Questions That Really Don't Matter
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
For November 6, 2022:
Questions That Really Don’t Matter
by Chris Keating
Luke 20:27-38
Luke does not say if Jesus rolled his eyes in response to the Sadducees’ questions, but it seems plausible to say he did. Cornering him as he teaches in the temple, they unpack a particularly granular theological question. It appears to be a theological litmus test, but the question is filled with enough hyperbole to fill a case of Mason jars.
Their unlikely scenario sounds a bit like the sort of late-night conversations seminary students have in contemplating possible questions to theology midterms. They describe an impossibly nuanced scenario that is hardly ripped from the headlines. In fact, as professor Kyle Brooks points out, for a group that does not believe in the resurrection, this group of Sadducees seem particularly interested in the afterlife circumstances of a particularly complicated family.
Jesus does not take the bait. Instead, he redirects their focus, reminding them that the questions he has come to answer concern God’s gift of eternal life. In a sense, he tells them they’re asking the wrong questions. Throughout his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus has been telling anyone who will listen that the right questions are questions concerning the kingdom of God.
The incident rings true in our ears, if only because of the barrage of political ads leading up to the 2022 mid-term elections. As always, the nonstop flood of negative commercials seem more concerned with piquing voter anger than addressing real concerns. Candidates of either stripe are painted as being too extreme, too liberal, too conservative, not like us, not polished enough, too inexperienced, or too experienced. Campaigns push wedge issues and hyper-hyperbolic statements laced with innuendo and untruths.
Often, however, candidates’ stump speeches and ads miss the point. For example, while drought has drained Nevada’s Lake Mead, a primary reservoir for millions in the west, candidates in that state’s senate race rarely mention the environment. Like those trying to trap Jesus, we seem enamored by questions that don’t matter.
Jesus’ message transcends picayune debates. Instead, he points to the God who brings life and offers resurrection to people weighed down by life’s ragged struggles.
What is it that really matters?
In the News
In today’s hyper-partisan atmosphere, the answer to that question depends more on political perspectives and affiliation than anything else. As election day draws near, both parties are ramping up campaign spending. But the issues each one is addressing reveal distinct differences in their understandings of what matters to Americans. Democrats and Republicans are advancing decidedly different narratives of America’s problems. Democrats, for example, have established themselves as the party of reproductive choice, spending a jaw-dropping $103 million nationwide on pro-choice ads.
Meanwhile, only about 5 percent of abortion-related campaign ads have been purchased by Republicans or conservative-leaning groups. While President Biden’s low popularity ratings and historic inflation have been substantial talking points for Republicans, they have also spent millions on painting the Democrats as weak on crime. So-called “dark money” advertisements from political action committees whose donors remain anonymous, have pummeled Democrats as being proponents of defunding the police.
In response, Democrats have been quick to highlight endorsements from law enforcement. The challenge is matching those endorsements with the perception that crime is out of control in cities run by Democrats. It’s proven to be a sticking point among voters. “For me the message has always been the same: Let's support public safety," said Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat seeking reelection. “The idea of defunding the police is just a ridiculous notion.”
But it is proving to be an issue that sticks. Interest in abortion has slipped in the months since the Supreme Court’s decision to overthrow Roe v. Wade, while crime and inflation have remained steady on the minds of voters. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week showed that potential voters were twice as likely to list crime, rather than abortion rights, as the country’s biggest problem.
If parties are confused about what is on voters’ minds, it could be because voters are somewhat confused. The perception that crime is surging and the impact of high inflation are the one-two punch Republicans hope will outpace other concerns, including the high majority of Americans who feel democracy is under attack.
A striking majority of 71 percent of Americans believe that foundations of democracy are at risk of collapsing, according to a New York Times/Siena College Poll. But only 7 percent identify that as the most pressing problem facing America this election cycle. Analysts say that another issue impacting voter disaffection is the nagging suspicion that their votes don’t matter, or that voting won’t make any difference in how policies are enacted.
Meanwhile, as both sides wrestle with portraying the other as “too extreme,” campaigns are ramping up their legal challenges to opponents’ advertising. This week Axios reported on what they called the “cease-and-desist election.” In Pennsylvania, for example, the Senate Majority PAC has been running ads suggesting that Republican candidate Mehmet Oz was involved in killing dogs for medical research. For his part, Oz has continued to raise suspicion about opponent John Fetterman’s health following a stroke last spring.
At a time when so much is at stake, so many politicians seem to be generating headlines by asking the wrong questions. In a campaign video, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican from Georgia, likened Democrats to invasive feral hogs that need to be shot and killed. It was a particularly grotesque image at the time of its release, and is even more so following the attempt on the life of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul.
The debates continue, the divisions deepen. Candidates and campaigns position themselves by asking questions that really don’t seem to matter. Meanwhile, as a new study points out, there are some questions we are just not asking. It appears that improving animosity between political rivals does not necessarily change a person's basic commitment to improving democracy. Yet we persist in trying to bridge division without exploring the foundational elements of what brings us together — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. David Graham of The Atlantic notes that patching our hardened divisions may only come as Americans begin asking these sorts of foundational questions.
If only we knew what those questions were.
In the Scripture
In many ways, this is terrain explored by Luke starting in chapter 19. Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem creates an unanticipated crisis that prompts questions from the religious leaders. They watch as he drives away those who use the temple for commercial activities — not because they are Boy Scouts selling Christmas wreaths or church groups peddling cookbooks. Instead, he takes command of the situation by insisting that the temple be reserved for prayer. This raises more questions, and sets in motion the plot to have Jesus arrested and executed.
Yet the crowds are spellbound by what Jesus is saying, adding an additional complication to the religious authorities’ conflict with Jesus. Luke’s camera shots are wide. We see the crowd engaged by Jesus’ teaching, but also note the discontent emerging from the power brokers. Aroused by what they are hearing, the authorities begin quizzing Jesus about his authority. Who authorized you? What credentials do you possess? They seek answers, but it soon becomes clear they do not know which questions they should be asking.
But instead of answering their questions, Jesus offers a few of his own. He engages them in a rabbinical back and forth, making it clear that he will not allow the leaders to set the agenda. It is a reminder, notes Justo Gonzalez (Luke, 2010, p. 238) of the differences between theology that is constructed “by the people” versus orthodoxy promulgated “by the leaders.” The people hear Jesus addressing their deepest questions, while the leaders are becoming ensnared by questions that do not lead to life.
The leaders soon hatch plans to dispose of Jesus — if only they can keep the crowds from stoning them. The questions grow. Jesus is sharing the good news (20:1), but his teaching profoundly disrupts the leaders’ perceptions of control. The narrative advances with the parable of the tenants and the vineyard, and a series of questions about taxes. Spies are watching Jesus, but so far the leaders are not finding the answers they want.
Within this week’s pericope, Jesus is engaged in what seems to be a spurious, if not humorous, argument from some Sadducees. Luke offers an illustration of how the Sadducees had departed theologically from the Pharisees, offering a reminder of the ways we sometimes mischaracterize the Pharisees. While the Sadducees held to strict interpretations of the Torah in its written form, the Pharisees had remained open to oral interpretations influenced by the Psalms and prophets.
The Sadducees quiz Jesus on Moses’ teaching that if a man dies without a son, his widow should marry the man’s brother. But, they insist, what happens if there is no child? What happens if the widow’s husband should come from a family with peculiar traits of dying young — not just one or two brothers, but all seven? For a group that does not believe in the resurrection, these Sadducees seem particularly interested in an afterlife consisting of one marriage after the next. That’s a whole lot of resurrection weddings!
But Jesus knows the questions they are asking are wrong. They have missed the point. The good news of Jesus is not rooted in arcane questions like the number of angels who can have a dance party on a needle. The good news is rooted in God’s covenant of grace — a covenant extended to Moses, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Luke reminded us early in the Gospel that it was this God who answered the questions of women like Elizabeth and Mary, providing them with signs of life. God, it seems, answers every question with more questions. But God’s questions are the questions that lead to life.
In the Sermon
Regardless of whether your church is red or blue, or (most likely) deeply purple, we are arriving at the end of a hotly contested political season. We are exhausted by the flurries of attack ads that provide little factual knowledge from which reasonable conclusions can be drawn. Exaggerations, alternative facts, and flat-out lies seem to be the most common ingredients for brewing this acidic concoction. In most cases, the commercials end up telling us nothing new.
In most cases, the campaigns spend time shouting over each other rather than addressing questions of actual substance and (dare we say) truth. Like the Sadducees, and perhaps the other religious leaders who sought to wrestle control back from Jesus, the questions posed by our political leaders rarely address what is involved in shaping one’s life according to the kingdom of God.
This is not to say that the political parties don’t believe their messages are important, nor is it to argue that parts of their messages are essential. But it is also a reminder, much like the coin Jesus holds in 20:24, that the kingdoms of earth and heaven are under separate rule. Jesus, with the prophets of Israel, is changing the conversation by directing our focus to God. Jesus understands that our basic questions of meaning and hope will not find answers either in the emperor’s schemes or in nitpicking questions of theology.
A possible direction for the preacher would be to allow the good news of the resurrection to be heard this Sunday before the election. Ministers, like Jesus, have questions posed to them regularly. Perhaps even this late into the lectionary year there is a chance for questions about the resurrection to be aired once more.
Alternatively, the preacher could explore the pointless nature of some questions — both politically and theologically. Debates about things that do not matter occupy much air time in both political and religious discussions. (How many times has all work in the church office been stopped to debate the color paper used for printing the bulletin? How often have we yammered on about whether to serve pancakes and sausage and bacon, or just pancakes and sausage? Silly debates are not limited to the Sadducees.) Jesus reframes these questions, demonstrating the authority that comes from God alone. It is in him that we find the answers to questions that truly matter.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTS
Dare To Be Impractical
by Dean Feldmeyer
Haggai 1:15b--2:9
In September of 1994, a guy with a dream attended a four-day seminar sponsored by the American Book Sellers Association, entitled “How to Start a Bookstore.” He was inspired and at the end of the four days, he wrote in his notebook a mission statement for a new company he intended to start: “To be the earth’s most customer-centric store where people can find and discover anything they want to buy…online.”
The guy’s name was Jeff Bezos and, in November of that year, he opened his online store and called it Amazon.com.
Bezos and his little start-up had its detractors, of course. In his book, One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com, Richard L. Brandt recalls that one magazine sarcastically referred to it as “Amazon dot bomb.” Tech analyst and commentator George F. Colony said, “Amazon’s position is indefensible.”
Two years later, in 1999, Jeff Bezos was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
In 2020, Amazon’s sales totaled over $470 billion ($53 million in sales every hour). It is the fifth largest and most active domain on the internet. Amazon’s warehouses cover 1,000 times more square footage than Madison Square Garden. Amazon owns 37 percent of all e-commerce in North America, more than the next 15 companies (Walmart, Apple, eBay, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Costco, Kroger, and eight others) combined.
Our American culture values examples of persistence and determination. Stories of impractical, silly ideas that actually work out for the good are ubiquitous. We hear them all the time; they are part of the great American mythos:
So why are we so slow to listen and consider when God asks us to do something that may, at first, seem impractical and unfeasible? When it comes to taking chances based on God’s word, we are pretty timid.
In the News
The area I live in is probably not much different than yours at this time of year. We are experiencing saturation bombing of political ads on television. The same ones, over and over, hundreds of times a day. And we can’t get away from them no matter what channel we turn on.
The themes are nearly universally based in fear and self-interest. The language is pugilistic. Candidates “fight” for this or that. They are fighting a “war” against the opposition who wants to “destroy” any number of things we hold dear: our freedom, our religious rights, our bodily autonomy, our safety. Our families are in danger. Our ability to support them is being threatened. Crime is rampant. Violence is ubiquitous.
Vote for me and I’ll protect your rights, your freedoms, your job, and your family. Somehow. Political ads are always short on specifics.
The appeal, however, is almost always to self-interest — we’ll have lower taxes and more money in our pockets. We’ll be safe in our warm, cozy homes and our stomachs will be as full as our gas tanks. Or fear — democracy is being threatened, our safety is in danger. Barbarians are clamoring at the gates! We need more police!
The poor? The homeless? The mentally ill? The elderly? Well, yeah, sure. We’ll throw them some things but, let’s face it, nobody ever got elected by building their campaign on those folks. The Beatitudes are fine in a philosophical, theological kinda way but, hey, this is politics. We have to be practical.
And in all of the clamor and din, how often do we stop to ask what God wants before we enter the voting booth? How often do we give a thought to God’s priorities and the admonitions of Matthew 25? How often do we stop and think about the fact that we’re voting not just for ourselves, but for all those folks who have no voice in the political system?
How often do we dare to be impractical?
In the Scripture
In about 520 BCE some seventy years after the fall of Jerusalem to the army of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Babylon fell to Cyrus of Persia. Two years later, Cyrus was killed in battle and there was a fight for the throne that was won by Darius, who shortly became Darius the Great of Persia. Around 516 BCE, one of his first decrees was to set all political detainees free and allow them to return to their homelands. Many of the Jews, however, had managed to find a fairly comfortable niche in Babylonian society and culture while maintaining the essentials of their own religion and culture.
Most estimates say that about 10,000 Jews were forced to march to Babylon after Jerusalem fell and required to live in a ghetto on the banks of the Tigress and Euphrates rivers. Now, seventy years later, ten to twenty times that live, spread out through the Persian empire. Only a handful, a couple thousand at most, chose to take Darius up on his offer and return to the Holy Land.
The story in today’s reading take place in Judah just a few months after the first wave of returnees have arrived.
What they found was the Jerusalem, the Holy City, in ruins. The temple was nothing but stones and ashes strewn about the site where it had once stood. The city walls had been torn down and the gates burned, the shops and homes utterly destroyed.
Those who had been left behind had fallen into infighting and even open hostility with each other, vying to see who would be in charge. In the end, no one was. Everyone had either fled to Egypt with the prophet Jeremiah to avoid the bloodshed or simply assimilated into the surrounding tribes and city states.
Most of the returnees had either been children when they were forced to leave Jerusalem or had been born in Babylon. All they knew of the great city was what their parents and grandparents had told them. And what they found, now, was not even close to what they had expected to find.
They had taken about four months to travel over 800 miles, mostly on foot, from Babylon. How their anticipation must have built as they finally could see their destination on the horizon — and how their joy must have been dashed as they crested the Mount of Olives only to look upon the ruins that Jerusalem had become.
Their three leaders were: Zerubbabel was the Persian-appointed governor of the province now called Yehud (Judah). Joshua ben Jehozadak was the high priest. And Haggai was the prophet who brought to them the word of the Lord. These three favored the rebuilding of the temple as the first order of business, a necessary act that would announce to the world that God had returned with God’s people to God’s holy land.
But the people were reluctant. The surrounding tribes and countries had pretty much had their way with Judah for the past fifty years and would not want to see it given back to its old inhabitants. They would be hostile and building the temple could provoke them. Besides, the refugees had returned to find the land suffering from a drought and the economy in shambles.
The prudent course of action, they insisted, would be to build homes and try to grow some crops so they would have food to eat and clothing to wear. Then, if there was enough time, energy, and money, they should rebuild the city walls so they could be safe if they were attacked.
Only when all this was done, when they were safe, well fed, well clothed and had some money in the bank, should they start working on rebuilding the temple, a luxury that, right now, they could ill afford.
Only it didn’t work. The drought continued and the crops yielded a pittance. The clothing they tried to make wore out in the dry heat. The homes that they managed to rebuild gave them little comfort. And they still lived in constant fear of attack from the war lords and city states that surrounded them and could be seen watching them from the tops of distant hills.
In the opening verses of the first chapter of Haggai’s account the prophet notes the frustrations of the people who have seen all their work come to little or nothing. The reason for this, he says, is that their priorities are messed up. They have tended to their own houses but not God’s house. They sit in relative comfort while God has no house to sit in at all.
Some of the people hear Haggai’s message and begin working on the temple, others send a few of their workers or slaves to help, but the effort is, at best, reluctant and unenthusiastic. This new, rebuilt temple is a poor copy of the old one, which was built by Solomon. In fact, it was kind of shabby. Those few returnees who could remember the old temple griped and complained about how this one was nothing like its predecessor. And some insisted that it was a waste of time when there were mouths to feed.
Haggai responds to this barrage of nagging, whining, and complaining with a sermon some of which is included in todays’ reading, dated a month after work was begun on the rebuilding of the temple.
Haggai has chosen this particular date for a reason: It is the first day of the eight-day autumn festival, the Feast of Booths, which is intended to celebrate the harvest and God’s continued care of the people of God. It is also the day when the Jews remember and celebrate the dedication of the first temple and the placement of the Ark of the Covenant therein by Solomon.
He begins by admitting that the rebuilt temple is a poor reflection of its predecessor: “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?” (v. 3) But he goes on to offer a solution to the problem. In verse 4 he says, three times: “Take courage…” Why?
Because God has some great things planned for this people and this place. “Work!” YHWH tells the people, through his prophet, Haggai. “For I am with you.”
Then God makes a promise: The day is coming when there’s going to be a great shake-up. Things are going to change in some radical ways. Israel is going to return to glory and the splendor of the temple will be greater than it was in the past. A new prosperity will be the order of the day.
But for now, “Work!”
And they did! This is one of those rare cases where the prophet was listened to and obeyed. The people came together and put their backs into it and worked to rebuild the temple. “In harkening to the prophet’s words the people believed their fortunes would change and the dark days of despair would be transformed into prosperity and blessing.” (The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, p. 1333)
They did the wholly impractical thing and rebuilt the temple and, even though it never came close to the glory that it once was under Solomon, it stood for another 500-plus years as a symbol of the people’s hopes and dreams and faith.
In the Sermon
Imagine that a tornado, a hurricane, or a wildfire came through your community and destroyed every single building, leaving the entire community in ruins. (Not so hard for some of us to imagine, right?)
Several days later, you and your fellow survivors are finally allowed to go back home to survey the damage and try to sift something of value out of the ashes and bricks that are left of what were once your houses. But before you can begin that work a meeting is called where the mayor, the city council, and the ministerial association all insist that the first thing to be rebuilt must be the churches.
It would be pretty hard to swallow, wouldn’t it? But that was exactly what Joshua, Zerubbabel and Haggai insisted upon.
From time to time, God calls upon us to do that which seems impossible. Sometimes God calls upon us to do that which is possible but seems imprudent or impractical. At home. In the church. In the community. In the world. In the voting booth.
Rebuild the temple first. Love your enemies. Pray for those who mistreat you. Turn the other cheek.
Sometimes God calls us to begin work, the completion of which we can’t see now but will see, eventually. And sometimes God calls for us to begin work, the completion of which we may never see, work that will benefit only our children or grandchildren.
We sometimes refer to this as “acting on faith.” That is, we believe that God is going to keep God’s promises so we act as though those promises have already been kept. We go all in, sure that God has dealt us a winning hand but, win or lose, God will always be sitting right next to us at the table.
We build bridges as we cross them.
We work for peace. We feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. We comfort those who are hurt or sick and we sit with those who mourn. We enter the prisons and the sanitariums where we feel most vulnerable and uncomfortable and we reach out to those who have been thrown away by the rest of our society.
We fight battles that we know we can’t win just because they need to be fought. And we take up causes that we know are lost just because they are righteous causes.
We build structures that are poor reflections of what once was, structures that may appear to be rickety and unsound because they are needed now and we can perfect them later. We forgo the perfect in order to let the good triumph.
We live by faith because we are people of faith and faith is not the destination but the journey to which God has called us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Luke 20:27-38
Worrying About Weddings
Jesus chides the Sadducees for asking him a foolish question about marriage in the next life. Luke notes the silliness of the question by reminding us that the questioners don’t even believe in an afterlife.
For those who are worrying about weddings in this life, trends for 2023 include chic wedding suits for women, eco friendly favors, mixed gender wedding parties and smaller guest lists. The small weddings of the pandemic have continued. As one expert says, “If you wouldn’t have a Zoom party with them during a global lockdown, why invite them to your big day?” The most popular day to get married next year? February 23 — or 2/23/23.
For those who are thinking past the wedding to the marriage, 2023 is said to be a good year to get married because of the things we’ve learned in the pandemic. “People have learned to appreciate each other more. Spending the rest of your life with someone that you deeply care about is something that should not be wasted nor delayed. If there is one thing that people have learned amidst the pandemic, it is to avoid taking things for granted.” That’s good advice for this life, the only we can be sure of, for God is the God of the living.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Giving Thanks Through the Day
As Paul writes to the Thessalonian churches, he talks about his practice of being continually thankful. Anne Lamott has her own practice of taking up Paul’s challenge to “always give thanks to God.” For Anne Lamott, the day unfolds this way. “A walk is a great prayer. To make eye contact and smile is a kind of prayer, and it changes you. Fields and woods are the kingdom. You don’t say, “Oh, there’s a dark-eyed junco flitting around that same old pine tree; whatever,” or: “Look at those purple wildflowers. I’ve seen those a dozen times.” You are silent. There may be no one around you and the forest will speak to you in the way it will speak to an animal. And that changes you.”
Lamott adds, “At bedtime I pray again for my sick friends, and the refugees. I beg for sleep. I give thanks for the blessings of the day. I rest into the vision of the pearly moon outside my window that looks like a porthole to a bigger reality, sigh and close my tired eyes. I have the theological understanding of a bright 8-year-old, but Jesus says we need to approach life like children, not like cranky know-it-alls, crazily busy, clutching our to-do lists. One of my daily prayers is, “Slow me down, Girlfriend.” The prayer changes me. It breaks the toxic trance. God says to Moses the first time they meet, “Take off your shoes.” Be on the earth. Breathe with me a moment.” Or, as Paul would say, “always give thanks.”
* * *
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Remembering and Giving Thanks
“But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord,” Paul writes to the believers in this epistle.
Therapist and author Lori Gottlieb tells the story of her patient Julie, who was diagnosed with cancer as a young woman. Gottlieb saw her through years of treatments, with all the ups and downs in her health. Julie asked her to go to her funeral, and Gottlieb goes, realizing that, “Despite being the ultimate insider in terms of Julie’s thoughts and feelings, I’m an outsider here among all these people…who knew Julie. We’re told, as therapists, that if we do attend a patient’s funeral, we should stay off to the side, avoid interacting. I do this, but just as I’m about to leave, a friendly couple starts talking to me. They say that Julie is responsible for their marriage — she set them up on a blind date five years ago. I smile at their story, then try to excuse myself, but before I can, the woman in the couple asks, “And how did you know Julie?”
“She was a friend,” I say reflexively, mindful of confidentiality, but the moment I say it, I realize it also feels true. “Will you think about me?” Julie used to ask me before she went in for her various surgeries and I always told her I would. The assurance soothed her, helped her stay centered in the midst of her anxiety about going under the knife.
Later, though, when it became clear that Julie would die, that question took on another meaning: Will a part of me remain alive in you?...Walking to my car that day, I hear Julie’s question: Will you think about me? All these years later, I still do. I remember her most in the silences."
Even after death, we give thanks for each other, as Paul writes.
* * *
Psalm 98
The New Song of Older Age
“O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things,” the psalmist encourages. After a storied career as a pastor and author, the late Eugene Peterson found himself singing a new song to God in his 80’s. He could have lamented the loss of physical skill and intellectual challenge, and instead he continued to find wonder and joy in his life.
Peterson told Krista Tippett in an interview. “I’m 83 years old now. And one of the things that’s surprised me is the lack of questions I have now. It’s kind of like I’ve just entered into a world where everything is going — not the way I thought it would go, but the way it makes sense. I forget things a lot, I misplace things, and I used to get angry with myself. And I don’t anymore. This is a way a lot of the world is living, is to — [laughs] is to just enjoy it. So you’ve got to go look for your keys for half a dozen times before you find them?
And having a family helps. I’ve got three children and nine grandchildren. That puts you in a context where there’s a lot to be appreciated and a lot to worry about. And the worries don’t crowd out the glories, but we’ve got to give ourselves permission to do that.”
He added, “People ask, ‘How do you mature a spiritual life? The one thing you do is you eliminate the word ‘spiritual.’ It’s your life that’s being matured, it’s not part of your life.” There is always time to sing God a new song.
* * *
Psalm 98
Sing Praise to God
Recalling God’s goodness, the psalmist calls the people of God to continuous, enthusiastic praise.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
Scaling that to everyday life, the basketball coach John Wooden taught his players and students how to give thanks to God as the psalmist urges us. He offered two practices. “First, he said, “It is impossible to have a perfect day unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” In saying this, Wooden sought to promote purely generous acts, as opposed to those performed with an expectation of recompense.” The second step, he said, is to “Give thanks for your blessings every day.” God has done marvelous things for us, and our lives can be full of thanksgiving.
* * * * * *
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Luke 20:27-38
Who were the Sadducees?
No written works by Sadducees survive, so the little we know about them comes from things their opponents said about them. The historian Josephus mentions them as present in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. It is probably most accurate to think of them as a school of thought rather than as an organized sect. While the text identifies them as “those who say there is no resurrection,” that may simply mean that resurrection is never mentioned in the Torah. This is the only reference to them in Luke’s gospel. In Matthew they are grouped with the Pharisees in chapter 16, but contrasted with them in chapter 22, because they do not believe in a resurrection of the dead.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
First fruits?
“First fruits” is a surprising translation of the Greek ἀπ᾽‿ ἀρχῆς, in the New Revised Standard Version. “From the beginning” would be a more literal, and in my opinion, less ambiguous rendering of the Greek. The latter rendering also gets at a sense of destiny, perhaps predestination that Paul conveys to the Thessalonians, whom he loves and who accepted his teaching, even as they have heard a different message, which was the occasion for this letter.
* * *
Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Time to rebuild
We know with great precision when Haggai spoke these words of encouragement to the exiled who returned to Judea from Babylon. It was 520 BCE, the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia. His predecessor, Cyrus, had permitted some exiles to return to begin rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple. After 11 years they had not exactly gotten around to rebuilding the temple, but their own homes were taking shape. Haggai spoke the Lord’s words to encourage them. Haggai asks which of them remembered the temple prior to its destruction by Babylon. Since the Temple had been destroyed 67 years before, the answer to Haggai’s presumably rhetorical question was “none of us.” They had certainly imagined the Temple in its former glory, but they needed to put their idealized memories aside and get busy!
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Luke 20:27-38
Do you ever try to answer a question in another room in the house, and realize that you did not hear it right, so you answered the wrong question? Or maybe it was over the vacuum cleaner or the TV or you were in the car and the wind was blowing too loud. Or someone who’s hearing is really bad, and it’s hard for them to understand what is going on. I think this is what Jesus is trying to say to the Sadducees. It’s not their fault they are distracted. It’s not their fault they are trying to ask questions about heaven from the room of earth. It’s not their fault that all they can hear is the human garbled answers of God’s message. I imagine Jesus is actually very patient here because Jesus knows that they cannot really understand.
My middle child has autism and has trouble articulating words on top of it. Sometimes it takes a long time for us to make ourselves understood to one another. Some days it ’s really frustrating, and we both get angry. I’m happy to say the yelling and frustration has lessened every time. We are building a new language of understanding that does not necessitate words. He is twelve years old. On our best days we stop and say to one another, “It’s okay, we will get there. We always get there, we are trying, we love you. What ’s important is that we are trying to understand you. Calm down we will get you.” I think this is what Jesus is saying. It is okay that we do not fully understand, but the love, the life-giving aspects, the fact that we are trying get there, that’s the important stuff.
* * *
Haggai 1:15b--2:9
“I don’t worry much about the invisible church.” I am trying to say this on a more regular basis. Can you imagine how empowering it would be, if we as a movement decided to worry less about the workings of the invisible church, and worry more about loving people? God says, “Take courage.” “Do not fear.” God will take the remnant. God promises to deal with the remnant.
I just saw another debate about whether streamed church was real church or not, and I admit I rolled my eyes. In my mind, anyone who thinks they can define such a great idea as the invisible church is above my pay grade. The very name of it should fill your heart with majesty and mystery. What is this thing we call the invisible church? God makes it clear that God has been working with remnants from the time of Haggai — way before Jesus. God has been working with brokenness and emptiness from the very beginning of time. So, when I say “I don’t worry much about the invisible church.” I try to say it and mean it. God knows what God is doing.
* * *
Job 19:23-27
“I know that my Redeemer lives.” What a way to stand upon the earth. What does this mean for Job and what does it mean to us, in the midst of what seems to be apocalyptic times?
“After my skin has been thus destroyed.” Do we truly believe that “in my flesh I shall see God”? Is God in my flesh? Do we see God “enfleshed” in us, in our suffering? How does it change if we know in our bones that the Redeemer is here with us now? What does that mean when hate reigns? What does it mean when evil seems to win? What does it mean when one sits alone in the dark, like Job, with nowhere else to turn? How does this change the way I embody my life? What is this mantra when we worry about church or volunteers or communication or perfection? I know that my Redeemer lives? My maker, my breath, my life, my Redeemer lives in my bones; it’s something that just might be worth hanging onto.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Praise God! Sing to God a new song.
All: Let us praise God’s name with dancing
One: Let us make melody with tambourine and lyre.
All: For God takes pleasure in God’s people.
One: Let the faithful exult in glory and sing for joy.
All: Let the high praises of God be in our throats.
OR
One: We will extol you, our God and King, and bless your name forever.
All: Every day we will bless you, and praise your name forever.
One: Great is our God, and greatly to be praised.
All: One generation shall laud your works to another.
One: God is just and kind in all things.
All: Our mouths will speak the praise of God now and forevermore.
OR
One: God calls us to come together in unity and peace.
All: We gather with our sisters and our brothers today.
One: God’s call go beyond just those who look like us.
All: We will reach out to others with love and peace.
One: God calls us to embrace life, God’s life, abundant and eternal.
All: We will enter God’s realm by sharing God’s love with all.
Hymns and Songs
For All the Saints
UMH: 711
H82: 287
PH: 526
AAHH: 339
NNBH: 301
NCH: 299
CH: 637
LBW: 174
ELW: 422
W&P: 529
AMEC: 476
STLT 103
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
UMH: 79
H82: 366
PH: 460
NNBH: 13
NCH: 276
LBW: 535
ELW: 414
W&P: 138
Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones
UMH: 90
H82: 618
PH: 451
LBW: 175
ELW: 424
From All Who Dwell Below the Skies
UMH: 101
H82: 380
PH: 229
NCH: 27
CH: 49
LBW: 550
AMEC: 69
STLT: 381
O Jesus, I Have Promised
UMH: 396
H82: 655
PH: 388/389
NCH: 493
CH: 612
LBW: 503
ELW: 810
W&P: 458
AMEC: 280
Seek Ye First
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
CCB: 76
Take Up Thy Cross
UMH: 415
H82: 675
PH: 393
LBW: 398
ELW: 667
W&P: 351
AMEC: 294
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
Make Me a Servant
CCB: 90
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is the source of life eternal:
Grant us the grace to ask the questions that really matter
so that we may hear your life giving answers;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the source of eternal life. It is in you that we live and more and have our being. Help us to center on the truly meaningful questions so that we may be ready to hear your life giving answers. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our focus on questions about things that do not really matter.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have so many questions and most of them are of little, if any, importance. We argue over petty, inane issues whose answers do not matter one way or the other. We get swept away by emotions of hatred and division ignoring your call to love and unity. We fill our time thinking of things that we can use to push others away instead of finding opportunities to reach out and embrace the other. Forgive our foolishness and call us back to Jesus who taught us to seek first your realm and your righteousness. Fill us with his Spirit so that we may be true disciples of him and your true children. Amen.
One: God does seek to bring life to all creation. Receive God’s grace and use it to bring peace and love to others.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God of life eternal. You are the source of all life and of all creation and we bless your holy name.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have so many questions and most of them are of little, if any, importance. We argue over petty, inane issues whose answers do not matter one way or the other. We get swept away by emotions of hatred and division ignoring your call to love and unity. We fill our time thinking of things that we can use to push others away instead of finding opportunities to reach out and embrace the other. Forgive our foolishness and call us back to Jesus who taught us to seek first your realm and your righteousness. Fill us with his Spirit so that we may be true disciples of him and your true children.
We give you thanks for all the blessings you have poured out on your creation. We thank you for the beauty of our world and of the worlds beyond ours. We are in awe of the beauty of the universe. We rejoice in your gifts of love that flow to us through others who reach out in love and concern for those in need. We are thankful for the words of Jesus which call us always to focus on you and your realm. We thank you for those who have faithfully lived in your realm so that we may find our place there. (We thank you for.... names of the local saints may be read.)
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for all who are caught in times and places of violence and death. We pray for those who struggle for the bare necessities of life in a world that teems with abundance. We pray for those caught up in hatred both the oppressed and the oppressors. We pray for your Church that we may center on you and your message of love and redemption for all creation.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
The Traditions We Were Taught
by Dean Feldmeyer
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
You will need:
Some old photographs of early members of your church or, if none are available, just some old photos or tintypes of people from times gone by.
..........
Good morning!
This morning we are remembering people who help us grow into mature Christians. I brought some pictures to share with you of some people who helped to start this church. (Or pictures of people from my family.)
This is _____ and this is _____. They were some of the first members of this church ______ years ago.
OR
This is my great grandma and my grandpa. They were church members and they taught me how important it was to be part of a church. (Or other faith lessons you learned from them.)
My parents (or grandparents, or whoever) also taught me how to be a Christian. They taught me to be kind to other people, and to obey the Golden Rule.
And they taught me other things, as well. Like, my mom taught me how to cook and my dad taught me how to tie a tie.
What are some things that you have learned from your parents or grandparents.
After the children have had a few moments to share, invite the congregation to turn to each other and share the name of a person who helped them in their Christian journey.
End the message with a prayer thanking God for the “saints” who have nurtured and cared for us and asking God to help us become the nurturer and helper of other new Christians.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 6, 2022 issue.
Copyright 2022 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.
- Questions That Really Don’t Matter by Chris Keating. Based on Luke 20:27-38.
- Dare To Be Impractical by Dean Feldmeyer. Based on Luke Haggai 1:15b--2:9.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Tom Willadsen, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed. (Includes All Saints resources.)
- Children's sermon: Money by Dean Feldmeyer.
Questions That Really Don’t Matterby Chris Keating
Luke 20:27-38
Luke does not say if Jesus rolled his eyes in response to the Sadducees’ questions, but it seems plausible to say he did. Cornering him as he teaches in the temple, they unpack a particularly granular theological question. It appears to be a theological litmus test, but the question is filled with enough hyperbole to fill a case of Mason jars.
Their unlikely scenario sounds a bit like the sort of late-night conversations seminary students have in contemplating possible questions to theology midterms. They describe an impossibly nuanced scenario that is hardly ripped from the headlines. In fact, as professor Kyle Brooks points out, for a group that does not believe in the resurrection, this group of Sadducees seem particularly interested in the afterlife circumstances of a particularly complicated family.
Jesus does not take the bait. Instead, he redirects their focus, reminding them that the questions he has come to answer concern God’s gift of eternal life. In a sense, he tells them they’re asking the wrong questions. Throughout his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus has been telling anyone who will listen that the right questions are questions concerning the kingdom of God.
The incident rings true in our ears, if only because of the barrage of political ads leading up to the 2022 mid-term elections. As always, the nonstop flood of negative commercials seem more concerned with piquing voter anger than addressing real concerns. Candidates of either stripe are painted as being too extreme, too liberal, too conservative, not like us, not polished enough, too inexperienced, or too experienced. Campaigns push wedge issues and hyper-hyperbolic statements laced with innuendo and untruths.
Often, however, candidates’ stump speeches and ads miss the point. For example, while drought has drained Nevada’s Lake Mead, a primary reservoir for millions in the west, candidates in that state’s senate race rarely mention the environment. Like those trying to trap Jesus, we seem enamored by questions that don’t matter.
Jesus’ message transcends picayune debates. Instead, he points to the God who brings life and offers resurrection to people weighed down by life’s ragged struggles.
What is it that really matters?
In the News
In today’s hyper-partisan atmosphere, the answer to that question depends more on political perspectives and affiliation than anything else. As election day draws near, both parties are ramping up campaign spending. But the issues each one is addressing reveal distinct differences in their understandings of what matters to Americans. Democrats and Republicans are advancing decidedly different narratives of America’s problems. Democrats, for example, have established themselves as the party of reproductive choice, spending a jaw-dropping $103 million nationwide on pro-choice ads.
Meanwhile, only about 5 percent of abortion-related campaign ads have been purchased by Republicans or conservative-leaning groups. While President Biden’s low popularity ratings and historic inflation have been substantial talking points for Republicans, they have also spent millions on painting the Democrats as weak on crime. So-called “dark money” advertisements from political action committees whose donors remain anonymous, have pummeled Democrats as being proponents of defunding the police.
In response, Democrats have been quick to highlight endorsements from law enforcement. The challenge is matching those endorsements with the perception that crime is out of control in cities run by Democrats. It’s proven to be a sticking point among voters. “For me the message has always been the same: Let's support public safety," said Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat seeking reelection. “The idea of defunding the police is just a ridiculous notion.”
But it is proving to be an issue that sticks. Interest in abortion has slipped in the months since the Supreme Court’s decision to overthrow Roe v. Wade, while crime and inflation have remained steady on the minds of voters. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week showed that potential voters were twice as likely to list crime, rather than abortion rights, as the country’s biggest problem.
If parties are confused about what is on voters’ minds, it could be because voters are somewhat confused. The perception that crime is surging and the impact of high inflation are the one-two punch Republicans hope will outpace other concerns, including the high majority of Americans who feel democracy is under attack.
A striking majority of 71 percent of Americans believe that foundations of democracy are at risk of collapsing, according to a New York Times/Siena College Poll. But only 7 percent identify that as the most pressing problem facing America this election cycle. Analysts say that another issue impacting voter disaffection is the nagging suspicion that their votes don’t matter, or that voting won’t make any difference in how policies are enacted.
Meanwhile, as both sides wrestle with portraying the other as “too extreme,” campaigns are ramping up their legal challenges to opponents’ advertising. This week Axios reported on what they called the “cease-and-desist election.” In Pennsylvania, for example, the Senate Majority PAC has been running ads suggesting that Republican candidate Mehmet Oz was involved in killing dogs for medical research. For his part, Oz has continued to raise suspicion about opponent John Fetterman’s health following a stroke last spring.
At a time when so much is at stake, so many politicians seem to be generating headlines by asking the wrong questions. In a campaign video, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican from Georgia, likened Democrats to invasive feral hogs that need to be shot and killed. It was a particularly grotesque image at the time of its release, and is even more so following the attempt on the life of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul.
The debates continue, the divisions deepen. Candidates and campaigns position themselves by asking questions that really don’t seem to matter. Meanwhile, as a new study points out, there are some questions we are just not asking. It appears that improving animosity between political rivals does not necessarily change a person's basic commitment to improving democracy. Yet we persist in trying to bridge division without exploring the foundational elements of what brings us together — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. David Graham of The Atlantic notes that patching our hardened divisions may only come as Americans begin asking these sorts of foundational questions.
If only we knew what those questions were.
In the Scripture
In many ways, this is terrain explored by Luke starting in chapter 19. Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem creates an unanticipated crisis that prompts questions from the religious leaders. They watch as he drives away those who use the temple for commercial activities — not because they are Boy Scouts selling Christmas wreaths or church groups peddling cookbooks. Instead, he takes command of the situation by insisting that the temple be reserved for prayer. This raises more questions, and sets in motion the plot to have Jesus arrested and executed.
Yet the crowds are spellbound by what Jesus is saying, adding an additional complication to the religious authorities’ conflict with Jesus. Luke’s camera shots are wide. We see the crowd engaged by Jesus’ teaching, but also note the discontent emerging from the power brokers. Aroused by what they are hearing, the authorities begin quizzing Jesus about his authority. Who authorized you? What credentials do you possess? They seek answers, but it soon becomes clear they do not know which questions they should be asking.
But instead of answering their questions, Jesus offers a few of his own. He engages them in a rabbinical back and forth, making it clear that he will not allow the leaders to set the agenda. It is a reminder, notes Justo Gonzalez (Luke, 2010, p. 238) of the differences between theology that is constructed “by the people” versus orthodoxy promulgated “by the leaders.” The people hear Jesus addressing their deepest questions, while the leaders are becoming ensnared by questions that do not lead to life.
The leaders soon hatch plans to dispose of Jesus — if only they can keep the crowds from stoning them. The questions grow. Jesus is sharing the good news (20:1), but his teaching profoundly disrupts the leaders’ perceptions of control. The narrative advances with the parable of the tenants and the vineyard, and a series of questions about taxes. Spies are watching Jesus, but so far the leaders are not finding the answers they want.
Within this week’s pericope, Jesus is engaged in what seems to be a spurious, if not humorous, argument from some Sadducees. Luke offers an illustration of how the Sadducees had departed theologically from the Pharisees, offering a reminder of the ways we sometimes mischaracterize the Pharisees. While the Sadducees held to strict interpretations of the Torah in its written form, the Pharisees had remained open to oral interpretations influenced by the Psalms and prophets.
The Sadducees quiz Jesus on Moses’ teaching that if a man dies without a son, his widow should marry the man’s brother. But, they insist, what happens if there is no child? What happens if the widow’s husband should come from a family with peculiar traits of dying young — not just one or two brothers, but all seven? For a group that does not believe in the resurrection, these Sadducees seem particularly interested in an afterlife consisting of one marriage after the next. That’s a whole lot of resurrection weddings!
But Jesus knows the questions they are asking are wrong. They have missed the point. The good news of Jesus is not rooted in arcane questions like the number of angels who can have a dance party on a needle. The good news is rooted in God’s covenant of grace — a covenant extended to Moses, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Luke reminded us early in the Gospel that it was this God who answered the questions of women like Elizabeth and Mary, providing them with signs of life. God, it seems, answers every question with more questions. But God’s questions are the questions that lead to life.
In the Sermon
Regardless of whether your church is red or blue, or (most likely) deeply purple, we are arriving at the end of a hotly contested political season. We are exhausted by the flurries of attack ads that provide little factual knowledge from which reasonable conclusions can be drawn. Exaggerations, alternative facts, and flat-out lies seem to be the most common ingredients for brewing this acidic concoction. In most cases, the commercials end up telling us nothing new.
In most cases, the campaigns spend time shouting over each other rather than addressing questions of actual substance and (dare we say) truth. Like the Sadducees, and perhaps the other religious leaders who sought to wrestle control back from Jesus, the questions posed by our political leaders rarely address what is involved in shaping one’s life according to the kingdom of God.
This is not to say that the political parties don’t believe their messages are important, nor is it to argue that parts of their messages are essential. But it is also a reminder, much like the coin Jesus holds in 20:24, that the kingdoms of earth and heaven are under separate rule. Jesus, with the prophets of Israel, is changing the conversation by directing our focus to God. Jesus understands that our basic questions of meaning and hope will not find answers either in the emperor’s schemes or in nitpicking questions of theology.
A possible direction for the preacher would be to allow the good news of the resurrection to be heard this Sunday before the election. Ministers, like Jesus, have questions posed to them regularly. Perhaps even this late into the lectionary year there is a chance for questions about the resurrection to be aired once more.
Alternatively, the preacher could explore the pointless nature of some questions — both politically and theologically. Debates about things that do not matter occupy much air time in both political and religious discussions. (How many times has all work in the church office been stopped to debate the color paper used for printing the bulletin? How often have we yammered on about whether to serve pancakes and sausage and bacon, or just pancakes and sausage? Silly debates are not limited to the Sadducees.) Jesus reframes these questions, demonstrating the authority that comes from God alone. It is in him that we find the answers to questions that truly matter.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTSDare To Be Impractical
by Dean Feldmeyer
Haggai 1:15b--2:9
In September of 1994, a guy with a dream attended a four-day seminar sponsored by the American Book Sellers Association, entitled “How to Start a Bookstore.” He was inspired and at the end of the four days, he wrote in his notebook a mission statement for a new company he intended to start: “To be the earth’s most customer-centric store where people can find and discover anything they want to buy…online.”
The guy’s name was Jeff Bezos and, in November of that year, he opened his online store and called it Amazon.com.
Bezos and his little start-up had its detractors, of course. In his book, One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com, Richard L. Brandt recalls that one magazine sarcastically referred to it as “Amazon dot bomb.” Tech analyst and commentator George F. Colony said, “Amazon’s position is indefensible.”
Two years later, in 1999, Jeff Bezos was Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
In 2020, Amazon’s sales totaled over $470 billion ($53 million in sales every hour). It is the fifth largest and most active domain on the internet. Amazon’s warehouses cover 1,000 times more square footage than Madison Square Garden. Amazon owns 37 percent of all e-commerce in North America, more than the next 15 companies (Walmart, Apple, eBay, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Costco, Kroger, and eight others) combined.
Our American culture values examples of persistence and determination. Stories of impractical, silly ideas that actually work out for the good are ubiquitous. We hear them all the time; they are part of the great American mythos:
- Henry Ford failed five times before he succeeded with the automobile.
- F.W. Woolworth, who was not allowed to wait on customers when he was a clerk in a dry goods store because his boss said he “didn’t have enough sense,” went on to found one of the country’s most successful dry goods stores.
- When Alexander Bell couldn’t get his company off the ground, he tried selling his invention to Western Union, the telegraph company. They wrote back, “What use could this company make of an electric toy?”
- Steve Jobs, tells how he “…went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary; we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"
So why are we so slow to listen and consider when God asks us to do something that may, at first, seem impractical and unfeasible? When it comes to taking chances based on God’s word, we are pretty timid.
In the News
The area I live in is probably not much different than yours at this time of year. We are experiencing saturation bombing of political ads on television. The same ones, over and over, hundreds of times a day. And we can’t get away from them no matter what channel we turn on.
The themes are nearly universally based in fear and self-interest. The language is pugilistic. Candidates “fight” for this or that. They are fighting a “war” against the opposition who wants to “destroy” any number of things we hold dear: our freedom, our religious rights, our bodily autonomy, our safety. Our families are in danger. Our ability to support them is being threatened. Crime is rampant. Violence is ubiquitous.
Vote for me and I’ll protect your rights, your freedoms, your job, and your family. Somehow. Political ads are always short on specifics.
The appeal, however, is almost always to self-interest — we’ll have lower taxes and more money in our pockets. We’ll be safe in our warm, cozy homes and our stomachs will be as full as our gas tanks. Or fear — democracy is being threatened, our safety is in danger. Barbarians are clamoring at the gates! We need more police!
The poor? The homeless? The mentally ill? The elderly? Well, yeah, sure. We’ll throw them some things but, let’s face it, nobody ever got elected by building their campaign on those folks. The Beatitudes are fine in a philosophical, theological kinda way but, hey, this is politics. We have to be practical.
And in all of the clamor and din, how often do we stop to ask what God wants before we enter the voting booth? How often do we give a thought to God’s priorities and the admonitions of Matthew 25? How often do we stop and think about the fact that we’re voting not just for ourselves, but for all those folks who have no voice in the political system?
How often do we dare to be impractical?
In the Scripture
In about 520 BCE some seventy years after the fall of Jerusalem to the army of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Babylon fell to Cyrus of Persia. Two years later, Cyrus was killed in battle and there was a fight for the throne that was won by Darius, who shortly became Darius the Great of Persia. Around 516 BCE, one of his first decrees was to set all political detainees free and allow them to return to their homelands. Many of the Jews, however, had managed to find a fairly comfortable niche in Babylonian society and culture while maintaining the essentials of their own religion and culture.
Most estimates say that about 10,000 Jews were forced to march to Babylon after Jerusalem fell and required to live in a ghetto on the banks of the Tigress and Euphrates rivers. Now, seventy years later, ten to twenty times that live, spread out through the Persian empire. Only a handful, a couple thousand at most, chose to take Darius up on his offer and return to the Holy Land.
The story in today’s reading take place in Judah just a few months after the first wave of returnees have arrived.
What they found was the Jerusalem, the Holy City, in ruins. The temple was nothing but stones and ashes strewn about the site where it had once stood. The city walls had been torn down and the gates burned, the shops and homes utterly destroyed.
Those who had been left behind had fallen into infighting and even open hostility with each other, vying to see who would be in charge. In the end, no one was. Everyone had either fled to Egypt with the prophet Jeremiah to avoid the bloodshed or simply assimilated into the surrounding tribes and city states.
Most of the returnees had either been children when they were forced to leave Jerusalem or had been born in Babylon. All they knew of the great city was what their parents and grandparents had told them. And what they found, now, was not even close to what they had expected to find.
They had taken about four months to travel over 800 miles, mostly on foot, from Babylon. How their anticipation must have built as they finally could see their destination on the horizon — and how their joy must have been dashed as they crested the Mount of Olives only to look upon the ruins that Jerusalem had become.
Their three leaders were: Zerubbabel was the Persian-appointed governor of the province now called Yehud (Judah). Joshua ben Jehozadak was the high priest. And Haggai was the prophet who brought to them the word of the Lord. These three favored the rebuilding of the temple as the first order of business, a necessary act that would announce to the world that God had returned with God’s people to God’s holy land.
But the people were reluctant. The surrounding tribes and countries had pretty much had their way with Judah for the past fifty years and would not want to see it given back to its old inhabitants. They would be hostile and building the temple could provoke them. Besides, the refugees had returned to find the land suffering from a drought and the economy in shambles.
The prudent course of action, they insisted, would be to build homes and try to grow some crops so they would have food to eat and clothing to wear. Then, if there was enough time, energy, and money, they should rebuild the city walls so they could be safe if they were attacked.
Only when all this was done, when they were safe, well fed, well clothed and had some money in the bank, should they start working on rebuilding the temple, a luxury that, right now, they could ill afford.
Only it didn’t work. The drought continued and the crops yielded a pittance. The clothing they tried to make wore out in the dry heat. The homes that they managed to rebuild gave them little comfort. And they still lived in constant fear of attack from the war lords and city states that surrounded them and could be seen watching them from the tops of distant hills.
In the opening verses of the first chapter of Haggai’s account the prophet notes the frustrations of the people who have seen all their work come to little or nothing. The reason for this, he says, is that their priorities are messed up. They have tended to their own houses but not God’s house. They sit in relative comfort while God has no house to sit in at all.
Some of the people hear Haggai’s message and begin working on the temple, others send a few of their workers or slaves to help, but the effort is, at best, reluctant and unenthusiastic. This new, rebuilt temple is a poor copy of the old one, which was built by Solomon. In fact, it was kind of shabby. Those few returnees who could remember the old temple griped and complained about how this one was nothing like its predecessor. And some insisted that it was a waste of time when there were mouths to feed.
Haggai responds to this barrage of nagging, whining, and complaining with a sermon some of which is included in todays’ reading, dated a month after work was begun on the rebuilding of the temple.
Haggai has chosen this particular date for a reason: It is the first day of the eight-day autumn festival, the Feast of Booths, which is intended to celebrate the harvest and God’s continued care of the people of God. It is also the day when the Jews remember and celebrate the dedication of the first temple and the placement of the Ark of the Covenant therein by Solomon.
He begins by admitting that the rebuilt temple is a poor reflection of its predecessor: “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing?” (v. 3) But he goes on to offer a solution to the problem. In verse 4 he says, three times: “Take courage…” Why?
Because God has some great things planned for this people and this place. “Work!” YHWH tells the people, through his prophet, Haggai. “For I am with you.”
Then God makes a promise: The day is coming when there’s going to be a great shake-up. Things are going to change in some radical ways. Israel is going to return to glory and the splendor of the temple will be greater than it was in the past. A new prosperity will be the order of the day.
But for now, “Work!”
And they did! This is one of those rare cases where the prophet was listened to and obeyed. The people came together and put their backs into it and worked to rebuild the temple. “In harkening to the prophet’s words the people believed their fortunes would change and the dark days of despair would be transformed into prosperity and blessing.” (The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, p. 1333)
They did the wholly impractical thing and rebuilt the temple and, even though it never came close to the glory that it once was under Solomon, it stood for another 500-plus years as a symbol of the people’s hopes and dreams and faith.
In the Sermon
Imagine that a tornado, a hurricane, or a wildfire came through your community and destroyed every single building, leaving the entire community in ruins. (Not so hard for some of us to imagine, right?)
Several days later, you and your fellow survivors are finally allowed to go back home to survey the damage and try to sift something of value out of the ashes and bricks that are left of what were once your houses. But before you can begin that work a meeting is called where the mayor, the city council, and the ministerial association all insist that the first thing to be rebuilt must be the churches.
It would be pretty hard to swallow, wouldn’t it? But that was exactly what Joshua, Zerubbabel and Haggai insisted upon.
From time to time, God calls upon us to do that which seems impossible. Sometimes God calls upon us to do that which is possible but seems imprudent or impractical. At home. In the church. In the community. In the world. In the voting booth.
Rebuild the temple first. Love your enemies. Pray for those who mistreat you. Turn the other cheek.
Sometimes God calls us to begin work, the completion of which we can’t see now but will see, eventually. And sometimes God calls for us to begin work, the completion of which we may never see, work that will benefit only our children or grandchildren.
We sometimes refer to this as “acting on faith.” That is, we believe that God is going to keep God’s promises so we act as though those promises have already been kept. We go all in, sure that God has dealt us a winning hand but, win or lose, God will always be sitting right next to us at the table.
We build bridges as we cross them.
We work for peace. We feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. We comfort those who are hurt or sick and we sit with those who mourn. We enter the prisons and the sanitariums where we feel most vulnerable and uncomfortable and we reach out to those who have been thrown away by the rest of our society.
We fight battles that we know we can’t win just because they need to be fought. And we take up causes that we know are lost just because they are righteous causes.
We build structures that are poor reflections of what once was, structures that may appear to be rickety and unsound because they are needed now and we can perfect them later. We forgo the perfect in order to let the good triumph.
We live by faith because we are people of faith and faith is not the destination but the journey to which God has called us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Luke 20:27-38
Worrying About Weddings
Jesus chides the Sadducees for asking him a foolish question about marriage in the next life. Luke notes the silliness of the question by reminding us that the questioners don’t even believe in an afterlife.
For those who are worrying about weddings in this life, trends for 2023 include chic wedding suits for women, eco friendly favors, mixed gender wedding parties and smaller guest lists. The small weddings of the pandemic have continued. As one expert says, “If you wouldn’t have a Zoom party with them during a global lockdown, why invite them to your big day?” The most popular day to get married next year? February 23 — or 2/23/23.
For those who are thinking past the wedding to the marriage, 2023 is said to be a good year to get married because of the things we’ve learned in the pandemic. “People have learned to appreciate each other more. Spending the rest of your life with someone that you deeply care about is something that should not be wasted nor delayed. If there is one thing that people have learned amidst the pandemic, it is to avoid taking things for granted.” That’s good advice for this life, the only we can be sure of, for God is the God of the living.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Giving Thanks Through the Day
As Paul writes to the Thessalonian churches, he talks about his practice of being continually thankful. Anne Lamott has her own practice of taking up Paul’s challenge to “always give thanks to God.” For Anne Lamott, the day unfolds this way. “A walk is a great prayer. To make eye contact and smile is a kind of prayer, and it changes you. Fields and woods are the kingdom. You don’t say, “Oh, there’s a dark-eyed junco flitting around that same old pine tree; whatever,” or: “Look at those purple wildflowers. I’ve seen those a dozen times.” You are silent. There may be no one around you and the forest will speak to you in the way it will speak to an animal. And that changes you.”
Lamott adds, “At bedtime I pray again for my sick friends, and the refugees. I beg for sleep. I give thanks for the blessings of the day. I rest into the vision of the pearly moon outside my window that looks like a porthole to a bigger reality, sigh and close my tired eyes. I have the theological understanding of a bright 8-year-old, but Jesus says we need to approach life like children, not like cranky know-it-alls, crazily busy, clutching our to-do lists. One of my daily prayers is, “Slow me down, Girlfriend.” The prayer changes me. It breaks the toxic trance. God says to Moses the first time they meet, “Take off your shoes.” Be on the earth. Breathe with me a moment.” Or, as Paul would say, “always give thanks.”
* * *
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Remembering and Giving Thanks
“But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord,” Paul writes to the believers in this epistle.
Therapist and author Lori Gottlieb tells the story of her patient Julie, who was diagnosed with cancer as a young woman. Gottlieb saw her through years of treatments, with all the ups and downs in her health. Julie asked her to go to her funeral, and Gottlieb goes, realizing that, “Despite being the ultimate insider in terms of Julie’s thoughts and feelings, I’m an outsider here among all these people…who knew Julie. We’re told, as therapists, that if we do attend a patient’s funeral, we should stay off to the side, avoid interacting. I do this, but just as I’m about to leave, a friendly couple starts talking to me. They say that Julie is responsible for their marriage — she set them up on a blind date five years ago. I smile at their story, then try to excuse myself, but before I can, the woman in the couple asks, “And how did you know Julie?”
“She was a friend,” I say reflexively, mindful of confidentiality, but the moment I say it, I realize it also feels true. “Will you think about me?” Julie used to ask me before she went in for her various surgeries and I always told her I would. The assurance soothed her, helped her stay centered in the midst of her anxiety about going under the knife.
Later, though, when it became clear that Julie would die, that question took on another meaning: Will a part of me remain alive in you?...Walking to my car that day, I hear Julie’s question: Will you think about me? All these years later, I still do. I remember her most in the silences."
Even after death, we give thanks for each other, as Paul writes.
* * *
Psalm 98
The New Song of Older Age
“O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things,” the psalmist encourages. After a storied career as a pastor and author, the late Eugene Peterson found himself singing a new song to God in his 80’s. He could have lamented the loss of physical skill and intellectual challenge, and instead he continued to find wonder and joy in his life.
Peterson told Krista Tippett in an interview. “I’m 83 years old now. And one of the things that’s surprised me is the lack of questions I have now. It’s kind of like I’ve just entered into a world where everything is going — not the way I thought it would go, but the way it makes sense. I forget things a lot, I misplace things, and I used to get angry with myself. And I don’t anymore. This is a way a lot of the world is living, is to — [laughs] is to just enjoy it. So you’ve got to go look for your keys for half a dozen times before you find them?
And having a family helps. I’ve got three children and nine grandchildren. That puts you in a context where there’s a lot to be appreciated and a lot to worry about. And the worries don’t crowd out the glories, but we’ve got to give ourselves permission to do that.”
He added, “People ask, ‘How do you mature a spiritual life? The one thing you do is you eliminate the word ‘spiritual.’ It’s your life that’s being matured, it’s not part of your life.” There is always time to sing God a new song.
* * *
Psalm 98
Sing Praise to God
Recalling God’s goodness, the psalmist calls the people of God to continuous, enthusiastic praise.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
Scaling that to everyday life, the basketball coach John Wooden taught his players and students how to give thanks to God as the psalmist urges us. He offered two practices. “First, he said, “It is impossible to have a perfect day unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” In saying this, Wooden sought to promote purely generous acts, as opposed to those performed with an expectation of recompense.” The second step, he said, is to “Give thanks for your blessings every day.” God has done marvelous things for us, and our lives can be full of thanksgiving.
* * * * * *
From team member Tom Willadsen:Luke 20:27-38
Who were the Sadducees?
No written works by Sadducees survive, so the little we know about them comes from things their opponents said about them. The historian Josephus mentions them as present in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. It is probably most accurate to think of them as a school of thought rather than as an organized sect. While the text identifies them as “those who say there is no resurrection,” that may simply mean that resurrection is never mentioned in the Torah. This is the only reference to them in Luke’s gospel. In Matthew they are grouped with the Pharisees in chapter 16, but contrasted with them in chapter 22, because they do not believe in a resurrection of the dead.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
First fruits?
“First fruits” is a surprising translation of the Greek ἀπ᾽‿ ἀρχῆς, in the New Revised Standard Version. “From the beginning” would be a more literal, and in my opinion, less ambiguous rendering of the Greek. The latter rendering also gets at a sense of destiny, perhaps predestination that Paul conveys to the Thessalonians, whom he loves and who accepted his teaching, even as they have heard a different message, which was the occasion for this letter.
* * *
Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Time to rebuild
We know with great precision when Haggai spoke these words of encouragement to the exiled who returned to Judea from Babylon. It was 520 BCE, the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia. His predecessor, Cyrus, had permitted some exiles to return to begin rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple. After 11 years they had not exactly gotten around to rebuilding the temple, but their own homes were taking shape. Haggai spoke the Lord’s words to encourage them. Haggai asks which of them remembered the temple prior to its destruction by Babylon. Since the Temple had been destroyed 67 years before, the answer to Haggai’s presumably rhetorical question was “none of us.” They had certainly imagined the Temple in its former glory, but they needed to put their idealized memories aside and get busy!
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:Luke 20:27-38
Do you ever try to answer a question in another room in the house, and realize that you did not hear it right, so you answered the wrong question? Or maybe it was over the vacuum cleaner or the TV or you were in the car and the wind was blowing too loud. Or someone who’s hearing is really bad, and it’s hard for them to understand what is going on. I think this is what Jesus is trying to say to the Sadducees. It’s not their fault they are distracted. It’s not their fault they are trying to ask questions about heaven from the room of earth. It’s not their fault that all they can hear is the human garbled answers of God’s message. I imagine Jesus is actually very patient here because Jesus knows that they cannot really understand.
My middle child has autism and has trouble articulating words on top of it. Sometimes it takes a long time for us to make ourselves understood to one another. Some days it ’s really frustrating, and we both get angry. I’m happy to say the yelling and frustration has lessened every time. We are building a new language of understanding that does not necessitate words. He is twelve years old. On our best days we stop and say to one another, “It’s okay, we will get there. We always get there, we are trying, we love you. What ’s important is that we are trying to understand you. Calm down we will get you.” I think this is what Jesus is saying. It is okay that we do not fully understand, but the love, the life-giving aspects, the fact that we are trying get there, that’s the important stuff.
* * *
Haggai 1:15b--2:9
“I don’t worry much about the invisible church.” I am trying to say this on a more regular basis. Can you imagine how empowering it would be, if we as a movement decided to worry less about the workings of the invisible church, and worry more about loving people? God says, “Take courage.” “Do not fear.” God will take the remnant. God promises to deal with the remnant.
I just saw another debate about whether streamed church was real church or not, and I admit I rolled my eyes. In my mind, anyone who thinks they can define such a great idea as the invisible church is above my pay grade. The very name of it should fill your heart with majesty and mystery. What is this thing we call the invisible church? God makes it clear that God has been working with remnants from the time of Haggai — way before Jesus. God has been working with brokenness and emptiness from the very beginning of time. So, when I say “I don’t worry much about the invisible church.” I try to say it and mean it. God knows what God is doing.
* * *
Job 19:23-27
“I know that my Redeemer lives.” What a way to stand upon the earth. What does this mean for Job and what does it mean to us, in the midst of what seems to be apocalyptic times?
“After my skin has been thus destroyed.” Do we truly believe that “in my flesh I shall see God”? Is God in my flesh? Do we see God “enfleshed” in us, in our suffering? How does it change if we know in our bones that the Redeemer is here with us now? What does that mean when hate reigns? What does it mean when evil seems to win? What does it mean when one sits alone in the dark, like Job, with nowhere else to turn? How does this change the way I embody my life? What is this mantra when we worry about church or volunteers or communication or perfection? I know that my Redeemer lives? My maker, my breath, my life, my Redeemer lives in my bones; it’s something that just might be worth hanging onto.
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Praise God! Sing to God a new song.
All: Let us praise God’s name with dancing
One: Let us make melody with tambourine and lyre.
All: For God takes pleasure in God’s people.
One: Let the faithful exult in glory and sing for joy.
All: Let the high praises of God be in our throats.
OR
One: We will extol you, our God and King, and bless your name forever.
All: Every day we will bless you, and praise your name forever.
One: Great is our God, and greatly to be praised.
All: One generation shall laud your works to another.
One: God is just and kind in all things.
All: Our mouths will speak the praise of God now and forevermore.
OR
One: God calls us to come together in unity and peace.
All: We gather with our sisters and our brothers today.
One: God’s call go beyond just those who look like us.
All: We will reach out to others with love and peace.
One: God calls us to embrace life, God’s life, abundant and eternal.
All: We will enter God’s realm by sharing God’s love with all.
Hymns and Songs
For All the Saints
UMH: 711
H82: 287
PH: 526
AAHH: 339
NNBH: 301
NCH: 299
CH: 637
LBW: 174
ELW: 422
W&P: 529
AMEC: 476
STLT 103
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
UMH: 79
H82: 366
PH: 460
NNBH: 13
NCH: 276
LBW: 535
ELW: 414
W&P: 138
Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones
UMH: 90
H82: 618
PH: 451
LBW: 175
ELW: 424
From All Who Dwell Below the Skies
UMH: 101
H82: 380
PH: 229
NCH: 27
CH: 49
LBW: 550
AMEC: 69
STLT: 381
O Jesus, I Have Promised
UMH: 396
H82: 655
PH: 388/389
NCH: 493
CH: 612
LBW: 503
ELW: 810
W&P: 458
AMEC: 280
Seek Ye First
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
CCB: 76
Take Up Thy Cross
UMH: 415
H82: 675
PH: 393
LBW: 398
ELW: 667
W&P: 351
AMEC: 294
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
Make Me a Servant
CCB: 90
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is the source of life eternal:
Grant us the grace to ask the questions that really matter
so that we may hear your life giving answers;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the source of eternal life. It is in you that we live and more and have our being. Help us to center on the truly meaningful questions so that we may be ready to hear your life giving answers. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our focus on questions about things that do not really matter.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have so many questions and most of them are of little, if any, importance. We argue over petty, inane issues whose answers do not matter one way or the other. We get swept away by emotions of hatred and division ignoring your call to love and unity. We fill our time thinking of things that we can use to push others away instead of finding opportunities to reach out and embrace the other. Forgive our foolishness and call us back to Jesus who taught us to seek first your realm and your righteousness. Fill us with his Spirit so that we may be true disciples of him and your true children. Amen.
One: God does seek to bring life to all creation. Receive God’s grace and use it to bring peace and love to others.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God of life eternal. You are the source of all life and of all creation and we bless your holy name.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have so many questions and most of them are of little, if any, importance. We argue over petty, inane issues whose answers do not matter one way or the other. We get swept away by emotions of hatred and division ignoring your call to love and unity. We fill our time thinking of things that we can use to push others away instead of finding opportunities to reach out and embrace the other. Forgive our foolishness and call us back to Jesus who taught us to seek first your realm and your righteousness. Fill us with his Spirit so that we may be true disciples of him and your true children.
We give you thanks for all the blessings you have poured out on your creation. We thank you for the beauty of our world and of the worlds beyond ours. We are in awe of the beauty of the universe. We rejoice in your gifts of love that flow to us through others who reach out in love and concern for those in need. We are thankful for the words of Jesus which call us always to focus on you and your realm. We thank you for those who have faithfully lived in your realm so that we may find our place there. (We thank you for.... names of the local saints may be read.)
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for all who are caught in times and places of violence and death. We pray for those who struggle for the bare necessities of life in a world that teems with abundance. We pray for those caught up in hatred both the oppressed and the oppressors. We pray for your Church that we may center on you and your message of love and redemption for all creation.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMONThe Traditions We Were Taught
by Dean Feldmeyer
2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
You will need:
Some old photographs of early members of your church or, if none are available, just some old photos or tintypes of people from times gone by.
..........
Good morning!
This morning we are remembering people who help us grow into mature Christians. I brought some pictures to share with you of some people who helped to start this church. (Or pictures of people from my family.)
This is _____ and this is _____. They were some of the first members of this church ______ years ago.
OR
This is my great grandma and my grandpa. They were church members and they taught me how important it was to be part of a church. (Or other faith lessons you learned from them.)
My parents (or grandparents, or whoever) also taught me how to be a Christian. They taught me to be kind to other people, and to obey the Golden Rule.
And they taught me other things, as well. Like, my mom taught me how to cook and my dad taught me how to tie a tie.
What are some things that you have learned from your parents or grandparents.
After the children have had a few moments to share, invite the congregation to turn to each other and share the name of a person who helped them in their Christian journey.
End the message with a prayer thanking God for the “saints” who have nurtured and cared for us and asking God to help us become the nurturer and helper of other new Christians.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 6, 2022 issue.
Copyright 2022 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.
