Saints On A Train
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
While the world copes with another apparent terrorist attack in London, a recent incident on a Portland commuter train reminds us that in this country we’re not immune from a virulent form of terrorism associated with hate speech. When three men tried to intervene and stop another passenger who was harassing two women who appeared to be Muslim by shouting ethnic and religious slurs, they themselves became the object of his anger and were stabbed... two of them fatally. Particularly heart-wrenching was the fact that as his life slipped away, one of the victims’ last words were: “Tell everyone on this train that I love them.” In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Beth Herrinton-Hodge considers this tragic event from the perspective of the week’s lectionary texts. She discusses the commonality of human creation by God in our Genesis passage; Paul’s appeal to the Corinthians to “agree with one another [and] live in peace”; and the notion that the victims were living out their mission of peace and justice, just as Jesus calls the disciples in the Matthew text to live out a similar mission in the pursuit of spreading his message throughout the world.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on knowing our place in the world and the responsibility we have as Christians. This week’s texts remind us that we must exercise good stewardship over God’s creation and carry Jesus’ message out into the world -- and yet President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris agreement on climate change suggests that as a nation we are adopting a more inward-looking perspective... one that Dean notes also abdicates our country’s traditional leadership role. Dean contemplates what it means to live out the great commission... and the implications for knowing our place in the concentric circles of our lives: personally, as a church, as a nation, and for humanity in general.
Saints on a Train
by Beth Herrinton-Hodge
Genesis 1:1--2:4a; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20
The U.S. is still reeling from news of the tragic events that occurred on a commuter train in Portland, Oregon, on May 26. When many in the nation think of Portland, they think of tolerance, a liberal perspective, and remnants of “flower children.” This seemed like the last city that would witness the rants of white supremacists and domestic terrorism. Yet no corner of our nation is immune from racist tirades and attacks.
Neither are we without hope in the face of such tragedies. In a response to these events, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes: “In tragedy, we can sometimes find inspiration... among ordinary Americans converging from varied backgrounds on a commuter train, standing together against a threat to our shared humanity.”
This news story connects with our texts from Genesis and Matthew on this Trinity Sunday. God created humankind in God’s image -- without distinction of race, religion, background, or ethnicity. Humankind was created by God, and God pronounced us good. The story of the Portland martyrs shows humanity acting at both its worst and its finest. We can focus on the horrendous acts of an unbalanced person who became radicalized by powerful and misguided voices, or we can lift up the selfless actions of the good Samaritans who stopped to help persons in need.
Matthew’s account of Jesus’ great commission sends Jesus’ followers to go to all nations -- not only to the Jews, not only to those who know Jesus -- to show and live and tell about the love of God and love for others. God created us for this mission. The people who stepped forward to help the strangers on that commuter train lived this mission, even to the point of death.
In the Scriptures
Two of the texts for Trinity Sunday include Trinitarian formulae: Matthew’s account of the great commission given by Jesus is to make disciples and baptize people “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19); and Paul offers blessing to the people of Corinth, bestowing “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit” upon each of his hearers (2 Corinthians 13:13). God is named as three distinct persons, co-equal as one Godhead. Although the concept of the Trinity was not specifically spelled out by early Jesus-followers, finding these formulae in the New Testament suggests beginning language being used to describe the complexity of God.
It’s a big leap to say that the tellers and writers of the first creation account in Genesis were thinking about the Trinity when they pieced together Genesis 1:1--2:4a. Yet the language found in Genesis, telling of God creating humankind in “our” likeness, reminds us that the Spirit who moved over the face of the waters, creating order out of chaos, was also involved in creating humankind. In addition, the Word that decreed creation into existence throughout Genesis shows up again in John 1 as one in whom all things were made. We look at the whole of biblical canon to discern the triune God who is in all and with all that is created.
We focus our attention on the gospel and Old Testament texts in the lectionary this week, looking for ways God’s creatures live into the goodness in which God created us. The orderly account of Genesis 1 presents a Creator God who forms the universe by decree. God says, “Let there be...” and behold, what God decrees comes into existence. God pronounces, and God’s will is accomplished. Thus, God has control over all that is created as God separates, orders, and names the elements of the universe. Likewise, God is pleased with what is created -- both the individual elements and creation as a whole. All is “very good.”
The goodness of creation evokes an ancient mythological time before violence disturbs God’s perfect order. Before the fall, before brokenness and sin entered God’s good creation, humankind -- both male and female -- enjoyed the balance and bliss which God created. As far as creation has moved from the ideal in which God made all things, the idyllic vision remains. Our hope and God’s promise is to return to the paradise God intended. This promise is for all humankind and all that God created -- to return to the perfect good in which we were created.
As Jesus commissions his disciples in Matthew 28, he challenges them to extend Christian discipleship beyond the Jewish people. He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus passes his authority to his disciples -- to go and make disciples of all nations -- all people, within and outside of Judaism. They are to make disciples, as Jesus has done, baptizing, teaching, obeying Jesus’ commandments (love God, love neighbor). Jesus promises to be with them to the end of the age.
In following Jesus’ charge in this great commission, his disciples bear witness to Jesus’ merciful and transformative life. They maintain Jesus’ presence in the world -- by their obedience, discipleship, and faithfulness to God’s command to love. Isn’t this what today’s disciples are still called to do?
It’s fair to note about Jesus: his actions led him to the cross. His obedience and faithfulness to God’s command to love did not spare him humiliation, rejection, or crucifixion. Instead, he was martyred by those who resisted and/or rejected the change he embodied. He suffered the ultimate sacrifice. Yet in Jesus’ death, good did not die. Instead love, mercy, and transformation continue in God’s creation. We see these in the person of Jesus; we live these in responding to Jesus’ great commission and in living the great commandments -- loving God and loving one another.
In the News
Tragic events seem to always make headlines. We are motivated by curiosity, a desire to be informed, fear, or self-preservation as we peruse headlines, click on Facebook posts, and respond to dramatic images. We’re drawn to salacious tragedies, which have us searching for more and more information. Yet a number of stories that have flashed across our screens of late come with companion stories that belie the good of humankind. These stories draw us in as well.
The stabbing incident on the Portland commuter train offers one such headline that embodies both tragedy and grace. Jeremy Christian, the anti-Muslim attacker with extremist ideologies, showed humanity acting at its worst. Whatever racist and anti-Semitic hatred filled his mind spilled out in verbal bullying and knife-wielding killings on an afternoon commute. Alternatively, the people who responded to the attacker’s words and actions embodied the good which lies at the heart of God’s creatures.
Two young women -- teenagers -- were the initial recipients of Jeremy Christian’s verbal tirade. They were people of color: one black, the other Muslim. When the verbal taunts began, bystanders on the train spoke up and urged Christian to refrain from his hate-filled speech. Christian turned on the bystanders, wielding a knife which he used to stab and slice at the people who confronted him. The girls exited the train car, uninjured. Two bystanders died; another was taken to the hospital with substantial injuries. Other train-riders offered help to the injured. People across Portland and across the U.S. have responded to the story with words of support, financial rewards, and gifts.
The men on the train who came to the girls’ aid didn’t know one another. What united them was human decency. Each man has been described as compassionate, kind, a champion of justice, of high integrity, who couldn’t stand by and do nothing. It’s not known whether any of these men claimed a particular faith or connected with any religious tradition. One victim, Taliesin Namkai-Meche (Tally) is reported to have uttered these final words before he died: “Tell them, I want everybody to know, I want everybody on the train to know, I love them.” Micah Fletcher, the lone survivor of the stabbings, wrote a poem, which reads in part: “I am alive. I spat in the eye of hate and lived. This is what we must do for one another. We must live for one another.”
We attribute the heroic and selfless responses to the men’s character rather than to their religious roots. Yet these words and sentiments clearly echo the great commandment to love one another. Religious or not, each of these men was created in the image of God -- human beings whom God calls “good.” Their stories embody what is good in humanity.
* One finds similar stories of heroism and civilians coming to the aid of strangers following the tragic bomb blast on May 22 in Manchester, England at the close of a pop music concert.
* And following this weekend’s deadly attacks in London, stories about good Samaritans are beginning to come to light: “Lorna Murray, 44, said that she was about to drive over London Bridge when traffic stopped and people ran toward their car. ‘We ducked down in our car, assuming there was a stabbing,’ she said. ‘Then this young couple started banging on the doors trying to get into our car for safety. We took them in, but couldn’t let anyone else in because we had a baby in the back.’ ”
In the Sermon
A few approaches for the sermon...
* Created in the image of God (Genesis 1)
You could emphasize the order, balance, completeness, and goodness of creation -- which God decreed by God’s sheer will. That which God created, from the amoeba to the platypus, from atoms to human beings -- each is good, part of God’s created order. “All things are from the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 253-267: The dogma of the Holy Trinity].
Look how creation intersects and fits together -- life and death, good and bad, dynamic and static... all toward God’s good end.
* Love one another (Matthew 28; 2 Corinthians 13)
Embedded in the charge found in Matthew 28 and the blessing/benediction of 2 Corinthians 13 is a message of how God’s people are to relate to one another. We understand who we are as people of God and how we are to treat one another as part of a worldwide community of saints: with love and responsibility for one another.
In his column “On a Portland Train, the Battlefield of American Values,” Nicholas Kristof writes: “One thing I’ve learned in my reporting career is that side by side with the worst of humanity, you find the best. The test for all of us is whether we can similarly respond to hatred and nihilism with courage and, in the dying words of Namkai-Meche, with ‘love.’ ”
“Love is what it’s about,” said Meche’s mother, Asha Deliverance, at the vigil following the Portland incident. “We taught him to love everyone, and that’s what we should be doing and that’s what we all should be doing and that’s why we are all here, so give it up for love.”
* In living his mission, Jesus goes to the cross (Matthew 28, 2 Corinthians 13)
We can expect to take on challenging consequences in our call to go into the world for God’s people.
The men who stood up to Jeremy Christian were not looking to die a martyr’s death. They were only seeking to do what was right in their particular situation. They stood up for people who were being persecuted. They wouldn’t tolerate bullying, antagonism, threats, or injustice. They sought to protect the vulnerable. Isn’t this how Jesus showed us to live? At what risk to his life? Similarly, the three men took on risk with little thought to their own safety. For their commitment to what is right, they each suffered immeasurable harm. Following Jesus often comes with a price.
If the church has anything to say to these saints on a train, it is this: “All the saints greet you” (2 Corinthians 13:12). These men number among the saints who went to the cross for another. They are Christ’s disciples.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Knowing Your Place
by Dean Feldmeyer
Genesis 1:1--2:4a; Matthew 28:16-20
The phrase “knowing your place” is an uncomfortable one, isn’t it? It smacks of classism. We’ve all seen those movies where people are criticized or ridiculed for overreaching and trying to be part of something that was “beyond their station.” We’ve seen the scene in the movie Pretty Woman when the snooty clerk at the expensive boutique tells Julia Roberts “We have nothing for you here” as she looks down her nose at her. Clearly Julia didn’t “know her place.”
Certainly we Christians would never advocate or excuse behavior that sets people apart because of race or class or, well, anything, for that matter.
This week we are talking about “knowing your place” in a different sense, in a healthy sense, wherein we explore our role in any given situation and figure out where exactly our place needs to be and what we are to do in that role.
Yo, Paris! We’re Outta Here!
In December of 2015, the leaders of 196 nations signed onto the Paris Climate Accords, all agreeing to work to “adopt green energy sources, cut down on climate change emissions, and limit the rise of global temperatures -- while also cooperating to cope with the impact of unavoidable climate change.”
Signatories of the agreement acknowledge that the threat of climate change is “urgent and potentially irreversible,” and can only be addressed through “the widest possible cooperation by all countries” and “deep reductions in global emissions.”
In signing, they agree on a goal of limiting the rise in global average temperature to 2 degrees Centigrade (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Note that they aren’t going to try to stop global climate change -- they’re just going to try to slow it down. And they agree to work toward slowing the rate to 1.5 degrees Centigrade.
NPR’s Christopher Joyce reports that “to help developing countries switch from fossil fuels to greener sources of energy and adapt to the effects of climate change, the developed world will provide $100 billion a year.” And that’s just for starters. The plan is to ramp up the figure in the future.
How soon? Well, as soon as possible would be nice -- but they hope to have everyone actively involved in the effort by 2020. After that, each country will voluntarily allow their targets to be evaluated every five years as to whether they are moving toward or away from the 2 degrees Centigrade goal, and adjustments will be recommended.
The document is filled with “should” and “ought” and is a little short on “shall.” That’s because it’s not a treaty but an accord or agreement. There is no enforcement mechanism. Everyone is on the honor system to do what they said they would do and turn in accurate measurements.
This past week, a little over a year after President Obama signed the Paris Accord on our behalf, President Trump announced that he is reneging on our behalf, pulling us out of the agreement. He offered five arguable reasons for doing so: 1) It will cost jobs; 2) The reduction in temperature increase is a “tiny, tiny amount” that will have no significant impact; 3) Remaining in the agreement would cost the U.S. economy “close to $3 trillion in lost GDP and 6.5 million industrial jobs, while households would have $7,000 less income, and in many cases, much worse than that”; 4) According to Trump, “our country will be at grave risk of brownouts and blackouts”; 5) “We’re going to be paying billions and billions and billions of dollars and we’re already way ahead of anybody else.... Many of the other countries haven’t spent anything. And many of them will never pay one dime.”
So, the Paris Accord is a voluntary agreement wherein everyone who signs says that they will go home and “do my best” and “try” to follow the accord as best they can. It’s unenforceable, there is no sanction power anywhere in it, and nothing will be done to you if you don’t meet your goals.
Do or Do Not -- There Is No Try! (Yoda)
There was no practical reason for pulling out of the Paris Accord. It’s not a treaty. The Senate didn’t vote on it. There is nothing binding the United States to it except for President Obama’s signature. If President Trump didn’t want to do any of the agreed-upon things in the accord, all he had to do is say, “Hey, we tried but we just couldn’t get ’er done. Our bad. Hey, maybe next time.”
So why pull out? Why put us in a position to receive all that ridicule when we could have agreed to go ahead and secretly gone sideways? Why lump us with Nicaragua (the poorest country in Central America) and Syria (a country run by an amoral monster with no conscience)?
Much of the answer to that question has to do with Trump’s idea of America’s place in the world community. For centuries, the U.S. has been a standard-carrier for the rest of the free world, especially the west. The U.S. has committed troops to lands many of us have never heard of on both humane and self-serving missions. We have helped feed people who were short on food anywhere in the world by providing grain free or at cost. We have led other countries into battle, paid to fix the problems of other nations, and we have rallied around the causes of human rights, freedom, and dignity anywhere they are being violated in the world.
The United States of America has been the leader of the western world, and in many cases the parental figure for nations that are immature or stumbling for one reason or another. In many cases, we have followed the Christ-like example of putting the needs of others before our own.
By pulling out of the Paris Accord, Trump is signaling other countries that we are not going to mother them anymore. In fact, we’re picking up our marbles and going home -- and until you can start bringing something to the table, we’re not going to lead any more.
In other words, our place used to be at the front of the line, leading other nations to do what is best for them. But now, we are taking our stuff and moving to the back of the line. When you all start contributing your fair share, call me and I’ll come back and we can talk about leadership at that point.
Trump is not switching seats at the table with someone else. He’s giving up our seat entirely. “America First,” it turns out, looks something like Isolationism light. “We may or may not be back to lead, depending on what you do.”
Walking away from the seat of power is a risky business. The other players may want you to come back, but they may not. They may discover that they can get along just fine without you. You could lose your seat altogether if you are not careful.
Sitting at the Adult Table
I grew up in a big family where it was always important to know your role and your place. Being the oldest of five children, I always sat at our big oval dining table to my mother’s right on the other side of the baby. (There was always, it seemed, a baby.) That was so, if she had to get up to take care of something for someone else at the table, I could continue to spoon strained peas into the baby’s mouth.
On the high school football team my place was “Right Defensive Tackle,” and my role was to get my hands on the person with the ball and drag him to the ground as quickly and efficiently as I could.
In the band, my place was first baritone and my role was to play my horn so that it sounded good with all the other instruments. In choir my place was with the basses, and my role was to sing the music that was before me. At church, my place was with my parents and my role was to corral my youngest brother without making him fuss or cry.
At Thanksgiving my place was at the kids table until one of the adults couldn’t make it or died or something, and then I got to move up to a new place and my role was to use the table manners my mother had so meticulously taught me but were of no use whatsoever at the kids table.
As we all experience in life, knowing our place and our role is very important. It’s important for us, for the church, for the country.
As the president uses the country’s place of prestige and leadership at the world table as a leveraging tool, we might do well to ask about a couple of tables of our own.
What, we might ask, is the role of the church in the world? Jesus called us to be servants. Does that apply only to individual Christians or to the whole church? How does that apply to our place in the community? Are we a voice for morality, for equality, for kindness, for justice? Or are we too afraid, too frozen by our fear of those who will shout for the division of church and state every time we produce a cogent opinion on something political?
And what about my place in the community as a practicing Christian? How do I relate to others, to the institutions and the systems within the community in which I live? Does God call us to be engaged with those institutions or distant from them? Is it possible that God has, from time to time, called one of God’s people to run for public office?
This week’s lesson from Genesis is the first story of creation. It is rich with lush images of the creation as it is coming together out of chaos. God calls it into being with words, and in the end hands it over to us, to human beings, to take care of it. What an apt text for this week, when we are faced once again with the issue of stewardship accountability where the earth is concerned.
Matthew offers one important answer to the question of “What is my role in the world, our place at the table of humanity?” Our place, he says, is “out there.”
It is to that place that we are called to go and baptize and teach and convince and persuade and convert the people of “all nations.”
Our place, at the table of humanity, is the place of a servant who serves with love, the storyteller who spins stories with relish and delight. Our place is that of a living testimony of love and grace who touches the lives of everyone we meet.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Rest, Already!
Human beings are made in the image of God -- made to create, to be in community, and to rest, just as God did after the work of creation. And yet we fall terribly short in this part of our calling. Professor Matt Walker says: “Human beings are the only species that deprives themselves of sleep. No other species that we see will do this without biological gain. And what that means is that evolution has never faced the challenge of insufficient sleep since the dawn of time. As a consequence, Mother Nature has never had to solve this problem of insufficient sleep, so there is no safety net.”
We are wired to need rest, and yet we think we can keep going. Walker says that sleep is part of our creative process. “Sleep is not a dormant state. It is an incredibly active state in the brain and body. There are some parts of your brain that are up to 30% more active in some stages of sleep relative to when you are awake.” Not sleeping takes us farther away from the image of God within us. Walker says: “By your seventies/eighties, it’s actually really difficult for us to pick up really deep sleep. We’ve actually done work in the last five years to explore why. And it is even more profound in diseases like dementia, particularly in Alzheimer’s disease. Very recently we’ve discovered that these two things that we very commonly associated with aging -- poor memory or poor cognitive function and poor sleep -- they aren’t simply coincidental. They are, in fact, significantly interrelated. And the destruction of deep sleep in later life is perhaps one of the most under-appreciated factors that are contributing to what we call cognitive decline, and now it seems Alzheimer’s disease as well.”
We all know that lack of sleep wears down our emotional reserves, and weakens our bonds with each other. Made in the image of God, we need to follow God’s example and learn to rest.
*****
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Kinship
Made in the image of God, we share that image with all of God’s other people. Some people reflect that image better than others, but it lives within all of us. Father Greg Boyle, who works with young men and women coming out of gang life in Los Angeles, tells about his connection with one young man. Father Greg says: “homies lately have asked me for blessings, which is odd. It’s like in the last three years. They never -- they always ask me on the street or in my office. They never say, ‘Father, may I have your blessing?’ They always say, ‘Hey, G, give me a bless, yeah?’ ”
Louie asks for a blessing, and Father Greg agrees to give it, and he says: “You know, Louie, I’m proud to know you. And my life is richer because you came into it. When you were born, the world became a better place. And I’m proud to call you my son, even though” -- and Boyle says “I don’t know why I decided to add this part” -- “at times you can really be a huge pain in the ass.”
Louie looks up and he smiles and he says, “The feeling’s mutual.”
Father Greg adds, “And suddenly -- kinship so quickly.... But maybe I return him to himself, but there is no doubt that he’s returned me to myself.”
*****
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Kinship
Belonging to a community of faith has retuned her to herself in unexpected ways, says writer Abigail Pogrebin. She writes: “I am not an easy joiner. I never belonged to a sorority; I didn’t volunteer for my kids’ school PTA or my apartment building’s co-op board. I quit a short-lived book club, never sign up for alumni events. I don’t find myself needing groups -- especially in this modern moment, when groups are available everywhere without leaving the house.... I have plenty of belonging if I want it in that sense -- being part of a virtual (or actual) cultural or political conversation. But one group has come to matter more than I expected, certainly more than it ever did growing up: belonging to other Jews. I always knew, and felt positive about, my religious affiliation; I celebrated a smattering of holidays and was aware of a responsibility that came with being Jewish because so many Jews were killed throughout history.”
Then she started to connect with Jewish people around the country, and found a sense of connection in their presence. Just as the taste of communion rejoins Christians in a particular way, the taste of matzah became important to her. “Matzah triggers childhood, family, ritual, belonging. I belong to a tradition that requires this dry cracker for eight days, that reminds me how many generations have marked this same holiday with family around a raucous seder table every year, which insists on retelling an ancient story that resounds in every generation: a miraculous escape and how many need that same miracle today. Matzah is a very particular, powerful glue; it joins me to a story and a people.”
*****
Matthew 28:16-20
Go Into the World
In his work with young men and women leaving gangs in Los Angeles, Father Greg Boyle says that going into the world to minister in Jesus’ name is not just us sharing good news with others. It’s not us delivering wisdom and salvation. He says the process is much more intertwined, just as the three figures of the Trinity are intertwined. He explains: “I’m not the great healer and that gang member over there is in need of my exquisite healing. The truth is, it’s mutual and that, as much as we are called to bridge the distance that exists between us, we have to acknowledge that there’s a distance even in service. A service provider, you’re the service recipient and you want to bridge even that so that you can get to this place of utter mutuality. And I think that’s where the place of delight is, that I’ve learned everything of value really in the last 25 years from precisely the people who you think are on the receiving end of my gifts and talent and wisdom, but quite the opposite. It’s mutual.”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Kathy Griffin, the comedian who sparked outrage by staging a photoshoot with Donald Trump’s severed head, broke down in tears on Friday at a press conference. “I don’t think I will have a career after this,” she said. Because of the photograph many of her shows were cancelled, and she also lost her hosting duties on CNN for New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Griffin apologized for the “disturbing” image, taken by provocative celebrity photographer Tyler Shields. “I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far,” she said in a video posted to Instagram. “I made a mistake and I was wrong.”
Application: Griffin is known for her “in your face” humor that demeans individuals. Now her in-your-face humor is in her own face, and she understands the emotional pain that it can cause. God instructed us to only make things that are good.
*****
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Sweden has stopped its rape inquiry of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. For the last five years Assange has not left the Ecuador embassy in London, where he was given asylum. Prosecutor Marianne Ny said that “in the foreseeable future” it does not appear he will leave the embassy’s protection before 2020, when the statute of limitations expires. Even after 2020 Britain might arrest Assange for jumping bail, and the United States could arrest him for espionage.
Application: A great and beautiful creation that many cannot enjoy because they ate the forbidden fruit.
*****
Psalm 8
In a Born Loser comic strip, Brutus Thornapple is standing on crutches before his boss Rancid Veeblefester. When Veeblefester, in his pompous way, asks Brutus what happened, Brutus the born loser replies: “Just my luck. I’ve got tennis elbow in my knee!”
Application: Sometimes it is difficult for us to praise God and see all of his handiwork.
*****
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Greg Gianforte, a Montana Republican congressman, body-slammed and punched a reporter, breaking his glasses. The incident occurred after the reporter, Ben Jacobs, asked Gianforte his position on health care. Kathleen Parker, in a column for the Washington Post, wrote that the attack came from the “ever-coarsening culture and partisan hostility that erased all boundaries of civility during the 2016 election. It would be unfair to pin this evolution on Trump alone, but broadening acceptance of bullying tactics undoubtedly has been aided by the commander-in-chief’s own embrace, even celebration, of resolving differences by force, if necessary.” Parker then reviewed Trump’s statements and actions during his campaign in which he encouraged those who disagreed with him to be confronted violently.
Application: We are instructed to try and peacefully greet one another.
*****
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Former Vice President Joe Biden recently gave the commencement address at Colby College, a college with 480 students from 36 states and 42 countries. Biden discussed the 2016 election, in which the “baser instincts” of our country became abundantly clear. He said that in the election we saw some of the “ugliest realities in our country.” Biden then challenged the graduates, “It’s time for America to get up. It’s time to regain our sense of unity and purpose. It’s time for us to restart realizing who in God’s name we are.”
Application: We are to understand the meaning of the holy kiss.
*****
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Former congressman Anthony Weiner pleaded guilty for sexting strangers and for communicating with a 15-year-old girl, with whom he shared explicit photos. Weiner, 52, said he knew that sexting was “as morally wrong as it was unlawful.” He went on to say, “I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse.”
Application: Some people will never understand the meaning of the holy kiss.
*****
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
In 2007, 24-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan served 84 minutes of a four-day sentence in jail. Her violations were numerous, with two counts of driving under the influence of cocaine, two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08, and one count of reckless driving. Following the lengthy 84-minute internment, Lohan proceeded to continually violate her probation and absent herself from seven rehabilitation classes. After missing a May court hearing because she was partying in Cannes, she was ordered to wear an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet. When this device detected alcohol in her system, she was once again ordered to appear in court. As Lohan wept, Judge Marsha Revel sentenced Lohan to 90 days in jail and 90 days of inpatient rehabilitation. The judge said there were “a number of instances that would show her not taking things seriously.” The prosecutor, Danette Meyers, noted all the previous judicial decrees “didn’t catch her attention.” But amidst the tears Lohan still failed to comprehend the power of the judiciary, as she had painted an obscenity on her fingernails.
Application: Some people will never know what it means to live in peace.
*****
Matthew 28:16-20
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson recently wrote that “President Trump believes he is being persecuted, and that is a frighteningly dangerous mindset for a man with such vast power.” Robinson gave several examples, including Trump’s graduation speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where the president said: “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly.” Robinson then noted, “That is an absurd claim that cannot be taken seriously,” but it does reflect Trump’s mindset.
Application: If we read about the disciples of Jesus we will understand the real meaning of persecution, which Trump is not experiencing.
*****
Matthew 28:16-20
In a political cartoon, in the left box President Trump is depicted screaming the remark he made during his graduation speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy: “No politician in history has been treated worse or more unfairly.” In the right box is a picture of President Lincoln’s statue in the Washington memorial saying, “Oh please, give me a break!”
Application: When we teach we are to have an understanding of our subject. It is obvious that President Trump has no understanding of history and his predecessors.
*****
Matthew 28:16-20
President Trump was to be the seventh president to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame. But such an outrage emerged on campus that Vice President Mike Pence spoke instead. As Pence began his speech a number of students, faculty, and family members got up and walked out. Pence made no comment on the walkout, but he did discuss other campuses where speakers had to be uninvited after student protests.
Application: College is a place where we are to entertain ideas we may not agree with as part of our learning experience. The disciples would have to realize that people were going to walk out on them.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O God, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
People: You have set your glory above the heavens.
Leader: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
People: The moon and the stars that you have established;
Leader: What are human beings that you care for them?
People: O God, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
OR
Leader: Worship the God who dwells and works within all creation.
People: We rejoice that our God is always with us.
Leader: God is with us to heal the brokenness of our world.
People: Our hearts break with God’s heart for the hurts of others.
Leader: God invites us to join in the work of making others whole.
People: We will join God in reaching out to others with love and grace.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“I Sing the Almighty Power of God”
found in:
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
“Many and Great, O God”
found in:
UMH: 148
H82: 385
PH: 271
NCH: 3
CH: 58
ELA: 837
W&P: 26
“Come, Thou Almighty King”
found in:
UMH: 61
H82: 365
PH: 139
AAHH: 327
NNBH: 38
NCH: 275
CH: 27
LBW: 522
ELA: 408
W&P: 148
AMEC: 7
“Lord, You Give the Great Commission”
found in:
UMH: 584
H82: 528
PH: 429
CH: 459
ELA: 579
W&P: 592
Renew: 305
“This Is My Song”
found in:
UMH: 437
NCH: 591
CH: 722
ELA: 887
STLT: 159
“Let There Be Peace on Earth”
found in:
UMH: 431
CH: 677
W&P: 614
“God, Make of All Disciples”
found in:
UMH: 571
“Go Make Disciples”
found in:
ELA: 540
“Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”
found in:
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELA: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
“We Are His Hands”
found in:
CCB: 85
“Ubi Caritas” (“Live in Charity”)
found in:
CCB: 71
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
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 dwells and works within all of creation: Help us to find our place sharing in your work as we reach out to those around us; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you are constantly at work within all creation to make us whole. Open our eyes that we may see where the world around us is broken. Open our hearts that we may desire to join in your work of healing the brokenness. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our lack of care for a broken and dying world.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We look all around us and see a world that is hurting. We see violence, poverty, hunger, and despair. Yet our focus does not stay there but turns to our own concerns. When our lives are just the way we want them to be, then maybe we will look out for the needs of others. This is not how you work, God, and it is not the lifestyle you call us to as Jesus’ disciples. Forgive our selfish ways, and restore us with your Spirit that we may join you in the work of healing and restoration that is needed by all your children. Amen.
Leader: God is at work in healing our world, and yearns for us to join that work. Receive God’s love and grace, and be filled with the Spirit of the Christ that reaches out to all in need.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We worship and adore you, O God, for your constant care for all your creation. You come among us to heal us and make us whole.
(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 look all around us and see a world that is hurting. We see violence, poverty, hunger, and despair. Yet our focus does not stay there but turns to our own concerns. When our lives are just the way we want them to be, then maybe we will look out for the needs of others. This is not how you work, God, and it is not the lifestyle you call us to as Jesus’ disciples. Forgive our selfish ways, and restore us with your Spirit that we may join you in the work of healing and restoration that is needed by all your children.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which we experience your grace. We thank you for seeking our wholeness and healing. We thank you for those who have responded to your love by reaching to us to share your grace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children and for their healing. We are all broken and in need of your grace. Help us to be part of your gracious presence to those around us.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Do you have a place where you usually sit at the dinner table? Do you have a place where you keep your toys? Most of us have places where we and our stuff belong. As Jesus’ disciples, we know our place is helping others so that they know God loves them.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Into the World
by Chris Keating
Matthew 28:16-20
It’s Trinity Sunday again -- the one time a year no one volunteers to lead a children’s sermon. You have heard that it was said of old that it is easier to get all parishioners to pre-pay their pledges before leaving for vacation than it is to find one such person who will explain the doctrine of the Trinity to children.
It sounds as if it is a question on a theological examination for ordination. “Now that you have received your M.Div., imagine that the Sunday school director has asked you to explain the Trinity to a class of third-grade boys. Be concise, and be sure your answer is pastorally sensitive.”
It feels like a dilemma. Do we plunge ahead, making use of any number of objects that have three parts yet are one -- shamrocks, eggs (yolk, white, shell), apples (skin, flesh, core)? Or do take time to talk about how we often have three names, yet are one person. You may be Jonathon Franklin Smith, but you are also just “Jon.” Better yet, as Carolyn Brown wisely suggests, kids will understand that a person can have three names: “Granny, Mama, and darling (wife).” Reminding children that none of us can fully understand the mystery of God is also essential. It would also be a good time to talk about the ways our worship language and music employ Trinitarian images (such as the “Gloria Patri,” or the pastor’s benediction).
Another option this week is to explore the creation and environmental themes present in either the Genesis or Psalm readings. The lectionary offers few opportunities to explore the human vocation as caretakers of the Earth. This week’s texts offer a chance to do that while also exploring the work of God in creation. Help the children see that God takes a breather between the acts of creation, and each time declares creation to be good.
Likewise, the psalmist describes the beauty of creation and the role humans play in sustaining creation. If you choose this route, pay attention to the meaning of “dominion” in both the Psalm and Genesis texts. Point out to the children that being in charge does not mean we can do whatever we want. Describe some of the ways your church or community is involved in aspects of caring for creation, and encourage the children to celebrate what God has called good.
Finally, Matthew’s “great commission” offers an opportunity to see that God needs them to be involved in the world. Take some time in advance and prepare “boarding passes” for the children. Include the name of the church (“First Presbyterian Airlines”) and date them for this Sunday. Print the verses from Matthew on them, but leave the destination blank. As you talk to the children about Jesus’ last words to the disciples, remind them that even though the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus, some doubted. It’s as if Matthew is reminding us that it is okay if we don’t have all the answers.
Then pass around the boarding passes. Some of the children may have flown before and may know that to get on an airplane you need a ticket and a boarding pass. The pass lets you get to where you are going. With that pass, you can go into all the world!
Similarly, Jesus is assuring us that as we go into the world to do the things he has asked us to do (care for the sick, act humbly, honor God, etc.), he is giving us a promise that is very much like that boarding pass. He reminds us that he will be with us as we take that pass and go and do what God wants us to do.
Remind the children that they have special gifts and talents to use for God. Their boarding pass is a reminder that Jesus will be with them as they learn what it means to use these gifts.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, June 11, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on knowing our place in the world and the responsibility we have as Christians. This week’s texts remind us that we must exercise good stewardship over God’s creation and carry Jesus’ message out into the world -- and yet President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris agreement on climate change suggests that as a nation we are adopting a more inward-looking perspective... one that Dean notes also abdicates our country’s traditional leadership role. Dean contemplates what it means to live out the great commission... and the implications for knowing our place in the concentric circles of our lives: personally, as a church, as a nation, and for humanity in general.
Saints on a Train
by Beth Herrinton-Hodge
Genesis 1:1--2:4a; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20
The U.S. is still reeling from news of the tragic events that occurred on a commuter train in Portland, Oregon, on May 26. When many in the nation think of Portland, they think of tolerance, a liberal perspective, and remnants of “flower children.” This seemed like the last city that would witness the rants of white supremacists and domestic terrorism. Yet no corner of our nation is immune from racist tirades and attacks.
Neither are we without hope in the face of such tragedies. In a response to these events, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes: “In tragedy, we can sometimes find inspiration... among ordinary Americans converging from varied backgrounds on a commuter train, standing together against a threat to our shared humanity.”
This news story connects with our texts from Genesis and Matthew on this Trinity Sunday. God created humankind in God’s image -- without distinction of race, religion, background, or ethnicity. Humankind was created by God, and God pronounced us good. The story of the Portland martyrs shows humanity acting at both its worst and its finest. We can focus on the horrendous acts of an unbalanced person who became radicalized by powerful and misguided voices, or we can lift up the selfless actions of the good Samaritans who stopped to help persons in need.
Matthew’s account of Jesus’ great commission sends Jesus’ followers to go to all nations -- not only to the Jews, not only to those who know Jesus -- to show and live and tell about the love of God and love for others. God created us for this mission. The people who stepped forward to help the strangers on that commuter train lived this mission, even to the point of death.
In the Scriptures
Two of the texts for Trinity Sunday include Trinitarian formulae: Matthew’s account of the great commission given by Jesus is to make disciples and baptize people “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19); and Paul offers blessing to the people of Corinth, bestowing “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit” upon each of his hearers (2 Corinthians 13:13). God is named as three distinct persons, co-equal as one Godhead. Although the concept of the Trinity was not specifically spelled out by early Jesus-followers, finding these formulae in the New Testament suggests beginning language being used to describe the complexity of God.
It’s a big leap to say that the tellers and writers of the first creation account in Genesis were thinking about the Trinity when they pieced together Genesis 1:1--2:4a. Yet the language found in Genesis, telling of God creating humankind in “our” likeness, reminds us that the Spirit who moved over the face of the waters, creating order out of chaos, was also involved in creating humankind. In addition, the Word that decreed creation into existence throughout Genesis shows up again in John 1 as one in whom all things were made. We look at the whole of biblical canon to discern the triune God who is in all and with all that is created.
We focus our attention on the gospel and Old Testament texts in the lectionary this week, looking for ways God’s creatures live into the goodness in which God created us. The orderly account of Genesis 1 presents a Creator God who forms the universe by decree. God says, “Let there be...” and behold, what God decrees comes into existence. God pronounces, and God’s will is accomplished. Thus, God has control over all that is created as God separates, orders, and names the elements of the universe. Likewise, God is pleased with what is created -- both the individual elements and creation as a whole. All is “very good.”
The goodness of creation evokes an ancient mythological time before violence disturbs God’s perfect order. Before the fall, before brokenness and sin entered God’s good creation, humankind -- both male and female -- enjoyed the balance and bliss which God created. As far as creation has moved from the ideal in which God made all things, the idyllic vision remains. Our hope and God’s promise is to return to the paradise God intended. This promise is for all humankind and all that God created -- to return to the perfect good in which we were created.
As Jesus commissions his disciples in Matthew 28, he challenges them to extend Christian discipleship beyond the Jewish people. He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus passes his authority to his disciples -- to go and make disciples of all nations -- all people, within and outside of Judaism. They are to make disciples, as Jesus has done, baptizing, teaching, obeying Jesus’ commandments (love God, love neighbor). Jesus promises to be with them to the end of the age.
In following Jesus’ charge in this great commission, his disciples bear witness to Jesus’ merciful and transformative life. They maintain Jesus’ presence in the world -- by their obedience, discipleship, and faithfulness to God’s command to love. Isn’t this what today’s disciples are still called to do?
It’s fair to note about Jesus: his actions led him to the cross. His obedience and faithfulness to God’s command to love did not spare him humiliation, rejection, or crucifixion. Instead, he was martyred by those who resisted and/or rejected the change he embodied. He suffered the ultimate sacrifice. Yet in Jesus’ death, good did not die. Instead love, mercy, and transformation continue in God’s creation. We see these in the person of Jesus; we live these in responding to Jesus’ great commission and in living the great commandments -- loving God and loving one another.
In the News
Tragic events seem to always make headlines. We are motivated by curiosity, a desire to be informed, fear, or self-preservation as we peruse headlines, click on Facebook posts, and respond to dramatic images. We’re drawn to salacious tragedies, which have us searching for more and more information. Yet a number of stories that have flashed across our screens of late come with companion stories that belie the good of humankind. These stories draw us in as well.
The stabbing incident on the Portland commuter train offers one such headline that embodies both tragedy and grace. Jeremy Christian, the anti-Muslim attacker with extremist ideologies, showed humanity acting at its worst. Whatever racist and anti-Semitic hatred filled his mind spilled out in verbal bullying and knife-wielding killings on an afternoon commute. Alternatively, the people who responded to the attacker’s words and actions embodied the good which lies at the heart of God’s creatures.
Two young women -- teenagers -- were the initial recipients of Jeremy Christian’s verbal tirade. They were people of color: one black, the other Muslim. When the verbal taunts began, bystanders on the train spoke up and urged Christian to refrain from his hate-filled speech. Christian turned on the bystanders, wielding a knife which he used to stab and slice at the people who confronted him. The girls exited the train car, uninjured. Two bystanders died; another was taken to the hospital with substantial injuries. Other train-riders offered help to the injured. People across Portland and across the U.S. have responded to the story with words of support, financial rewards, and gifts.
The men on the train who came to the girls’ aid didn’t know one another. What united them was human decency. Each man has been described as compassionate, kind, a champion of justice, of high integrity, who couldn’t stand by and do nothing. It’s not known whether any of these men claimed a particular faith or connected with any religious tradition. One victim, Taliesin Namkai-Meche (Tally) is reported to have uttered these final words before he died: “Tell them, I want everybody to know, I want everybody on the train to know, I love them.” Micah Fletcher, the lone survivor of the stabbings, wrote a poem, which reads in part: “I am alive. I spat in the eye of hate and lived. This is what we must do for one another. We must live for one another.”
We attribute the heroic and selfless responses to the men’s character rather than to their religious roots. Yet these words and sentiments clearly echo the great commandment to love one another. Religious or not, each of these men was created in the image of God -- human beings whom God calls “good.” Their stories embody what is good in humanity.
* One finds similar stories of heroism and civilians coming to the aid of strangers following the tragic bomb blast on May 22 in Manchester, England at the close of a pop music concert.
* And following this weekend’s deadly attacks in London, stories about good Samaritans are beginning to come to light: “Lorna Murray, 44, said that she was about to drive over London Bridge when traffic stopped and people ran toward their car. ‘We ducked down in our car, assuming there was a stabbing,’ she said. ‘Then this young couple started banging on the doors trying to get into our car for safety. We took them in, but couldn’t let anyone else in because we had a baby in the back.’ ”
In the Sermon
A few approaches for the sermon...
* Created in the image of God (Genesis 1)
You could emphasize the order, balance, completeness, and goodness of creation -- which God decreed by God’s sheer will. That which God created, from the amoeba to the platypus, from atoms to human beings -- each is good, part of God’s created order. “All things are from the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 253-267: The dogma of the Holy Trinity].
Look how creation intersects and fits together -- life and death, good and bad, dynamic and static... all toward God’s good end.
* Love one another (Matthew 28; 2 Corinthians 13)
Embedded in the charge found in Matthew 28 and the blessing/benediction of 2 Corinthians 13 is a message of how God’s people are to relate to one another. We understand who we are as people of God and how we are to treat one another as part of a worldwide community of saints: with love and responsibility for one another.
In his column “On a Portland Train, the Battlefield of American Values,” Nicholas Kristof writes: “One thing I’ve learned in my reporting career is that side by side with the worst of humanity, you find the best. The test for all of us is whether we can similarly respond to hatred and nihilism with courage and, in the dying words of Namkai-Meche, with ‘love.’ ”
“Love is what it’s about,” said Meche’s mother, Asha Deliverance, at the vigil following the Portland incident. “We taught him to love everyone, and that’s what we should be doing and that’s what we all should be doing and that’s why we are all here, so give it up for love.”
* In living his mission, Jesus goes to the cross (Matthew 28, 2 Corinthians 13)
We can expect to take on challenging consequences in our call to go into the world for God’s people.
The men who stood up to Jeremy Christian were not looking to die a martyr’s death. They were only seeking to do what was right in their particular situation. They stood up for people who were being persecuted. They wouldn’t tolerate bullying, antagonism, threats, or injustice. They sought to protect the vulnerable. Isn’t this how Jesus showed us to live? At what risk to his life? Similarly, the three men took on risk with little thought to their own safety. For their commitment to what is right, they each suffered immeasurable harm. Following Jesus often comes with a price.
If the church has anything to say to these saints on a train, it is this: “All the saints greet you” (2 Corinthians 13:12). These men number among the saints who went to the cross for another. They are Christ’s disciples.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Knowing Your Place
by Dean Feldmeyer
Genesis 1:1--2:4a; Matthew 28:16-20
The phrase “knowing your place” is an uncomfortable one, isn’t it? It smacks of classism. We’ve all seen those movies where people are criticized or ridiculed for overreaching and trying to be part of something that was “beyond their station.” We’ve seen the scene in the movie Pretty Woman when the snooty clerk at the expensive boutique tells Julia Roberts “We have nothing for you here” as she looks down her nose at her. Clearly Julia didn’t “know her place.”
Certainly we Christians would never advocate or excuse behavior that sets people apart because of race or class or, well, anything, for that matter.
This week we are talking about “knowing your place” in a different sense, in a healthy sense, wherein we explore our role in any given situation and figure out where exactly our place needs to be and what we are to do in that role.
Yo, Paris! We’re Outta Here!
In December of 2015, the leaders of 196 nations signed onto the Paris Climate Accords, all agreeing to work to “adopt green energy sources, cut down on climate change emissions, and limit the rise of global temperatures -- while also cooperating to cope with the impact of unavoidable climate change.”
Signatories of the agreement acknowledge that the threat of climate change is “urgent and potentially irreversible,” and can only be addressed through “the widest possible cooperation by all countries” and “deep reductions in global emissions.”
In signing, they agree on a goal of limiting the rise in global average temperature to 2 degrees Centigrade (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Note that they aren’t going to try to stop global climate change -- they’re just going to try to slow it down. And they agree to work toward slowing the rate to 1.5 degrees Centigrade.
NPR’s Christopher Joyce reports that “to help developing countries switch from fossil fuels to greener sources of energy and adapt to the effects of climate change, the developed world will provide $100 billion a year.” And that’s just for starters. The plan is to ramp up the figure in the future.
How soon? Well, as soon as possible would be nice -- but they hope to have everyone actively involved in the effort by 2020. After that, each country will voluntarily allow their targets to be evaluated every five years as to whether they are moving toward or away from the 2 degrees Centigrade goal, and adjustments will be recommended.
The document is filled with “should” and “ought” and is a little short on “shall.” That’s because it’s not a treaty but an accord or agreement. There is no enforcement mechanism. Everyone is on the honor system to do what they said they would do and turn in accurate measurements.
This past week, a little over a year after President Obama signed the Paris Accord on our behalf, President Trump announced that he is reneging on our behalf, pulling us out of the agreement. He offered five arguable reasons for doing so: 1) It will cost jobs; 2) The reduction in temperature increase is a “tiny, tiny amount” that will have no significant impact; 3) Remaining in the agreement would cost the U.S. economy “close to $3 trillion in lost GDP and 6.5 million industrial jobs, while households would have $7,000 less income, and in many cases, much worse than that”; 4) According to Trump, “our country will be at grave risk of brownouts and blackouts”; 5) “We’re going to be paying billions and billions and billions of dollars and we’re already way ahead of anybody else.... Many of the other countries haven’t spent anything. And many of them will never pay one dime.”
So, the Paris Accord is a voluntary agreement wherein everyone who signs says that they will go home and “do my best” and “try” to follow the accord as best they can. It’s unenforceable, there is no sanction power anywhere in it, and nothing will be done to you if you don’t meet your goals.
Do or Do Not -- There Is No Try! (Yoda)
There was no practical reason for pulling out of the Paris Accord. It’s not a treaty. The Senate didn’t vote on it. There is nothing binding the United States to it except for President Obama’s signature. If President Trump didn’t want to do any of the agreed-upon things in the accord, all he had to do is say, “Hey, we tried but we just couldn’t get ’er done. Our bad. Hey, maybe next time.”
So why pull out? Why put us in a position to receive all that ridicule when we could have agreed to go ahead and secretly gone sideways? Why lump us with Nicaragua (the poorest country in Central America) and Syria (a country run by an amoral monster with no conscience)?
Much of the answer to that question has to do with Trump’s idea of America’s place in the world community. For centuries, the U.S. has been a standard-carrier for the rest of the free world, especially the west. The U.S. has committed troops to lands many of us have never heard of on both humane and self-serving missions. We have helped feed people who were short on food anywhere in the world by providing grain free or at cost. We have led other countries into battle, paid to fix the problems of other nations, and we have rallied around the causes of human rights, freedom, and dignity anywhere they are being violated in the world.
The United States of America has been the leader of the western world, and in many cases the parental figure for nations that are immature or stumbling for one reason or another. In many cases, we have followed the Christ-like example of putting the needs of others before our own.
By pulling out of the Paris Accord, Trump is signaling other countries that we are not going to mother them anymore. In fact, we’re picking up our marbles and going home -- and until you can start bringing something to the table, we’re not going to lead any more.
In other words, our place used to be at the front of the line, leading other nations to do what is best for them. But now, we are taking our stuff and moving to the back of the line. When you all start contributing your fair share, call me and I’ll come back and we can talk about leadership at that point.
Trump is not switching seats at the table with someone else. He’s giving up our seat entirely. “America First,” it turns out, looks something like Isolationism light. “We may or may not be back to lead, depending on what you do.”
Walking away from the seat of power is a risky business. The other players may want you to come back, but they may not. They may discover that they can get along just fine without you. You could lose your seat altogether if you are not careful.
Sitting at the Adult Table
I grew up in a big family where it was always important to know your role and your place. Being the oldest of five children, I always sat at our big oval dining table to my mother’s right on the other side of the baby. (There was always, it seemed, a baby.) That was so, if she had to get up to take care of something for someone else at the table, I could continue to spoon strained peas into the baby’s mouth.
On the high school football team my place was “Right Defensive Tackle,” and my role was to get my hands on the person with the ball and drag him to the ground as quickly and efficiently as I could.
In the band, my place was first baritone and my role was to play my horn so that it sounded good with all the other instruments. In choir my place was with the basses, and my role was to sing the music that was before me. At church, my place was with my parents and my role was to corral my youngest brother without making him fuss or cry.
At Thanksgiving my place was at the kids table until one of the adults couldn’t make it or died or something, and then I got to move up to a new place and my role was to use the table manners my mother had so meticulously taught me but were of no use whatsoever at the kids table.
As we all experience in life, knowing our place and our role is very important. It’s important for us, for the church, for the country.
As the president uses the country’s place of prestige and leadership at the world table as a leveraging tool, we might do well to ask about a couple of tables of our own.
What, we might ask, is the role of the church in the world? Jesus called us to be servants. Does that apply only to individual Christians or to the whole church? How does that apply to our place in the community? Are we a voice for morality, for equality, for kindness, for justice? Or are we too afraid, too frozen by our fear of those who will shout for the division of church and state every time we produce a cogent opinion on something political?
And what about my place in the community as a practicing Christian? How do I relate to others, to the institutions and the systems within the community in which I live? Does God call us to be engaged with those institutions or distant from them? Is it possible that God has, from time to time, called one of God’s people to run for public office?
This week’s lesson from Genesis is the first story of creation. It is rich with lush images of the creation as it is coming together out of chaos. God calls it into being with words, and in the end hands it over to us, to human beings, to take care of it. What an apt text for this week, when we are faced once again with the issue of stewardship accountability where the earth is concerned.
Matthew offers one important answer to the question of “What is my role in the world, our place at the table of humanity?” Our place, he says, is “out there.”
It is to that place that we are called to go and baptize and teach and convince and persuade and convert the people of “all nations.”
Our place, at the table of humanity, is the place of a servant who serves with love, the storyteller who spins stories with relish and delight. Our place is that of a living testimony of love and grace who touches the lives of everyone we meet.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Rest, Already!
Human beings are made in the image of God -- made to create, to be in community, and to rest, just as God did after the work of creation. And yet we fall terribly short in this part of our calling. Professor Matt Walker says: “Human beings are the only species that deprives themselves of sleep. No other species that we see will do this without biological gain. And what that means is that evolution has never faced the challenge of insufficient sleep since the dawn of time. As a consequence, Mother Nature has never had to solve this problem of insufficient sleep, so there is no safety net.”
We are wired to need rest, and yet we think we can keep going. Walker says that sleep is part of our creative process. “Sleep is not a dormant state. It is an incredibly active state in the brain and body. There are some parts of your brain that are up to 30% more active in some stages of sleep relative to when you are awake.” Not sleeping takes us farther away from the image of God within us. Walker says: “By your seventies/eighties, it’s actually really difficult for us to pick up really deep sleep. We’ve actually done work in the last five years to explore why. And it is even more profound in diseases like dementia, particularly in Alzheimer’s disease. Very recently we’ve discovered that these two things that we very commonly associated with aging -- poor memory or poor cognitive function and poor sleep -- they aren’t simply coincidental. They are, in fact, significantly interrelated. And the destruction of deep sleep in later life is perhaps one of the most under-appreciated factors that are contributing to what we call cognitive decline, and now it seems Alzheimer’s disease as well.”
We all know that lack of sleep wears down our emotional reserves, and weakens our bonds with each other. Made in the image of God, we need to follow God’s example and learn to rest.
*****
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Kinship
Made in the image of God, we share that image with all of God’s other people. Some people reflect that image better than others, but it lives within all of us. Father Greg Boyle, who works with young men and women coming out of gang life in Los Angeles, tells about his connection with one young man. Father Greg says: “homies lately have asked me for blessings, which is odd. It’s like in the last three years. They never -- they always ask me on the street or in my office. They never say, ‘Father, may I have your blessing?’ They always say, ‘Hey, G, give me a bless, yeah?’ ”
Louie asks for a blessing, and Father Greg agrees to give it, and he says: “You know, Louie, I’m proud to know you. And my life is richer because you came into it. When you were born, the world became a better place. And I’m proud to call you my son, even though” -- and Boyle says “I don’t know why I decided to add this part” -- “at times you can really be a huge pain in the ass.”
Louie looks up and he smiles and he says, “The feeling’s mutual.”
Father Greg adds, “And suddenly -- kinship so quickly.... But maybe I return him to himself, but there is no doubt that he’s returned me to myself.”
*****
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Kinship
Belonging to a community of faith has retuned her to herself in unexpected ways, says writer Abigail Pogrebin. She writes: “I am not an easy joiner. I never belonged to a sorority; I didn’t volunteer for my kids’ school PTA or my apartment building’s co-op board. I quit a short-lived book club, never sign up for alumni events. I don’t find myself needing groups -- especially in this modern moment, when groups are available everywhere without leaving the house.... I have plenty of belonging if I want it in that sense -- being part of a virtual (or actual) cultural or political conversation. But one group has come to matter more than I expected, certainly more than it ever did growing up: belonging to other Jews. I always knew, and felt positive about, my religious affiliation; I celebrated a smattering of holidays and was aware of a responsibility that came with being Jewish because so many Jews were killed throughout history.”
Then she started to connect with Jewish people around the country, and found a sense of connection in their presence. Just as the taste of communion rejoins Christians in a particular way, the taste of matzah became important to her. “Matzah triggers childhood, family, ritual, belonging. I belong to a tradition that requires this dry cracker for eight days, that reminds me how many generations have marked this same holiday with family around a raucous seder table every year, which insists on retelling an ancient story that resounds in every generation: a miraculous escape and how many need that same miracle today. Matzah is a very particular, powerful glue; it joins me to a story and a people.”
*****
Matthew 28:16-20
Go Into the World
In his work with young men and women leaving gangs in Los Angeles, Father Greg Boyle says that going into the world to minister in Jesus’ name is not just us sharing good news with others. It’s not us delivering wisdom and salvation. He says the process is much more intertwined, just as the three figures of the Trinity are intertwined. He explains: “I’m not the great healer and that gang member over there is in need of my exquisite healing. The truth is, it’s mutual and that, as much as we are called to bridge the distance that exists between us, we have to acknowledge that there’s a distance even in service. A service provider, you’re the service recipient and you want to bridge even that so that you can get to this place of utter mutuality. And I think that’s where the place of delight is, that I’ve learned everything of value really in the last 25 years from precisely the people who you think are on the receiving end of my gifts and talent and wisdom, but quite the opposite. It’s mutual.”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Kathy Griffin, the comedian who sparked outrage by staging a photoshoot with Donald Trump’s severed head, broke down in tears on Friday at a press conference. “I don’t think I will have a career after this,” she said. Because of the photograph many of her shows were cancelled, and she also lost her hosting duties on CNN for New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Griffin apologized for the “disturbing” image, taken by provocative celebrity photographer Tyler Shields. “I beg for your forgiveness. I went too far,” she said in a video posted to Instagram. “I made a mistake and I was wrong.”
Application: Griffin is known for her “in your face” humor that demeans individuals. Now her in-your-face humor is in her own face, and she understands the emotional pain that it can cause. God instructed us to only make things that are good.
*****
Genesis 1:1--2:4
Sweden has stopped its rape inquiry of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. For the last five years Assange has not left the Ecuador embassy in London, where he was given asylum. Prosecutor Marianne Ny said that “in the foreseeable future” it does not appear he will leave the embassy’s protection before 2020, when the statute of limitations expires. Even after 2020 Britain might arrest Assange for jumping bail, and the United States could arrest him for espionage.
Application: A great and beautiful creation that many cannot enjoy because they ate the forbidden fruit.
*****
Psalm 8
In a Born Loser comic strip, Brutus Thornapple is standing on crutches before his boss Rancid Veeblefester. When Veeblefester, in his pompous way, asks Brutus what happened, Brutus the born loser replies: “Just my luck. I’ve got tennis elbow in my knee!”
Application: Sometimes it is difficult for us to praise God and see all of his handiwork.
*****
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Greg Gianforte, a Montana Republican congressman, body-slammed and punched a reporter, breaking his glasses. The incident occurred after the reporter, Ben Jacobs, asked Gianforte his position on health care. Kathleen Parker, in a column for the Washington Post, wrote that the attack came from the “ever-coarsening culture and partisan hostility that erased all boundaries of civility during the 2016 election. It would be unfair to pin this evolution on Trump alone, but broadening acceptance of bullying tactics undoubtedly has been aided by the commander-in-chief’s own embrace, even celebration, of resolving differences by force, if necessary.” Parker then reviewed Trump’s statements and actions during his campaign in which he encouraged those who disagreed with him to be confronted violently.
Application: We are instructed to try and peacefully greet one another.
*****
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Former Vice President Joe Biden recently gave the commencement address at Colby College, a college with 480 students from 36 states and 42 countries. Biden discussed the 2016 election, in which the “baser instincts” of our country became abundantly clear. He said that in the election we saw some of the “ugliest realities in our country.” Biden then challenged the graduates, “It’s time for America to get up. It’s time to regain our sense of unity and purpose. It’s time for us to restart realizing who in God’s name we are.”
Application: We are to understand the meaning of the holy kiss.
*****
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Former congressman Anthony Weiner pleaded guilty for sexting strangers and for communicating with a 15-year-old girl, with whom he shared explicit photos. Weiner, 52, said he knew that sexting was “as morally wrong as it was unlawful.” He went on to say, “I have a sickness, but I do not have an excuse.”
Application: Some people will never understand the meaning of the holy kiss.
*****
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
In 2007, 24-year-old actress Lindsay Lohan served 84 minutes of a four-day sentence in jail. Her violations were numerous, with two counts of driving under the influence of cocaine, two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08, and one count of reckless driving. Following the lengthy 84-minute internment, Lohan proceeded to continually violate her probation and absent herself from seven rehabilitation classes. After missing a May court hearing because she was partying in Cannes, she was ordered to wear an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet. When this device detected alcohol in her system, she was once again ordered to appear in court. As Lohan wept, Judge Marsha Revel sentenced Lohan to 90 days in jail and 90 days of inpatient rehabilitation. The judge said there were “a number of instances that would show her not taking things seriously.” The prosecutor, Danette Meyers, noted all the previous judicial decrees “didn’t catch her attention.” But amidst the tears Lohan still failed to comprehend the power of the judiciary, as she had painted an obscenity on her fingernails.
Application: Some people will never know what it means to live in peace.
*****
Matthew 28:16-20
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson recently wrote that “President Trump believes he is being persecuted, and that is a frighteningly dangerous mindset for a man with such vast power.” Robinson gave several examples, including Trump’s graduation speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where the president said: “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly.” Robinson then noted, “That is an absurd claim that cannot be taken seriously,” but it does reflect Trump’s mindset.
Application: If we read about the disciples of Jesus we will understand the real meaning of persecution, which Trump is not experiencing.
*****
Matthew 28:16-20
In a political cartoon, in the left box President Trump is depicted screaming the remark he made during his graduation speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy: “No politician in history has been treated worse or more unfairly.” In the right box is a picture of President Lincoln’s statue in the Washington memorial saying, “Oh please, give me a break!”
Application: When we teach we are to have an understanding of our subject. It is obvious that President Trump has no understanding of history and his predecessors.
*****
Matthew 28:16-20
President Trump was to be the seventh president to give the commencement speech at Notre Dame. But such an outrage emerged on campus that Vice President Mike Pence spoke instead. As Pence began his speech a number of students, faculty, and family members got up and walked out. Pence made no comment on the walkout, but he did discuss other campuses where speakers had to be uninvited after student protests.
Application: College is a place where we are to entertain ideas we may not agree with as part of our learning experience. The disciples would have to realize that people were going to walk out on them.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O God, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
People: You have set your glory above the heavens.
Leader: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
People: The moon and the stars that you have established;
Leader: What are human beings that you care for them?
People: O God, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
OR
Leader: Worship the God who dwells and works within all creation.
People: We rejoice that our God is always with us.
Leader: God is with us to heal the brokenness of our world.
People: Our hearts break with God’s heart for the hurts of others.
Leader: God invites us to join in the work of making others whole.
People: We will join God in reaching out to others with love and grace.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“I Sing the Almighty Power of God”
found in:
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
“Many and Great, O God”
found in:
UMH: 148
H82: 385
PH: 271
NCH: 3
CH: 58
ELA: 837
W&P: 26
“Come, Thou Almighty King”
found in:
UMH: 61
H82: 365
PH: 139
AAHH: 327
NNBH: 38
NCH: 275
CH: 27
LBW: 522
ELA: 408
W&P: 148
AMEC: 7
“Lord, You Give the Great Commission”
found in:
UMH: 584
H82: 528
PH: 429
CH: 459
ELA: 579
W&P: 592
Renew: 305
“This Is My Song”
found in:
UMH: 437
NCH: 591
CH: 722
ELA: 887
STLT: 159
“Let There Be Peace on Earth”
found in:
UMH: 431
CH: 677
W&P: 614
“God, Make of All Disciples”
found in:
UMH: 571
“Go Make Disciples”
found in:
ELA: 540
“Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”
found in:
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELA: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
“We Are His Hands”
found in:
CCB: 85
“Ubi Caritas” (“Live in Charity”)
found in:
CCB: 71
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
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 dwells and works within all of creation: Help us to find our place sharing in your work as we reach out to those around us; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you are constantly at work within all creation to make us whole. Open our eyes that we may see where the world around us is broken. Open our hearts that we may desire to join in your work of healing the brokenness. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our lack of care for a broken and dying world.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We look all around us and see a world that is hurting. We see violence, poverty, hunger, and despair. Yet our focus does not stay there but turns to our own concerns. When our lives are just the way we want them to be, then maybe we will look out for the needs of others. This is not how you work, God, and it is not the lifestyle you call us to as Jesus’ disciples. Forgive our selfish ways, and restore us with your Spirit that we may join you in the work of healing and restoration that is needed by all your children. Amen.
Leader: God is at work in healing our world, and yearns for us to join that work. Receive God’s love and grace, and be filled with the Spirit of the Christ that reaches out to all in need.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We worship and adore you, O God, for your constant care for all your creation. You come among us to heal us and make us whole.
(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 look all around us and see a world that is hurting. We see violence, poverty, hunger, and despair. Yet our focus does not stay there but turns to our own concerns. When our lives are just the way we want them to be, then maybe we will look out for the needs of others. This is not how you work, God, and it is not the lifestyle you call us to as Jesus’ disciples. Forgive our selfish ways, and restore us with your Spirit that we may join you in the work of healing and restoration that is needed by all your children.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which we experience your grace. We thank you for seeking our wholeness and healing. We thank you for those who have responded to your love by reaching to us to share your grace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children and for their healing. We are all broken and in need of your grace. Help us to be part of your gracious presence to those around us.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Do you have a place where you usually sit at the dinner table? Do you have a place where you keep your toys? Most of us have places where we and our stuff belong. As Jesus’ disciples, we know our place is helping others so that they know God loves them.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Into the World
by Chris Keating
Matthew 28:16-20
It’s Trinity Sunday again -- the one time a year no one volunteers to lead a children’s sermon. You have heard that it was said of old that it is easier to get all parishioners to pre-pay their pledges before leaving for vacation than it is to find one such person who will explain the doctrine of the Trinity to children.
It sounds as if it is a question on a theological examination for ordination. “Now that you have received your M.Div., imagine that the Sunday school director has asked you to explain the Trinity to a class of third-grade boys. Be concise, and be sure your answer is pastorally sensitive.”
It feels like a dilemma. Do we plunge ahead, making use of any number of objects that have three parts yet are one -- shamrocks, eggs (yolk, white, shell), apples (skin, flesh, core)? Or do take time to talk about how we often have three names, yet are one person. You may be Jonathon Franklin Smith, but you are also just “Jon.” Better yet, as Carolyn Brown wisely suggests, kids will understand that a person can have three names: “Granny, Mama, and darling (wife).” Reminding children that none of us can fully understand the mystery of God is also essential. It would also be a good time to talk about the ways our worship language and music employ Trinitarian images (such as the “Gloria Patri,” or the pastor’s benediction).
Another option this week is to explore the creation and environmental themes present in either the Genesis or Psalm readings. The lectionary offers few opportunities to explore the human vocation as caretakers of the Earth. This week’s texts offer a chance to do that while also exploring the work of God in creation. Help the children see that God takes a breather between the acts of creation, and each time declares creation to be good.
Likewise, the psalmist describes the beauty of creation and the role humans play in sustaining creation. If you choose this route, pay attention to the meaning of “dominion” in both the Psalm and Genesis texts. Point out to the children that being in charge does not mean we can do whatever we want. Describe some of the ways your church or community is involved in aspects of caring for creation, and encourage the children to celebrate what God has called good.
Finally, Matthew’s “great commission” offers an opportunity to see that God needs them to be involved in the world. Take some time in advance and prepare “boarding passes” for the children. Include the name of the church (“First Presbyterian Airlines”) and date them for this Sunday. Print the verses from Matthew on them, but leave the destination blank. As you talk to the children about Jesus’ last words to the disciples, remind them that even though the disciples saw the resurrected Jesus, some doubted. It’s as if Matthew is reminding us that it is okay if we don’t have all the answers.
Then pass around the boarding passes. Some of the children may have flown before and may know that to get on an airplane you need a ticket and a boarding pass. The pass lets you get to where you are going. With that pass, you can go into all the world!
Similarly, Jesus is assuring us that as we go into the world to do the things he has asked us to do (care for the sick, act humbly, honor God, etc.), he is giving us a promise that is very much like that boarding pass. He reminds us that he will be with us as we take that pass and go and do what God wants us to do.
Remind the children that they have special gifts and talents to use for God. Their boarding pass is a reminder that Jesus will be with them as they learn what it means to use these gifts.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, June 11, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 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.
