The Separation of the Sheep from the Goats.

When you read the complete chapter 25 of Matthew’s gospel you realise that the three stories are about judgement.   The story of the ten foolish girls is a reminder that doing nothing is the wrong approach to life.   The story of the talents is also a reminder that doing nothing is the wrong way to behave.   The third story warns about the sin of omission.   So we are looking at a particular kind of judgement which deals with those who do nothing when there are many things they ought to be doing.   The child, finding himself in trouble with his parents, complains, “But I haven’t done anything done anything wrong!”   The parents reply, “You haven’t tidied your room!”

You will, no doubt, remember the song “Busy doing nothing”:

We’re busy doing nothing,

Working the whole day through,

Trying to find lots of things not to do.

We’re busy going nowhere,

Isn’t it just a crime?

We like to be unhappy, but,

We never do have the time.

In 2 Samuel 12, when Nathan came to David and told him the story that spoke of David’s own sin it had great impact.   He was judged for something he had done.   When Stephen was stoned to death it was the judgement of the establishment for activities they considered beyond acceptability.   Neither did they like being told where they were going wrong.   But in this particular gospel story the judgement was about sins of omission.   In other words, we are listening to an admonishment for neglect.

Looking back, I remember my first days at Manchester Road Congregational Church, Nelson in Lancashire.   Each Sunday the church seemed to be filled with many people and there was a sense of worshipping with a great throng.   By the time I reached seventeen I began preaching in many different churches and there were more pews than people.   Some of them made me wonder why they had not closed because you had a job to find your congregation.   Sometimes there would be choir pews with one person sitting there, the remnant of a choir.   Well, these establishments did close – eventually.   Nothing was happening.   There was neither mission nor even a sense of mission – just nothing going on.

Looking back over 56 years of preaching I cannot remember the churches doing much at all.   One year, the Congregational churches were challenged to reconsider their lives.   Each church was encouraged to take part in something called the Every Person Canvass.   It was a call to consider how we could use three things: Time, Talent and Treasure.   It was all about doing things by giving more time, using our gifts and giving our money.   In our church it flopped.   The fellowship rejected the idea and carried on doing nothing.   A smaller congregation near Ashton Under Lyne adopted it and it worked brilliantly.   In later years I began to preach in that church and it soon became my favourite church because it had such a positive outlook.

From time to time I used to get despondent about the future of the church.   Occasionally, I would hear people being very honest about the future of the church to which they belonged.   One man at my previous church near Oldham said, “In ten years time this church will no longer exist.”   That was fifteen years ago, and he still worships there.   So, sometimes it s not all doom and gloom.   That church is planning an extension to its building, so they do expect to have a future.   But are they the exception?

Interestingly, it was only when we retired to Anglesey that I found myself involved in what I called practical Christianity.   Some of our circuit people were buying Welsh lamb at a pound per pound a few years ago.   Our Agricultural Chaplain made us aware of a sheep farmer who was facing almost imminent bankruptcy and devised a plan of direct sales to save the farm from extinction.   People’s orders were taken and numerous trips to the farm saw many people delivering lamb around North Wales.   I discovered places I had never heard of before.   After three years the farmer was solvent and able to continue without our help.   It was wonderful to make a difference in the name of Jesus.

Later, I volunteered to work with our local food bank and I found out how many people were suffering on little income.   I heard stories about how they had reached this point in their lives.   It was humbling.   It was a reminder that here was a practical way to follow Jesus’ command, “Feed my sheep.”    Recently there was an appeal from the food bank to our local churches to try to replenish stocks of vital foods as there had been a number of large families fed recently.   I drove over to the Lidl supermarket and bought milk, sugar, juice and fish to stock up the shelves.   On the day I delivered the food to the food bank they did not have a single service user!   But the food is there, ready for the next desperate plea for help.

During the last year I heard an expression that I found challenging.   Is your church a mission church or a maintenance church?   Here, in a few words we have a repeat of the story of the ten foolish girls, the talents and the sheep and the goats all rolled into one.   It really puts you on the spot when you are asked this question.   Looking back I have seen much evidence of a maintenance church not even achieving this.   I often feel that I should have done something in terms of mission in the past and found myself guilty of not having the remotest idea what to do.

But, returning to the sheep and the goats, we need to think very seriously what we should do when presented with all the challenges of life.   The only way to ensure the kingdom is served is to do what we can and not assume that someone else will sort it out.   One of the hard lessons we in the churches have learned is that doing nothing or sweeping problems under the carpet has led to serious abuse in a place which has been considered a place of sanctuary.   The old saying that “the devil makes work for idle hands” has never been as true.  

Beyond the church, many bad things are happening to people and there has never been such a time for people to help others.   There is no excuse for doing nothing.

 Let me tell you about a young work colleague of mine.   She was a Pakistani young woman who went to Pakistan and met a young goatherd who, it was suggested, she should marry.   She took a shine to him and agreed and they were married.   She returned to the UK and it was hoped her husband would be allowed to follow her eventually.   Normally, such a bride would go to live with her husband in his parents’ home but this was not possible if he was to be brought to the UK.   So his father’s mother (grandmother of both bridegroom and bride), who lived here got the father to agree that she should come to live with her and her husband.   They had a two bedroom house and slept on sofas downstairs so that she could have her own room because the other bedroom was occupied by her uncle, his wife and baby.   My young work colleague had to pay rent for this.

Things became very difficult for her when her grandmother placed a ban on her holding the baby.   She was told her hands were dirty.   They were not but she went to wash them, only to be told they were still dirty.   Later her grandmother began to talk about her to others in the room as if she were not present.   She was referred to as black which was very insulting.   She told me she would have accepted me referring to her as black but it was an insult within her community.

One Friday she rang me from her office as I was then in our other office on the other side of Manchester.   She was alone in the office so she felt able to speak openly.   It turned out that another uncle had told her to pay him a weekly rent for a non-existent house as part of a plan to get her husband to the UK.   My response was to tell her to make enquiries in the Rochdale community to discover who was able to give immigration advice because it was wrong to have her pay this rent.   If by Monday she had not made contact with an immigration adviser in her community I would contact a friend who used to do this in Oldham.

When Monday came a phone call advised us that she was ill and would not be in work.   On Tuesday I received a call from her sister to say she was now in hospital and asking to see me.   I guessed why she was in hospital.   She had tried to commit suicide over the weekend.   I drove over to the hospital in Rochdale and found a large group of Asian women round her bed.   She had overdosed on Paracetamol and was about to be transferred to the kidney unit in Leeds.   Another white friend and I told her that we wanted to help her and find a refuge where she would be safe.   Her response was, “OK, if I live.”

Two days later she died.   It was heart-breaking for our small workforce.   She was a lovely person to work with and a good Muslim too.   Sometime later I attended her inquest as a witness and tried to tell her story.   But the verdict given by the coroner was misadventure, interpreting what had happened as a “cry for help”.   But I knew differently.   Earlier, a day or so after she died, I just broke down and cried.   My dear friend, Hamid, another Pakistani and my best friend, came round to talk things out.   This death could have been avoided.   She had been treated badly and suffered neglect at the hands of her family.

This is the first time I have told this story publicly but I suddenly realised, when working on this blog,that it was a clear case of doing nothing that ended in disaster.   Back in the old days I used to think Christianity was about what we didn’t do.   We didn’t drink; we didn’t smoke, we didn’t swear and we didn’t blaspheme.   I remember an old lady rounding on me as I came out of a sweet shop after I had been to Sunday School.   “God won’t love you if you buy sweets on a Sunday.”   I am so glad we have moved on from those days, but we have much more to accept if we are to serve God, following Jesus.   In Lancashire there is an expression “If in doubt, do nowt” but it is so wrong.