In a move that surprised some observers, last week the Supreme Court refused to hear appeals to lower court decisions that bans on same-sex marriage in five states were unconstitutional. The court’s decision -- or more accurately, its “non-decision decision” -- legalized marriage for same-sex couples in those five states, and had the practical effect of extending the benefits of marriage to those couples in 30 states across the country... a remarkable transformation in just the last decade. Of course, things are rarely that simple and straightforward, and within days the court reversed course somewhat as Justice Anthony Kennedy temporarily stayed the appellate ruling for the state of Idaho. In any case, it was a tumultuous week with wide-ranging developments. Public sentiment on this issue has certainly changed in recent years, leading to dramatic shifts in the political landscape; and there are a remarkable diversity of opinions today on the entire concept of marriage and how we practice it and who it is for in the 21st century. The question of whether marriage is appropriate for same-sex couples has been (and continues to be) a matter of intense debate both in society and the church -- and in this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer asks us to consider whether marriage should be an issue for the courthouse or for the church. Trying to unravel the Gordian knot of marriage and make sense of its various secular and sacred aspects can be confusing, not to mention perilous politically -- a situation almost identical to that facing Jesus when questioned by some Pharisees on the matter of taxes. So who does our money -- and our lives -- belong to... the emperor, or God? Similarly, do our marriages belong to God or the state?
Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the Exodus text -- a curious passage with comic overtones, as Moses demands repeated assurances from God that the Lord will accompany him on his journey. Moses’ annoying persistence provides a window into a familiar human instinct -- the desire to make sure that we have support and that we will be protected. Moses certainly doesn’t seem to relish the prospect of being a lone wolf -- and that’s a tendency we see again and again in human affairs, all the way from how we conduct ourselves in our everyday lives to how our leaders operate on the national and international stage. Nothing gets accomplished without the building of coalitions and making sure that the public supports the actions of our politicians... something that Chris notes we see being played out currently by President Obama and his predilection for assembling international support before moving on crucial foreign policy options. Though Obama has received quite a bit of criticism from many quarters for not pursuing more muscular and decisive courses of action, one could certainly make the case that Obama is acting much like Moses in this passage ? but the Lord’s presence is far more assured than the support of coalition partners.
Does Marriage Belong to Caesar?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 22:15-22
“I now pronounce you husband and wife, together, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Those whom God hath joined together let no one put asunder.” Or words to that effect.
You join your hands together and the minister puts her or his hand on top of yours and says these words -- and then, as if by magic, bing! You are joined together in holy matrimony. Right?
Well, maybe not.
Because, according to the laws of the state where you live, you aren’t really married until the minister (who is licensed by the state) or witnesses (or both) sign a legal document and send it to the courthouse, and that document is registered and filed in the office of the probate court.
Because what happens in the church is pretty and nice and all, but it’s the government who decides who is married and who isn’t.
Because we have rendered the sanctity of marriage unto Caesar -- and no one, until recently, has asked why we did so and if we should have.
What belongs to the emperor and what belongs to God? My money? My marriage? My children? Myself? That’s the question that Jesus places before us this Sunday.
In the News
During the first week of October, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) was gaveled into session and opened its autumn assizes. Prominently situated on the court’s agenda was the case of five states whose laws against same-gender marriage had been struck down by lower courts.
These five states were appealing to the Supreme Court to overturn the lower courts’ rulings, as they were seeking to allow laws governing marriage to be left in the hands of the governments of the individual states. The nation waited with bated breath to hear what the judges would do.
And what they did was, well, nothing.
The court decided not to hear the appeals, allowing the rulings of the lower courts to stand, effectively putting off any decision on this topic for another, later time.
Cheers and jeers were heard in just about equal proportion. Those who favor marriage equality were optimistic that this lack of action would set a precedent that would open the doors for other courts to rule in their favor.
Those who believe that their religious definition of marriage should be the law of the land cried foul. Texas senator Ted Cruz defined the court’s inaction as “judicial activism at its worst.”
Legal scholar Walter Dellinger suggested in an interview on NPR that the Supreme Court was simply delaying a final, definitive decision until popular opinion reaches the tipping point, much as it did with interracial marriage nearly half a century ago (cf. Loving v. Virginia). Right now the states are closely divided on the issue of same-gender marriage, with 27 states (plus the District of Columbia) that allow it and 23 that don’t.
What no one has addressed is why the government has a say in this at all. Why is the government even involved in what the church calls “the sacred covenant of holy matrimony”? If the “sacred institution of marriage” really is sacred, why is the government butting in? Isn’t this an issue that should fall under the division of church and state? Why isn’t this whole argument left to the churches?
Historian Stephanie Coontz says that early in our western legal history, marriage often had more to do with property that it did with relationships. As might be expected in agrarian cultures, where land ownership and the inheritance of land defined a family’s wealth and standing, European marriages were originally contracts between the families of two partners, with the church and the state staying out of it altogether. In 1215, the Catholic Church decreed that partners had to publicly post banns, or notices of an impending marriage in a local parish, to cut down on the frequency of invalid marriages (the Church eliminated that requirement in the 1980s). Still, until the 1500s the Church accepted a couple’s word that they had exchanged marriage vows, with no witnesses or corroborating evidence needed. By the end of that century marriages were still based on contracts between families, but the participating families invited the church to bless and witness the contract as part of the wedding ceremony.
Government did not enter the picture until the mid-17th century. In 1639 Massachusetts began requiring marriage licenses that were issued by the government, and by the mid-1800s marriage licenses were required in virtually every state.
The move away from agrarian and toward market economies, and the rise of democratic styles of government, allowed people to have more freedom in their life choices -- and this freedom eventually worked its way into the institution of marriage. When young people no longer had to wait for their inherited land before they could get married, they began marrying for love. Democracy encouraged the idea of people -- even husbands and wives -- as equals: “By about 50 years ago, the notion that men and women had identical obligations within marriage began to take root. Instead of being about unique, gender-based roles, most partners conceived of their unions in terms of flexible divisions of labor, companionship, and mutual sexual attraction.”
Once marriage was not legally based on property ownership and inheritance or complementary, gender-based roles, gay marriage became a logical next step. “One of the reasons for the stunningly rapid increase in acceptance of same-sex marriage is because heterosexuals have completely changed their notion of what marriage is between a man and a woman,” says historian Coontz. “We now believe it is based on love, mutual sexual attraction, equality, and a flexible division of labor.”
Given this new and widely accepted understanding of marriage as a mutually committed relationship, it logically follows that the only role government should have in the consideration of marriage is when the couple decides to make their marriage a legally binding contract, as in the case with prenuptial agreements regarding the division of property.
Beyond that, it seems only rational that modern adults should be able to live together in whatever unions and configurations they mutually choose -- and that churches should be free to bless or not bless those unions as marriages according to their own doctrines and theologies.
In the Scriptures
The gospel text for this Sunday is, like the 23rd Psalm, usually quoted from the King James Version: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”
Context, however, is important in deciding on an appropriate hermeneutic.
The narrow context is that of the Pharisees and the Herodians plotting to trick Jesus into saying something that can be construed as treasonous and incriminating. So they send their flunkies to ask Jesus a trick question: “Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?”
They’re not talking about the Roman law, which was clear on this subject. Roman law says it was unlawful not to give tribute unto Caesar. Taxes are taxes, and they have to be paid.
Caesar, however, was considered to be divine by law. (Whether the Roman people actually thought he was a God is another matter.) So, for Jews, paying Roman taxes could be considered making an offering to a false God, a violation of the first and/or second commandment.
So the question is a lose/lose proposition for Jesus. If he says it’s legal to make tribute to Caesar, he is encouraging people to make a sacrifice to a false God. If he says it’s illegal, he’s committing treason by telling people to not pay their taxes.
The broader context of this story, however, is also important. This account is preceded by three parables, all of which make points that apply here. The parable of the two sons tells us that our righteousness is measured not in what we say but in what we do. The parable of the landowner reminds us that everything belongs to God. And the parable of the marriage feast tells us that we have to choose which kingdom we are going to live in; whether we’re going to go to God’s party or pass it by.
So Jesus’ response to the Pharisees and Herodians is not just a simple dismissal that it’s okay to pay taxes and to do what the government tells you -- it’s an invitation to seriously examine just exactly what it is that belongs to God and what belongs to the other “powers that be.”
In the Pulpit
That invitation to ask ourselves what belongs to God and what belongs to the powers of this world is not one that is asked and answered once and for all time. It is an ongoing struggle for those whose desire it is to live in God’s Kingdom.
When our government says that we need to send our sons and daughters into harm’s way to fight, kill, and die, we would do well to ask that question. To whom do our sons and daughters belong, and to whom should we turn them over? To God? To Caesar? To Uncle Sam?
When our government requires us to give our money to support a war or a foreign power or policy that exploits the weak or the oppressed, we would do well to ask who has first claim on our money. Does God or Uncle Sam?
When our government asks us to risk mass pollution for an oil well or a pipeline, the parable invites us to ask who owns the prairie that is going to be flooded with oil if the pipeline breaks and who owns the ocean that will be besmeared with oil should the well fall victim to violence from weather or human action.
And when people come before us and ask to be joined together in holy matrimony, we need to begin asking: Who owns holy matrimony anyway? Who owns what Archbishop Timothy Dolan has called “the sacred institution of marriage”? And what part of that are we willing to give away to the government in order to have our religious understanding of marriage become civil law?
Rather than simplifying our understanding of the powers that be and our relationship to them, Jesus has managed to complicate things. His admonition to “render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s” requires serious thought, hard work, and much prayer.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Who’s There?
by Chris Keating
Exodus 33:12-23
Moses’ repeated pleading before God approaches slapstick -- a bit like Dennis the Menace’s frequent ringing of good ol’ Mr. Wilson’s doorbell, or an old Abbott and Costello routine. Moses persists in ringing God’s doorbell, requesting assurance that God plans to make this journey with Israel. Despite God’s repeated assurances, Moses keeps wanting more evidence.
In scene one, Moses rings the bell. God answers without opening the door. “Yes, Moses?”
“Hey God,” says Moses, “you’ve told me to ‘bring up this people,’ but you haven’t exactly told me who is coming with me. Are you really going with me?”
“Moses,” God replies, “how many times do I need to tell you? I’ll be with you. It’s going to be okay.” (Granted this is a rather loose translation, but bear with me.)
Unsatisfied, Moses starts to walk off the porch, but then runs back to the doorbell a second time. Three short taps -- buzz, buzz, buzz. “God,” he says, “let’s go through this thing one more time. Are you really going with me?”
“Yes, Moses,” the Lord answers. “I am really going to go with you and will give you rest.”
Moses hesitates a second. With perfect timing, he says, “really, really, really?”
The Lord might be slow to anger, but perhaps God was getting impatient. “We’ve been through this time and time again. Yes, Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked.” A tiny hint of desperation seeps across the door jamb.
But Moses still isn’t sure. He rings the bell yet another time. “For gosh sakes, Moses,” the Lord says, “I don’t have all eternity. What do you want this time?”
“Show me your glory,” says Moses, sounding a bit like Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire. This time God opens the little peephole in the center of the door. A small thread of bright light shines through the door, but Moses still can’t see very much. The Lord’s hand covers the tiny window, protecting Moses’ eyes. And when the hand goes away, all Moses sees is God’s backside.
All that time on God’s front porch, and all Moses gets is a quick glance of God’s hindquarters. It’s not a punchline to an adolescent vaudeville routine; it is the promise of God’s glory.
But is that enough?
It could almost be funny -- except there is much at stake. Moses and the Israelites struggle to understand God’s presence with them throughout Exodus. Moses yearns for deeper intimacy with God, and the assurance of God’s protection. Israel -- having just demonstrated its impatience with God by creating the golden calf -- is even less certain of whether God will go with them.
Both Israel and Moses long for a glimpse of God’s glory. They want to know who’s there, and who is going before them.
Israel needs protection. They want to believe they are not going alone. They just need to know who is there.
In the News
President Obama might be able to identify with Moses this week. While the President has been resoundingly criticized for not providing a more forceful approach to battling the Islamic state, he remains resolute in making sure the United States will not be a lone wolf in the region. The President remains steadfast in his call to gather a coalition, even as many are saying it is too late.
Last week, former President Jimmy Carter joined the fray of those suggesting Obama had missed opportunities in defeating ISIS. Carter may be the most unlikely voice, but he is not alone. Democrats began lining up to decry the president’s actions, including two former Obama defense secretaries, former President Bill Clinton, and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Though some believe Obama’s strategy is in “tatters,” about 50 nations have signed on to assist. It is uncertain whether this coalition will be sufficient, however. Western allies such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and France are engaging with regional partners such as Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar. While Turkish forces are fighting militants on the ground, Turkey still seems somewhat hesitant to fully cooperate with the U.S.-led forces, and continues to deny the United States use of airbases. Anti-American riots in Turkey are apparently a factor in Turkey’s reluctance to cooperate.
Meanwhile, ISIS appears to be making gains in spite of the air campaign, raising questions of whether a ground force will be required. Early this week, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff predicted that ISIS would soon be attacking Baghdad. General Martin E. Dempsey told ABC’s This Week last Sunday that he imagines there will be a time when he recommends the U.S. put boots on the ground. Dempsey said that he had not yet encountered a circumstance which would prompt such a recommendation. However, he added, “There will be circumstances when the answer to that question will likely be yes.”
As ISIS fighters approached a Syrian town near the Turkish border last weekend, Iraqi forces asked for the U.S. to put troops on the ground. Though the United States remains firm in not sending troops into battle, analysts believe that the Iraqi army has “virtually evaporated.” Even the coalition-led airstrikes have done little to blunt the ISIS insurgence.
So what’s next? If airstrikes cannot degrade and destroy ISIS, there are few good options available aside from deploying troops. The way forward will likely involve gathering new partners.
“The administration knows full well that airstrikes alone won’t succeed in degrading or destroying ISIS,” said David L. Phillips, director of the Peace-Building and Rights Program at Columbia University. “Since President Obama has made clear there will be no U.S. boots on the ground, we need to find friends in Iraq and Syria who are prepared to confront ISIS.”
In the Scriptures
Who will go with us? Israel has wandered into the desert, and is unsure of where this path will lead next. Moses’ disappearance up the mountain only exacerbates their anxieties. This week’s Exodus passage explores again themes of how God’s presence will be manifest among Israel, and emphasizes again Moses’ role as intercessor before Yahweh.
God remains angry at Israel following the golden calf incident in Exodus 32. Naturally, Moses is a bit skeptical of whether or not Yahweh will continue to lead Israel on their journey. He comes before Yahweh in Exodus 33:12, complaining that “you have not let me know whom you will send with me.” He pleads with God, expressing some doubt that God will make good on this promise. “Show me your glory, I pray,” Moses demands in verse 18, a plaintive cry many can understand today. Moses, who has stood before the burning bush, now demands that God come even closer than before. There is an undertone of “Who is really there?” flowing throughout the encounter.
Yahweh shall not be tamed. While there are assurances that God will be present, that God will provide relief, God remains beyond human control. It is a reminder of the failing of the golden calf, a reminder that “I will be who I will be” (Exodus 3:13-14). Nonetheless, God’s glory passes by Moses. If the people ask “Who is there? Who will go with us?” Moses can testify to the presence of the living God.
In the Sermon
Like President Obama, none of us wants to “go it alone.” Life is complex, and often exhausting. This has been the experience of Israel in the wilderness, and it is our experience as well. We may wonder who is there, who is with us, and who will give us rest. Like Israel, we may want to see God’s face, to sense that God is truly with us. Leslie Klingensmith observes that “ ‘How do we know?’ surely must be among the most common questions that we cry out in our doubt and frustration. How do we know that God is with us? How do we know that God loves us? How do we know what God wants us to do? How do we know what God expects from us? Moses is just like so many of us -- he wants answers, and his irritation with the dearth of answers in this relationship is showing” (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary [Year A, Vol. 4]).
Who will stand with us? God’s reply is curious. God does not offer to walk along the sandy beaches with Moses, nor does God invite Moses to sit a spell on the rock so they can talk things over. Instead, Moses is invited to behold God’s glory. The One who goes with us is much more than a coalition partner -- the One who goes with us is one in whom the fullness of glory dwells. Who is there? “The Lord, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
That shall be enough.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Matthew 22:15-22
The Cost of Weddings
Whether weddings belong to God or the state is an interesting question, but without a doubt they belong to the credit card companies. The wedding planning site costofwedding.com says that “The average wedding cost in the United States is $25,200. Couples typically spend between $18,900 and $31,500, but most couples spend less than $10,000.” The site is designed to help people budget for weddings, and gives average expenses for dresses, cakes, flowers, and more, based on geographic areas. As the site notes, even with a carefully planned budget “the reality is that things add up quickly and often exceed the original budget.”
*****
Matthew 22:15-22
To Whom Does the Wedding Belong?
The Knot, another wedding-related website, predicts a number of wedding trends -- including the “unplugged wedding,” away for the bride and groom to take the wedding back from friends who are posting pictures on Instagram and Facebook even before the couple does. Finding omnipresent phones and picture-taking distracting, some couples are asking people not to bring phones, take video or pictures, or post anything. The site advises: “Provide a phone check at the door (like a coat check), or add a note to your wedding website or ceremony program asking guests to refrain from taking photos or video. You can word it nicely -- something like ‘We want you to truly enjoy the ceremony and reception, so we ask that you please refrain from taking photos or video today and just have fun!’ ”
*****
Matthew 22:15-22
Rendering to Caesar
All of us have to render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, in the form of taxes. Corporations, along with many individuals, work hard to pay as little as possible. USA Today reports that many large corporations have an effective tax rate of zero: “A surprising number of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500, 57, have found ways to pay effective tax rates of zero, according to a USA Today analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ. The effective tax rate is a popular measure used by investors to compare how much companies pay in tax relative to profit.... Corporate giants such as telecom firm Verizon, drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb, and power management firm Eaton all reported effective tax rates of 0% during the past 12 months. The findings underscore that while many companies bellyache about the top federal income tax rate of 35%, in reality many pay much less than that, says Nick Yee of Gradient Analytics.”
The New York Times reports on the ways that Apple and other technology companies lower their taxes. Headquartered in California, Apple opened an office in Reno, Nevada, in order to shield profits from taxes: “By putting an office in Reno, just 200 miles away, to collect and invest the company’s profits, Apple sidesteps state income taxes on some of those gains. California’s corporate tax rate is 8.84 percent. Nevada’s? Zero.”
The article observes that “Apple serves as a window on how technology giants have taken advantage of tax codes written for an industrial age and ill-suited to today’s digital economy. Some profits at companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft derive not from physical goods but from royalties on intellectual property, like the patents on software that makes devices work. Other times, the products themselves are digital, like downloaded songs. It is much easier for businesses with royalties and digital products to move profits to low-tax countries than it is, say, for grocery stores or automakers. A downloaded application, unlike a car, can be sold from anywhere.” Tax laws lag behind the digital economy, and “over the last two years, the 71 technology companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index -- including Apple, Google, Yahoo, and Dell -- reported paying worldwide cash taxes at a rate that, on average, was a third less than other S.& P. companies.’ (Cash taxes may include payments for multiple years.)”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Matthew 22:15-22
Larry Ellison has just retired as CEO of Oracle, the software powerhouse he co-founded that specializes in business products. He owns 1.1 billion shares of Oracle, is worth $48 billion, and is a lavish spender on his passions of cars, planes, and boats. Ellison recently acquired a yacht (the Rising Sun) and an island (Lianai) in Hawaii for $500 million... just two of his multimillion-dollar purchases of personal possessions. Yet he has been in court numerous times regarding his financial transactions and has been married four times. Despite this conspicuous consumption, there was no mention in a recent USA Today article on Ellison of any philanthropy (though he is noted for being very quiet about his giving).
Application: This really does evoke the question of what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
The word “hypocrite,” as used by Paul, comes from Greek theater. The actors on stage pretended to be someone that they were not when they were not preforming. Thus, while acting, they were called hypocrites.
Application: Paul wants us to be imitators of Jesus, not hypocrites who only pretend or mimic the message of the gospel.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
At the age of 88 -- and more than 60 years after the release of his debut album -- singer Tony Bennett released a new collection of duets with prominent artists. One of the singers he shares the platform with is Lady Gaga, a seemingly unlikely friendship that has been nurtured for several years. In a recent interview Bennett was asked why he released the new album. He replied, “I could have retired 16 or 17 years ago and lived very well, but I’ve still got a lot to learn. I am 88 and I really feel like I’m just starting out. No way. I will never retire. I know what Duke Ellington said: ‘Retire to what?’ ”
Application: Paul calls us to continue in our labor and remain steadfast.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Bryon Dickson, the Pennsylvania state trooper who was killed by a sniper by his barracks door in Blooming Grove, was recently buried. During the eulogy, Father Thomas Muldowney said: “You can remember him -- and that he is gone, or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.”
Application: As imitators of the Lord, Paul would like our memories to live on.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
In a recent interview, the great NASCAR champion Richard Petty, now 77 years old, was asked what advice he would give to younger drivers. Petty replied, “Probably that I should have -- from my standpoint -- looked at my life more outside of racing. I was so consumed with racing that I didn’t even know what was going on in the world. If I had to go back, I’d still do my racing deal, but I’d try to join the world.”
Application: If we are to be servants of the Lord, we must be aware of the world around us.
***************
From team member Leah Lonsbury:
Matthew 22:15-22
200 Catholic bishops have come together to tackle some questions that keep rising up in the church around homosexuality, contraception, divorce, and abortion.
A senior member of the clergy reported on Monday it is the “attitude of the church to welcome persons who have homosexual orientation.”
Perhaps the Catholic Church has decided to “give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,” or at least to let the people in the pews be given the chance to make choices on these topics on their own without fear of interference by the church. What else in the Church needs to be given to the emperor or the people? What should be given to God?
*****
Exodus 33:12-23
Moses checks -- several times -- that God plans to go with him and reveal the way forward. God promises not to abandon Moses, and even gives in to Moses’ demand for tangible proof that God will come and stay near.
This week, the family of journalist and ISIS captive John Cantlie rebutted claims by the terrorist group that the family had cut off negotiations. The hostage’s sister, Jessica Cantlie, challenged her brother’s captors to reopen talks. Cantlie’s family intends to remain faithful to their efforts to gain his freedom and save his life. They will, to every extent possible, come and stay near. Even Cantlie’s terminally ill father is staying in the fight. He recently released a video in which he pleas for his son’s life.
Cantlie was last seen in a video released by ISIS in which he says -- possibly under force -- that he has been abandoned by his government. Great Britain, like the U.S., will not pay ransoms for captives of terror groups. Is this decision an automatic abandonment of those who bravely go where we cannot or will not in order to keep us informed and perhaps allow us to move through the world in wiser and safer ways? How else might countries and communities remain with those who have been taken by ISIS? How might captives’ countries of origin act to demonstrate their faithfulness and commitment?
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Becoming an example, letting the word of God sound forth from you without having to speak about it...
Author, activist, and Princeton professor Cornel West was arrested this week during the “Ferguson October” rally in Ferguson, Missouri. West joined a peaceful demonstration at St. Louis University and was reportedly taken into custody for an act of civil disobedience. It appears he accomplished his goal in coming to Ferguson. Hours before his arrest, West told a large crowd of protestors, “It’s a beautiful thing to see people on fire for justice, but I didn’t come here to give a speech. I came here to go to jail.”
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God is sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
People: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Leader: God is great in Zion and is exalted over all the peoples.
People: Let us praise your great and awesome name.
Leader: Mighty Sovereign, lover of justice, you have established equity.
People: You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
OR
Leader: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.
People: We know what belongs to Caesar. What belongs to God?
Leader: Everything belongs to God, even Caesar!
People: Then we will offer everything to God.
Leader: It is easy to say, but it is difficult to actually do it.
People: With the help of God, we will offer everything, even ourselves, to God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens”
found in:
UMH: 150
H82: 580
PH: 268
NCH: 556
CH: 651
LBW: 463
ELA: 771
“From All That Dwell Below the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 101
H82: 380
PH: 229
NCH: 27
CH: 49
LBW: 550
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
found in:
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELA: 858, 859
“I Surrender All”
found in:
UMH: 354
AAHH: 396
NNBH: 198
“Jesus Calls Us”
found in:
UMH: 398
H82: 549, 550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171, 172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELA: 696
“Take My Life, and Let It Be”
found in:
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELA: 583, 685
“Seek Ye First”
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
“Lord, I Want to Be a Christian”
found in:
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 569
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who offers as a gift to us all of creation: Grant us the grace to understand that everything we have is yours so that we may rightly place all creation under your care; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for all creation is yours. Everything we have, including our very lives, belongs to you. Receive our worship and help us to place all of creation under your care. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we give up our moral decisions to be made by others.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have received from you the use of all creation, and yet we allow others to tell us how it should be used. We allow them to misuse the earth and we join in this destruction. We allow them to set the agenda for our lives so that we are unable to offer a witness of an alternate way of living. Forgive us, and renew us that we might render all of life to you. Amen.
Leader: God is the sovereign of all. God gives us life and creation so that we can bless others. Receive God’s love and forgiveness so that you may live as God’s people.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise you, O God, for the gift of life. You have given us more than mere existence as you give purpose to our lives.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have received from you the use of all creation, and yet we allow others to tell us how it should be used. We allow them to misuse the earth and we join in this destruction. We allow them to set the agenda for our lives so that we are unable to offer a witness of an alternate way of living. Forgive us, and renew us that we might render all of life to you.
We thank you for the blessings of this world. The earth provides for us bountifully, and your Spirit gives meaning and purpose to our lives. We thank you for those who have helped us understand that everything good is a gift from you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need, and especially for our failure to place ourselves and all creation under your care. Much of the suffering in our lives results from our misplaced priorities and our greed.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
This is the time of year when many of us are doing stewardship campaigns. This children’s sermon works well for this scripture or for stewardship.
Give the children a stack of ten coins. Make it clear that they belong to you, even though you are having the children hold them. Then ask for one of the coins back... it is, after all, yours. Tell them that is how all of creation is. God made everything, and it all belongs to God. God asks only for a portion to be returned for the work God needs done in our world. Tell the children that they are free to spend the other nine coins however they want, but to remember that the coins really belong to you so they shouldn’t use them in a way that would displease you. I usually say, “...like buying green beans because I really don’t like them.”
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Meet Your Responsibilities to Both
Matthew 22:15-22
Object: a coin with a president’s picture on it
In the gospel reading today we heard about some people who were trying to get Jesus into trouble. They asked him to tell them if it was okay to pay taxes to the Roman government. If Jesus said they should pay taxes to the Roman government, they would accuse him of supporting an evil empire, and if he said they shouldn’t pay, they would accuse him of being a rebel who was encouraging people to fight the lawful government. They thought they had Jesus in a tough situation that he couldn’t get out of. What do you think Jesus did? (Let the children answer.)
Jesus took a coin like this one (show the coin) and he asked them to tell him whose picture was on the coin. The emperor’s picture was on that coin, and they told him so. Then Jesus said, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” What do you think he meant by that? (Let them answer.) What Jesus was saying was that we have certain responsibilities to the government and we have other responsibilities to God, and we need to meet both of those responsibilities.
On this coin (show the coin) we have a picture of _____________. Now, this man was the president of the United States, and that made him the head of our government. We all have a duty to pay taxes to our government and obey its laws, but we also have our duty to obey God and do what He tells us to do. We can and we should meet both responsibilities, but what if our government asked us to do something that was against the will of God? What should we do then? (Let them answer.) Yes, that’s right. Our duty to God is more important than our duty to our
government. God comes first! Let’s pray to God that that will never happen to any of us.
Prayer: Dear Father God: Help us, Lord, to meet our responsibilities to You and to our government, and if ever our government asks us to do something that is against Your will, give us the courage to say no. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, October 19, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 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.
