National attention is being focused on the small community of Maryville, Missouri, where a case involving the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl named Daisy Coleman has been brought to light. The incident and its aftermath bear more than a few similarities to the recent events in Steubenville, Ohio, that caused such a firestorm -- as in Steubenville, a young woman was apparently taken advantage of by older student-athletes at a party with excessive drinking... and subsequently there were charges that the town’s power structure conspired to protect the community’s and the athletes’ reputation by sweeping everything under the rug. And, like in Steubenville, the outrage of many in the community has been directed not at the alleged perpetrators but rather at the victim and her family. The environment in Maryville became so toxic that the girl and her family eventually moved to a neighboring town in an attempt to find some peace... only to discover their empty house in Maryville torched to the ground. Despite increasing pressure due to media attention, the town’s prosecutors and the state attorney general have so far resisted calls to reopen the case.
As team member Leah Lonsbury notes in this installment of The Immediate Word, this is an exceptionally difficult story that invites both sympathy for the victim and scorn for the community. But Leah points out that it’s also a particularly fitting illustration of exactly what verse 16 in this week’s text from 2 Timothy is talking about: “At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them!” When people are so shabbily treated, where can they look to for true support? Our epistle passage firmly answers that question in the very next verse: “But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength... so I was rescued from the lion’s mouth” (v. 17). This week’s Joel text elaborates on the comfort that can be found in the Lord: “You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame” (Joel 2:27). Leah discusses how that’s incredibly powerful testimony for those like Daisy Coleman who have to overcome not only the societal shame associated with rape, but also the shaming in the community that Daisy and her family have so unjustly experienced.
Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the Luke text, and about how we are prone to behaving like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. This pitfall infects all of us, but Chris notes that we see it played out in stark terms on the news by our politicians as they preen before the cameras, blaming others for the government shutdown and trying to persuade us that we should be grateful they’re not like those people on the other side of the aisle. While that’s a chronic disease with many of our public figures, they’re not the only ones who struggle with the central issue Jesus identifies here: the need to remain humble when our impulse is to feel “righteous and regard others with contempt.”
All Deserted Me
by Leah Lonsbury
Joel 2:23-32; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
There’s been a lot of news lately that invokes an emotional response -- anger about the federal government shutdown, befuddlement at the technical difficulties surrounding Obamacare’s rollout, and disbelief that anyone thinks the world needs a second Justin Bieber movie.
But there’s one story drawing coverage that is emotionally difficult on a number of levels, so much so that it can be hard to read or even believe. That’s the story of Daisy Coleman from Maryville, Missouri.
On January 8th, 2012, after blacking out at a party, 14-year-old Daisy was dumped, unconscious and alone, on her front lawn in 22-degree weather, wearing only a t-shirt and sweatpants. What happened between the blackout and when Daisy’s mom awoke and found her outside in below-freezing temperatures is what has the entire small town of Maryville, and now people across the nation, roiling in a sea of emotions.
Physical and video evidence point to rape.
So does eyewitness testimony.
Charges were filed.
Charges were dropped.
But according to many Maryville residents, the “trial” continues.
The accused?
Daisy and the Coleman family.
What?
Violation, anger, shock, shame, humiliation, alienation, torment, scapegoating, righteous and not-so-righteous indignation -- you name the emotional extreme, and it’s likely to be found somewhere in Daisy’s story.
With the growing media and national attention to Daisy’s story, what are the chances some kind of justice might be served? When might Daisy know some relief, healing, redemption, or vindication?
It might not happen through the courts or other avenues of the world around us like we would expect and hope, but Joel 2 reminds us that God stands in the midst of our crooked and broken ways, promises to put an end to our shame, and gives us the “early rain” of our vindication and redemption (v. 23).
Second Timothy also offers a powerful reminder to us not to desert each other in our struggles -- to stand with and rescue one another. Verse 17 reminds us that we never truly stand alone, no matter the depth of our suffering, because the Lord stands by us and gives us strength so that the Good News of redemptive love may be the story our lives share with the world.
How might we preach these texts, and share Daisy’s story and others like hers, so that ours is not a pat, “some day in heaven” response to real pain? How might we evoke an emotional response that begins the healing and ends the destruction for those whose current truth is “no one came to my support”?
In the News
Daisy’s story really began to catch the wider public’s eye when Dugan Arnett’s article, “Nightmare in Maryville: Teens’ sexual encounter ignites a firestorm against family,” broke in the Kansas City Star on October 12th. The article, which took Dugan seven months to research and compile, is thorough but dispassionate. And yet, the events it records are anything but. This has not been missed by the numerous media outlets that have picked it up and distributed it widely.
The Atlantic’s Chloe Jacobs begins her retelling this way...
A story in the Kansas City Star is rippling across the internet as a post-Steubenville example of how communities still circle the wagons and protect student athletes who commit sexual assault. A pair of sexual assaults that occurred one day last year in Maryville, Missouri, weren’t much different from ones that happen every day: there were teenagers, there was alcohol, and there were rapes that the perpetrators claimed were consensual.
Clearly, Daisy’s story has hit a nerve.
It’s important to read Dugan’s thorough accounting of the events and the resulting case, but here are the basics. The Coleman family was fairly new to Maryville, having moved 40 miles from the town of Albany just three years before while looking for a new start. This was after Melinda Coleman’s physician husband (father of Daisy and her three brothers, Charlie, Logan, and Tristan) was killed in an automobile accident. Daisy and Logan were in the car as well but survived by crawling out the window. This family was not new to heartache or life-altering events.
The children had begun to adjust to life in Maryville, a tight-knit town of about 12,000 in northern Missouri. Melinda found some relief in not being referred to as “Dr. Coleman’s widow” all the time and secured work at a local veterinary hospital in town. Daisy was slower to adjust, but she had earned her way onto the cheerleading squad and dance team and was getting to know other students -- like senior football player Matthew Barnett.
Despite warnings from her older brother Charlie, Daisy had begun texting with Barnett, a star athlete with a reputation as a guy who liked to have a good time. This reputation was backed up by his drunken driving arrest and several other alleged run-ins with the law that didn’t result in charges, because his family was well-connected.
That cold January night, Daisy had a friend from Albany with her for a sleepover, and the girls were watching scary movies and drinking alcohol Daisy had hidden in her closet. Daisy was also texting with Barnett. About 1 a.m., they snuck out of the Coleman house and into Barnett’s car to head to a party at his house. Once there, Barnett handed Daisy two large glasses of alcohol, one after the other. That’s the last thing she remembers about that night.
From The Atlantic’s Chloe Jacobs again...
She doesn’t remember being raped by Barnett, while one of his friends, a 15-year-old boy, raped her 13-year-old friend as she said “no” multiple times. One boy who was there that night, Jordan Zech, 17, a football player and wrestler, captured Daisy’s assault on an iPhone video. Daisy was so drunk she had to be carried out of the Barnett home; multiple kids confirmed that as she was being taken back to her house, she was crying.
Daisy’s friend somehow made it back inside the Coleman home. Daisy wasn’t so lucky. Right before 5 a.m. on January 8th, Melinda got up after hearing noises outside. She figured it was the family dogs, but when she opened the door she found her freezing, incoherent daughter. Melinda attempted to get Daisy into a warm bath but saw signs of sexual assault on her daughter’s body. When Melinda asked her about it Daisy cried, so Melinda called 911.
Within four hours the police had hauled in the young men, who admitted to drinking and “sex” with the girls. Barnett insisted what happened was consensual, despite the fact that under Missouri law sex cannot be consensual if the victim is incapacitated by alcohol. Barnett was quickly charged with felony sexual assault and misdemeanor endangerment of the welfare of a child. Zech, who had filmed the assault on his iPhone, was charged with sexual exploitation.
And then the public’s emotional outrage began, but it landed in an unexpected place -- with Daisy and her family. Harassment started online and at school. Other students and adults from the community made it known that they thought Daisy was “asking for it” and they hoped she “[got] whats comin.” One of the families of the young men charged asked publicly for an apology from Daisy and her family.
Suddenly, school had become a threatening and shame-filled place for the Coleman siblings. At one of Daisy’s dance competitions, one participant came dressed in a homemade t-shirt that read “Matt 1, Daisy 0.” Charlie, Daisy’s older brother, was booed when he was honored at his Senior Night with the wrestling team. All of her brothers were threatened physically, and Daisy was kicked off the cheerleading team for her “participation” in the events that led to her assault.
It turns out the work world was no safer for Melinda. She lost her job for “putting stress on everybody” at the veterinary hospital by considering filing civil charges against Barnett. Her employer later admitted to having ties to one of the young men who was charged.
Two months after the assault, the charges against Barnett and his friends were suddenly dropped. Robert Rice, the prosecuting attorney in the case, claimed Daisy and her mother refused to cooperate, give testimony, or answer questions. Maryville sheriff Darren White agreed, despite having publicly stated on repeated occasions that he believed Daisy was assaulted and crimes were committed. The Colemans say this is all a lie.
Sheriff White sounded less than sympathetic when he was interviewed recently. He said, “We did our job. We did it well. It’s unfortunate that they are unhappy. I guess they’re just going to have to get over it.”
Rice said charges were dropped for lack of evidence, but he added that information brought to his attention regarding what happened “before, during, and after” the incident also played a role in his actions. When asked to elaborate, he declined to respond. “There wasn’t any prosecuting attorney that could take that case to trial,” he said. “It had to be dismissed. And it was.”
The fact that Rice and Matthew Barnett’s grandfather, Rex Barnett, are longtime friends hasn’t been lost on the Colemans. The senior Barnett is a former Republican state representative and a political powerhouse in the area. Rice seemed to reinforce speculation about this being the coup of an old boys’ club when he told the Kansas City Star, “They were doing what they wanted to do, and there weren’t any consequences. And it’s reprehensible. But is it criminal? No.”
Eventually, Charlie and Daisy found that they were unable to withstand Maryville’s scorn and transferred to the high school in Albany, necessitating an 80-mile round trip each day. Not long after the Colemans moved back to Albany, leaving their home in Maryville up for sale or rent. And recently the house burned down, in a fire the cause of which investigators have yet to determine.
Last week, CNN aired interviews with Melinda and Daisy that recalled the toll all this has taken on Daisy. She has attempted suicide twice and has been admitted to inpatient mental health treatment on a number of occasions. When asked what she wanted now, Melinda said that she was simply seeking justice and peace for her family. “I don’t want to be threatened and fearful anymore,” she added.
Melinda went on to speak about other possible victims of this group of young men who might also have been silenced by the system that was seeking to shut down Daisy’s story:
When I had talked to the sheriff initially, he told me that there had been girls who had come forward and that there had been maybe even 10 other girls that were also assaulted. So later on he said that they were all liars. I digitally recorded him saying that they were all liars and that they just wanted to crucify those poor innocent boys?. So my concern is what is it going to take for them to do something here? Is one of these girls going to have to die? Are they going to end up freezing in their front yard before they will do something? I would like to see some justice. And I would like the other girls to be able to come forward without fear.
Since the interviews, Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder has called for a grand jury review of the case, but his office doesn’t have the power to actually make it happen. Kinder said: “The appalling facts in the public record shock the conscience and cry out that responsible authorities must take another look. I hope that responsible officials will join me in this call for a grand jury to make the final call on whether criminal charges should or should not be filed.”
The hacker group Anonymous -- the same people who brought the Steubenville case to public attention -- is also seeking to put pressure on the justice system to take up the case again. They took to social media this week to share this:
We demand an immediate investigation into the handling by local authorities of Daisy’s case. Why was a suspect, who confessed to a crime, released with no charges? How was video and medical evidence not enough to put one of these football players inside a courtroom? What is the connection of these prosecutors, if any, to Rep. Rex Barnett? Most of all, we are wondering, how do the residents of Maryville sleep at night?
We have heard Daisy’s story far too often. We heard it from Steubenville, Halifax, and Uttar Pradesh. In some cases, it was too late. Both Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons, girls not much older than Daisy, took their own lives after the adults, the police, and the school system failed to protect them. If Maryville won’t defend these young girls, if the police are too cowardly or corrupt to do their jobs, if the justice system has abandoned them, then we will have to stand for them. Mayor Jim Fall, your hands are dirty. Maryville, expect us.
The pressure seems to be having its desired effect. From Steven Hoffer of the Huffington Post: “On Wednesday, the same Nodaway County prosecuting attorney who dropped Coleman’s case announced under mounting public pressure that a special prosecutor would be appointed to review the details and charges of the alleged rape.”
Daisy’s story has made its way to unexpected places like ESPN, where writer Jeff MacGregor called for a domestic and international culture change in regards to how individuals, communities, and institutions respond to rape cases and victims:
So maybe it’s a further truth to say that the culture of male entitlement and institutional spinelessness isn’t exclusive to football. Or even to sports. Or America. After all, the only Stop Snitchin’ culture tighter than that of a football team might be a street gang. Or the cops. Or the mob. Or the military. Or the BBC. Or the Catholic Church. Every one of these cases is shot through with Bronze Age sexism and bureaucratic self-preservation. Choosing sides can only be a fool’s game. Rape culture is rape culture, and it doesn’t matter who had how much to drink. Or who wore a surplice or a captain’s bars. Rape is a rape is a rape.
Nothing will change until we make the reporting of rape easier and safer for victims. Until we de-stigmatize victims and stigmatize offenders, no matter how popular and no matter how far they can throw a football. Nothing will change until we hold institutions and individuals completely accountable for what they do. And for what they cover up.
Here’s one more call for change from Chloe Jacobs:
It’s a story that calls to mind not only Steubenville, but Rehtaeh Parsons and Audrie Pott, two teen girls in Nova Scotia and California who killed themselves after they were raped by peers and then harassed for being victims. As is all too common, these young women were blamed for their own assaults while their rapists receive a slap on the wrist (at most). Daisy is still alive today, thankfully. Here’s hoping the national focus on her story will bring more attention to both the slutshaming and abuse she and her family suffered, rather than magnify it.
In the Scriptures
Despite what seems to be a slight shift in public consciousness around Daisy’s story and others like it, it’s still an exceptionally difficult one to take in, wrestle with emotionally, and know how to respond to in faithful ways. It’s a story that invites both sympathy for the victim and scorn for a community that would treat Daisy and her family so viciously. On another emotional level, it runs a contemporary parallel to the feelings of desertion and isolation that show up in our passage from Second Timothy for this week. Paul writes: “At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them!” (v. 16).
Just as we will never fully comprehend the whole of Daisy’s experience, it is impossible to know the full extent of Paul’s struggles, especially without the part of the passage most of us won’t be hearing on Sunday (vv. 9-15). In it, Paul goes into further detail about the hardships he has endured because his friends have abandoned him in a prison system that is not designed to look after his best interests or even his most basic needs. Matthew Skinner writes on Workingpreacher.org that these missing verses “depict Paul’s final days, as he perseveres more or less isolated in the face of death, as no picnic.”
Abandonment, a broken system, struggle, and desperation -- it sounds a lot like Daisy’s story.
Yet while Paul paints a bleak picture of isolation and crisis (the list of deserting friends that he includes could fill up the entire balcony we’ve got roped off), the theology that is smeared all over this letter tells us that isn’t the whole story. Take, for example, the repeated use of “the Lord.” It’s the Lord that makes Paul’s faithfulness and exemplary living possible. It’s the Lord that makes perseverance conceivable, especially in devotion and service. The people Paul and his mentee Timothy serve are not their followers, but the Lord’s. The Lord is ultimately the authority behind the rewards and punishments that Paul frets over and is sure to make suggestions about to whomever might be listening. Glory -- that’s definitely the Lord’s, according to Paul.
Hear the refrain? Where or how might we hear it in Daisy’s story? Where or how does God show up? Where does hope break through? What assurance does God’s presence provide?
Perhaps it’s all in how we look at these stories. More from Matthew Skinner...
The immediate circumstances described in the letter suggest Paul was abandoned. The letter’s theological vision sees the opposite: accompaniment. The Lord Jesus Christ is all over the place.... Second Timothy directs our vision toward these kinds of circumstances and instructs us to see signs of the Lord in them. That’s theology, to name God’s presence in these and other places.
Our passage from Joel is also full God-sightings, promises of presence, and reminders that the bleakness that we see is not all that is or will be. It is fitting that we have an apocalyptic text to speak that truth to us as we read it in relationship with Daisy’s story. Bryan Spinks reminds us that in this genre, God’s messenger, the prophet, is speaking a word of salvation and hope to a people who are in the midst of great suffering. The messenger also points us to the root cause of that suffering (often systemic violation, abuse, oppression, or brokenness), the cure for it (God’s action on the people’s behalf and their reaction to it and participation in it), and the promise that it holds (the blessed state -- relief, abundance, vindication, safety, freedom, co-creation and visioning -- that comes from living with and for God). (From Feasting on the Word [Year C, Vol. 4], pg. 196.)
The word of hope and salvation that Joel speaks is full of the new thing that God is doing. It invites God’s people to be a part of this new and surprising divine exhalation that’s going on, especially God’s people who have been or felt powerless up to this point. God’s spirit will be poured out on “all flesh,” but Joel wants to make sure those that are usually overlooked, excluded, or distracted by burden are tuning in this time.
“Hey! You young/old/bound/oppressed folks, listen up! God’s got something more, something life-giving, something visionary, something powerful, something full of the spirit for you. You’re going to want to hear this!” Joel seems to be saying.
That God is after those who have been downtrodden, abused, shamed, and cast off is abundantly clear when the passage from Joel is paired with the gospel text. Together they warn of the turning of the tide, the “reversal of patterns of privilege and oppression,” the “humbling of the proud and exalting the humble.” Those who have suffered most will “never again be put to shame,” but will be brought to “joyful vindication” (Pamela Cooper-White in Feasting on the Word [Year C, Vol. 4], pg. 198).
What does the word of hope and salvation sound or look like for Daisy Coleman or for someone who has suffered in similar ways? What new thing could God’s spirit do for and through Daisy or for you or me? Are we tuned in to what God is doing? Where do we need or where do we see a reversal of patterns or a turn in the tide? What would it be like for Daisy to be done with shame? What about for each of us? What might joyful vindication look like for Daisy or for us? How could it happen in the here and now?
What about God’s people? How will the Israelites, how will we, receive God’s new word of hope and salvation? Where do we find the strength, the hope, the belief, the receptivity, the release, and the readiness we will need for the new thing God is doing? Remember Paul’s answer for everything? “The Lord.” Or, in the language of our Joel passage, through the spirit that is poured out on us. As Donna Schaper writes, “In the Old Testament, the ‘spirit’ of God endows the human recipient with power that is a manifestation of the divine power” (Feasting on the Word [Year C, Vol. 4], pg. 197).
What might this look like for us? What divine power do we need to be poured out on us so that we might participate in the new thing God is doing? Daisy might need the power of righteous anger and justice. But she will also need the power of God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness. What about each of us? What miraculous thing might Daisy do with this kind of power? What might we do with it?
In the Sermon
The preacher might consider...
* Wrestling with (answering?) one or more of the questions in the section above.
* Responding to Daisy’s questions or her candid sharing of her experience in a recent blog post in light of our texts from 2 Timothy and/or Joel for this week. Here are two questions she asks: “Why would I even want to believe in a God? Why would a God even allow this to happen?”
* Exploring how we follow the lead of Jeff MacGregor, Chloe Jacobs, or even Anonymous. What can we do to make cultural change and keep Daisy’s story from being repeated in other women’s lives? How do our scriptures inform, empower, and call us to make that kind of change? Why is it important to us as followers of Jesus? If it’s not, why should it be?
* Asking how we desert each other and why, and what the effect of that desertion is. Additionally, the preacher might want to look at how we push against a wider culture that tends to isolate us.
* Mulling over Calvin’s idea that “God offers life to us in death, and light in the darkest grave” in light of Daisy’s story and our texts from Joel and 2 Timothy.
SECOND THOUGHTS
It’s All Over -- Except for the Shouting
by Chris Keating
Luke 18:9-14
It’s a new week, but the shouting continues.
For the time being, the government is back in business. That also means that politicians are back to work, doing more and more of what they had been doing -- finger-pointing and posturing.
Only this time, they seem to be blaming each other.
Despite President Obama’s admonition that there were no winners or losers from the debacle, there seems to be a desire to engage in finger-wagging and blaming. Not much has happened to avoid the situation from recurring, though many seem to be securing their political futures. Picking over the rubble from the budget battle, it seemed they had nothing better to do than to say, in effect, “At least I’m not like that other person.”
This is a real Halloween frightfest, with each side trying to sneak up and scare the other.
For example, Senator Orrin Hatch said this about his Tea Party colleagues, “Let’s face it: it [shutdown] was not a good maneuver.” On a Sunday morning CNN program, Senator John McCain continued to voice frustration, calling the effort to defund health care a “fool’s errand.”
On the other side of the same aisle there’s Senator Ted Cruz, who many see as instigating the shutdown by insisting that Obamacare be stripped of its funding. It’s no surprise that he’s not popular with some of his Republican colleagues, and it seems the feeling may be mutual. Standing apart from the party regulars, he is quick to blame the old-style conservatives for failing to stand with him. According to him, all of this was their fault.
“I think it was unfortunate that you saw multiple members of the Senate Republicans going on television attacking House conservatives, attacking the effort to defund Obamacare, saying it cannot win, it’s a fool’s errand, we will lose, this must fail,” Cruz said. “That is a recipe for losing the fight, and it’s a shame.”
So there.
As Missouri Senator Roy Blunt observed, the mess got messier. “We managed to divide ourselves on something we were unified on, over a goal that wasn’t achievable. The president probably had the worst August and early September any president could have had. And we managed to change the topic.”
Perhaps there were no winners or losers, but it seems as though political puffery and unbridled pride has once again succeeded in diverting attention from real solutions. Perhaps this tempest in the Tea Party is not so surprising, but it does provide a real-time illustration of Jesus’ teaching on humility in Luke 18. The aftermath of the budget battle offers a reminder of just how easy it can be to isolate ourselves from others when we believe we have a complete hold on the truth. It’s always easier to blame the other person, and it doesn’t take much effort to say, “Thank God I’m not like one of them.”
Positioning, exalting, and excluding aren’t just images from the New Testament. It’s happening before our eyes.
Have we heard anyone of any political stripe candidly confess their own contribution to the mess? Has anyone been willing to lead from a position of humility and faithful witness to achieving the great good? Rarely. Indeed, it seems as though few are willing to offer the tax collector’s plaintive prayer: “God be merciful to me, a sinner!”
Something close to those words were uttered by Senate Chaplain Barry Black in his daily invocations. During the impasse, for example, he was known for chastising the senators. On October 4, he took the lectern and prayed: “Remove from [Senators] that stubborn pride, which imagines itself to be above and beyond criticism.” Whether or not that made a difference is hard to say.
In reflecting on the outcome of the budget debacle, commentator Michael Wear indicates that there is plenty of bipartisan blame to go around. The height of this arrogance, Wear says, comes as each side (or perhaps sides) employs empathy as a rhetorical tool. Wear observes: “Only moral arrogance could turn empathy into a tool to inflate our ego, rather than inspire humility.”
Our hyper-arrogance has seemed to rewrite Jesus’ parable this way: “Thank you, God, that I am not like (fill in the blank).” It is as if our leaders might say, “God, I’m not perfect, but at least I’m not a Tea Partier, or a liberal, or a Republican, or a Democrat, or a traditionalist, or a scoundrel,” or whatever other title you can imagine.
Of course, it isn’t only politicians who have allowed hubris to mar their judgment. Last week, two adult Boy Scout leaders from Utah posted a video that showed them pushing a 170-million-year-old rock formation off its wobbly perch. The video begins with one man encouraging another to “wiggle” the ancient rock, and then shows the men high-fiving each other as the boulder rolled away.
What it doesn’t show is any sense of concern that their intrusion into nature failed to uphold one of the tenants of scouting -- to not leave a trace. When questioned by reporters, the men claimed they were doing a community service in keeping the rock from injuring a passerby. Even as they face possible felony charges, the men continue to claim a sense of moral superiority in this matter -- they should be praised, it seems, for possibly saving a life.
Can we imagine that they may have looked at each other and said: “Thank you, God, that I am not like those others who touched this rock and refused to take action.”
It is this sort of arrogance and self-exaltation that Jesus addresses in Luke 18:9-14. Having explored the chutzpah of the widow’s persistent prayer in verses 1-18, Jesus now illustrates a different dimension of prayer. The parable, of course, deals primarily with the question of what constitutes true righteousness. Jesus cloaks this argument in the garment of prayer, bolstering his point that faithful prayer is also prayer that is humble and open.
In the parable, the Pharisee and the tax collector entered the temple to pray at the same time. The Pharisee is confident of his posture before God. He has been faithfully obedient to the commandments, has obeyed the rituals, and is fastidious about maintaining his tithe. As one of the “set apart ones,” the Pharisee has legit credentials. He has reason to boast, at least as far as the commandments go. He is especially not like the scummy tax collector -- a real crook who doesn’t even know enough to face God in prayer.
But while the Pharisee is huffing and puffing, the tax collector can barely lift up his head. Beating his breast, he candidly admits his sin and pleads for God’s mercy.
The Pharisee thinks he’s superior -- yet what truly matters is that the tax collector has understood the true nature of God’s mercy. He offers himself, broken and imperfect, while the Pharisee continues to pat himself on the back.
Jesus knows the distinction matters. Throughout Luke, the notion of reversal has been in play in various ways. The empty are filled, the Samaritan is most neighborly, and the least among the community is called the greatest. On the tails of the parable of the persistent widow gaining justice from the corrupt judge, Jesus once more shows the upside-down nature of the kingdom. It isn’t the chest-puffing Pharisee who will be exalted.
It’s the chest-beating tax collector -- the one sincerely aware of how far he is from acting righteously. In the end, it is candid prayer of confession which vindicates the sinner. It is the tax collector who is empowered to go home freed from his sin.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14
All Deserted Me
In a connected world, we can feel more alone than ever.
Maria Kang recently prompted rage and reluctant admiration when she posted a picture of herself in workout wear on Facebook. Kang, who looks exceptionally fit, posed with her three young sons and asked “What’s Your Excuse?” Kang says she wanted to inspire other people to make their health a priority, but instead she inspired criticism. As the New York Daily News reported: “While the photo drew its share of compliments, the implication that other busy mothers have no excuse for not being as taut and toned as Kang was too much for some. To Kang’s surprise, the image -- which was posted over a year ago -- went viral, and she soon found herself under attack from strangers who accused her of bullying and ‘fat shaming.’ ” Kang managed to ignore the complaints until she received a personal e-mail that was hurtful.
Our online connections can enrich our lives, or leave us vulnerable to attack from ever wider circles of people.
*****
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14
The Online Confession Booth
Or perhaps the anonymity of our online selves is just what we need to clear the conscience. When we can’t talk to the people around us, we can share our deepest secrets, anonymously, with the cyberworld.
At truuconfessions.com, people can share things they won't say to the people sitting next to them in the living room. Posts are even ranked with the most “me too” votes, so sharers know they aren’t alone. True confessions include things like: “I had to share the house with my ex-husband after I ended the marriage. Fortunately, I found a job out of state that allowed me to move out. If I hadn’t, I might have had to have lived there for over a year or more because I couldn’t afford to live on my own.” Or, posted by an office worker: “For 2 weeks I have been sitting here trying to look busy.” Or, perhaps from someone in the same office, “First thing I do when I get to work is go online and look for another job.”
The site calls itself “your anonymous best friend” -- for when people in real life desert you, or don’t understand.
*****
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14
Alone is Not Lonely
We grow so accustomed to connection -- either in the flesh or online -- that being alone is a lost art. Being alone is good for the spirit, and good for our growth. Teenagers, especially, may receive as much benefit from solitude as from time with friends.
In an article for the Boston Globe, Leon Neyfakh observes, “Spending time alone... can look a little suspect. In a world gone wild for wikis and interdisciplinary collaboration, those who prefer solitude and private noodling are seen as eccentric at best and defective at worst, and are often presumed to be suffering from social anxiety, boredom, and alienation.” There must be something wrong with someone who’s alone, we think. Don’t they have any friends? No social skills? No life?
New research suggests that being alone -- out of choice, not abandonment -- can allow us to develop more fully as human beings. Among the benefits for body and spirit, “a certain amount of solitude can make a person more capable of empathy towards others. And while no one would dispute that too much isolation early in life can be unhealthy, a certain amount of solitude has been shown to help teenagers improve their moods and earn good grades in school.” For teenagers especially, time alone can be time free from judgment or self-consciousness, with the freedom to develop one’s own ideas.
Each of us needs different amounts of time alone, depending on temperament, age, living situation and the kind of work we do. For all of us, though, some measure of solitude is good for the soul.
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Abandoned by Friend and Sword
In the final chapters of the classic myth, Beowulf, the heroic king has ruled fairly, honestly, and courageously for 50 years. So great has been his reign that no other people dared attack his kingdom. But in these final days his people are set upon by a fierce and powerful dragon.
King Beowulf brings his men together to fight the beast -- but when they see it they all run away in fear, leaving only the king and one kinsman, Wiglaf. The two join in battle against the dragon, which they defeat -- but Beowulf’s sword is shattered and he is mortally wounded in the fight.
As he lays dying, his last wish is to see the treasure that the dragon was guarding -- so Wiglaf goes into the cave and brings out an armload of the gold and jewels.
“I give thanks that I was able to gain these precious things for my people before I died,” says the king. “I have paid for this treasure hoard with my aged life. You must now fulfill the needs of the people with it.”
The old king then gives his armor to Wiglaf and says: “You are now the last of our kin. Fate has taken away all my kinsmen. I must follow them.” These were the old king’s final words, says the narrator, and his soul departed to seek the reward of the righteous.
*****
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
With Friends Like That
Nathaniel Dwayne Hale, known by his stage name Nate Dogg, was an American rapper, singer, and actor who is primarily remembered as a member of the trio 213. He also had a successful solo career in which he collaborated with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Warren G, and Tupac Shakur on three albums.
At the peak of his career, however, Nate ran afoul of the law. Between 1991 and 2007 he was arrested on several offenses from drug possession to firearm violations as well as stalking and harassing his ex-wife.
Then, in 2007, Nate suffered a stroke at the age of 38. While in rehab, recovering from the stroke, Nate suffered a second stroke that left him almost completely paralyzed. Having spent nearly all of his accumulated wealth on parties and friends, Nate turned to his friend and record producer, David Michery, for help. Michery reached out to Nate’s friends and associates but no one returned his calls, so Michery told the hospital that he would make good on Nate’s medical expenses.
Nate remained hospitalized from 2008 to 2010, and he died in 2011 at the age of 41 due to complications from multiple strokes.
In February of 2012 TMZ reported that David Michery had been successfully sued by the hospital for $300,000. Michery says that when he asked Nate’s friends for help, they all turned him down. At the time of the article, none of those friends would agree to talk to TMZ.
*****
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
With Friends Like That 2.0
19-year-old Katie Brown was on board the pink “Flirting Flamingo” bus last summer, celebrating high school graduation with 35 friends, when she opened the emergency exit and fell onto the expressway in Minneapolis. The teenager was spotted by passing drivers who immediately dialed 911, fearing she had been hit by a car. She was taken to a hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries and released.
Shockingly, not one of the girl’s friends put a call in to the police. More than 20 minutes passed before they finally told the bus driver, who pulled off at the next exit and rang for help. Some of the other teenagers ran back to help Brown but many fled, fearing they would get in trouble for underage drinking.
The company that owns and operates the bus says that drinking isn’t allowed on the party bus, but that apparently didn’t stop the teens. In his 911 call the bus driver can be heard telling the operator: “Of the 35 kids that were on here there was only 11 kids left. The other ones took off.”
“It’s shocking she wasn’t hurt more seriously,” Capt. Eric Gieseke of the Burnsville Police Department told Fox News. “It’s great news she wasn’t killed. You hope people would apply common sense. You hope they’d be looking out for the victim and not themselves.”
*****
Luke 18:9-14
Humility
The story may be apocryphal, but it is told of Samuel Morse that once when he was receiving an award for the invention of the telegraph he was praised for his genius.
Morse supposedly responded: “I am no genius. I have made this valuable application of electricity not because I am superior to other men but because God deemed it necessary for all humankind. If it was going to be done God had to reveal it to someone, and for some reason he chose me.”
*****
Luke 18:9-14
What’s a Miracle?
In the film Bruce Almighty, Bruce (played by Jim Carrey) is given god-like power, which of course goes to his head. He uses it to startle people, punish people, and amuse himself. He even uses it to part his bowl of soup like Moses parted the Red Sea.
Eventually God (played by Morgan Freeman) grows weary of Bruce’s abuses of power, and after a while he lectures Bruce on the true meaning of power and miracles: “Parting your soup is not a miracle, Bruce, it’s a magic trick. A single mom who’s working two jobs and still finds time to take her kid to soccer practice, that’s a miracle. A teenager who says no to drugs and yes to an education, that’s a miracle. People want me to do everything for them, but what they don’t realize is they have the power. You want to see a miracle, son? Be the miracle.”
*****
Luke 18:9-14
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible tells the story of Nathan Price, a fiercely evangelical Baptist who uproots his family and takes them to the Belgian Congo in 1959 to be missionaries. Price is so filled with conviction and the assurance that he is doing God’s will that he does not wait for sponsorship or bother taking the classes that will prepare him for dealing with African languages or cultures.
The book, told from the point of view of Nathan’s wife and daughters, is a chronicle of the terrible price that Nathan and his family pay for his arrogance and pride, his unwillingness to be taught even as he tries to teach others.
In one of the few humorous parts of the book, Nathan learns that in the Congolese language the word for “precious” is identical to the word for “poisonous,” with only a slight difference in the accent and pronunciation. Nathan, however, insists that he knows the language well enough and has no need for an interpreter, and proceeds to preach an entire sermon telling the people that the Bible is poisonous.
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From team member Ron Love:
Luke 18:9-14
Protesting the forced integration of public schools in 1959, the Jacksonville, Florida, school board renamed a local high school after Nathan B. Forrest, and made the school’s mascot the confederate rebel. Forrest’s claim to fame is not only as a confederate general, but also as the founder of the Ku Klux Klan during the post-Civil War years of Reconstruction. But now in 2013 the high school’s name seems out of place, and members of the community are petitioning the school board to rename the school. The board is the only group with the power to grant the request, and a similar attempt in 2008 failed by a vote of 5-2. The renewed push to rename the school has drawn some pushback, however, from the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, who sent a letter protesting the possible change to all seven current board members. Their missive stated that Forrest is a “valiant name of honor” who along with the KKK protected “Southerners from criminal activities perpetrated against them by Yankee carpetbaggers, scalawags, and many bestial blacks and other criminal elements out for revenge or just taking part in criminal mischief.”
Application: There are still many special interest groups that feel they are apart and above other groups in society.
*****
Luke 18:9-14
Maureen Sabine recently published a book titled Veiled Desires: Intimate Portrayals of Nuns in Postwar Anglo-American Film. Sabine studied 60 years of films to outline how nuns are seen on the screen as compared to real life. Stars like Ingrid Bergman, Julie Andrews, and Meryl Streep were particularly conspicuous in habits that were intended to convey chastity. With studio marketing there was a “nun image” presented to the public for Bergman, but became less so for Andrews and Streep. In her book Sabine wanted to get past what was seen as appealing to the audience and, in her words, “open the doors to serious observations about nuns, their lives and vows” that are depicted in movies. Sabine believes that nuns are the true ‘feminist role models” because of their education, dedication, and social consciousness.
Application: Let us be sure we can always distinguish between one who acts and one who does.
*****
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
It has been revealed that on March 28, 2001, just 67 days after taking his oath of office, Vice-President Dick Cheney presented George W. Bush with a “pending” resignation letter. Realizing that his poor health, especially problems with his heart, might prevent him from carrying out the duties of his office and that there was no constitutional provision for replacing an incapacitated vice-president, Cheney gave Bush a pending resignation that could be enforced during a time of ill health.
Application: We all want to fight the good fight for the Lord until the end, but we must realize that we do have personal limitations.
*****
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Mary Clark once lived in a beachfront home in Beverly Hills. She had seven children who were grown, when three decades ago she made national headlines by leaving her lavish home to live in a concrete 10-by-10 room, sleeping on a cot, in order to minister to inmates at La Mesa State Penitentiary in Tijuana. Mary Clark, the Beverly Hills socialite, became Sister Antonia Brenner. She became known as the “prison angel,” and the inmates and guards called her “Mama.” Her calling came after she once visited the prison. She said, “Something happened to me when I saw men behind bars.” She could not stop thinking of these men. She wandered back to her Beverly Hills home, but she wondered if when it rained were the men were wet, or if it was cold if they were chilled. She finally went to the prison to minister to those for whom she so much cared about. Upon arriving at the penitentiary she said, “You know, when I returned to the prison to live, I felt as if I’d come home.” That was in 1977. Sister Antonia recently died at the age of 86 while still working at the prison.
Application: We are to continue until we have finished the race.
*****
Joel 2:23-32
Menachem Rosensaft is a Jewish professor at Columbia and Cornell who specializes in the law of genocide and war crime trials. He recently preached a sermon on believing in God after the Holocaust. In that sermon Rosensaft proclaimed that God was not absent, but was found in the strength and courage of those who prevailed in doing good works within the camp. Rosensaft sent a copy of the sermon to the Vatican along with a personal note. Unexpectedly, he received an e-mail response from Pope Francis which said, “When you, with humility, are telling us where God was in that moment, I felt within me that you had transcended all possible explanations.”
Application: There are many prophets among us if we are willing to listen.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Happy are you whom God chooses and brings near.
People: We shall be satisfied with the goodness of God’s house.
Leader: By awesome deeds God answers us with deliverance.
People: O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas.
Leader: By God’s strength the mountains are established.
People: Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by God’s signs.
OR
Leader: Come, all who are in distress and want.
People: We bring to God the cares of the world.
Leader: Though others may ignore the needy, God does not.
People: We take strength from the loving care of our God.
Leader: Be steadfast in God’s love and share God’s justice.
People: With thanksgiving we seek justice and mercy for all.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“God of Grace and God of Glory”
found in:
UMH: 577
H82: 594, 595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELA: 705
W&P: 569
AMEC: 62
STLT: 115
Renew: 301
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”
found in:
UMH: 89
H82: 376
PH: 464
AAHH: 120
NNBH: 40
NCH: 4
CH: 2
LBW: 551
ELA: 836
W&P: 59
AMEC: 75
STLT: 29
“O God, Our Help in Ages Past”
found in:
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELA: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
“You Satisfy the Hungry Heart”
found in:
UMH: 629
PH: 521
CH: 429
ELA: 484
W&P: 705
“There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy”
found in:
UMH: 121
H82: 469, 470
PH: 298
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELA: 587, 588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
“Weary of All Trumpeting”
found in:
UMH: 442
H82: 572
“My Faith Looks Up to Thee”
found in:
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELA: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
“O Come and Dwell in Me”
found in:
UMH: 388
“Humble Yourself in the Sight of the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 72
Renew: 188
“Live in Charity”
found in:
CCB: 71
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is steadfast in your care for your children: Grant us the faith to believe that justice is your goal and the courage to pursue it even when it is costly; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
You are the steadfast rock that holds us up, O God. We trust in your care and pray that we might hear once again your message of justice and mercy. Help us to be not only hearers of your message but doers of your deeds that others may set free. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our willingness to ignore injustice and our propensity for thinking well of ourselves.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have looked at ourselves and judged that we are worthy, while ignoring the worth and the needs of others. We have petitioned you for our wants, while we have been blissfully ignorant of the needy ones around us. Instead of being full of compassion, we are full of ourselves. Forgive us and purge us. Make us clean and pour out your Spirit upon us that we may truly live as your children. Amen.
Leader: God always welcomes back the penitent. Receive the gift of the Spirit and live into the fullness of God’s image.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise and glorify your name, O God, for you are the steadfast hope of all creation. In the midst of the troubles of life, you offer the hope of justice and mercy that rains down in abundance.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have looked at ourselves and judged that we are worthy, while ignoring the worth and the needs of others. We have petitioned you for our wants, while we have been blissfully ignorant of the needy ones around us. Instead of being full of compassion, we are full of ourselves. Forgive us and purge us. Make us clean and pour out your Spirit upon us that we may truly live as your children.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which we have experienced your steadfast love and care. We thank you for your presence with us in times of joy and for your presence with us in times of trouble. We thank you for those who are witnesses to us and to others of your compassion.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer up to you the cares of this world. We know that you love your creation and suffer along with all those in distress. We pray that our love, our prayers, and our spirits may be part of your loving care for this world as we minister in Jesus’ name.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Tell the children about a time when you were teased or bullied, when someone acted like they were better than you. Tell the children again Jesus’ story about the Pharisee and the tax collector. Other people may look on our outside, but God looks at our heart. Other people may speak words of judgment and condemnation, but God speaks words of acceptance and love.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Giving Support
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Object: a chair
I brought a chair today. How many legs does a chair have? (Let the children respond.) Chairs have four legs. How many do we have? (Let them respond.) We only have two legs. Can you stand on one leg? (Let them demonstrate.) Yes, you can. But how long can you stand on one leg? (Let them respond.) Not for very long. You need both legs to stand. What do you do when you’ve been standing for too long? (Let them respond.) You sit down on a chair. Can chairs stand on one leg? (Demonstrate.) No, they fall over. What about on two legs? (Demonstrate.) No, chairs can’t stand on two legs. Some children try to make them balance on two legs, but many times they end up on the floor because chairs need all four legs. Then they can support us when we are tired.
There are lots of ways we use the word “stand” to mean a kind of support like a chair gives us. One of them is from a wedding. The best man or maid of honor are the two people who “stand up” for the bride and groom. In a movie or play when an actor or actress is not able to be on the stage or set, another actor or actress fills in and does their part. These actors are called “stand-ins.” When you tell what you want and make yourself very clear, you are “standing up” for yourself. All of these are ways to support another person or yourself.
Our lesson today is from a letter Paul, Jesus’ helper, wrote to Timothy, Paul’s helper. Paul was in prison, and he said that all his friends deserted him. No one “stood” by him. They all left. Do you think Paul felt alone? (Let them respond.) No, he told Timothy that even though everyone else left him, God stayed with him. Paul said, “The Lord stood by me, and gave me strength.” God was with Paul and made Paul feel like he wasn’t alone. Paul’s support wasn’t a chair, it was God. Paul didn’t need his friends to stand up for him, God did it. Paul didn’t need someone to fill in for him, because God gave him strength to go on and keep telling his stories about God to all the people who had never heard them. God was Paul’s support and strength. God was like a chair to support Paul when he was tired. God is our strength too.
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The Immediate Word, October 27, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
