In Luke's Gospel, Jesus tells us that the poor are blessed because theirs is the kingdom of God. Those who are hungry are blessed because they will be filled. Those who weep are blessed because they will laugh.

"I am puzzled by this," CS Song told the congregation at Third Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan on Thursday this week. "I am not just puzzled, I am also annoyed."

"The history of the world for the past two thousand years tells us, and the stories of many of our communities remind us again and again, that the hungry are not fed, that those who weep do not laugh," he said.

Song, president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches since 1997, quoted David Landes: "At present, 22 of the 25 poorest countries in the world are in Africa, and 54% of Africans live below the UN poverty line."¹

"Add to this a great number of people in Asia sinking deeper and deeper into poverty," he commented, "and you have a pretty good grasp of what our world is like today."

Song was preaching at the opening worship of the executive committee of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which is meeting at Western Theological Seminary in Holland from July 26 to August 4.

"The economic reality of our world makes many of us uncomfortable: the hearts of many of us good Christians go out to our sisters and brothers suffering the pain of poverty. We get resentful: we resent that the economic order of the world deprives those who live in poverty of their human dignity. We become indignant: indignant at those big businesses and corporations bent on accumulating wealth at the expense of the poor. And we lash out at the monetary systems and financial institutions that make the rich richer and the poor poorer."

He reminded the congregation, made up of members of the Warc committee and members of the Reformed Church in America (which is hosting the meeting), that Matthew reports the words of Jesus a little differently - a difference of two words: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." (Mt 5.3)

"Who are the poor in spirit"? Song asked. Are they those who are caught up in the spiritual fads that are sweeping the affluent nations of the north? "Now that their standard of living has risen sky high, they can afford to worry about their spiritual destiny."

Matthew doesn't give us the answer, Song told the congregation, but leaf through the Gospels and answers come tumbling out. The good Samaritan who shows compassion to a stranger he stumbles over on his journey. The father who sees his wayward son coming home in rags and runs out to welcome and embrace him. The tax-collector who cheats his own people, but has a change of heart. The Roman centurion, an officer in an occupying army, who sees in Jesus a power greater than Caesar. The woman who pours ointment on the head of Jesus, knowing that he is about to die. These are all "poor in spirit".

The kingdom of heaven, the rule of God: this is almost the sole preoccupation of Jesus. Talk to him about anything you want - your fears and anxieties. Share with him your ambitions of life and hope for the future. Complain to him of the wrongs done to you. Ask him to help you be successful in what you want to do. Say to him you have faith in his power to heal your illness. Pray to him to fill you with the spirit to sing Alleluia! Jesus will listen to you attentively and patiently. He will look at you with compassion. Then gently and quietly he will tell you, looking you in the eye: "But strive first for the rule of God and his justice, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Mt 6.33)

Covenanting for justice in the economy and the earth

"For Jesus," Song said, "the rule of God is a project, not a concept. It is an enterprise, not a dream. It is a deal, a contract, not just pious talk or religious platitude."

"And it is a deal and a contract to be signed by the poor and the poor in spirit together."

Our world today, Song reminded the congregation, has plenty of the poor - more than three billion of them - but "there is a terrible shortage of the poor in spirit."

"That is why the rule of God remains jargon, a castle in the air, a religious fantasy."

"Is it possible for the World Alliance in the coming years to get many of the poor in spirit to join Jesus' project of God's rule?" he asked. "And when we meet in Accra, Ghana, for the 24th general council, will there be jubilation over the deal sealed between the poor in spirit and the poor?"

Pictures from the opening worship are available on the RCA website.

Note

1. David S Landes, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations (New York: WW Norton, 1999), p.506.