Choosing Weakness
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For July 7, 2024:
Choosing Weakness
by Chris Keating
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Thirsting for power quickly becomes like gulping beer through a funnel and rubber tubing. Pushed into the quest for ever-increasing amounts of dopamine, power-craven individuals become quickly intoxicated. Few can resist these impulses, and as scientists remind us, people addicted to power manifest a myriad of bad behaviors. The list is long, and includes behaviors frequently exhibited by well-known politicians: heightened cognitive function, lack of inhibition, poor judgment, narcissism, and cruelty.
Chasing power builds powerful neuro-connections within the brain, leaving people in positions of unchecked power with a toxic mix of poor self-awareness and dysfunctional emotional boundaries. The results often include a lack of empathy and pronounced paranoid delusions.
Case in point: When Donald Trump and Joe Biden squared off in last Thursday’s presidential debate, the cravings for power may have kept both of them blind to their weaknesses. Trump, who walked away from the stage flashing a gleeful thumbs-up to his staffers, was convinced he won. And polls suggest that large numbers of people believe he did.
Not so fast, argue pundits and columnists. They point out that the former president relied on his trademark hyperbole and evasiveness, and frequently lied about things that are easy to disprove. Yet Biden’s even poorer performance did little to bolster confidence in his ability to lead, leaving many to believe their concerns about his age are well-founded.
“It’s SO-JOE-OVER,” boasted a Trump campaign email, a sentiment held by many Trump-leaning voters. But Biden supporters pointed out that the hour after the debate was their campaign’s “single best hour of fundraising” since its launch. Some pundits also observed that if Trump may be said to have won the contest, it was not because he had the better answers. “We had a raspy and stumbling President Biden,” said columnist Jamelle Bouie, “and a deranged and incoherent Donald Trump, who spent two hours unleashing a stream of lies. Is there a winner here? Nah.”
It’s a sign that our political system is due for an intervention. Set aside the drive for perfection, and instead see that true power begins in weakness. Richard Rohr reminds us, “We think it’s when we’re strong that we’re strong. But no, it’s when we’re weak that we’re strong.” It’s exactly what Paul experienced as he battled the super-spiritualists in Corinth. In the face of their derogatory insults and attacks, Paul stands firm, reminding his beloved church that “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
In the News
But in a power-driven culture, Paul’s theology seems confusing. Even worse, it sounds naïve and horribly misguided as it rubs against the grain of everyday life. Case in point: One leadership communication expert observed that President Biden’s body language communicated telegraphed weakness well before he spoke a word during the debate.
“How a leader enters the stage or meeting room and the first words he/she says is an opportunity to embody energy, warmth, and confidence,” said Carol Kinsey Goman, an expert in leadership communication strategies. While Trump’s entrance wasn’t much better, this lost opportunity was especially damaging for Biden. His slow walk across stage to the podium and weak, raspy voice (attributed to a cold, but never stated as such) worked strongly against him.”
Steve Crescenzo, who is also a communications consultant, agreed with Goman. “Anyone looking to confirm their belief that Biden is senile got what they came for.”
On the other side of the stage, Trump seemed to thrive on his ability to state boldly even those things that were patently false. As Trump spun his webs of perfidious prevarications, he ran the risk of insulting his audience’s intelligence. “This is Trump’s greatest communication weakness,” commented Crescenzo.
Trump’s trademark style is strength communicated by bluster, bullying, and buffoonery. It made him a hit on reality television but is also an indicator of our culture’s reprehension of weakness. It is a sign of our inability to comprehend spiritual truth, and a sign of dysfunctional addiction to power.
Addiction to power occurs as the effects of neurochemicals like dopamine are released in the body. Power activates the brain’s reward circuitry, creating a “high” similar to intoxicants. “Like addicts,” writes neuroscientists Nayef Al-Rodhan, most people in positions of power will seek to maintain the high they get from power, sometimes at all costs.” Think of power in terms of that old Lay’s potato chip commercial — once you’ve had a small taste, all bets are off.
The late Catholic priest Thomas Keating, who is best known for his contributions on centering prayer, once said that “to be powerless means to be absolutely helpless. This, oddly enough, is the best disposition for a spiritual journey…the deeper one’s awareness of one’s powerlessness and the more desperate, the more willing one is to reach out for help.”
Millions of Americans who are recovering from alcoholism or substance abuse disorders would condense that to the first of Alcoholic Anonymous’ famous 12 steps to recovery: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — our lives had become unmanageable.”
Paradoxically, as Richard Shotten has said, when businesses acknowledge flaws, they uncover a unique strategic advantage. “This approach can humanize a brand and shift power by showcasing honesty and vulnerability.” Theologically and spiritually, healing begins when we are able to admit to our pain and brokenness. Richard Rohr maintains that the articulation of powerlessness is the starting point for spiritual transformation. Rohr discusses this in much of his work, including this newsletter from January, 2024:
People who have moved from seeming success to seeming success seldom understand success at all, except a very limited version of their own. People who fail to do something right, by even their own definition of right, are those who often break through to enlightenment and compassion. It is God’s greatest surprise and God’s constant disguise, but we only know it to be true by going through it and coming out on the other side.
One therapist calls this approach “trying softer.” Aundi Kolber suggests that when we surrender for the right reasons, we experience an empowerment that allows such gentleness to become an overwhelming strength. It’s the same paradoxical truth Paul offers us in 2 Corinthians: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
In the Scripture
Much of 2 Corinthians is Paul’s response to the so-called “super apostles” who have challenged his authority. Throughout this epistle, it is clear he is addressing concerns that are tearing apart the fabric of the Corinthian church’s community. More than other epistles, 2 Corinthians reveals Paul’s human side (see Ernest Best, “Second Corinthians,” Interpretation Bible Commentary). His calling as an apostle is at stake, yet the authority of that calling, rooted in Christ, is made manifest in what he calls “the treasure” of his humanity. (2 Corinthians 4:7). Our brokenness yields to the surpassing, “extraordinary” power of God.
In chapter 11:16 through 12:10, Paul presents his “fools’ speech,” a rhetorical boasting that has more twists and turns than an wooden roller coaster. He moves from his hardships to deliverance (11:30-33) to an astonishing metaphysical ascent into heaven (12:1-6). It’s a wild ride, filled with ample reasons to boast. At the moment he reaches the pinnacle of paradise, however, Paul reminds the Corinthians that he dare not boast so “that no one may think better of me…” Indeed, the result of these ecstatic experiences has left him with some sort of impairment.
Just what is that “thorn in the flesh” (12:7), which has restrained him from being “too elated.” Paul describes it as a “messenger of Satan” that torments him, a pointed stake meant to torture or cause great distress. It’s clear this was not God’s design, yet God has permitted it in order to help Paul get some perspective. There’s no clear consensus as to the nature of this thorn. Is it a moral flaw, or perhaps even an addiction? J. Paul Sampley discourages seeing the thorn as some sort of moral failing, and instead suggests it ought to be interpreted the same as any of the numerous hardships Paul has confronted. (See Sampley, “Second Corinthians,” The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary.)
Despite his prayerful pleading to God, the thorn has not been removed. Instead, the experience becomes enfolded into Paul’s larger understanding of grace. It matches his earlier discussion of power and human weakness. Paul will not relent on the superiority of God’s grace. Inevitably, humans will fall short. But thanks be to God whose victory is guaranteed, and whose power “takes up residence” (12:9) in us even in our earthly tent.
In the Sermon
Many years ago, I served a church that provided space to a variety of 12-step groups, including a group focused on providing help and support through anxiety and depression. I was part of a larger staff, and sometimes communication about the calendar fell apart. Or maybe I didn’t pay attention. Either way, I was not aware that this anxiety support group met every week in a room deep within the bowels of the church.
Accordingly, whenever I would lock up after an evening activity, I’d check to make sure all the lights were off. It was a sprawling building of multiple levels, but by peering down a hallway you could see if the lights were still on. I was consistent in making sure the place was buttoned up at night — inadvertently adding to the anxieties of the folks who were trying their best to find healing. After a few weeks of being left in the dark, the group decided to find a new meeting place.
How often does the church become an impediment to grace? Stephen Haynes has explores this idea in his book Why Can’t Church Be More Like An AA Meeting? (Eerdmans, 2021). As he explored his own journey through recovery, Haynes wonders what it would be like if the church partnered with groups like AA to create places where addiction, shame, and narcissism can be transformed by grace. His idea evokes Paul: “For whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
Church members who have been in recovery have been telling us this for years. It’s possible that the stories of recovery can also be used to shine a prophetic light on the ways our culture has become intoxicated by power. Discovering a path through weakness begins by confessing, “I am powerless over….” It’s a powerful truth, and one that may feel uncomfortable to some who delight in the trappings of power. Tom Lehman puts it this way, “In some sort of cosmic joke or paradox, God uses our weakness and powerlessness in our favor. Once we acknowledge our problem and face it, it loses some of its power and becomes easier to move forward.”
Years later, I know I’m far from perfect. But I do pay more attention to which groups are using the church building. Leaving a light on seems like a small act of grace.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTS
Being Annointed
by Tom Willadsen
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
In the Scriptures
Anointing figures prominently in today’s reading from 2 Samuel. David is anointed a third time. The first time he was anointed it came when the Lord told Samuel that the Lord regretted making Saul king (1 Samuel 15:11). Samuel, the priest, was told to visit Jesse in Bethlehem and to be sure to take a horn with oil. The Lord told Samuel, “I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
There was some intrigue in this scene. Saul was still the king who had been duly anointed by Samuel at the Lord’s direction. Saul had displeased the Lord by not utterly destroying all of the Amalekites’ livestock after defeating them in battle. This disobedience, which Saul admitted and repented from, brought him the Lord’s disfavor. Still, Samuel faced some peril if he openly anointed another king, so he went on the down low to select one of Jesse’s sons.
It’s a familiar story — the Lord chose, and Samuel anointed, the youngest of Jesse’s sons who was off tending the sheep when Samuel arrived under the guise of offering a sacrifice to the Lord. David was a skilled musician, and, with God’s help, David defeated Goliath, the giant Philistine who had been taunting the Israelites for forty days. This gets Saul’s attention, as did David’s ability to soothe him by playing music when Saul had bad spells.
The second of David’s anointings took place in the second chapter of 2 Samuel. Prior to today’s reading, David, after inquiring of the Lord, had gone up to Judah, to the city of Hebron. There, the people of Judah anointed him as their king.
An extraordinary thing is happening in today’s reading from 2 Samuel. The tribes of the north, that is, Israel, who have been without a king for seven and a half years, since the deaths of Saul and Jonathon, have come down to David at Hebron and made a covenant with David, and anointed him king of Israel. David was already king of Judah, so the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were united. David was anointed a third time. Each of the anointings had particular significance.
Anointing was a widely used practice in what Christians call the Old Testament. When Jacob awoke from his dream of a ladder to heaven, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it!” So, Jacob rose early in the morning and he took the stone that had been under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on top of it. (Genesis 28:17-18) The touch of the oil, the anointing, signified that Luz, whose name Jacob changed to Bethel (the House of God) was set apart.
Aaron and his sons were set apart for the priesthood by anointing in Exodus 40:13-14. This came after the tabernacle where they gathered for worship and its utensils and basin were anointed for holy use.
In a stunningly moving scene, David anointed himself after the death of the child he conceived with Bathsheba. The story goes that David had spotted Bathsheba from the roof of the palace while she was bathing. [NB: Leonard Cohen got the story wrong, David did not spot Bathsheba on the roof, David was on the roof, playing the peeping Tom, looking down into Bathsheba’s private space.] David summoned her to the palace and raped her. David plotted to have Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, killed in battle, when her period of mourning was over, she moved into the palace. The prophet Nathan exposed the magnitude of David’s sin to him. The (unnamed) child became very ill soon after birth. David fasted for seven days while the child lived. When David learned the child had died, he got up, washed, and anointed himself. The servants asked David why he had behaved this way, and he replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me’” (2 Samuel 12:22, NRSV).
One final note on anointing — be sure to enunciate “anointing,” if you don’t it will sound like “annoying.”
The concept of christening is related to anointing. Ships are christened, for example, when they are launched. This is the moment when they transition from land law to maritime law. In other contexts, christening is the equivalent of naming something. Some Christian traditions christen, that is, touch with oil, following baptism. In traditions that reveal the child’s name at baptism — baptism, naming, and christening are all part of the same ritual.
“Christ” is not Jesus’ last name, Christ means “anointed.” The Hebrew term for anointed is the root of the English term “Messiah.” In Acts 10:38 Peter claims that Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit. In Luke 7 there is a story of a sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet with oil. In the fourteenth chapter of Mark’s gospel, Jesus says of the woman’s actions “she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.”
Psalm 48 describes an ideal version of God’s presence in Zion, in which the capital city of Jerusalem is described as so fabulous, rival/enemy kings are astounded and tremble with fear at simply seeing it. The joy of the people, worshipers of the living God, at their security in the holy city, is expressed in the final three verses. It is a fitting match to the story of David’s anointing, a second time, as Israel’s king.
In the News
“I can’t anoint a role to somebody out of thin air,” are the words Purdue University’s basketball coach, Matt Painter, said when one of his top recruits, Kanon Catchings, asked to be released from his National Letter of Intent, so he could play for Brigham Young University in the coming season. Catchings is rated as the fortieth best high school basketball prospect in the nation by 247 Sports. He is 6’10” and weighs 185 pounds. Perhaps he felt that the wind in West Lafayette would be a challenge. Coach Painter clearly misunderstands what it means to be anointed. When used in common speech, “anointed” is often a substitute for “named” or “designated.” For example, one’s boss may anoint a successor as she prepares to retire.
In the Sermon
There have been a lot of “ordiversary” announcements on Facebook in the past month. It seems that June is not only the month for weddings, but for ordinations. My denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), makes a pretty big deal out of ordination. Before becoming ordained and getting to put “The Reverend” in front of one’s name, a candidate has to jump through more than fifteen hoops: Written and oral exams, completing both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and finally, after finding an organization willing to extend a call to the candidate, the candidate must pass an examination before the calling Presbytery. It is an ordeal, a lengthy series of ordeals, a process. An end. And a beginning. In my denomination one is ordained only once but installed in every new position. A colleague told me that installations are like marriages: The higher the number, the lower the significance.
I remember being relieved more than anything else when I passed my final examination for ordination. I phoned my mother from a pay phone (we had those in 1991) and said, “Our long, national nightmare is over.” She was pleased at the prospect of my furniture finally getting out of her house (and proud and happy in her own way).
Shortly after the actual ordination ceremony, as I was driving to my new call in another state, I remember a profound disappointment that I didn’t feel any different. I did not feel decisive and authoritative. The new state of being I’d imagined simply had not materialized. Nobody told me that ordination was more of a commencement than a destination. As my career has unfolded, there have been no milestones of the magnitude of ordination, but regular epiphanies that my ability to respond to the living God and the Holy Spirit’s has improved. I have continued to grow — no one told me that was coming!
David was first anointed secretly. Only his family and Samuel knew he’d been designated as the king who would one day replace Saul. He was anointed a second time when the residents of Judah declared him their king. Three chapters later, the leaders of the tribes of Israel also anointed him and David became king of a much larger territory. David grew, and his territory grew, as he grew in the office of king.
It took God’s leading Samuel to Jesse’s home in Bethlehem, the residents of Judah, and the leaders of Israel for David to be fully king. In a nation facing a deeply contentious, divisive election season, in which one of the presumptive candidates continues to refuse to accept the results of the last election, it is helpful to remember that one governs with the consent of the governed. And the acceptance of the electorate is essential for civil society to function. Sometimes that acceptance is a process.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Mark 6:1-13
Resume of Failure
When Jesus sends the disciples out on their own, he anticipates that failure will be part of their mission.
A new book suggests that we all need to see failure as part of life. The authors note, “In 2010, Johannes Haushofer, today an associate professor of economics at Stockholm University, composed his “CV of Failures” to help students realize that rejection is part of the path to success. An updated version, posted on his university web page, includes sections like “Degree programs I did not get into” and “Academic positions and fellowships I did not get.”
He explains: “Most of what I try fails, but these failures are often invisible, while the successes are visible. I have noticed that this sometimes gives others the impression that most things work out for me. As a result, they are more likely to attribute their own failures to themselves, rather than the fact that . . . applications are crapshoots, and selection committees and referees have bad days.” (from Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay by Liz Fosslien, Mollie West Duffy)
We could all use a resume of failures!
* * *
Mark 6:1-13
Jesus is a Multiplier
Jesus doesn’t limit the power of God to the things he alone can do. He shares his authority with his disciples. Author and business guru Liz Wiseman calls people who do this “multipliers.”
Wiseman notes a parallel with Silicon Valley, “where technology and business leaders develop other leaders in search of growth and returns and the creation of wealth.” In that world, “When a venture firm places its bet and invests a round of funding, it draws up a term sheet to govern the deal. Of particular interest to all parties is the specification of ownership levels…Simply put, the term sheet lets the parties know who is in charge. Once ownership of the new company is established, the venture firm cuts a check and the investment of resources begins.”
In Jesus’ world, however, everyone has equal ownership.
* * *
Mark 6:1-13
Scapegoating
When Jesus goes to his hometown, people can’t see beneath the surface of the man they think they know. Unable to sort out their complicated feelings, they unite around their anger, and project their disappointment onto Jesus.
Molly Phinney Baskette says we do a similar thing. “Take, for example, that tear-jerking PSA from the seventies about “Keeping America Beautiful,” in which a noble Indigenous man on a horse surveys the horrors of his once-pristine home degraded by litter and sheds a single, devastating tear? It turns out that commercial was funded by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, two of the single biggest polluters. They were scapegoating us, the end users, so they could keep profiting off of pollution they created (and by the way, that Native American actor was, in fact, Italian). So many of us have been taught, or absorbed from the ether, the idea that sin is individual. If we just work hard enough and strive to please God, we will be rewarded with an E-Z Pass through the pearly gates. Even in modern America, too many people still believe that illness, disability, or poverty are proof of God’s judgment for individual sin. But most sin, like pollution, is social and structural. It is the poison embedded in deeply complex systems, and those who benefit from those systems say they can’t be changed, or they will all fall apart." (from How to Begin When Your World Is Ending)
Sin is more communal than we realize, as Jesus sees in his hometown.
* * *
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Power in Weakness
Paul’s understanding of the power found in weakness has an echo in German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s historic visit to Poland in 1970. As podcast host Guy Raz posted in an essay on Facebook, “Brandt came to the site of the Warsaw Ghetto — an open-air walled prison where the Nazis forced Jews to live before “liquidating” it in 1943. Brandt came to acknowledge Germany’s culpability in the murder of three million Polish Jews — 90% of the country’s Jewish population and nearly half of the 6 million Jews killed and burned to ash by the Nazis. Brandt was there to lay a wreath. But as he approached the memorial, he fell to his knees in anguish. It was an act of deep humility and courage.”
Raz notes that older Germans hated it, seeing it as a sign of weakness. “Brandt’s gesture could not bring back 6 million murdered Jews or the millions of European civilians also murdered. But it was the beginning of Germany’s true reckoning with the past.” He adds that Brandt had every reason not to do this, having served in the Resistance during World War II. “So, if anyone had an excuse to say ‘I’m not responsible for what my country did’ — it was him. But Brandt understood that he was part of a society that committed mass murder on an unimaginable scale. And he had to act.”
What looks like weakness can be an act of power, as the apostle Paul knows.
* * *
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Image of Jesus in Weakness
Paul writes about a place of persistent weakness in his life, and how it becomes a source of connection to God. Before him, Jesus met people with all kinds of limitations, and those places, in his hands, also became a connection to God.
Author KJ Ramsey says that she once stayed at a monastery where one afternoon the guest master mused, “I think every person in the Bible Jesus healed is a snapshot of him.”
KJ Ramsey adds that finding God revealed in society’s outcast people “makes me reconsider my value as one who doesn’t earn much, who can’t always fully participate in life, whose suffering often feels like an inconvenience and an obstacle. I wonder if the blind men, the woman who bled for twelve years, the man with a shriveled hand, the demon-possessed, the deaf, and the lepers were each a snapshot of my Lord. Can we tolerate a God who identifies himself with the weak? The frequency of Christ’s compassion toward the suffering must change the way we see our weakness.” Paul sees this clearly, too. (from This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers)
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From team member Katy Stenta:
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Perfectly Imperfect
To be human is to be willing to admit you are not perfect, to ask for help, to live in community with one another. Paul says that he boasts about his weaknesses, perhaps what he means is that he is willing to ask for help. It is a true Christian who is able to give and ask for the help that is needed. To understand that there is no “us” and “them” in charity is to truly understand how it is we are made to be human. Me,
I am much better at giving help then asking for it. After surgery when I was finally hobbling around, after about the seventh time I saw a piece of trash on the ground that I rationalized to myself looked like a tripping hazard, I laboriously and painfully leaned over to pick it up. My husband asked me, “Why are you like this now, I could have done that, just ask me.” And I immediately snapped back, “Now, now? What do you mean now? I’ve always been like this. Three pregnancies and a broken foot, you know that I suck at asking for help. I’m better at it now than I’ve ever been.” To be able to admit that you are only human, and not Jesus, is a gift. To take responsibility and give help as well as ask for it is truly to start to understand how it is we are meant to live out our faith.
* * *
Mark 6:1-13
You Can’t Go Home
Studies show that when you live with your parents, you start to revert to your childish behaviors. In my family we say, “Your family knows how to push your buttons, because they were the ones who helped to create them.” I think this story is a window into Jesus’s fully human status. Here he is, home, and he cannot shake his family, his reputation, or his past. His humble beginnings are what empower him everywhere else. His power is diminished in his hometown. It makes one wonder if Jesus has moments of “unbelief” when he is home. (Goodness knows whenever I go to my “hometown,” where I was bullied in junior high school, I do not feel the most confident.) However, when Jesus is back among his friends and beloved disciples, he is able to command with enough authority to pass it on. The healing comes from faith, the faith of others, and perhaps even Jesus’s faith in himself.
* * *
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Anointing
God blesses imperfect kings. David belonged to God, with all of his power mongering, rape, and angst, he was still a king anointed by God. God warned Israel that any king that was going to be given to the Hebrew people would be human. However, God called David, blessed him, and anointed him as king. This long process cemented David in the eyes of the Hebrew people that he was the right person to rule over Israel and Judah. David’s anointing was a promise that God will love David even in his imperfection.
* * *
Psalm 48
God’s City
God’s city is like joy, steadfast love, and a sure defense — and all of these things are so powerful that they scare the collective of kings. What is a group of kings called? And what is it about God that makes a collective of kings feel like they are about to give birth to something? And yet, God is steadfast in the tremors, in the labor, in the winds of change. God is the type of entity that is consistent. It is as if God is the fire, and the kings are the wax, always being shaped around it.
* * *
Ezekiel 2:1-5
Mortal
The mortality of Ezekiel is emphasized in such a way that it almost becomes an endearment. As a mother says “baby” to her child, reminding us of our relationship, belovedness, and value within the power differential, not in spite of, but intentionally created. We are mortal because God made us with the beautiful, handcrafted differences and fragility that God intended, each of us having the uniqueness that handmade and temporal beings are meant to have. Therefore, we are precious and meant to treat ourselves so, for God certainly values us as such.
* * *
Psalm 123
Mind the Gap
The sense of looking up, up, and up until we can finally find and see God has the sense of trying to focus on the right thing or see the sun without being blinded. The seeking of God is difficult sometimes because we are not always able to look up. We are not always focused. We do not always remember that God will have mercy on us. However, the plea for God to look back to us, for God to stoop and be with us, because we have had “enough” — that plea sounds right out of the modern era. Look to us God, for we feel a gap, and we need you closer. This prayer feels right from the heart.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Great is God and greatly to be praised.
All: God’s dwelling place is the joy of all the earth.
One: We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.
All: Within its citadels God has become a sure defense.
One: Your name, O God, like your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth.
All: Your right hand is filled with victory.
OR
One: God comes to anoint us for the work of ministry.
All: We do not feel worthy to work in God’s name.
One: God created us and so we are of infinite worth.
All: What God has made, we will not despise.
One: Know that God is with you and in you with all your faults.
All: We will use all we are to serve our Risen Christ.
Hymns and Songs
Praise My Soul, the King/God of Heaven
UMH: 66
H82: 410
PH: 620
CH: 23
LBW: 549
ELW: 864/865
W&P: 82
AMEC: 70
Renew: 53
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
UMH: 154/155
H82: 450/451
PH: 142/143
GTG: 263
AAHH: 292/293/294
NNBH: 3/5
NCH: 304
CH: 91/92
LBW: 328/329
ELW: 634
W&P: 100/106
AMEC: 4/5/6
Renew: 45
I Love to Tell the Story
UMH: 156
GTG: 462
AAHH: 513
NNBH: 424
NCH: 522
CH: 480
LBW: 390
ELW: 661
W&P: 560
AMEC: 217
To God Be the Glory
UMH: 98
PH: 485
GTG: 634
AAHH: 157
NNBH: 17
CH: 39
W&P: 66
AMEC: 21
Renew: 258
Spirit Song
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
W&P: 352
CCB: 51
Renew: 248
More Love to Thee, O Christ
UMH: 453
PH: 359
GTG: 828
AAHH: 575
NNBH: 214
NCH: 456
CH: 527
AMEC: 460
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
GTG: 829
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
UMH: 462
AAHH: 368
NNBH: 292
AMEC: 440
Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether
UMH: 632
PH: 504
GTG: 529
NCH: 337
CH: 392
ELW: 470
You Satisfy the Hungry Heart
UMH: 629
PH: 521
GTG: 523
CH: 429
ELW: 484
W&P: 705
Take Our Bread
CCB: 50
Cares Chorus
CCB: 53
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The 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
ELW: 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 seeks to use us as we are
Grant us the grace to employ our entire being to your work
even the things we see as our flaws and faults;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you see all of us as worthy of doing your work. Help us to use our entire being to fulfill your purpose in our lives, even those things we see as flaws or faults. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we try to hide our weaknesses.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We see our flaws and faults and try to use them as excuses for not doing the good that you call us to do. We claim to be unworthy while you call us the body of Christ. Give us courage to share our lives in all their brokenness so that you may be glorified, and your will be done. Amen.
One: God loves us in our entirety, even those parts we are not so happy about. Receive God’s love and grace and know that you are called by God to do the work of Christ.
Prayers of the People
We praise and worship you, O God, who comes to dwell in and through us. We praise you for your constant love that seeks to bring all creation to its fullness.
(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 see our flaws and faults and try to use them as excuses for not doing the good that you call us to do. We claim to be unworthy while you call us the body of Christ. Give us courage to share our lives in all their brokenness so that you may be glorified and your will be done.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you bless us. We thank you that you do not see us as flawed but rather as having unique ways in which we can serve you and your people.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for the vision to see ourselves as you see us. We pray for those who have been told they are not good enough. We pray for those who feel shame in being who they are.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father 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
Otherly Abled
by Dean Feldmeyer
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
You will need:
Eyeglasses (one pair for each child) purchased in advance. You can get these from thrift stores or secondhand stores, or you can go online and find play glasses for children. Sometimes they can also be solicited in advance from church members who may have old glasses lying around the house. The local Lion’s Club may also have glasses they have collected that you can borrow.
A small bag or basket with twenty or so pieces of 2"x2" pieces of paper (white or any bright color).
Preparation:
Smear a dab of petroleum jelly on the lenses of the glasses so those who wear them can see shapes but not distinctive individual people.
As the children gather, say:
Good morning!
Today, the apostle Paul talks about having a disability. He says that he has one. He calls it a thorn in his flesh. (If the kids don’t know what a disability is, take a moment to explain.)
One of the points that Paul makes is that we all have disabilities where some things are really hard for us to do. He says that God can actually use our disabilities. Paul says we shouldn’t say, “I can’t do this or that because I have a disability.” Rather, we should use our other abilities to do what we can and what God asks us to do.
So, today, I thought we’d all share a disability. So, put on your glasses and help me pick up these pieces of paper, will you, please?
(Hand out the glasses and as they put the glasses on, spread the pieces of paper on the floor. When the pieces of paper are all collected take a moment to discuss the process. What was hard to do? How did you manage to do it? And so on.)
Say:
Now you know what it’s like to have a vision disability and you can use that knowledge to help people who do have vision disabilities because you know what it’s like.
(Close with a brief prayer asking God to make us more sensitive to the needs of those who have disabilities…)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 7, 2024 issue.
Copyright 2024 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.
- Choosing Weakness by Chris Keating based on 2 Corinthians 12:2-10.
- Second Thoughts: Being Anointed by Tom Willadsen based on 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children’s sermon: Otherly Abled by Dean Feldmeyer based on Mark 3:20-35.
Choosing Weaknessby Chris Keating
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Thirsting for power quickly becomes like gulping beer through a funnel and rubber tubing. Pushed into the quest for ever-increasing amounts of dopamine, power-craven individuals become quickly intoxicated. Few can resist these impulses, and as scientists remind us, people addicted to power manifest a myriad of bad behaviors. The list is long, and includes behaviors frequently exhibited by well-known politicians: heightened cognitive function, lack of inhibition, poor judgment, narcissism, and cruelty.
Chasing power builds powerful neuro-connections within the brain, leaving people in positions of unchecked power with a toxic mix of poor self-awareness and dysfunctional emotional boundaries. The results often include a lack of empathy and pronounced paranoid delusions.
Case in point: When Donald Trump and Joe Biden squared off in last Thursday’s presidential debate, the cravings for power may have kept both of them blind to their weaknesses. Trump, who walked away from the stage flashing a gleeful thumbs-up to his staffers, was convinced he won. And polls suggest that large numbers of people believe he did.
Not so fast, argue pundits and columnists. They point out that the former president relied on his trademark hyperbole and evasiveness, and frequently lied about things that are easy to disprove. Yet Biden’s even poorer performance did little to bolster confidence in his ability to lead, leaving many to believe their concerns about his age are well-founded.
“It’s SO-JOE-OVER,” boasted a Trump campaign email, a sentiment held by many Trump-leaning voters. But Biden supporters pointed out that the hour after the debate was their campaign’s “single best hour of fundraising” since its launch. Some pundits also observed that if Trump may be said to have won the contest, it was not because he had the better answers. “We had a raspy and stumbling President Biden,” said columnist Jamelle Bouie, “and a deranged and incoherent Donald Trump, who spent two hours unleashing a stream of lies. Is there a winner here? Nah.”
It’s a sign that our political system is due for an intervention. Set aside the drive for perfection, and instead see that true power begins in weakness. Richard Rohr reminds us, “We think it’s when we’re strong that we’re strong. But no, it’s when we’re weak that we’re strong.” It’s exactly what Paul experienced as he battled the super-spiritualists in Corinth. In the face of their derogatory insults and attacks, Paul stands firm, reminding his beloved church that “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
In the News
But in a power-driven culture, Paul’s theology seems confusing. Even worse, it sounds naïve and horribly misguided as it rubs against the grain of everyday life. Case in point: One leadership communication expert observed that President Biden’s body language communicated telegraphed weakness well before he spoke a word during the debate.
“How a leader enters the stage or meeting room and the first words he/she says is an opportunity to embody energy, warmth, and confidence,” said Carol Kinsey Goman, an expert in leadership communication strategies. While Trump’s entrance wasn’t much better, this lost opportunity was especially damaging for Biden. His slow walk across stage to the podium and weak, raspy voice (attributed to a cold, but never stated as such) worked strongly against him.”
Steve Crescenzo, who is also a communications consultant, agreed with Goman. “Anyone looking to confirm their belief that Biden is senile got what they came for.”
On the other side of the stage, Trump seemed to thrive on his ability to state boldly even those things that were patently false. As Trump spun his webs of perfidious prevarications, he ran the risk of insulting his audience’s intelligence. “This is Trump’s greatest communication weakness,” commented Crescenzo.
Trump’s trademark style is strength communicated by bluster, bullying, and buffoonery. It made him a hit on reality television but is also an indicator of our culture’s reprehension of weakness. It is a sign of our inability to comprehend spiritual truth, and a sign of dysfunctional addiction to power.
Addiction to power occurs as the effects of neurochemicals like dopamine are released in the body. Power activates the brain’s reward circuitry, creating a “high” similar to intoxicants. “Like addicts,” writes neuroscientists Nayef Al-Rodhan, most people in positions of power will seek to maintain the high they get from power, sometimes at all costs.” Think of power in terms of that old Lay’s potato chip commercial — once you’ve had a small taste, all bets are off.
The late Catholic priest Thomas Keating, who is best known for his contributions on centering prayer, once said that “to be powerless means to be absolutely helpless. This, oddly enough, is the best disposition for a spiritual journey…the deeper one’s awareness of one’s powerlessness and the more desperate, the more willing one is to reach out for help.”
Millions of Americans who are recovering from alcoholism or substance abuse disorders would condense that to the first of Alcoholic Anonymous’ famous 12 steps to recovery: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — our lives had become unmanageable.”
Paradoxically, as Richard Shotten has said, when businesses acknowledge flaws, they uncover a unique strategic advantage. “This approach can humanize a brand and shift power by showcasing honesty and vulnerability.” Theologically and spiritually, healing begins when we are able to admit to our pain and brokenness. Richard Rohr maintains that the articulation of powerlessness is the starting point for spiritual transformation. Rohr discusses this in much of his work, including this newsletter from January, 2024:
People who have moved from seeming success to seeming success seldom understand success at all, except a very limited version of their own. People who fail to do something right, by even their own definition of right, are those who often break through to enlightenment and compassion. It is God’s greatest surprise and God’s constant disguise, but we only know it to be true by going through it and coming out on the other side.
One therapist calls this approach “trying softer.” Aundi Kolber suggests that when we surrender for the right reasons, we experience an empowerment that allows such gentleness to become an overwhelming strength. It’s the same paradoxical truth Paul offers us in 2 Corinthians: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
In the Scripture
Much of 2 Corinthians is Paul’s response to the so-called “super apostles” who have challenged his authority. Throughout this epistle, it is clear he is addressing concerns that are tearing apart the fabric of the Corinthian church’s community. More than other epistles, 2 Corinthians reveals Paul’s human side (see Ernest Best, “Second Corinthians,” Interpretation Bible Commentary). His calling as an apostle is at stake, yet the authority of that calling, rooted in Christ, is made manifest in what he calls “the treasure” of his humanity. (2 Corinthians 4:7). Our brokenness yields to the surpassing, “extraordinary” power of God.
In chapter 11:16 through 12:10, Paul presents his “fools’ speech,” a rhetorical boasting that has more twists and turns than an wooden roller coaster. He moves from his hardships to deliverance (11:30-33) to an astonishing metaphysical ascent into heaven (12:1-6). It’s a wild ride, filled with ample reasons to boast. At the moment he reaches the pinnacle of paradise, however, Paul reminds the Corinthians that he dare not boast so “that no one may think better of me…” Indeed, the result of these ecstatic experiences has left him with some sort of impairment.
Just what is that “thorn in the flesh” (12:7), which has restrained him from being “too elated.” Paul describes it as a “messenger of Satan” that torments him, a pointed stake meant to torture or cause great distress. It’s clear this was not God’s design, yet God has permitted it in order to help Paul get some perspective. There’s no clear consensus as to the nature of this thorn. Is it a moral flaw, or perhaps even an addiction? J. Paul Sampley discourages seeing the thorn as some sort of moral failing, and instead suggests it ought to be interpreted the same as any of the numerous hardships Paul has confronted. (See Sampley, “Second Corinthians,” The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary.)
Despite his prayerful pleading to God, the thorn has not been removed. Instead, the experience becomes enfolded into Paul’s larger understanding of grace. It matches his earlier discussion of power and human weakness. Paul will not relent on the superiority of God’s grace. Inevitably, humans will fall short. But thanks be to God whose victory is guaranteed, and whose power “takes up residence” (12:9) in us even in our earthly tent.
In the Sermon
Many years ago, I served a church that provided space to a variety of 12-step groups, including a group focused on providing help and support through anxiety and depression. I was part of a larger staff, and sometimes communication about the calendar fell apart. Or maybe I didn’t pay attention. Either way, I was not aware that this anxiety support group met every week in a room deep within the bowels of the church.
Accordingly, whenever I would lock up after an evening activity, I’d check to make sure all the lights were off. It was a sprawling building of multiple levels, but by peering down a hallway you could see if the lights were still on. I was consistent in making sure the place was buttoned up at night — inadvertently adding to the anxieties of the folks who were trying their best to find healing. After a few weeks of being left in the dark, the group decided to find a new meeting place.
How often does the church become an impediment to grace? Stephen Haynes has explores this idea in his book Why Can’t Church Be More Like An AA Meeting? (Eerdmans, 2021). As he explored his own journey through recovery, Haynes wonders what it would be like if the church partnered with groups like AA to create places where addiction, shame, and narcissism can be transformed by grace. His idea evokes Paul: “For whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
Church members who have been in recovery have been telling us this for years. It’s possible that the stories of recovery can also be used to shine a prophetic light on the ways our culture has become intoxicated by power. Discovering a path through weakness begins by confessing, “I am powerless over….” It’s a powerful truth, and one that may feel uncomfortable to some who delight in the trappings of power. Tom Lehman puts it this way, “In some sort of cosmic joke or paradox, God uses our weakness and powerlessness in our favor. Once we acknowledge our problem and face it, it loses some of its power and becomes easier to move forward.”
Years later, I know I’m far from perfect. But I do pay more attention to which groups are using the church building. Leaving a light on seems like a small act of grace.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTSBeing Annointed
by Tom Willadsen
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
In the Scriptures
Anointing figures prominently in today’s reading from 2 Samuel. David is anointed a third time. The first time he was anointed it came when the Lord told Samuel that the Lord regretted making Saul king (1 Samuel 15:11). Samuel, the priest, was told to visit Jesse in Bethlehem and to be sure to take a horn with oil. The Lord told Samuel, “I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”
There was some intrigue in this scene. Saul was still the king who had been duly anointed by Samuel at the Lord’s direction. Saul had displeased the Lord by not utterly destroying all of the Amalekites’ livestock after defeating them in battle. This disobedience, which Saul admitted and repented from, brought him the Lord’s disfavor. Still, Samuel faced some peril if he openly anointed another king, so he went on the down low to select one of Jesse’s sons.
It’s a familiar story — the Lord chose, and Samuel anointed, the youngest of Jesse’s sons who was off tending the sheep when Samuel arrived under the guise of offering a sacrifice to the Lord. David was a skilled musician, and, with God’s help, David defeated Goliath, the giant Philistine who had been taunting the Israelites for forty days. This gets Saul’s attention, as did David’s ability to soothe him by playing music when Saul had bad spells.
The second of David’s anointings took place in the second chapter of 2 Samuel. Prior to today’s reading, David, after inquiring of the Lord, had gone up to Judah, to the city of Hebron. There, the people of Judah anointed him as their king.
An extraordinary thing is happening in today’s reading from 2 Samuel. The tribes of the north, that is, Israel, who have been without a king for seven and a half years, since the deaths of Saul and Jonathon, have come down to David at Hebron and made a covenant with David, and anointed him king of Israel. David was already king of Judah, so the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were united. David was anointed a third time. Each of the anointings had particular significance.
Anointing was a widely used practice in what Christians call the Old Testament. When Jacob awoke from his dream of a ladder to heaven, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it!” So, Jacob rose early in the morning and he took the stone that had been under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on top of it. (Genesis 28:17-18) The touch of the oil, the anointing, signified that Luz, whose name Jacob changed to Bethel (the House of God) was set apart.
Aaron and his sons were set apart for the priesthood by anointing in Exodus 40:13-14. This came after the tabernacle where they gathered for worship and its utensils and basin were anointed for holy use.
In a stunningly moving scene, David anointed himself after the death of the child he conceived with Bathsheba. The story goes that David had spotted Bathsheba from the roof of the palace while she was bathing. [NB: Leonard Cohen got the story wrong, David did not spot Bathsheba on the roof, David was on the roof, playing the peeping Tom, looking down into Bathsheba’s private space.] David summoned her to the palace and raped her. David plotted to have Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, killed in battle, when her period of mourning was over, she moved into the palace. The prophet Nathan exposed the magnitude of David’s sin to him. The (unnamed) child became very ill soon after birth. David fasted for seven days while the child lived. When David learned the child had died, he got up, washed, and anointed himself. The servants asked David why he had behaved this way, and he replied, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me’” (2 Samuel 12:22, NRSV).
One final note on anointing — be sure to enunciate “anointing,” if you don’t it will sound like “annoying.”
The concept of christening is related to anointing. Ships are christened, for example, when they are launched. This is the moment when they transition from land law to maritime law. In other contexts, christening is the equivalent of naming something. Some Christian traditions christen, that is, touch with oil, following baptism. In traditions that reveal the child’s name at baptism — baptism, naming, and christening are all part of the same ritual.
“Christ” is not Jesus’ last name, Christ means “anointed.” The Hebrew term for anointed is the root of the English term “Messiah.” In Acts 10:38 Peter claims that Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit. In Luke 7 there is a story of a sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet with oil. In the fourteenth chapter of Mark’s gospel, Jesus says of the woman’s actions “she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.”
Psalm 48 describes an ideal version of God’s presence in Zion, in which the capital city of Jerusalem is described as so fabulous, rival/enemy kings are astounded and tremble with fear at simply seeing it. The joy of the people, worshipers of the living God, at their security in the holy city, is expressed in the final three verses. It is a fitting match to the story of David’s anointing, a second time, as Israel’s king.
In the News
“I can’t anoint a role to somebody out of thin air,” are the words Purdue University’s basketball coach, Matt Painter, said when one of his top recruits, Kanon Catchings, asked to be released from his National Letter of Intent, so he could play for Brigham Young University in the coming season. Catchings is rated as the fortieth best high school basketball prospect in the nation by 247 Sports. He is 6’10” and weighs 185 pounds. Perhaps he felt that the wind in West Lafayette would be a challenge. Coach Painter clearly misunderstands what it means to be anointed. When used in common speech, “anointed” is often a substitute for “named” or “designated.” For example, one’s boss may anoint a successor as she prepares to retire.
In the Sermon
There have been a lot of “ordiversary” announcements on Facebook in the past month. It seems that June is not only the month for weddings, but for ordinations. My denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), makes a pretty big deal out of ordination. Before becoming ordained and getting to put “The Reverend” in front of one’s name, a candidate has to jump through more than fifteen hoops: Written and oral exams, completing both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and finally, after finding an organization willing to extend a call to the candidate, the candidate must pass an examination before the calling Presbytery. It is an ordeal, a lengthy series of ordeals, a process. An end. And a beginning. In my denomination one is ordained only once but installed in every new position. A colleague told me that installations are like marriages: The higher the number, the lower the significance.
I remember being relieved more than anything else when I passed my final examination for ordination. I phoned my mother from a pay phone (we had those in 1991) and said, “Our long, national nightmare is over.” She was pleased at the prospect of my furniture finally getting out of her house (and proud and happy in her own way).
Shortly after the actual ordination ceremony, as I was driving to my new call in another state, I remember a profound disappointment that I didn’t feel any different. I did not feel decisive and authoritative. The new state of being I’d imagined simply had not materialized. Nobody told me that ordination was more of a commencement than a destination. As my career has unfolded, there have been no milestones of the magnitude of ordination, but regular epiphanies that my ability to respond to the living God and the Holy Spirit’s has improved. I have continued to grow — no one told me that was coming!
David was first anointed secretly. Only his family and Samuel knew he’d been designated as the king who would one day replace Saul. He was anointed a second time when the residents of Judah declared him their king. Three chapters later, the leaders of the tribes of Israel also anointed him and David became king of a much larger territory. David grew, and his territory grew, as he grew in the office of king.
It took God’s leading Samuel to Jesse’s home in Bethlehem, the residents of Judah, and the leaders of Israel for David to be fully king. In a nation facing a deeply contentious, divisive election season, in which one of the presumptive candidates continues to refuse to accept the results of the last election, it is helpful to remember that one governs with the consent of the governed. And the acceptance of the electorate is essential for civil society to function. Sometimes that acceptance is a process.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Mark 6:1-13
Resume of Failure
When Jesus sends the disciples out on their own, he anticipates that failure will be part of their mission.
A new book suggests that we all need to see failure as part of life. The authors note, “In 2010, Johannes Haushofer, today an associate professor of economics at Stockholm University, composed his “CV of Failures” to help students realize that rejection is part of the path to success. An updated version, posted on his university web page, includes sections like “Degree programs I did not get into” and “Academic positions and fellowships I did not get.”
He explains: “Most of what I try fails, but these failures are often invisible, while the successes are visible. I have noticed that this sometimes gives others the impression that most things work out for me. As a result, they are more likely to attribute their own failures to themselves, rather than the fact that . . . applications are crapshoots, and selection committees and referees have bad days.” (from Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay by Liz Fosslien, Mollie West Duffy)
We could all use a resume of failures!
* * *
Mark 6:1-13
Jesus is a Multiplier
Jesus doesn’t limit the power of God to the things he alone can do. He shares his authority with his disciples. Author and business guru Liz Wiseman calls people who do this “multipliers.”
Wiseman notes a parallel with Silicon Valley, “where technology and business leaders develop other leaders in search of growth and returns and the creation of wealth.” In that world, “When a venture firm places its bet and invests a round of funding, it draws up a term sheet to govern the deal. Of particular interest to all parties is the specification of ownership levels…Simply put, the term sheet lets the parties know who is in charge. Once ownership of the new company is established, the venture firm cuts a check and the investment of resources begins.”
In Jesus’ world, however, everyone has equal ownership.
* * *
Mark 6:1-13
Scapegoating
When Jesus goes to his hometown, people can’t see beneath the surface of the man they think they know. Unable to sort out their complicated feelings, they unite around their anger, and project their disappointment onto Jesus.
Molly Phinney Baskette says we do a similar thing. “Take, for example, that tear-jerking PSA from the seventies about “Keeping America Beautiful,” in which a noble Indigenous man on a horse surveys the horrors of his once-pristine home degraded by litter and sheds a single, devastating tear? It turns out that commercial was funded by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, two of the single biggest polluters. They were scapegoating us, the end users, so they could keep profiting off of pollution they created (and by the way, that Native American actor was, in fact, Italian). So many of us have been taught, or absorbed from the ether, the idea that sin is individual. If we just work hard enough and strive to please God, we will be rewarded with an E-Z Pass through the pearly gates. Even in modern America, too many people still believe that illness, disability, or poverty are proof of God’s judgment for individual sin. But most sin, like pollution, is social and structural. It is the poison embedded in deeply complex systems, and those who benefit from those systems say they can’t be changed, or they will all fall apart." (from How to Begin When Your World Is Ending)
Sin is more communal than we realize, as Jesus sees in his hometown.
* * *
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Power in Weakness
Paul’s understanding of the power found in weakness has an echo in German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s historic visit to Poland in 1970. As podcast host Guy Raz posted in an essay on Facebook, “Brandt came to the site of the Warsaw Ghetto — an open-air walled prison where the Nazis forced Jews to live before “liquidating” it in 1943. Brandt came to acknowledge Germany’s culpability in the murder of three million Polish Jews — 90% of the country’s Jewish population and nearly half of the 6 million Jews killed and burned to ash by the Nazis. Brandt was there to lay a wreath. But as he approached the memorial, he fell to his knees in anguish. It was an act of deep humility and courage.”
Raz notes that older Germans hated it, seeing it as a sign of weakness. “Brandt’s gesture could not bring back 6 million murdered Jews or the millions of European civilians also murdered. But it was the beginning of Germany’s true reckoning with the past.” He adds that Brandt had every reason not to do this, having served in the Resistance during World War II. “So, if anyone had an excuse to say ‘I’m not responsible for what my country did’ — it was him. But Brandt understood that he was part of a society that committed mass murder on an unimaginable scale. And he had to act.”
What looks like weakness can be an act of power, as the apostle Paul knows.
* * *
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Image of Jesus in Weakness
Paul writes about a place of persistent weakness in his life, and how it becomes a source of connection to God. Before him, Jesus met people with all kinds of limitations, and those places, in his hands, also became a connection to God.
Author KJ Ramsey says that she once stayed at a monastery where one afternoon the guest master mused, “I think every person in the Bible Jesus healed is a snapshot of him.”
KJ Ramsey adds that finding God revealed in society’s outcast people “makes me reconsider my value as one who doesn’t earn much, who can’t always fully participate in life, whose suffering often feels like an inconvenience and an obstacle. I wonder if the blind men, the woman who bled for twelve years, the man with a shriveled hand, the demon-possessed, the deaf, and the lepers were each a snapshot of my Lord. Can we tolerate a God who identifies himself with the weak? The frequency of Christ’s compassion toward the suffering must change the way we see our weakness.” Paul sees this clearly, too. (from This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers)
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Perfectly Imperfect
To be human is to be willing to admit you are not perfect, to ask for help, to live in community with one another. Paul says that he boasts about his weaknesses, perhaps what he means is that he is willing to ask for help. It is a true Christian who is able to give and ask for the help that is needed. To understand that there is no “us” and “them” in charity is to truly understand how it is we are made to be human. Me,
I am much better at giving help then asking for it. After surgery when I was finally hobbling around, after about the seventh time I saw a piece of trash on the ground that I rationalized to myself looked like a tripping hazard, I laboriously and painfully leaned over to pick it up. My husband asked me, “Why are you like this now, I could have done that, just ask me.” And I immediately snapped back, “Now, now? What do you mean now? I’ve always been like this. Three pregnancies and a broken foot, you know that I suck at asking for help. I’m better at it now than I’ve ever been.” To be able to admit that you are only human, and not Jesus, is a gift. To take responsibility and give help as well as ask for it is truly to start to understand how it is we are meant to live out our faith.
* * *
Mark 6:1-13
You Can’t Go Home
Studies show that when you live with your parents, you start to revert to your childish behaviors. In my family we say, “Your family knows how to push your buttons, because they were the ones who helped to create them.” I think this story is a window into Jesus’s fully human status. Here he is, home, and he cannot shake his family, his reputation, or his past. His humble beginnings are what empower him everywhere else. His power is diminished in his hometown. It makes one wonder if Jesus has moments of “unbelief” when he is home. (Goodness knows whenever I go to my “hometown,” where I was bullied in junior high school, I do not feel the most confident.) However, when Jesus is back among his friends and beloved disciples, he is able to command with enough authority to pass it on. The healing comes from faith, the faith of others, and perhaps even Jesus’s faith in himself.
* * *
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Anointing
God blesses imperfect kings. David belonged to God, with all of his power mongering, rape, and angst, he was still a king anointed by God. God warned Israel that any king that was going to be given to the Hebrew people would be human. However, God called David, blessed him, and anointed him as king. This long process cemented David in the eyes of the Hebrew people that he was the right person to rule over Israel and Judah. David’s anointing was a promise that God will love David even in his imperfection.
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Psalm 48
God’s City
God’s city is like joy, steadfast love, and a sure defense — and all of these things are so powerful that they scare the collective of kings. What is a group of kings called? And what is it about God that makes a collective of kings feel like they are about to give birth to something? And yet, God is steadfast in the tremors, in the labor, in the winds of change. God is the type of entity that is consistent. It is as if God is the fire, and the kings are the wax, always being shaped around it.
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Ezekiel 2:1-5
Mortal
The mortality of Ezekiel is emphasized in such a way that it almost becomes an endearment. As a mother says “baby” to her child, reminding us of our relationship, belovedness, and value within the power differential, not in spite of, but intentionally created. We are mortal because God made us with the beautiful, handcrafted differences and fragility that God intended, each of us having the uniqueness that handmade and temporal beings are meant to have. Therefore, we are precious and meant to treat ourselves so, for God certainly values us as such.
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Psalm 123
Mind the Gap
The sense of looking up, up, and up until we can finally find and see God has the sense of trying to focus on the right thing or see the sun without being blinded. The seeking of God is difficult sometimes because we are not always able to look up. We are not always focused. We do not always remember that God will have mercy on us. However, the plea for God to look back to us, for God to stoop and be with us, because we have had “enough” — that plea sounds right out of the modern era. Look to us God, for we feel a gap, and we need you closer. This prayer feels right from the heart.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Great is God and greatly to be praised.
All: God’s dwelling place is the joy of all the earth.
One: We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.
All: Within its citadels God has become a sure defense.
One: Your name, O God, like your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth.
All: Your right hand is filled with victory.
OR
One: God comes to anoint us for the work of ministry.
All: We do not feel worthy to work in God’s name.
One: God created us and so we are of infinite worth.
All: What God has made, we will not despise.
One: Know that God is with you and in you with all your faults.
All: We will use all we are to serve our Risen Christ.
Hymns and Songs
Praise My Soul, the King/God of Heaven
UMH: 66
H82: 410
PH: 620
CH: 23
LBW: 549
ELW: 864/865
W&P: 82
AMEC: 70
Renew: 53
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
UMH: 154/155
H82: 450/451
PH: 142/143
GTG: 263
AAHH: 292/293/294
NNBH: 3/5
NCH: 304
CH: 91/92
LBW: 328/329
ELW: 634
W&P: 100/106
AMEC: 4/5/6
Renew: 45
I Love to Tell the Story
UMH: 156
GTG: 462
AAHH: 513
NNBH: 424
NCH: 522
CH: 480
LBW: 390
ELW: 661
W&P: 560
AMEC: 217
To God Be the Glory
UMH: 98
PH: 485
GTG: 634
AAHH: 157
NNBH: 17
CH: 39
W&P: 66
AMEC: 21
Renew: 258
Spirit Song
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
W&P: 352
CCB: 51
Renew: 248
More Love to Thee, O Christ
UMH: 453
PH: 359
GTG: 828
AAHH: 575
NNBH: 214
NCH: 456
CH: 527
AMEC: 460
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
GTG: 829
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
UMH: 462
AAHH: 368
NNBH: 292
AMEC: 440
Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether
UMH: 632
PH: 504
GTG: 529
NCH: 337
CH: 392
ELW: 470
You Satisfy the Hungry Heart
UMH: 629
PH: 521
GTG: 523
CH: 429
ELW: 484
W&P: 705
Take Our Bread
CCB: 50
Cares Chorus
CCB: 53
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The 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
ELW: 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 seeks to use us as we are
Grant us the grace to employ our entire being to your work
even the things we see as our flaws and faults;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you see all of us as worthy of doing your work. Help us to use our entire being to fulfill your purpose in our lives, even those things we see as flaws or faults. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we try to hide our weaknesses.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We see our flaws and faults and try to use them as excuses for not doing the good that you call us to do. We claim to be unworthy while you call us the body of Christ. Give us courage to share our lives in all their brokenness so that you may be glorified, and your will be done. Amen.
One: God loves us in our entirety, even those parts we are not so happy about. Receive God’s love and grace and know that you are called by God to do the work of Christ.
Prayers of the People
We praise and worship you, O God, who comes to dwell in and through us. We praise you for your constant love that seeks to bring all creation to its fullness.
(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 see our flaws and faults and try to use them as excuses for not doing the good that you call us to do. We claim to be unworthy while you call us the body of Christ. Give us courage to share our lives in all their brokenness so that you may be glorified and your will be done.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you bless us. We thank you that you do not see us as flawed but rather as having unique ways in which we can serve you and your people.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for the vision to see ourselves as you see us. We pray for those who have been told they are not good enough. We pray for those who feel shame in being who they are.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN’S SERMONOtherly Abled
by Dean Feldmeyer
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
You will need:
Eyeglasses (one pair for each child) purchased in advance. You can get these from thrift stores or secondhand stores, or you can go online and find play glasses for children. Sometimes they can also be solicited in advance from church members who may have old glasses lying around the house. The local Lion’s Club may also have glasses they have collected that you can borrow.
A small bag or basket with twenty or so pieces of 2"x2" pieces of paper (white or any bright color).
Preparation:
Smear a dab of petroleum jelly on the lenses of the glasses so those who wear them can see shapes but not distinctive individual people.
As the children gather, say:
Good morning!
Today, the apostle Paul talks about having a disability. He says that he has one. He calls it a thorn in his flesh. (If the kids don’t know what a disability is, take a moment to explain.)
One of the points that Paul makes is that we all have disabilities where some things are really hard for us to do. He says that God can actually use our disabilities. Paul says we shouldn’t say, “I can’t do this or that because I have a disability.” Rather, we should use our other abilities to do what we can and what God asks us to do.
So, today, I thought we’d all share a disability. So, put on your glasses and help me pick up these pieces of paper, will you, please?
(Hand out the glasses and as they put the glasses on, spread the pieces of paper on the floor. When the pieces of paper are all collected take a moment to discuss the process. What was hard to do? How did you manage to do it? And so on.)
Say:
Now you know what it’s like to have a vision disability and you can use that knowledge to help people who do have vision disabilities because you know what it’s like.
(Close with a brief prayer asking God to make us more sensitive to the needs of those who have disabilities…)
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The Immediate Word, July 7, 2024 issue.
Copyright 2024 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.
