Controlling the Narrative
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For September 12, 2021:
Controlling The Narrative
by Dean Feldmeyer
James 3:1-12
When I played high school football, I once played in a game against our archrival in which I threw a decisive block that enabled our running back to score a touchdown in the final seconds, giving us a much-celebrated victory. Later, when the running back, a friend of mine, told the story of that game it was all about his touchdown. When I told the story, it was all about my block.
What is true, it turns out, often depends on who’s telling the story, on who “controls the narrative.”
That’s understandable and often accepted as innocuous when the subject at hand is a high school athletic event, or an argument among siblings, or even a youthful romance turned sour. As my dad used to laughingly say about the anecdotes that he and his buddies brought back from their fishing trips: “The first liar doesn’t stand a chance.”
When it becomes a political reality guiding our nation’s foreign and domestic policies, however, it’s not so harmless or funny.
In this week’s Epistle lesson, James offers a curative for this troubling trend that has permeated our culture.
In the News
It used to be that good people of good will could sit down together over coffee or cocktails or even a meal, and talk about topics upon which they disagreed. Notice the word “could” in the previous sentence. People could do that. They knew how and, sometimes, they chose to. In fact, they commonly did.
When I was a new pastor working as an associate pastor in a large suburban church, the senior pastor and I would meet with about 13 pastors from eight Christian denominations for Bible study. We knew, going in, that we would not all agree with each other about this or that interpretation of any given passage and the tacit agreement was that we would all listen respectfully to each other and ask questions only to elicit information and never to challenge one another. Respect was the word we used to define how we all related to each other.
I suppose that kind of thing still goes on but I don’t hear of it quite as much. Our culture has become what they call “binary.” That is, opinions seem to be gathered on one of two sides of any issue you can put on the table and the goal of the participants seems always to be to control the narrative. Why control the narrative? Because power comes to the one who does.
Take the topic of abortion, for instance. Is abortion murdering babies? Or is it one option in a comprehensive health care program for women?
For years, certainly since 1973, the pro-choice side of the abortion debate has controlled the narrative and protected Roe v. Wade from reversal in the courts. Last week, in Texas, the anti-abortion side of the debate took control and passed a bill in the state legislature that would make it illegal for a woman to have an abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. Any woman who gets an abortion after that time limit and any person who aids and abets another in getting an abortion — a friend, family member, taxi driver, doctor, nurse, aide, or the person who cleaned the room — can be sued by any person in Texas, for doing so.
When this action went before the Supreme Court of the USA it became clear that the anti-abortion group had seized control of the narrative and their interpretation of Roe v. Wade would be the one that carried the day.
In controlling the narrative, the one telling the story makes sure that their story is the only version that gets heard. The power to don this comes from money but sometimes through threats and intimidation as well.
Other examples of controlling the narrative include:
• The end of the Afghanistan war and America’s exit from the country. Was it a moral failure, a betrayal of our friends and allies, and a clear example of how unskilled Democrats are to hold positions of power in Washington? Or, was it the biggest and most successful airlift and evacuation of human beings in the history of the human race? Depends on who is telling the story.
• Hurricane Ida. Was it a natural disaster bigger than any since Hurricane Katrina? Was its likely path and degree of destruction impossible to predict or prepare for? Or was it and its aftermath a perfect example of how inept and incapable the current Democratic executive branch of government has become? Depends on who is spinning the story. Depends on who is controlling the narrative.
But our examples don’t have to be so big and so heavy, do they?
As in the introduction of this piece, spin, narrative control, and even gaslighting can happen in the simplest context over the simplest subject.
Listen for just a few minutes to the discussions at any family reunion or company picnic and we hear people relating stories about things that everyone saw or experienced but the content of the stories depends on who’s talking.
Are jobs going unfilled in this country because people are lazy and would rather live on handouts from government and charity than working to earn a living? Or are the jobs being offered not as good as they seem at first glance? Is the boost in take home cash hiding other defects like dangerous working conditions or abusive supervisors and bosses, or lack of health insurance?
James, the brother of Jesus, addresses this whole topic of narrative and control in this week’s chosen passage.
In the Scripture
James, the brother of Jesus, was a leader in the Jerusalem Christian community from 36 CE until his martyrdom in about 62 CE. This letter is the only communication we have directly from him and it shows him to be a leader who does not pull punches.
He selects his topic and then delivers his message in a quick succession of short, rapid, well-directed blows. He begins by encouraging the church to persevere in times of trial. He admonishes these early Christians to control their speech with humility and good judgment. He condemns any partiality the priests might show to the rich, and reminds all that faith cannot survive where there are no acts of charity.
Then, in the third chapter, he offers 12 verses, admonishing Christians to exercise control over their mouths and illustrating how much evil and wickedness can result from unguarded speech.
His essay allows that some have argued with him on this point, saying that a few words are just a few words and he’s making too big a deal out of a slip of the tongue, here, or an unexamined reply, there. “What’s the harm, really? It’s only words.” No doubt they would want to remind him that “sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me,” and tell him to toughen up and not be such a snowflake.
But he responds that it takes only a very small blaze to start a forest fire that destroys much and that a big boat can be forced to go here or there by the small rudder that the pilot can turn with only one hand. A bit that weighs only a pound or two can control the speed and direction of a two-thousand-pound horse.
We must be constantly aware of what our mouth is doing and in what direction it is leading us.
In the Sermon
We generally define a narrative as a story or account of events or experiences, whether true or fictitious. Controlling a narrative is the act of telling the story in a way that aids in accomplishing some goal of the storyteller and doing so in a way that discounts alternative versions of the story or keeps them from being considered.
Example: Since 1836, the story (narrative) of the Battle of the Alamo has been told and controlled by white men. It is the story, we have been told, of a small group of white men who gave their lives in a fight for political independence and freedom from oppression.
Not until recently has it been pointed out that slavery played an important part in Texas’s desire for independence from Mexico. Mexico, it turns out, was about to abolish slavery and, Texas, whose economy depended greatly on cotton, wanted to maintain slavery in the state. Being told that this would not be possible, the Texans decided to secede from Mexico and become a country of their own, or at least join the American Confederacy.
Now, control of that narrative is beginning to shift as we learn the whole story.
When we are confronted by what we consider to be obvious lies that reasonable people will quickly identify and reject, we often just ignore them. Once they come into the light of day, we say, they will be exposed as fiction and the argument will end.
Only it often doesn’t happen that way.
Regardless of the obvious truth, thousands continue to believe, without one scintilla of evidence, that the presidential election was stolen. They believe in a disproven far-right conspiracy theory called QAnon which alleges that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles operates a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against former President Donald Trump during his term in office.
One QAnon belief is that Trump was planning a massive sting operation on the cabal, with mass arrests of thousands of cabal members to take place on a day known as the “Storm.” QAnon supporters have accused many Hollywood actors, Democratic politicians, and high-ranking government officials of being members of the cabal, with no evidence. QAnon has also claimed that Trump simulated the conspiracy of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election in order to enlist Robert Mueller to join him in exposing the sex trafficking ring, and preventing a coup d'état by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros.
For many Americans this ridiculous narrative is the controlling one for them. They believe it and they have even become estranged from their families and friends in defense of it.
The battle to control the narrative also goes on within the Christian church.
The “Ark Encounter” in northern Kentucky, uses a giant, “life size” model of what one man believes Noah’s ark must have looked like. You can walk through it if want. It’s all based on a literal interpretation of Genesis 6-9. If you shell out the money and take the tour you have to know, going in, who controls the narrative and how it is told.
The debate in the churches over homosexuality has nothing to do with homosexuality as such. It’s really about how we approach scripture and who controls how the narrative presented there will be interpreted.
How do Christians respond faithfully to this and other misguided efforts to control the narrative? How, when Christians disagree with the dominant culture or with each other, can we faithfully and responsibly take control of the narrative.
How to Control and Own the Narrative
1. Define the meaning of and take ownership of words. — In theological arguments notice how your adversary uses words and definitions. Conservatives refer to the Bible as “God’s Word” or “God’s Holy Word.” They define themselves as “evangelical.” But nowhere are those words and phrases given solely to conservatives to use as their own. Liberal Christians are allowed to use them and claim them as well.
Likewise, the word “liberal” used to mean “generous” and “broad-minded.” Politically, it means “a person who believes that government should be active in supporting social and political change.” Recently, however, conservatives have stolen the word from the hands of liberals and changed it’s meaning to something just short of “satanic.” Liberals surrendered and moved on to the word, “progressive.”
2. Speak first. — It is difficult to define the narrative when we are speaking from a defensive posture, defending ourselves and arguing that things aren’t really as the other side is describing them.
By speaking first, we take a step toward defining and controlling the narrative.
3. Be empathetic. — When one controls the narrative on any given subject, the temptation is always present to deprive the other individual of respect, social power, and the ability to define reality. Even though we are controlling the narrative, there is no reason why we can’t do so gently and kindly.
4. Be brief and to the point. — A long, rambling defense sounds, well, defensive. Make your point first and make it brief. Examples: Right to life generally controls the abortion narrative with two words: “Killing babies.” The Washington Post: “Democracy dies in darkness.” Subway: “Eat fresh!”
Things in our lives, especially important things tend to be attached to a narrative, a story that tells why they are important. By controlling the narrative, we control what is considered important and what isn’t.
Controlling the narrative is what evangelism is all about, after all. It’s about telling the story, our story, so the world hears it from those of us who live it, first.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
A humble approach to preaching on the 20th anniversary of 9/11
Scattered throughout this week’s lectionary texts are various understandings of how wisdom guides our response to the graciousness of God. For example, Proverbs offers the voice of wisdom crying out from the street corners of human despair while Isaiah calls believers to attune their ears as those who are being taught. Psalm 19 grounds human delight in the Torah, while James admonishes us on the dangers of speech. Each of these texts are reminders of the pains and tragedies that characterize not only human life, but Christ’s as well, as Mark 8:27-38 reminds. These texts also collide with the immense suffering of the pandemic, the fall of Afghanistan, intense natural disasters, as well as the 20th anniversary of 9/11. With that in mind, the preacher’s theological task is to see that the possibilities of living according to God’s wisdom. For example, it’s unthinkable to suggest God laughs at human calamity (Proverbs 1:26), but it is hopeful to trust that a life grounded in the wisdom of God provides security. (Proverbs 1:33). Approaching these texts with a sense of humble trust in God’s provision — perhaps especially during disasters — will help our congregations hear the wisdom God offers.
* * *
Proverbs 1:20-33
The system was blinking red
Wisdom comes, Proverbs tells us, from the well-travelled streets of human life and the buckling pavements of existence. From the painful realities of these broken places comes the cry, “How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?”
The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is a reminder of how the anguish of that day offers wisdom for our nation and world. Over the past two decades, a vast amount of literature has explored the terrain of that day and the subsequent war on terror. In an essay for the Washington Post, Carlos Lozado explores what sort of insights the United States has gleaned in the past twenty years.
“Reading or rereading a collection of such books today is like watching an old movie that feels more anguishing and frustrating than you remember,” Lozado observes. “The anguish comes from knowing how the tale will unfold; the frustration from realizing that this was hardly the only possible outcome.”
He cites the country’s relative indifference to the idea that an attack could happen on US soil as well as what he calls the “bloodlust” that emerged immediately afterward. Quoting former CIA director George Tenet’s testimony to the 911 Commission, Lozado says the intelligence system was “blinking red” at the time of the attacks, though few were paying attention. He quotes counter terrorism expert Richard Clark, “America, alas, seems only to respond well to disasters, to be undistracted by warnings,” he writes. “Our country seems unable to do all that must be done until there has been some awful calamity.”
* * *
Psalm 19
The glory of God
Growing up in the smog-saturated basins of southern California offered me few options to delight in the sparkling spectacular of the sky on summer nights. Thankfully, our church provided a summer camping experience that lifted us out of Los Angeles and into the Sierra mountains. Twilight in the mountains filled the camp with the sort of ecstatic wonder Psalm 19 describes. Even campfire stories of monsters lurking in the depths of the campground lavatories or hunting the ever-elusive mysterious snipe seemed small compared to the canopy of God’s creation.
Decades later, the experience of delighting in creation struggles against the impacts of climate change. One in three Americans live in a county that has been impacted by a weather-related disaster in 2021. This year the country has suffered the repeated blows of extreme weather — floods, fires, heatwaves, hurricanes and more. More than 17 inches of rain fell on a single day in Tennessee in August, while flood waters unleashed from the remnants of hurricane Ida devastated portions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York a week ago. A study published in the journal Nature points out that this will be the new normal, with record-shattering heatwaves expected to occur seven times more than usual between now and 2050, and twenty times more likely after 2051.
* * *
James 3:1-12
The great fires set by our tongues
While Martin Luther might have dismissed the Epistle of James as being a bit “strawy,” the letter’s common sense admonitions on Christian life and praxis seem to be timeless examples of what it means to embody the Gospel in everyday life.
For example, while many of us may have tried to vanquish bullies by reciting the age-old adage “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” the scientific truth is closer to James’ reminder that “no one can tame the tongue.” Some years ago, a study revealed that our brain’s pain matrix — the section of the brain that retains memories of painful experiences — gets activated when we hear pain-related words such as “plaguing,” “tormenting,” or “grueling.”
Also, researchers since the 1960s have examined how racial microaggressions promulgate racism. In the 1960s, researcher Charles M. Pierce defined “microaggressions” as the “automatic, preconscious, or unconscious” patterns of speech, put-downs, or reactions directed at Black persons from white people.
Microaggressions can be categorized in three ways: micro-assaults, micro-insults, and micro-invalidations. One example of micro-assaults is telling an Asian person that you believe they are responsible for Covid-19, or saying you are “just joking” when using a racially or culturally insensitive remark. An article on Healthline explains that saying something like “she’s not on her meds” today or “she’s crazy” is demeaning to persons with mental illness, while a micro-invalidation such as suggesting that a transgender person isn’t a “real” man or woman, or the commonly held myth that Black persons have thicker skin and therefore do not feel pain the way white persons do, cause lasting harm. Large infernos are ignited by seemingly “small” actions.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:
Mark 8:27
Who Are You
“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks the disciples, understanding that identity can shift. When they shift their understanding of him, they also shift their understanding of themselves.
The same shift happened for students at a new school, when Molly Howard became their principal. “In 1995, Molly Howard, a long time special education teacher in Louisville, Georgia, watched as the new Jefferson County High School building was being built. “Every day I’d drive by the building, and I’d wonder, ‘Who’s gonna run that school?’ And it kept tugging at me, ‘Why don’t you apply?’” Howard said. She applied and got the job, but with the promotion came a very tough challenge. Eighty percent of the school’s students lived in poverty. Only 15 percent of students in the previous high school had continued on to college. “The kids you’d expect to be successful were successful,” said Howard. “But what about the other 85 percent?” Many teachers had a nearly defeatist attitude. “There was this belief that some children can and some children can’t.”
The students’ sense of identity was the key. “Howard believed that every student could aspire to go to college, so she abolished the school’s two-track system that had separated “college-bound” students from “vocational” students. In her school, everyone would share the college-bound identity. She beefed up assessments and tutorial programs. She matched students with teachers who’d be their “on-campus advisers” through all four years. Perhaps her most distinctive change, though, was to the grading system. Under her new system the only grades offered at Jefferson County High School were: A, B, C, and NY.”
NY: Not Yet. The student wasn’t finished yet. The teacher believed the student could learn the material. “In Howard’s view, the students at Jefferson had accepted a “culture of failure.” In a fixed-mindset way, they acted as though they were failures to the bone. Students often didn’t do their homework, or they turned in shoddy work. Getting a D or an F was an easy way out in a way. They might get a poor grade, but at least they would be done. In the new system, the students couldn’t stop until they’d cleared the bar. “We define up front to the kids what’s an A, B, and C,” said Howard. “If they do substandard work, the teacher will say, ‘Not Yet.’ … That gives them the mindset: My teacher thinks I can do better. It changes their expectations.”
When presented with the NY grade, one student looked up at the teacher and asked, “You mean I don’t have to be stupid?” From that day on, he saw himself differently, and worked hard to become a stellar student. (This story is from Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.)
Our identity — and Jesus’ — shapes who are become.
* * *
Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom in the Hospital
“Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice,” Proverbs tells us, promising that wisdom is all around us, if we will listen to it. Barry Schwartz shows us places where wisdom is quietly doing her work, pointing to the work of hospital janitors. We can all imagine the job description, especially during Covid — mop, sweep, sanitize, repeat. He says, “all of the items on it are unremarkable... But the one thing I want you to notice about them is this: even though this is a very long list, there isn't a single thing on it that involves other human beings. Not one. The janitor's job could just as well be done in a mortuary as in a hospital. And yet, when some psychologists interviewed hospital janitors to get a sense of what they thought their jobs were like, they encountered Mike, who told them about how he stopped mopping the floor because Mr. Jones was out of his bed getting a little exercise, trying to build up his strength, walking slowly up and down the hall. And Charlene told them about how she ignored her supervisor's admonition and didn't vacuum the visitor's lounge because there were some family members who were there all day, every day who, at this moment, happened to be taking a nap. And then there was Luke, who washed the floor in a comatose young man's room twice because the man's father, who had been keeping a vigil for six months, didn't see Luke do it the first time, and his father was angry. And behavior like this from janitors, from technicians, from nurses and, if we're lucky now and then, from doctors, doesn't just make people feel a little better, it actually improves the quality of patient care and enables hospitals to run well.”
Schwartz adds, “When you ask the janitors who behaved like the ones I described how hard it is to learn to do their job, they tell you that it takes lots of experience. And they don't mean it takes lots of experience to learn how to mop floors and empty trash cans. It takes lots of experience to learn how to care for people….The good news is you don't need to be brilliant to be wise. The bad news is that without wisdom, brilliance isn't enough.”
For him, “A wise person is like a jazz musician — using the notes on the page, but dancing around them, inventing combinations that are appropriate for the situation and the people at hand. A wise person knows how to use these moral skills in the service of the right aims. To serve other people, not to manipulate other people. And finally, perhaps most important, a wise person is made, not born. Wisdom depends on experience.” Wisdom calls out to us, waiting for us to share in her gifts.
* * *
Psalm 19
The Glory of God
“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork,” the psalmist tells us. K. Lauren De Boer finds this immense glory in the smallness of the hummingbird. She begins by noticing. “A Broad-billed Hummingbird hangs for a few seconds, not three feet away. The brilliant sapphire gorget flashes for an instant, and then the tiny bird is gone in a shot, his raspy cry fading like a lost thought into the oaks. I close my eyes and try to feel the impact that the hundreds of hummingbirds I’ve seen over the past few days have had on my psyche. The swirl of their presence, their diminutive size, their radiant color, their adroit quickness, their bickering flurries, all seep into me, and finally well up into awed appreciation, just for their being in the world.”
The glory of God’s creating hand is revealed, and she adds, “The more deeply we sense the glory and absorb the multi-faceted story, the richer will be our experience, the more vivid will be our imagination, and the deeper will be our connection to the divine…Why should we care about the African elephant, the polar bear, or the Delta smelt? Because each being is a manifestation of the divine; and each is a one-time endowment of the evolutionary process. Once gone, they can never come again. When our breath is taken away by a 3,000 year old redwood or a seashore vista, the delicacy of a wildflower’s petal, or the burnt sienna of a salamander’s flesh in sunlight, we are the way in which universe revels in its splendor.”
Glory is all around us, when we set aside the busy-ness of the day to stop in awe.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Mark 8:27-38
Identity Gospel
“Why does everyone want to know what the gender is?” I remember my youngest sibling asked my mother when I was pregnant with my first child. She told the story to me when I held my eldest, Franklin, in my arms. We talked about how little we knew about this baby, and how everyone wanted to know the gender precisely because that was all we knew. The name, the weight, and the gender. Franklin Alexander 8 pounds 13 ounces, a boy. This question strikes me years later, because my youngest sibling, turns out is my youngest sister. Before she was born she didn’t present that way — we were wrong. We got all the details wrong, her name was wrong. Her gender was wrong. And her weight, well, who cares about a baby’s weight in the end anyway? As long as the baby is healthy that’s what truly matters right?
When Jesus says, who do people say that I am, it’s an interesting question of what people know about him. They know he is powerful, they know that he is Jewish. But few know that he is the Messiah. But they are learning. It’s a process. Just as it’s a process to get to know the baby that is being born — it’s a process to get to know Jesus. Who is Jesus to you today? How has that changed from 10 or 20 years ago? How might that change? What aspects don’t change?
* * *
Mark 8:27-38
Take Up Your Cross
“Don’t help me I’m balanced.” My dad would always say when he huffed and puffed up the steps, his hands full of four to six bags of groceries. What does it mean to take up one’s cross and follow Jesus? Does it mean packing oneself up to the gills with what one can carry? Or is it leaving room in your hands to take a bag of groceries from someone else? If Jesus has lead the way before us, carving the path with his own carrying of the cross, does that make the way easier? This one sentence is so hard, because I want to take up my cross and follow, but all that I know for sure is that it means that I still bear some responsibility for my life. There is no letting Jesus “take the wheel” here. Instead there is only the faithful action to take my smaller burden, and trust that if God could take on the whole world, that I should have strength enough to take on my own and follow.
* * *
James 3:1-12
No One Can Tame the Tongue
Social media is clearly not a new problem. Neither is misinformation, gossip or evil. When we tell lies, we unleash evil. Mistakes, James makes very clear, are different than evil. In an era where our drinking water is polluted, hurting our kids and our food and wildlife, the metaphor of brackish water rings true. How can we take care of our water supply, our well of information? Where do we nourish one another? How do we get to truth? And if we rely on God for our truth, how do we make sure that our water is not polluted like the waters of fracking, where it can be set on fire after it is ruined with the oils of mining for profit? Truth and clarity are old problems. Evil is an old problem. The line of hope is that from the same mouths come blessings, too. How do we work on blessings?
* * *
Proverbs 1:20-33
Ignorance
My youngest kid has the gift of being able to ignore people. In my personal opinion, it comes from being the youngest in the family of five. When you are constantly surrounded by noise, you have to learn to block some of it out. However, it means that sometimes I cannot tell if he is not answering me because he has not heard me or because he is deliberately ignoring me. Either way, usually the end result is the same — tears. Because in the end ignorance is not bliss. The same is true for Wisdom here. She is saying just because you didn’t listen to what the consequences of your actions were going to be doesn’t change the facts. And, she, Wisdom, is not going to feel sorry for you when that happens. In fact, she will take delight when comeuppance takes place. Because here she is taking the time to share her knowledge, and it is not her fault that no one will listen. Willful ignorance will not end well, Wisdom is warning you. Are you listening?
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: The heavens are telling the glory of God.
All: The firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
One: The law of God is perfect, reviving the soul.
All: The decrees of God are sure, making wise the simple;
One: The precepts of God are right, rejoicing the heart.
All: The commandment of God is clear, enlightening the eyes;
OR
One: God calls us to come and learn wisdom from on high.
All: We seek God so that we may be filled with wisdom.
One: God offers us insight and vision to know God’s will.
All: We desire to know God’s will so that we can do it.
One: God is gracious and generous to all God’s children.
All: With God’s help we will share God’s wisdom and grace with all.
Hymns and Songs
All People That on Earth Do Dwell
UMH: 75
H82: 377/378
PH: 220/221
NNBH: 36
NCH: 7
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELW: 883
W&P: 66
AMEC: 73
STLT: 370
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
UMH: 89
H82: 376
PH: 464
AAHH: 120
NNBH: 40
NCH: 4
CH: 2
LBW: 551
ELW: 836
W&P: 59
AMEC: 75
STLT: 29
He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought
UMH: 128
AAHH: 142
NNBH: 235
CH: 545
LBW: 501
W&P: 499
AMEC: 395
Children of the Heavenly Father
UMH: 141
NCH: 487
LBW: 474
ELW: 781
W&P: 83
Pues Si Vivimos (When We Are Living)
UMH: 356
PH: 400
NCH: 499
CH: 536
ELW: 639
W&P: 415
Amazing Grace
UMH: 378
H82: 671
PH: 280
AAHH: 271/272
NNBH: 161/163
NCH: 547/548
CH: 546
LBW: 448
ELW: 779
W&P: 422
AMEC: 226
STLT: 205/206
Renew: 189
O Jesus, I Have Promised
UMH: 396
H82: 655
PH: 388/389
NCH: 493
CH: 612
LBW: 503
ELW: 810
W&P: 458
AMEC: 280
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
Lord, Speak to Me
UMH: 463
PH: 426
NCH: 531
ELW: 676
W&P: 593
Holy, Holy
CCB: 10
Renew: 206
How Majestic Is Your Name
CCB: 21
Renew: 98
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
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
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 sees the truth in all situations:
Grant us your vision so that we may also
see clearly through our own biases;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the one who see rightly. You know what is the truth in all situations. Help us to set aside our biases so that we see clearly, as well. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our tendency to judge things only from our own perspective.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us to be like you and yet instead of looking for the truth we are more likely to look at what makes things look better for us. We are quick to spot the flaws in others while seeing our own good intentions. We assume that the way we perceive things is the actual way things are and other viewpoints must be wrong. Forgive our arrogance and lack of charity. Renew your image within us so that we may truly reflect your image. Amen.
One: God does see us as we are and loves us completely. Receive the loving grace of God and share that grace with others.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God, because you are Wisdom. You know all things in heaven and on earth. You are the Truth.
(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. You have created us to be lick you and yet instead of looking for the truth we are more likely to look at what makes things look better for us. We are quick to spot the flaws in others while seeing our own good intentions. We assume that the way we perceive things is the actual way things are and other viewpoints must be wrong. Forgive our arrogance and lack of charity. Renew your image within us so that we may truly reflect your image.
We thank you for all the ways in which you show your love for your creation. You endow us with your Spirit and the universe is full of your beauty. You offer us your vision so that we may see clearly what you are calling us to do. Your gracious mercy is all around us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We are aware of many who are in need of your presence and your wholeness. We count ourselves among them. As you move among us seeking our good, help us to join your work in caring for others. Make us sensitive to the needs of others so that we may reach out in love to them.
(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 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 SERMON
What’s In A Name?
by Tom Willadsen
Mark 8:27-38
The story when Peter recognizes Jesus as the Christ/Anointed One/Messiah lacks a significant detail in Mark’s recounting of it. I suggest you use Matthew’s account for the Children’s Time, because it contains these verses
Jesus replied,“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this wasnot revealed to you by flesh and blood,but by my Father in heaven.And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (Matthew 16:17-18a, NIV).
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After the kids gather at the front of the sanctuary, ask them what their names are. Start by saying your whole name, in my case Thomas Carl Willadsen.
Next, ask whether everyone calls them by that name.
There’s a good chance that one of them will say they only get called by their complete name, as it appears on their birth certificate, when they’re in trouble. That was the case with a lot of kids in my generation.
See if you can get them to identify a nickname or pet name that their parents our grandparents use for them.
If you have an example that was used when you were a child, or that you have used for your children, you might want to mention it. Both my sons were “Daddy’s Little Chili Bean” when they were little.
You might want to also ask the kids what they call their parents, and do they always use the same name? When my sons wanted something they called me “Honorable Father;” the rest of the time I was “Dad.”
Where you want to lead the kids is to see that people go by different names in different contexts. Another example is when you were ordained you got to put “The Reverend” in front of your name. That indicated that you were different.
Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, which mean “Rock.” Some might think of Peter as “Rocky.” What are the qualities of rock? What do you think of when you think of rocks? (In some ways Simon/Peter was about as smart as a rock, but that’s a point to make another time!)
Simon getting a new name showed that he had changed, that Jesus recognized that change in Simon’s recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah. It isn’t just Simon who changed, the whole trajectory of the synoptic gospels changed when Peter call Jesus “the Christ.” (You don’t want to say “trajectory of synoptic gospels” in a children’s time; save the seminary words for the grownups, but you get the idea.)
Conclude with a prayer like this:
Living God, we thank you that you are alive, and we are alive, always moving, growing and changing. Thank you for moments when we see that your love and presence make us brand new people, with new identities, your children, alive, here on earth. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, September 12, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 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.
- Controlling the Narrative by Dean Feldmeyer — These things may not have happened exactly like this, but this story is true.
- Sermon illustrations by Chris Keating, Mary Austin, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: What’s In A Name? by Tom Willadsen.
- More to come soon...
Controlling The Narrativeby Dean Feldmeyer
James 3:1-12
When I played high school football, I once played in a game against our archrival in which I threw a decisive block that enabled our running back to score a touchdown in the final seconds, giving us a much-celebrated victory. Later, when the running back, a friend of mine, told the story of that game it was all about his touchdown. When I told the story, it was all about my block.
What is true, it turns out, often depends on who’s telling the story, on who “controls the narrative.”
That’s understandable and often accepted as innocuous when the subject at hand is a high school athletic event, or an argument among siblings, or even a youthful romance turned sour. As my dad used to laughingly say about the anecdotes that he and his buddies brought back from their fishing trips: “The first liar doesn’t stand a chance.”
When it becomes a political reality guiding our nation’s foreign and domestic policies, however, it’s not so harmless or funny.
In this week’s Epistle lesson, James offers a curative for this troubling trend that has permeated our culture.
In the News
It used to be that good people of good will could sit down together over coffee or cocktails or even a meal, and talk about topics upon which they disagreed. Notice the word “could” in the previous sentence. People could do that. They knew how and, sometimes, they chose to. In fact, they commonly did.
When I was a new pastor working as an associate pastor in a large suburban church, the senior pastor and I would meet with about 13 pastors from eight Christian denominations for Bible study. We knew, going in, that we would not all agree with each other about this or that interpretation of any given passage and the tacit agreement was that we would all listen respectfully to each other and ask questions only to elicit information and never to challenge one another. Respect was the word we used to define how we all related to each other.
I suppose that kind of thing still goes on but I don’t hear of it quite as much. Our culture has become what they call “binary.” That is, opinions seem to be gathered on one of two sides of any issue you can put on the table and the goal of the participants seems always to be to control the narrative. Why control the narrative? Because power comes to the one who does.
Take the topic of abortion, for instance. Is abortion murdering babies? Or is it one option in a comprehensive health care program for women?
For years, certainly since 1973, the pro-choice side of the abortion debate has controlled the narrative and protected Roe v. Wade from reversal in the courts. Last week, in Texas, the anti-abortion side of the debate took control and passed a bill in the state legislature that would make it illegal for a woman to have an abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. Any woman who gets an abortion after that time limit and any person who aids and abets another in getting an abortion — a friend, family member, taxi driver, doctor, nurse, aide, or the person who cleaned the room — can be sued by any person in Texas, for doing so.
When this action went before the Supreme Court of the USA it became clear that the anti-abortion group had seized control of the narrative and their interpretation of Roe v. Wade would be the one that carried the day.
In controlling the narrative, the one telling the story makes sure that their story is the only version that gets heard. The power to don this comes from money but sometimes through threats and intimidation as well.
Other examples of controlling the narrative include:
• The end of the Afghanistan war and America’s exit from the country. Was it a moral failure, a betrayal of our friends and allies, and a clear example of how unskilled Democrats are to hold positions of power in Washington? Or, was it the biggest and most successful airlift and evacuation of human beings in the history of the human race? Depends on who is telling the story.
• Hurricane Ida. Was it a natural disaster bigger than any since Hurricane Katrina? Was its likely path and degree of destruction impossible to predict or prepare for? Or was it and its aftermath a perfect example of how inept and incapable the current Democratic executive branch of government has become? Depends on who is spinning the story. Depends on who is controlling the narrative.
But our examples don’t have to be so big and so heavy, do they?
As in the introduction of this piece, spin, narrative control, and even gaslighting can happen in the simplest context over the simplest subject.
Listen for just a few minutes to the discussions at any family reunion or company picnic and we hear people relating stories about things that everyone saw or experienced but the content of the stories depends on who’s talking.
Are jobs going unfilled in this country because people are lazy and would rather live on handouts from government and charity than working to earn a living? Or are the jobs being offered not as good as they seem at first glance? Is the boost in take home cash hiding other defects like dangerous working conditions or abusive supervisors and bosses, or lack of health insurance?
James, the brother of Jesus, addresses this whole topic of narrative and control in this week’s chosen passage.
In the Scripture
James, the brother of Jesus, was a leader in the Jerusalem Christian community from 36 CE until his martyrdom in about 62 CE. This letter is the only communication we have directly from him and it shows him to be a leader who does not pull punches.
He selects his topic and then delivers his message in a quick succession of short, rapid, well-directed blows. He begins by encouraging the church to persevere in times of trial. He admonishes these early Christians to control their speech with humility and good judgment. He condemns any partiality the priests might show to the rich, and reminds all that faith cannot survive where there are no acts of charity.
Then, in the third chapter, he offers 12 verses, admonishing Christians to exercise control over their mouths and illustrating how much evil and wickedness can result from unguarded speech.
His essay allows that some have argued with him on this point, saying that a few words are just a few words and he’s making too big a deal out of a slip of the tongue, here, or an unexamined reply, there. “What’s the harm, really? It’s only words.” No doubt they would want to remind him that “sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me,” and tell him to toughen up and not be such a snowflake.
But he responds that it takes only a very small blaze to start a forest fire that destroys much and that a big boat can be forced to go here or there by the small rudder that the pilot can turn with only one hand. A bit that weighs only a pound or two can control the speed and direction of a two-thousand-pound horse.
We must be constantly aware of what our mouth is doing and in what direction it is leading us.
In the Sermon
We generally define a narrative as a story or account of events or experiences, whether true or fictitious. Controlling a narrative is the act of telling the story in a way that aids in accomplishing some goal of the storyteller and doing so in a way that discounts alternative versions of the story or keeps them from being considered.
Example: Since 1836, the story (narrative) of the Battle of the Alamo has been told and controlled by white men. It is the story, we have been told, of a small group of white men who gave their lives in a fight for political independence and freedom from oppression.
Not until recently has it been pointed out that slavery played an important part in Texas’s desire for independence from Mexico. Mexico, it turns out, was about to abolish slavery and, Texas, whose economy depended greatly on cotton, wanted to maintain slavery in the state. Being told that this would not be possible, the Texans decided to secede from Mexico and become a country of their own, or at least join the American Confederacy.
Now, control of that narrative is beginning to shift as we learn the whole story.
When we are confronted by what we consider to be obvious lies that reasonable people will quickly identify and reject, we often just ignore them. Once they come into the light of day, we say, they will be exposed as fiction and the argument will end.
Only it often doesn’t happen that way.
Regardless of the obvious truth, thousands continue to believe, without one scintilla of evidence, that the presidential election was stolen. They believe in a disproven far-right conspiracy theory called QAnon which alleges that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles operates a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against former President Donald Trump during his term in office.
One QAnon belief is that Trump was planning a massive sting operation on the cabal, with mass arrests of thousands of cabal members to take place on a day known as the “Storm.” QAnon supporters have accused many Hollywood actors, Democratic politicians, and high-ranking government officials of being members of the cabal, with no evidence. QAnon has also claimed that Trump simulated the conspiracy of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election in order to enlist Robert Mueller to join him in exposing the sex trafficking ring, and preventing a coup d'état by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros.
For many Americans this ridiculous narrative is the controlling one for them. They believe it and they have even become estranged from their families and friends in defense of it.
The battle to control the narrative also goes on within the Christian church.
The “Ark Encounter” in northern Kentucky, uses a giant, “life size” model of what one man believes Noah’s ark must have looked like. You can walk through it if want. It’s all based on a literal interpretation of Genesis 6-9. If you shell out the money and take the tour you have to know, going in, who controls the narrative and how it is told.
The debate in the churches over homosexuality has nothing to do with homosexuality as such. It’s really about how we approach scripture and who controls how the narrative presented there will be interpreted.
How do Christians respond faithfully to this and other misguided efforts to control the narrative? How, when Christians disagree with the dominant culture or with each other, can we faithfully and responsibly take control of the narrative.
How to Control and Own the Narrative
1. Define the meaning of and take ownership of words. — In theological arguments notice how your adversary uses words and definitions. Conservatives refer to the Bible as “God’s Word” or “God’s Holy Word.” They define themselves as “evangelical.” But nowhere are those words and phrases given solely to conservatives to use as their own. Liberal Christians are allowed to use them and claim them as well.
Likewise, the word “liberal” used to mean “generous” and “broad-minded.” Politically, it means “a person who believes that government should be active in supporting social and political change.” Recently, however, conservatives have stolen the word from the hands of liberals and changed it’s meaning to something just short of “satanic.” Liberals surrendered and moved on to the word, “progressive.”
2. Speak first. — It is difficult to define the narrative when we are speaking from a defensive posture, defending ourselves and arguing that things aren’t really as the other side is describing them.
By speaking first, we take a step toward defining and controlling the narrative.
3. Be empathetic. — When one controls the narrative on any given subject, the temptation is always present to deprive the other individual of respect, social power, and the ability to define reality. Even though we are controlling the narrative, there is no reason why we can’t do so gently and kindly.
4. Be brief and to the point. — A long, rambling defense sounds, well, defensive. Make your point first and make it brief. Examples: Right to life generally controls the abortion narrative with two words: “Killing babies.” The Washington Post: “Democracy dies in darkness.” Subway: “Eat fresh!”
Things in our lives, especially important things tend to be attached to a narrative, a story that tells why they are important. By controlling the narrative, we control what is considered important and what isn’t.
Controlling the narrative is what evangelism is all about, after all. It’s about telling the story, our story, so the world hears it from those of us who live it, first.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:A humble approach to preaching on the 20th anniversary of 9/11
Scattered throughout this week’s lectionary texts are various understandings of how wisdom guides our response to the graciousness of God. For example, Proverbs offers the voice of wisdom crying out from the street corners of human despair while Isaiah calls believers to attune their ears as those who are being taught. Psalm 19 grounds human delight in the Torah, while James admonishes us on the dangers of speech. Each of these texts are reminders of the pains and tragedies that characterize not only human life, but Christ’s as well, as Mark 8:27-38 reminds. These texts also collide with the immense suffering of the pandemic, the fall of Afghanistan, intense natural disasters, as well as the 20th anniversary of 9/11. With that in mind, the preacher’s theological task is to see that the possibilities of living according to God’s wisdom. For example, it’s unthinkable to suggest God laughs at human calamity (Proverbs 1:26), but it is hopeful to trust that a life grounded in the wisdom of God provides security. (Proverbs 1:33). Approaching these texts with a sense of humble trust in God’s provision — perhaps especially during disasters — will help our congregations hear the wisdom God offers.
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Proverbs 1:20-33
The system was blinking red
Wisdom comes, Proverbs tells us, from the well-travelled streets of human life and the buckling pavements of existence. From the painful realities of these broken places comes the cry, “How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing, and fools hate knowledge?”
The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is a reminder of how the anguish of that day offers wisdom for our nation and world. Over the past two decades, a vast amount of literature has explored the terrain of that day and the subsequent war on terror. In an essay for the Washington Post, Carlos Lozado explores what sort of insights the United States has gleaned in the past twenty years.
“Reading or rereading a collection of such books today is like watching an old movie that feels more anguishing and frustrating than you remember,” Lozado observes. “The anguish comes from knowing how the tale will unfold; the frustration from realizing that this was hardly the only possible outcome.”
He cites the country’s relative indifference to the idea that an attack could happen on US soil as well as what he calls the “bloodlust” that emerged immediately afterward. Quoting former CIA director George Tenet’s testimony to the 911 Commission, Lozado says the intelligence system was “blinking red” at the time of the attacks, though few were paying attention. He quotes counter terrorism expert Richard Clark, “America, alas, seems only to respond well to disasters, to be undistracted by warnings,” he writes. “Our country seems unable to do all that must be done until there has been some awful calamity.”
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Psalm 19
The glory of God
Growing up in the smog-saturated basins of southern California offered me few options to delight in the sparkling spectacular of the sky on summer nights. Thankfully, our church provided a summer camping experience that lifted us out of Los Angeles and into the Sierra mountains. Twilight in the mountains filled the camp with the sort of ecstatic wonder Psalm 19 describes. Even campfire stories of monsters lurking in the depths of the campground lavatories or hunting the ever-elusive mysterious snipe seemed small compared to the canopy of God’s creation.
Decades later, the experience of delighting in creation struggles against the impacts of climate change. One in three Americans live in a county that has been impacted by a weather-related disaster in 2021. This year the country has suffered the repeated blows of extreme weather — floods, fires, heatwaves, hurricanes and more. More than 17 inches of rain fell on a single day in Tennessee in August, while flood waters unleashed from the remnants of hurricane Ida devastated portions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York a week ago. A study published in the journal Nature points out that this will be the new normal, with record-shattering heatwaves expected to occur seven times more than usual between now and 2050, and twenty times more likely after 2051.
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James 3:1-12
The great fires set by our tongues
While Martin Luther might have dismissed the Epistle of James as being a bit “strawy,” the letter’s common sense admonitions on Christian life and praxis seem to be timeless examples of what it means to embody the Gospel in everyday life.
For example, while many of us may have tried to vanquish bullies by reciting the age-old adage “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” the scientific truth is closer to James’ reminder that “no one can tame the tongue.” Some years ago, a study revealed that our brain’s pain matrix — the section of the brain that retains memories of painful experiences — gets activated when we hear pain-related words such as “plaguing,” “tormenting,” or “grueling.”
Also, researchers since the 1960s have examined how racial microaggressions promulgate racism. In the 1960s, researcher Charles M. Pierce defined “microaggressions” as the “automatic, preconscious, or unconscious” patterns of speech, put-downs, or reactions directed at Black persons from white people.
Microaggressions can be categorized in three ways: micro-assaults, micro-insults, and micro-invalidations. One example of micro-assaults is telling an Asian person that you believe they are responsible for Covid-19, or saying you are “just joking” when using a racially or culturally insensitive remark. An article on Healthline explains that saying something like “she’s not on her meds” today or “she’s crazy” is demeaning to persons with mental illness, while a micro-invalidation such as suggesting that a transgender person isn’t a “real” man or woman, or the commonly held myth that Black persons have thicker skin and therefore do not feel pain the way white persons do, cause lasting harm. Large infernos are ignited by seemingly “small” actions.
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From team member Mary Austin:Mark 8:27
Who Are You
“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks the disciples, understanding that identity can shift. When they shift their understanding of him, they also shift their understanding of themselves.
The same shift happened for students at a new school, when Molly Howard became their principal. “In 1995, Molly Howard, a long time special education teacher in Louisville, Georgia, watched as the new Jefferson County High School building was being built. “Every day I’d drive by the building, and I’d wonder, ‘Who’s gonna run that school?’ And it kept tugging at me, ‘Why don’t you apply?’” Howard said. She applied and got the job, but with the promotion came a very tough challenge. Eighty percent of the school’s students lived in poverty. Only 15 percent of students in the previous high school had continued on to college. “The kids you’d expect to be successful were successful,” said Howard. “But what about the other 85 percent?” Many teachers had a nearly defeatist attitude. “There was this belief that some children can and some children can’t.”
The students’ sense of identity was the key. “Howard believed that every student could aspire to go to college, so she abolished the school’s two-track system that had separated “college-bound” students from “vocational” students. In her school, everyone would share the college-bound identity. She beefed up assessments and tutorial programs. She matched students with teachers who’d be their “on-campus advisers” through all four years. Perhaps her most distinctive change, though, was to the grading system. Under her new system the only grades offered at Jefferson County High School were: A, B, C, and NY.”
NY: Not Yet. The student wasn’t finished yet. The teacher believed the student could learn the material. “In Howard’s view, the students at Jefferson had accepted a “culture of failure.” In a fixed-mindset way, they acted as though they were failures to the bone. Students often didn’t do their homework, or they turned in shoddy work. Getting a D or an F was an easy way out in a way. They might get a poor grade, but at least they would be done. In the new system, the students couldn’t stop until they’d cleared the bar. “We define up front to the kids what’s an A, B, and C,” said Howard. “If they do substandard work, the teacher will say, ‘Not Yet.’ … That gives them the mindset: My teacher thinks I can do better. It changes their expectations.”
When presented with the NY grade, one student looked up at the teacher and asked, “You mean I don’t have to be stupid?” From that day on, he saw himself differently, and worked hard to become a stellar student. (This story is from Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.)
Our identity — and Jesus’ — shapes who are become.
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Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom in the Hospital
“Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice,” Proverbs tells us, promising that wisdom is all around us, if we will listen to it. Barry Schwartz shows us places where wisdom is quietly doing her work, pointing to the work of hospital janitors. We can all imagine the job description, especially during Covid — mop, sweep, sanitize, repeat. He says, “all of the items on it are unremarkable... But the one thing I want you to notice about them is this: even though this is a very long list, there isn't a single thing on it that involves other human beings. Not one. The janitor's job could just as well be done in a mortuary as in a hospital. And yet, when some psychologists interviewed hospital janitors to get a sense of what they thought their jobs were like, they encountered Mike, who told them about how he stopped mopping the floor because Mr. Jones was out of his bed getting a little exercise, trying to build up his strength, walking slowly up and down the hall. And Charlene told them about how she ignored her supervisor's admonition and didn't vacuum the visitor's lounge because there were some family members who were there all day, every day who, at this moment, happened to be taking a nap. And then there was Luke, who washed the floor in a comatose young man's room twice because the man's father, who had been keeping a vigil for six months, didn't see Luke do it the first time, and his father was angry. And behavior like this from janitors, from technicians, from nurses and, if we're lucky now and then, from doctors, doesn't just make people feel a little better, it actually improves the quality of patient care and enables hospitals to run well.”
Schwartz adds, “When you ask the janitors who behaved like the ones I described how hard it is to learn to do their job, they tell you that it takes lots of experience. And they don't mean it takes lots of experience to learn how to mop floors and empty trash cans. It takes lots of experience to learn how to care for people….The good news is you don't need to be brilliant to be wise. The bad news is that without wisdom, brilliance isn't enough.”
For him, “A wise person is like a jazz musician — using the notes on the page, but dancing around them, inventing combinations that are appropriate for the situation and the people at hand. A wise person knows how to use these moral skills in the service of the right aims. To serve other people, not to manipulate other people. And finally, perhaps most important, a wise person is made, not born. Wisdom depends on experience.” Wisdom calls out to us, waiting for us to share in her gifts.
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Psalm 19
The Glory of God
“The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork,” the psalmist tells us. K. Lauren De Boer finds this immense glory in the smallness of the hummingbird. She begins by noticing. “A Broad-billed Hummingbird hangs for a few seconds, not three feet away. The brilliant sapphire gorget flashes for an instant, and then the tiny bird is gone in a shot, his raspy cry fading like a lost thought into the oaks. I close my eyes and try to feel the impact that the hundreds of hummingbirds I’ve seen over the past few days have had on my psyche. The swirl of their presence, their diminutive size, their radiant color, their adroit quickness, their bickering flurries, all seep into me, and finally well up into awed appreciation, just for their being in the world.”
The glory of God’s creating hand is revealed, and she adds, “The more deeply we sense the glory and absorb the multi-faceted story, the richer will be our experience, the more vivid will be our imagination, and the deeper will be our connection to the divine…Why should we care about the African elephant, the polar bear, or the Delta smelt? Because each being is a manifestation of the divine; and each is a one-time endowment of the evolutionary process. Once gone, they can never come again. When our breath is taken away by a 3,000 year old redwood or a seashore vista, the delicacy of a wildflower’s petal, or the burnt sienna of a salamander’s flesh in sunlight, we are the way in which universe revels in its splendor.”
Glory is all around us, when we set aside the busy-ness of the day to stop in awe.
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From team member Katy Stenta:Mark 8:27-38
Identity Gospel
“Why does everyone want to know what the gender is?” I remember my youngest sibling asked my mother when I was pregnant with my first child. She told the story to me when I held my eldest, Franklin, in my arms. We talked about how little we knew about this baby, and how everyone wanted to know the gender precisely because that was all we knew. The name, the weight, and the gender. Franklin Alexander 8 pounds 13 ounces, a boy. This question strikes me years later, because my youngest sibling, turns out is my youngest sister. Before she was born she didn’t present that way — we were wrong. We got all the details wrong, her name was wrong. Her gender was wrong. And her weight, well, who cares about a baby’s weight in the end anyway? As long as the baby is healthy that’s what truly matters right?
When Jesus says, who do people say that I am, it’s an interesting question of what people know about him. They know he is powerful, they know that he is Jewish. But few know that he is the Messiah. But they are learning. It’s a process. Just as it’s a process to get to know the baby that is being born — it’s a process to get to know Jesus. Who is Jesus to you today? How has that changed from 10 or 20 years ago? How might that change? What aspects don’t change?
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Mark 8:27-38
Take Up Your Cross
“Don’t help me I’m balanced.” My dad would always say when he huffed and puffed up the steps, his hands full of four to six bags of groceries. What does it mean to take up one’s cross and follow Jesus? Does it mean packing oneself up to the gills with what one can carry? Or is it leaving room in your hands to take a bag of groceries from someone else? If Jesus has lead the way before us, carving the path with his own carrying of the cross, does that make the way easier? This one sentence is so hard, because I want to take up my cross and follow, but all that I know for sure is that it means that I still bear some responsibility for my life. There is no letting Jesus “take the wheel” here. Instead there is only the faithful action to take my smaller burden, and trust that if God could take on the whole world, that I should have strength enough to take on my own and follow.
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James 3:1-12
No One Can Tame the Tongue
Social media is clearly not a new problem. Neither is misinformation, gossip or evil. When we tell lies, we unleash evil. Mistakes, James makes very clear, are different than evil. In an era where our drinking water is polluted, hurting our kids and our food and wildlife, the metaphor of brackish water rings true. How can we take care of our water supply, our well of information? Where do we nourish one another? How do we get to truth? And if we rely on God for our truth, how do we make sure that our water is not polluted like the waters of fracking, where it can be set on fire after it is ruined with the oils of mining for profit? Truth and clarity are old problems. Evil is an old problem. The line of hope is that from the same mouths come blessings, too. How do we work on blessings?
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Proverbs 1:20-33
Ignorance
My youngest kid has the gift of being able to ignore people. In my personal opinion, it comes from being the youngest in the family of five. When you are constantly surrounded by noise, you have to learn to block some of it out. However, it means that sometimes I cannot tell if he is not answering me because he has not heard me or because he is deliberately ignoring me. Either way, usually the end result is the same — tears. Because in the end ignorance is not bliss. The same is true for Wisdom here. She is saying just because you didn’t listen to what the consequences of your actions were going to be doesn’t change the facts. And, she, Wisdom, is not going to feel sorry for you when that happens. In fact, she will take delight when comeuppance takes place. Because here she is taking the time to share her knowledge, and it is not her fault that no one will listen. Willful ignorance will not end well, Wisdom is warning you. Are you listening?
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: The heavens are telling the glory of God.
All: The firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
One: The law of God is perfect, reviving the soul.
All: The decrees of God are sure, making wise the simple;
One: The precepts of God are right, rejoicing the heart.
All: The commandment of God is clear, enlightening the eyes;
OR
One: God calls us to come and learn wisdom from on high.
All: We seek God so that we may be filled with wisdom.
One: God offers us insight and vision to know God’s will.
All: We desire to know God’s will so that we can do it.
One: God is gracious and generous to all God’s children.
All: With God’s help we will share God’s wisdom and grace with all.
Hymns and Songs
All People That on Earth Do Dwell
UMH: 75
H82: 377/378
PH: 220/221
NNBH: 36
NCH: 7
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELW: 883
W&P: 66
AMEC: 73
STLT: 370
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
UMH: 89
H82: 376
PH: 464
AAHH: 120
NNBH: 40
NCH: 4
CH: 2
LBW: 551
ELW: 836
W&P: 59
AMEC: 75
STLT: 29
He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought
UMH: 128
AAHH: 142
NNBH: 235
CH: 545
LBW: 501
W&P: 499
AMEC: 395
Children of the Heavenly Father
UMH: 141
NCH: 487
LBW: 474
ELW: 781
W&P: 83
Pues Si Vivimos (When We Are Living)
UMH: 356
PH: 400
NCH: 499
CH: 536
ELW: 639
W&P: 415
Amazing Grace
UMH: 378
H82: 671
PH: 280
AAHH: 271/272
NNBH: 161/163
NCH: 547/548
CH: 546
LBW: 448
ELW: 779
W&P: 422
AMEC: 226
STLT: 205/206
Renew: 189
O Jesus, I Have Promised
UMH: 396
H82: 655
PH: 388/389
NCH: 493
CH: 612
LBW: 503
ELW: 810
W&P: 458
AMEC: 280
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
Lord, Speak to Me
UMH: 463
PH: 426
NCH: 531
ELW: 676
W&P: 593
Holy, Holy
CCB: 10
Renew: 206
How Majestic Is Your Name
CCB: 21
Renew: 98
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
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
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 sees the truth in all situations:
Grant us your vision so that we may also
see clearly through our own biases;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the one who see rightly. You know what is the truth in all situations. Help us to set aside our biases so that we see clearly, as well. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our tendency to judge things only from our own perspective.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us to be like you and yet instead of looking for the truth we are more likely to look at what makes things look better for us. We are quick to spot the flaws in others while seeing our own good intentions. We assume that the way we perceive things is the actual way things are and other viewpoints must be wrong. Forgive our arrogance and lack of charity. Renew your image within us so that we may truly reflect your image. Amen.
One: God does see us as we are and loves us completely. Receive the loving grace of God and share that grace with others.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God, because you are Wisdom. You know all things in heaven and on earth. You are the Truth.
(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. You have created us to be lick you and yet instead of looking for the truth we are more likely to look at what makes things look better for us. We are quick to spot the flaws in others while seeing our own good intentions. We assume that the way we perceive things is the actual way things are and other viewpoints must be wrong. Forgive our arrogance and lack of charity. Renew your image within us so that we may truly reflect your image.
We thank you for all the ways in which you show your love for your creation. You endow us with your Spirit and the universe is full of your beauty. You offer us your vision so that we may see clearly what you are calling us to do. Your gracious mercy is all around us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We are aware of many who are in need of your presence and your wholeness. We count ourselves among them. As you move among us seeking our good, help us to join your work in caring for others. Make us sensitive to the needs of others so that we may reach out in love to them.
(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 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 SERMONWhat’s In A Name?
by Tom Willadsen
Mark 8:27-38
The story when Peter recognizes Jesus as the Christ/Anointed One/Messiah lacks a significant detail in Mark’s recounting of it. I suggest you use Matthew’s account for the Children’s Time, because it contains these verses
Jesus replied,“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this wasnot revealed to you by flesh and blood,but by my Father in heaven.And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church (Matthew 16:17-18a, NIV).
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After the kids gather at the front of the sanctuary, ask them what their names are. Start by saying your whole name, in my case Thomas Carl Willadsen.
Next, ask whether everyone calls them by that name.
There’s a good chance that one of them will say they only get called by their complete name, as it appears on their birth certificate, when they’re in trouble. That was the case with a lot of kids in my generation.
See if you can get them to identify a nickname or pet name that their parents our grandparents use for them.
If you have an example that was used when you were a child, or that you have used for your children, you might want to mention it. Both my sons were “Daddy’s Little Chili Bean” when they were little.
You might want to also ask the kids what they call their parents, and do they always use the same name? When my sons wanted something they called me “Honorable Father;” the rest of the time I was “Dad.”
Where you want to lead the kids is to see that people go by different names in different contexts. Another example is when you were ordained you got to put “The Reverend” in front of your name. That indicated that you were different.
Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, which mean “Rock.” Some might think of Peter as “Rocky.” What are the qualities of rock? What do you think of when you think of rocks? (In some ways Simon/Peter was about as smart as a rock, but that’s a point to make another time!)
Simon getting a new name showed that he had changed, that Jesus recognized that change in Simon’s recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah. It isn’t just Simon who changed, the whole trajectory of the synoptic gospels changed when Peter call Jesus “the Christ.” (You don’t want to say “trajectory of synoptic gospels” in a children’s time; save the seminary words for the grownups, but you get the idea.)
Conclude with a prayer like this:
Living God, we thank you that you are alive, and we are alive, always moving, growing and changing. Thank you for moments when we see that your love and presence make us brand new people, with new identities, your children, alive, here on earth. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, September 12, 2021 issue.
Copyright 2021 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.
