In this week’s epistle passage, Paul compares the gentleness and caring that should characterize our Christian witness to a “nurse tenderly caring for her own children.” That metaphor has a particularly striking resonance today, as two nurses who cared for Ebola victim Thomas Duncan have contracted the virus themselves. Their cases have stoked anxiety that the seeds might have been planted for an Ebola epidemic here in America. And if those nascent fears weren’t rampant enough, they gained additional momentum when it was discovered that air passengers may have been exposed to the virus too. The second nurse to contract the virus traveled on a flight from Cleveland to Dallas despite beginning to show symptoms... and most stunning of all, she was apparently cleared to fly anyway by call representatives at the Centers for Disease Control. While the nation (encouraged by breathless cable news updates) fretted about how quickly an epidemic could spiral out of control, the stark reality is that nurses -- the people actually in the trenches who have the most contact with patients -- are the ones who face the greatest risks in the course of their caring work... especially when dealing with those suffering with infectious diseases.
In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Chris Keating suggests that for health care workers, being “like a nurse tenderly caring for her children” is more than just a nice little bromide -- it’s the living embodiment of Jesus’ call in the gospel lesson to “love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s particularly true for those who bravely treat Ebola patients, like the Dallas nurses who became exposed to the virus themselves. It’s noteworthy that though they were aware of the nightmarish risks facing them, these nurses trusted in their protocols and tenderly cared for Thomas Duncan as if he were one of their own children (though their trust in their own safety may have been undercut by conditions at the Dallas hospital where they worked). And that, as Chris observes, is truly a test of where the heart lies.
Team member Leah Lonsbury shares some additional thoughts on the Thessalonians passage, and the contrast on display between that gentle, caring approach and the more cynical nature of the dialogue surrounding the upcoming midterm elections. The spin and even outright mendacity being promulgated by politicians and their handlers seems to be a textbook example of the observation Paul makes about those who come “with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed” and who “seek praise from mortals.” Though political pros continue with this sort of negative campaigning because evidence indicates that it works, it also apparently turns off much of the electorate -- with new poll evidence showing that we’re increasingly tuning it all out. So what might all this have to do with the church? Leah suggests that we should see it as a cautionary tale of what can happen when intra-church warfare -- within congregations, denominations, and even between denominations -- becomes so pitched that people begin to tune us out as well.
Ebola 2014: A Test of the Heart
by Chris Keating
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8; Matthew 22:34-46
Fears of the Ebola virus spreading across the United States are creating worries for many. But for nurses like 26-year-old Nina Pham, the battle against the disease is proving to be a true test of the heart.
Pham -- the first health care worker in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola -- had been part of the care team for Thomas Duncan, who died on October 8, 2014. Pham was initially treated at the hospital where she works, but was then transferred from Dallas to an isolation unit at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
She’s a nurse, a 2010 graduate of Texas Christian University. As a medical practitioner, Pham became was among the first to respond to Ebola in the United States, embodying the spirit of Paul’s metaphor in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 -- gently, deeply, and devotedly caring for Duncan. Like Amber Joy Vinson, the second nurse to be diagnosed with the virus, it’s possible that Pham provided care for Duncan with less than optimal preparations or protocols.
In either case, what is true is that both Vinson and Pham approached their work as a calling. As Paul says, “we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.” Nurses and health care workers treating Ebola patients face the greatest risks of exposure to the disease -- a single drop of an Ebola patient’s blood can contain nearly a half a billion viral particles. It is risky work, especially since health care providers are regularly exposed to a patient’s bodily fluids.
Instead of fear, Pham approached her nursing duties as a calling, fulfilling Jesus’ admonition to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Like Vinson, or another infected nurse in Spain, or nurses on the front line of the epidemic in Africa, Pham understood the risks. There’s not much room for error.
In a time of epidemic and panic, that is indeed a test of the heart.
In the News
First, the good news. An infected Spanish nursing assistant has apparently overcome Ebola. A blood test released Sunday evening showed no signs of the virus for Teresa Romero, who may have contracted Ebola after touching a glove to her face while treating a priest (who eventually died from the disease) following his return from Liberia. However, Romero must still take an additional blood test to confirm that she is virus-free.
Though she is “doing spectacularly well,” Romero will continue to be quarantined until the results of her second test are known. Overall, it does appear she is making good progress -- for example, she is now producing antibodies that should protect her against further infection.
There was also good news in Dallas, Texas, for the vast majority of the original 48-person watch list of those who had come into close contact with Thomas Duncan. The quarantine ended on Monday for 43 of them, and so far no one besides the two nurses has shown any signs of infection.
Another positive note was sounded in Nigeria on Sunday when World Health Organization officials declared that the country was Ebola-free. Forty-two days have passed without a new case of Ebola in Nigeria, and the nation successfully contained the disease by being well prepared and staying ahead of the outbreak.
Sadly, other nations were not as well prepared -- which means there is still plenty of bad news as far as the epidemic is concerned.
More than 9,000 individuals have become sick, with about half of those succumbing to the disease worldwide. Most of those who have died were in West Africa, where the suffering continues. Missteps in containing the virus include failure to respond quickly, a lack of coordination between agencies in the response, and not grasping the potential enormity of the risks involved.
For example, in early January the grandmother of one of the first two Ebola patients sought care in a Guinea hospital. According to Marilynn Marchione of the Associated Press, that was a tipping point:
...instead of detecting and stopping the disease, the hospital compounded the problem: Two new chains of transmission began, among patients and health workers, and in another village. On January 27, local health officials and Doctors Without Borders missed a chance to diagnose Ebola after seeing bacteria in blood samples -- they concluded cholera might be the culprit. Ebola wasn't confirmed until March 21. By the end of the month, it had spread to Liberia.
As the virus spread so did fears, resulting in what some have called a national collective “freak-out” concerning a potential spread of the virus across the United States. Schools in Ohio and Texas were closed, passengers who shared a flight with Vinson were tracked down, and a national “czar” was appointed to coordinate the federal response.
Note again: there have been only three confirmed cases of Ebola in the United States. By comparison -- and not arguing that Ebola is a deadly disease -- in 2013 more than two million persons in the United States contracted antibiotic-resistant bacteria, killing more than 23,000. Still, Ebola paranoia has spread far and wide.
Perhaps most concerning is the stigmatization that treating Ebola brings upon African nurses and health care workers. A 2005 study published in the Journal of Transcultural Nursing documented the fear and struggles of nurses in Uganda and other countries during an earlier Ebola outbreak. Laboring under already difficult conditions, the nurses reported being ostracized by family, and called to do herculean nursing tasks with poor equipment. One noted:
My children were afraid of me, they were afraid to touch me. I wanted to quit, but I knew that if I quit all the others would want to quit. My husband was afraid and feared me, he asked me where my clothes washing pot was, he did not want to use it. We ate on separate plates and used separate silverware.
It is a test not only of the heart, but of the heart and soul of the ethical imperative of Christian discipleship -- to love both God and neighbor.
In the Scriptures
The spread of the Ebola virus has become a test of the heart -- perhaps not unlike the situation Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians.
Having been mistreated, Paul nonetheless clings to the integrity of his calling. The warmth of the welcome by the Thessalonians is contrasted by the agony of his time in Philippi. All of it, however, is part of the apostolic calling. He has risked it all -- rejection, humiliation, abuse. Still Paul makes his way to Thessalonica, coming as a gentle nurse, full of courage and with complete conviction (1 Thessalonians 1:5). He demonstrates not just care but also boldness, not unlike nurses called to the bedsides of the desperately ill or mothers tending to their children.
Paul emphasizes that he cares for them not only out of obligation but out of deepest affection. Whereas the Pharisaical lawyer of Matthew 22:36 is only concerned about the obligations of the law, Paul emphasizes the vulnerability involved in loving the neighbor: gently (or, as indicated by the NRSV footnote, “as infants”), tenderly caring and determined to share the Gospel. The Thessalonians have become dear to him. This becomes the enactment of Matthew 22:34-46, and illustrates the result of loving both God and neighbor.
Can anyone be surprised by the warmth of the Thessalonians in responding to Paul’s message? They had also suffered (2:14). They had been ostracized, punished, and opposed, yet had accepted the gospel, the Word of God at work in their lives.
Matthew’s text puts the challenge of the gospel at the forefront of our calling as disciples. Jesus proclaims the great calling of faith. His interpretation of the Shema speaks the divine imperative, and summarizes his mission. The Bible study lesson renders the crowds speechless.
Generations later, it serves as a reminder of how we ought to respond to the current tests of our hearts.
In the Sermon
It’s not likely that Nina Pham entered nursing for the perks and pay. A conscientious and caring nurse, Pham comes from a close-knit Vietnamese community in Texas, and is deeply religious. She undertook one of the most dangerous jobs a nurse could take, but somehow managed to remain upbeat and hopeful. But perhaps the deepest clue to this young woman’s dedication came from the words of a family friend, who said, “She is a very devoted Catholic, and always puts the other people’s interests ahead of her own.”
That makes sense, especially in light of this week’s readings.
Nina Pham discovered a love that goes beyond fear. Contrast that sort of selfless love with this photo of a passenger wearing a homemade hazmat suit in Washington’s Dulles airport while waiting for a plane.
In other words, at some point Pham may have been listening when her pastor stood in the pulpit and read, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and will all your soul, and with all your mind... you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” For Pham, nursing is so much more than a job. It is the way she lives her baptismal calling.
As Americans sort through the complicated fears and anxieties associated with Ebola, a sermon could helpfully articulate our calling to fearless love -- a love that Paul illustrates boldly in 1 Thessalonians. This is indeed a test of our hearts -- yet few of us run a risk of actually encountering someone with the disease. Guided by Pham’s bold yet compassionate witness, we ought to meet this test of our hearts with prayers for the seriously ill, and loving action for our neighbors.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Leah Lonsbury
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Nina Pham, one of the nurses who volunteered to care for Ebola patient Thomas Duncan in Dallas and contracted the virus herself, has been moved from the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The evening before her departure, Pham released a video thanking her co-workers for taking such good care of her and shared this message:
I’m so thankful for the outpouring of love and support from friends and family, my coworkers, and complete strangers. I feel very blessed, and have gained strength from their support. I appreciate everything that my coworkers have done to care for me at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. I’m doing really well thanks to this team, which is the best in the world. I believe in my talented coworkers. I am #presbyproud!
These might not be the kind of words one would expect to hear from someone stricken with such a terrible and life-threatening disease. Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver did his own colorful version of a no-thank-you note that he might release if he were to find himself in the same situation as Pham. It’s available on HBO or HBOGo. (Warning -- Oliver uses very colorful language.)
Pham’s grateful and tender words echo Paul’s remembering of how he and his coworkers brought the Good News to the community and Thessalonica. “But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us,” Paul writes.
The fact that Pham volunteered for such a dangerous job knowing full well the risk she was taking mirrors Paul’s letter. She also shared of her own self, despite the jeopardy of doing so, because she felt called to care for Duncan. These sentiments are reflected in much the same way in a poem released anonymously by one of the other nurses who cared for Duncan at the same hospital. It begins like this...
You came to us sick, frightened, confused
What happened next became international news.
We saw you so ill, with everything to lose
Our goal was to help you because that’s what we do.
Alone in a dark ICU room
We fought for your life, our team and you.
We cared for you kindly
No matter our fear
You thanked us each time that we came near.
What is clear from Paul’s letter, Pham’s video and words, and the anonymous nurse’s poem is that caring for one another and sharing of ourselves incarnates a Love that brings with it a kind of salvation, even if it’s not the kind that rescues us from physical death. When we are moved outside of our own selves to provide protection, healing care, selfless acts, and life-changing relationship to others, God’s salvation finds its way through us and draws us together as one into a manifestation of the Body.
Our current headlines also contain many examples of no-thank-you letters to the world that are better illustrations of Paul’s words about those who speak and act out of “deceit or impure motives and trickery.” This kind of approach to relationship has, obviously, the opposite effect of Pham’s tender and inviting words. There’s no gentle nurse here, but instead “words of flattery... with a pretext for greed” that “seek[s] praise from mortals” (vv. 3, 5-6).
As hype around the midterm elections ratchets up, and more dollars than ever are spent on campaign advertisements that alienate those they seek to win over while causing those already decided to hunker down and turn from any inclination to compromise for the common good, our nation’s interest is at an all-time low. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reports that “2014 will likely set a record for the most amount of dollars expended per voter to reach and persuade the fewest amount of voters” and calls this “The Great American Tune-Out.”
Instead of forging a way forward together that might provide some relief or progress for our country, the campaign slander floating around the airwaves is only driving us farther from one another. This is especially poignant in a year when the top two issues to surface in the poll were the economy (one important measure of our overall well-being) and the partisan gridlock in Washington. It turns out that when we cannot cross the aisle to work together, we cannot thrive. This has been true in our nation’s capital for some time. Now it has backed up all the way to pre-election rhetoric, causing even the voters to turn farther from each other in a spirit of bitter hopelessness.
New York Times columnist David Brooks traces the roots of this deepening divide beyond the midterm elections and shows its results in our everyday lives:
Over the past few decades, we’ve seen increases in residential segregation along political, income, and cultural lines.
As the years go by, politics more and more resembles these underlying divisions. I used to think that this was basically a centrist country and that political polarization was an elite phenomenon. But most of the recent evidence suggests that polarization is deeply rooted in the economic conditions and personal values of the country. Washington is not the cause of polarization; America is. The irony is that something good about America (economic pluralism) is contributing to something bad (segmentation and political trench warfare).
Which more or less explains the midterm elections. The 2014 campaign has been the most boring and uncreative campaign I can remember. Democrats cry, “My Republican opponent is an extremist loon!” Republicans cry, “My Democratic opponent once shook hands with President Obama!” There’s not even a Contract With America, nor many policy suggestions of any sort. Most campaigns just remind preconvinced voters how bad the other party is.
One result of the election is already clear. Political representation will more closely resemble the underlying social segmentation. Right now there are a lot of red states with Democratic senators. After this election, there will be fewer -- probably between four and nine fewer. The election is about sorting people more tightly into their pre-existing boxes.
This sorting into pre-existing boxes is also happening in the church. A gathering of Catholic bishops in Rome called together to examine the church’s teachings on marriage and family issued a draft of a document “outlining the positive aspects of civil unions and co-habitation” last week. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan called this gathering and the resulting working document Pope Francis’ attempt to present the church in a “fresh, exciting, and enchanting new way,” and communicate that the church is about “a big resounding ‘yes’ to everything that is good and noble and beautiful and dignified and genuine and liberating in the human person. That’s the message we’re trying to get across.”
Sounds hopeful, inviting, and box-busting, right? Well...
Cardinal Dolan seemed less convinced that the bishops’ gathering would change anything about the Catholic Church at all on his weekly radio show when he emphasized that this document was no “pastoral earthquake,” and its effects would not change the church’s teachings and doctrine. “First of all, a synod cannot change doctrine. Nobody can.... So to change doctrine is not a part of our agenda.”
Dolan re-emphasized the traditional message of the church that would not be changed by the bishops’ gathering or their release of the much talked about document (the relatio) in this way:
It’s pretty much the teaching of the Church that while any acts, any sexual acts outside the loving, faithful, life-giving bond of a man and a women in marriage is contrary to what God intends -- that’s timeless Church teaching -- but on the other hand we treat people that are unable to live up to that teaching with immense dignity and respect. That’s always been the Church’s teaching. An articulation of that today was there in the relatio, but I don’t know if that’s dramatic and I don’t know if that’s the final way it is going to be expressed.
So despite the initial hopeful chatter around this gathering and document, the situation within the church remains much the same, which is divided. More conservative bishops are in revolt that such ideas would even be raised, and divorced and gay and lesbian people and their families remain alienated and barred from full communion.
Lest we good Protestants think this is not our problem or our segregating tendency, we would do well to think of the factions within our own bodies of faith. I’m a staff member for the Alliance of Baptists. We began in 1987 as a “prophetic voice in Baptist life” that called together “male and female laity and clergy, people of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, theological beliefs, and ministry practices.”
But we also began as a split from the Southern Baptist denomination. And we aren’t even close to the first split in Baptist life. The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has 211 different Baptist denominations, and the largest one isn’t even counted in that list. Why? Because the Southern Baptists split from the BWA in 2004, citing what the Southern Baptists saw as a “continual leftist drift.”
Guilty. I am a part of the Church’s participation in sorting people into pre-existing boxes. And I’d bet that you have your own stories of intra-church warfare and factions as well. If us churched folks are so divided, we surely have become less Good News and more of a cautionary tale for those outside of the Church. No wonder we are being tuned out in record numbers, just like those politicians and their toxic banter surrounding the midterm elections.
Like those politicians and the players in the Catholic debate, we have also been infected with the divisive bug that causes us to talk and act like things will change while fiercely hunkering down in our own boxes to protect our beliefs and interests and not upset the status quo, big money (in campaign financing, lobbying, church capital campaigns, or our own pastoral paychecks), or “the way we’ve always done it.”
All of us could learn something from Nina Pham and Paul. If we do nothing else to open our boxes and move toward each other, we could forge a beginning of connection and relationship with just our words, our tone, and our posture. Let us remember to be gentle to one another “like a nurse caring for her own children” and to share of our time, our resources, and our selves in ways that teach us to care deeply for one another. We may have to fake it until we can make it, but we may also find that when we attempt to see each other through a nurse’s eyes, that we grow dearer to one another, that we are all stronger and better supported as a result, and that Saving Love is not found in the supposed security of our individual boxes but instead in the exposed and risky space between us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Matthew 22:34-46
USA Today recently listed the worst political advertisements for 2014, giving a graphic description and commentary on each. One ad was posted by Wendy Davis, the pink sneaker-wearing Texas legislator known for her extended pro-choice filibuster. The spot attacked Greg Abbott, her opponent in the race to be the state’s governor. Abbott is confined to a wheelchair after a tree fell on him in 1984, and he received $10.7 million in a legal settlement. He has become a champion of tort reform, but a selective reading of his position would make him appear like a hypocrite who took a huge settlement for himself and now denies that possibility to others. The ad opens by showing an empty wheelchair. USA Today’s editors criticized Davis for using Abbott’s handicap to portray him as being sinister, uncaring, and self-centered, which has never been demonstrated in his legislative proposals.
Application: Loving our neighbor encompasses all aspects of life, even our political adversaries.
*****
Matthew 22:34-46
The movie Fury, now playing in theaters, tells the story of a Sherman tank crew in the closing months of World War II and the hardships they endured as soldiers. The movie does not focus on battle campaigns, but rather on the individual campaign of each soldier to overcome the obstacles and trauma of war. In an article for USA Today, Brian Truitt wrote that one of the film’s most dramatic scenes takes place not on the battlefield but at a dinner table. In a small German town, two of the five crew members are invited into a home to have dinner. When the other three members discover they have not been invited, a vicious fight breaks out among the five. With the entire crew having been together since boot camp, the three members excluded from dinner also feel excluded from the family of their crew.
Application: Our neighbor is also a member of our family and should never be excluded.
*****
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Jim Irsay, the owner of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, has just returned from a six-game suspension imposed after his arrest for driving under the influence and the illegal possession of prescription drugs. It was well known that Irsay had been battling drug and alcohol addiction for decades, but the arrest finally forced him to enter a rehab facility. About his new life of sobriety Irsay says, “Only he who has conquered himself can defeat his enemies -- and enemies are anything you’re up against. It all starts internally.”
Application: Joshua was called to lead the people into the Promised Land because as one who was filled with wisdom internally he was able to battle and overcome the demons that possess most individuals. This made Joshua a leader, and the team he owned was the children of Abraham.
*****
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
During Jim Irsay’s six-game suspension, he had to sit at and watch the Colts play on television. In doing so he discovered what it was like to be a diehard fan who felt a sense of separation from the game by not being present in the stadium.
Application: One must wonder what Moses’ thoughts were as he sat atop Mt. Nebo, unable to enter the land that he viewed before him.
*****
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Jim Irsay’s rehabilitation has been a spiritual experience that has given him a new perspective on life. Though he enjoys being the owner of the Colts and the notoriety that comes with that position, his legal exposure has made him understand that there is something “powerful about anonymity.” Irsay says about his new turn in life, “If you yearn for public affection, I think that’s a little empty. A hollow path. We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Application: Paul said he never preached the gospel yearning for the approval of people, but only because it was entrusted to him by God.
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Matthew 22:34-46
The Great Suggestion?
If you want to start your sermon with some humor, the satirical website/newspaper The Onion offers a fictional op-ed essay from a “normal” Christian who wants to set the record straight. It’s title? “I’m Not One of Those ‘Love Your Neighbor’ Christians.” Here are some highlights:
Everybody has this image of “crazy Christians” based on what they hear in the media, but it’s just not true. Most Christians are normal, decent folks. We don’t all blindly follow a bunch of outdated biblical tenets or go all fanatical about every bit of dogma. What I’m trying to say is, don’t let the actions of a vocal few color your perceptions about what the majority of us are like.
Like me. I may be a Christian, but it’s not like I’m one of those wacko “love your neighbor as yourself” types....
I’m here to tell you there are lots of Christians who aren’t anything like the preconceived notions you may have. We’re not all into “turning the other cheek.” We don’t spend our days committing random acts of kindness for no credit. And although we believe that the moral precepts in the Book of Leviticus are the infallible word of God, it doesn’t mean we're all obsessed with extremist notions like “righteousness” and “justice.”
My faith in the Lord is about the pure, simple values: raising children right, saying grace at the table, strictly forbidding those who are Methodists or Presbyterians from receiving communion because their beliefs are heresies, and curing homosexuals. That’s all. Just the core beliefs. You won’t see me going on some frothy-mouthed tirade about being a comfort to the downtrodden....
Now, granted, there are some Christians on the lunatic fringe who take their beliefs a little too far. Take my coworker Karen, for example. She’s way off the deep end when it comes to religion: going down to the homeless shelter to volunteer once a month, donating money to the poor, visiting elderly shut-ins with the Meals on Wheels program -- you name it!
But believe me, we’re not all that way. The people in my church, for the most part, are perfectly ordinary Americans like you and me....
*****
Matthew 22:34-46
Strangers All Together
Even though people living in apartment buildings or apartment communities are thrown together physically, they often are more isolated and separated from their neighbors than any other segment of our society. In February 2014, Christianity Today’s website shared “10 Ways to Love Your Neighbor” from an organization called Apartment Life:
1. Invite one neighbor over for dinner each month.
2. If someone is new in town, invite them to join your plans for the weekend.
3. Organize a walking group or running club.
4. When someone tells you they have an upcoming job interview, a test, or a doctor appointment, mark it on your calendar. Follow up on the big day with a note of encouragement to let them know you are praying for them, or ask them how it went afterward. Better yet, do both!
5. If you see someone moving in, bring them dinner, cookies, or basic supplies they might need before they unpack, like paper towels, toilet paper, and hand soap.
6. Ask your neighbor to be their friend on Facebook. This is a great way to find common ground and things to talk about the next time you see them.
7. Practice random acts of kindness. Take your neighbor’s trash out, or put their trashcan away after pickup. Mow their lawn “just because.”
8. Use your kids as an icebreaker. Invite a fellow mom and her kids over for a playdate and get to know her over a tall glass of iced tea.
9. Get outside the walls of your house. You’ll meet neighbors as you walk the dog, take walks, work in your yard, or hang out at your neighborhood pool. Don’t just wave; be intentional about saying hello and getting to know them.
10. Organize a neighborhood get-together so that your neighbors can meet each other. In 2012, Sarah in Dallas made it her goal to have 500 people over for dinner, one neighborhood dinner at a time. She created Neighbor’s Table and helped to turn her neighborhood into a community.
*****
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Flattery vs. Encouragement
Most human behaviorists agree that there are five basic differences between flattery and encouragement:
1. Flattery is excessive; encouragement is appropriate in both content and quantity.
2. Flattery is self-seeking, intended to benefit the flatterer; encouragement seeks to benefit the encouraged.
3. Flattery always has an ulterior motive; encouragement is open and direct.
4. Flattery is basically dishonest; encouragement is honest.
5. Flattery seeks approval; encouragement gives approval.
*****
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Flattery or Praise?
How does God feel about flattery? What are our praise songs and praise services if not exercises in flattery, trying to manipulate God into doing what we want? One cannot help but wonder if Robert Heinlein was talking about some contemporary Christian praise services when he said this: “The most preposterous notion that Homo sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery.”
*****
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
A Pretext for Greed
In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul reminds his readers that he did not come to them with words of flattery or “a pretext for greed,” two things which every pastor should avoid. Most pastors do an admirable job of following Paul’s example. (The average salary for Protestant pastors is around $40,000.) Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for some of Christianity’s most prominent and famous pastors:
* Kenneth Copeland, founder of Kenneth Copeland Ministries, lives in a $6 million mansion and pulls down a salary of over $300,000 per year, plus what the church pays his wife.
* Creflo Dollar (yes, that’s his real name) refuses to release his salary figures, but he drives a Rolls Royce and owns a million-dollar house in Atlanta, as well as a multimillion-dollar apartment in New York.
* John Hagee, senior pastor of the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, used to make $1 million a year as CEO of his Global Evangelical Television. In 2004 he turned the company into a church so he would not have to disclose his salary.
* Bishop Charles Blake of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ earns a $900,000 salary and owns a 10,000-square-foot mansion in Beverly Hills, while most of his congregation lives in impoverished South Central Los Angeles.
* Benny Hinn, founder and CEO of Benny Hinn Ministries, leads services across America and refuses to disclose information about his personal wealth. In a 1997 CNN interview, however, he revealed that he earned between $500,000 and $1 million a year. Given the continuing growth of his so called “ministry,” the chances are very slim that his income has decreased since then.
*****
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
A Pretext for Greed 2.0
Many American Catholic bishops have yet to heed Pope Francis’s example of simplicity. According to a CNN investigation, 10 of 34 active archbishops in the United States live in domiciles worth more than a million dollars. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York City lives in a 15,000-square-foot mansion on Madison Avenue that is worth at least $30 million. While Dolan has spoken of having personal misgivings about his home, he has made no plans to move or change it. Meanwhile, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston lives more simply in a rundown rectory in the city’s South End.
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From team member Mary Austin:
Matthew 22:34-46
Know Your Neighbor
On the documentary series Tales from the Green Valley, historians tried to re-create farm life as it was lived in the 1600s. To see what life was like in those days, they wore the same clothes, ate the same food, and used the same tools and farming methods. A BBC article notes that, “While few would choose to live a 17th-century lifestyle, the participants found they picked up some valuable tips for modern life.” The first lesson is to know your neighbors: “Today it’s possible to live alone, without knowing anyone within a 20-mile radius (the same goes for townies). That was simply not possible in the past -- not only did the neighbors provide social contact, people shared labor, specialist skills, and produce. ‘And women were judged on good neighborliness,’ says historian Ruth Goodman. ‘If you were willing to help others -- particularly during and after childbirth -- then others would be more prepared to help you in times of need.’ ” The fabric of life requires connections with neighbors, and mutual help.
*****
Matthew 22:34-46
Learning to Love Our Neighbor
Loving our neighbor may not come naturally, but we can open ourselves to unexpected connections, as happened to Shannon Hayes. Hayes admits to being more of a dog person than a kid person, finding animals more interesting than people. She says, “Kids don’t enter my heart so easily. Naturally, I am enthralled with my own children, but my enthusiasm for other people’s children pales in comparison to my interest in their dogs. I don’t dislike kids outright -- at least, not now that I have experienced my own.... I connect with grownups and dogs far more easily than I do with other people’s children.” But a friend’s child came to visit and asked a question about what goblins eat. Taking the time to answer (“compost”) opened the door to more questions, and then more visits.
Hayes observes: “Somewhere, in spite of my aversion to children, I became a kid person. In spite of my willingness to mother onlymy own, I had welcomed another child from the community as an honorary member of my family. I came to love hearing her talk about her school adventures, about her wonderful big family, and the escapades of all her brothers and sisters.... Maybe I chose to have only two children. But by living in this place, committing to bring my family up as part of this community, without even realizing it, I have adopted more. I have promised to care [for] my children’s friends as though they were my own.”
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Matthew 22:34-46
Being a Good Neighbor
On NPR’s This I Believe feature, librarian Eve Birch talked about how she learned the art of being a good neighbor. As she says, “I used to believe in the American dream that meant a job, a mortgage, cable, credit, warranties, success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us separately chasing the same thing. One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell apart. I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $56. I scoured the countryside for someplace I could rent for the cheapest possible amount. I came upon a shack in an isolated hollow, four miles up a winding mountain road over the Potomac River in West Virginia.”
Birch located the owner, arranged to rent the shack for $50 a month, and started to fix it up so she would have a place to live. She didn’t know anyone in the area, and, as she says, “the locals knew nothing about me. But slowly they started teaching me the art of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, candles, tools, and canned deer meat, and they began sticking around to chat. They’d ask if I wanted to meet cousin Albie or go fishing, maybe get drunk some night. They started to teach me a belief in a different American dream -- not the one of individual achievement but one of neighborliness.”
Life changed for her. “Up on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my relationships with my neighbors.” Having learned from the people who came to her, she found a way to become a good neighbor herself: “After four years in that hollow, I moved back into town. I saw that a lot of people were having a really hard time, losing their jobs and homes. With the help of a real estate broker I chatted up at the grocery store, I managed to rent a big enough house to take in a handful of people. It’s four of us now, but over time I’ve had nine come in and move on to other places from here. We’d all be in shelters if we hadn’t banded together.” Her idea of success is dramatically different now. “The American dream I believe in now is a shared one. It’s not so much about what I can get for myself; it’s about how we can all get by together.”
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Matthew 22:34-46
Love Your Books as Yourself?
Somik Raha recalls: “Growing up in India, I had a hard time with most of my subjects, especially math. One day, after looking at my grades, my father had a heart-to-heart chat with me. He said, ‘The way to crack your subjects is to fall in love with them. When you start loving what you are learning, it will no longer look like work. Everything will fall in place after that. Just fall in love.’ I was in sixth grade around then, and decided to take him seriously and literally said, ‘I love you’ to my math textbook.”
We’re accustomed to thinking of homework as something we have to get through, but Raha says that “something strange happened. I actually fell in love. I started enjoying the mystery behind each geometric question, soaking in it, and experiencing joy when I was able to solve it. Over the years, it got to a point where I would finish all the exercises in the textbook in a day and repeat it the next day and the day after. I would be thrilled to get an unknown question so I could soak in it and enjoy its mystery. Along with this head-over-heels love, my grades started improving. When I finished tenth grade, I had scored 99% in math -- in those days, I was told the computer systems had only two digits for the score, and that was about the highest you could get. But the weirdest thing was that I didn’t care at all about my grades anymore. I truly enjoyed the subject.”
It worked with books, Raha realized, so could it work in other places too? “Being naturally curious, I wanted to see how far this could go. I remember trying the ‘I love you’ principle with other subjects that were really boring to me, like history. Suddenly history came alive for me, and I started enjoying it very much too. Stepping it up, I was convinced that one just could not love English grammar. But trying it there, I developed a love for writing which continues to this day. This philosophy completely transformed my life, improved my grades, and most importantly, made me simply stop caring about grades and actually enjoy learning.”
Love is the secret of success, it seems. Raha adds, “Talking to others, I know now that my experience is in no way unique -- anyone who has truly excelled in anything has fallen in love.”
*****
Matthew 22:34-46
A Whole City Seeks to Love Their Neighbors
In 2010, the city of Seattle made a commitment to become a more compassionate city. The mayor and city council together signed a document pledging the city to a ten-year effort to become more compassionate. Rabbi Ted Falcon writes about this process, “What is so important about compassion that it merits the focus of a ten-year plan for our cities? Compassion is feeling the pain of another and seeking to alleviate it. Compassion is feeling the joy of another and seeking to support it. While compassion, in its narrowest sense, means ‘to suffer pain with another,’ it goes beyond empathy to require compassionate action in the world. In the words of psychologist Arthur Jersild, ‘Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity. It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment.’ Compassionate action is a way of being most truly human.”
Rabbi Falcon adds that “compassion is one of the most basic teachings not only of every religious tradition, but of secular and humanistic traditions as well.” Loving our neighbors is important enough for a whole city to take it on as a discipline.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
People: From everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Leader: Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love.
People: May we rejoice and be glad all our days.
Leader: Let the favor of our God be upon us.
People: O prosper the work of our hands!
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who gives us birth.
People: We praise our God who gives us life.
Leader: Sing praises to the God who cares for us with tenderness.
People: We lift our voices to the God of Compassion.
Leader: Share God’s love and care with those around you.
People: As we have received God’s care, we will give to others.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”
found in:
UMH: 89
H82: 376
PH: 464
AAHH: 120
NNBH: 40
NCH: 4
CH: 2
LBW: 551
ELA: 836
W&P: 59
AMEC: 75
STLT: 29
“Now Thank We All Our God”
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396, 397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533, 534
ELA: 839, 840
W&P: 14
AMEC: 573
STLT: 32
“The King of Love My Shepherd Is”
found in:
UMH: 138
H82: 645, 646
PH: 171
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELA: 502
Renew: 106
“Jesus, Lover of My Soul”
found in:
UMH: 479
H82: 689
PH: 303
NCH: 546
CH: 542
W&P: 439
AMEC: 253, 254
“Where Charity and Love Prevail”
found in:
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 359
“Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life”
found in:
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELA: 719
W&P: 591
AMEC: 561
“Jesus’ Hands Were Kind Hands”
found in:
UMH: 273
W&P: 634
“O Christ, the Healer”
found in:
UMH: 265
NCH: 175
CH: 503
LBW: 360
ELA: 610
W&P: 638
Renew: 191
“Your Loving Kindness Is Better than Life”
found in:
CCB: 26
“The Steadfast Love of the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 28
Renew: 23
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who cares for us with infinite tenderness: Grant us the grace to join those among us who are committed to caring for those most in need; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
You, O God, care for us with infinite tenderness and compassion. Receive our praise and open our hearts to your Spirit, that we may join our brothers and sisters who care for those who are most in need. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we care for our own wants at the expense of the needs of others.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have received so much beyond our needs, and yet we are always reaching out for more. We are so focused on ourselves that we are blind to those in need around us. We are so worried about people caring for us that we are numb to the pain of others. Forgive us, and renew us in your Spirit which calls for compassion and care for all. Amen.
Leader: God does care for us even more than a loving, human parent can. Receive God’s love and forgiveness and share it with others.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise and adore you, O God, for you are the Compassionate One.
(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 so much beyond our needs, and yet we are always reaching out for more. We are so focused on ourselves that we are blind to those in need around us. We are so worried about people caring for us that we are numb to the pain of others. Forgive us, and renew us in your Spirit which calls for compassion and care for all.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which your love and care for us has been made known. We thank you for the presence of your Spirit within and around us. We thank you for the ways in which your Spirit cares for us through the care and compassion of others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their needs, and especially for those who are sick and injured. We pray for those who are suffering with Ebola, and for those who are terrified they or their loved ones may become infected.
(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
Talk to the children about when they get hurt. Do they go to someone, like their mom, to take care of their hurt? Or to someone who takes care of them when they are sick? It is nice to have someone you know will take care of you. God wants everyone who is sick or hurting to be taken care of, because God loves all of us. Some people do God’s work of taking care of hurting or sick people: parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, etc. Let us give thanks to God for these people.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Who’s Your Neighbor?
Matthew 22:34-46
Object: envelopes with colored cards inside (all the same color)
Jesus talked a lot about how we should all love our neighbors and help them out when they need help. People in his time, however, and people today are not always sure who their neighbor is. I thought we would play a little game this morning to help us see who our neighbors are. I brought these envelopes, and inside each envelope there is a colored card. I’m going to give each one of you an envelope, and I want you to look at your card and try to find someone else who has the same color. Let’s see how many of you can find a neighbor who has the same color card. (Let the children open the envelopes and match up with another child who has the same color. Since all the cards are the same color, it won’t take long.)
That was easy, wasn’t it? Why was it so easy to find someone with your same color? (Let them answer.) Yes, it was easy because you all had the same color. Everyone here was a neighbor, and that’s the whole point the game makes. Everyone is our neighbor. All the people in the whole world are our neighbors, and God wants us to love them all. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbors, he means we should love everyone. Let’s ask Jesus to help us do that.
Prayer: Dear Jesus: Please help us remember that everyone in the world is our neighbor and that you want us to love all of them as we love ourselves. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, October 26, 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.
