PSUMC building


BEC New Communities: A Divine Mission



Mr. Robert "Skipp" Moore, preaching
Park Slope United Methodist Church
Brooklyn, NY
April 21, 1996


Good morning. It's a pleasure and a privilege to be here with you at Park Slope Methodist. It's a family affair, you see. When your pastor, Finley, asked me if I would share the morning message at Park Slope Methodist this morning, I was delighted to accept his invitation.

Finley and I are friends and colleagues. He is a member of the board of directors of BEC New Communities, the housing development organization where I serve as general manager, CEO. And I am proud to say that Finley represents the kind of interest and selfless concern that have been responsible for whatever degree of success we now have.

Ours is a not-for-profit corporation whose founding grew out of a vision shared by dozens of Brooklyn congregations which was to restore distressed properties and prepare them for occupancy by families of modest means.

The board and staff of BEC New Communities see this as a divine mission. My topic this morning is "serving Christ through serving mankind."

The scripture reading from the 25th chapter of Matthew, verse 35, is one that is familiar to most of us:

For I was hungry and you gave me meat;
I was thirsty and you gave me drink;
I was a stranger and you took me in."

These words from the teachings of Christ occur at a significant place in Matthew's account of the life of Jesus. They are taken from the larger lesson we have come to refer to as the parable of the sheep and the goats. It is the lesson in which Jesus gives his disciples a preview of the Son of Man sitting on his throne in heavenly glory, surrounded by angels, and separating the people who come before him in the same way that a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

The Son of Man, Jesus says, separates people according to their moral conduct. On his right will be placed those who care for the hungry, the homeless, the needy. On his left, those who do not.those on the right, according to Matthew, will be blessed and inherit the kingdom prepared for them by the Father; those on the left will not.

The parable of the sheep and the goats is a lesson that comprises the last 15 verses of the 25th chapter and is -- for Matthew -- Jesus's last public teaching before his betrayal, arrest and crucifixion. That it occurs here suggests that the gospel's author wanted to place special emphasis on it.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. All four narrate the final days in the life of Jesus, from his triumphant entry into Jjerusalem through his resurrection. All four tell us that during the last week of his life he healed the sick, prayed, prophesied and preached. All four give accounts of the public teachings that challenged the religious establishment.

But what teachings do the gospels attribute to Jesus just before his ultimate detention? For Luke, Jesus continues to appear at the temple each day to teach against the corrupt practices of the religious hierarchy. For John, Jesus spends the days before his arrest praying and preparing his disciples for his coming transition.

For Matthew and Mark, however, Jesus's final teachings are instructions in moral conduct. We read Christ's pre-detention words in Matthew chapter 25, verse 40:

and the king shall answer and say unto
Them, verily I say unto you-- inasmuch as
You have done it unto one of the least
Of these brethren, you have done it unto me.

And we read Christ's pre-betrayal words in Mark chapter 12, verse 31:

thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no commandment greater ...

Could Matthew and Mark want us to see this last teaching as the highest teaching? Should we embrace the moral instruction to love and care for our brothers, sisters and neighbors as our opportunity to participate in a divine pursuit?

The clergy and congregations that came together in 1985 to form Brooklyn Ecumenical Cooperatives were grounded in a divine mission. They understood that quality of life for a family begins with having a place to live that is clean and safe. What's more, they understood that quality of life for a community is established by the neighbors who are able to nurture and be nurtured in such settings.

BEC churches called these "sacred places" and asked themselves the question: is there effective action we can take to rebuild the distressed housing around our churches? To revitalize neighborhoods and communities?

BEC New Communities, along with its member institutions, serves the communities of Bedford-Stuyvesnt, Crown Heights, Fort Greene, Carroll Gardens, Sunset Park, Flatbush, Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, East Flatbush and sections of Brownsville, Ocean-Hill and Bushwick.

In 1984, BEC New Communities Housing Development Finance Corporation was founded as the development arm of Brooklyn Ecumenical Cooperatives, a community resident association of 37 houses of worship, schools, hospitals and associations in northern Brooklyn. Over 40,000 families are served by this network of organizations.

With an office staff of ten, and a field staff of twenty, we have developed over 450 rental and condominium units with 428 housing units in various stages of development. Under the able leadership of our marketing director, Greg Todd, we have assisted over 200 families in purchasing their own home, most for the first time.

We currently co-manage 633 units, and recently opened 3 new developments in Bedford-Stuyvesant. During 1995, we started construction on an additional 117 units with locations in Sunset Park, Flatbush and Crown Heights.

Noteworthy is our sponsorship of the Brooklyn Ecumenical Federal Credit Union which has over $2 million in assets and over two thousand members. Sponsorship of the credit union enables us to increase our debt and mortgage counseling services, and also offer a number of financial services to our constituents.

Our primary goal is to start construction on 215 housing units in the coming fiscal year: July 1, 1996 through June 30, 1997. Another significant goal is to increase the number of units under our management by 100 units. And through the federally supported 203-k program, we plan to rehabilitate and market one-to-four family homes.

For BECNC, a major accomplishment would be to assist at least 150 families purchase their own homes. We know that home ownership is a powerful tool in community stabilization and economic development.

The congregations that comprise our network also understand that home ownership fortifies those values that can make a neighborhood a sacred place. A place for children to play, for seniors to reminisce, for small businesses to thrive, and for little leaguers to compete.

We see it as our divine mission that all people -- even the least of our brethren -- have access to the kind of housing that can become their sacred place. We, as part of our christian mission, should help families secure decent housing.

David wrote in psalms 127, first verse:

Except the Lord build the house, they
Labour in vain that build it; except the
Lord keep the city, the watchman
Waketh but in vain.

Thank you once again for inviting me.

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