Immediate Word

For October 29, 2023:

• Dare We Hope for Peace? by Tom Willadsen based on Deuteronomy 34:1-12, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Matthew 22:34-46, Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17.
• Second Thoughts: Our Failing Eyes by Chris Keating. Moses’ long-look at the Promised Land, coupled with Jesus’ instructions on the greatest commandment, offer us God’s cure for our theological near-sightedness.
• Sermon illustrations by Dean Feldmeyer, Mary Austin, Elena Delhagen.
• Worship resources by George Reed.
• Children’s Sermon: The Rule of Love by Katy Stenta based on Matthew 22:34-46.

Dare We Hope for Peace?
by Thomas Willadsen
Deuteronomy 34:1-12, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, Matthew 22:34-46, Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live — a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

So ends Dr. King’s last speech, at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ, Memphis, Tennessee, April 3, 1968. Like Moses, King had seen the Promised Land, but would not cross over to it.

As a new (renewed?) war takes place between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, and threatens to erupt into a wider, perhaps, global conflict, can we ascend the mountain and begin to imagine a promised land? Dr. King found hope, even in the midst of a bitter strike, the night before he was assassinated. Where is our hope in this moment? Can we even dare to hope for peace, for shalom?

In the Scriptures
Psalm 90:1-6
The familiar, beloved hymn, “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” is based on Psalm 90. These are words of great comfort in perilous times: “Our shelter from the story blast, and our eternal home.” Americans sought the solace of this hymn in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and we can again in this moment as hostility increases in the Middle East.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
This is likely the oldest writing in the New Testament. Paul had visited Thessalonica and founded a church there after having suffered in Philippi. He reminds the Thessalonians that, unlike other itinerant preachers and philosophers, he was not a financial burden to them, paying his own expenses as he shared the good news of Christ with them. He reminds them of his gentleness with them, as that of a wet nurse caring for an infant. His concern and affection for this fledgling church leaps from these pages. Timothy probably delivered this letter to them, after reporting to Paul how they were doing. One of the Thessalonians’ great concerns, the fate of those who died after having accepted Christ as their savior, before his return, Paul addresses in chapter four of this letter. It is a message of hope.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Tradition has it that Moses wrote the Torah, the first five book of what some call the Old Testament. The question is “How did Moses write after he had died?” Scholars have suggested a few possibilities:

Perhaps Joshue picked up the stylus and started writing at verse 6;
Perhaps Moses wrote those words with tears in his eyes.

Moses died at 120 years of age. He spent his final 40 years leading the Israelites to the brink of the Promised Land. He was 80 when the journey started, an advanced age for a career change! He was in perfect health. The Hebrew word לחה , rendered in the NRSV as “vigor” appears only here. Its root means “moist;” it appears that Moses had undiminished sexual capacity and 20/20 vision when he died.

While the text seems to present that Moses was able to see the entire range of the Land the Lord had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, there is no such place from which one person, even with 20/20 vision, could see every place mentioned in vv. 1-3. Taken figuratively, one can imagine the Lord taking Moses to the balcony so Moses could see the full extent of the party going on below. This text, and others, are used by some people today, especially evangelical Christians, to argue that the modern nation of Israel must occupy this entire area described as the Promised Land before Christ will return. The equation of biblical Israel with modern Israel is an extraordinarily dangerous and misguided belief, in my opinion.

Matthew 22:34-46
Remember today’s gospel passage comes on the heels of Jesus having cleansed the Temple, on what Christians know as Palm Sunday. Today’s passage is in two parts, the first part is a question that the Pharisees ask Jesus, “Which is the greatest commandment?” Jesus gives a dual answer. The first part of his response is based on The Shema, the central credal statement of Judaism, Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” (NRSVUE). The second part is based on Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees as one who shares their sacred texts. This is an argument of Jews with Jews. Jesus did not introduce a new idea — he merely put two Torah texts together, as some of his contemporaries had already done.

The second part of this reading, the conclusion of his conversation with the Pharisees and Sadducees, is Jesus raising a question to them. I confess that I cannot follow the pretzel logic of Jesus’ response to their response to his question. He cites Psalm 110:1 (NRSVUE):

The Lord says to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

This is the Hebrew scripture text used most often by the writers of the New Testament to affirm the exaltation and enthronement of Jesus.

In the News
It’s always a challenge to anticipate what the most pressing news story will be a week from now. I am confident that there will still be the threat of war, if not open conflict between Israel and Hamas by the time you preach on Sunday, October 29h. Perhaps the conflict will expand to northern Israel and Lebanon. Will the House of Representatives have elected a Speaker by then? Will they have voted on the aid package for humanitarian relief and military support for Israel and Ukraine that President Biden sent them October 29th by then? Will they even be able to take any legislative action at all, or will the Republican House members still be divided, the result of a completely novel form of grid lock?

By October 29th, unless rain interferes, the first two games of the World Series will have been played, pitting the Texas State Champion against the Senior Circuit’s representative.

In the Sermon
Hope. The antidote to depression and fear is hope. Emily Dickinson called it “the thing with feathers.” People need hope. People need to believe that hope endures. Moses and King stood on mountains and looked ahead and knew hope.

Hope does not prefer life’s “stormy blasts,” but is most needed and welcomed when we find ourselves surrounded by them.

Hope gives us the courage to live our faith, caring for neighbors as we care for ourselves. Putting our faith in the living God enables us to live with courage because the root of our hope is not ourselves, but the one in whom we live and move and have our being.

Our people need hope this week. Our texts remind us of hope’s resilience and tenacity. Hope tenaciously.


SECOND THOUGHTS
Our Failing Eyes
by Chris Keating
Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Matthew 22:34-46

Somewhere around age nine, my teachers noticed I was squinting a lot when looking at the chalk board. A quick test confirmed my nearsightedness. How was I supposed to know that you were supposed to be able to see long distance? When asked what I was seeing, my response sounded a bit like the blind man who is partially healed by Jesus in Mark. I could see people walking, but sometimes they looked like trees.

Myopia runs in some families. It races full throttle in mine.  By the time I was in third grade, my teachers saw me squinting at the board and holding books close to my face. I became the last to get glasses in my family and was soon making twice yearly trips to the ophthalmologist. There’s nothing like entering the awkward phases of childhood with thick lenses attached to your face.

True story: The first time my father tried to enlist in the army during World War II, he was rejected because of his nearsightedness. Instead of being defeated, Dad memorized the Snellen eye chart (E, F, P, T, O, Z, etc.). Two factors thus converged: Dad’s sight miraculously improved, while the Army admitted its inability to see the war ending anytime soon.

Across the world, nearsightedness is rising, especially among children. The World Health Organization now predicts that half of the world’s population will be near-sighted by the year 2050. This is by no means a benign side effect of contemporary living, since at least one-fifth of the population will be at risk of blindness due to severe complications of myopia. In parts of East and Southeast Asia, approximately 80 to 90 percent of children 12 and under are already diagnosed with nearsightedness. Equally troubling are indications that eye illnesses often related to nearsightedness such as glaucoma and conditions like detached retinas are also increasing.

Interestingly, about the time I was diagnosed in the early 1970s, only around 25 percent of the American population was nearsighted. Today that number has increased to more than 40 percent. Studies suggest that children who spend more time indoors and in front of screens are more at risk of developing near-sightedness than their peers who spend more time outside. There’s no clear understanding of what this is true, but it does make one think of Moses being led to the mountains and shown the Promised Land. We’re told that Moses’ “sight was unimpaired, and his vigor had not yet abated.” (Deuteronomy 34:7).

That could be a snappy inscription for a birthday card — “May Your Vigor Be Unabated!”  For Moses, however, it was something much more dreadful. The impact of their nearsighted faithlessness results in God prohibiting Moses from entering the promised land. He could look, but for whatever reason, he could not enter. He can see, but only from a great distance.

But his eyes do not fail him. Though he will not enter the land, he can see the promise of God with his own eyes.

The Book of Numbers, chapter 20, suggests that one reason God keeps Moses crossing into the Promised Land was his failure to inculcate belief that the Lord would provide for Israel. Thirsty and panicking, the people are quarreling with God in the wilderness near Meribah. Their actions become short-sighted, a refusal to trust in the liberating promises of God.

Their behavior infuriates the Lord. “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites,” the Lord tells Moses, “therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” Their short-sightedness leads to the prohibition of Moses from completing his life’s work. No matter how frustrating this may seem, Moses is satisfied by the promises of God. He remains the only one who has glimpsed the fleeting glory of God’s presence up close. His vision remains unabated and is faithful to the end of his life.

The Deuteronomy text, as the alternative reading, may not be thematically linked to Matthew 22:34-46, but perhaps the lectionary editors foresaw something we often miss. Note how the trajectory of theological near-sightedness leaps across both of these scriptures. In Deuteronomy, it is Moses’ far-sightedness that prepares him to faithfully trust God’s leading even at the moment of death. In Matthew, Jesus points out that the theological myopia of his opponents is  preventing them from seeing the promised vision of God.

In Matthew, Jesus’ opponents have been trying to lure him into a dogmatic trap. So far, Jesus has out maneuvered them at every turn. Their two prior attempts have included unlikely alliances with the Herodians and Sadducees, something about as likely as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jim Jordan working on legislation together. The results so far have been a miserable failure.

This time, the Pharisees place a call to the bullpen and haul in a fresh-faced litigator to take up the cause. The lawyer is their ace — a real Johnny Cochran, Marcia Clark, Leslie Abramson, and Clarence Darrow all rolled into one. He may bill at $4,000 an hour, but he’ll be worth it if he can get Jesus on the hook. The lawyer approaches Jesus and asks him a single question: “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

Nice try, counselor. It’s a longshot, but perhaps the lawyer figures that by isolating one commandment above the rest, Jesus could be charged with heresy. Once again, however, Jesus’ opponent falls prey to the limits of his own myopia. He’s unable to take the long view and looks at things from God’s perspective.

By connecting love for God with love for the neighbor, Jesus offers us the eyeglasses of faith, which offer unimpaired visual acuity. He refracts our vision through the prism of God’s unlimited grace. He upholds all the commandments, as any Pharisees would yearn to do. But more than that, he demonstrates that only seeing things from our own perspective is a form of myopia that never leads into the Kingdom of God. It is only by loving God, and loving the neighbors whom God has given us, that we can fully see the Kingdom’s presence in our midst.

When asked, “Which is better, number one or number two?” Jesus responds by saying they’re both what is needed.



ILLUSTRATIONS

From team member Dean Feldmeyer:

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Epitaphs
The Old Testament lesson tells us of the final day in the life of Moses. He saw the Promised Land, from a distance, and then died and was buried in a secret place near Moab. Several lines in the passage would probably have worked as his epitaph: “He was 120 years old and…his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated,” or “Never has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”

Here are some epitaphs of other famous people:

• Rock star, Jim Morrison: “Truth to your own spirit.”
• Baseball great, Joe DiMaggio: “Grace, dignity and elegance personified.”
• Comedians, Gracie Allen and George Burns: “Together again.”
• Poet, Robert Frost: “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.”
• Acerbic actress, Bette Davis: “She did it the hard way.”
• Statesman, Winston Churchill: “I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”
• Alexander the Great: “A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough.”
• Singer/Songwriter, Dee Dee Ramone: “OK…I gotta go now.”
• Playwright, George Bernard Shaw: “I knew if I waited around long enough something like this would happen.”
• Comedian, Spike Milligan: “I told you I was ill.”
• Talk show host and game show creator, Merv Griffin: “I will not be right back after this message.”
• Voice of Bugs Bunny & Porky Pig, Mel Blanc: “That’s all, folks.”

* * *

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
How Did Moses Die?
At the beginning of the Exodus story, when Moses is confronted by YHWH speaking through the burning bush, Moses asks to see YHWH’s face but is told that this is not possible as seeing the face of YHWH is such an overwhelming experience that the experience would bring about their death.

God offers a compromise, however. He places Moses in a crevice or crack in the rock and covers him with God’s hand as God passes by. Then YHWH removes the divine hand and Moses sees God’s back moving away.

But in today’s reading it clearly says that, after seeing the Promised Land, “Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command.” A few lines later the text describes Moses as he “whom the Lord knew face to face.”

Is it saying that Moses was finally allowed to see the face of God and that was the cause of his death?

* * *

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
Give Me Patience, Right Now
The psalmist is growing impatient. They know that God is capable of lifting Israel out of its misery and will do so someday but why not soon, why not now?

In March of 2006, the Associated Press and Ipsos surveyed 1,003 adults concerning Americans’ attitudes and behavior regarding impatience. Some of the findings included:

• While waiting in line at an office or store, it takes an average of 17 minutes for most people to lose their patience.
• On the phone, it takes about 9 minutes for most people to lose their patience.
• Women lost their patience after waiting in line for about 18 minutes. For men, it was an average of 15 minutes.
• People with lower income and less education are more patient than those with a college education and a high income.

God works in ways we don’t often understand. Why does our spiritual growth take so long? What is God doing in my life? Why isn’t he doing more in me?

* * *

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
10 Laws of Impatience
Dr. Jim Stone, writing in the Nov. 19, 2014, edition of Psychology Today, offers these 10 laws of patience that can help us use our natural inclination toward impatience to our advantage:

1. Impatience is not a lack of patience. Impatience is a very particular mental and physical process that gets triggered under specific circumstances, and that motivates specific kinds of decisive action. "Patience" signifies a lack of impatience. The patient person simply wasn’t triggered to impatience when others normally would have been, or she found a way to overcome the impatience that did arise.

2. Impatience is triggered when we have a goal, and realize it’s going to cost us more than we thought to reach it.

3. Impatience motivates us to reduce the costs of reaching our goal, or to switch goals.

4. Impatience and indignation are a potent combination. When we become indignant and impatient because the line isn’t moving fast enough, or the story is taking too long to tell, we can make irrational decisions that end up costing us more than we thought they would.

5. We're more likely to feel impatience when we have more options.

6. Impatience can cost us. An impatient highway lane change can cause a deadly accident. Blurting out your feelings before you’ve thought things through can bring a premature end to a good relationship. And switching away from projects every time they get difficult can leave you with nothing accomplished

7. On the other hand, impatience can benefit us. When hunter-gatherers spent two days pursuing game and found nothing, it was good to grow impatient. It was good to consider the possibility that another food-acquisition strategy (gathering) might be better at that point.

* * *

Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
How to Handle Impatience
In the same article, cited above, Dr. Stone offers these 10 questions to ask ourselves before we allow our impatience to lead us into an action we may later regret.

• What is my goal?
• What did I think it was going to cost to reach this goal?
• What are the additional costs I’m now aware of?
• Am I blaming others for these extra costs?
• Is it truly their fault?
• Is it worth taking on even more costs just to teach them a lesson?
• Do I have too many options?
• Should I find a way to limit my exposure to new options?
• Are there ways to reduce the costs of reaching this goal?
• Is it time to abandon this goal?

Knowledge is power. Knowing how impatience works gives us the power to better strike the balance, so we can stay the course when it makes sense, and change course when that makes sense.

* * *

1 Thessalonans 2:1-8
God or Mammon?
Paul recounts to the Thessalonian church that he came to them in good faith, offering only the gospel and himself and expecting nothing in return. Televangelists, on the other hand…

Here, according to Beliefnet.com, are the five richest Christian ministers in the United States, making us wonder if they somehow didn’t get the memo from Jesus that, "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money" (Luke 16:13-31).

Kenneth Copeland: Net Worth $760 Million

Benny Hinn: Net Worth $42 Million

Joel Osteen: Net Worth $40 Million

Creflo Dollar: Net Worth $27 Million

Joyce Meyer: Net Worth $8 Million

(When this article was originally published, Pat Robertson, who died in June of 2023, was worth about $100 million, making him number two of nine, and Billy Graham, who died in February 2018, was worth about $25 million, making him number six.)

* * *

1 Thessalonans 2:1-8
Praise or Flattery?
Paul also points out to the Thessalonians that he did not come to them with flattery in order to manipulate them into doing what he wanted.

Unlike honest praise, flattery is a form of false praise that is used to manipulate vulnerable people.

In the short-lived television program, “Life,” Damien Lewis plays police detective Charlie Crews who was wrongly convicted of a crime and imprisoned for 12 years. As the series unfolds, we learn that his prison experience has given him a “Zen-like perspective that he uses to analyze cases and personal issues.” He also has a friend, Ted Earley, played by Adam Arkin, an accountant convicted of embezzlement and his cell mate in prison. The two of them made it through their prison stays by helping each other.

In one scene a very attractive young woman appears to have found Ted attractive in spite of his gray hair and paunch. They have a couple of drinks and flirt with each other and she says that she’s always attracted to older men who “know things.” Ted seems flattered and just as we think they are about to depart for her room, he stops and says, “Yeah, I’m older and I do know some things. And one of the things I know is that I’m not that handsome or that funny. So, what do you really want?”

She breaks down and admits that she is being paid to stall him while someone searches his room.

* * *

Matthew 22:34-46
The Greatest Commandment(s)
When asked which commandment is the greatest, Jesus answers “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind.” Biblical scholars tell us that the heart was the center of willing, choosing. The soul was the center of being or being itself. And the mind was the center of thinking, knowing, and doing.

We might paraphrase it even further by saying that the commandment is to love God in all of our knowing, all of our being, and all of our doing. Rather trinitarian, wouldn’t you say?

But then Jesus takes it a step further. The second greatest commandment is “like unto” or “just like” it. In other words, they go hand in hand; they are inseparable. The second is that we are to love our neighbor as ourself, that is, we are to care as much about the welfare of our neighbor as we do about our own.

* * *

Matthew 22:34-46
Your Neighbor as Yourself
Catherine Booth was known as the "mother" of the Salvation Army. "Wherever Catherine Booth went," said evangelist and author Campbell Morgan, "humanity went to hear her. Princes and peeresses merged with paupers and prostitutes."

One time Morgan spoke at a meeting with Mrs. Booth and a great crowd of "publicans and sinners" was there. Her message brought many to Christ. After the meeting, Morgan and Mrs. Booth were invited to the fine home of a wealthy Christian family. After the meal, the lady of the manor sighed and said, "My dear Mrs. Booth, that meeting was dreadful."

"Whatever do you mean, dear?" asked Mrs. Booth.

"Oh, when you were speaking, I was looking at those people opposite to me. Their faces were so terrible, many of them. I don't think I shall sleep tonight!"

"Why, dearie, don't you know them?" Mrs. Booth asked; and the hostess replied, "Certainly not!"

"Well, that is interesting," Mrs. Booth said. "I did not bring them with me from London; they are your neighbors!"


* * * * * *

From team member Mary Austin:

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Promised Land, With Issues
In his new memoir, Esau McCaulley writes about leaving Huntsville, AL and his Black neighborhood for college at Sewanee, the University of the South. College had been the goal for so long that it seemed like one version of the promised land. He writes, "In Huntsville, Blackness had been so normal that I didn’t realize the full impact of living in a Black world until I arrived at Sewanee. I had spent time in the white part of Huntsville, but only as a visitor; it had never been home. There was no “white part” of Sewanee. It encompassed the whole of the campus and the surrounding community. The coach who recruited me had boasted about the school’s academic rankings. “By the time you graduate,” he’d said, “your brain will be worth almost a quarter of a million dollars.” Impressed with that figure, I had not considered the cost of the cultural shift.

"I had been assigned a room on the second floor. As I made my way upstairs, the sticky summer heat seemed to follow me, and I noticed that a few doors had been left open by students hoping to catch a breeze; there was no air-conditioning. Balancing a box in my arms, I glanced into a couple of rooms as I passed, then stopped transfixed at a room where a Confederate flag hung from a large section of blank wall. Few images are lodged as deeply in the Black imagination as that blue-and-white X with thirteen stars inside it. Seeing that flag in a place I viewed as an entryway to the land of opportunity caused my body to go stiff and my heart to race. Up to that point, the only Confederate flags I’d seen had been the ones waving from the backs of pickup trucks on Alabama roadways, indicating that I’d taken a wrong turn. This one seemed to suggest the same thing here."

In this version of the promised land, there are substantial challenges that he hadn’t anticipated. (How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South)

* * *

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Seeing the Future
What does Moses see as he looks over into the promised land? Does he have a vision of God’s people in the future? Seeing an image of the future is a valuable skill. Futurist and game designer Jane McGonigal says that "people who suffer from depression tend to imagine their future with only the vaguest of details. For them, a positive future is hard to imagine because their brain leaves too many of the mental blanks unfilled. For this reason, they can’t vividly anticipate pleasure. They don’t feel motivated by possible positive events. And they can’t convincingly envision their future as being different from today."

On the other hand, she says, "individuals with anxiety tend to have the opposite problem. Their brain gets stuck thinking about possible negative future events in extremely vivid detail. They simulate, mentally, in highly convincing ways all the futures that scare them — no blank left unfilled.”

The secret is Episodic Future Thinking, where we think about our deepest values, and then imagine a future where we get there. “Studies show that people with depression can use EFT to train their imagination to construct highly detailed scenes instead of vague ones, and choose to fill them with positive possibilities that really feel plausible. This significantly reduces symptoms of depression. Meanwhile, people with anxiety can train their imagination to always remember their positive motivations — the deepest values that drive them to move forward, bravely, even when there is risk of a negative outcome.” (from Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things That Seem Impossible Today by Jane McGonigal)

* * *

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
God at the Edge
God and Moses have met many times since the people left Egypt and enslavement behind. This is their last, poignant meeting, on the edge of the promised land.

Pastor and writer John Claypool insists that the edge is where God shows up most fully. This happens for Moses, and we can count on it for ourselves. God is an Ingenious Alchemist, for Claypool, bringing something to life out of nothing. God arrives when our resources run out, and Claypool writes, "I contend that this is the way the Ingenious Alchemist responds continually to folk as they move out of their circle of freedom. The loveliest truth I know is that God lives at the end of our ropes. The medieval mystics were fond of saying that our situations of extremities are often God’s opportunities." From God the Ingenious Alchemist: Transforming Tragedy Into Blessing) When Moses has nothing left to do for God, God is there in presence and strength.

* * *

Matthew 22:34-46
Lessons in Love
“Love the Lord your God,” Jesus instructs, and we learn that love in certain ways according to Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso. She says, “all children by the time they are age five have a conception of God, whether or not we’ve talked about God to them as parents. And we also know that children ask these really large questions. And there seems to be an innate spirituality, a great sense of wonder, spontaneity, imagination and creativity, and a connection to something larger than themselves. What children seem to lack is a language to give expression to that sense of something deeper. And I think, as parents, our responsibility is to provide them with a language, an opportunity to have a conversation about these matters that they care very deeply about. Because I think what happens is, if we don’t provide the language and if we don’t encourage the conversation, then children stop asking. If you don’t exercise your muscles, they atrophy. If you don’t exercise your soul, I think your soul atrophies as well."

"The earliest spiritual experiences that children have often come through routine and ritual that are repeated over and over again. And often when I speak to children and I ask them when do they feel the presence of God, or if they could point to a particular experience, they often speak of rituals or moments where they felt very close to their parents and it helped them give expression to what they were feeling."

We learn to love God by doing it.

* * *

Matthew 22:34-46
Love Your Neighbor
Following Jesus’ commandment, we need concrete ways to love our neighbor, and Good Neighbor Day hopes to fill in the gaps. Melody Warnick lifts up the example of David Burton, who coordinates Good Neighbor efforts in Missouri. He calls being a good neighbor "the ministry of being available." Melody Warnick had to think about her own lack of concrete love for her neighbor, and she says, “That hit me so hard, in a season where I haven't had a conversation with my 95-year-old next-door neighbor June for months because of dumb stuff like having a full-time job. "You have to be intentional," David said. "You have to make choices." He told me a story about the grumpy neighbor who scolded David's wife when their dog peed on the telephone pole in his yard. David's wife had just been diagnosed with cancer, and when she came back to the house crying David was livid. But he fought the urge to chew out the neighbor and instead asked to have coffee with him. They talked for three hours, during which David learned his grumpy neighbor was a four-time Purple Heart recipient in Vietnam, a trout fisherman, and an all-around amazing guy. "I mean, it took a little bit of my Saturday, true, but it has paid long dividends over many years since I had that initial conversation," David said. "And it's given me a real appreciation for him and for my other neighbors as well."

Loving our neighbor can happen in bite-sized pieces.

* * *

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Dealing With Disappointment
As Paul writes to the church, he’s integrating his experiences into the message that he has for them. One of Paul’s gifts is to see all of the challenges and setbacks of his ministry as part of his work for God.

The late Rabbi Harold Kushner notes that this is the great challenge of adulthood for all of us. He writes, “Perhaps failure and disappointment can teach us that we may fail at one thing, we may fail at several things, but that does not mean that we are failures as people. The worth of a person's soul is not measured by the size of his or her bank account or the volume of the applause a person evokes, but by one's humanity, by one's compassion, even by the courage to keep on dreaming amid the broken pieces of our earlier dreams. True success consists not in becoming the person you dreamed of being when you were young, but in becoming the person you were meant to be, the person you are capable of being when you are at your best.” (Overcoming Life's Disappointments.)

Paul has mastered this elegantly, as he shows us in this letter.


* * * * * *

From team member Elena Delhagan:

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
A Living Land
There’s a longstanding maxim amongst Christians that the Holy Land is likened to the fifth gospel, As Christians, we read the gospels to understand who the person of Jesus was and the implications of his life and ministry for our faith today. We are able to do so because our Scriptures are the living and active Word of God (Heb. 4:12). However, that picture is somewhat incomplete because it does not fully portray the geography, history, theology, politics, religious tensions, and social milieu of the land in which Christ himself lived — the very land that Moses laid eyes on in this passage from Deuteronomy.

If you have never been to the Holy Land before, I strongly urge you to go. The place seems to have a persona of its own, one rich with history and memory that is intensely palpable. The land seems to remember its ancient identity; I experienced an almost-tangible sense of life and sanctity in every place I traveled. This perceptible identity helped instill a sense of reverence in me for every rock I touched, every hill I climbed, and every place I visited. Perhaps one of my most meaningful experiences of the trip was when we went to the Western Wall. It was one of the greatest privileges of my life to be able to pray alongside my Jewish sisters with my hands on such a holy site, yet it also filled me with a profound sense of sadness. The sense of loss was heavy in the air as I considered what it must feel like to be a Jew with only a slab of rock left of your most holy place, how much longing for restoration of the Temple is wrapped up in the prayers of the Jews at the wall. I considered how, as a Christian, I too ache with longing for the restoration that Christ’s second coming will bring. This brought me to reflect upon the land, which for centuries has been pulled apart, argued over, changed hands, and been violated with boundary lines, walls, missiles, and bombs. I considered how the very land itself is longing for restoration as well, longing to be made whole and experience the fullness of shalom once more. The land, just as the people who live in it, aches with the prophetic longing for justice, righteousness, compassion, and peace — especially in today’s dark times.

Of course, Moses knew none of this when God allowed him to gaze up the whole land before he died. He only saw a glimpse of the promise before dying in peace. It strikes me that peace is the very thing the Holy Land is aching for today.

* * *

Deuteronomy 34:1-12
A Liturgy for Moses
Judaism holds that the greatest prophet to ever have been alive was Moses, for saw God face-to-face; we ourselves read this in verse 10 of this Deuteronomic passage. Midrashic tradition holds that it was God own self who buried Moses, taking his life gently and peacefully with a single kiss — an act of pure love for God’s dear friend. Joshua, then, was instructed to complete the Torah as a way to spare Moses the pain of having to write of his own impending death. Ethan Schwartz, Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible at Villanova University, writes in his essay, “This Is the Land,” that every time he reads these passages aloud and thinks of the Rabbinic interpretation, he weeps. “I weep,” he says, “for Moses, who did not get to see the fruit of his life’s work—and I weep for God, who had to say goodbye to the only human being who ever truly knew him.”

On the 13th of October, not yet a week after the world was awakened to rumors of war and terrorism in the very land Moses viewed in his final moments, Professor Schwartz wrote of reimagining this final scene between Moses and God:

Perhaps, just before God shoveled the final heaps of dirt over Moses’s humble grave, just before he completed that chesed shel emet, he bent down and gave his old friend one last kiss, a gentle kiss on his lifeless forehead, and whispered:

“Oh Moishele, you thought that when I didn’t let you enter the land with everyone else, I was punishing you. Sweet Moishele, don’t you see? I was sparing you. That land that I’m giving them flows with milk and honey, yes—but also with blood. Its air makes people wise, yes—but also drives them mad. It contains nine of the world’s ten measures of beauty, yes—but also nine of the world’s ten measures of sorrow. When I condemned the scouts that you dispatched, I did it because they told the truth, because they revealed My great secret: the land really is, just as they said, a land that swallows its inhabitants—for it is a land whose inhabitants swallow each other. Oh Moishele, I know that you regretted that you never got the chance to finish your beautiful Torah. Please, don’t worry—I asked My servant Joshua to finish it for you. He wrote that there will never arise another like you! Sweet, sweet Moishele, it’s true: among all the myriads crossing into that land, and among all the myriads of their descendants, there will never arise another who will know the rest and the peace that you will know here, in this place that no one will ever find, that no one will ever deem holy, and that no one will ever call home.”

* * *

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Even While Shaking
In this passage, the apostle Paul recounts his ministry in Thessalonica, focusing at multiple points in these eight verses about the message of the gospel that he and his co-laborers declared to the community there. In verse 2, he notes there was “great opposition” to the message there but, because of the courage God gave him, Paul continued on.

I am considering all the different ways that speaking up about something you’re passionate about requires courage. There’s a well-known saying attributed to author Maggie Kuhn that goes, “Speak the truth — even if your voice shakes.” As the war in the Holy Land wages on, I am thinking of the international protests we’re seeing from those calling for a ceasefire and, in some cases, for the end of Israeli occupation in Palestine. In Washington, D.C. on October 18, hundreds of protesters descended on Capitol Hill in an effort organized by the group Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish movement, to demand a ceasefire. Approximately 300 were arrested for demonstrating inside a congressional building. I cannot help but think of famous dissents by figures like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dietrich Bonhoeffer who remind us that, sometimes, we must speak truth, even if we do it while shaking.

* * *

Matthew 22:34-46
Loving Ourselves
Christianity does a pretty good job of reminding us that we ought to love our neighbors (though whether or not it always follows its own advice is a story for a different day…). What’s often missing, however, is the reminder that we are to love our neighbor in the same way we love ourselves. Henri Nouwen reminds us that we cannot be in loving community or friendship with others unless we first are in a loving relationship with our selves. Do we love ourselves? Statistics estimate that approximately 85% of people worldwide (that includes adolescents and adults) suffer from low self-esteem. That is an alarming statistic. How do we think can possibly love our neighbors when we can’t show ourselves the same kindness?
* * * * * *

WORSHIP
by George Reed

Call to Worship
One: God, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
All: From everlasting to everlasting you are God.
One: A thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past.
All: Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.
One: Let the favor of our God be upon us.
All: O prosper the work of our hands!

OR

One: Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked.
All: Happy are they who do not take the path that sinners tread.
One: Happy are they whose delight is in the law of our God.
All: Happy are they who meditate on God’s law day and night.
One: They are like trees planted by streams of water.
All: They yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither.

OR

One: The God who sees all comes to gives us new sight.
All: Open our eyes, O God, that we may see as you see.
One: God comes to share hope with us in our times of trouble.
All: We need hope so that we may continue God’s work.
One: God comes to share vision and hope with the world through us.
All: We will be God’s vessels sharing vision and hope.

Hymns and Songs
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
GTG: 450
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20:
Renew: 151

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
GTG: 65
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P 501
AMEC: 52/53/65

He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought
UMH: 128
AAHH: 142
NNBH: 235
CH: 545
LBW: 501
W&P: 499
AMEC: 395

Holy Spirit Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398

How Great Thou Art
UMH: 77
PH: 467
GTG: 625
AAHH: 148
NNBH: 43
NCH: 35
CH: 33
LBW: 532
ELW: 856
W&P: 51
AMEC: 68
Renew: 250

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
GTG: 12
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46

Lead Me, Lord
UMH: 473
AAHH: 145
NNBH: 341
CH: 593
Renew: 175

Let There Be Light
UMH: 440
NNBH: 450
NCH: 589
STLT: 142

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

Open My Eyes, That I May See
UMH: 454
PH: 324
GTG: 451
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285

As the Deer
CCB: 83
Renew: 9

All I Need Is You
CCB: 100

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 is our sure hope in all times and circumstances:
Grant us the vision to see beyond the here and now
that we may have steadfast hope in what you are bringing to pass;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

OR

We praise you, O God, because you are our sure hope in all times and circumstances. You are the one who offers us vision to see beyond what is only here and now. Help us to grasp that vision and place our hope in what you are doing in and through you people. Amen.

Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our lack of vision and hope.
 
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We talk about faith and say we are a people of faith yet we so often lack the vision you offer us. We struggle with despair and pessimism because we refuse to see as you see. You offer a vision of a new realm where your love reigns and yet we cling to earthly power, violence, and hatred. Forgive us and renew your hope within us so that we may truly be your children. Amen.
 
One: God is the all seeing one who offers us hope in our despair. Receive God’s loving forgiveness and see the world as God sees it.

Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God of vision and hope. We rejoice that you offer us hope in the midst of our despair.

(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 talk about faith and say we are a people of faith yet we so often lack the vision you offer us. We struggle with despair and pessimism because we refuse to see as you see. You offer a vision of a new realm where your love reigns and yet we cling to earthly power, violence, and hatred. Forgive us and renew your hope within us so that we may truly be your children.

We give you thanks for all the ways in which you bless us and all your creation. We thank you for the wonders of nature and for the beauty of love. We thank you for those who offer grace and mercy in a world that would rather offer hatred and violence. We thank you for the peace makers who truly are your children. 

(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)

We offer to you the hurts and sufferings of your creation. We are painfully aware of the many who suffer because of war and violence. Some are in our news stories and many others are ignored. We know they are not ignored by you but that your love and compassion are poured out for them. As your Spirit moves among them seeking to heal them, help us to be part of your healing presence. Help us to reach out to others around us and to work toward the goals of justice, mercy, and peace.

(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
The Rule of Love
by Pastor Katy Stenta
Matthew 22:34-46

(Optional have paper hearts to pass out/draw on.)

People were always asking Jesus tough questions. Some of them asked him these hard questions to try and trick Jesus into answering them in a way that would get him in trouble or make him look foolish in front of his followers.

One time the Pharisees, trying to trick Jesus, asked him which of God’s commandments is the greatest.

Jesus answered by saying that the first greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and your soul. Then he said that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.

We like to say that if you are ever in doubt about anything in the Bible or anything a Christian says — you go back to these two rules and see if the thing in question follows either of those commandments.

It’s the rule of love, because loving is the most important thing. What are some things you love? (Give a chance to answer.)

Every time we love we are practicing the golden rule.

(Option, have paper hearts to give the kids to give to people they love or to draw things they love on them.)

Let us pray (repeat)
Dear God,
Thank you
For reminding us
That love
Is the
Most important
Rule
To follow.
Help us
To
Practice love.
We
Pray
In Jesus name,
Amen.


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The Immediate Word, October 29, 2023 issue.

Copyright 2023 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.