179. Rock Goes The Gospel - Siouxsie and the Banshees "Hong Kong Garden"

"Hong Kong Garden" is the debut non-album single by punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in 1978 by record label Polydor. The single quickly hit number 7 in the charts The song is now widely acknowledged as a classic. In March 2005, Q placed it in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever" and British writer Colin Larkin qualified it as "sublime" If you think the title sounds like the name of a Chinese restaurant, you're right. Siouxsie once said "I'll never forget, there was a Chinese restaurant in Chislehurst called 'The Hong Kong Garden.' Me and my friend were really upset that we used to go there and when the skinheads would turn up it would really turn really ugly. These gits were just go in on mass and just terrorize these Chinese people who were working there. We'd try and say 'Leave them alone,' you know. It was a kind of tribute to them."

Siouxsie and the Banshees were a Punk band formed in London in 1976. Siouxsie Sioux (real name: Susan Dallion) was the lead singer. She and the Banshees' initial lineup emerged from the Bromley Contingent, a notorious group of punks inspired by the Sex Pistols. In addition to bassist Steve Severin and guitarist Marco Pirroni, the band included drummer John Simon Ritchie, who assumed the name Sid Vicious. They disbanded after one gig, Vicious joining the Sex Pistols and Pirroni later joining Adam And The Ants. Sioux and Severin re-formed their band the next year with guitarist Peter Fenton and drummer Kenny Morris. By 1979 Fenton and Morris had left to be replaced by drummer Budgie (real name Peter Clark) and for a short period Robert Smith of The Cure. After a succession of other guitarists came and left the band finally split in 1996. Sioux and Budgie, who later married, also recorded as the Creatures.

Harmful elements in the air
Symbols clashing everywhere
Reaps the fields of rice and reeds
While the population feeds

Junk floats on polluted water
An old custom to sell your daughter
Would you like number 23?
Leave your Yens on the counter please

Hong Kong Garden
Hong Kong Garden

Tourists swarm to see your face
Confucius has a puzzling grace
Disoriented you enter in
Unleashing scent of wild jasmine

Sunset eyes meet a new sunrise
A race of bodies small in size
Chicken Chow Mein and Chop Suey

Hong Kong Garden take away
Hong Kong Garden

I first heard this when it was released in 1978 and was hooked on it. It was one of those iconic songs of that era. Siouxsie charts the plight of a people group who migrated to the UK from China. A persecuted people group that came here looking for freedom to live in peace. The passage of scripture we will look at this morning builds on this song and speaks of caring for those who are in need of food and shelter, clothing and care. It's a passage about welcome and hospitality care and compassion to those who are in need of assistance, to those who are on the margins.

In both the Old and New Testaments, we see God’s desire for His children to show compassion to the poor and needy. Jesus said that the poor would always be with us (Matthew 26:11; Mark 14:7). He also said that those who show mercy to the poor, the sick, and the needy are in effect ministering to Him personally (Matthew 25:35–40) and will be rewarded accordingly.

There is no doubt that poverty’s reach is both widespread and devastating today. God’s people cannot be indifferent toward those in need, because His expectations for us in regard to taking care of His poor are woven throughout the entirety of Scripture. For example, look at the Lord’s words about the goodness of King Josiah in Jeremiah 22:16: “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me, declares the LORD?” And Moses instructed his people how to treat the poor and needy: “Give generously to [them] and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to” (Deuteronomy 15:10).This sentiment is perfectly captured in Proverbs 14:31: “Whoever is kind to the needy honours God.”

Conversely, there is another part to this verse: “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker.” Proverbs is, in fact, filled with Scripture clearly showing that God loves the poor and is offended when His children neglect them (Proverbs 11:4; 17:5; 19:17; 22:2, 9, 16, 22–23; 28:8; 29:7; 31:8–9). The consequences for ignoring the plight of the poor are also made clear in Proverbs: “If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered” (Proverbs 21:13). And note the strong language in Proverbs 28:27: “He who closes his eyes to [the poor] receives many curses.” Among the many sins of Sodom described in Genesis 19, her people were “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49).

There are passages in the New Testament that are equally clear as to how we are to take care of the poor. One verse that nicely summarises our expected care for the poor is found in the first Epistle of John: “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with action and in truth” (1 John 3:17–18). Equally important is this mornings devotional passage in Matthew 25: This passage is often referred to as the “judgment of nations,” in which those assembled before Jesus will be divided into two groups—the sheep on His right side and the goats on His left. Those on the left will be sent to the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (v. 41), whereas those on the right will receive their eternal inheritance (v.34). The thing to note and to focus on is the language Jesus uses in addressing these separated groups. The sheep are basically commended by Jesus for taking care of the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, and the vulnerable. The goats, on the other hand, are chastised by Jesus for their lack of concern and action. When the righteous ask Him when they did these things, Christ responds by saying, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

We are not to misinterpret this as meaning the good works of the sheep earned them Christ's salvation; rather, their good works were the “fruit” or evidence of their having been saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8–10), meaning that a commitment to Christ will be accompanied by the undeniable evidence of a transformed life. Remember, we were created to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do, and the “good works” Christ speaks of in Matthew 25 included taking care of the poor and suffering.

There are many passages as we have seen that encourage God's people to take action and care twards the poor and needy. Now, with all of these scriptural truths in mind, we are to obey them and act on tthem, because “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). As James stated, “Do not merely listen to tthe word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). Similarly, John said, “The man who says, ‘I know Him,’ but does not do what He commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. . . . Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:4, 6). And the words of Christ Himself: “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15).

Jesus commanded us to love one another (John 13:34–35). And what better way to demonstrate the love and kindness and compassion of Jesus Christ than by reaching out to the “least of these” among us? The reason "Hong Kong Garden" was written it seems, out of injustice against a marginalised people group. A tribute to the “least of these” so to speak. May we today have our hearts and minds on those who Jesus would have us care for and may we make a difference in our own world of injustice and intolerance. It seems that for Jesus this action or non action will have eternal consequences.