I am reading a great little book, Preaching on the Sermon on the Mount: The World It Imagines, editted by David Fleer and Dave Bland. It is a volume in their wonderful series of books on preaching (I've loved reading all of them). Richard Hughes offers a challenging quotation in his chapter. The quote is from Jim Wallis, and his book, God's Politics. The context is a discussion on what the Bible teaches about poverty, particularly a Christian's responsibility to the poor.
Wallis says, "We all sat in a circle to discuss how the subject (responsibility to the poor) had been treated in the various churches in which we had grown up. Astoundingly, but also tellingly, not one of us could remember even one sermon on the poor from the pulpit of our home churches. In the Bible, the poor were everywhere; yet the subject was not to be found in our churches."
Joining in this conversation, I'm racking my brain trying to remember a sermon I've heard on the poor. I know I've heard a lot of sermons on the general subject of benevolence; and, I've personally preached a lot of those. But, I must say, I don't remember a sermon that spoke particularly of the poor and the obligations to them from Christians and the church.
Jump in the conversation: Have you?
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