Everything Grows From Common Ground
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For February 16, 2020:
Everything Grows From Common Ground
by Tom Willadsen
Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Matthew 5:21-37, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Psalm 119:1-8
The biggest news stories of the past week are the acquittal of President Trump in the impeachment trial, and the president’s gleeful, gloating response to being acquitted; the difficulties in tallying the votes in the Iowa Caucuses; and the Coronavirus. These stories have covered virtually all the “band width” of the news cycle. Are the fires still raging in Australia? One has to dig pretty deep to find out. (They are; though heavy rains on February 7 put about 1/3 of the fires out and helped fire fighters make substantial progress on the others burning in the Australian state of New South Wales.)
What does the president’s acquittal—nearly totally along party lines, 3,700 passengers quarantined on a cruise ship in Yokohama harbor and Paul’s advice to a divided church in Corinth have in common? What do they have to say to Democrats who are exhibiting stark divisions among the followers of a large field of candidates? Read on.
In the News
There’s an interesting contrast in the top news stories this week. The divisions in the United States were on stark display at President Trump’s State of the Union Address. He snubbed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi by refusing to shake her hand. As the speech concluded Pelosi stood and tore the text of the President’s speech.
The day after being acquitted in the Senate vote, the President used his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast to ridicule and belittle the faith of his opponents.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party continues to reel from the botched tally at the Iowa Caucuses and stunning lack of unity among the large field of candidates.
In some ways the Democrats’ situation mirrors that of the Corinthian church. Divided by factions, they are unable to recognize that their lack of unity not only saps their energy and that of potential voters, it distracts from what should be the obvious gift of a common enemy to unify around. For now, it appears that there are four candidates of nearly equal strength and appeal and the forces driving them apart have the upper hand against those that could draw them together.
Then there’s that ship in the Yokohama harbor. About 3,700 people are quarantined on the Diamond Princess because an infected passenger, who left the ship in Hong Kong, had the virus while on board. At this point 64 people on the ship have been diagnosed with the virus. “Vana Mendizabal is one of hundreds of Americans stuck on the cruise ship halfway around the world, in a confinement that is one of the strange repercussions of the Coronavirus epidemic that was first documented in Wuhan, China, in December. Since then, more than 34,000 people have been infected and more than 720 people have died — most of them in China. Cases have also been recorded in more than two dozen countries.”
It may be that the fastest way off the Diamond Princess is to get the virus and then be air-lifted to a hospital in Japan. The quarantine is scheduled to last 14 days.
The Coronavirus is getting a lot of attention because it is a new virus, but it is not especially virulent, a small proportion of those who contact the virus die from it. The Chinese government is taking dramatic steps to limit the spread of the virus, but it is already having an effect on the global economy.
Perhaps we’re missing the larger picture, though. ABC News reported on January 31, 2020, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control ”10,000 people have died and 180,000 people have been hospitalized during the 2019-2020 flu season.” These numbers are for the US alone. As of February 8, 2020, 805 people have died world-wide from the Coronavirus.
In the Scriptures
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Paul addressed the Christians in Corinth as a divided people. A divided and immature people. A divided and profoundly human group of people. At the start of this lesson he contrasts their desire to be “spiritual people” with their fleshly, human reality. He goes on to remind them that they are not really people at all, but infants, as though their faith has a long way to go to reach maturity.
The divisions, which he mentioned in the first chapter of this letter, are based on which “spiritual leader” they claim allegiance to. They have a number of choices and presumably the followers of each understand their leader to be better than the others, therefore their spiritual existence is better than the others sitting next to them in the pews each Sunday morning. Paul points them to the larger picture; yes, the people work together for God’s aims and purposes, but it is the Lord alone who makes them grow. Their leaders, at best, plant seeds of faith and tend them as dutiful gardeners or farmers, but the growth only comes from God.
You might want to cite Joyce Kilmer’s classic poem “Trees” at this point:
“Poems are made by fools like me/But only God can make a tree.” Substitute “Christian” for “tree,” and you’re in harmony with Paul at this point.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
A certain demographic, call them “The MTV Era,” may be shocked that Moses is the author of the phrase “Choose life.” which appears in today’s lesson from Deuteronomy. Many people who spent the ‘80s glued to MTV first saw those words in Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” video.
Surely these words have also been coopted by those seeking to restrict abortion rights in the United States as well. Moses has something different in mind.
On the brink of entering the Promised Land, Moses gives the Israelites a few chapters’ worth of advice. He reminds the Israelites of God’s instruction and that the instruction, statues, ordinances, etc. are there for their own good. They are to obey God’s laws so that things may go well for them. To choose obedience is to choose the Lord’s path, is to choose life. Here as their 40 year journey is about to end, the Lord gives them a stark warning—and the freedom to obey. There will be consequences whatever they choose.
Psalm 119:1-8
Psalm 119 is the longest psalm, the longest chapter in the Bible. It is an acrostic, that is, each stanza of eight verses begins with a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And each line in each stanza begins with that letter. It’s an amazing work of poetry. Think “A, You’re Adorable” times 176. The acrostic effect is lost in translation. Still, the psalm reflects a classic Hebrew poetic style of rhyming meanings. English poetry rhymes with sounds; good Hebrew style rhymes meanings. The need to rhyme meanings gives the psalm, even just these first verses, a repetitive feel. I count seven different terms for “rules” and “statutes” is used twice. The psalmist is clearly in love the Torah, delighting in its study.
Matthew 5:21-37
Immediately before today’s reading, Jesus tells those listening to The Sermon on the Mount that their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees are experts in the law; Jesus is setting a very, very high bar for his followers. Too often as we read the gospels we think of the scribes and Pharisees (and priests and Sadducees) as only foils for Christ’s teaching. We should afford those groups the same respect that Jesus extends to them.
In the antitheses that Jesus employs in this reading, he says, in effect, every single one of you is guilty. When he was a candidate for President, Jimmy Carter famously said in an interview in Playboy that he had “lusted in my heart.” He was citing this very passage. Killing someone is wrong, but Jesus makes things more consequential. Merely being angry with someone, or calling them “fool” is the same as murder, Jesus says.
The concluding portion of this pericope, regarding swearing oaths has an interesting, modern expression. There are certain sects of Christianity who will “affirm” or “attest” but not swear. In Australia, for example, oaths are considered as recognizing God, while affirmations have the same legal effect without reference to any deity. In the United States lying after swearing an oath or making an affirmation are both considered perjury. There are some sects within Christianity who will never swear to anything, taking Jesus’ words quite literally.
It appears that Jesus’ point is that one should simply tell the truth, without calling on God to back up one’s words.
In the Sermon
In the news there are competing narratives. Certainly the division in the United States this week is inescapable, as is the division in the Democratic Party. It’s easy to be divided, partisan. It takes work, engagement and compromise to be united. A bumper sticker I saw today said “Hate is easy. Love takes courage.” Perhaps we’re taking the easy way out. Like the Corinthians who form community around those who brought them to the faith, we avoid the messy work of collaborating and building community.
Contrast our national divisions with the forced separation of people who are quarantined because of the Coronavirus. This reminds us that there are some times, some situations, when separation and stark division is needed for the common good. Even on a luxury ocean liner, 14 days can get pretty boring, pretty fast. Passengers are confined to their cabins, some of which do not have windows. While passengers are permitted to walk on the decks, they are required to wear masks and stay at least one meter away from other passengers.
There is safety in isolation. There is comfort in our partisan echo chambers. We like our silos. There are certainly moments, like when facing a deadly disease outbreak, when separation, even isolation, are in everyone’s best interest. Those cases, however, are rare and clearly defined.
It’s much harder to be work for unity and look for common ground. Paul points out, however, that everything grows from common ground. Oh sure, faithful, conscientious people tend the seeds that the Lord has used people to plant, but ultimately for the ground to yield what we need to live, we are dependent on the Lord, the Giver of Sun, Seed, Soil and Water. It is the Lord that claims all people as children. It is gratitude to the Giver of All Good Things that should drive us to work together, reach across divisions, span party lines and bust out of our silos. It’s easier to sneer at a rival, belittle an opponent and publically rip to spreads words that one disagrees with. We’re called to work harder. We’re called to work differently. We’re called to a different kind a faith, courage to seek unity with those people over there.
Amen.
SECOND THOUGHTS
The Forest or The Trees
by Bethany Peerbolte
Matthew 5:21-37
Hot days and long sermons do not complement each other. I do not know what the weather was like the day Jesus first spoke these words, but it does appear to have been a long sermon. I can imagine someone sitting in the crowd half-listening to Jesus speaking because another someone has caught their eye across the crowd. A well-made human who knows exactly how to sit to show their figure. As the onlooker lets their mind wander to less Godly things, they hear Jesus say, “if you so much as LOOK”. Suddenly their attention snaps back to the sermon.
This section from Jesus’ extensive sermon compels believers to really consider what “lust” means. It is not just a physical action. Lust can live in our eyes and in our thoughts as well. Jesus teaches that even looking at a woman and thinking about her for one's own sexual pleasure qualifies as sinful. The sin is so dire that one should consider plucking out the eye that caused the sin or getting rid of the limb that leads one down the path of sin. What you see and what you think is just as important as what you do.
Seeing is more than just being about to describe the colors and shapes and movements in front of you. What one sees is projected through cultural lenses, personal bias, outside influence, and so many more factors. These lenses and influences can be so powerful two people can see the same thing and describe them in completely different ways. We see this happening in the gospel itself. Matthew sees connections to Jewish culture in everything Jesus says and does. While Luke has a keen eye to see the way women add value to Jesus’ ministry. They saw and experienced the same thing yet came out with slightly, sometimes vastly, different views on what was important to tell and how to tell it.
We saw this phenomenon the Monday after the Super Bowl. When people talked about the halftime show it was either “unacceptable” or “inspirational”. Some Americans covered their eyes while others were moved to tears with happiness. I saw a post where someone said “thank goodness for a halftime show free of politics” (shhhh don’t tell them). There were also hundreds of tweets from minorities overwhelmed by pride to see their cultural sounds and moves be spotlighted. Everyone physically saw the same thing, yet our lenses interpreted what had taken place very differently. I would say we all either saw what we were looking for or what we have been conditioned to see.
The commentary from the most vocal Christians echoed this article from the Christian Post almost verbatim. Primetime TV is supposed to protect our children and the rules were not followed for this halftime show. Many realize they should not have expected much more. NFL teams have cheerleaders who are uniformed in not much more than what the two headline performers wore. Past Super Bowl halftime shows have also given ample clues as to the direction of entertainment the game seeks out. Even with all those clues, people, and especially Christians were outraged. The arguments circle around “exposing young boys” too enticing women and “not setting a good example” for the young girls. There was plenty of mom-shaming asking why two mothers would allow their children to see them act in such a way. Some even complained that the #MeToo movement held no power if women kept wearing clothes like Jennifer Lopez and Shakira wore while dancing in such a seductive manner.
In response to that argument the Chicago Tribune wrote, “the #MeToo movement, as I see it, is not meant to strip sex or pleasure from the female experience.” They argue that there is a way for girls to “just wanna have fun” without becoming sexualized. The football players roll up their uniforms showing off their mid-section and do not get balked at. Past male halftime performers have been shirtless and the public response was not that they were “asking” to be ogled. What the #MeToo movement seeks to bring to light are the ways women’s bodies are interpreted as sexual far more than a man’s. If anything this halftime show highlighted just how much work we still have to do not because of the performers' but because of the public reaction.
Jesus gave us the guideposts in these verses from Matthew. Pay attention to how you see things and what thoughts the images spark inside you. Thoughts are just as dangerous and damning as physical action. If a parent is worried about a young boy seeing the female body, reframe his gaze. He can see a shape asking to be dominated by his maleness or he can see a strong talented beautiful mother who is teaching the world about her culture. If a parent is worried about their daughter wanting to be just like these women, make sure she wants to be like them because they have fought for their dreams and developed their God-given gifts to bring joy to the world. Adult women can see a 50-year-old who is more fit than they will ever hope to be and feel discouraged. Or they can see women who have crafted their talents to reach the highest level of achievement and be inspired to be the best at their passions too. We all have a chance to see past our lenses, bias, and influence.
Jesus wanted his followers to pay attention to all the negative thoughts that pop into their head and work on adjusting their instant reactions. Taking time to notice what caused the thought and analyzing it. I like to use the “Three Gate Rule” which is normally taught for which words we should speak but I think it also applies to thoughts, and I think Jesus would agree. When we find ourselves with a thought we can ask “is it true,” “is it necessary,” “is it kind.” If a thought cannot pass through these three gates it needs further assessment and should probably stay in our head till it can pass all three gates. Jesus wants us to see the truth and we often have to work to scrub away the things that stand in the way of that revelation.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
God’s Servants, Working Together
Paul calls the squabbling church factions back to their shared work, proclaiming, “we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.” Writer Derrick Jensen sees a similar call for all of us in the world we share. He reflects, “I have on my wall that famous photograph from the Civil War of three Confederate prisoners standing by a fence after the Battle of Gettysburg. Whenever I look at it, I think about the world they saw. Flocks of passenger pigeons so large they darkened the sky for days at a time, flying sixty miles an hour and sounding like rolling thunder. Ancient forests of heart pine. Carolina parakeets. When these men lived, bison still lived on the plains by the scores of millions. Salmon still ran strong in the Columbia and other rivers up and down the Pacific coast.” He wonders what future generations will think, when we they look outside. “Will they envy us that we saw butterflies and mockingbirds, penguins and little brown bats? Will they envy us that we lived on a planet as beautiful as it still is?”
He recalls a time of illness in his own life, and its lessons. “I’ll never see a world that fully reverses its decline. Social change doesn’t happen in a moment. That’s not even how change happens on a personal level. When I got out of the hospital after a terrible flare of Crohn’s disease in my early twenties, I was so weak I couldn’t walk upstairs—to get to my bedroom, I had to crawl. It was days before I took my first walk outside. I made it out the front door and down the sidewalk only as far as the next house before I had to turn back, exhausted. In response to my frustration over my slow recovery, many times over the next several months, my mother would say to me, ‘It took a long time to get sick. It will take a long time to get better’.”
It took a long time for the churches in Corinth to get sick, and perhaps a long time to recover. The same is true in our churches. But, Jensen says, that’s no reason not to throw ourselves into the work of making the world, or the church, or ourselves, move toward health.
* * *
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Working Together, part two
While the people of the churches in Corinth proclaim their loyalty to Paul or Apollos, in our time, we give our loyalty to candidates and political parties. In this current partisan era, our elected officials have trouble working together to serve the people. Standing in the center of partisan rancor is the Rev. Barry Black, the Senate’s chaplain. Rev. Black finds common ground, even within party divisions. “While elected officials from either party don’t agree on the outcome of the impeachment trial, they could agree on how to pray for the proceedings, according to Barry Black, a Seventh-day Adventist minister and the longtime chaplain of the US Senate.
A recent article asks, “what do you pray after the US Senate votes to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment, as it did on Wednesday afternoon? You pray that God’s will be done. “I think the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane provides us with the model,” Black told CT. “The preamble to saying, ‘Let your will be done’ can be ‘Father, all things are possible for you. If it is possible, let the impeachment trial come out this way, nevertheless, not as I will but let your will be done.’ That’s the basic setup, but the dominant thematic focus should always be ‘Let your will be done.’” The minister, with his signature bow tie and deep preacher’s cadence, says that in the middle of the polarization and partisan sniping, he has urged senators and staff on both sides to seek God’s will.”
Black plays an important role in this season of upset. “People have been listening closely to Black’s prayers as the Senate has battled over the historic impeachment vote. He draws powerful phrases from his daily devotions and hours of scriptural studies. Before a full chamber of lawmakers, Black prayed the senators might be “bold as lions” one morning. Another, he pled for of “moral discernment to be used for your glory.” And one line last week caught a lot of attention: “They can’t ignore you and get away with it,” he said, “for we always reap what we sow.” Throughout the intense and contentious month-long process, Black has been encouraged by what he sees from people of faith behind the scenes.” He says, “I made a statement in one of my prayers that we needed to appreciate the fact that there are patriots on both sides of the aisle. I think they’re aware of that, and where they may have different presuppositions regarding how government best serves the people, they still respect the fact that the other side has valid concerns and valid approaches as well.”
Even in division, we can find our center in God, as Paul urges.
* * *
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Working Together, part three
Writer and loving sister Carolyn North recalls her brother Leon, who took fun seriously. Her brother understood that there are lots of ways to work for good in the world. “Leon was a renegade even as a little kid, and bless him, lived a successful life doing it his own way. He came of draft age exactly as America was entering the war in Vietnam, told us he had no intention of getting drafted and then made good on his promise by baking bread for members of the Draft Board the morning he had to appear. There, he ceremoniously cut his loaf into generous slices and handed each member of the Board a well-buttered slice, telling them that his reasons for wanting Conscientious Objector status was baked into his bread! “I could try and say it in words,” he told them, “but tasting my bread will say it much better than I could.” Amazingly, he got off! He later insisted to us that his interview was just before the lunch break and they were hungry...” Everyone is hungry for something, even draft boards, with the power of life and death, and we can find ways to harness their best impulses.
Carolyn North adds, “He already understood that creating the ‘good’ was much more effective than fighting the ‘bad’.” Reflecting on his legacy, she says, “I’ve been thinking a lot about the wisdom of taking on what is right in our world instead of waging war on what is clearly wrong. I prefer the idea of hitching rides on magic carpets, dreaming dreams with other folks who know how to work hard and play hard, creating a much more interesting world than what we’ve been handed. I know that’s where the real action is, anyway, where effective change is happening, and where our open hearts are cherished and creative fun and true friendship are the name of the game. It’s where we can experiment with new ideas and allow our minds to erase old boxes, where we can feel how everything connects to everything and where Time is ephemeral and opens easily into synchronicities. It’s where creativity grabs us up and beauty pours out even when we’re not trying; it’s where we can grow sunflowers that rise to twice our height - as my brother has done - and where we can learn to relax under pressure so that even going to the dentist can be interesting!” This is how we work together for God in the world!
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Time to choose
In a place of war and conflict, a young Syrian woman made a choice to document love and life. With her camera rolling, Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab documented both the attacks on Aleppo’s medical facilities by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad and her own daughter’s infancy. The movie “For Sama” was nominated for best documentary feature. It shows the harrowing resiliency of medical personnel caring for patients while tanks blast the hospital. One moment al-Kateab is cradling her daughter, singing to her as the whistling of incoming shells interrupts. Seconds later, the hospital is plunged into darkness. As chaos erupts, al-Kateab and others rush into a shelter. Her daughter is safe in the hands of friends who are playing peek-a-boo with face masks. As she takes her daughter into her arms, al-Kateab says, “Oh, Sama, you didn’t ask for this. You didn’t choose to be born.”
In an February 7th op-ed for the New York Times, al-Kateab shares her reasons for choosing to tell the stories of her people, even as attacks continue:
Over the past nine years, we Syrians have been killed in every way possible: by barrel bombs, shelling, guns, chemical weapons, torture, starvation.
But I believe the hardest way to be killed is in silence, so I keep telling our stories. It is my duty, my responsibility as a woman who survived. This is the fate of those who have escaped: to endlessly retell our own stories and tell the stories of others still in Syria.
When I was living through the siege of Aleppo, I thought I would be killed with my daughter. I became obsessed with the idea that if I couldn’t save myself, at least I would save the story of what happened. I filmed everything so that one day people would bear witness to all the crimes that happened in my home city and all those children wouldn’t have died in silence. I survived and I made a film.
* * *
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Picking and choosing
Educational debt was among the issues at the forefront of New Hampshire voters’ minds this week. Many voters viewed student debt as a critical issue in picking their candidates. NPR reported on how the candidate’s varying proposals — ranging from debt forgiveness to free college for all — impacted the selection process. New Hampshire has some of the highest levels of student debt in the nation.
* * *
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Choices of life and death
When My Time Comes, is a new book written by retired radio host Diane Rehm. The book mixes memoir with journalism in exploring the ethical implications of the right-to-die movement. Rehm, whose husband died from complications of Parkinson’s Disease, offers both compassion and candor in addressing the medical, moral, theological and social realities associated with dying. During an interview with the Rev. William Lamar, an AME pastor, Rehm asks “For you, Reverend Lamar, what would be a good death?” He responds, in part:
“A good death for me, Diane, would be to be surrounded by those I love, to feel like, hopefully, prayerfully, that I had fulfilled my purpose for being alive and to be able, as much as possible, to make decisions that resonate with who I am at the time of death. I would hope someone would be able to ask me and I would be able to respond, do I want this intervention, am I ready to cross over…I would hope I am cogent enough to make those decisions for myself…
Lamar concludes: “To quote John Wesley, who said on his death bed, ‘The best of all is God is with us.’ For me to feel in that decision that I am tracking with the one who I feel gives life and makes life possible…” (When My Times Comes, p. 72).
* * * * * *
From team member Ron Love
Deuteronomy 30:16
If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess
Psalm 119:3
who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways.
1 Corinthians 3:3
for you are still in the flesh
Matthew 5:24
leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
Before the tragic helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others and the pilot on Sunday, January 26, 2020, Bryant followed his uncompromising Sunday morning routine. He attended 7 a.m. Mass at the prayer chapel of Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach, California. Regarding attending Mass each week Bryant said, “It’s important to be thankful.”
* * *
After Kobe Bryant retired from Basketball, he was able to dedicate more time to his four daughters. He began to write short stories that he read to them each night at bedtime. He said the stories were embedded with “life lessons.”
* * *
Kobe Bryant became one of the NBA’s youngest-ever players when he was drafted straight out of his Philadelphia-area high school, and in twenty years went on to win five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. Practice became everything in his life. After his rookie season in 1987, Bryant turned down a movie role offered by Spike Lee in favor of more practice time on the court.
* * *
In January 2020, Katy Perry shared that she volunteers her time for the Boys & Girls Club. She gave as her reason, “I want these kids to realize how much people do care about them and are invested in their futures and education.” But there is also a personal benefit to Perry when she said, “in a chaotic world, they [children] make me believe in innocence again. Sometimes as adults we get so caught up in the cycle of fear and news and what’s going on in our world. And then you just look at these innocent children, and you’re like, ‘It’s not all crazy.’”
* * *
Josephine married George Butler, a scholar and cleric, in 1852. Together they had four children. Their only daughter, Eva died in 1863, following a fall from the staircase at their home. This led Josephine to seek solace by ministering to people with greater pain than her own. She began visiting England’s Liverpool's Brownlow Hill workhouse which led to her first involvement with prostitutes. She set up a House of Rest and an Industrial Home for them. Josephine through her own pain could understand the pain of others and dedicated her life to alleviating it.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Happy are those whose way is blameless.
People: Happy are those who walk in the way of God.
Leader: Happy are those who keep God’s decrees.
People: Happy are those who seek God with their whole heart,
Leader: We will praise you with an upright heart
People: We will observe your statutes; do not utterly forsake us.
OR
Leader: Let us praise and worship the God of Light.
People: In God is all reality seen for what it is.
Leader: The light of God opens our eyes and our hearts.
People: We long to see the truth as God reveals it.
Leader: God is Truth and God is light so let us turn to our God.
People: With God’s help we will look for the truth in all reality.
Hymns and Songs:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
UMH: 89
H82: 376
PH: 464
AAHH: 120
NNBH: 40
NCH: 4
CH: 2
LBW: 551
ELW: 836
W&P: 59
AMEC: 75
STLT: 29
Take Time to Be Holy
UMH: 395
NNBH: 306
CH: 572
W&P: 483
AMEC: 286
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
When Morning Gilds the Skies
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545/546
ELW: 853
W&P: 11
AMEC: 29
Take My Life, and Let It Be
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELW: 583/685
W&P: 466
AMEC: 292
Renew: 150
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
Renew: 145
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
UMH: 430
H82: 659/660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELW: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
Jesu, Jesu
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELW: 708
W&P: 372
CCB: 62
Renew: 289
Refiner’s Fire
CCB: 79
Open Our Eyes, Lord
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is light and sees all clearly as it really is:
Grant us the wisdom to see others with your eyes
so that we might love them rather than use them;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are light and in that light you see all creation as it truly is. We ask for your Spirit to guide us in looking at one another that we might respond by loving others rather than using them. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our tendency to see others for what they can do for us rather than for how we can love them.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as your own children. You have filled us with your life, light, and love. Yet we look around us and see others as objects to be used rather than as sisters and brothers to love. We look upon your good creation, our sister Mother Earth, and see something to use rather than to cherish as part of your creation. Open our eyes and hearts to your love that we may see rightly as your see. Amen.
Leader: God see us as the children of light we truly are and is always ready to help us live into our own reality. Accept God’s love and share it with others.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God of Light. You are the true light that reveals the reality of all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as your own children. You have filled us with your life, light, and love. Yet we look around us and see others as objects to be used rather than as sisters and brothers to love. We look upon your good creation, our sister Mother Earth, and see something to use rather than to cherish as part of your creation. Open our eyes and hearts to your love that we may see rightly as your see.
We thank you for your presence among and within us. We thank you for those who have seen us with your eyes of love and cared for us when we were unlovable. We thank you for the persistence of your love that constantly comes to claim us and unite us with you and with one another.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who are seen as unlovely and unlovable by others but who are precious in your sight. We pray for those who are seen as different and to be despised who are, in fact, your children.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Show the children some optical illusion pictures. You can find some at this website.
I particularly like the lion that is a mouse and the pig who is an owl. Talk about how we sometimes see things one way but then learn to see it another. Sometimes we look at other people and see them as being different from us. We see them as being on one side or team and we are on another. But God sees all of us as God’s own beloved children. We are learning to see each other as beloved sisters and brothers, all part of God’s family.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Ouch!
by Dean Feldmeyer
Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Matthew 5:21-37
You will need:
One old fashioned spring driven mousetrap. A long pencil.
Activity:
When the children have gathered at the front of the sanctuary have them watch as you set the trap and lay it carefully on the floor where they can all see it.
Say:
This is an old fashioned mousetrap. We used to use these for catching mice when they got into the house. You would put a little piece of cheese or peanut butter right here. Then, when the mouse ate the cheese or peanut butter he would bump that little thing right there and….
Set off the mouse trap using a pencil or some such item. (For a more dramatic effect you can use a raw hotdog but that may be too dramatic.)
When the mousetrap goes off the children will, predictably, jump back, a little surprised.
Reset the mousetrap and place it on the floor again.
Say:
So, here’s the rule when you are using this kind of mousetrap. Are you ready for the rule? Here it is: When the mousetrap is set, as it is, now, do not touch that thing with your finger. (Point to the trigger.)
If you do, what will happen?
You will probably get plenty of answers but, if don’t, use the pencil to set it off again. Reload and set it on the floor.
Right! You’ll get hurt. That bar will snap over there and pinch your finger, and it will hurt. If you break the mousetrap rule, what happens? You get hurt. Right!
So, if I break the rule and I get hurt, whose fault is that? Is it the mousetrap’s fault? NO. Is it your fault? NO. Is it God’s fault? NO. So, whose fault is it? IT’S MY FAULT! Right!
In today’s Bible lessons God and Jesus give the people rules to live by, and in the lesson from Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible the author tells us what the rules are and that, if we obey the rules, we’ll be fine. But if we break the rules we won’t be fine. In fact, we’ll be hurt. And whose fault will it be? God’s? Jesus’? Our own fault? Yes, that’s right.
If we obey the rules, we will do fine. If we disobey we’ll be hurt and it will be our own fault.
That’s a pretty important lesson for us, today, isn’t it? Now, just so we remember, let’s set the trap off one more time.
Set the trap off.
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The Immediate Word, February 16, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
- Everything Grows From Common Ground by Tom Willadsen — It’s easy belittle an opponent and publically rip to shreads words that one disagrees with. We’re called to a different kind a faith, courage to seek unity with those people over there.
- Second Thoughts: The Forest or The Trees by Bethany Peerbolte — Jesus wants us to see the truth and we often have to work to scrub away the things that stand in the way of that revelation.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Ron Love, and Chris Keating.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on learning to see with eyes of purity; divisions and their aftermath.
- Children’s sermon: Ouch! by Dean Feldmeyer — If we obey the rules, we will do fine. If we disobey we’ll be hurt and it will be our own fault.
Everything Grows From Common Groundby Tom Willadsen
Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Matthew 5:21-37, 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Psalm 119:1-8
The biggest news stories of the past week are the acquittal of President Trump in the impeachment trial, and the president’s gleeful, gloating response to being acquitted; the difficulties in tallying the votes in the Iowa Caucuses; and the Coronavirus. These stories have covered virtually all the “band width” of the news cycle. Are the fires still raging in Australia? One has to dig pretty deep to find out. (They are; though heavy rains on February 7 put about 1/3 of the fires out and helped fire fighters make substantial progress on the others burning in the Australian state of New South Wales.)
What does the president’s acquittal—nearly totally along party lines, 3,700 passengers quarantined on a cruise ship in Yokohama harbor and Paul’s advice to a divided church in Corinth have in common? What do they have to say to Democrats who are exhibiting stark divisions among the followers of a large field of candidates? Read on.
In the News
There’s an interesting contrast in the top news stories this week. The divisions in the United States were on stark display at President Trump’s State of the Union Address. He snubbed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi by refusing to shake her hand. As the speech concluded Pelosi stood and tore the text of the President’s speech.
The day after being acquitted in the Senate vote, the President used his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast to ridicule and belittle the faith of his opponents.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party continues to reel from the botched tally at the Iowa Caucuses and stunning lack of unity among the large field of candidates.
In some ways the Democrats’ situation mirrors that of the Corinthian church. Divided by factions, they are unable to recognize that their lack of unity not only saps their energy and that of potential voters, it distracts from what should be the obvious gift of a common enemy to unify around. For now, it appears that there are four candidates of nearly equal strength and appeal and the forces driving them apart have the upper hand against those that could draw them together.
Then there’s that ship in the Yokohama harbor. About 3,700 people are quarantined on the Diamond Princess because an infected passenger, who left the ship in Hong Kong, had the virus while on board. At this point 64 people on the ship have been diagnosed with the virus. “Vana Mendizabal is one of hundreds of Americans stuck on the cruise ship halfway around the world, in a confinement that is one of the strange repercussions of the Coronavirus epidemic that was first documented in Wuhan, China, in December. Since then, more than 34,000 people have been infected and more than 720 people have died — most of them in China. Cases have also been recorded in more than two dozen countries.”
It may be that the fastest way off the Diamond Princess is to get the virus and then be air-lifted to a hospital in Japan. The quarantine is scheduled to last 14 days.
The Coronavirus is getting a lot of attention because it is a new virus, but it is not especially virulent, a small proportion of those who contact the virus die from it. The Chinese government is taking dramatic steps to limit the spread of the virus, but it is already having an effect on the global economy.
Perhaps we’re missing the larger picture, though. ABC News reported on January 31, 2020, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control ”10,000 people have died and 180,000 people have been hospitalized during the 2019-2020 flu season.” These numbers are for the US alone. As of February 8, 2020, 805 people have died world-wide from the Coronavirus.
In the Scriptures
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Paul addressed the Christians in Corinth as a divided people. A divided and immature people. A divided and profoundly human group of people. At the start of this lesson he contrasts their desire to be “spiritual people” with their fleshly, human reality. He goes on to remind them that they are not really people at all, but infants, as though their faith has a long way to go to reach maturity.
The divisions, which he mentioned in the first chapter of this letter, are based on which “spiritual leader” they claim allegiance to. They have a number of choices and presumably the followers of each understand their leader to be better than the others, therefore their spiritual existence is better than the others sitting next to them in the pews each Sunday morning. Paul points them to the larger picture; yes, the people work together for God’s aims and purposes, but it is the Lord alone who makes them grow. Their leaders, at best, plant seeds of faith and tend them as dutiful gardeners or farmers, but the growth only comes from God.
You might want to cite Joyce Kilmer’s classic poem “Trees” at this point:
“Poems are made by fools like me/But only God can make a tree.” Substitute “Christian” for “tree,” and you’re in harmony with Paul at this point.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
A certain demographic, call them “The MTV Era,” may be shocked that Moses is the author of the phrase “Choose life.” which appears in today’s lesson from Deuteronomy. Many people who spent the ‘80s glued to MTV first saw those words in Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” video.
Surely these words have also been coopted by those seeking to restrict abortion rights in the United States as well. Moses has something different in mind.
On the brink of entering the Promised Land, Moses gives the Israelites a few chapters’ worth of advice. He reminds the Israelites of God’s instruction and that the instruction, statues, ordinances, etc. are there for their own good. They are to obey God’s laws so that things may go well for them. To choose obedience is to choose the Lord’s path, is to choose life. Here as their 40 year journey is about to end, the Lord gives them a stark warning—and the freedom to obey. There will be consequences whatever they choose.
Psalm 119:1-8
Psalm 119 is the longest psalm, the longest chapter in the Bible. It is an acrostic, that is, each stanza of eight verses begins with a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet. And each line in each stanza begins with that letter. It’s an amazing work of poetry. Think “A, You’re Adorable” times 176. The acrostic effect is lost in translation. Still, the psalm reflects a classic Hebrew poetic style of rhyming meanings. English poetry rhymes with sounds; good Hebrew style rhymes meanings. The need to rhyme meanings gives the psalm, even just these first verses, a repetitive feel. I count seven different terms for “rules” and “statutes” is used twice. The psalmist is clearly in love the Torah, delighting in its study.
Matthew 5:21-37
Immediately before today’s reading, Jesus tells those listening to The Sermon on the Mount that their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees are experts in the law; Jesus is setting a very, very high bar for his followers. Too often as we read the gospels we think of the scribes and Pharisees (and priests and Sadducees) as only foils for Christ’s teaching. We should afford those groups the same respect that Jesus extends to them.
In the antitheses that Jesus employs in this reading, he says, in effect, every single one of you is guilty. When he was a candidate for President, Jimmy Carter famously said in an interview in Playboy that he had “lusted in my heart.” He was citing this very passage. Killing someone is wrong, but Jesus makes things more consequential. Merely being angry with someone, or calling them “fool” is the same as murder, Jesus says.
The concluding portion of this pericope, regarding swearing oaths has an interesting, modern expression. There are certain sects of Christianity who will “affirm” or “attest” but not swear. In Australia, for example, oaths are considered as recognizing God, while affirmations have the same legal effect without reference to any deity. In the United States lying after swearing an oath or making an affirmation are both considered perjury. There are some sects within Christianity who will never swear to anything, taking Jesus’ words quite literally.
It appears that Jesus’ point is that one should simply tell the truth, without calling on God to back up one’s words.
In the Sermon
In the news there are competing narratives. Certainly the division in the United States this week is inescapable, as is the division in the Democratic Party. It’s easy to be divided, partisan. It takes work, engagement and compromise to be united. A bumper sticker I saw today said “Hate is easy. Love takes courage.” Perhaps we’re taking the easy way out. Like the Corinthians who form community around those who brought them to the faith, we avoid the messy work of collaborating and building community.
Contrast our national divisions with the forced separation of people who are quarantined because of the Coronavirus. This reminds us that there are some times, some situations, when separation and stark division is needed for the common good. Even on a luxury ocean liner, 14 days can get pretty boring, pretty fast. Passengers are confined to their cabins, some of which do not have windows. While passengers are permitted to walk on the decks, they are required to wear masks and stay at least one meter away from other passengers.
There is safety in isolation. There is comfort in our partisan echo chambers. We like our silos. There are certainly moments, like when facing a deadly disease outbreak, when separation, even isolation, are in everyone’s best interest. Those cases, however, are rare and clearly defined.
It’s much harder to be work for unity and look for common ground. Paul points out, however, that everything grows from common ground. Oh sure, faithful, conscientious people tend the seeds that the Lord has used people to plant, but ultimately for the ground to yield what we need to live, we are dependent on the Lord, the Giver of Sun, Seed, Soil and Water. It is the Lord that claims all people as children. It is gratitude to the Giver of All Good Things that should drive us to work together, reach across divisions, span party lines and bust out of our silos. It’s easier to sneer at a rival, belittle an opponent and publically rip to spreads words that one disagrees with. We’re called to work harder. We’re called to work differently. We’re called to a different kind a faith, courage to seek unity with those people over there.
Amen.
SECOND THOUGHTSThe Forest or The Trees
by Bethany Peerbolte
Matthew 5:21-37
Hot days and long sermons do not complement each other. I do not know what the weather was like the day Jesus first spoke these words, but it does appear to have been a long sermon. I can imagine someone sitting in the crowd half-listening to Jesus speaking because another someone has caught their eye across the crowd. A well-made human who knows exactly how to sit to show their figure. As the onlooker lets their mind wander to less Godly things, they hear Jesus say, “if you so much as LOOK”. Suddenly their attention snaps back to the sermon.
This section from Jesus’ extensive sermon compels believers to really consider what “lust” means. It is not just a physical action. Lust can live in our eyes and in our thoughts as well. Jesus teaches that even looking at a woman and thinking about her for one's own sexual pleasure qualifies as sinful. The sin is so dire that one should consider plucking out the eye that caused the sin or getting rid of the limb that leads one down the path of sin. What you see and what you think is just as important as what you do.
Seeing is more than just being about to describe the colors and shapes and movements in front of you. What one sees is projected through cultural lenses, personal bias, outside influence, and so many more factors. These lenses and influences can be so powerful two people can see the same thing and describe them in completely different ways. We see this happening in the gospel itself. Matthew sees connections to Jewish culture in everything Jesus says and does. While Luke has a keen eye to see the way women add value to Jesus’ ministry. They saw and experienced the same thing yet came out with slightly, sometimes vastly, different views on what was important to tell and how to tell it.
We saw this phenomenon the Monday after the Super Bowl. When people talked about the halftime show it was either “unacceptable” or “inspirational”. Some Americans covered their eyes while others were moved to tears with happiness. I saw a post where someone said “thank goodness for a halftime show free of politics” (shhhh don’t tell them). There were also hundreds of tweets from minorities overwhelmed by pride to see their cultural sounds and moves be spotlighted. Everyone physically saw the same thing, yet our lenses interpreted what had taken place very differently. I would say we all either saw what we were looking for or what we have been conditioned to see.
The commentary from the most vocal Christians echoed this article from the Christian Post almost verbatim. Primetime TV is supposed to protect our children and the rules were not followed for this halftime show. Many realize they should not have expected much more. NFL teams have cheerleaders who are uniformed in not much more than what the two headline performers wore. Past Super Bowl halftime shows have also given ample clues as to the direction of entertainment the game seeks out. Even with all those clues, people, and especially Christians were outraged. The arguments circle around “exposing young boys” too enticing women and “not setting a good example” for the young girls. There was plenty of mom-shaming asking why two mothers would allow their children to see them act in such a way. Some even complained that the #MeToo movement held no power if women kept wearing clothes like Jennifer Lopez and Shakira wore while dancing in such a seductive manner.
In response to that argument the Chicago Tribune wrote, “the #MeToo movement, as I see it, is not meant to strip sex or pleasure from the female experience.” They argue that there is a way for girls to “just wanna have fun” without becoming sexualized. The football players roll up their uniforms showing off their mid-section and do not get balked at. Past male halftime performers have been shirtless and the public response was not that they were “asking” to be ogled. What the #MeToo movement seeks to bring to light are the ways women’s bodies are interpreted as sexual far more than a man’s. If anything this halftime show highlighted just how much work we still have to do not because of the performers' but because of the public reaction.
Jesus gave us the guideposts in these verses from Matthew. Pay attention to how you see things and what thoughts the images spark inside you. Thoughts are just as dangerous and damning as physical action. If a parent is worried about a young boy seeing the female body, reframe his gaze. He can see a shape asking to be dominated by his maleness or he can see a strong talented beautiful mother who is teaching the world about her culture. If a parent is worried about their daughter wanting to be just like these women, make sure she wants to be like them because they have fought for their dreams and developed their God-given gifts to bring joy to the world. Adult women can see a 50-year-old who is more fit than they will ever hope to be and feel discouraged. Or they can see women who have crafted their talents to reach the highest level of achievement and be inspired to be the best at their passions too. We all have a chance to see past our lenses, bias, and influence.
Jesus wanted his followers to pay attention to all the negative thoughts that pop into their head and work on adjusting their instant reactions. Taking time to notice what caused the thought and analyzing it. I like to use the “Three Gate Rule” which is normally taught for which words we should speak but I think it also applies to thoughts, and I think Jesus would agree. When we find ourselves with a thought we can ask “is it true,” “is it necessary,” “is it kind.” If a thought cannot pass through these three gates it needs further assessment and should probably stay in our head till it can pass all three gates. Jesus wants us to see the truth and we often have to work to scrub away the things that stand in the way of that revelation.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:1 Corinthians 3:1-9
God’s Servants, Working Together
Paul calls the squabbling church factions back to their shared work, proclaiming, “we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.” Writer Derrick Jensen sees a similar call for all of us in the world we share. He reflects, “I have on my wall that famous photograph from the Civil War of three Confederate prisoners standing by a fence after the Battle of Gettysburg. Whenever I look at it, I think about the world they saw. Flocks of passenger pigeons so large they darkened the sky for days at a time, flying sixty miles an hour and sounding like rolling thunder. Ancient forests of heart pine. Carolina parakeets. When these men lived, bison still lived on the plains by the scores of millions. Salmon still ran strong in the Columbia and other rivers up and down the Pacific coast.” He wonders what future generations will think, when we they look outside. “Will they envy us that we saw butterflies and mockingbirds, penguins and little brown bats? Will they envy us that we lived on a planet as beautiful as it still is?”
He recalls a time of illness in his own life, and its lessons. “I’ll never see a world that fully reverses its decline. Social change doesn’t happen in a moment. That’s not even how change happens on a personal level. When I got out of the hospital after a terrible flare of Crohn’s disease in my early twenties, I was so weak I couldn’t walk upstairs—to get to my bedroom, I had to crawl. It was days before I took my first walk outside. I made it out the front door and down the sidewalk only as far as the next house before I had to turn back, exhausted. In response to my frustration over my slow recovery, many times over the next several months, my mother would say to me, ‘It took a long time to get sick. It will take a long time to get better’.”
It took a long time for the churches in Corinth to get sick, and perhaps a long time to recover. The same is true in our churches. But, Jensen says, that’s no reason not to throw ourselves into the work of making the world, or the church, or ourselves, move toward health.
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1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Working Together, part two
While the people of the churches in Corinth proclaim their loyalty to Paul or Apollos, in our time, we give our loyalty to candidates and political parties. In this current partisan era, our elected officials have trouble working together to serve the people. Standing in the center of partisan rancor is the Rev. Barry Black, the Senate’s chaplain. Rev. Black finds common ground, even within party divisions. “While elected officials from either party don’t agree on the outcome of the impeachment trial, they could agree on how to pray for the proceedings, according to Barry Black, a Seventh-day Adventist minister and the longtime chaplain of the US Senate.
A recent article asks, “what do you pray after the US Senate votes to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment, as it did on Wednesday afternoon? You pray that God’s will be done. “I think the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane provides us with the model,” Black told CT. “The preamble to saying, ‘Let your will be done’ can be ‘Father, all things are possible for you. If it is possible, let the impeachment trial come out this way, nevertheless, not as I will but let your will be done.’ That’s the basic setup, but the dominant thematic focus should always be ‘Let your will be done.’” The minister, with his signature bow tie and deep preacher’s cadence, says that in the middle of the polarization and partisan sniping, he has urged senators and staff on both sides to seek God’s will.”
Black plays an important role in this season of upset. “People have been listening closely to Black’s prayers as the Senate has battled over the historic impeachment vote. He draws powerful phrases from his daily devotions and hours of scriptural studies. Before a full chamber of lawmakers, Black prayed the senators might be “bold as lions” one morning. Another, he pled for of “moral discernment to be used for your glory.” And one line last week caught a lot of attention: “They can’t ignore you and get away with it,” he said, “for we always reap what we sow.” Throughout the intense and contentious month-long process, Black has been encouraged by what he sees from people of faith behind the scenes.” He says, “I made a statement in one of my prayers that we needed to appreciate the fact that there are patriots on both sides of the aisle. I think they’re aware of that, and where they may have different presuppositions regarding how government best serves the people, they still respect the fact that the other side has valid concerns and valid approaches as well.”
Even in division, we can find our center in God, as Paul urges.
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1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Working Together, part three
Writer and loving sister Carolyn North recalls her brother Leon, who took fun seriously. Her brother understood that there are lots of ways to work for good in the world. “Leon was a renegade even as a little kid, and bless him, lived a successful life doing it his own way. He came of draft age exactly as America was entering the war in Vietnam, told us he had no intention of getting drafted and then made good on his promise by baking bread for members of the Draft Board the morning he had to appear. There, he ceremoniously cut his loaf into generous slices and handed each member of the Board a well-buttered slice, telling them that his reasons for wanting Conscientious Objector status was baked into his bread! “I could try and say it in words,” he told them, “but tasting my bread will say it much better than I could.” Amazingly, he got off! He later insisted to us that his interview was just before the lunch break and they were hungry...” Everyone is hungry for something, even draft boards, with the power of life and death, and we can find ways to harness their best impulses.
Carolyn North adds, “He already understood that creating the ‘good’ was much more effective than fighting the ‘bad’.” Reflecting on his legacy, she says, “I’ve been thinking a lot about the wisdom of taking on what is right in our world instead of waging war on what is clearly wrong. I prefer the idea of hitching rides on magic carpets, dreaming dreams with other folks who know how to work hard and play hard, creating a much more interesting world than what we’ve been handed. I know that’s where the real action is, anyway, where effective change is happening, and where our open hearts are cherished and creative fun and true friendship are the name of the game. It’s where we can experiment with new ideas and allow our minds to erase old boxes, where we can feel how everything connects to everything and where Time is ephemeral and opens easily into synchronicities. It’s where creativity grabs us up and beauty pours out even when we’re not trying; it’s where we can grow sunflowers that rise to twice our height - as my brother has done - and where we can learn to relax under pressure so that even going to the dentist can be interesting!” This is how we work together for God in the world!
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From team member Chris Keating:Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Time to choose
In a place of war and conflict, a young Syrian woman made a choice to document love and life. With her camera rolling, Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab documented both the attacks on Aleppo’s medical facilities by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad and her own daughter’s infancy. The movie “For Sama” was nominated for best documentary feature. It shows the harrowing resiliency of medical personnel caring for patients while tanks blast the hospital. One moment al-Kateab is cradling her daughter, singing to her as the whistling of incoming shells interrupts. Seconds later, the hospital is plunged into darkness. As chaos erupts, al-Kateab and others rush into a shelter. Her daughter is safe in the hands of friends who are playing peek-a-boo with face masks. As she takes her daughter into her arms, al-Kateab says, “Oh, Sama, you didn’t ask for this. You didn’t choose to be born.”
In an February 7th op-ed for the New York Times, al-Kateab shares her reasons for choosing to tell the stories of her people, even as attacks continue:
Over the past nine years, we Syrians have been killed in every way possible: by barrel bombs, shelling, guns, chemical weapons, torture, starvation.
But I believe the hardest way to be killed is in silence, so I keep telling our stories. It is my duty, my responsibility as a woman who survived. This is the fate of those who have escaped: to endlessly retell our own stories and tell the stories of others still in Syria.
When I was living through the siege of Aleppo, I thought I would be killed with my daughter. I became obsessed with the idea that if I couldn’t save myself, at least I would save the story of what happened. I filmed everything so that one day people would bear witness to all the crimes that happened in my home city and all those children wouldn’t have died in silence. I survived and I made a film.
* * *
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Picking and choosing
Educational debt was among the issues at the forefront of New Hampshire voters’ minds this week. Many voters viewed student debt as a critical issue in picking their candidates. NPR reported on how the candidate’s varying proposals — ranging from debt forgiveness to free college for all — impacted the selection process. New Hampshire has some of the highest levels of student debt in the nation.
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Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Choices of life and death
When My Time Comes, is a new book written by retired radio host Diane Rehm. The book mixes memoir with journalism in exploring the ethical implications of the right-to-die movement. Rehm, whose husband died from complications of Parkinson’s Disease, offers both compassion and candor in addressing the medical, moral, theological and social realities associated with dying. During an interview with the Rev. William Lamar, an AME pastor, Rehm asks “For you, Reverend Lamar, what would be a good death?” He responds, in part:
“A good death for me, Diane, would be to be surrounded by those I love, to feel like, hopefully, prayerfully, that I had fulfilled my purpose for being alive and to be able, as much as possible, to make decisions that resonate with who I am at the time of death. I would hope someone would be able to ask me and I would be able to respond, do I want this intervention, am I ready to cross over…I would hope I am cogent enough to make those decisions for myself…
Lamar concludes: “To quote John Wesley, who said on his death bed, ‘The best of all is God is with us.’ For me to feel in that decision that I am tracking with the one who I feel gives life and makes life possible…” (When My Times Comes, p. 72).
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From team member Ron LoveDeuteronomy 30:16
If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess
Psalm 119:3
who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways.
1 Corinthians 3:3
for you are still in the flesh
Matthew 5:24
leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.
Before the tragic helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others and the pilot on Sunday, January 26, 2020, Bryant followed his uncompromising Sunday morning routine. He attended 7 a.m. Mass at the prayer chapel of Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Newport Beach, California. Regarding attending Mass each week Bryant said, “It’s important to be thankful.”
* * *
After Kobe Bryant retired from Basketball, he was able to dedicate more time to his four daughters. He began to write short stories that he read to them each night at bedtime. He said the stories were embedded with “life lessons.”
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Kobe Bryant became one of the NBA’s youngest-ever players when he was drafted straight out of his Philadelphia-area high school, and in twenty years went on to win five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. Practice became everything in his life. After his rookie season in 1987, Bryant turned down a movie role offered by Spike Lee in favor of more practice time on the court.
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In January 2020, Katy Perry shared that she volunteers her time for the Boys & Girls Club. She gave as her reason, “I want these kids to realize how much people do care about them and are invested in their futures and education.” But there is also a personal benefit to Perry when she said, “in a chaotic world, they [children] make me believe in innocence again. Sometimes as adults we get so caught up in the cycle of fear and news and what’s going on in our world. And then you just look at these innocent children, and you’re like, ‘It’s not all crazy.’”
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Josephine married George Butler, a scholar and cleric, in 1852. Together they had four children. Their only daughter, Eva died in 1863, following a fall from the staircase at their home. This led Josephine to seek solace by ministering to people with greater pain than her own. She began visiting England’s Liverpool's Brownlow Hill workhouse which led to her first involvement with prostitutes. She set up a House of Rest and an Industrial Home for them. Josephine through her own pain could understand the pain of others and dedicated her life to alleviating it.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Happy are those whose way is blameless.
People: Happy are those who walk in the way of God.
Leader: Happy are those who keep God’s decrees.
People: Happy are those who seek God with their whole heart,
Leader: We will praise you with an upright heart
People: We will observe your statutes; do not utterly forsake us.
OR
Leader: Let us praise and worship the God of Light.
People: In God is all reality seen for what it is.
Leader: The light of God opens our eyes and our hearts.
People: We long to see the truth as God reveals it.
Leader: God is Truth and God is light so let us turn to our God.
People: With God’s help we will look for the truth in all reality.
Hymns and Songs:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
UMH: 89
H82: 376
PH: 464
AAHH: 120
NNBH: 40
NCH: 4
CH: 2
LBW: 551
ELW: 836
W&P: 59
AMEC: 75
STLT: 29
Take Time to Be Holy
UMH: 395
NNBH: 306
CH: 572
W&P: 483
AMEC: 286
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
When Morning Gilds the Skies
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545/546
ELW: 853
W&P: 11
AMEC: 29
Take My Life, and Let It Be
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELW: 583/685
W&P: 466
AMEC: 292
Renew: 150
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
Renew: 145
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
UMH: 430
H82: 659/660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELW: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
Jesu, Jesu
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELW: 708
W&P: 372
CCB: 62
Renew: 289
Refiner’s Fire
CCB: 79
Open Our Eyes, Lord
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is light and sees all clearly as it really is:
Grant us the wisdom to see others with your eyes
so that we might love them rather than use them;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are light and in that light you see all creation as it truly is. We ask for your Spirit to guide us in looking at one another that we might respond by loving others rather than using them. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our tendency to see others for what they can do for us rather than for how we can love them.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as your own children. You have filled us with your life, light, and love. Yet we look around us and see others as objects to be used rather than as sisters and brothers to love. We look upon your good creation, our sister Mother Earth, and see something to use rather than to cherish as part of your creation. Open our eyes and hearts to your love that we may see rightly as your see. Amen.
Leader: God see us as the children of light we truly are and is always ready to help us live into our own reality. Accept God’s love and share it with others.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God of Light. You are the true light that reveals the reality of all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as your own children. You have filled us with your life, light, and love. Yet we look around us and see others as objects to be used rather than as sisters and brothers to love. We look upon your good creation, our sister Mother Earth, and see something to use rather than to cherish as part of your creation. Open our eyes and hearts to your love that we may see rightly as your see.
We thank you for your presence among and within us. We thank you for those who have seen us with your eyes of love and cared for us when we were unlovable. We thank you for the persistence of your love that constantly comes to claim us and unite us with you and with one another.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who are seen as unlovely and unlovable by others but who are precious in your sight. We pray for those who are seen as different and to be despised who are, in fact, your children.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Show the children some optical illusion pictures. You can find some at this website.
I particularly like the lion that is a mouse and the pig who is an owl. Talk about how we sometimes see things one way but then learn to see it another. Sometimes we look at other people and see them as being different from us. We see them as being on one side or team and we are on another. But God sees all of us as God’s own beloved children. We are learning to see each other as beloved sisters and brothers, all part of God’s family.
CHILDREN'S SERMONOuch!
by Dean Feldmeyer
Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Matthew 5:21-37
You will need:
One old fashioned spring driven mousetrap. A long pencil.
Activity:
When the children have gathered at the front of the sanctuary have them watch as you set the trap and lay it carefully on the floor where they can all see it.
Say:
This is an old fashioned mousetrap. We used to use these for catching mice when they got into the house. You would put a little piece of cheese or peanut butter right here. Then, when the mouse ate the cheese or peanut butter he would bump that little thing right there and….
Set off the mouse trap using a pencil or some such item. (For a more dramatic effect you can use a raw hotdog but that may be too dramatic.)
When the mousetrap goes off the children will, predictably, jump back, a little surprised.
Reset the mousetrap and place it on the floor again.
Say:
So, here’s the rule when you are using this kind of mousetrap. Are you ready for the rule? Here it is: When the mousetrap is set, as it is, now, do not touch that thing with your finger. (Point to the trigger.)
If you do, what will happen?
You will probably get plenty of answers but, if don’t, use the pencil to set it off again. Reload and set it on the floor.
Right! You’ll get hurt. That bar will snap over there and pinch your finger, and it will hurt. If you break the mousetrap rule, what happens? You get hurt. Right!
So, if I break the rule and I get hurt, whose fault is that? Is it the mousetrap’s fault? NO. Is it your fault? NO. Is it God’s fault? NO. So, whose fault is it? IT’S MY FAULT! Right!
In today’s Bible lessons God and Jesus give the people rules to live by, and in the lesson from Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible the author tells us what the rules are and that, if we obey the rules, we’ll be fine. But if we break the rules we won’t be fine. In fact, we’ll be hurt. And whose fault will it be? God’s? Jesus’? Our own fault? Yes, that’s right.
If we obey the rules, we will do fine. If we disobey we’ll be hurt and it will be our own fault.
That’s a pretty important lesson for us, today, isn’t it? Now, just so we remember, let’s set the trap off one more time.
Set the trap off.
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The Immediate Word, February 16, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
