking to the grocery store, simply because of who they are. Anyone who has been pushed down and abused by the system that is supposed to keep them safe. These are the least of these.

Starting now we’re collecting feminine pads and other paper goods for the Community Store House, you can drop those at the table across from the coffee. We’re still collecting linens and clothing for Denton friends of the family, that box is next to the table across from the coffee. Once a month we’ll be meeting before services to put together snack bags for the community store house to deliver to

students who are on free and reduced lunch over the weekend as they might not get any other food. We working with Noah’s ministry to set up training for putting on respite nights to give specials needs care givers a night out with a safe space for their loved one.

But we also want to encourage you to serve in areas that are important to you. What kind of skills can you be generous with in serving YOUR community? Do you know how to work on cars and can help a neighbor change their oil? Can you help someone who is unable to paint their house? Or can you help your grandma’s friend set up her new computer? Can you babysit for a friend so the grown ups can have a night out and not stress about paying for a babysitter? Can you make meals to deliver to someone you know has been struggling or sick? Not to check of a list because you’re supposed to, but because grace and peace are apart of our DNA.

It’s been interwoven from the beginning. To love and care for the least of these; the orphan the widow and the foreigner. The Old Testament created something new and urges the Israelites to care for those the rest of the world has forgotten. Jesus showed us what it looked like to bring the kingdom here, by loving and caring for the least of these. James urges us to do so out of love, not to gain status. We are called to continue in the same, to identify and care for the least of these. The orphan, the widow and the foreigner, though they may look different today, the call is still the same.

So may we as a church, listen to the cry of the least of these. May we not ignore those who the rest of the world has forgotten. May we share grace and peace with everyone. May we participate in the kingdom as Jesus did, as he urges us to do.