In her sermon, ‘Where did we go wrong? A wake-up call to Christians in South Africa,’ Rev Janet Trisk challenges in the strongest of terms the idolatry of greed that is consuming the South African society today. She cites the tragedy of the 94 psychiatrist patients who lost their lives under unfair circumstances, the delayed services to the elderly and the controversial state of the nation address among others, such things that have shaken the ‘state of the nation’.
by Rev Canon Janet Trisk
I heard a sermon last week that frankly left me despairing.The preacher made a plea for unity in the church. Now in itself, there is nothing wrong with that. But there was not a word about unity with the whole human family or even the South African part of it. And this is the week where we learnt of the horrific deaths of 94 psychiatric patients in Gauteng[1], sacrificed to the god of greed. And this is the week when we heard, finally, a statement from SASSA that the new system of paying social grants will not be ready on 1 April and no-one knows exactly how, or even if, the poorest and most vulnerable people in our country – 17 million of them – will get their grants.[2] The sermon was, in other words, a lot of pious words but had absolutely nothing to say to literally millions of South Africans whose very survival is at stake. Where did we go wrong? How did we drift so far away from Jesus’ concern for the poor and vulnerable? How can we pretend to be the body of Christ and go on and on about unity without responding to these terrible injustices? Where did we go wrong?
And then we have the state of the nation. Need I say more? In 1994 we glimpsed the Rainbow Nation with its dream of justice. We have one of the most progressive constitutions in the world with protections for people to protest and challenge the state. But this week saw us descend into a military state. What happened to our democracy? Where did we go wrong?
Where did we go wrong? That is also the underlying question in Deuteronomy 30:15-20. This text is the conclusion of 30 odd chapters of a speech by Moses to the Israelites as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. There they sit on the border betweencaptivity and freedom, on the border between wilderness wandering and a new home. And Moses goes on (and on!) reminding them of Yahweh’s delivery of Israel from slavery in Egypt and calling on them to follow the ways of God, to keep their side of the covenant, so that it may go well with them. However, here’s the thing: The scholars think that Deuteronomy was written hundreds of years later than the events it depicts – probably after the exile in Babylon. We need to remember this when we read it. It is not like reading the newspaper telling us what happened yesterday on the journey from Egypt to Canaan. This text is written hundreds of years later and essentially it is saying: If Israel had remained faithful to God and kept her side of the covenant, this is how our history would have gone. But somehow we went astray. So where did we go wrong?
In Deuteronomy is the answer to this question: We went wrong when we followed the wrong gods, idols. And whist this might mean literal idols, just think of what the prophets like Amos and Micah describe as idolatry. They describe certain worship practices as idolatry. In other words idolatry is not necessarily worshipping gods of wood or bronze. It is instead, and more dangerously, pretending to worship Yahweh, whilst in fact worshipping ourselves. It is good Jewish people, getting things wrong. Recall a couple of weeks ago we heard Micah speak for God and ask: Do I want your rivers of oil and thousands of sheep? No. I want mercy, love, and justice.
And it’s the same for us. Idolatry is most dangerous when it is practiced by we Christians, assuming we are being good Christians. When we show how fabulous our collections are or how loud our hallelujahs or how big our congregations or how loudly our preachers shout, we have turned to idolatry. When we fall over ourselves to friends on face book, people who are powerful or sexy or have status, rather than noticing the lonely or the frightened ones, we have turned to idolatry. When parliamentarians spend more on a State of the Nation Address outfit than a domestic worker’s salary, and all we do is watch the outfits on TV, we have turned to idolatry. When the church is concerned only for cosy unity with people who look and think just like us,we have turned to idolatry.
In the text Moses says to the people: This is the word of God: See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…..Choose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God and listen to his voice.
And where will we hear the voice of God? Not in preachers who tell us who to love – people like us and who to hate – those “others” but in the cry of the poor. Listen for the voice of God in this story of one person trying to get her social grant:
It’s 3 in the afternoon in Dr Pixley ka Seme Street (in Durban). Some 80 people were still queuing for their grants. Some had been there from 5.30am. Sitting on a piece of newspaper, Jabu Mbambo, a pensioner, said she was tired and hungry. “I come from Kwa Makhutha village and I have to wake up at around 4am to get a taxi to town and make it to the line around 7am. After an hour of standing, your knees get weak and your body gets weak. So I normally spend the last few hours seated here by the side of the road.” Mbambo feeds four grandchildren from her pension.
That is the State of the Nation; not the hours of failing democracy in Cape Town. And before we judge parliament, we need to ask: Is this the state of our church too? Are we more concerned with cosy unity than justice and inclusivity?
[1]http://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2017/02/01/94-unlawful-deaths-still-counting-health-ombud-lashes-government/ [Accessed 13 February 2017].
[2]http://www.groundup.org.za/article/long-queue-social-grants/ [Accessed 12 February 2-2017].