By Rev. Chris Brouillard-Coyle
This year’s Reign of Christ Sunday included the Gospel story about the sheep and the goats (see Matthew 25:31-46).
It is a story that is well known: the king puts the sheep on the right and the goats on the left based on their behaviour when they have encountered those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and in prison. This is the story where we hear Jesus say: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Reflecting on this story, I couldn’t help but wonder what it might look like to treat this parable as a kind of benchmark about what it means to love our neighbours. Can we see ourselves in this parable? Based on our choices, would we find ourselves with the sheep or the goats? What can we say about the ways we have encountered those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and in prison?
As I prepared my sermon for that Sunday, I felt compelled to directly ask the question. Reign of Christ Sunday is essentially the church’s New Year’s Eve, why not look back and see how we did so that we can reflect on what we might do better.
Thankfully, I have a congregation where conversations in sermons work. The folks in the parish I serve are not particularly shy about sharing their thoughts, especially when given the opportunity. So, after an appropriate introduction to the topic, I directly asked what we have done to serve the least of these the siblings of Jesus, and a meaningful exchange ensued.
The end of the calendar year is quickly approaching. Soon we will be engaging in vestry season, that time when we intentionally look back at what we have done and look forward to what we hope to do in the new year. What benchmarks will we use to reflect on the ways in which our congregations embody the love of God reflected in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? To what extent will these benchmarks include an exploration of how we have encountered those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and in prison? What have we done well? What could we do better? How many of these neighbours do we know by name?
Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
That part about ‘members of my family’ speaks volumes. For Jesus, encounters with people on the margins are not happenstance and fleeting. These are members of his family. He knows each by name.
God knows the number of hairs on each person’s head. It is this familiarity and the compassion that comes from the responsibility to build relationships that are respectful and reciprocal, that the expected dynamic evolves. Jesus doesn’t want us to simply provide food, drink, clothing, welcome, care, and visits. Jesus wants us to get to know the members of his family, the members of our family.
As we reflect on the year that has passed and consider our goals for the year to come in preparation for the annual meetings of our church family known as vestry, to what extent will these reports acknowledge the ways we have sought to build relationships with those on the margins? Based on what our vestry reports say, will we be counted among the sheep or the goats?
Truthfully, we won’t always get it right. We don’t always get it wrong. The stories of our faith, the challenges that come with continually reflecting on the example of Jesus Christ, the prophets, and the saints, invite us to know better and do better.
As we come together for vestry, may we set benchmarks reflective of what we believe about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, so that we might one day hear Jesus say to us: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Rev. Chris Brouillard-Coyle is a co-chair of SEJH and a co-chair of Justice League of Huron.
Photo: Kate Remmer/Unsplash