Sermon: Choose Kindness

          I had a direction for my sermon this week when God decided to change my focus.  A friend of mine, Jan, called me:  she's a blind, Jewish widow, and she asked that I put on my spiritual guidance hat. I laughed. She said, "What do I do? We have the synagogue shot up last week, then the dance club this week, and now there are fires moving so fast, people are barely escaping with their lives. What can I do to make things better?" Now fortunately, since I don't have such answers, I went to Christ's commandments.  I told her that everyone she meets is going through something.  Be kind.  Be wise and keep safe, but think outside the box to be kind. She described a woman who had apparently been going around her trailer park, panhandling. All of the residents were worried, because most of them are old or disabled in some fashion, and they felt that she would take advantage of them. I said I realize you don't have a lot, but did you think about offering her a sandwich? To give it to her away from your home, but to show her some kindness. I told her that like the woman in 1 Kings this week, she may not have much, but she is rich in caring and can share - if nothing else, her presence and a listening ear. And just like that, my sermon direction changed.

          Both of the women in our lessons this week have very little, and expect to die shortly. So their kindness isn't really going to cost them a whole lot in their own minds, because they are not long for this world in any case. Part of what fascinated me about today's gospel is that we found out that Christ is a people watcher. He looks at what people do, not what they say. And he ensures that his disciples learn how to properly observe as well.

          While we don't see what Christ did after watching the woman give her last two coins, I have a feeling that he ensured she would be doing better as a result of her piety. Elijah, in the first lesson, ensured that the woman and her son would not starve, and would have food to last until the rains fell again and crops could be grown. 

          One of the interesting aspects of the Old Testament lesson is that God didn't provide enough food until the rain fell; He provided the ingredients for daily bread until the rainfall. We've all heard the saying "God helps those who help themselves," but that particular quote is nowhere in the Bible. It is however, stories like this one that helped to develop what seems to be a truism.

          On this Veterans Day, we remember all who have died in service to their country. But more particularly, this day used to be known as Armistice Day, the Remembrance Day, the day when the War to End All Wars finally came to an end. Unfortunately, since that war is now known as World War I, we are aware that it was not the war that would end all wars. World War I became known as the initiation of a new change in policy for the United States. We were now the champions of democracy, and this has led to many more conflicts and wars in which the US has been involved.

          One of the things that has been learned over time, has been that there is difficulty in keeping the troops supplied with food. During World War I, food was often still being delivered by horse and wagon, and a lot of specialized foods had to be prepared by the troops themselves. In Britain, the troops were often provided with something known as bully, a tinned meat that stored well based on the French boeuf bouilli or boiled beef. The other thing that they got were hard biscuits, which apparently every cook in the military tried various and sundry ways to make taste better by soaking or crumbling. They rarely succeeded.

          We don't often hear about the troops that came from India or from Iraq during World War I. Both of these cultural groups had specific food requirements that were not usually handled in the field. It resulted in flocks of sheep or goats following the troops so that the soldiers would know that the deaths of the animals were carried out in a humane and religiously prescribed manner. They did offer to allow for frozen meat to be distributed, but only if someone could be there at the time the animal was frozen.

          Unfortunately, these two groups did not have the same requirements.  A major concern was that the slaughter be done the right way – halal (throat slitting) for Muslims, and jatka (decapitation) for Sikhs and Hindus. Separate slaughtering spots were set up, though at least once even this caused problems when one group angrily alleged that flies from the other side were contaminating their meat.

          Additionally, the foreign troops were told that they didn't have flour to make bread, and they would be stuck with the hard biscuits. However, the troops realized that there were plenty of mills around, and where there is civilization, there is flour. They requested Atta, the whole wheat flour they used to make bread. Soon, Indian troops were getting an Atta ration, and a ToI report from Jan 4, 1915 of a visit of King George V to the front writes of "his Majesty tasting a chapatti which had just been cooked." It's not known whether the royal endorsement had any effect on things, but recipe books on how to cook flatbread within the tins that were used for their beef sprang up and made their way around Europe.

        The point here is that by asking nicely, the troops were provided with what they needed on a daily basis. It wasn't much, but it kept them fed and continued the war efforts.

          Kindness is a universal attribute. It doesn't require a lot of effort, but even the smallest act can mean the world to someone in need. We don't have to be rich, we just have to be willing to share what we have. Like the two widows in our lessons today, we have the ability to change someone's life.

          And interestingly, the sign hanging across the main road into town from the high school kids today says, "You always a choice – Choose Kindness."  So I guess God's direction for the sermon was spot on.