Living An Ascending Hope
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
As the Northeastern U.S. surveys the damage wrought by "superstorm" Sandy last week, workers are struggling to restore vital power and transportation as quickly as possible while many people begin the hard work of figuring how to rebuild their homes and their lives. It's been a devastating blow, especially to densely populated areas of New Jersey and New York. We all send our prayers (and aid) to those who are in deep need -- and in this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Leah Lonsbury points out that this week's lectionary psalm text offers important advice to keep in mind for both those on the ground literally building new houses for themselves and for all of us who are invested in the ongoing work of building the Lord's house (i.e., the church). The Psalmist tells us that "unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." But Leah reminds us that all who are the Lord's must also build the house too, because to do so is to live out what Jesus tells us are the greatest commandments. And within the setting of Psalm 127, Leah suggests, we can find concrete steps that can help us "keep the faith" in the face of crisis.
Team member Mary Austin offers some additional thoughts on the poor widow in this week's gospel text and its theme of community and proportional giving. In today's world, where it seems massive amounts of money are required to accomplish much of anything -- whether in terms of political influence or in disaster recovery -- it often feels like our small efforts are meaningless. But Mary reminds us that the widow's story should disabuse us of any notions... and that we can (and do) make a genuine difference in people's lives with even small gestures -- and in the wake of Sandy's devastation, the media have a knack for finding stories of thoughtful actions that brighten not just their receivers but also their givers. Mary notes that we need not leave everything up to the "professionals"; the work of amateurs -- in faith and in life -- is exceedingly valuable too. That's a powerful message... particularly in stewardship season. (And many of this week's illustrations focus on stewardship themes.)
Living an Ascending Hope
by Leah Lonsbury
Psalm 127
Sandy's numbers are astounding:
* 15,000 flights cancelled in just two days' time;
* 28 inches of snow buried parts of West Virginia;
* 7 subway tunnels flooded;
* 4.7 million schoolkids home;
* 190 firefighters deployed to the Breezy Point fire;
* $20 billion in estimated property damage;
* $10-30 billion in estimated in lost business;
* 8 million homes without power;
* 106 lives lost in the U.S., 2 in Canada, and 67 in the Caribbean.
Here's how the numbers add up...
There is work to be done.
There is suffering to be addressed.
There are costs to be covered.
And if we think back to last week's gospel reading about the central commandments of our faith -- "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength... You shall love your neighbor as yourself" -- it sounds like this is our work. It sounds like our neighbors' suffering is our suffering. It sounds like these costs are also our costs.
So where in the world do we begin?
With the number 127.
That's the psalm we'll look to for direction as we determine how to build and labor (v. 1) in ways that will bring rest, security, and well-being to God's beloved (v. 2) in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and in the larger life of the church.
THE WORLD
Crisis management is well underway, but some communities are still without basic necessities like food, heat, and shelter. In Rockaway, New York, just outside of New York City, area State Representative Phillip Goldfender told a reporter: "I get that it is tough to coordinate the cleanup, but it is not tough to coordinate bringing in food. We are not asking for anything complicated. We are begging for food, begging for blankets."
Cleanup and recovery efforts are likely to go on for some time. The BBC has posted firsthand stories from storm victims who have sustained great loss, are still suffering, and don't see relief in their immediate future. They write...
None of our possessions can be salvaged. I am particularly upset that my university projects are lost. That means more work for me and I was due to graduate in December. We are now staying at a friend's house in Brooklyn. We won't be able to return to our house for months. So we will have to move from one friend's house to another. There is no information about the support available for victims of this storm. All we hear is -- go to the evacuation shelters.
-- Daphay Sanchez, Staten Island, New York
I spent three days trapped in my apartment with no power. I'm now living in a hotel room and I still have 10 days before I can go home as there's no power and water at home. My colleagues at work have lost houses or had friends and neighbors die. I have friends whose relatives have cancer and they can't access their drugs.
-- Bryony Chamberlain, Hoboken, New Jersey
While you do encounter heartwarming examples of compassion -- like this family who drove around distributing free pizza to people who needed food -- instances of exorbitant pricing are widespread. Examples include pizza slices sold for $8, hand-held torches for $15, cleaned hotel rooms for $600 (not cleaned for $150), and generators sold at 30% above RRP.
-- Neil Houston, Little Silver, New Jersey
Another storm on Wednesday and Thursday -- with the potential to produce strong winds, heavy rain, and flooding -- threatens to derail efforts that are underway in New York and New Jersey.
Temperatures in New York are set to fall below freezing this week, while 730,000 people in the state continue to have no power in their homes. That number exceeds one million in neighboring New Jersey. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg predict alternative housing will need to be found for 30,000-40,000 people because of the cold.
What should our response be in the face of such devastation, chaos, and urgent need? How do we live and work and relate to our neighbors when this is the state of our world? How can we consistently be the Body of Christ in the midst of such overwhelming brokenness, particularly in times of crisis? How can we avoid laboring in vain (Psalm 127:1-2), missing the mark, and filling our lives and the lives of others with anxious toil (v. 2)?
THE WORD
Numbers... let's begin with numbers. In the face of difficult times and difficult questions, we can number our steps through Psalm 127 and find that they add up to greater hopefulness than we might have imagined at the start.
Sandy cleanup and recovery is daunting. Life is colored with struggle and heartache, big and small. The church is not at all what it was. What it now is can be unfamiliar and unsettling. It can produce anxiety, weariness, and sometimes even despair.
So we take the first step...
Step One: Remember the framework of this Psalm.
It is a song of ascent, a song to be sung by pilgrims making their way up Mount Zion. They have known conflict, destruction, and loss in the wars of conquest. Maybe their hearts aren't exactly heavy, but they are full -- weighty with life's wisdom that is earned the hard way. As Thomas D. Parker writes, these are pilgrims who are "less triumphal than hopeful. The fragility of their great works has become plain" (Feasting on the Word [Year B, Volume 3], pg. 272).
But so has God's faithfulness.
They have learned that "the Lord builds the house," as in our wider experience of life, both in the physical sense (in homes, places of worship, public spaces, cities) and in terms of relationships (in families of origin, families of choice, and networks of like-minded and like-hearted people). [A more complete study on the "house" wordplay in Psalm 127 can be found in Feasting on the Word (Year B, Volume 3), pgs. 273 & 275.]
They have learned that the Lord watches over the city, the place of human striving -- striving that sometimes falls short but is made possible and blessed by God's faithful care. God's work continues to unfold while the people sleep. (Perhaps the work goes even smoother then!)
They have learned that the Lord provides what is needed apart from their scurrying, their striving, and the humanly assumed worth and impact of their works. God created and is always creating the conditions for abundant life.
Here's Parker again:
Human history offers no encouragement to those who assume the world they have built is under their control. The subtitle of the psalm... reaches back to the wisdom of Solomon to recall both the beauty and the fragility of city, temple, land, and people. There is a faint echo of Solomon's declaration and prayer at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:27-30). The security of the "house" is the divine presence that meets human beings who approach the Lord with humility and gratitude, not the strength of its walls, the beauty of its design, or the magic of its liturgy. The blessing of the Lord is grace upon grace (Feasting on the Word [Year B, Volume 3], pg. 274).
Those ascending hearts are full of the knowledge that God is always faithful and always at work for good, for life. Psalm 127 is the song of pilgrims who found ways to cooperate with, participate in, and host that divine presence that creative gift of God that is always calling us to life, even in the midst of conflict and occupation, death and destruction, anxiety and despair. Can we?
As Parker proposes above, we meet this faithful and divine presence when we approach with humility and gratitude -- a fitting posture for a people whose God is ever busy building, keeping, and blessing their lives. And there is a call to participate, to partner, to co-create toward life, toward the good -- a fitting response from wise and weighty hearts.
Life is not triumph but hope. Life is not determined by our struggle and heartache but by God's faithful love. And so ours can be a "doxological existence" (Feasting on the Word, pg. 275), growing in praise and trust even as we are challenged by the ordinary realities of life -- be they joy-filled or tragic, comforting or unsettling.
This is true for our individual lives and bodies, but it is also true for the Body of Christ. One of our earliest witnesses tells us that God is at work for good in everything (Romans 8:28), even though not everything that happens is good. This is the kind of long view congregations must hold as they seek to answer God's faithfulness and love with their own faithfulness and love. This is true for congregations facing decline or experiencing growth and those calling their members to inward growth or outward calling (parts of a whole). This can undergird an invitation to give in multiple ways during a season of stewardship.
Step Two: Remember the setting of this Psalm.
Not the ascending-the-mountain setting -- the setting of God's work and our response. God builds the house. God watches over the city. God provides while the beloved sleep. We respond with our work, love, giving, and faithfulness. And this all happens within the setting of our very ordinary lives.
God does the extraordinary in the seemingly mundane places, common interactions, and regular details of our lives. There are those mountaintop moments, but the long-term story of God's love and faithfulness is found in the whole of our lives, glimpsed in the collection of our everyday existence.
This step shapes our response to the devastation of Sandy. When we love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul, it becomes the "stuff" of our everyday lives. It is who we are each day as we raise our children, connect with friends, go to work, vote in elections, walk the dog, look for a job, go to medical appointments, serve on boards and committees, shop for groceries, volunteer our time, clean our houses, and work for change that brings us closer to the kin-dom. Through it all, we do what love of God propels us to do -- love our neighbors as ourselves. Our lives become our prayers and our response to God's faithfulness and love.
Our response to Sandy is the natural outpouring of our everyday lives, our loving of God and neighbor too. We pray and pray some more. We give generously of our time and our resources. We pay attention to the news and the need, and we add our voices when they are needed. Then we give some more if we are able. Then we pray some more, because we are all able in our own ways. We welcome the divine presence that builds, keeps, provides, and calls us to grateful love and cooperation in the ways of life for all God's people.
This work is our work. The suffering of our neighbor is our suffering. The cost is our cost.
Step Three: Live the framework and the setting of the Psalm.
While so many are in crisis, while the church is changing rapidly and seeking to be the body in a whole new way in a whole new world, living a framework of hope (not triumph), wise and weighty joy (not despair), and creative, extra-in-the-ordinary, and faithful love (not frantic scurrying or anxious spinning) is the response the world and the church need. It praises and honors God, who gives, holds, and blesses this life we live together. And it issues in love of neighbor in that same vein. It makes us partners, instruments, and co-creators in this ascent of everyday hope.
CRAFTNG THE SERMON
All the usual cautions here...
* Pat answers and platitudes are not helpful in the face of a crisis -- to the people suffering from Sandy's devastation, to the people suffering in the pews, or to the people who can either be motivated to act in love or given permission to remain unmoved and unengaged.
* Keep in mind how your congregation will hear the masculine bias in the second half of the reading. How does that need to be addressed?
* Remember that there are people in our congregations who have lost children, been unable to have children, are estranged from their children, and are currently struggling to have children. There will be parents who see their children as joyful blessings from God and those who do not. Remember that this Psalm comes from the wisdom tradition that calls for a nuanced and thoughtful approach to faithful living. The following is a good reminder to preachers and a humorous affirmation to parents who are frustrated with their children: "This larger wisdom tradition should make us appropriately nervous about assuming that those with children are being rewarded" (Feasting on the Word, pg. 277).
Some ways to approach the sermon...
* If the focus is more on the life of the church and stewardship season, this text does a good job of affirming the primacy of God's love for the world, God's faithfulness, and God's call to co-creation. It assures anxious or fearful congregations that the work and future are ultimately God's. Ours is to offer our ordinary lives in faithful and grateful cooperation with that work toward God's future. One might use the idea of God giving offspring as God engendering new life -- in mission, in community, in reinvigorated participation, and in new dreams and new members. Michael Pasquarello III has written an excellent piece on how to preach hope and praise around this text in Feasting on the Word (pgs. 273-277). Here is a taste:
A people whose faith is capable of generating new life will remain confident in times of trouble... The great surprise of this psalm, for congregations that are flourishing or fading, is its attentiveness in praising God, in remembering God's goodness, in acknowledging God's faithful activity.
* Consider what it means to live a doxological life and what that means for us as individuals, a community, and human family.
* Preach this psalm in conversation with this week's text from Ruth. Ruth could be a narrative version of Psalm 127. Psalm 127 could give voice to the prayers of one of Ruth's characters. How does a story of two poor widows and a farmer witness to what Psalm 127 has to say? They are the building blocks of David's house that will one day welcome Jesus. How can the people in the pews find themselves in the story?
* Consider how Psalm 127 works with the gospel reading from last week. How do we partner with God on our "house work"? How do we co-create life abundant?
* Seek God in the aftermath of Sandy and in the church today. How is God at work? How can we partner in that work? Thomas Parker again...
This faith is a courageous hope that does not have all the answers. They must learn as they walk into the unknown future. Divine providence is not magic; it does not rescue us from trouble without following the way of God through it. Faith becomes courage to endure what we must without losing heart, and thereby losing our souls. The point was never just a building or a throne or happy family circumstances. It was always about access to God and faithfulness to the way of God in the world (Feasting on the Word, pg. 276).
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Mark 12:38-44
The New York Times reports that this presidential election will be the most expensive in history, and Roll Call, the news service of Capitol Hill, says that "the total cost of the 2012 elections will exceed $6 billion, according to new projections released today by the Center for Responsive Politics." The money comes from a variety of large donors, and the Roll Call article adds that "driving the outside spending are unrestricted super PACs, which have put $539.5 million into the race so far. CRP projects that super PAC spending will eventually hit $587.4 million. Corporations, unions, individuals, and other groups collectively spent $351.3 million through October 31. Political parties have spent $215.1 million." The vast amounts of money, and the many hours of advertising they fund, make one wonder if there's a place anymore for the individual, and his or her efforts, in politics.
Then there's the recovery from Superstorm Sandy, with tremendous devastation all over New York, New Jersey, and the neighboring states. Thousands of building inspectors and trash haulers are already at work. Armies of engineers are needed to check the subway system, electrical wires, cable service, and roads. Bigger armies of insurance adjusters are needed to help people make claims for damaged homes and lost belongings. Millions of people are estimated to be without power. Clearly, huge resources are needed for the recovery effort. All talk of privatizing the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), mentioned during the campaign, seems to have subsided.
Surely the widow and her tiny offering wouldn't matter much in today's world, where everything that matters is gigantic. Our politics come with huge price tags, our disaster recoveries take years and more billions. We like our bargains big, buy our food in super-sized packages at Costco and Sam's Club, and disdain the slow and the small.
And yet, the slow and small still have the power to move us.
In New York City, disappointed marathon runners made the best of the cancelled race and channeled their running into disaster relief. As CBS News reports: "Hundreds of would-be marathon runners in orange jerseys set out on a new course on Sunday. They carried relief supplies to devastated parts of Staten Island." One runner, Michael Reed of London, spent four months training for the marathon, and flew in from England to run it. Still, faced with the disappointment of the cancelled marathon, "Reed and his running partner Sheri Harpez took it all in stride. They clocked about 10 miles on Sunday with relief supplies on their backs." They brought food and other supplies, and with them, the intangible gift that people weren't forgotten.
What these individuals give is more than food or money. The same is true for the widow. Everyone is required to tithe their income and harvest, but the two coins that this widow brings aren't going to do much to keep the huge temple enterprise going. What she gives is something else.
Jesus sees something beyond the money in her gift. As Elton Trueblood writes in Confronting Christ, "The lesson which Christ sought to teach about the true nature of religious life is made vividly by the contrast between the professionals and one amateur." The professionals, the scribes, have the right words and the right clothes, and as Trueblood notes, "their religious profession, then, far from being a matter of personal sacrifice, is a means of self-advancement and a basis of prestige." The scribes benefit from their assignment to manage the widows' estates and taking fees from the widows. In contrast, the widow is an amateur at religion, but a master at faith.
There are similar people among us. People affected by the storm are understandably angry, along with being hungry, tired, cold, and afraid. Occasionally, someone responds differently. CNN reports that: "Some people were not complaining. About 90 miles north of Staten Island, the mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Mark D. Boughton, was visiting a special-needs shelter on Wednesday night when he met a 106-year-old woman who had cancer and was in hospice. 'She's happy to be alive,' he tweeted. 'Every day is a gift.' Contacted by telephone, Boughton said the cheerfulness of the lifelong resident of Danbury had inspired him. 'The essence of it was, look, you gotta make each day count,' he said. 'You don't know when your time comes.' "
The familiar story of the widow putting her coins in the temple treasury calls us back to the ministry of small things. Not that the big efforts, the big money, the big capabilities aren't needed, but Jesus also lauds the small effort. The widow's offering isn't going to make or break the temple treasury, but the work of giving changes her -- and us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Saudi Arabia is the world's top producer of oil, extracting 11.6 million barrels a day. The country also holds 20% of the world's oil reserves. This is why a recent announcement by Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, a top spokesman for Saudi Arabia, came as such a surprise to the leaders of the world and the oil community. Saudi Arabia intends to focus 100% of its power on renewable energy, such as, nuclear, solar, and low-carbon technologies. The prince said: "If we can get to the point where we can replace fossil fuels and use oil to produce products that are useful, that would be very good for the world."
Stewardship focuses more than just on how we distribute money, but on all the resources that belong to the planet earth.
* * *
Senator George McGovern recently passed away. One can argue about McGovern's liberal positions, but no one can deny his concern for individuals. Paramount was his concern for world hunger, as demonstrated in the book he authored titled The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time. McGovern believed that the security of the world depended not only on a well-maintained military, but also on feeding and clothing the impoverished. McGovern once said, "I hope someday we will be able to proclaim that we have banished hunger in the United States, and that we've been able to bring nutrition and health to the whole world."
Good stewardship encompasses more than just monetary giving, but also on providing food and clothes and other daily necessities.
* * *
As a child, John Paulson was pushed through Central Park in his baby carriage. As a teenager he would hang around Bethesda Fountain but was always troubled by the graffiti and that water no longer flowed from the fountain. As an adult, he takes frequent walks through the park.
Paulson is also a hedge-fund billionaire. His rise in income was due to making stock purchases that he knew would become valuable with the collapse of the real estate market and the decline of subprime loans.
In an act of philanthropy, Paulson donated $100 million to the Central Park Conservancy. This was the largest gift ever to the 153-year-old park in the center of New York City. It is a park that has 40 million visitors a year.
Upon giving the gift, Paulson said, "Walking through the park in different seasons, it kept coming back that in my mind Central Park is the most deserving of all of New York's cultural institutions."
When we think of stewardship, we need to think beyond the walls of the church to the many places that need our time and gifts.
* * *
The first parsonage we lived in was a two-bedroom cottage on a country road in rural Ohio. It was surrounded by seven apple trees, each bearing a different kind of apple. (Some I had heard of; some I hadn't.) The trees had not been very well taken care of and were in desperate need of pruning and feeding. Not knowing much about orchard tending, I went to the library and read everything I could find about raising apple trees.
I put the knowledge to use the following winter, pruning and feeding the trees. In the summer I sprayed them and fed them, and the harvest was phenomenal. They produced a bounty of apples -- and my favorite was a crisp, tart apple the size of a grapefruit that no one could identify. The tree was loaded with them, and I could hardly wait for them to ripen for the harvest.
Then one morning we heard a terrible, ripping sound followed by a crash from behind the house. We ran out to find that apple tree split down the center and lying on the ground. The weight of the apples had pulled the tree apart. We should have picked some of the apples to lighten the load. Instead, my favorite tree was killed by its own prosperity.
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
When Fiona McLaren decided to redecorate her farmhouse she didn't even bother to move the old painting that was hanging in the stairwell. And she didn't mind when some paint specks landed on the cracked old canvas. She didn't like the painting very much and had kept it through the years only because her father had a sentimental attachment to the thing. He had been a physician and a patient he had helped had given him the painting when he could not pay his bill. That was in 1960, and the good doctor had died in 1972. Fiona might have thrown the painting out but she had loved her father and kept it out of loyalty to him and his memory.
In August of this year, however, finances became tight for Fiona and she decided that it was time to take the painting to an expert on the long shot that it was valuable. The expert she took the painting to was Harry Robertson, the head auctioneer of Sotheby's Scotland.
Harry actually gasped when he saw the painting. It was a lost Leonardo daVinci original, "Madonna and child with John the Baptist."
Its value: about $150 million.
* * *
In July of this year, while Fiona McLaren was contemplating taking her painting to an expert, North Carolina resident Beth Feeback was shopping at Goodwill and saw a couple of old modernistic paintings for $9.99 each.
Beth is herself an artist who specializes in paintings of people's pets. She thought she could save some money on canvases by painting her paintings over these ugly old things, so she bought them.
It's a good thing she decided to have them checked out before she painted over them. As it turns out, one of them was by modern artist Ilya Bolotowsky. She sold it at auction in September for $27,000.
* * *
On May 10, 2010 the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a feature story by John Campanelli titled "For These Lottery Winners, A Dream Come True Turned into a Nightmare".
The eleven stories he tells almost seem like clichés about lottery winners whose lives fall apart after they've won big. It is true, of course, that many lottery winners manage their good luck well, supporting their families, giving generously to charity, and setting up comfortable retirements. But for some, their lives are proof positive that money doesn't necessarily buy happiness.
Here's an example, maybe the most famous, from his list:
In 2002 Jack Whittaker won a record $315 million in the West Virginia state lottery. Almost immediately, his life began to fall apart. There was a drunk-driving charge. He was robbed of more than $500,000 outside of a strip club. He was sued by more than a dozen people. And saddest of all, his granddaughter, whom he supported with a monthly allowance, died of a drug overdose at the age of 17. In 2009, his 42-year-old daughter was found dead in her home. The cause of her death was determined to be from a drug overdose.
* * *
Las Vegas casinos like to brag that the safest place in the city is on the floor of any casino. Casino security is state-of-the-art with electronic observers in the ceiling as well as highly trained security officers (often ex-police officers) walking the casino at any time.
Michael Belton and Carlos Rodriguez didn't realize just how tight that security is. They plotted a scheme to rob the Bellagio casino. In this plan, Rodriguez would blind the dealer with mace and then steal some $5,000 chips from the high-roller blackjack table.
The plan started out well: Belton grabbed 23 $5,000 chips from the blackjack table. But he got only three feet from the table on his way to the getaway car before he was tackled. Rodriguez is still on the run.
What the two hapless robbers didn't realize was that once they stole them, the chips they became worthless. The Bellagio has a policy of changing the color of chips that are stolen so that the stolen ones will stand out when someone tries to cash them in. Also, some of the chips contain electronic homing devices so they can be found easily.
* * *
Most of us still print our sermons out on 8.5x11 paper. At least we think we do.
Check it out. Using a ruler, measure the paper you bought that was labeled 8?" x 11" and you'll probably discover that it's really only 8 7/16" x 10 15/16". It's a small thing, but multiply that sixteenth of an inch saved on every sheet by millions of sheets, and the paper company is saving thousands of dollars every year by not giving you what you paid for.
Every carpenter knows that a 2 x 4 piece of lumber isn't really 2' x 4'. That's why it's so hard to do remodeling on old houses that were built back when a 2 x 4 really measured 2' x 4'.
Writing in the New York Times in March 2011, Stephanie Clifford and Catherine Rampell report that a pound isn't really a pound any more, especially at the grocery store. That coffee can still looks like the 16 oz. can you bought coffee in for years, but now it holds only about 12 ? ounces. That pound of bacon? It's 12 oz. now, but the package hasn't changed. And neither has the price. Baby wipes used to come 80 to a package -- now it's 72. Same package, same price. Sugar that used to come in 5 lb. bags now comes in 4 lb. bags. But the price hasn't shrunk.
It's called "stealth downsizing." And it makes us think about the value of the things we think we have to have.
* * *
Whitney Kropp is not one of the "popular" kids at Ogemaw Heights High School in West Branch, Michigan. In fact, she's kind of awkward, physically and socially. So it's no surprise that the popular kids have decided that she should be a target. They pick on her and bully her constantly.
Probably the height of the bullying was when they nominated her for the homecoming court as a prank. Whitney was surprised and flattered, until they started pointing at her and laughing at her in the halls. The boy who was nominated to be her escort withdrew his name because he didn't want to be associated with the target of such merciless ridicule.
Hurt and embarrassed, Whitney decided that she too would withdraw her name from consideration -- but her grandmother, mother, and sister talked her out of it. They began to let people in the small town know what had happened, and the adults and some of the kids from the school decided to transform a cruel prank with a heavy application of kindness and love. A new escort came forward, a business in town paid for their dinner and a complete makeover, with dress, for Whitney.
Whitney's mother, Bernice Kropp said the support has helped make a bad situation right. "This was something that was really awful, could have ended awful, and because so many people came together, it just turned right around," she said.
* * *
Most people don't realize that the second half of the great commandment is in fact just a truncated version of the Law of Reciprocity, or as Christians call it, The Golden Rule. We also often don't realize that nearly every religion includes a version of this law.
Bahá'i faith:
* "Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not."
* "Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself." -- Baha'u'llah
* "And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbor that which thou choosest for thyself." -- Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
Buddhism:
* "...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" -- Samyutta Nikaya v. 353
* "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18
Christianity:
* "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." -- Matthew 7:12 (King James Version)
* "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." -- Luke 6:31 (King James Version)
* "...and don't do what you hate..." -- Gospel of Thomas 6. The Gospel of Thomas is one of about 40 gospels that circulated among the early Christian movement, but which never made it into the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).
Confucianism:
* "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you." -- Analects 15:23
* "Tse-kung asked, 'Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?' Confucius replied, 'It is the word 'shu' -- reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire." -- Doctrine of the Mean 13.3
* "Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." -- Mencius VII.A.4
Ancient Egyptian:
* "Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." -- The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, pgs.109-110, translated by R.B. Parkinson. The original dates to circa 1800 BCE and may be the earliest version of the Epic of Reciprocity ever written.
Hinduism:
* "This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you." -- Mahabharata 5:1517
Islam:
* "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." -- number 13 of Imam Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths
Jainism:
* "Therefore, neither does he [a sage] cause violence to others nor does he make others do so." -- Acarangasutra 5.101-2
* "In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self." -- Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara
* "A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated." -- Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
Judaism:
* "...thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." -- Leviticus 19:18
* "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary." -- Talmud, Shabbat 31a
* "And what you hate, do not do to any one." -- Tobit 4:15
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Unless God builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
People: Unless God guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.
Leader: It is in vain that we anxiously rise up early and go late to rest,
People: for God gives sleep to the beloved.
Leader: Let us build a spiritual house that God will bless.
People: Let us raise up a heritage for those who will follow us.
OR
Leader: Come and rejoice in the God who has created.
People: We praise God for the good gift of creation.
Leader: Come and share with others the gifts you have received.
People: We offer ourselves and our gifts to those in need.
Leader: Rejoice in all that others share with you.
People: With joy we give thanks for those who bless us with their gifts.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"For the Beauty of the Earth"
found in:
UMH: 92
H82: 416
PH: 473
NNBH: 8
NCH: 28
CH: 56
LBW: 561
ELA: 879
"Now Thank We All Our God"
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396/397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533/534
ELA: 839/840
"For the Fruits of This Creation"
found in:
UMH: 97
H82: 424
PH: 553
NCH: 425
CH: 714
LBW: 563
ELA: 679
"I Sing the Almighty Power of God"
found in:
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
"This Is My Father's World"
found in:
UMH: 144
H82: 651
PH: 293
AAHH: 149
NNBH: 41
CH: 59
LBW: 554
ELA: 824
"Cuando El Pobre" ("When the Poor Ones")
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 662
ELA: 725
"What Does the Lord Require"
found in:
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
"The Gift of Love"
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
"All I Need Is You"
found in:
CCB: 100
"Live in Charity"
found in:
CCB: 71
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who has gifted your creation abundantly: Grant us the grace to share with others giving joyfully when we have plenty and receiving with gratitude when we are in want; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise and worship you, O God, who fills the earth with good things. You have blessed us with bounty and you have created us to share with one another. Help us to not only be generous givers but also gracious receivers. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our reluctance to share, whether giving or receiving.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We prefer to think that the things we possess are the result solely of our effort. We ignore the ways in which others have assisted us and we forget that everything has come from you. We are stingy in our giving, preferring to point out the instances where others are working the system. We are not good even when it comes to receiving from others. We allow pride to rise up and spoil the gift. Forgive us and call us back to being good stewards of your creation, sharing and receiving with gratitude and joy. Amen.
Leader: God is generous and gracious. God has given us a wonderful world and invites us to share its bounty with all God's children. With thanksgiving share what you have. With gratitude receive what you need.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We bless you and adore you, O God, for you are the one who gives us all the bounty of this world. You have placed all creation into our care.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We prefer to think that the things we possess are the result solely of our effort. We ignore the ways in which others have assisted us and we forget that everything has come from you. We are stingy in our giving, preferring to point out the instances where others are working the system. We are not good even when it comes to receiving from others. We allow pride to rise up and spoil the gift. Forgive us and call us back to being good stewards of your creation, sharing and receiving with gratitude and joy.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received. We thank you for the earth and all that it brings forth for our nourishment and our pleasure. We thank you for the trust you have placed in us to take care of this treasure. We thank you for those who have shared with us both the bounty of the earth and the bounty of your love.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We bring before you the needs of your children. We are painfully aware that there are many who do not share in the resources you have given us. Some do not have enough to eat. Some do not have decent drinking water. Some are homeless and some live in places that hardly be called shelter. All these folks are missing the blessings in spite of your generous creation because of greed and jealousy. As you move among them, help us to be those who bring justice and mercy to those around us so that all may bless you for your bounty.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Here is my children's stewardship lesson. I give the children each ten coins (usually pennies, but use whatever works for you) -- after I have explained very, very clearly that these are MY pennies that I have collected. After passing them out, I ask the children whose pennies they are, and make sure they know the coins are still mine. I make a really big deal out of their being mine. Then I ask the children to give me one of the pennies back. I tell them that although all of the pennies are mine, I am going to let them use the nine they have left as they wish. I then talk to them about all God gives us... and yet it all still belongs to God. Some we give back to God to be used for God's work. The rest we use -- but we always remember when we use it that it really belongs to God.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Who Gave the Most?
Mark 12:38-44
Objects: a penny and a $20 bill
Good morning, boys and girls! We have a project here at the church that we are raising money for. (If there is no current project, you can begin by saying "If" there was a project.) Now, let's suppose that two people gave money for the project. One gave this penny (show the penny) and the other gave this $20 bill. (show the bill) Now I want to ask you this. Who gave the most? (let the children answer) That's right. The one who gave the $20 bill gave a greater amount of money, but it may not be the bigger gift. Let me tell you some more about these two gifts.
Let's say that the $20 bill came from a person who has millions of dollars and that the penny came from someone who had no money at all except this one little penny. Now, who do you think gave the most? (let them answer) Yes, I think the one who gave all that he or she had certainly gave the most. When we give to God, it is not the amount that counts, but how much of a sacrifice we make to give. For somebody who has millions of dollars, twenty dollars doesn't mean much. But for somebody who is very poor, even a penny might be a real sacrifice.
So when you are trying to decide what you will give to God, keep in mind that God is not concerned with the amount you give, but in what you are willing to sacrifice in order to give. Do you understand what I mean by that? (Let them answer. If it is unclear to them, elaborate.)
Let's ask God to help us be sacrificial givers.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to be the kind of people who give to you even more than we feel we can afford to give because we know that you will always make sure that we have what we need if we put you first. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 11, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 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.
Team member Mary Austin offers some additional thoughts on the poor widow in this week's gospel text and its theme of community and proportional giving. In today's world, where it seems massive amounts of money are required to accomplish much of anything -- whether in terms of political influence or in disaster recovery -- it often feels like our small efforts are meaningless. But Mary reminds us that the widow's story should disabuse us of any notions... and that we can (and do) make a genuine difference in people's lives with even small gestures -- and in the wake of Sandy's devastation, the media have a knack for finding stories of thoughtful actions that brighten not just their receivers but also their givers. Mary notes that we need not leave everything up to the "professionals"; the work of amateurs -- in faith and in life -- is exceedingly valuable too. That's a powerful message... particularly in stewardship season. (And many of this week's illustrations focus on stewardship themes.)
Living an Ascending Hope
by Leah Lonsbury
Psalm 127
Sandy's numbers are astounding:
* 15,000 flights cancelled in just two days' time;
* 28 inches of snow buried parts of West Virginia;
* 7 subway tunnels flooded;
* 4.7 million schoolkids home;
* 190 firefighters deployed to the Breezy Point fire;
* $20 billion in estimated property damage;
* $10-30 billion in estimated in lost business;
* 8 million homes without power;
* 106 lives lost in the U.S., 2 in Canada, and 67 in the Caribbean.
Here's how the numbers add up...
There is work to be done.
There is suffering to be addressed.
There are costs to be covered.
And if we think back to last week's gospel reading about the central commandments of our faith -- "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength... You shall love your neighbor as yourself" -- it sounds like this is our work. It sounds like our neighbors' suffering is our suffering. It sounds like these costs are also our costs.
So where in the world do we begin?
With the number 127.
That's the psalm we'll look to for direction as we determine how to build and labor (v. 1) in ways that will bring rest, security, and well-being to God's beloved (v. 2) in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and in the larger life of the church.
THE WORLD
Crisis management is well underway, but some communities are still without basic necessities like food, heat, and shelter. In Rockaway, New York, just outside of New York City, area State Representative Phillip Goldfender told a reporter: "I get that it is tough to coordinate the cleanup, but it is not tough to coordinate bringing in food. We are not asking for anything complicated. We are begging for food, begging for blankets."
Cleanup and recovery efforts are likely to go on for some time. The BBC has posted firsthand stories from storm victims who have sustained great loss, are still suffering, and don't see relief in their immediate future. They write...
None of our possessions can be salvaged. I am particularly upset that my university projects are lost. That means more work for me and I was due to graduate in December. We are now staying at a friend's house in Brooklyn. We won't be able to return to our house for months. So we will have to move from one friend's house to another. There is no information about the support available for victims of this storm. All we hear is -- go to the evacuation shelters.
-- Daphay Sanchez, Staten Island, New York
I spent three days trapped in my apartment with no power. I'm now living in a hotel room and I still have 10 days before I can go home as there's no power and water at home. My colleagues at work have lost houses or had friends and neighbors die. I have friends whose relatives have cancer and they can't access their drugs.
-- Bryony Chamberlain, Hoboken, New Jersey
While you do encounter heartwarming examples of compassion -- like this family who drove around distributing free pizza to people who needed food -- instances of exorbitant pricing are widespread. Examples include pizza slices sold for $8, hand-held torches for $15, cleaned hotel rooms for $600 (not cleaned for $150), and generators sold at 30% above RRP.
-- Neil Houston, Little Silver, New Jersey
Another storm on Wednesday and Thursday -- with the potential to produce strong winds, heavy rain, and flooding -- threatens to derail efforts that are underway in New York and New Jersey.
Temperatures in New York are set to fall below freezing this week, while 730,000 people in the state continue to have no power in their homes. That number exceeds one million in neighboring New Jersey. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg predict alternative housing will need to be found for 30,000-40,000 people because of the cold.
What should our response be in the face of such devastation, chaos, and urgent need? How do we live and work and relate to our neighbors when this is the state of our world? How can we consistently be the Body of Christ in the midst of such overwhelming brokenness, particularly in times of crisis? How can we avoid laboring in vain (Psalm 127:1-2), missing the mark, and filling our lives and the lives of others with anxious toil (v. 2)?
THE WORD
Numbers... let's begin with numbers. In the face of difficult times and difficult questions, we can number our steps through Psalm 127 and find that they add up to greater hopefulness than we might have imagined at the start.
Sandy cleanup and recovery is daunting. Life is colored with struggle and heartache, big and small. The church is not at all what it was. What it now is can be unfamiliar and unsettling. It can produce anxiety, weariness, and sometimes even despair.
So we take the first step...
Step One: Remember the framework of this Psalm.
It is a song of ascent, a song to be sung by pilgrims making their way up Mount Zion. They have known conflict, destruction, and loss in the wars of conquest. Maybe their hearts aren't exactly heavy, but they are full -- weighty with life's wisdom that is earned the hard way. As Thomas D. Parker writes, these are pilgrims who are "less triumphal than hopeful. The fragility of their great works has become plain" (Feasting on the Word [Year B, Volume 3], pg. 272).
But so has God's faithfulness.
They have learned that "the Lord builds the house," as in our wider experience of life, both in the physical sense (in homes, places of worship, public spaces, cities) and in terms of relationships (in families of origin, families of choice, and networks of like-minded and like-hearted people). [A more complete study on the "house" wordplay in Psalm 127 can be found in Feasting on the Word (Year B, Volume 3), pgs. 273 & 275.]
They have learned that the Lord watches over the city, the place of human striving -- striving that sometimes falls short but is made possible and blessed by God's faithful care. God's work continues to unfold while the people sleep. (Perhaps the work goes even smoother then!)
They have learned that the Lord provides what is needed apart from their scurrying, their striving, and the humanly assumed worth and impact of their works. God created and is always creating the conditions for abundant life.
Here's Parker again:
Human history offers no encouragement to those who assume the world they have built is under their control. The subtitle of the psalm... reaches back to the wisdom of Solomon to recall both the beauty and the fragility of city, temple, land, and people. There is a faint echo of Solomon's declaration and prayer at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:27-30). The security of the "house" is the divine presence that meets human beings who approach the Lord with humility and gratitude, not the strength of its walls, the beauty of its design, or the magic of its liturgy. The blessing of the Lord is grace upon grace (Feasting on the Word [Year B, Volume 3], pg. 274).
Those ascending hearts are full of the knowledge that God is always faithful and always at work for good, for life. Psalm 127 is the song of pilgrims who found ways to cooperate with, participate in, and host that divine presence that creative gift of God that is always calling us to life, even in the midst of conflict and occupation, death and destruction, anxiety and despair. Can we?
As Parker proposes above, we meet this faithful and divine presence when we approach with humility and gratitude -- a fitting posture for a people whose God is ever busy building, keeping, and blessing their lives. And there is a call to participate, to partner, to co-create toward life, toward the good -- a fitting response from wise and weighty hearts.
Life is not triumph but hope. Life is not determined by our struggle and heartache but by God's faithful love. And so ours can be a "doxological existence" (Feasting on the Word, pg. 275), growing in praise and trust even as we are challenged by the ordinary realities of life -- be they joy-filled or tragic, comforting or unsettling.
This is true for our individual lives and bodies, but it is also true for the Body of Christ. One of our earliest witnesses tells us that God is at work for good in everything (Romans 8:28), even though not everything that happens is good. This is the kind of long view congregations must hold as they seek to answer God's faithfulness and love with their own faithfulness and love. This is true for congregations facing decline or experiencing growth and those calling their members to inward growth or outward calling (parts of a whole). This can undergird an invitation to give in multiple ways during a season of stewardship.
Step Two: Remember the setting of this Psalm.
Not the ascending-the-mountain setting -- the setting of God's work and our response. God builds the house. God watches over the city. God provides while the beloved sleep. We respond with our work, love, giving, and faithfulness. And this all happens within the setting of our very ordinary lives.
God does the extraordinary in the seemingly mundane places, common interactions, and regular details of our lives. There are those mountaintop moments, but the long-term story of God's love and faithfulness is found in the whole of our lives, glimpsed in the collection of our everyday existence.
This step shapes our response to the devastation of Sandy. When we love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul, it becomes the "stuff" of our everyday lives. It is who we are each day as we raise our children, connect with friends, go to work, vote in elections, walk the dog, look for a job, go to medical appointments, serve on boards and committees, shop for groceries, volunteer our time, clean our houses, and work for change that brings us closer to the kin-dom. Through it all, we do what love of God propels us to do -- love our neighbors as ourselves. Our lives become our prayers and our response to God's faithfulness and love.
Our response to Sandy is the natural outpouring of our everyday lives, our loving of God and neighbor too. We pray and pray some more. We give generously of our time and our resources. We pay attention to the news and the need, and we add our voices when they are needed. Then we give some more if we are able. Then we pray some more, because we are all able in our own ways. We welcome the divine presence that builds, keeps, provides, and calls us to grateful love and cooperation in the ways of life for all God's people.
This work is our work. The suffering of our neighbor is our suffering. The cost is our cost.
Step Three: Live the framework and the setting of the Psalm.
While so many are in crisis, while the church is changing rapidly and seeking to be the body in a whole new way in a whole new world, living a framework of hope (not triumph), wise and weighty joy (not despair), and creative, extra-in-the-ordinary, and faithful love (not frantic scurrying or anxious spinning) is the response the world and the church need. It praises and honors God, who gives, holds, and blesses this life we live together. And it issues in love of neighbor in that same vein. It makes us partners, instruments, and co-creators in this ascent of everyday hope.
CRAFTNG THE SERMON
All the usual cautions here...
* Pat answers and platitudes are not helpful in the face of a crisis -- to the people suffering from Sandy's devastation, to the people suffering in the pews, or to the people who can either be motivated to act in love or given permission to remain unmoved and unengaged.
* Keep in mind how your congregation will hear the masculine bias in the second half of the reading. How does that need to be addressed?
* Remember that there are people in our congregations who have lost children, been unable to have children, are estranged from their children, and are currently struggling to have children. There will be parents who see their children as joyful blessings from God and those who do not. Remember that this Psalm comes from the wisdom tradition that calls for a nuanced and thoughtful approach to faithful living. The following is a good reminder to preachers and a humorous affirmation to parents who are frustrated with their children: "This larger wisdom tradition should make us appropriately nervous about assuming that those with children are being rewarded" (Feasting on the Word, pg. 277).
Some ways to approach the sermon...
* If the focus is more on the life of the church and stewardship season, this text does a good job of affirming the primacy of God's love for the world, God's faithfulness, and God's call to co-creation. It assures anxious or fearful congregations that the work and future are ultimately God's. Ours is to offer our ordinary lives in faithful and grateful cooperation with that work toward God's future. One might use the idea of God giving offspring as God engendering new life -- in mission, in community, in reinvigorated participation, and in new dreams and new members. Michael Pasquarello III has written an excellent piece on how to preach hope and praise around this text in Feasting on the Word (pgs. 273-277). Here is a taste:
A people whose faith is capable of generating new life will remain confident in times of trouble... The great surprise of this psalm, for congregations that are flourishing or fading, is its attentiveness in praising God, in remembering God's goodness, in acknowledging God's faithful activity.
* Consider what it means to live a doxological life and what that means for us as individuals, a community, and human family.
* Preach this psalm in conversation with this week's text from Ruth. Ruth could be a narrative version of Psalm 127. Psalm 127 could give voice to the prayers of one of Ruth's characters. How does a story of two poor widows and a farmer witness to what Psalm 127 has to say? They are the building blocks of David's house that will one day welcome Jesus. How can the people in the pews find themselves in the story?
* Consider how Psalm 127 works with the gospel reading from last week. How do we partner with God on our "house work"? How do we co-create life abundant?
* Seek God in the aftermath of Sandy and in the church today. How is God at work? How can we partner in that work? Thomas Parker again...
This faith is a courageous hope that does not have all the answers. They must learn as they walk into the unknown future. Divine providence is not magic; it does not rescue us from trouble without following the way of God through it. Faith becomes courage to endure what we must without losing heart, and thereby losing our souls. The point was never just a building or a throne or happy family circumstances. It was always about access to God and faithfulness to the way of God in the world (Feasting on the Word, pg. 276).
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Mark 12:38-44
The New York Times reports that this presidential election will be the most expensive in history, and Roll Call, the news service of Capitol Hill, says that "the total cost of the 2012 elections will exceed $6 billion, according to new projections released today by the Center for Responsive Politics." The money comes from a variety of large donors, and the Roll Call article adds that "driving the outside spending are unrestricted super PACs, which have put $539.5 million into the race so far. CRP projects that super PAC spending will eventually hit $587.4 million. Corporations, unions, individuals, and other groups collectively spent $351.3 million through October 31. Political parties have spent $215.1 million." The vast amounts of money, and the many hours of advertising they fund, make one wonder if there's a place anymore for the individual, and his or her efforts, in politics.
Then there's the recovery from Superstorm Sandy, with tremendous devastation all over New York, New Jersey, and the neighboring states. Thousands of building inspectors and trash haulers are already at work. Armies of engineers are needed to check the subway system, electrical wires, cable service, and roads. Bigger armies of insurance adjusters are needed to help people make claims for damaged homes and lost belongings. Millions of people are estimated to be without power. Clearly, huge resources are needed for the recovery effort. All talk of privatizing the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), mentioned during the campaign, seems to have subsided.
Surely the widow and her tiny offering wouldn't matter much in today's world, where everything that matters is gigantic. Our politics come with huge price tags, our disaster recoveries take years and more billions. We like our bargains big, buy our food in super-sized packages at Costco and Sam's Club, and disdain the slow and the small.
And yet, the slow and small still have the power to move us.
In New York City, disappointed marathon runners made the best of the cancelled race and channeled their running into disaster relief. As CBS News reports: "Hundreds of would-be marathon runners in orange jerseys set out on a new course on Sunday. They carried relief supplies to devastated parts of Staten Island." One runner, Michael Reed of London, spent four months training for the marathon, and flew in from England to run it. Still, faced with the disappointment of the cancelled marathon, "Reed and his running partner Sheri Harpez took it all in stride. They clocked about 10 miles on Sunday with relief supplies on their backs." They brought food and other supplies, and with them, the intangible gift that people weren't forgotten.
What these individuals give is more than food or money. The same is true for the widow. Everyone is required to tithe their income and harvest, but the two coins that this widow brings aren't going to do much to keep the huge temple enterprise going. What she gives is something else.
Jesus sees something beyond the money in her gift. As Elton Trueblood writes in Confronting Christ, "The lesson which Christ sought to teach about the true nature of religious life is made vividly by the contrast between the professionals and one amateur." The professionals, the scribes, have the right words and the right clothes, and as Trueblood notes, "their religious profession, then, far from being a matter of personal sacrifice, is a means of self-advancement and a basis of prestige." The scribes benefit from their assignment to manage the widows' estates and taking fees from the widows. In contrast, the widow is an amateur at religion, but a master at faith.
There are similar people among us. People affected by the storm are understandably angry, along with being hungry, tired, cold, and afraid. Occasionally, someone responds differently. CNN reports that: "Some people were not complaining. About 90 miles north of Staten Island, the mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Mark D. Boughton, was visiting a special-needs shelter on Wednesday night when he met a 106-year-old woman who had cancer and was in hospice. 'She's happy to be alive,' he tweeted. 'Every day is a gift.' Contacted by telephone, Boughton said the cheerfulness of the lifelong resident of Danbury had inspired him. 'The essence of it was, look, you gotta make each day count,' he said. 'You don't know when your time comes.' "
The familiar story of the widow putting her coins in the temple treasury calls us back to the ministry of small things. Not that the big efforts, the big money, the big capabilities aren't needed, but Jesus also lauds the small effort. The widow's offering isn't going to make or break the temple treasury, but the work of giving changes her -- and us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Saudi Arabia is the world's top producer of oil, extracting 11.6 million barrels a day. The country also holds 20% of the world's oil reserves. This is why a recent announcement by Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, a top spokesman for Saudi Arabia, came as such a surprise to the leaders of the world and the oil community. Saudi Arabia intends to focus 100% of its power on renewable energy, such as, nuclear, solar, and low-carbon technologies. The prince said: "If we can get to the point where we can replace fossil fuels and use oil to produce products that are useful, that would be very good for the world."
Stewardship focuses more than just on how we distribute money, but on all the resources that belong to the planet earth.
* * *
Senator George McGovern recently passed away. One can argue about McGovern's liberal positions, but no one can deny his concern for individuals. Paramount was his concern for world hunger, as demonstrated in the book he authored titled The Third Freedom: Ending Hunger in Our Time. McGovern believed that the security of the world depended not only on a well-maintained military, but also on feeding and clothing the impoverished. McGovern once said, "I hope someday we will be able to proclaim that we have banished hunger in the United States, and that we've been able to bring nutrition and health to the whole world."
Good stewardship encompasses more than just monetary giving, but also on providing food and clothes and other daily necessities.
* * *
As a child, John Paulson was pushed through Central Park in his baby carriage. As a teenager he would hang around Bethesda Fountain but was always troubled by the graffiti and that water no longer flowed from the fountain. As an adult, he takes frequent walks through the park.
Paulson is also a hedge-fund billionaire. His rise in income was due to making stock purchases that he knew would become valuable with the collapse of the real estate market and the decline of subprime loans.
In an act of philanthropy, Paulson donated $100 million to the Central Park Conservancy. This was the largest gift ever to the 153-year-old park in the center of New York City. It is a park that has 40 million visitors a year.
Upon giving the gift, Paulson said, "Walking through the park in different seasons, it kept coming back that in my mind Central Park is the most deserving of all of New York's cultural institutions."
When we think of stewardship, we need to think beyond the walls of the church to the many places that need our time and gifts.
* * *
The first parsonage we lived in was a two-bedroom cottage on a country road in rural Ohio. It was surrounded by seven apple trees, each bearing a different kind of apple. (Some I had heard of; some I hadn't.) The trees had not been very well taken care of and were in desperate need of pruning and feeding. Not knowing much about orchard tending, I went to the library and read everything I could find about raising apple trees.
I put the knowledge to use the following winter, pruning and feeding the trees. In the summer I sprayed them and fed them, and the harvest was phenomenal. They produced a bounty of apples -- and my favorite was a crisp, tart apple the size of a grapefruit that no one could identify. The tree was loaded with them, and I could hardly wait for them to ripen for the harvest.
Then one morning we heard a terrible, ripping sound followed by a crash from behind the house. We ran out to find that apple tree split down the center and lying on the ground. The weight of the apples had pulled the tree apart. We should have picked some of the apples to lighten the load. Instead, my favorite tree was killed by its own prosperity.
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
When Fiona McLaren decided to redecorate her farmhouse she didn't even bother to move the old painting that was hanging in the stairwell. And she didn't mind when some paint specks landed on the cracked old canvas. She didn't like the painting very much and had kept it through the years only because her father had a sentimental attachment to the thing. He had been a physician and a patient he had helped had given him the painting when he could not pay his bill. That was in 1960, and the good doctor had died in 1972. Fiona might have thrown the painting out but she had loved her father and kept it out of loyalty to him and his memory.
In August of this year, however, finances became tight for Fiona and she decided that it was time to take the painting to an expert on the long shot that it was valuable. The expert she took the painting to was Harry Robertson, the head auctioneer of Sotheby's Scotland.
Harry actually gasped when he saw the painting. It was a lost Leonardo daVinci original, "Madonna and child with John the Baptist."
Its value: about $150 million.
* * *
In July of this year, while Fiona McLaren was contemplating taking her painting to an expert, North Carolina resident Beth Feeback was shopping at Goodwill and saw a couple of old modernistic paintings for $9.99 each.
Beth is herself an artist who specializes in paintings of people's pets. She thought she could save some money on canvases by painting her paintings over these ugly old things, so she bought them.
It's a good thing she decided to have them checked out before she painted over them. As it turns out, one of them was by modern artist Ilya Bolotowsky. She sold it at auction in September for $27,000.
* * *
On May 10, 2010 the Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a feature story by John Campanelli titled "For These Lottery Winners, A Dream Come True Turned into a Nightmare".
The eleven stories he tells almost seem like clichés about lottery winners whose lives fall apart after they've won big. It is true, of course, that many lottery winners manage their good luck well, supporting their families, giving generously to charity, and setting up comfortable retirements. But for some, their lives are proof positive that money doesn't necessarily buy happiness.
Here's an example, maybe the most famous, from his list:
In 2002 Jack Whittaker won a record $315 million in the West Virginia state lottery. Almost immediately, his life began to fall apart. There was a drunk-driving charge. He was robbed of more than $500,000 outside of a strip club. He was sued by more than a dozen people. And saddest of all, his granddaughter, whom he supported with a monthly allowance, died of a drug overdose at the age of 17. In 2009, his 42-year-old daughter was found dead in her home. The cause of her death was determined to be from a drug overdose.
* * *
Las Vegas casinos like to brag that the safest place in the city is on the floor of any casino. Casino security is state-of-the-art with electronic observers in the ceiling as well as highly trained security officers (often ex-police officers) walking the casino at any time.
Michael Belton and Carlos Rodriguez didn't realize just how tight that security is. They plotted a scheme to rob the Bellagio casino. In this plan, Rodriguez would blind the dealer with mace and then steal some $5,000 chips from the high-roller blackjack table.
The plan started out well: Belton grabbed 23 $5,000 chips from the blackjack table. But he got only three feet from the table on his way to the getaway car before he was tackled. Rodriguez is still on the run.
What the two hapless robbers didn't realize was that once they stole them, the chips they became worthless. The Bellagio has a policy of changing the color of chips that are stolen so that the stolen ones will stand out when someone tries to cash them in. Also, some of the chips contain electronic homing devices so they can be found easily.
* * *
Most of us still print our sermons out on 8.5x11 paper. At least we think we do.
Check it out. Using a ruler, measure the paper you bought that was labeled 8?" x 11" and you'll probably discover that it's really only 8 7/16" x 10 15/16". It's a small thing, but multiply that sixteenth of an inch saved on every sheet by millions of sheets, and the paper company is saving thousands of dollars every year by not giving you what you paid for.
Every carpenter knows that a 2 x 4 piece of lumber isn't really 2' x 4'. That's why it's so hard to do remodeling on old houses that were built back when a 2 x 4 really measured 2' x 4'.
Writing in the New York Times in March 2011, Stephanie Clifford and Catherine Rampell report that a pound isn't really a pound any more, especially at the grocery store. That coffee can still looks like the 16 oz. can you bought coffee in for years, but now it holds only about 12 ? ounces. That pound of bacon? It's 12 oz. now, but the package hasn't changed. And neither has the price. Baby wipes used to come 80 to a package -- now it's 72. Same package, same price. Sugar that used to come in 5 lb. bags now comes in 4 lb. bags. But the price hasn't shrunk.
It's called "stealth downsizing." And it makes us think about the value of the things we think we have to have.
* * *
Whitney Kropp is not one of the "popular" kids at Ogemaw Heights High School in West Branch, Michigan. In fact, she's kind of awkward, physically and socially. So it's no surprise that the popular kids have decided that she should be a target. They pick on her and bully her constantly.
Probably the height of the bullying was when they nominated her for the homecoming court as a prank. Whitney was surprised and flattered, until they started pointing at her and laughing at her in the halls. The boy who was nominated to be her escort withdrew his name because he didn't want to be associated with the target of such merciless ridicule.
Hurt and embarrassed, Whitney decided that she too would withdraw her name from consideration -- but her grandmother, mother, and sister talked her out of it. They began to let people in the small town know what had happened, and the adults and some of the kids from the school decided to transform a cruel prank with a heavy application of kindness and love. A new escort came forward, a business in town paid for their dinner and a complete makeover, with dress, for Whitney.
Whitney's mother, Bernice Kropp said the support has helped make a bad situation right. "This was something that was really awful, could have ended awful, and because so many people came together, it just turned right around," she said.
* * *
Most people don't realize that the second half of the great commandment is in fact just a truncated version of the Law of Reciprocity, or as Christians call it, The Golden Rule. We also often don't realize that nearly every religion includes a version of this law.
Bahá'i faith:
* "Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not."
* "Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself." -- Baha'u'llah
* "And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbor that which thou choosest for thyself." -- Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
Buddhism:
* "...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" -- Samyutta Nikaya v. 353
* "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18
Christianity:
* "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." -- Matthew 7:12 (King James Version)
* "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." -- Luke 6:31 (King James Version)
* "...and don't do what you hate..." -- Gospel of Thomas 6. The Gospel of Thomas is one of about 40 gospels that circulated among the early Christian movement, but which never made it into the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).
Confucianism:
* "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you." -- Analects 15:23
* "Tse-kung asked, 'Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?' Confucius replied, 'It is the word 'shu' -- reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire." -- Doctrine of the Mean 13.3
* "Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." -- Mencius VII.A.4
Ancient Egyptian:
* "Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." -- The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, pgs.109-110, translated by R.B. Parkinson. The original dates to circa 1800 BCE and may be the earliest version of the Epic of Reciprocity ever written.
Hinduism:
* "This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you." -- Mahabharata 5:1517
Islam:
* "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." -- number 13 of Imam Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths
Jainism:
* "Therefore, neither does he [a sage] cause violence to others nor does he make others do so." -- Acarangasutra 5.101-2
* "In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self." -- Lord Mahavira, 24th Tirthankara
* "A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated." -- Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
Judaism:
* "...thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." -- Leviticus 19:18
* "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary." -- Talmud, Shabbat 31a
* "And what you hate, do not do to any one." -- Tobit 4:15
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Unless God builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
People: Unless God guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.
Leader: It is in vain that we anxiously rise up early and go late to rest,
People: for God gives sleep to the beloved.
Leader: Let us build a spiritual house that God will bless.
People: Let us raise up a heritage for those who will follow us.
OR
Leader: Come and rejoice in the God who has created.
People: We praise God for the good gift of creation.
Leader: Come and share with others the gifts you have received.
People: We offer ourselves and our gifts to those in need.
Leader: Rejoice in all that others share with you.
People: With joy we give thanks for those who bless us with their gifts.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"For the Beauty of the Earth"
found in:
UMH: 92
H82: 416
PH: 473
NNBH: 8
NCH: 28
CH: 56
LBW: 561
ELA: 879
"Now Thank We All Our God"
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396/397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533/534
ELA: 839/840
"For the Fruits of This Creation"
found in:
UMH: 97
H82: 424
PH: 553
NCH: 425
CH: 714
LBW: 563
ELA: 679
"I Sing the Almighty Power of God"
found in:
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
"This Is My Father's World"
found in:
UMH: 144
H82: 651
PH: 293
AAHH: 149
NNBH: 41
CH: 59
LBW: 554
ELA: 824
"Cuando El Pobre" ("When the Poor Ones")
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 662
ELA: 725
"What Does the Lord Require"
found in:
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
"The Gift of Love"
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
"All I Need Is You"
found in:
CCB: 100
"Live in Charity"
found in:
CCB: 71
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who has gifted your creation abundantly: Grant us the grace to share with others giving joyfully when we have plenty and receiving with gratitude when we are in want; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise and worship you, O God, who fills the earth with good things. You have blessed us with bounty and you have created us to share with one another. Help us to not only be generous givers but also gracious receivers. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our reluctance to share, whether giving or receiving.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We prefer to think that the things we possess are the result solely of our effort. We ignore the ways in which others have assisted us and we forget that everything has come from you. We are stingy in our giving, preferring to point out the instances where others are working the system. We are not good even when it comes to receiving from others. We allow pride to rise up and spoil the gift. Forgive us and call us back to being good stewards of your creation, sharing and receiving with gratitude and joy. Amen.
Leader: God is generous and gracious. God has given us a wonderful world and invites us to share its bounty with all God's children. With thanksgiving share what you have. With gratitude receive what you need.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We bless you and adore you, O God, for you are the one who gives us all the bounty of this world. You have placed all creation into our care.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We prefer to think that the things we possess are the result solely of our effort. We ignore the ways in which others have assisted us and we forget that everything has come from you. We are stingy in our giving, preferring to point out the instances where others are working the system. We are not good even when it comes to receiving from others. We allow pride to rise up and spoil the gift. Forgive us and call us back to being good stewards of your creation, sharing and receiving with gratitude and joy.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received. We thank you for the earth and all that it brings forth for our nourishment and our pleasure. We thank you for the trust you have placed in us to take care of this treasure. We thank you for those who have shared with us both the bounty of the earth and the bounty of your love.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We bring before you the needs of your children. We are painfully aware that there are many who do not share in the resources you have given us. Some do not have enough to eat. Some do not have decent drinking water. Some are homeless and some live in places that hardly be called shelter. All these folks are missing the blessings in spite of your generous creation because of greed and jealousy. As you move among them, help us to be those who bring justice and mercy to those around us so that all may bless you for your bounty.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Here is my children's stewardship lesson. I give the children each ten coins (usually pennies, but use whatever works for you) -- after I have explained very, very clearly that these are MY pennies that I have collected. After passing them out, I ask the children whose pennies they are, and make sure they know the coins are still mine. I make a really big deal out of their being mine. Then I ask the children to give me one of the pennies back. I tell them that although all of the pennies are mine, I am going to let them use the nine they have left as they wish. I then talk to them about all God gives us... and yet it all still belongs to God. Some we give back to God to be used for God's work. The rest we use -- but we always remember when we use it that it really belongs to God.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Who Gave the Most?
Mark 12:38-44
Objects: a penny and a $20 bill
Good morning, boys and girls! We have a project here at the church that we are raising money for. (If there is no current project, you can begin by saying "If" there was a project.) Now, let's suppose that two people gave money for the project. One gave this penny (show the penny) and the other gave this $20 bill. (show the bill) Now I want to ask you this. Who gave the most? (let the children answer) That's right. The one who gave the $20 bill gave a greater amount of money, but it may not be the bigger gift. Let me tell you some more about these two gifts.
Let's say that the $20 bill came from a person who has millions of dollars and that the penny came from someone who had no money at all except this one little penny. Now, who do you think gave the most? (let them answer) Yes, I think the one who gave all that he or she had certainly gave the most. When we give to God, it is not the amount that counts, but how much of a sacrifice we make to give. For somebody who has millions of dollars, twenty dollars doesn't mean much. But for somebody who is very poor, even a penny might be a real sacrifice.
So when you are trying to decide what you will give to God, keep in mind that God is not concerned with the amount you give, but in what you are willing to sacrifice in order to give. Do you understand what I mean by that? (Let them answer. If it is unclear to them, elaborate.)
Let's ask God to help us be sacrificial givers.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to be the kind of people who give to you even more than we feel we can afford to give because we know that you will always make sure that we have what we need if we put you first. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 11, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 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.
