Servants Without Shoes
A Sermon by + Hartley, Metropolitan Archbishop,
Anglican Church Worldwide
None excluded, all can come to God’s table, but some are barred because of circumstances. We say they are not like
us, God does not exclude, it is entirely a human notion.
As we write, we remember those who are who are less fortunate and we open our hearts. While inviting an
Anglican African Bishop to preach in the United States, he asked, "How much time do I have to speak?" I told him,
"20 minutes", and he said, "Man I would not have even warmed up yet." Said he, "If I preached a sermon in
Africa for 20 minutes it would cost a riot among the people." "They", he said, "get up at 5:00 A.M. in the morning,
some walk 10 to 15 miles with no shoes to come to church, where for a three of four hours they can cling to hope."
He called them "Servants without shoes."
Here in this great land there are people who say they are surviving, but in America there is really no survival. Even
the poorest of the poor, have something to hold on to. What is called survival here is taking half of the electric bill
and paying the water bill. Not being able to buy a brand name shoes, but can shop elsewhere, where prices are
cheap; that is what is a called survival here. But that is not survival, we are blest in this land. .
SURVIVAL is a family of 8 whose address is hovering under a tree, …and that is for tonight. Tomorrow's address is
a little further in the distance.
Survival is roaming the ground and picking what ever you can find to eat; taking a little and giving the rest to the
children.
SURVIVAL is the using the same water where waste is thrown and you drink from it.
SURVIVAL is seeing a lion or a cheetah in the distance and wondering, will you be his dinner.
To those who walk 15 and 20 miles to church on Sunday, they, like us, hold on the promise of God for relief. But
circumstances make this a more difficult task; yet they press on hoping that one day it will all end. Sadly, for 6000
a month in the African Continent, death is the only relief.
The Scriptures remind us that we are our brother's keeper, and we who have much it is our duty to lend a hand of
love wherever it is needed. Prayer should be the essential part of out lives, but prayer without works is dead; talk
and words without action is just another speech.
Each week we get a number of calls within our office, needing help for utility bills, their survival most of the time is
their lack of management of their personal finances, we try, because as Jesus reminds us through his word ‘to bear
one another burdens’, while he never ask us to neglect our own needs, he implores us to assist others in need, such
as those in Africa .
Each day in Africa over 1000 people die of AIDS, starvation, and other political misfortunes. To the TV and it is just
another story. Thus, you may ask, Why does God allow others to suffer this way?. He does not, he creates our
choices and leaves us to chose. Africa's case is the strong preying upon the weak.
On the African continent there are good and decent people trying their best to survive. They walk in hope, they pray
in hope and no matter where the journey takes them, they travel without shoes, spending hours on the journey to
the promise of that hope that they long have. Let us not forget them, they are truly Servant without shoes.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
A Sermon by + Hartley, Metropolitan Archbishop,
Anglican Church Worldwide
None excluded, all can come to God’s table, but some are barred because of circumstances. We say they are not like
us, God does not exclude, it is entirely a human notion.
As we write, we remember those who are who are less fortunate and we open our hearts. While inviting an
Anglican African Bishop to preach in the United States, he asked, "How much time do I have to speak?" I told him,
"20 minutes", and he said, "Man I would not have even warmed up yet." Said he, "If I preached a sermon in
Africa for 20 minutes it would cost a riot among the people." "They", he said, "get up at 5:00 A.M. in the morning,
some walk 10 to 15 miles with no shoes to come to church, where for a three of four hours they can cling to hope."
He called them "Servants without shoes."
Here in this great land there are people who say they are surviving, but in America there is really no survival. Even
the poorest of the poor, have something to hold on to. What is called survival here is taking half of the electric bill
and paying the water bill. Not being able to buy a brand name shoes, but can shop elsewhere, where prices are
cheap; that is what is a called survival here. But that is not survival, we are blest in this land. .
SURVIVAL is a family of 8 whose address is hovering under a tree, …and that is for tonight. Tomorrow's address is
a little further in the distance.
Survival is roaming the ground and picking what ever you can find to eat; taking a little and giving the rest to the
children.
SURVIVAL is the using the same water where waste is thrown and you drink from it.
SURVIVAL is seeing a lion or a cheetah in the distance and wondering, will you be his dinner.
To those who walk 15 and 20 miles to church on Sunday, they, like us, hold on the promise of God for relief. But
circumstances make this a more difficult task; yet they press on hoping that one day it will all end. Sadly, for 6000
a month in the African Continent, death is the only relief.
The Scriptures remind us that we are our brother's keeper, and we who have much it is our duty to lend a hand of
love wherever it is needed. Prayer should be the essential part of out lives, but prayer without works is dead; talk
and words without action is just another speech.
Each week we get a number of calls within our office, needing help for utility bills, their survival most of the time is
their lack of management of their personal finances, we try, because as Jesus reminds us through his word ‘to bear
one another burdens’, while he never ask us to neglect our own needs, he implores us to assist others in need, such
as those in Africa .
Each day in Africa over 1000 people die of AIDS, starvation, and other political misfortunes. To the TV and it is just
another story. Thus, you may ask, Why does God allow others to suffer this way?. He does not, he creates our
choices and leaves us to chose. Africa's case is the strong preying upon the weak.
On the African continent there are good and decent people trying their best to survive. They walk in hope, they pray
in hope and no matter where the journey takes them, they travel without shoes, spending hours on the journey to
the promise of that hope that they long have. Let us not forget them, they are truly Servant without shoes.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen
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