On Seeing God
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For the fourth Sunday after Epiphany, the lectionary assigns two very familiar scripture texts: the Beatitudes and Paul's discourse on how the cross and the power of God are foolishness in the eyes of the world. These passages share an important theme -- namely, God's reversal of our normal expectations about what is rewarded. The Beatitudes provide us with a laundry list of the persecuted who will find their rewards in heaven. And as team member Roger Lovette points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, Paul provides specific insight about why the world perceives God's wisdom as foolishness. Roger notes that what Paul is really telling us is that God is confounding the expectations of those who seek God in signs or in wisdom -- a message that is obviously lost on some of the more notorious religion-bashers who ridicule Christianity for (in their eyes) its irrational basis. Roger reminds us that these folks are, to paraphrase the popular song lyric, looking for God in all the wrong places. Instead of finding God in elaborate proofs generated by the head, Paul is saying that God is right in front of us -- in the hearts of our "brothers and sisters." Team member Mary Austin shares some additional thoughts about the Beatitudes and the difficulty we often have when we can't neatly fit events into a box. (For example, is China a friend or foe? It's not so clear anymore, but 50 years ago few people would have had any hesitation in answering that question.) We seem to crave living in a bifurcated, black/white, either/or world -- it's so much easier than distinguishing among infinite shades of gray. Mary notes that in the Beatitudes Jesus shatters our notions of what is blessed, and calls us to a much more nuanced, spiritual way of looking at the world.
On Seeing God
by Roger Lovette
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
THE WORD
Our central text this week is found in First Corinthians. Word came to Paul in Ephesus that the little house church that he had established was in deep trouble. In a world where Rome ruled and Christians had to meet under cover of darkness, many of them were wondering where God was. Doubting and uncertain, they turned on each other. The Corinthian Christians fought about different theories of God and morality. They didn't know how to treat each other. It looked like that little outpost in the most secular of cities might fold. And so one evening Paul sat down and began to write to his friends in Corinth. He wrote a series of letters -- some say as many as nine epistles. Much of First and Second Corinthians came out of that time of conflict and doubt. He wrote to the shabbiest of churches some of finest writing we have in the Bible.
What was Paul's response to all their troubles? There are no fireworks there, no theatrics, no looking down one's nose and saying tut-tut-tut -- just one preacher writing out of his troubled heart to the people he loved across the miles.
On this Sunday in Epiphany when we still ponder the mystery of light and its wonder, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 is a good place to begin. Paul did not defend the existence of God to those half-believers who were wondering about God; Paul wrote that they would not find God in wisdom, as important as it was in that Greek culture.
Paul then told Corinth that neither would they find God in signs and wonders. God was not found in the spectacular. All the way through the Bible, people longed for signs that God really existed. But Jesus refused to wow the crowds with his miracle-working power.
Where were they to find God if they were to find the Almighty at all? Paul spelled it out in verses 23-25. We find God in the personal. We find God in the relational dimension of life. We find God in the person of Jesus. Paul implied that most people did not come to Jesus because of intellect or miracles. Christ was found in a strange reversal of values -- God was incarnated in Jesus. This was the Christ that told them in his last parable: "Inasmuch as you do it unto the least of these... you do it unto me." Their old friend Paul threw out a challenge: If you're going to find God, you must put down your weapons and begin to reach out to one another. Remember 1 Corinthians 13?
Our Micah passage underlines this understanding of God when the prophet wrote that real faith is what we do: "Do justice... love mercy, and walk humbly with our God" (Micah 6:8). This was one of Martin Luther King's favorite sermon topics, and this is still a good word in our time of confusion and cross-purposes that we see in Washington and everywhere.
Moving on to the gospel passage in Mathew 5:1-12, we find that so much of what Jesus would do is embedded in the Beatitudes. God, Jesus said, is found in the most unlikely of places. The blessed are the poor in spirit... the mourners... the meek... and those who hunger for righteousness. This theme of "You have heard it said... but I say unto you" is found throughout Jesus' ministry. He turned their ideas of God and faith upside down.
THE WORLD
It's hard to go into a bookstore today without bumping into a whole shelf of books that say believing in God is foolishness. Christopher Hitchens' best-seller says it succinctly: God Is Not Great. His good friend Salman Rushdie told him he had the title wrong; Rushdie said the book should have been titled God Is Not. Sam Harris has joined the outcry with several books. He has written The End of Faith and Letters to a Christian Nation. Harris says in Letters that his purpose is to "demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms." He states that when 50% of America's population believes in God this should be called a moral and intellectual emergency. These writers and many others would say that Corinth's problem was God and nothing else.
The US Census Bureau's 2010 Yearbook says there are 1,621,000 atheists in the United States. They say this is 0.7% of the population. The Society of Atheists inflates that figure to somewhere between 5 million to 30 million people. Quite a difference. More than half the population of the United States believes in God. Atheists continually say that we cannot prove the existence of God... and they are right. From time to time we hear talk about the Shroud of Turin, in which Jesus' face was miraculously embedded in the shroud that once held his body. Yet scientists cannot agree if this piece of cloth is authentic or not.
The recent film The Social Network tells the story of the young man who started Facebook. Over 500 million people have joined Facebook, where they can touch base with old friends, with people they used to know, and talk about many things -- even matters of the heart. Critics told the young Mark Zuckerberg that there was no way this Facebook idea could get off the ground. Yet its success reflects the desperate hunger of so many to be connected and stay in touch.
During the recent memorial service for the victims of the Arizona shootings, the nation was moved by many things. But the story of a little nine-year-old girl named Christina Green and the tributes to Gabrielle Gifffords put the nation's grief in focus. There had been six deaths in our American family -- and a great deal of the nation has stood by fathers and mothers and husbands and wives and their terrible losses. The power of the personal cannot be overestimated. This idea is at the heart of the Christian faith.
Turning to the other side of that story, the shooter Jared Loughner was a disturbed young man who increasingly cut himself off from everyone: parents, school, and friends. One wonders what would have happened if somebody or some group could have reached out to him along the way. And one might also wonder if anyone is reaching out to his father and mother in their devastated shame and grief.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Thomas Mann used to say of great literature: "It is, it always is, however much we try to say it was." So when the preacher turns to Corinthians and listens closely to her people, she will recognize that this text from Corinthians is as current as today's newspaper. So you could begin your sermon by filling in the historical blanks about Corinth. That seaport city, wild and secular, could be your city or mine. The multitude of problems the little church at Corinth faced sounds like a page out of the life of many churches today -- division, strife, sexual problems, large gaps between the rich and the poor. That list has a surprisingly familiar ring. You could spend some time comparing the was of Corinth's time to the is of our time.
You could talk about how the power of wisdom can go only so far. Many Christians are readers. We dig through a multitude of self-help books looking for answers. We break up into discussion groups and deal with a multitude of subjects. We talk endlessly in committee meetings. Anyone who has served congregations in academic communities knows that wisdom and brilliance are not enough. Many of those highly intelligent people have personal lives that are in shambles. Wisdom can only go so far.
You could then remind your audience that signs like wisdom cannot prove God's existence. Many of us lust for the spectacular. See (we say "see"), it's true. Moses asked God to let him see his face -- and God only let him see his hind parts. Jesus refused to throw himself down from the temple, even though it would wow the people. He gave them no sign, for he knew signs did not last.
Paul talks in our text about Christ crucified. The Jews called this a scandal. Some said this was proof that Jesus was not divine. God, they said, would not let his Son die as a common criminal. The Greeks were no less offended. They said God could not be crucified. One of the Greek words for God's character was apathea -- apathy. Their God did not feel. Paul reversed the values of the world when he told them that the God they worshiped cared, felt, suffered, and was one with them. This is the essence of seeing God. We do not find him in wisdom or in signs -- we find God in the face and person of Jesus. We begin to see God all around us as we reach out to members of the human family.
Just last week we celebrated the birthday of Martin Luther King. Like many other cities, my community of Birmingham, Alabama, has a community breakfast on this day. Several years ago Dr. Herbert Oliver from New York City was our keynote speaker. He grew up in a little poor part of Birmingham called Titusville. He was one of several children raised by a mother who had a hard time making ends meet. He remembered the white/colored drinking fountains. He told us about his experiences of riding in the back of buses and being paid less than whites for the same work. He said that life was difficult for his family, and some days they had little to eat. But one day during this difficult time, his mother gave him a quarter when she had so little, and told him to go to the store and buy a can of syrup. That evening their supper would be syrup and biscuits. So the boy went to the store and got the syrup and started home. He walked along, swinging the syrup, when a terrible thing happened. The lid came off and the syrup poured out all over the ground. He said as little boy he just stood there petrified. Then he began to cry. And then he knelt down and tried to put the syrup back in the can. As he cried and worked, a white man came by and said, "Boy, what you doin'?" He muttered, "I'm trying to get this syrup back in this can for my mama. I spilled it and she's gonna kill me." The man told him, "You can't put that syrup back in the can. Get up. Wipe your hands off in the grass. Let's go back to the store." Dr. Oliver said that the man bought another can of syrup and sent him on his way. And our speaker said: "I never knew his name. I don't know who he was -- but looking back, I think I know his name."
Do you think the man's name was wisdom or power? I don't think so. After all these years, the man telling his story said: "I think his name was Jesus." No sign in the heavens. No long list of things to learn. Just One who comes and stands with us in the hard places and the good places and loves us as if we were the only one.
ANOTHER VIEW
by Mary Austin
Matthew 5:1-12
The recent visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao to Washington DC, occasioned some mental gymnastics on the part of the American press, visibly torn about whether China is a friend or an enemy.
On the one hand, China tightly controls the value of its currency, the yuan, so exports of Chinese-made items are inexpensive and imports from the US are very expensive. China's record on what the US considers basic human rights is dismal, and its concern for the environment is sketchy at best. On the other hand, China is arguably the world's only other superpower, although the US finds China reluctant to act like a superpower. In the government's view, China is one of the few nations which can exert any influence on North Korea. Chinese currency keeps the American economy afloat, and China is the largest foreign investor in the US, holding 11% of US debt.
The relationship between the two countries is understandably complex, and yet we love to divide things into easy categories -- friend or foe, Republican or Democrat. Senator Joe Lieberman has found Washington tough going after switching his party allegiance from Democrat to Independent and recently announced that he will not run for re-election when his Senate term ends. After switching parties, former Senator Arlen Specter did run for re-election in 2010 -- and was defeated in the primary. Red state or blue state. Recent news revealed that Jacksonville, Florida, deep in the traditionally conservative South, has one of the highest percentages of gay couples raising children. The House and Senate face the same dilemma in looking at last session's health care reform bill. Some Republicans cast it as all bad, while some Democrats contend that it's the best thing since sliced bread. No doubt the truth is somewhere in between -- some aspects of it are very helpful, and others could be conceived and executed in better ways.
The world is not as simple as we would love to make it.
Jesus makes a similar claim as he speaks to the crowd in this week's text from Matthew. We would like to avoid poverty whenever possible, and in our culture, certainly meekness is not considered a virtue. We frown on hunger or thirsting for anything, and race to fill those desires as fast as we can. Being reviled and persecuted are low on our list, and even being pure in heart seems like a quaint virtue from another era.
Jesus speaks into a world just as interested in neat divisions as we are now -- clean or unclean, worthy or unworthy, blessed or cursed. His words would have caused some consternation in people used to dividing the world up neatly.
Yet Jesus is reminding us that our categories aren't big enough for his kind of truth. "Blessed" he calls the things that we find distasteful and unnecessary. He doesn't promise that we can avoid them, or that the coming of his realm will eliminate them. But he calls us blessed when they come into our lives, adding another layer of meaning to our experiences of lack and want. These experiences open a door to experience God in a different way, and each holds its own gifts. Without the emptiness, we would miss the gift of God's fullness.
Amusingly, scholars have often debated whether, as one author puts it, these words are "eschatological warnings, or entrance requirements for those who wish to participate in the kingdom" [Douglas A. Hare, Interpretation Commentary on Matthew]. "Are they indicatives, testifying to God's grace, or imperatives, demanding obedient action?" Almost everything Jesus says functions on more than one level, and they can be either or both.
Our faith calls us to a level of double vision that comes hard to us... to the kind of seeing that can imagine the world as a both/and place instead of the either/or which is much easier. "Rejoice and be glad," Jesus adds, as if our heads weren't already spinning with the effort of this spiritual way of seeing, and you can almost see him smiling.
ILLUSTRATIONS
According to the Faith Matters survey of US adults as reported in the American Sociological Review, 33% of people who reported having three to five close friends in the congregation they worshiped with also reported that they were extremely satisfied with their lives. Only 20% of people who have no close friends in their congregation say the same.
The authors of the article concluded that "Only when one forms social networks in a congregation does religious service attendance lead to a higher level of life satisfaction."
* * *
The film The King's Speech tells the story of King George VI of England, who was required to become king when his brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Cursed with a nearly debilitating stammer and fearing that Europe was collapsing under the thrall of Adolf Hitler, George wanted nothing to do with the throne.
Eventually, as England is drawn into war with Germany, George is pushed by Winston Churchill to make a radio speech to rouse the nation and bring the people together. Terrified, the king takes on a speech therapist, Lionel Logue, who (along with some other unorthodox methods) insists on calling the king by his nickname, Bertie. A friendship develops between the two men, and when finally Bertie is brought to stand, terrified, in front of the microphone, Logue stands opposite him in a small room and encourages him to "just say the words to me, your friend."
George VI's radio speech upon the declaration of war is still studied by British schoolchildren as one of the great speeches in the nation's history.
* * *
Attorney John Kralik says that his life was falling apart. He was going through a second divorce, his children were estranged from him, his girlfriend had dumped him, and his law practice was failing. Then one day he decided to stop focusing on his own problems and start focusing on the other people in his life, the ones to whom and for whom he was grateful. Each day he sat down and wrote a handwritten thank-you note to one of those people -- a relative, a colleague, a salesperson, a waitress or waiter. The result of his experiment on his own life has been published in his book, 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life.
* * *
On December 7, 1972, the astronauts aboard Apollo 17 took a snapshot of the earth from 28,000 miles away. The sun was to their back, and the cloud cover around the globe was minimal. The resultant photograph shows the earth in vivid greens and blues; the continents are clearly visible. Popularly known as "The Blue Marble," it has become one of the most famous photographs in history.
For most of us, it was the first image we had ever seen of the earth as a whole, as a single unit, and it changed our way of thinking about ourselves and our planet.
"The Blue Marble" is credited with helping to launch and being a significant contributor to the modern environmental movement, and it is featured on the "Earth Flag" used by many environmental groups to raise green consciousness. It has been used to create a new version of the world map that shows the continents in their proper size and relationship, and it has even launched a popular children's television program: The Big Blue Marble.
Thanks to "The Blue Marble," many of us see our planet differently than we ever did before.
* * *
The inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith, wrote only 13 rules for the game in 1891 -- and dribbling was not one of them. Players were originally not allowed to bounce the ball or move with it in any way; it had to be passed to be moved down the court.
Dribbling was not allowed until 1900, and was not emphasized or encouraged until the 1920s, as most players and coaches thought it selfish and unsportsmanlike to hog the ball by dribbling.
The original rules also required a jump ball after every score. This rule was changed in 1937, and thereafter jump balls were used only to start quarters and solve "tie-ups." In 1981 they were eliminated altogether except at the beginning of a game.
But most people agree the thing that changed the game the most was the three-point shot, popularized by an insurgent professional league (the ABA) and adopted widely in 1984.
These innovations changed the game of basketball so it was not only played but viewed differently than ever before.
When Jesus introduced the Beatitudes, he changed how we look at and play the game of life.
* * *
The Animal Assisted Therapy Program in Denver has incorporated animals into their therapy programs -- but not just any dog or cat. Most of these animals have been previously abused themselves. In this therapy work, the animals have found a new home and a new calling.
The significance of the four-legged friends to the patient, according to therapist Linda Chassman, is that "rapport-building is much faster" when animals are a part of the therapy process. Therapist Ellen Kinney says of the program that "incorporating the animals in our work here makes this a fun, welcoming place, and helps make therapy feel much less threatening."
In the Beatitudes Jesus speaks of blessed are the "poor in spirit," the "meek," the "merciful," the "pure in heart," and the "peacemakers." I would say that the animals who are befriending the patients in Denver's Animal Assisted Therapy Program mimic all of these traits. The Beatitudes are applied in many different ways, and some may not be true to the original exegetical teaching. But on the other hand, we cannot dismiss how the Beatitudes inspire us to live lives that are more sensitive to the emotional and spiritual needs of others. Perhaps if we look to our own family pets and those benign creatures that the Animal Assisted Therapy Program employs, we can come to a better understanding of the meaning to be "poor in spirit," "meek," "merciful," "pure in heart," and "peacemakers."
* * *
Was Mark Twain a Christian? That seems to be the academic debate after the recent release of his autobiography. Twain was opposed to the central tenets of Christian doctrine, with a disbelief in heaven and hell, the immortality of the soul, and the divinity of Jesus Christ. Yet he was very involved in his Presbyterian church and expounded upon the teachings of the scriptures in almost all of his writings.
Scholars have come to conclude that doctrine aside, Twain was a devout Christian. What is displayed in his writings is a condemnation of Christians who fail to practice what they preach. Today we would call it hypocrisy. Perhaps one of the most notable lines Twain wrote is this: "If Christ were here, there is one thing he would not be -- a Christian."
In the Beatitudes Jesus clearly outlined the behavioral model that Christians are to emulate. What Twain, and those who live in our communities today, often see is a failure to observe a genuine Christians striving to be "poor in spirit," "meek," "merciful," "pure in heart," and "peacemakers." When we fail to practice these attributes, then perhaps Twain 100 years ago (the required time after his death before his autobiography could be released) and our contemporaries have the right to judge our insincerity, or at least our lack of trying.
Let us live our lives so Christ would be willing to be associated with us and call himself a Christian.
* * *
In recognition of Virginia's 1786 Statute for Religious Freedom, President Barack Obama declared January 16, 2011, to be "Religious Freedom Day". It is the acknowledgement of the one of the most basic principles of the United States, to tolerate all religious faiths and to never bring retribution upon those who choose not to believe. The proclamation's opening sentence is a poignant declaration of what America stands for: "Our nation was founded on a shared commitment to the values of justice, freedom, and equality."
Although humanists and atheists can be strong advocates for human rights, what they lose is the challenge of the scriptures to extend themselves beyond their normal capabilities. Their guide for justice is founded upon an individual concept of human reason, where a Christian is guided by the truth of the Creator. Christians are challenged to reach for an altruism of justice that may not be obtained, but certainly can be striven for.
This is why on Religious Freedom Day Christians are uncomfortably challenged by the words of Micah, for we are presented with a scenario we can strive for, but never achieve: "O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
* * *
Who speaks for God? God speaks for God. And it is the voiceless and powerless for whom the voice of God has always been authentically raised. It is up to us to make sure that our vision bears some resemblance to the vision the prophets of God proclaim throughout the scriptures. Then the people on the street corners will have a better idea of who the children of God really are.
-- Jim Wallis, Who Speaks for God? (Delacorte Press, 1996)
* * *
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.
-- Charles Dickens
* * *
No good act performed in the world ever dies. Science tells us that no atom of matter can ever be destroyed, that no force once started ever ends; it merely passes through a multiplicity of ever-changing phases. Every good deed done to others is a great force that starts an unending pulsation through time and eternity. We may not know it, we may never hear a word of gratitude or recognition, but it will all come back to us in some form as naturally, as perfectly, as inevitably, as echo answers to sound.
-- William George Jordan
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Who may dwell on God's holy hill?
People: Those who walk blamelessly.
Leader: Who may dwell in God's tabernacle?
People: Those who speak truth from the heart.
Leader: Who is it that shall never be moved?
People: Those who take up no reproach on their neighbors.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who is here among us.
People: Is God in the hymns?
Leader: No! Look around you.
People: Is God in the stained-glass windows?
Leader: No! Look around you.
People: Now we see! God is in each other!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale"
found in:
UMH: 122
PH: 272
NCH: 32
CH: 70
"Lord of the Dance"
found in:
UMH: 261
"Silence, Frenzied, Unclean Spirit"
found in:
UMH: 264
CH: 186
"O Love, How Deep"
found in:
UMH: 267
H82: 448, 449
PH: 83
NCH: 209
LBW: 88
"Jesus' Hands Were Kind Hands"
found in:
UMH: 273
"O Come and Dwell in Me"
found in:
UMH: 388
"Something Beautiful"
found in:
UMH: 394
CCB: 84
"Take My Life, and Let It Be"
found in:
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
Renew: 150
"Walk with Me"
found in:
CCB: 88
"Make Me a Servant"
found in:
CCB: 90
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who came among us incarnate in Jesus: Grant us the wisdom to see in our sisters and brothers your very form; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
O God, we have come to worship you and to be reminded that as you dwelt in the flesh in Jesus, you also dwell in the flesh of our neighbors. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the times when we fail to discern your presence among us in the lives of those around us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have forgotten that you created humans in your image, and we have ignored the stories of creation that tell us we are all of one family. We want sensational worship and warm, fuzzy feelings as signs that you are among us. We still look for you in the signs of power and miracle. We overlook your constant presence in the persons around us. Forgive us, and open our eyes and our hearts to find you in one another. Amen.
Leader: God is the always present one who welcomes our willingness to discover the divine love that surrounds us. God's love and forgiveness are ours.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise you, O God, for your wondrous acts of creation whereby you place your very being within your creation. We praise you especially for your love that leads you to be clothed in our flesh.
(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 forgotten that you created humans in your image, and we have ignored the stories of creation that tell us we are all of one family. We want sensational worship and warm, fuzzy feelings as signs that you are among us. We still look for you in the signs of power and miracle. We overlook your constant presence in the persons around us. Forgive us, and open our eyes and our hearts to find you in one another.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have made your presence known among us. We also give you thanks for all those times you have been with us without our being aware of your Spirit as you embraced us. We give you thanks for those who have been willing to bring your Spirit to us and others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for one another in our need. There are those who find their physical beings a burden and are wracked with pain and disease. There are those who find those around them to be the bearers of evil and hurt. There are those who find their bodies craving the necessities for life and they are denied them. As you go among them seeking to touch their lives with your life, help us to be signs of your love and 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.
Visuals
Bring all kinds of pictures where people are helping others with pictures of storms, lightning, the Red Sea being divided, and so forth.
Children's Sermon Starter
It is difficult to talk about God living with us to adults, let alone children. Talk about how when someone does something good for us, it makes us feel good inside -- it is their love and care that we feel within. God loves and cares for us, and that dwells in us too. When we do something good for others, we allow God's love to go from us to dwell in others.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
A Special Love
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Objects: a bread and butter sandwich, clean clothes, books, a box of band-aids
Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you think that your mother and father love you? (let the children answer) Can you prove it? (let them answer) Everyone thinks their mothers and fathers love them, even if they were pretty nasty to their parents this week. Did any of you talk bad or have to take a time-out? (let them answer) Would you love someone if they talked to you that way? (let them answer) Did you tell any lies this week? (let them answer) Some of the lies were just little and some of them were pretty big, weren't they? You think that your mom and dad love you. I wonder why?
Is it because they feed you? Did they give you bread and butter (show the sandwich) and a lot of meat and potatoes and even some salad? Is this the reason that you think your parents love you? I think your mom and dad would give a very hungry stranger something to eat and drink. They wouldn't have to know them at all. The stranger would just come up to the house and say that he was hungry and they would feed him.
Is it because they provide you with warm clothes when it is cold and cool clothes when it is hot? (show the clean clothes) Is it because they give you pretty clothes like the ones you are wearing today? I think your parents give a lot of people clothes. They give clothes to your family members and sometimes to people they don't even know. If there are people somewhere in the world who need clothes and blankets, they give it to them.
Maybe it is written in a book that your parents love you. There are a lot of brilliant things written in books. I read these books all week and I could not find one place where it said that your mother and father loved you. Oh, there was that band-aid that your mom put on your hand after you fell and scraped it. (hold up the box of band-aids) I think your mom would help anyone who was hurt, wouldn't she? Do you still think your mother and dad love you, really love you? (let them answer) Are you really sure? (let them answer) I think you are right. You know they love you because you can feel it inside of you. No matter what you do, they still love you and maybe a little bit more. They cry when you cry, laugh when you laugh, and like to be near you all of the time.
It is the same with God. God doesn't give us special signs to tell us that he loves us and we can't figure it out by doing a math problem or just talking to a teacher. But deep inside of us we know that God loves us even more than our mothers and fathers -- and that is whole bunch. Love is something special and it cannot be explained, but we sure do feel it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 30, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 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.
On Seeing God
by Roger Lovette
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
THE WORD
Our central text this week is found in First Corinthians. Word came to Paul in Ephesus that the little house church that he had established was in deep trouble. In a world where Rome ruled and Christians had to meet under cover of darkness, many of them were wondering where God was. Doubting and uncertain, they turned on each other. The Corinthian Christians fought about different theories of God and morality. They didn't know how to treat each other. It looked like that little outpost in the most secular of cities might fold. And so one evening Paul sat down and began to write to his friends in Corinth. He wrote a series of letters -- some say as many as nine epistles. Much of First and Second Corinthians came out of that time of conflict and doubt. He wrote to the shabbiest of churches some of finest writing we have in the Bible.
What was Paul's response to all their troubles? There are no fireworks there, no theatrics, no looking down one's nose and saying tut-tut-tut -- just one preacher writing out of his troubled heart to the people he loved across the miles.
On this Sunday in Epiphany when we still ponder the mystery of light and its wonder, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 is a good place to begin. Paul did not defend the existence of God to those half-believers who were wondering about God; Paul wrote that they would not find God in wisdom, as important as it was in that Greek culture.
Paul then told Corinth that neither would they find God in signs and wonders. God was not found in the spectacular. All the way through the Bible, people longed for signs that God really existed. But Jesus refused to wow the crowds with his miracle-working power.
Where were they to find God if they were to find the Almighty at all? Paul spelled it out in verses 23-25. We find God in the personal. We find God in the relational dimension of life. We find God in the person of Jesus. Paul implied that most people did not come to Jesus because of intellect or miracles. Christ was found in a strange reversal of values -- God was incarnated in Jesus. This was the Christ that told them in his last parable: "Inasmuch as you do it unto the least of these... you do it unto me." Their old friend Paul threw out a challenge: If you're going to find God, you must put down your weapons and begin to reach out to one another. Remember 1 Corinthians 13?
Our Micah passage underlines this understanding of God when the prophet wrote that real faith is what we do: "Do justice... love mercy, and walk humbly with our God" (Micah 6:8). This was one of Martin Luther King's favorite sermon topics, and this is still a good word in our time of confusion and cross-purposes that we see in Washington and everywhere.
Moving on to the gospel passage in Mathew 5:1-12, we find that so much of what Jesus would do is embedded in the Beatitudes. God, Jesus said, is found in the most unlikely of places. The blessed are the poor in spirit... the mourners... the meek... and those who hunger for righteousness. This theme of "You have heard it said... but I say unto you" is found throughout Jesus' ministry. He turned their ideas of God and faith upside down.
THE WORLD
It's hard to go into a bookstore today without bumping into a whole shelf of books that say believing in God is foolishness. Christopher Hitchens' best-seller says it succinctly: God Is Not Great. His good friend Salman Rushdie told him he had the title wrong; Rushdie said the book should have been titled God Is Not. Sam Harris has joined the outcry with several books. He has written The End of Faith and Letters to a Christian Nation. Harris says in Letters that his purpose is to "demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms." He states that when 50% of America's population believes in God this should be called a moral and intellectual emergency. These writers and many others would say that Corinth's problem was God and nothing else.
The US Census Bureau's 2010 Yearbook says there are 1,621,000 atheists in the United States. They say this is 0.7% of the population. The Society of Atheists inflates that figure to somewhere between 5 million to 30 million people. Quite a difference. More than half the population of the United States believes in God. Atheists continually say that we cannot prove the existence of God... and they are right. From time to time we hear talk about the Shroud of Turin, in which Jesus' face was miraculously embedded in the shroud that once held his body. Yet scientists cannot agree if this piece of cloth is authentic or not.
The recent film The Social Network tells the story of the young man who started Facebook. Over 500 million people have joined Facebook, where they can touch base with old friends, with people they used to know, and talk about many things -- even matters of the heart. Critics told the young Mark Zuckerberg that there was no way this Facebook idea could get off the ground. Yet its success reflects the desperate hunger of so many to be connected and stay in touch.
During the recent memorial service for the victims of the Arizona shootings, the nation was moved by many things. But the story of a little nine-year-old girl named Christina Green and the tributes to Gabrielle Gifffords put the nation's grief in focus. There had been six deaths in our American family -- and a great deal of the nation has stood by fathers and mothers and husbands and wives and their terrible losses. The power of the personal cannot be overestimated. This idea is at the heart of the Christian faith.
Turning to the other side of that story, the shooter Jared Loughner was a disturbed young man who increasingly cut himself off from everyone: parents, school, and friends. One wonders what would have happened if somebody or some group could have reached out to him along the way. And one might also wonder if anyone is reaching out to his father and mother in their devastated shame and grief.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Thomas Mann used to say of great literature: "It is, it always is, however much we try to say it was." So when the preacher turns to Corinthians and listens closely to her people, she will recognize that this text from Corinthians is as current as today's newspaper. So you could begin your sermon by filling in the historical blanks about Corinth. That seaport city, wild and secular, could be your city or mine. The multitude of problems the little church at Corinth faced sounds like a page out of the life of many churches today -- division, strife, sexual problems, large gaps between the rich and the poor. That list has a surprisingly familiar ring. You could spend some time comparing the was of Corinth's time to the is of our time.
You could talk about how the power of wisdom can go only so far. Many Christians are readers. We dig through a multitude of self-help books looking for answers. We break up into discussion groups and deal with a multitude of subjects. We talk endlessly in committee meetings. Anyone who has served congregations in academic communities knows that wisdom and brilliance are not enough. Many of those highly intelligent people have personal lives that are in shambles. Wisdom can only go so far.
You could then remind your audience that signs like wisdom cannot prove God's existence. Many of us lust for the spectacular. See (we say "see"), it's true. Moses asked God to let him see his face -- and God only let him see his hind parts. Jesus refused to throw himself down from the temple, even though it would wow the people. He gave them no sign, for he knew signs did not last.
Paul talks in our text about Christ crucified. The Jews called this a scandal. Some said this was proof that Jesus was not divine. God, they said, would not let his Son die as a common criminal. The Greeks were no less offended. They said God could not be crucified. One of the Greek words for God's character was apathea -- apathy. Their God did not feel. Paul reversed the values of the world when he told them that the God they worshiped cared, felt, suffered, and was one with them. This is the essence of seeing God. We do not find him in wisdom or in signs -- we find God in the face and person of Jesus. We begin to see God all around us as we reach out to members of the human family.
Just last week we celebrated the birthday of Martin Luther King. Like many other cities, my community of Birmingham, Alabama, has a community breakfast on this day. Several years ago Dr. Herbert Oliver from New York City was our keynote speaker. He grew up in a little poor part of Birmingham called Titusville. He was one of several children raised by a mother who had a hard time making ends meet. He remembered the white/colored drinking fountains. He told us about his experiences of riding in the back of buses and being paid less than whites for the same work. He said that life was difficult for his family, and some days they had little to eat. But one day during this difficult time, his mother gave him a quarter when she had so little, and told him to go to the store and buy a can of syrup. That evening their supper would be syrup and biscuits. So the boy went to the store and got the syrup and started home. He walked along, swinging the syrup, when a terrible thing happened. The lid came off and the syrup poured out all over the ground. He said as little boy he just stood there petrified. Then he began to cry. And then he knelt down and tried to put the syrup back in the can. As he cried and worked, a white man came by and said, "Boy, what you doin'?" He muttered, "I'm trying to get this syrup back in this can for my mama. I spilled it and she's gonna kill me." The man told him, "You can't put that syrup back in the can. Get up. Wipe your hands off in the grass. Let's go back to the store." Dr. Oliver said that the man bought another can of syrup and sent him on his way. And our speaker said: "I never knew his name. I don't know who he was -- but looking back, I think I know his name."
Do you think the man's name was wisdom or power? I don't think so. After all these years, the man telling his story said: "I think his name was Jesus." No sign in the heavens. No long list of things to learn. Just One who comes and stands with us in the hard places and the good places and loves us as if we were the only one.
ANOTHER VIEW
by Mary Austin
Matthew 5:1-12
The recent visit of Chinese president Hu Jintao to Washington DC, occasioned some mental gymnastics on the part of the American press, visibly torn about whether China is a friend or an enemy.
On the one hand, China tightly controls the value of its currency, the yuan, so exports of Chinese-made items are inexpensive and imports from the US are very expensive. China's record on what the US considers basic human rights is dismal, and its concern for the environment is sketchy at best. On the other hand, China is arguably the world's only other superpower, although the US finds China reluctant to act like a superpower. In the government's view, China is one of the few nations which can exert any influence on North Korea. Chinese currency keeps the American economy afloat, and China is the largest foreign investor in the US, holding 11% of US debt.
The relationship between the two countries is understandably complex, and yet we love to divide things into easy categories -- friend or foe, Republican or Democrat. Senator Joe Lieberman has found Washington tough going after switching his party allegiance from Democrat to Independent and recently announced that he will not run for re-election when his Senate term ends. After switching parties, former Senator Arlen Specter did run for re-election in 2010 -- and was defeated in the primary. Red state or blue state. Recent news revealed that Jacksonville, Florida, deep in the traditionally conservative South, has one of the highest percentages of gay couples raising children. The House and Senate face the same dilemma in looking at last session's health care reform bill. Some Republicans cast it as all bad, while some Democrats contend that it's the best thing since sliced bread. No doubt the truth is somewhere in between -- some aspects of it are very helpful, and others could be conceived and executed in better ways.
The world is not as simple as we would love to make it.
Jesus makes a similar claim as he speaks to the crowd in this week's text from Matthew. We would like to avoid poverty whenever possible, and in our culture, certainly meekness is not considered a virtue. We frown on hunger or thirsting for anything, and race to fill those desires as fast as we can. Being reviled and persecuted are low on our list, and even being pure in heart seems like a quaint virtue from another era.
Jesus speaks into a world just as interested in neat divisions as we are now -- clean or unclean, worthy or unworthy, blessed or cursed. His words would have caused some consternation in people used to dividing the world up neatly.
Yet Jesus is reminding us that our categories aren't big enough for his kind of truth. "Blessed" he calls the things that we find distasteful and unnecessary. He doesn't promise that we can avoid them, or that the coming of his realm will eliminate them. But he calls us blessed when they come into our lives, adding another layer of meaning to our experiences of lack and want. These experiences open a door to experience God in a different way, and each holds its own gifts. Without the emptiness, we would miss the gift of God's fullness.
Amusingly, scholars have often debated whether, as one author puts it, these words are "eschatological warnings, or entrance requirements for those who wish to participate in the kingdom" [Douglas A. Hare, Interpretation Commentary on Matthew]. "Are they indicatives, testifying to God's grace, or imperatives, demanding obedient action?" Almost everything Jesus says functions on more than one level, and they can be either or both.
Our faith calls us to a level of double vision that comes hard to us... to the kind of seeing that can imagine the world as a both/and place instead of the either/or which is much easier. "Rejoice and be glad," Jesus adds, as if our heads weren't already spinning with the effort of this spiritual way of seeing, and you can almost see him smiling.
ILLUSTRATIONS
According to the Faith Matters survey of US adults as reported in the American Sociological Review, 33% of people who reported having three to five close friends in the congregation they worshiped with also reported that they were extremely satisfied with their lives. Only 20% of people who have no close friends in their congregation say the same.
The authors of the article concluded that "Only when one forms social networks in a congregation does religious service attendance lead to a higher level of life satisfaction."
* * *
The film The King's Speech tells the story of King George VI of England, who was required to become king when his brother, Edward VIII, abdicated the throne to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Cursed with a nearly debilitating stammer and fearing that Europe was collapsing under the thrall of Adolf Hitler, George wanted nothing to do with the throne.
Eventually, as England is drawn into war with Germany, George is pushed by Winston Churchill to make a radio speech to rouse the nation and bring the people together. Terrified, the king takes on a speech therapist, Lionel Logue, who (along with some other unorthodox methods) insists on calling the king by his nickname, Bertie. A friendship develops between the two men, and when finally Bertie is brought to stand, terrified, in front of the microphone, Logue stands opposite him in a small room and encourages him to "just say the words to me, your friend."
George VI's radio speech upon the declaration of war is still studied by British schoolchildren as one of the great speeches in the nation's history.
* * *
Attorney John Kralik says that his life was falling apart. He was going through a second divorce, his children were estranged from him, his girlfriend had dumped him, and his law practice was failing. Then one day he decided to stop focusing on his own problems and start focusing on the other people in his life, the ones to whom and for whom he was grateful. Each day he sat down and wrote a handwritten thank-you note to one of those people -- a relative, a colleague, a salesperson, a waitress or waiter. The result of his experiment on his own life has been published in his book, 365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life.
* * *
On December 7, 1972, the astronauts aboard Apollo 17 took a snapshot of the earth from 28,000 miles away. The sun was to their back, and the cloud cover around the globe was minimal. The resultant photograph shows the earth in vivid greens and blues; the continents are clearly visible. Popularly known as "The Blue Marble," it has become one of the most famous photographs in history.
For most of us, it was the first image we had ever seen of the earth as a whole, as a single unit, and it changed our way of thinking about ourselves and our planet.
"The Blue Marble" is credited with helping to launch and being a significant contributor to the modern environmental movement, and it is featured on the "Earth Flag" used by many environmental groups to raise green consciousness. It has been used to create a new version of the world map that shows the continents in their proper size and relationship, and it has even launched a popular children's television program: The Big Blue Marble.
Thanks to "The Blue Marble," many of us see our planet differently than we ever did before.
* * *
The inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith, wrote only 13 rules for the game in 1891 -- and dribbling was not one of them. Players were originally not allowed to bounce the ball or move with it in any way; it had to be passed to be moved down the court.
Dribbling was not allowed until 1900, and was not emphasized or encouraged until the 1920s, as most players and coaches thought it selfish and unsportsmanlike to hog the ball by dribbling.
The original rules also required a jump ball after every score. This rule was changed in 1937, and thereafter jump balls were used only to start quarters and solve "tie-ups." In 1981 they were eliminated altogether except at the beginning of a game.
But most people agree the thing that changed the game the most was the three-point shot, popularized by an insurgent professional league (the ABA) and adopted widely in 1984.
These innovations changed the game of basketball so it was not only played but viewed differently than ever before.
When Jesus introduced the Beatitudes, he changed how we look at and play the game of life.
* * *
The Animal Assisted Therapy Program in Denver has incorporated animals into their therapy programs -- but not just any dog or cat. Most of these animals have been previously abused themselves. In this therapy work, the animals have found a new home and a new calling.
The significance of the four-legged friends to the patient, according to therapist Linda Chassman, is that "rapport-building is much faster" when animals are a part of the therapy process. Therapist Ellen Kinney says of the program that "incorporating the animals in our work here makes this a fun, welcoming place, and helps make therapy feel much less threatening."
In the Beatitudes Jesus speaks of blessed are the "poor in spirit," the "meek," the "merciful," the "pure in heart," and the "peacemakers." I would say that the animals who are befriending the patients in Denver's Animal Assisted Therapy Program mimic all of these traits. The Beatitudes are applied in many different ways, and some may not be true to the original exegetical teaching. But on the other hand, we cannot dismiss how the Beatitudes inspire us to live lives that are more sensitive to the emotional and spiritual needs of others. Perhaps if we look to our own family pets and those benign creatures that the Animal Assisted Therapy Program employs, we can come to a better understanding of the meaning to be "poor in spirit," "meek," "merciful," "pure in heart," and "peacemakers."
* * *
Was Mark Twain a Christian? That seems to be the academic debate after the recent release of his autobiography. Twain was opposed to the central tenets of Christian doctrine, with a disbelief in heaven and hell, the immortality of the soul, and the divinity of Jesus Christ. Yet he was very involved in his Presbyterian church and expounded upon the teachings of the scriptures in almost all of his writings.
Scholars have come to conclude that doctrine aside, Twain was a devout Christian. What is displayed in his writings is a condemnation of Christians who fail to practice what they preach. Today we would call it hypocrisy. Perhaps one of the most notable lines Twain wrote is this: "If Christ were here, there is one thing he would not be -- a Christian."
In the Beatitudes Jesus clearly outlined the behavioral model that Christians are to emulate. What Twain, and those who live in our communities today, often see is a failure to observe a genuine Christians striving to be "poor in spirit," "meek," "merciful," "pure in heart," and "peacemakers." When we fail to practice these attributes, then perhaps Twain 100 years ago (the required time after his death before his autobiography could be released) and our contemporaries have the right to judge our insincerity, or at least our lack of trying.
Let us live our lives so Christ would be willing to be associated with us and call himself a Christian.
* * *
In recognition of Virginia's 1786 Statute for Religious Freedom, President Barack Obama declared January 16, 2011, to be "Religious Freedom Day". It is the acknowledgement of the one of the most basic principles of the United States, to tolerate all religious faiths and to never bring retribution upon those who choose not to believe. The proclamation's opening sentence is a poignant declaration of what America stands for: "Our nation was founded on a shared commitment to the values of justice, freedom, and equality."
Although humanists and atheists can be strong advocates for human rights, what they lose is the challenge of the scriptures to extend themselves beyond their normal capabilities. Their guide for justice is founded upon an individual concept of human reason, where a Christian is guided by the truth of the Creator. Christians are challenged to reach for an altruism of justice that may not be obtained, but certainly can be striven for.
This is why on Religious Freedom Day Christians are uncomfortably challenged by the words of Micah, for we are presented with a scenario we can strive for, but never achieve: "O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God."
* * *
Who speaks for God? God speaks for God. And it is the voiceless and powerless for whom the voice of God has always been authentically raised. It is up to us to make sure that our vision bears some resemblance to the vision the prophets of God proclaim throughout the scriptures. Then the people on the street corners will have a better idea of who the children of God really are.
-- Jim Wallis, Who Speaks for God? (Delacorte Press, 1996)
* * *
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.
-- Charles Dickens
* * *
No good act performed in the world ever dies. Science tells us that no atom of matter can ever be destroyed, that no force once started ever ends; it merely passes through a multiplicity of ever-changing phases. Every good deed done to others is a great force that starts an unending pulsation through time and eternity. We may not know it, we may never hear a word of gratitude or recognition, but it will all come back to us in some form as naturally, as perfectly, as inevitably, as echo answers to sound.
-- William George Jordan
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Who may dwell on God's holy hill?
People: Those who walk blamelessly.
Leader: Who may dwell in God's tabernacle?
People: Those who speak truth from the heart.
Leader: Who is it that shall never be moved?
People: Those who take up no reproach on their neighbors.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who is here among us.
People: Is God in the hymns?
Leader: No! Look around you.
People: Is God in the stained-glass windows?
Leader: No! Look around you.
People: Now we see! God is in each other!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"God of the Sparrow, God of the Whale"
found in:
UMH: 122
PH: 272
NCH: 32
CH: 70
"Lord of the Dance"
found in:
UMH: 261
"Silence, Frenzied, Unclean Spirit"
found in:
UMH: 264
CH: 186
"O Love, How Deep"
found in:
UMH: 267
H82: 448, 449
PH: 83
NCH: 209
LBW: 88
"Jesus' Hands Were Kind Hands"
found in:
UMH: 273
"O Come and Dwell in Me"
found in:
UMH: 388
"Something Beautiful"
found in:
UMH: 394
CCB: 84
"Take My Life, and Let It Be"
found in:
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
Renew: 150
"Walk with Me"
found in:
CCB: 88
"Make Me a Servant"
found in:
CCB: 90
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who came among us incarnate in Jesus: Grant us the wisdom to see in our sisters and brothers your very form; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
O God, we have come to worship you and to be reminded that as you dwelt in the flesh in Jesus, you also dwell in the flesh of our neighbors. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the times when we fail to discern your presence among us in the lives of those around us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have forgotten that you created humans in your image, and we have ignored the stories of creation that tell us we are all of one family. We want sensational worship and warm, fuzzy feelings as signs that you are among us. We still look for you in the signs of power and miracle. We overlook your constant presence in the persons around us. Forgive us, and open our eyes and our hearts to find you in one another. Amen.
Leader: God is the always present one who welcomes our willingness to discover the divine love that surrounds us. God's love and forgiveness are ours.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise you, O God, for your wondrous acts of creation whereby you place your very being within your creation. We praise you especially for your love that leads you to be clothed in our flesh.
(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 forgotten that you created humans in your image, and we have ignored the stories of creation that tell us we are all of one family. We want sensational worship and warm, fuzzy feelings as signs that you are among us. We still look for you in the signs of power and miracle. We overlook your constant presence in the persons around us. Forgive us, and open our eyes and our hearts to find you in one another.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have made your presence known among us. We also give you thanks for all those times you have been with us without our being aware of your Spirit as you embraced us. We give you thanks for those who have been willing to bring your Spirit to us and others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for one another in our need. There are those who find their physical beings a burden and are wracked with pain and disease. There are those who find those around them to be the bearers of evil and hurt. There are those who find their bodies craving the necessities for life and they are denied them. As you go among them seeking to touch their lives with your life, help us to be signs of your love and 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.
Visuals
Bring all kinds of pictures where people are helping others with pictures of storms, lightning, the Red Sea being divided, and so forth.
Children's Sermon Starter
It is difficult to talk about God living with us to adults, let alone children. Talk about how when someone does something good for us, it makes us feel good inside -- it is their love and care that we feel within. God loves and cares for us, and that dwells in us too. When we do something good for others, we allow God's love to go from us to dwell in others.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
A Special Love
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Objects: a bread and butter sandwich, clean clothes, books, a box of band-aids
Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you think that your mother and father love you? (let the children answer) Can you prove it? (let them answer) Everyone thinks their mothers and fathers love them, even if they were pretty nasty to their parents this week. Did any of you talk bad or have to take a time-out? (let them answer) Would you love someone if they talked to you that way? (let them answer) Did you tell any lies this week? (let them answer) Some of the lies were just little and some of them were pretty big, weren't they? You think that your mom and dad love you. I wonder why?
Is it because they feed you? Did they give you bread and butter (show the sandwich) and a lot of meat and potatoes and even some salad? Is this the reason that you think your parents love you? I think your mom and dad would give a very hungry stranger something to eat and drink. They wouldn't have to know them at all. The stranger would just come up to the house and say that he was hungry and they would feed him.
Is it because they provide you with warm clothes when it is cold and cool clothes when it is hot? (show the clean clothes) Is it because they give you pretty clothes like the ones you are wearing today? I think your parents give a lot of people clothes. They give clothes to your family members and sometimes to people they don't even know. If there are people somewhere in the world who need clothes and blankets, they give it to them.
Maybe it is written in a book that your parents love you. There are a lot of brilliant things written in books. I read these books all week and I could not find one place where it said that your mother and father loved you. Oh, there was that band-aid that your mom put on your hand after you fell and scraped it. (hold up the box of band-aids) I think your mom would help anyone who was hurt, wouldn't she? Do you still think your mother and dad love you, really love you? (let them answer) Are you really sure? (let them answer) I think you are right. You know they love you because you can feel it inside of you. No matter what you do, they still love you and maybe a little bit more. They cry when you cry, laugh when you laugh, and like to be near you all of the time.
It is the same with God. God doesn't give us special signs to tell us that he loves us and we can't figure it out by doing a math problem or just talking to a teacher. But deep inside of us we know that God loves us even more than our mothers and fathers -- and that is whole bunch. Love is something special and it cannot be explained, but we sure do feel it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 30, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 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.
