Jesus' Feedback Sandwich
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For February 5, 2023:
Jesus’ Feedback Sandwich
by Tom Willadsen
Matthew 5:13-20, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Decades before I heard about The Sandwich Approach to giving constructive criticism (You bring great enthusiasm to this, you might want to work on your presentation, but I know you’ve got what it takes to succeed!) a member of the church I served, who had been a therapist in an elementary school for 30 years, gave me this advice:
Always start by saying something positive, even if it’s “I can tell by the way you’re swinging from the light fixture that you’ve got excellent upper body strength.”
Jesus does exactly that in the Sermon on the Mount. Nine times he begins thoughts with “Blessed.” Then he switches to who/what his followers already are: salt and light.
But there’s an underside, or perhaps one should say a middle, in Jesus’ Feedback Sandwich: mourning, hunger, thirst, even persecution. Is this any way to attract followers?
In the Scriptures
The lectionary begins today’s gospel lesson at v. 13, but I suggest moving the start back to v. 11. At v. 11 Jesus switches from third person to second person. He goes from general to personal. One could read this text as though one’s status as salt and light depends on having already suffered for the sake of the gospel. For the record, being a prophet is no walk in the park. Just ask Jeremiah. Actually, you don’t have to ask Jeremiah; he’ll tell you all about how he suffered as the Lord’s mouthpiece; How he tried to keep the Lord’s words inside himself, but that he couldn’t keep from speaking them. Jeremiah was not a bullfrog; he was a prophet with an irresistible call and he was hammered for it. This is the retirement plan Jesus hints at in v. 12, “in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” And yet, there is also blessing:
Blessed are you when people revile you….
You are the salt of the earth….
You are the light of the world….
At verse 11 in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gets personal.
Today’s Isaiah passage echoes last week’s passage from Micah. The people are upset that their conspicuous ritual observance doesn’t seem to win the Lord’s favor. We’re fasting here, God, don’t you see us? We’re being really good! Now that we’re on the Nice List, show us the money!
In v. 4 the Lord replies to the whining fasters, “Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.” There may be something more going on, though. TinyBuddha.com recently opined, “80% of arguments start because someone hasn’t eaten yet.” In 2018 Merriam-Webster.com added “hangry” to its dictionary. Hangry is a portmanteau of “hungry” and “angry,” a medically validated phenomenon during which people are more irritable because of low blood sugar. So maybe the fasting itself was causing the people to “strike with a wicked fist.” Think of this as the opposite of the Twinkie Defense.
Today’s lesson from Isaiah reminds the people that the real enemy is injustice and the way to win the Lord’s favor is by caring for the weak, marginalized and vulnerable. Perhaps the food you don’t eat because you’re fasting could be given to the poor who are starving. The difference is having the freedom to choose whether one eats.
It is not a stretch to think of “the bonds of injustice” and “the thongs of the yoke,” not as incarceration but more broadly as crippling debt or the anti-freedom of addiction.
In the News
Well, let’s see… the most recent mass shootings were all in California, a state with very strict gun regulations. Clearly, stricter regulations are not an appropriate response to gun violence. After all, guns don’t kill people; bullets kill people.
Congress is much more concerned about bickering over the debt limit, negotiating whether the full faith and credit of the United States means anything. Why should we pay bills for things we’ve already received? The clear solution is to cut programs to the elderly and vulnerable. Are we spending enough on defense yet?
How many tanks should we send to Ukraine?
The atmospheric rivers have stopped soaking California. The cleanup has begun. The drought situation has improved enormously, though it will take several more seasons of extraordinary precipitation to end the drought.
George Santos was caught on a sound recording telling the truth. No, that hasn’t actually happened, per se.
Next Sunday is the Super Bowl, America’s #1 Secular Holiday! Perhaps more importantly, the Souper Bowl of Caring will also take place. Last year more than 4,000 organizations raised more than $3 million to fight hunger at the local level. This year, participants are asked:
What if everyone
watching a football
game donated
$1 or 1 can of food to a
local food charity?
It would be a
GAME CHANGER!
The Souper Bowl of Caring was begun in 1990 at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. The Reverend Brad Smith gave this simple prayer:
Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat.
That year 21 churches joined with Pastor Smith’s church and raised $5,700.
In the Sermon
Next Sunday two cities are going to anticipate the most watched athletic contest of the year. One team will carry home the Vince Lombardi Trophy and its city will hold a joyous parade honoring their champions. As television viewing habits have changed in the last decade, the Super Bowl has emerged as a nearly unique television event, one that millions of people watch at the same time. It is commonly accepted that incidents of domestic violence rise in the city of the loser of the Super Bowl, but that is disputed. The Super Bowl has been an occasion to shed light on the problems of domestic violence and human sex trafficking, even though both problems are pervasive year round.
Some years the television ads and the fees they command are of more interest than the actual game. Then there was the year of the infamous “Wardrobe Malfunction” at the Super Bowl halftime show. Anyone remember what song Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake were singing when Ms. Jackson’s right breast, covered with a nipple star, was exposed for about 1 second on national television? Or who was playing in the game? (The New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29. “Rock Your Body” was the song.)
Perhaps we can think of the Super Bowl as a sort of reversal of Jesus’ pattern in the Sermon on the Mount. The game itself can draw people together. Public service announcements during the broadcast about hunger, domestic violence, and human trafficking may raise the public’s awareness of the very issues that keep our nation from true peace and security.
The connection between salt and the high sodium content of canned soup may seem obvious to some. But responding to hunger during this Bread and Circuses moment of national distraction may be exactly the kind of light that Jesus calls us to shine brightly and broadly.
SECOND THOUGHTS
A Sure-Fire Cure
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Matthew 5:13-20
In a men’s prison just outside Managua, Nicaragua:
We had gone to Nicaragua to help build a school and a medical clinic and Sunday was supposed to be a day off for rest and some sightseeing. But some of the locals said they were going to the prison a few miles away to help a small, Pentecostal church lead a worship service that afternoon and they invited us to come along. About a dozen of us took them up on their invitation.
About 50-60 inmates attended the open-air service, one of the most raucous worship events I’ve ever experienced. There was singing and dancing, shouting and praying, crying and prophesying, and more singing and dancing. My group of American, suburban, white young adults participated, well, cautiously, I guess you’d say. After an hour and a half in the 90-degree heat we were all pretty much exhausted and the leader of the Pentecostal group told us there was one other thing we had to do.
She directed us to some cardboard boxes in which were plastic bags full of toiletries — tooth brushes and paste, bar soap, washcloths, deodorant, hand towels, toilet tissue, that kind of thing. She handed each of us a few bags and then instructed us in her broken English that, when we gave them to the inmates we were to say: “En el nombre de Jesucristo.” In the name of Jesus Christ.
One member of my group looked puzzled and the lady handing out the bags responded with the help of one of her church members serving as interpreter: “It means that you are giving these gifts not because you are rich, blessed, moral, white Americans but because you are disciples of Jesus Christ and he has told you to do so.”
In the News/Culture
Evangelism has become something of a naughty word among modern, progressive, members of the old line, protestant churches. And, let’s face it, sometimes we are right to cringe when the word is brought up.
Debie Thomas, writing for The Christian Century magazine (“Reclaiming the E Word,” February 2023), explains why this is so:
We don’t want to repeat the horrific sins of colonialist Christianity. We don’t want to come across as judgmental or obtrusive. We don’t want to be associated with fundamentalist Bible-thumpers. We don’t believe that the gospel is about securing fire insurance from eternal damnation. We don’t believe that we hold a monopoly on spiritual meaning, wisdom, and truth. We don’t wish to come across as false in our relationships, feigning love and care in order to manipulate people into signing on a doctrinal dotted line.
Any one of those reasons would be enough for us to change the subject when evangelism is brought up in a conversation but all of them, together, are enough to send us screaming into the night. No matter how much we love Jesus and his resurrected body, the church, we don’t know how to talk about it without unwittingly committing some offense, or being laughed at, or being dismissed out of hand as being hopelessly irrelevant.
If we bring up our religious faith in the context of a political discussion or debate, are we somehow violating the separation of church and state? Or at least the cultural taboo against mixing religion and politics in polite discussion?
If I use my religious faith to support a particular political issue does that not open the door for other religious people who disagree with me to do the same?
A group of religious leaders who support abortion rights filed a lawsuit last week, challenging Missouri’s abortion ban, saying lawmakers openly invoked their religious beliefs while drafting the measure and thereby imposed those beliefs on others who don’t share them.
“What the lawsuit says is that when you legislate your religious beliefs into law, you impose your beliefs on everyone else and force all of us to live by your own narrow beliefs,” said Michelle Banker of the National Women’s Law Center, the lead attorney in the case. “And that hurts us. That denies our basic human rights.”
The lawsuit filed in St. Louis on behalf of 13 Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist leaders seeks a permanent injunction barring the state from enforcing its abortion law and a declaration that provisions of its law violate the Missouri constitution.
So, what’s the answer? Do we say, the heck with it, and speak our hearts any time we feel like it? Or do we clam up, step back, and leave evangelism to the fundamentalists and the TV charlatans? Or is there, perhaps, a middle ground?
In the Scriptures
In Isaiah 58:1-9a, the prophet receives a message for YHWH giving him a message for the children of Israel. He has been, he says, instructed to “shout out” the message and “not hold back,” to lift up his voice, “like a trumpet.”
Isaiah then launches into a sermon admonishing the people for going through the motions of their religion — making sacrifices, fasting, performing rituals — but not changing how they live their lives the other six days a week.
The “fast” that God requires, he says, has nothing to do with food or fancy rituals; it has to do with how they treat the weakest, the poorest, the destitute and hopeless living among them. “Is not this the fast that I choose,” saith the Lord, “— to loose the bonds of injustice, the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house, when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
That’s the imperative that he then follows with an indicative — a promise: If you do all these things, your life will be blessed as you wish it to be. He says it in a lot more words and specifics but that’s pretty much the gist.
In the first three chapters of the Matthew text, we hear Jesus deliver two of the most popular and potent metaphorical axioms of the New Testament. “You are the salt of the earth,” and “You are the light of the world.”
Put the emphasis on the “you” in each statement and read it aloud. See? These are not observations but challenges. Challenges to go and do something.
Get off your butts and get to work; start being salt and light. Season and illuminate the world in which you find yourselves. Tell the world what you have seen and heard. Share your story. Make disciples.
In The Sermon
“Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.”
You’ve heard that, right? One of the most popular quotes of the monastic era, usually attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, even though there is no evidence that he ever said it. True, the humble priest, environmentalist, and social justice advocate made a profound statement by how he lived his life. And it would be really cool if we could make profound, world changing statements by the way we live our lives without having to say any actual words. The saying does seem to give us an excuse for avoiding those awkward religious discussions, doesn’t it?
What we often leave out of our consideration of Francis and his statement are two very important facts:
1) This isn’t the only thing Francis said. In fact, he was an enthusiastic preacher and teacher, preaching whenever he had the opportunity and often in awkward situations — his father’s dinner parties, on street corners, that kind of thing;
2) Francis’s humble and simple lifestyle, undertaken by him at a time when merchants like his father and many priests in the region of Assisi lived extravagant lives of ease and comfort with total disregard for the poor, was a rebuke and a challenge to those who were selling the gospel to the highest bidder.
So, sorry. Francis hasn’t excused us from talking about our Savior and the effect that Jesus and his church has had on our lives. We don’t get to dismiss evangelism as doing a few good deeds and expecting people to intuitively read some theological meaning from them.
Evangelism is simply the spreading of the Christian gospel through preaching or personal witness.
As our texts for today show us, YHWH, our God, is not a god of quiet subtlety. Sometimes God expects us to shout from the rooftops or, at the very least, just talk to people.
We all have the stuff of evangelism within us. We all have a story to tell about how God’s grace has rescued or renewed or shaped and molded us. We need only remember it, recall it, swallow our misgivings, and share it.
We may not have a sure-fire cure for athlete’s foot, but, in Jesus Christ, we have a sure-fire cure for hopelessness, despair, and inauthentic living. We have a scriptural mandate to share that cure with everyone we know: Friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers, kindly and gently, at the right time, in the right place, and in the right situations.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Flooding the vile darkness
The prophet issues a summons to heed God’s call for a faith rooted in acts of justice and compassion. Isaiah calls Israel to see God’s light dawning on them in response to their acts of justice and mercy. Sadly, injustice and oppression continue to obscure the brilliance of God’s light.
There’s an interesting side note accompanying the release of the video of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by police officers. Nichols had been stopped for reckless driving, and was subsequently beaten by six cops in Memphis, Tennessee. While the circumstances leading to Nichols’ beating are unclear, there’s no obscuring the reminder that his death is yet another indication of how racism and oppression intransigently lurks in the crags of America.
Nichols, described by his mother as a “gentle soul,” was a 29-year old captivated by expressing his feelings through photography. His website includes a gallery of stunning images from Memphis, including sunsets and landscapes. “My son, every night, wanted to go and look at the sunset,” said RowVaughn Wells.
After the police released the video of Nichols’ being beaten, many persons pointed to his love of sunsets, imploring people to post sunsets with the hashtag #SunsetsforTyre. One Twitter user commented:
The video of #TyreNichols horrid murder has been released. To stand up to his cruel death, we must honor his beautiful life. Tyre was a gifted photographer, who loved sunsets. Let’s flood this vile darkness, with Tyre’s incandescent light. Please share photos of #SunsetsForTyre.
* * *
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Satisfying the needs of the afflicted
In 2006, Corey Winfield returned home to Baltimore, Maryland, after serving twenty years in prison. Just weeks later, his 21-year old brother was shot outside of the family home. The crime prompted Winfield to start stalking his brother’s murderer. When a passing police car interrupted his plan of shooting the perpetrator, Winfield returned home. Waiting for him was his aunt Ruth, who had guessed what he was planning. “Please stop, I don’t want to lose another baby,” she said to him. “I broke down and we cried on the sofa,” Winfield told a writer for the New Yorker.
Winfield became what is now known as a “violence interrupter.” He reached out to others who were choosing the path he nearly took as a volunteer for Baltimore’s Safe Streets program. By utilizing street cred and assisting those afflicted by a history of violence, volunteers like Winfield help defuse tension and teach pathways to peace. The recently enacted American Rescue Plan act is offering cities across the country funding for similar programs in an attempt to stop violence in ways that do not completely rely on police intervention.
* * *
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
It is well with the generous
Some may call it “giving until it hurts,” but research actually indicates that generosity can improve life outcomes. Generosity, according to research published by Geisinger Health Care in 2021, has a positive impact on health. “Studies have shown that giving can activate areas of the brain associated with pleasure and connection,” reported Geisinger clinical psychiatric specialist Lynne Gallagher. “This is why we feel excited and satisfied when giving a gift or when we find fulfillment in volunteering for a cause we’re passionate about.” Gallagher points out that generosity is linked with reduction of blood pressure, reduced stress, and longer life expectancy.
* * *
Matthew 5:13-20
Salt and Light
For more than 50 years, members of the Hampton Baptist Church of Hampton, Virginia, provided for the needs of their community through a weekly soup kitchen. Several years ago, the church members began to assess how the ministry might expand its impact. In 2015, the soup kitchen’s name was changed to SAME — “So All May Eat” — and its focus rebranded to include a clothing closet, a mobile food pantry, and coordination of social services. SAME’s original handful of volunteers has grown into the double digits, serving more than 1,000 persons annually.
“When we rebranded, we wanted to try to be more inclusive of people, and help them feel less patronized,” said Amy Witcover-Sandford, coordinator for SAME. “We wanted to step away from the idea that you visit a soup kitchen and get whatever they put on your plate to more of a welcoming place.”
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:
Isaiah 58:1-12
Breaking the Yoke
“Is not this the fast that I choose,” God asks through the prophet Isaiah, “to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” Trained blacksmith and Mennonite pastor Mike Martin is trying to break the yoke of gun violence, one weapon at a time. Martin is the founder of “Swords to Plows,” an initiative of the nonprofit RAWTools. “Gun owners from around the country send RAWTools their disassembled weapons for transformation. Most guns can be made into several tools, such as hoes and pickaxes. Shotguns often become hand spades, and a weapon like the AR-15 that was used in recent mass shootings has a thicker barrel that suits an afterlife as a mattock.” The group also travels around the country, gathering up guns and letting people pound out their grief on the metal.
“During the group’s community demos and workshops, participants can try their hand at forging the metal. Cherie Ryans is one of numerous mothers who lost a child to gun violence and has taken a turn at the RAWTools forge. Martin said that between each swing of the hammer to the iron she said: “This bang is bang for bang my bang son.”
“I was holding the hot metal as she did it. Everyone was in tears, and it was all I could do to hold the metal safely,” Martin said.
Martin and others are bringing the words of Isaiah to life. “If you remove the yoke from among you…and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.” One piece of metal at a time.
* * *
Isaiah 58:1-12
Choosing the Fast
The prophet Isaiah laments the false forms of religion, asking scornfully, “Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?” Isaiah is summoning the people to a life filled with justice, imagining “you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted.”
That kind of work is happening in Los Angeles County, home of the country’s largest jail system, and a place where an average of thirty people die each year. Recognizing that there are other needs beyond prison, citizens are working to create other services. “About one-third of all those incarcerated within the L.A. County jail system have received treatment for mental health. “By default, we have become the largest treatment facility in the country. And we’re a jail,” Tim Belavich, director of mental health for the county jail system, told NPR’s Morning Edition. “I would say a jail facility is not the appropriate place to treat someone’s mental illness.” Activists seeking to close the facility echo this sentiment, saying the county is simply locking up people who need mental health resources.”
The county recently opened a Care First village, “a 4-acre housing facility built on the site of what was to be an expanded Men’s Central Jail. The village offers shelter to the unhoused, as well as wraparound services, including mental health care.” This village is designed to “satisfy the needs of the afflicted,” as Isaiah says, and reduce the number of people who end up in prison when there are other alternatives.
* * *
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
If Paul Gave a TED Talk
Paul tells the churches in Corinth, “And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.” He came at his weakest, so the power of God could be revealed. Brene Brown might be a modern-day version of Paul.
In her well-known TED Talk, researcher and storyteller Brene Brown tells about discovering the power of vulnerability, which she hated at the time. She says, “You know how there are people that, when they realize that vulnerability and tenderness are important, that they surrender and walk into it. A: that's not me, and B: I don't even hang out with people like that. For me, it was a yearlong street fight. It was a slugfest. Vulnerability pushed, I pushed back. I lost the fight, but probably won my life back.”
She adds that Paul had it right, with his emphasis on coming in weakness. “But there's another way, and I'll leave you with this. This is what I have found: To let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen ... to love with our whole hearts, even though there's no guarantee — and that's really hard, and I can tell you as a parent, that's excruciatingly difficult — to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror, when we're wondering, "Can I love you this much? Can I believe in this this passionately? Can I be this fierce about this?" just to be able to stop and, instead of catastrophizing what might happen, to say, "I'm just so grateful, because to feel this vulnerable means I'm alive." And the last, which I think is probably the most important, is to believe that we're enough. Because when we work from a place, I believe, that says, "I'm enough" ... then we stop screaming and start listening, we're kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we're kinder and gentler to ourselves.” Or, as Paul puts it, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.”
* * *
Matthew 5:13-20
Craving the Light
“You are the light of the world,” Jesus tells the people listening to him, people who had far less light in their lives than we do. This time of year reinforces the power of light. The short days leave us craving the light Jesus describes.
Lack of light leaves some people with SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, “a type of depression that occurs with a seasonal pattern, typically during fall or winter. The manifestations of SAD include a loss of interest and pleasure in hobbies and activities, fatigue, sadness, lack of energy or motivation, sense of worthlessness and hopelessness, oversleeping, difficulty concentrating, and withdrawal from loved ones and social activities. Some exhibit irritability and significant mood changes. Others experience dramatic changes in their appetite, which may decrease or increase…If winter-related SAD occurs, finding other sources of light and warmth can make a difference to shorter days and longer nights.”
We need the light, in all its forms, especially in the winter.
* * *
Matthew 5:13-20
Salt as History
“You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus says, calling us to an essential part of our created lives. Alexis Pauline Gumbs reflects on the vital nature of salt, saying, “Salt is an ancestor. Older than ocean, old as stars. Salt flows through your saltwater body even now like blood, as blood. Salt is nonnegotiable, necessary for the working of every single cell. Salt is time. Evidence of how long since evaporation. Resident time of water in basins. Measured future for the preserved dead. Salt is first and lasting.”
She adds, “Once upon a time, salt itself was money. Precious rock salt good as gold. They say the first salt war was about 6000 BCE at Yuncheng Lake in China. All the wood it takes to evaporate brine is partially blamed for significant deforestation in Europe. The European colonizers of the Caribbean stacked salt in their basements. Traded salt for human beings in chains.”
You are salt, Jesus says, reminding us that we are valuable, and have work to do.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by Chris Keating
Call to Worship
One: Shout aloud; lift up your voices without hesitation or fear.
Many: Announce God’s love to those who fear the Lord.
One: Blessed are those who do all that God commands:
Many: Those who humble themselves, who loose the bonds of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.
One: Their righteousness will endure forever. Let us worship God!
Or
One: You are the sodium chloride of the world!
Many: God uses us to season the world with grace and love.
One: You are the electromagnetic radiation bouncing across the world!
Many: All people will see the truth of God shining in our worship and praise.
One: May God shine in our worship today!
Hymns
“Shine, Jesus Shine,” (“Lord, the light of your love is shining…”)
“Christ Be Our Light” (“Longing for light, we wait in darkness…”)
“I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light.”
“Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life.”
“Gather us In” (“Here in this Place”
“Christ is Alive, Let Christians Sing!”
“Give to the Wind Thy Fears”
“This Little Light of Mine”
“As A Fire Is Meant for Burning”
“I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me”
“We All Are One in Mission”
“Gracious Spirit, Hear our Pleading” (W. Niwagila/H. Olson)
“What Does the Lord Require for Praise and Offering?”
“The Servant Song”
“Make me a channel of your peace” (The Prayer of St. Francis)
Visuals for worship
Fill a few clear glass jars or vases with Kosher salt, and place a tea light inside. Using a couple of differing heights may be more eye catching for your worship space. Place these on a table in the worship space, and spread some sort of coarse salt around it as a reminder of the calling to be salt and light in the world.
Prayer of Adoration
God of wisdom and light,
You come to us speaking words of truth and power,
and by your Spirit you bestow on us many gifts.
No eye has seen nor ear has heard the marvelous joy
you prepare for us, yet your promise is steady and sure.
Equip now us to praise you so that
we might know the mind of Christ today, offering our gifts of service and
sacrifices of love. Amen.
Call to Confession
Hear what God says to the prophet: “Yet day after day my people seek me, and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God.” Even still, God has mercy on us and will forgive our sin. Let us confess our sins to God and to our neighbors:
Prayer of Confession
God of mercy: your light shines upon us, filling us with the assurance of your presence. We confess to you that we have trusted in the wisdom of this world, and have been foolish in our faith. We have disguised the gifts you have given us, hiding them from our neighbors in need. We have walked away from those who hunger and thirst, and have persecuted the righteous unfairly. Have mercy on us, O God. Remind us of the distinctive call to live as disciples, sharing Jesus’ love freely and without hesitation. Hear our prayers, Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the Good News: The mystery of God’s love for the world is revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ, a demonstration of God’s Spirit and power to all the world. Paul reminds us, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,” these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” Rejoice and be glad, for in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.
Invitation to the Lord’s Table
(As the gifts of bread and wine are presented, the one officiating invites God’s people to the table by saying,) “Is this not the fast that I choose,” says the Lord, “to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” God’s faithfulness is steady and sure: in thanks to God, let us gather around this table that Christ has prepared.”
One: Let us pray: The Lord be with you.
Many: And also with you.
One: Lift up your hearts!
Many: We lift them up to the Lord.
We do lift our hearts in praise and thanks to you, gracious God, for you have created the world and blessed it with your gifts of light and love. Out of your steadfast mercy, you created human beings, and called us to a sacred rhythm of work and worship. We thank you and praise you for your faithfulness, for you sought us even when we were disobedient and selfish. Your prophets spoke of your love, and your Son revealed your grace. We thank you, mighty God, for the gifts of our salvation, and pause now to praise you for these the gifts of your heavenly table.
Jesus came and taught, calling us to be seasoning in a world that had lost its taste for justice and to be light in a world that preferred to live behind shadows and lies. In his life and ministry, he proclaimed the signs of your coming kingdom, healing the sick, and forgiving sinners. In his death, he gave himself freely to you, and in his resurrection we have beheld the fullness of your glory.
In thanks and praise for all your gifts, we do take this bread and this cup from all the gifts of your creation. We remember that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he gave thanks and broke the bread. He offered it to his disciples, telling them to “Take, eat. Do this in remembrance of me.” In like fashion, he took the cup, and lifted it before them, saying “Here is the new covenant offered in my name, and my blood shed for your forgiveness. Drink this and remember my love.”
Now, O Lord, send your Spirit upon us and on these gifts. Empower us to be signs of your kingdom, united in communion with you and the Holy Spirit. May the communion we share become a sign of your continued work in our lives and in this world, and may the gifts of your steadfast mercy and grace shine in all that we say and do. Hear our prayers for our world, for our friends and family, and for all who are suffering and need your care. Guide us by your truth, until that time when we shall gather with all your saints in the promise of your kingdom. Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor and power be yours, eternal God, Amen.
(The Lord’s Prayer follows.)
More to come...
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The Immediate Word, February 5, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
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- Jesus’ Feedback Sandwich by Tom Willadsen based on Matthew 5:13-20 and Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12).
- Second Thoughts: Sure Fire Cure by Dean Feldmeyer. If we discovered a sure-fire, never fail cure for athlete’s foot, we’d tell everyone we know. So why are we so reluctant to tell people about Jesus?
- Sermon illustrations by Chris Keating and Mary Austin.
- Worship resources by Chris Keating.
Jesus’ Feedback Sandwichby Tom Willadsen
Matthew 5:13-20, Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Decades before I heard about The Sandwich Approach to giving constructive criticism (You bring great enthusiasm to this, you might want to work on your presentation, but I know you’ve got what it takes to succeed!) a member of the church I served, who had been a therapist in an elementary school for 30 years, gave me this advice:
Always start by saying something positive, even if it’s “I can tell by the way you’re swinging from the light fixture that you’ve got excellent upper body strength.”
Jesus does exactly that in the Sermon on the Mount. Nine times he begins thoughts with “Blessed.” Then he switches to who/what his followers already are: salt and light.
But there’s an underside, or perhaps one should say a middle, in Jesus’ Feedback Sandwich: mourning, hunger, thirst, even persecution. Is this any way to attract followers?
In the Scriptures
The lectionary begins today’s gospel lesson at v. 13, but I suggest moving the start back to v. 11. At v. 11 Jesus switches from third person to second person. He goes from general to personal. One could read this text as though one’s status as salt and light depends on having already suffered for the sake of the gospel. For the record, being a prophet is no walk in the park. Just ask Jeremiah. Actually, you don’t have to ask Jeremiah; he’ll tell you all about how he suffered as the Lord’s mouthpiece; How he tried to keep the Lord’s words inside himself, but that he couldn’t keep from speaking them. Jeremiah was not a bullfrog; he was a prophet with an irresistible call and he was hammered for it. This is the retirement plan Jesus hints at in v. 12, “in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” And yet, there is also blessing:
Blessed are you when people revile you….
You are the salt of the earth….
You are the light of the world….
At verse 11 in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gets personal.
Today’s Isaiah passage echoes last week’s passage from Micah. The people are upset that their conspicuous ritual observance doesn’t seem to win the Lord’s favor. We’re fasting here, God, don’t you see us? We’re being really good! Now that we’re on the Nice List, show us the money!
In v. 4 the Lord replies to the whining fasters, “Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.” There may be something more going on, though. TinyBuddha.com recently opined, “80% of arguments start because someone hasn’t eaten yet.” In 2018 Merriam-Webster.com added “hangry” to its dictionary. Hangry is a portmanteau of “hungry” and “angry,” a medically validated phenomenon during which people are more irritable because of low blood sugar. So maybe the fasting itself was causing the people to “strike with a wicked fist.” Think of this as the opposite of the Twinkie Defense.
Today’s lesson from Isaiah reminds the people that the real enemy is injustice and the way to win the Lord’s favor is by caring for the weak, marginalized and vulnerable. Perhaps the food you don’t eat because you’re fasting could be given to the poor who are starving. The difference is having the freedom to choose whether one eats.
It is not a stretch to think of “the bonds of injustice” and “the thongs of the yoke,” not as incarceration but more broadly as crippling debt or the anti-freedom of addiction.
In the News
Well, let’s see… the most recent mass shootings were all in California, a state with very strict gun regulations. Clearly, stricter regulations are not an appropriate response to gun violence. After all, guns don’t kill people; bullets kill people.
Congress is much more concerned about bickering over the debt limit, negotiating whether the full faith and credit of the United States means anything. Why should we pay bills for things we’ve already received? The clear solution is to cut programs to the elderly and vulnerable. Are we spending enough on defense yet?
How many tanks should we send to Ukraine?
The atmospheric rivers have stopped soaking California. The cleanup has begun. The drought situation has improved enormously, though it will take several more seasons of extraordinary precipitation to end the drought.
George Santos was caught on a sound recording telling the truth. No, that hasn’t actually happened, per se.
Next Sunday is the Super Bowl, America’s #1 Secular Holiday! Perhaps more importantly, the Souper Bowl of Caring will also take place. Last year more than 4,000 organizations raised more than $3 million to fight hunger at the local level. This year, participants are asked:
What if everyone
watching a football
game donated
$1 or 1 can of food to a
local food charity?
It would be a
GAME CHANGER!
The Souper Bowl of Caring was begun in 1990 at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina. The Reverend Brad Smith gave this simple prayer:
Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat.
That year 21 churches joined with Pastor Smith’s church and raised $5,700.
In the Sermon
Next Sunday two cities are going to anticipate the most watched athletic contest of the year. One team will carry home the Vince Lombardi Trophy and its city will hold a joyous parade honoring their champions. As television viewing habits have changed in the last decade, the Super Bowl has emerged as a nearly unique television event, one that millions of people watch at the same time. It is commonly accepted that incidents of domestic violence rise in the city of the loser of the Super Bowl, but that is disputed. The Super Bowl has been an occasion to shed light on the problems of domestic violence and human sex trafficking, even though both problems are pervasive year round.
Some years the television ads and the fees they command are of more interest than the actual game. Then there was the year of the infamous “Wardrobe Malfunction” at the Super Bowl halftime show. Anyone remember what song Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake were singing when Ms. Jackson’s right breast, covered with a nipple star, was exposed for about 1 second on national television? Or who was playing in the game? (The New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29. “Rock Your Body” was the song.)
Perhaps we can think of the Super Bowl as a sort of reversal of Jesus’ pattern in the Sermon on the Mount. The game itself can draw people together. Public service announcements during the broadcast about hunger, domestic violence, and human trafficking may raise the public’s awareness of the very issues that keep our nation from true peace and security.
The connection between salt and the high sodium content of canned soup may seem obvious to some. But responding to hunger during this Bread and Circuses moment of national distraction may be exactly the kind of light that Jesus calls us to shine brightly and broadly.
SECOND THOUGHTSA Sure-Fire Cure
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12), Matthew 5:13-20
In a men’s prison just outside Managua, Nicaragua:
We had gone to Nicaragua to help build a school and a medical clinic and Sunday was supposed to be a day off for rest and some sightseeing. But some of the locals said they were going to the prison a few miles away to help a small, Pentecostal church lead a worship service that afternoon and they invited us to come along. About a dozen of us took them up on their invitation.
About 50-60 inmates attended the open-air service, one of the most raucous worship events I’ve ever experienced. There was singing and dancing, shouting and praying, crying and prophesying, and more singing and dancing. My group of American, suburban, white young adults participated, well, cautiously, I guess you’d say. After an hour and a half in the 90-degree heat we were all pretty much exhausted and the leader of the Pentecostal group told us there was one other thing we had to do.
She directed us to some cardboard boxes in which were plastic bags full of toiletries — tooth brushes and paste, bar soap, washcloths, deodorant, hand towels, toilet tissue, that kind of thing. She handed each of us a few bags and then instructed us in her broken English that, when we gave them to the inmates we were to say: “En el nombre de Jesucristo.” In the name of Jesus Christ.
One member of my group looked puzzled and the lady handing out the bags responded with the help of one of her church members serving as interpreter: “It means that you are giving these gifts not because you are rich, blessed, moral, white Americans but because you are disciples of Jesus Christ and he has told you to do so.”
In the News/Culture
Evangelism has become something of a naughty word among modern, progressive, members of the old line, protestant churches. And, let’s face it, sometimes we are right to cringe when the word is brought up.
Debie Thomas, writing for The Christian Century magazine (“Reclaiming the E Word,” February 2023), explains why this is so:
We don’t want to repeat the horrific sins of colonialist Christianity. We don’t want to come across as judgmental or obtrusive. We don’t want to be associated with fundamentalist Bible-thumpers. We don’t believe that the gospel is about securing fire insurance from eternal damnation. We don’t believe that we hold a monopoly on spiritual meaning, wisdom, and truth. We don’t wish to come across as false in our relationships, feigning love and care in order to manipulate people into signing on a doctrinal dotted line.
Any one of those reasons would be enough for us to change the subject when evangelism is brought up in a conversation but all of them, together, are enough to send us screaming into the night. No matter how much we love Jesus and his resurrected body, the church, we don’t know how to talk about it without unwittingly committing some offense, or being laughed at, or being dismissed out of hand as being hopelessly irrelevant.
If we bring up our religious faith in the context of a political discussion or debate, are we somehow violating the separation of church and state? Or at least the cultural taboo against mixing religion and politics in polite discussion?
If I use my religious faith to support a particular political issue does that not open the door for other religious people who disagree with me to do the same?
A group of religious leaders who support abortion rights filed a lawsuit last week, challenging Missouri’s abortion ban, saying lawmakers openly invoked their religious beliefs while drafting the measure and thereby imposed those beliefs on others who don’t share them.
“What the lawsuit says is that when you legislate your religious beliefs into law, you impose your beliefs on everyone else and force all of us to live by your own narrow beliefs,” said Michelle Banker of the National Women’s Law Center, the lead attorney in the case. “And that hurts us. That denies our basic human rights.”
The lawsuit filed in St. Louis on behalf of 13 Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist leaders seeks a permanent injunction barring the state from enforcing its abortion law and a declaration that provisions of its law violate the Missouri constitution.
So, what’s the answer? Do we say, the heck with it, and speak our hearts any time we feel like it? Or do we clam up, step back, and leave evangelism to the fundamentalists and the TV charlatans? Or is there, perhaps, a middle ground?
In the Scriptures
In Isaiah 58:1-9a, the prophet receives a message for YHWH giving him a message for the children of Israel. He has been, he says, instructed to “shout out” the message and “not hold back,” to lift up his voice, “like a trumpet.”
Isaiah then launches into a sermon admonishing the people for going through the motions of their religion — making sacrifices, fasting, performing rituals — but not changing how they live their lives the other six days a week.
The “fast” that God requires, he says, has nothing to do with food or fancy rituals; it has to do with how they treat the weakest, the poorest, the destitute and hopeless living among them. “Is not this the fast that I choose,” saith the Lord, “— to loose the bonds of injustice, the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house, when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
That’s the imperative that he then follows with an indicative — a promise: If you do all these things, your life will be blessed as you wish it to be. He says it in a lot more words and specifics but that’s pretty much the gist.
In the first three chapters of the Matthew text, we hear Jesus deliver two of the most popular and potent metaphorical axioms of the New Testament. “You are the salt of the earth,” and “You are the light of the world.”
Put the emphasis on the “you” in each statement and read it aloud. See? These are not observations but challenges. Challenges to go and do something.
Get off your butts and get to work; start being salt and light. Season and illuminate the world in which you find yourselves. Tell the world what you have seen and heard. Share your story. Make disciples.
In The Sermon
“Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.”
You’ve heard that, right? One of the most popular quotes of the monastic era, usually attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, even though there is no evidence that he ever said it. True, the humble priest, environmentalist, and social justice advocate made a profound statement by how he lived his life. And it would be really cool if we could make profound, world changing statements by the way we live our lives without having to say any actual words. The saying does seem to give us an excuse for avoiding those awkward religious discussions, doesn’t it?
What we often leave out of our consideration of Francis and his statement are two very important facts:
1) This isn’t the only thing Francis said. In fact, he was an enthusiastic preacher and teacher, preaching whenever he had the opportunity and often in awkward situations — his father’s dinner parties, on street corners, that kind of thing;
2) Francis’s humble and simple lifestyle, undertaken by him at a time when merchants like his father and many priests in the region of Assisi lived extravagant lives of ease and comfort with total disregard for the poor, was a rebuke and a challenge to those who were selling the gospel to the highest bidder.
So, sorry. Francis hasn’t excused us from talking about our Savior and the effect that Jesus and his church has had on our lives. We don’t get to dismiss evangelism as doing a few good deeds and expecting people to intuitively read some theological meaning from them.
Evangelism is simply the spreading of the Christian gospel through preaching or personal witness.
As our texts for today show us, YHWH, our God, is not a god of quiet subtlety. Sometimes God expects us to shout from the rooftops or, at the very least, just talk to people.
We all have the stuff of evangelism within us. We all have a story to tell about how God’s grace has rescued or renewed or shaped and molded us. We need only remember it, recall it, swallow our misgivings, and share it.
We may not have a sure-fire cure for athlete’s foot, but, in Jesus Christ, we have a sure-fire cure for hopelessness, despair, and inauthentic living. We have a scriptural mandate to share that cure with everyone we know: Friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers, kindly and gently, at the right time, in the right place, and in the right situations.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Flooding the vile darkness
The prophet issues a summons to heed God’s call for a faith rooted in acts of justice and compassion. Isaiah calls Israel to see God’s light dawning on them in response to their acts of justice and mercy. Sadly, injustice and oppression continue to obscure the brilliance of God’s light.
There’s an interesting side note accompanying the release of the video of Tyre Nichols being beaten to death by police officers. Nichols had been stopped for reckless driving, and was subsequently beaten by six cops in Memphis, Tennessee. While the circumstances leading to Nichols’ beating are unclear, there’s no obscuring the reminder that his death is yet another indication of how racism and oppression intransigently lurks in the crags of America.
Nichols, described by his mother as a “gentle soul,” was a 29-year old captivated by expressing his feelings through photography. His website includes a gallery of stunning images from Memphis, including sunsets and landscapes. “My son, every night, wanted to go and look at the sunset,” said RowVaughn Wells.
After the police released the video of Nichols’ being beaten, many persons pointed to his love of sunsets, imploring people to post sunsets with the hashtag #SunsetsforTyre. One Twitter user commented:
The video of #TyreNichols horrid murder has been released. To stand up to his cruel death, we must honor his beautiful life. Tyre was a gifted photographer, who loved sunsets. Let’s flood this vile darkness, with Tyre’s incandescent light. Please share photos of #SunsetsForTyre.
* * *
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Satisfying the needs of the afflicted
In 2006, Corey Winfield returned home to Baltimore, Maryland, after serving twenty years in prison. Just weeks later, his 21-year old brother was shot outside of the family home. The crime prompted Winfield to start stalking his brother’s murderer. When a passing police car interrupted his plan of shooting the perpetrator, Winfield returned home. Waiting for him was his aunt Ruth, who had guessed what he was planning. “Please stop, I don’t want to lose another baby,” she said to him. “I broke down and we cried on the sofa,” Winfield told a writer for the New Yorker.
Winfield became what is now known as a “violence interrupter.” He reached out to others who were choosing the path he nearly took as a volunteer for Baltimore’s Safe Streets program. By utilizing street cred and assisting those afflicted by a history of violence, volunteers like Winfield help defuse tension and teach pathways to peace. The recently enacted American Rescue Plan act is offering cities across the country funding for similar programs in an attempt to stop violence in ways that do not completely rely on police intervention.
* * *
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
It is well with the generous
Some may call it “giving until it hurts,” but research actually indicates that generosity can improve life outcomes. Generosity, according to research published by Geisinger Health Care in 2021, has a positive impact on health. “Studies have shown that giving can activate areas of the brain associated with pleasure and connection,” reported Geisinger clinical psychiatric specialist Lynne Gallagher. “This is why we feel excited and satisfied when giving a gift or when we find fulfillment in volunteering for a cause we’re passionate about.” Gallagher points out that generosity is linked with reduction of blood pressure, reduced stress, and longer life expectancy.
* * *
Matthew 5:13-20
Salt and Light
For more than 50 years, members of the Hampton Baptist Church of Hampton, Virginia, provided for the needs of their community through a weekly soup kitchen. Several years ago, the church members began to assess how the ministry might expand its impact. In 2015, the soup kitchen’s name was changed to SAME — “So All May Eat” — and its focus rebranded to include a clothing closet, a mobile food pantry, and coordination of social services. SAME’s original handful of volunteers has grown into the double digits, serving more than 1,000 persons annually.
“When we rebranded, we wanted to try to be more inclusive of people, and help them feel less patronized,” said Amy Witcover-Sandford, coordinator for SAME. “We wanted to step away from the idea that you visit a soup kitchen and get whatever they put on your plate to more of a welcoming place.”
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:Isaiah 58:1-12
Breaking the Yoke
“Is not this the fast that I choose,” God asks through the prophet Isaiah, “to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” Trained blacksmith and Mennonite pastor Mike Martin is trying to break the yoke of gun violence, one weapon at a time. Martin is the founder of “Swords to Plows,” an initiative of the nonprofit RAWTools. “Gun owners from around the country send RAWTools their disassembled weapons for transformation. Most guns can be made into several tools, such as hoes and pickaxes. Shotguns often become hand spades, and a weapon like the AR-15 that was used in recent mass shootings has a thicker barrel that suits an afterlife as a mattock.” The group also travels around the country, gathering up guns and letting people pound out their grief on the metal.
“During the group’s community demos and workshops, participants can try their hand at forging the metal. Cherie Ryans is one of numerous mothers who lost a child to gun violence and has taken a turn at the RAWTools forge. Martin said that between each swing of the hammer to the iron she said: “This bang is bang for bang my bang son.”
“I was holding the hot metal as she did it. Everyone was in tears, and it was all I could do to hold the metal safely,” Martin said.
Martin and others are bringing the words of Isaiah to life. “If you remove the yoke from among you…and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.” One piece of metal at a time.
* * *
Isaiah 58:1-12
Choosing the Fast
The prophet Isaiah laments the false forms of religion, asking scornfully, “Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?” Isaiah is summoning the people to a life filled with justice, imagining “you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted.”
That kind of work is happening in Los Angeles County, home of the country’s largest jail system, and a place where an average of thirty people die each year. Recognizing that there are other needs beyond prison, citizens are working to create other services. “About one-third of all those incarcerated within the L.A. County jail system have received treatment for mental health. “By default, we have become the largest treatment facility in the country. And we’re a jail,” Tim Belavich, director of mental health for the county jail system, told NPR’s Morning Edition. “I would say a jail facility is not the appropriate place to treat someone’s mental illness.” Activists seeking to close the facility echo this sentiment, saying the county is simply locking up people who need mental health resources.”
The county recently opened a Care First village, “a 4-acre housing facility built on the site of what was to be an expanded Men’s Central Jail. The village offers shelter to the unhoused, as well as wraparound services, including mental health care.” This village is designed to “satisfy the needs of the afflicted,” as Isaiah says, and reduce the number of people who end up in prison when there are other alternatives.
* * *
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16)
If Paul Gave a TED Talk
Paul tells the churches in Corinth, “And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.” He came at his weakest, so the power of God could be revealed. Brene Brown might be a modern-day version of Paul.
In her well-known TED Talk, researcher and storyteller Brene Brown tells about discovering the power of vulnerability, which she hated at the time. She says, “You know how there are people that, when they realize that vulnerability and tenderness are important, that they surrender and walk into it. A: that's not me, and B: I don't even hang out with people like that. For me, it was a yearlong street fight. It was a slugfest. Vulnerability pushed, I pushed back. I lost the fight, but probably won my life back.”
She adds that Paul had it right, with his emphasis on coming in weakness. “But there's another way, and I'll leave you with this. This is what I have found: To let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen ... to love with our whole hearts, even though there's no guarantee — and that's really hard, and I can tell you as a parent, that's excruciatingly difficult — to practice gratitude and joy in those moments of terror, when we're wondering, "Can I love you this much? Can I believe in this this passionately? Can I be this fierce about this?" just to be able to stop and, instead of catastrophizing what might happen, to say, "I'm just so grateful, because to feel this vulnerable means I'm alive." And the last, which I think is probably the most important, is to believe that we're enough. Because when we work from a place, I believe, that says, "I'm enough" ... then we stop screaming and start listening, we're kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we're kinder and gentler to ourselves.” Or, as Paul puts it, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.”
* * *
Matthew 5:13-20
Craving the Light
“You are the light of the world,” Jesus tells the people listening to him, people who had far less light in their lives than we do. This time of year reinforces the power of light. The short days leave us craving the light Jesus describes.
Lack of light leaves some people with SAD, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, “a type of depression that occurs with a seasonal pattern, typically during fall or winter. The manifestations of SAD include a loss of interest and pleasure in hobbies and activities, fatigue, sadness, lack of energy or motivation, sense of worthlessness and hopelessness, oversleeping, difficulty concentrating, and withdrawal from loved ones and social activities. Some exhibit irritability and significant mood changes. Others experience dramatic changes in their appetite, which may decrease or increase…If winter-related SAD occurs, finding other sources of light and warmth can make a difference to shorter days and longer nights.”
We need the light, in all its forms, especially in the winter.
* * *
Matthew 5:13-20
Salt as History
“You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus says, calling us to an essential part of our created lives. Alexis Pauline Gumbs reflects on the vital nature of salt, saying, “Salt is an ancestor. Older than ocean, old as stars. Salt flows through your saltwater body even now like blood, as blood. Salt is nonnegotiable, necessary for the working of every single cell. Salt is time. Evidence of how long since evaporation. Resident time of water in basins. Measured future for the preserved dead. Salt is first and lasting.”
She adds, “Once upon a time, salt itself was money. Precious rock salt good as gold. They say the first salt war was about 6000 BCE at Yuncheng Lake in China. All the wood it takes to evaporate brine is partially blamed for significant deforestation in Europe. The European colonizers of the Caribbean stacked salt in their basements. Traded salt for human beings in chains.”
You are salt, Jesus says, reminding us that we are valuable, and have work to do.
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby Chris Keating
Call to Worship
One: Shout aloud; lift up your voices without hesitation or fear.
Many: Announce God’s love to those who fear the Lord.
One: Blessed are those who do all that God commands:
Many: Those who humble themselves, who loose the bonds of injustice, and let the oppressed go free.
One: Their righteousness will endure forever. Let us worship God!
Or
One: You are the sodium chloride of the world!
Many: God uses us to season the world with grace and love.
One: You are the electromagnetic radiation bouncing across the world!
Many: All people will see the truth of God shining in our worship and praise.
One: May God shine in our worship today!
Hymns
“Shine, Jesus Shine,” (“Lord, the light of your love is shining…”)
“Christ Be Our Light” (“Longing for light, we wait in darkness…”)
“I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light.”
“Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life.”
“Gather us In” (“Here in this Place”
“Christ is Alive, Let Christians Sing!”
“Give to the Wind Thy Fears”
“This Little Light of Mine”
“As A Fire Is Meant for Burning”
“I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me”
“We All Are One in Mission”
“Gracious Spirit, Hear our Pleading” (W. Niwagila/H. Olson)
“What Does the Lord Require for Praise and Offering?”
“The Servant Song”
“Make me a channel of your peace” (The Prayer of St. Francis)
Visuals for worship
Fill a few clear glass jars or vases with Kosher salt, and place a tea light inside. Using a couple of differing heights may be more eye catching for your worship space. Place these on a table in the worship space, and spread some sort of coarse salt around it as a reminder of the calling to be salt and light in the world.
Prayer of Adoration
God of wisdom and light,
You come to us speaking words of truth and power,
and by your Spirit you bestow on us many gifts.
No eye has seen nor ear has heard the marvelous joy
you prepare for us, yet your promise is steady and sure.
Equip now us to praise you so that
we might know the mind of Christ today, offering our gifts of service and
sacrifices of love. Amen.
Call to Confession
Hear what God says to the prophet: “Yet day after day my people seek me, and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God.” Even still, God has mercy on us and will forgive our sin. Let us confess our sins to God and to our neighbors:
Prayer of Confession
God of mercy: your light shines upon us, filling us with the assurance of your presence. We confess to you that we have trusted in the wisdom of this world, and have been foolish in our faith. We have disguised the gifts you have given us, hiding them from our neighbors in need. We have walked away from those who hunger and thirst, and have persecuted the righteous unfairly. Have mercy on us, O God. Remind us of the distinctive call to live as disciples, sharing Jesus’ love freely and without hesitation. Hear our prayers, Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Hear the Good News: The mystery of God’s love for the world is revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ, a demonstration of God’s Spirit and power to all the world. Paul reminds us, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,” these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” Rejoice and be glad, for in Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Amen.
Invitation to the Lord’s Table
(As the gifts of bread and wine are presented, the one officiating invites God’s people to the table by saying,) “Is this not the fast that I choose,” says the Lord, “to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” God’s faithfulness is steady and sure: in thanks to God, let us gather around this table that Christ has prepared.”
One: Let us pray: The Lord be with you.
Many: And also with you.
One: Lift up your hearts!
Many: We lift them up to the Lord.
We do lift our hearts in praise and thanks to you, gracious God, for you have created the world and blessed it with your gifts of light and love. Out of your steadfast mercy, you created human beings, and called us to a sacred rhythm of work and worship. We thank you and praise you for your faithfulness, for you sought us even when we were disobedient and selfish. Your prophets spoke of your love, and your Son revealed your grace. We thank you, mighty God, for the gifts of our salvation, and pause now to praise you for these the gifts of your heavenly table.
Jesus came and taught, calling us to be seasoning in a world that had lost its taste for justice and to be light in a world that preferred to live behind shadows and lies. In his life and ministry, he proclaimed the signs of your coming kingdom, healing the sick, and forgiving sinners. In his death, he gave himself freely to you, and in his resurrection we have beheld the fullness of your glory.
In thanks and praise for all your gifts, we do take this bread and this cup from all the gifts of your creation. We remember that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he gave thanks and broke the bread. He offered it to his disciples, telling them to “Take, eat. Do this in remembrance of me.” In like fashion, he took the cup, and lifted it before them, saying “Here is the new covenant offered in my name, and my blood shed for your forgiveness. Drink this and remember my love.”
Now, O Lord, send your Spirit upon us and on these gifts. Empower us to be signs of your kingdom, united in communion with you and the Holy Spirit. May the communion we share become a sign of your continued work in our lives and in this world, and may the gifts of your steadfast mercy and grace shine in all that we say and do. Hear our prayers for our world, for our friends and family, and for all who are suffering and need your care. Guide us by your truth, until that time when we shall gather with all your saints in the promise of your kingdom. Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor and power be yours, eternal God, Amen.
(The Lord’s Prayer follows.)
More to come...
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The Immediate Word, February 5, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
