The Preaching of the Word at
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Our Purpose is to
Welcome All, Praise God, and Care for the World.
“When the Rich and the Poor Meet Together”
Texts: James 2:1-13; Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
A Sermon by Jack Cabaness
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 9, 2012
Proverbs 22:2 states that “the rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is
the maker of them all.” That’s how the New Revised Standard Version puts it. However
there are a number of biblical scholars who aren’t sure that’s the best translation. The
best translation might be something like “the rich and the poor meet together: the Lord is
the maker of them all.”1
And isn’t that when things start getting a little weird? It’s easy enough to affirm
an abstract theological claim that the rich and the poor both share God as their maker.
But it’s when the rich and the poor meet together that the awkwardness sets in.
A couple goes downtown to celebrate their anniversary. They’re walking down
the street after dinner, before the show starts. They pass by a panhandler who asks for
some change. And this couple—faithful Presbyterians and food bank volunteers who
have heard social workers through the years say to never give money to panhandlers—
says, “no,” without a tinge of guilt.
And then the panhandler says, “Nice suit, though.” And the couple starts to laugh
nervously. They begin a conversation. They learn that the panhandler is there most
nights. Then, finally, one of them takes money out of a wallet, hands it to the panhandler,
and says, “Here you go. Now, please, spend this on food.”2
When the rich and the poor meet together things can get a little awkward,
interactions can get a little uncomfortable. Now imagine the potential for even greater
discomfort when the rich and the poor meet together in worship. This is where we come
to James. James is speaking about an assembly of the early church where most of them
probably had more in common with the panhandler than with the couple going out on the
town. James imagines a scenario where a wealthy person comes into the assembly and
everyone fawns all over him. They roll out the red carpet and give him the best seat in
1
the house. And when a poor person enters, they push him aside, saying, “Sit at my
feet,” or “Stand way over there.”
James was writing to a church that was obsessed with honor and status. You
knew how much status you had in that society, and everyone else knew how much status
you had in that society as well. And those rigid divisions that existed in the society of
James’ day were encroaching themselves into the church as well. Even in the church,
people were fawning all over the rich person.
And James was incredulous. “Do you not know,” James said, “that these are the
very people who drag you into court?” Don’t you know that the person wearing fine
robes might be spying for the Emperor, while agents from the Roman Empire counterpart
to the FBI snoop around the parking lot, jotting down license plate numbers? Isn’t it
interesting how the desire to curry favor with the wealthy and the influential can trump
acting in one’s own best interest?
It’s not a new problem. It’s something that’s persisted throughout church history.
John Galloway is the retired pastor of the Wayne Presbyterian Church in Wayne,
Pennsylvania, and he describes how in one of the early churches that he served there was
a CEO of a local company who was very well known. And everyone in the church was
always eager to curry favor with him. If he called up, they made sure to put the phone
call through to the pastor. If he happened to be in the church building, they made sure to
escort him to the pastor’s office. He served on all the church boards. Everyone was
eager to get his opinion. Now a janitor who worked at the same company was also a
member of the church. And, unbeknownst to most people in the church, the janitor gave
three times the amount of money every year to the church that his boss gave. But it was
the CEO who garnered all of the attention.3
The game of playing favorites is not a new game. It’s a game that the church still
struggles with from time to time. And there are many ways of playing favorites. Let’s
say two different visitors come to our congregation on a given Sunday. A middle-aged
man comes by himself and a family of four also comes. Which visitor gets the most
attention?
Sometimes in our efforts to show hospitality we go overboard to the other
extreme. A visitor comes in and we overwhelm them with attention. “Oh, we’re so glad
you’re here, we just need more young people in our church.” It’s a little like the 17-year
old boy who is so over-eager to get a prom date that he ends up scaring all of his potential
dates away. It helps to be gentle, and to have a spirit of welcoming hospitality that
doesn’t try to put anyone on the spot.
It also helps to have an attitude that expects to be surprised by those who show up
on a given Sunday morning, such as when two little barefoot girls rode their bikes to
church by themselves a few weeks ago and walked into worship. How do we as a church
respond? How do we as a church offer hospitality while also offering guidance to
children who have never before attended worship? How are we as a church hospitable to
2
all who enter? How do we learn to see every person here as a guest?
One of my favorite preachers, Fred Craddock, tells the story of being the guest
preacher at the Riverside Church in New York City. It was when William Sloan Coffin
was the pastor there. The two men were friends. But still Fred had never preached
before at Riverside Church. For Fred, having grown up in rural Tennessee, getting the
chance to preach in the Cathedral-like Riverside Church was like standing in tall cotton.
Bill Coffin was going to be out-of-town, and so he told Fred he could stay in his
apartment. Fred got to the apartment and there was a note on the refrigerator door saying,
“I’m sorry I’m leaving the refrigerator empty. There’s no food in there. But, if you like
to eat breakfast before you preach, our church has a breakfast for the homeless and you
can have breakfast there.”
So, Fred got in line at the homeless breakfast and struck up a conversation with
the people around him. The person in front of him turned around and said, “So, how did
you become homeless? Was it drugs or alcohol?” And Fred wasn’t quite sure what to
say at first. He might have said, “I’m not homeless at all, I’m the guest preacher!” But
he didn’t say that. He thought about it for a second and said, “I’m a guest. I was
invited.”4
Everyone who comes to worship is a guest, and they are here because they are
invited.
There’s a story from the Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. It’s a big
downtown church that has its own homeless ministry. But something new has been
happening over the last several years. Many of the homeless guests have been coming to
worship. They’ve been worshipping along side doctors and lawyers and Atlanta’s civic
leaders. As a church, they are learning how to be church together.
There was one Sunday when a professor from the Seminary was seated in the
pews and they announced that they were going to have a special offering for the victims
of hurricanes and tsunamis. And the man seated next to the professor was obviously
homeless. All of a sudden the professor began to feel very self-conscious. What’s going
to happen when I pull out my wallet, count the money and put it in the envelope? Won’t
I make my neighbor—who may not have any money, or even a wallet--feel
uncomfortable?
But, as it was, the plate came to his neighbor first and the homeless man took an
envelope from the pew, wrote a message on it, put it on top of the plate and then, when it
got to the professor, he saw that the homeless man had written his name and a message
that said, “I love you very much.”5 The homeless guest was reaching out in friendship
and love to those who had lost everything in the storms.
When the rich and the poor meet together there is an opportunity for hospitality
and friendship.
3
All glory and praise be to our God. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Jack Cabaness, Pastor
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Westminster, Colorado
Thanks to Bobbie Lowe for transcribing the sermon from an audiotape.
Notes:
1
From a sermon by the Reverend Patrick J. Willson, “A Wealth of Wisdom,” preached
at the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, Williamsburg, Virginia, September 10, 2006.
2
Patrick Willson describes a similar incident in the above-referenced sermon.
3
John Galloway, Ministry Loves Company (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press,
2003), 136-139.
4
Fred Craddock, Craddock Stories (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2001), 102-103.
5
From a sermon by Thomas G. Long, “Making Friends,” published in the Journal for
Preachers, Pentecost 2007, 56-57.
4