As the federal government shutdown enters its second week, the bitter disputes (and general dysfunction) in the halls of Congress seem to be intractable -- and finding a resolution to the current crisis seems ever more difficult as positions harden and the rhetoric escalates. To complicate matters, it appears that the conflict over funding the government is likely to merge with an even more dangerous looming fight over raising the debt ceiling. It’s all part of a titanic struggle over government expenditures and the new health care law in which legislators on both sides of the aisle (and President Obama) are decrying the actions and motives of their opponents. While there is much talk about negotiation, all sides are behaving as if what really matters are leverage and extracting concessions -- and in an environment with such toxic political dialogue, compromise is viewed as capitulation... or even worse, treasonous. It even seems that the standoff has produced its own dynamic, as political considerations have apparently replaced delaying Obamacare as the primary underlying issue.
In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Leah Lonsbury takes on this thorny problem, and she notes that it seems to be a textbook example of just what our Second Timothy reading warns us to avoid -- “wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.” That certainly seems to be true, as in addition to the massive expense of the shutdown the blood feud in Washington is increasing public cynicism about our leaders and engendering a lack of faith in the political system. And like a pebble thrown into the water, that lack of faith has created rippling circles extending into many other areas of our lives. We have lost faith in so many of our institutions -- and for all too many, that even includes the church. But as our epistle text reminds us, no matter what hardships we have to endure we are to remain faithful, “rightly explaining the word of truth.” Leah asks some hard questions, and offers her thoughts on “enduring in faithfulness” and avoiding “wrangling over words.”
Team member Mary Austin offers some additional thoughts on the gospel text and the outsider status of the Samaritan who returned to thank Jesus. Mary finds it noteworthy that it was someone who was less fortunate who discovered gratitude, and she contemplates what prompts us to take things for granted and display a lack of faith. Mary draws some parallels with the large number of people who according to the New York Times will still be left uninsured under the new health care law, and points out that while they still may be left on the outside looking in, that was certainly not the case for the lepers -- all of whom Jesus healed.
Sticks and Stones and... Shutdown
by Leah Lonsbury
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Shutdown.
On Tuesday of last week, funding for much of the federal government was shut down due to a Republican effort to delay or kill the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). In the absence of agreement on a budget, House Republicans insisted on tying their demands for compromise on or even the dismantling of the health care law to the passage of a routine, short-term spending bill to continue funding the government (a “continuing resolution”) -- ensuring that all federal government functions deemed “non-essential” were brought to a halt.
It’s all the Republicans’ fault, say the Democrats.
It’s all the Democrats’ fault, say the Republicans.
There’s a lot of spin and wrangling over words on Capitol Hill this week, which 2 Timothy tells us “does no good but only ruins those who are listening” (2:14b).
As people of faith caught in the crossfire of Washington’s war of words, how do we avoid this ruin and endure in faithfulness? How do we go about “rightly explaining the word of truth” and carving out The Way in a world that is shell-shocked, hardened, and distrustful of leaders and institutions that no longer represent the hearts and minds of people?
In the News
While the blame game continues in D.C., or “Dysfunctional Central” as Walter Shapiro of Yahoo! News has taken to calling our nation’s capital, plain ol’ regular folks on the street all over America are beginning to find their own words to express their frustration and disgust at our representatives’ blustering and verbal posturing. Some federal workers are saving their words for signs of protest. “Set a budget. Do your job. We want to work,” one reads. Another, destined to turn shutdown talk into a new line of bumper stickers, reads: “I’d rather be working.”
More from Shapiro...
As the government shutdown that began Tuesday moves into its first weekend, outrage and derisive jokes have given way to a depressed acceptance. This is what political life in 2013 has become. This is the inevitable result when most of the essential jobs in Washington involve the manufacture of partisan talking points.
So what’s being said in the halls on Capitol Hill? Any novel partisan talking points this goround? Alas, no. Definitely nothing that seems to be pointing us towards a workable solution to the impasse. What’s being said... you’ve heard it before. You’ll probably hear it again... and again... and again...
It’s still the Democrats’ fault, according to Republicans -- they won’t compromise. The GOP, it seems, has dug in its heels in an effort not to cede any more power or ground to the President’s party. For Republicans, the problem seems to run even deeper than federal spending or the health care law, though Republican representatives in Congress can’t seem to all agree on what exactly the sticking point is or what its projected resolution might look like. In a vague response to the Washington Examiner last week, Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Indiana) seemed to echo the indignant haze his party is currently operating under: “We’re not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”
Even when the subject of the debate (or lack thereof) seems to have shifted from defunding or delaying Obamacare to extracting concessions and saving face, Republican leaders aren’t done with their verbal attacks on their Democratic peers or the administration. When an administration leak revealed this week that at least one staffer saw the White House as benefitting from the shutdown that had sent thousands home without their paychecks or an assurance of an end in sight, House Speaker John Boehner seized the theatrical moment. Using cutting words to grasp at some sort of moral high ground, Boehner said, “This isn’t some damn game.... The American people don’t want their government shut down and neither do I.... All we’re asking for is to sit down and have a discussion, reopen the government, and bring fairness to the American people under Obamacare.”
But one could translate Boehner’s underlying message as: “All we’re asking for is for the other side to say they’ll do exactly what we wanted in the first place. ‘OK. You win. We lose. You were right. We were wrong.’ That’s all we need you to say. And say it loud. Make sure the voters hear you. Make sure they know we’ve come out on top of this word wrangling.”
The Democrats haven’t changed their tune either.
It’s still the Republicans’ fault, according to Democrats. They won’t play by the rules. They’re refusing to fund the budget they already agreed upon, and they’re tying federal funding to a law that is already... well, law. It’s done. Move on, say the Democrats. Quit wasting our time, says the commander-in-chief. At a Rose Garden event marking the implementation of the Affordable Care Act last week, President Obama stated:
Shutting down our government doesn’t accomplish their stated goal. The Affordable Care Act is a law that passed the House; it passed the Senate. The Supreme Court ruled it constitutional. It was a central issue in last year’s election. It is settled, and it is here to stay. And because of its funding sources, it’s not impacted by a government shutdown.
So there. Take that.
And in response to Boehner’s theatrics this week about this not being some “damn game,” the president responded with another “checkmate.” “There’s no winning when families don’t have any certainty over whether they are going to get paid or not,” the head wordsmith said. “This shutdown could be over today,” Obama continued, and then called on Boehner to call a vote on a temporary funding measure to reopen the entire federal government.
Here’s that refrain again -- one could translate Obama’s underlying message as: “All we’re asking for is for the other side to say they’ll do exactly what we wanted in the first place. ‘OK. You win. We lose. You were right. We were wrong.’ That’s all we need you to say. And say it loud. Make sure the voters hear you. Make sure they know we’ve come out on top of this word wrangling.”
As disruptive and detrimental (more on that later) as this shutdown is, in many ways it’s not at all surprising. We have experienced months and months, years and years, of toxic political discourse, ugly and disparaging, full of posturing and spin, and often dishonest and intentionally misrepresentative of the real position of the “enemy.” (Did you know that Democrats have already agreed to fund the federal government at Republican levels? Or that the deficit is not increasing but actually decreasing? Kevin Drum succinctly reveals much of the truth behind the Washington spin in “The Shutdown in Ten Infuriating Sentences” -- it’s a quick and eye-opening read.)
And now it seems that the infighting has evolved into intra-party fighting. The war of words has now reached domestic shores. When Representative Peter King (R-New York) was asked for an update after a party meeting last Friday, he said, “We are moving forward with our strategy,” and then quickly corrected himself. “They are moving forward with their strategy.” (Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, the originator of the drive to defund Obamacare, has also jumped ship on the shutdown: “Leave Obamacare for another day,” he’s now saying. Texas Senator John Cornyn agrees -- “Any opportunity to defund Obamacare through the CR [continuing resolution], if there was such an opportunity, is now gone.... I agree with Mike that this is not the best vehicle or the right vehicle to fight that [Obamacare] fight.” Click here to read about dissent from Republican strategists.)
This follows substantive rumors that the majority of Republicans would vote for a “clean bill” that moves forward with federal funding and leaves aside the Obamacare question, but House Speaker Boehner is standing fast out of fear of losing his seat under pressure from as few as 30 persuasive Tea Party hardliners. This has been reported by many sources, including conservative-leaning writers like the Washington Examiner’s Byron York and the National Review’s Robert Costa. Even the media seems to have gotten on the war of words bandwagon.
All of this leads to some seriously dysfunctional workings (or non-workings) of our government, and to a general distrust of our representatives. And with this shutdown, the very real damage inflicted by the word bombs consistently lobbed over (and now behind) party lines has gotten the public’s attention. The sleepy and inattentive reaction to write it all off that many of us tend to have towards Washington’s adolescent infighting has been replaced by some anger and even pain.
When National Parks are shut down and the National Zoo’s popular “Panda Cam” has blinked off, we’re inconvenienced.
When 800,000 federal workers are furloughed, the CDC is no longer tracking outbreaks, and the FDA has shut down its oversight operations, we start to sweat.
When pregnant mothers and new babies can no longer receive WIC assistance, 1 million children stand to be affected through cuts to Head Start, and cancer patients can no longer begin clinical trials that might save their lives, the shutdown starts to really smart.
As light begins to be shed on how the word bombs and the shutdown take aim at the most vulnerable in our midst, 2 Timothy’s words start to ring in our ears...
“Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does not good but only ruins those who are listening.”
In the Scripture
Perhaps we could not have discovered a more textbook example of exactly what our reading from 2 Timothy is warning us to avoid than in the government shutdown. All this “wrangling over words” is, as it turns out, doing no good for anybody on either side of aisle, not in the empty offices of furloughed workers or social services that have been cut off, not on the empty shelves of WIC agencies, not behind the locked gates of national parks, not in the quiet offices of mortgage companies serving first-time and lower-income families, and not throughout the current bare-bones operations of vital agencies like Head Start or the CDC.
Despite what some loose-lipped White House staffer might have thoughtlessly said, and no matter how deeply a small group of political extremists is prepared to dig in and tear down, no one is “winning” or “benefitting” from this shutdown. No one.
The economic costs are tremendous, and could reverberate for decades to come should this shutdown force a default on our nation’s debt. The psychological costs are no laughing matter either. The harm isn’t just to those doing the arguing, but to everyone whose lives the conflict touches, particularly as each of us begins to the take on the idea brought to us by our former president turned celebrity, Bill Clinton, and supported by all kinds of bipartisan vitriol and shenanigans claiming that everyone on the other side is “begging for America to fail.”
And where will all this lead us? To the next election? So it can all begin again?
No wonder we’re cynical about politics. No wonder that division begins to indoctrinate us and invade other aspects of our lives -- our families, our schools, our local governments, and our churches. No wonder we have lost our faith in those institutions and communities that once sustained us. It’s hard to stay connected when suspicion and spin abound.
But perhaps if we have our textbook example, might we also find the textbook answer? It’s in there. “Remember Jesus Christ...”
Remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead -- that abundant life is still possible, despite all the little deaths politics, loved ones, not-so-loved ones, and life in general afflict. Even despite the little deaths we inflict on ourselves and others. Repeatedly. And sometimes like it’s some “damn game,” as Speaker Boehner would put it.
Remember Jesus Christ -- and freedom the “unchained” Word of God has to re-create and re-imagine our lives together. Paul is relentlessly hopeful in this passage, despite the hardships he faces (and recounts and recounts) and the harmful “wrangling” Timothy finds invading his attempts at sharing the Good News.
Remember Jesus Christ -- and how we are Christ in saving ways for each other (and how we are not). Then remember again. This is a biggie. How can we discover, deepen, and support what’s salvific about our living together and work on the ways we chain and ensnare each other?
Remember Jesus Christ -- and how we have been claimed by the gifts of his life and his resurrection. It’s true, whether we realize it or not. Whether we’re ready or not to be claimed. How can we invite that realization and readiness? What will we do and who will we be as a result?
Remember Jesus Christ -- and that he is faithful even when we lose ourselves and our ability to be faithful in return. Phew.
Remember Jesus Christ -- and tell the true story, the “rightly explain[ed] word of truth” about God’s grace and compassionate love, “God’s incorrigibly relational nature.” That God “initiates and sustains relationships with undeserving creatures God simply can’t help but love with abandon, because maybe God cannot be comprehended except through such connections” (Working Preacher’s Matthew Skinner). And let this truth be the truth that colors all that we say and do, especially when it’s hard, like when we’re speaking “across the aisle.” (This might easily apply in our congregations as well as between our political parties.)
When we forget this truth and the grace and compassion of God that come with it, we wrangle. And not only does that dis-member the Body, but it mixes us up about God’s basic truth and the reality of our truth that we claim as Christians.
This kind of forgetfulness is also profoundly unbiblical, according to Jim Wallis of Sojourners fame. He writes about the shutdown:
The biblical purpose of government is to protect from evil and to promote the good -- protect and promote. Government is meant to protect its people’s safety, security, and peace, and promote the common good of a society -- and even collect taxes for those purposes. Read Romans 13 by the apostle Paul and other similar texts. The Scriptures also make it clear that governmental authority is responsible for fairness and justice and particularly responsible to protect the poor and vulnerable. Read Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah, the Psalms, and even the book of Kings to see that God will judge kings and rulers (governments) for how they treat the poor. And it wasn’t just the kings of Israel who were held accountable for the poor, but also the kings of neighboring countries -- all governments. That’s what the Bible says; so let me be as clear as I can be.
We are also responsible as the individuals that make up the whole that the government represents. We are also to biblically protect and promote the good, foster fairness and justice, and lift up the poor and vulnerable. All that wrangling just gets in the way and lets stubbornness and pride extract too high a price from God’s most vulnerable beloved.
More from Wallis: “Jeremiah, speaking of King Josiah, said, ‘He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well.’ ” The subsequent line is very revealing: “ ‘Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 22:16).
Let us be biblical then. Let us know God and enact the meaning of that relationship in the ways we care for one another, especially the weakest and most vulnerable members of our communities. To neglect to do so is to be caught up in ruinous wrangling over words and other injury-inducing habits, ideas, and ways of relating that keep us from being bound to and resourced by God’s life-giving Spirit.
Our words and our lives, then, should be for the Word -- words and actions that explain and enact the Word of truth. To this end, Timothy must, we must, “deal straight with the message of truth, refusing steadfastly to play fast and loose with the gospel” (Preaching the Common Lectionary [Year C, After Pentecost], pg. 202).
Avoid the “damn game,” Paul tells us. Rewrite the present and the future of your life together with the grace and compassion of the life-giving Word.
In the Sermon
The preacher might consider these possible pathways when crafting the sermon...
* Matthew Skinner of Working Preacher reminds us of 2 Timothy’s emphasis on perseverance -- a commitment that is needed as we seek wisdom about the way forward and how to find common ground around the government shutdown and in our own lives as followers of The (often difficult) Way filled with God’s (often difficult) beloved. Skinner writes: “Paul quotes most likely from a Christian hymn in 2:11b-13a to remind readers that perseverance is neither merely his own pet project, nor is it optional. It is a trademark of Christian life and service, a manifestation of our union with Christ.”
Ask your congregants how they persevere. Is it for the sake of God’s beloved (v. 10)? Is it the kind of perseverance that communicates a commitment to the gospel or demonstrates a connectedness to Christ? If not, to what or to whom are they really “chained”?
* In an effort to clarify whether this text should be read generously or in an exclusionary manner, Skinner writes: “As you consider this question, notice that elsewhere the letter holds out hope for those it considers Timothy’s opponents (2:25b-26). The overall sweep of the letter also insists that the gospel’s influence or reliability cannot ultimately be nullified by the faithlessness or destructive behavior of some.”
How can we hold out hope for those we consider our opponents (those across party lines and those who we thought were in our “parties” -- family members, friends, fellow congregants --who have “broken ranks” with us and gone a different direction)? How does the gospel’s influence or reliability still show up even when there is brokenness in our institutions and our personal lives?
* What does 2 Timothy have to say about how the Church should face change and conflict within its own Body and as a part of the larger cultural context? What do you think of Paul’s take on this? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? What would be Paul’s take on how the shutdown should be handled? Would it be helpful to the gridlock in D.C.? Is his teaching helpful to our churches or in how we handle change and conflict in our individual lives as Christians? Why or why not?
* How does our wrangling over words take us far from the Word that Paul writes about in this passage? How does our wrangling bind or chain us? To what? To what end?
* Think about the “irrepressibility of the Word of God (Preaching the Common Lectionary [Year C, After Pentecost], pg. 200). How is it different than the intent that often lies beneath our words? How does it direct us to live and speak and interact? How does that irrepressibility show up in our lives? Where or how might it be found in the situation on Capitol Hill at the moment?
* What are some very basic Christian practices that can help us avoid the wrangling over words that leads to everyone’s ruin? What are Paul’s suggestions in this passage? How might we employ them in our own lives and interactions?
* What do we need to “endure in faithfulness” in an untrustworthy system and a suspicious and malicious cultural climate? How can find what we need in our own lives and provide that for one another?
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Luke 17:11-19
It’s a meeting of those marked for death.
Jesus, traveling toward Jerusalem and aware that his life is nearing the end, meets ten lepers. The progression of their disease is moving them to their own end more slowly, but they have an odd kinship with Jesus as they meet on the road.
Accustomed to the requirements of their faith, they keep their distance from Jesus and call out to him for help. He heals them without the usual touch of his hands -- is it because he is as marked by death as they are? He never worries about people contaminating him, but does he worry this time about contaminating them? He sends them back to the priests to show their healing, the first step in restoration to the life of the community. (See Leviticus 14 for more.)
Nine of the lepers follow his instructions.
But one, a Samaritan, turns back to Jesus, full of gratitude.
Jesus extends the gift of healing to the whole crew of lepers, unworried that some of them are Gentiles. The story suggests that the leprosy has erased their other divisions. The lepers appear together, an unusual mix of Jews and Gentiles formed into a ragtag community of the ill. The traditional divisions of Jew and Gentile are lost in the overwhelming isolation of their illness. Jesus treats them as a community, healing all of them together.
As a society, we lack that sense of community in our own approach to health and wholeness. The Affordable Care Act has enhanced access to health care for many Americans, but some of our neighbors are still left out.
As the Affordable Care Act expands its reach to uninsured Americans with the opening of the exchanges to purchase insurance, others are still outside the boundaries. As Sabrine Tavermise and Robert Gebeloff report for the New York Times: “A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help.”
In some states, Republican governors and Republican-controlled legislatures have declined to take federal dollars to expand Medicaid to cover more people. According to the Times, eight million poor Americans are uninsured but won’t receive help with affordable insurance. They earn too much to qualify for subsidies, and are too poor to pay for their own insurance. As the article notes, “The 26 states that have rejected the Medicaid expansion are home to about half of the country’s population, but about 68 percent of poor, uninsured blacks, and single mothers. About 60 percent of the country’s uninsured working poor are in those states. Among those excluded are about 435,000 cashiers, 341,000 cooks, and 253,000 nurses’ aides.” Other than Arkansas, no state in the Deep South has expanded Medicaid. The working poor are in their own place of exclusion, the people that no one wants to touch in our world.
Jesus was always on the side of wholeness, no matter who asked for his help. His healing of all ten lepers shows a gracious inclusion of all people. All of us have a common longing for health. Our minds and bodies are inextricably connected, and stress and worry affect our health as much as diet and medicine. In the same way, being part of a supportive community can add to our health, and being excluded and disrespected can feed ill-health. Jesus restores the lepers to physical health, making them once again part of the community around them. Part of their healing is physical, and the other part is the restoration of the bonds to other people, denied to them when they were ill. We have done a poor job of following his example, allowing some of our neighbors to have access to health care while denying it to others.
As the Affordable Care Act comes closer and closer to full implementation, Jesus’ example prompts us to long for our own places where everyone is included and no one has to suffer without access to health care. Only we keep people on the outside -- Jesus’ gift of healing comes to all ten lepers, whether they’re grateful or not, whether they’re Jewish or not, and even whether they deserve it or not.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Senate Chaplain Provides Prayerful Rebuke
A daily Senate ritual has become a moment of near-Pauline proportions. As the government shutdown continues, Senate Chaplain Barry Black has used a moment of personal privilege each day to preach to his parishioners through prayers. His morning invocations have taken note of the contentious tones that have shut down the government. “Save us from the madness,” he prayed last week. “We acknowledge our transgressions, our shortcomings, our smugness, our selfishness, and our pride. Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable.”
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Lacking the Right Word
The political rhetoric in Washington has been heated, and at times confusing. The wrangling over words has added to the confusion. Among the best examples was Indiana Congressman Marlin Stutzman. When asked about political fallout arising from the shutdown debacle, the Republican Stutzman told David Drucker of the Washington Examiner: “We’re not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
No Word Wrangling Here!
Education historian Diane Ravitch has written a new best-selling book which challenges the prevailing narrative that U.S. schools are failing. Her book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools, suggests that the problems facing education are problems endemic to society: poverty and gaps between wealthy and poor school districts.
Ravitch chooses not to wrangle over words, which has made her an open target for criticism. As she notes in a blog posting, she considers “speaking plainly” a dangerous activity for a woman: “When men speak plainly and mince no words, they are direct and forceful. When women speak plainly and mince no words, they are abrasive, harsh, and just plain -- well -- rude. The same people who object to my tone waste no time denouncing me in abusive language. I will not deign to notice them. Nor will they intimidate me by their swagger.”
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Celebrating Faithfulness in Spite of Faithlessness
Divisive debates in Washington, D.C., squabbles over foreign policy, and worries over raising the debt ceiling mean just about nothing to pets -- the faithful companions we rely on for companionship in times of hardship and faithlessness.
Pet blessings are gaining popularity these days, particularly during October when the church recalls the ministry of St. Francis of Assisi. These are tail-wagging events that reinforce the bonds between humans and their faithful and furry companions. Such blessings offer a different nuance on Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed...”
In Chicago, for example, members of a church brought animals to be blessed, acknowledging that “you always get a lot more back from animals than you can hope to give.”
“We reflect on being stewards and caregivers of creation,” the Rev. Susan Hawkinson said of her congregation prior to the event. “We aren’t farmers and we aren’t shepherds, but we are called to take responsibility for some part of creation, and our pets are one of the ways we do that. A pet blessing invites people to make a new and fresh commitment to care for their animals.”
*****
Luke 17:11-19
Are “Have Nots” More Likely to Say Thank You?
Why did the leper turn to say thank you? Perhaps this Samaritan had a larger sense of empathy, or perhaps he understood the division between people like himself who lacked position and social power and persons who possess larger amounts of power. Noted psychologist William Goleman explores the notion that persons with large amounts of social power and status often pay scant attention to those who lack such status. In other words, it is easy for the “haves” to overlook the “have nots.” If so, perhaps the Samaritan’s double status as a foreigner and a leper helped him understand the power of gratitude. Goleman notes: “Poor people are better attuned to interpersonal relations -- with those of the same strata, and the more powerful -- than the rich are, because they have to be.”
*****
Luke 17:11-19
The Essential Prayer of Gratitude
Anne Lamott’s little book Help, Thanks, Wow describes what she calls the “three essential prayers.” In an interview last year, she described saying “thank you” this way: “It’s amazement and relief that you caught a break; that your family caught a break; that you didn’t have any reason to believe that things were really going to be OK, and then they were and you just can’t help but say thank you.”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
2 Timothy 2:8-15
In an interview with ABC News correspondent Byron Pitts about his newly published book titled Break Out, Joel Osteen discussed the “five keys” outlined in the book for getting beyond a tough situation. Step number four, which states “Keep the right perspective,” is reflective of Osteen’s theology. With his impeccable smile, Osteen explained, “What we focus on is what gets bigger.” The minister went on to conclude that a tough situation will only bring us something bigger and better if we have faith and focus on God.
Application: Paul’s understanding of enduring is not to receive the blessing of being transferred to a bigger and more luxurious prison cell, but to continue to witness to the sacrificial life of Jesus.
*****
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
During his interview, Pitts asked Osteen about his ministry being associated with the “prosperity gospel.” Osteen replied that he no longer speaks of money, but “I do believe that God wants us to be blessed.”
Application: As this answer illustrates, Osteen in his preaching continuingly focuses on what God can do for me as an individual. Sacrifice and discipleship are woefully absent from Osteen’s message. Jeremiah spoke in terms of a prosperity gospel to the exiles, but the prosperity was not to be individualistic but specifically directed to improving the welfare of the city in which they resided.
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
There has been concern for St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt. Reputedly built on the spot that marks where Moses fell down on his knees before the burning bush, the monastery faces worries that it might become a victim of the civil war raging in Egypt. However, Archbishop Damianos, the overseer of the monastery, does not share the fear that is expressed by others. The archbishop noted that revolutions are a part of Egyptian culture and that the monastery has always remained steadfast. Further, the archbishop noted, the monastery is built as a fortress with 60-foot walls that have withstood persecution for 1,400 years.
Application: We can endure our individual persecutions by relying upon the steadfastness witness of the church that has endured persecution for centuries.
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
The day before the two-year remembrance of the death of Steve Jobs to pancreatic cancer, Apple CEO Tim Cook circulated an e-mail to all of the company’s employees. Part of the correspondence read: “...and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We will continue to honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to the work he loved so much. There is no higher tribute to his memory.”
Application: The tribute that Paul gave to Jesus was to continue to suffer in chains as Christ suffered for us. For Paul, there is no higher tribute to pay to our Lord.
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Sunday, October 6, was a great day for the Pittsburgh Pirates. As Tyler Kepner noted in the New York Times, not only would the Pirates be hosting their first playoff series game in two decades, but they would also be able to play a ballgame on an October Sunday at PNC Park without battling a competing crowd across the parking lot watching the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field (because the Steelers did not play that week). Kepner then went on to compare the two sports when he wrote: “One sport has 16 games and plays once a week. The other has 162 games and plays almost every day.... The one with 10 times the scarcity, naturally, has higher ratings and draws bigger crowds to its individual games. The one with more dates to sell, naturally, has more total viewers and ticket buyers, taking the entire schedule into account. Those who bash baseball forget the second part.”
Application: When Paul speaks of endurance, let us be sure that we keep the meaning of his sacrifice in proper perspective, refusing to dilute its significance.
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Too Much Talk
In a West African folktale, a farmer is digging up his yam harvest when a yam begins to talk to him. Frightened, the farmer asks his dog if he said something, but the dog answers that it wasn’t him, it was the yam. The farmer yells “Aiyee!” and runs away.
Directly he comes to a fisherman, to whom he tells his tale of a talking yam and a talking dog. The fisherman assures him that what he thinks he heard is impossible. But when the fish says that it isn’t, both men yell “Aiyee!” and run away.
Directly they come to a weaver and a swimmer, and each in turn, tells them that what they believe they heard couldn’t possibly be true -- only to have the cloth and the water say that it’s true. They all yell “Aiyee!” and run away.
Finally, they all come to the chief who sits in his big chair, hears their stories, and sends them on their way with a snub and a warning, for fear that such crazy claims will upset the village. Then the chief’s chair speaks its mind and agrees with the chief, only to send the chief running away -- never to be seen again.
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Bad Arguments
Scientist and professional skeptic Don Lindsay offers on his website dozens of fallacious arguments that are commonly used in spite of their lack of logic. Five of the most common are:
1. Ad Hominem -- Personal attacks: “You’re political opinions are wrong because you wear ugly ties.”
2. Confusing the Consequent -- Reversing cause and effect: “All cats die. Socrates died. Socrates must be a cat.”
3. Non-Sequitur -- Conclusions that don’t follow from the evidence: “Lots of people have seen unidentified lights in the sky, proving that life exists on other planets.”
4. Generalization -- Conclusions drawn from a small, non-representative sample size: “Three Muslim terrorists killed people in the city, therefore all Muslims are terrorists.”
5. False Cause -- Assuming that one thing causes another because the two things happen at or near the same time: “Because the sun goes down when the streetlights come on, the streetlights coming on must be causing the sun to go down.”
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Is Fast Talking or Slow Talking More Convincing?
Jeremy Dean, psychologist and the author of Psyblog, warns us that the speed of the speaker’s speech can be an important factor when trying to persuade people of something.
In 1991, Stephen Smith and David Shaffer conducted a study that measured the persuasive power of speech at different speeds. They discovered that when we talk to someone who is already convinced of our point of view, it is better to use slow, measured speech that allows them to hear and digest the arguments.
When trying to convince someone, however, the faster the better. When we are skeptical we are more likely to be convinced by fast-paced speech that doesn’t give us time to sort out and evaluate the arguments.
*****
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Motormouth
Stephen “Steve” Woodmore, a British electronics salesman and comedian, holds the Guinness World Record as the fastest-talking human being on earth, a title he earned by talking from a script at a rate of 637 understandable words per minute, about four times more than the average human being is capable of speaking.
Woodmore’s ability to articulate at such a fast pace is given to the fact that he is able to apply more of his brain to speech than most people, a skill that was verified by an MRI that was taken while he was speed talking. However, by his own admission, when he talks at top speed he is unable to remember or understand anything that he has said.
“When people read something a voice inside their heads tells them what they are reading,” he has said. “I switch that voice off so the information comes into my eyes and straight out of my mouth; I cannot absorb a single word of what it is I have said when talking at world record speeds.”
The world’s fastest talking woman is American comedian Fran Capo, who has been clocked at 605 words per minute.
*****
Luke 17:11-19
Psychology Today on gratitude: “Gratitude is an emotion expressing appreciation for what one has -- as opposed to, say, a consumer-oriented emphasis on what one wants or needs -- and is currently receiving a great deal of attention as a facet of positive psychology. Gratitude is what gets poured into the glass to make it half full. Studies show that gratitude not only can be deliberately cultivated but can increase levels of well-being and happiness among those who do cultivate it. In addition, grateful thinking -- and especially expression of it to others -- is associated with increased levels of energy, optimism, and empathy.”
*****
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Growing Where You’re Planted
The Kadupul flower is considered by many horticulturists to be the rarest, most expensive flower in the world because it is, quite literally, priceless. So rare and fragile is this beautiful bloom that no amount of money can purchase it. It grows only in Sri Lanka, and even native Sri Lankans have rarely seen it. The Kadupul blooms only once in its lifetime, and that is from about midnight to dawn on a single day. Then it dies. If it is picked from its stem, it withers and dies immediately. Due to its short life span it has become almost mythological in Sri Lanka.
The hardiest flower, according to horticulturists, is Passiflora incarnata, commonly known as the Maypop. A native of the southern United States, it is a vining perennial that will grow just about anywhere it is planted, including dry, sandy soil or damp, swampy soil.
*****
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
It covers 700,000 square miles of the United States. It grows nearly a foot a day in ideal conditions. The National Park Service has a bounty on it, and will pay a reward if you see it growing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and report it to the rangers so they can kill it before it takes over.
Kudzu (pronounced either KUD-zoo or KOOD-zoo, depending on what part of the South you come from) was originally brought to the United States by the Japanese, who displayed it in their exhibit at the 1876 American Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. In the 1920s, nursery owners Charles and Lillie Pleas discovered that animals would eat the plant and promoted its use for forage. Their Glen Arden Nursery in Chipley, Florida sold starter plants.
In the 1930s kudzu was planted by the Civilian Conservation Corps to control erosion of topsoil, and it was discovered that the climate in the southern United States was perfect for the plant, which can grow up to 60 feet a year in the right climate. The problem is that when it was introduced to the U.S. none of its natural insect predators came with it, so today it grows absolutely unabated -- covering trees, barns, telephone poles, and houses. It can kill an entire forest by blocking out the sun, and some fear that it is taking over the South.
But it’s not a total curse. There are literally hundreds of uses for kudzu. It can be eaten in salad, quiche, or any dish that spinach is used in; fed to livestock; used as groundcover; twisted into basket; and pressed to make paper. Its roots can be boiled into a tasty tea, and scientists believe that one day it may prove to be of medicinal value.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
People: Sing the glory of God’s name; give to God glorious praise.
Leader: Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!”
People: Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard.
Leader: Come and see what God has done:
People: God is awesome in deeds among mortals.
OR
Leader: Come and hear the word of truth from God.
People: We open our ears, hearts, and lives to our God.
Leader: God speaks the word of truth to us in love.
People: In the knowledge of God’s love, we will listen.
Leader: God calls us to bless others with our words.
People: We offer our mouths as God’s instruments of peace.
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
“Standing on the Promises”
found in:
UMH: 374
AAHH: 373
NNBH: 257
CH: 552
AMEC: 424
“The Voice of God Is Calling”
found in:
UMH: 436
“Open My Eyes, That I May See”
found in:
UMH: 454
PH: 324
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
“How Firm a Foundation”
found in:
UMH: 529
H82: 636, 637
PH: 361
AAHH: 146
NNBH: 48
NCH: 407
CH: 618
LBW: 507
ELA: 796
W&P: 411
AMEC: 433
“Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation”
found in:
UMH: 559
H82: 518
PH: 416, 417
NCH: 400
CH: 275
LBW: 367
ELA: 645
AMEC: 518
“We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations”
found in:
UMH: 569
NNBH: 416
W&P: 562
“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”
found in:
UMH: 626
H82: 324
PH: 5
NCH: 345
CH: 124
LBW: 198
ELA: 490
W&P: 232
Renew: 229
“Refiner’s Fire”
found in:
CCB: 79
“From the Rising of the Sun”
found in:
CCB: 4
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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who speaks and creation comes into being: Grant us the grace to speak with integrity that we may truly reflect your image; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We offer to you, O God, our worship and our praise. You are the one who spoke creation into being and you are the word of life. Help us to hear you speak to us today, that we may reflect the integrity of your speech. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our love of using words to obscure rather than to make plain.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We love to speak and have people listen to us. We like to have people agree with us, and we do not hesitate to use loaded words to add to the weight of what we have to say. We are more concerned with getting others onto our side than we are in discovering the truth. We gladly use religious or religious-sounding words to make it sound like we have divine sanction for our beliefs. Forgive us and cleanse us. Renew us with the power of your Spirit, that we may speak with integrity and not be afraid to be silent. Amen.
Leader: God desires for us to find wholeness in our lives. Part of that wholeness is making our speech and our lives one with God. Receive the forgiveness of God and the grace and power to live in truth.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We worship and praise your Name, O God, for your words are ever true.
(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 love to speak and have people listen to us. We like to have people agree with us, and we do not hesitate to use loaded words to add to the weight of what we have to say. We are more concerned with getting others onto our side than we are in discovering the truth. We gladly use religious or religious-sounding words to make it sound like we have divine sanction for our beliefs. Forgive us and cleanse us. Renew us with the power of your Spirit, that we may speak with integrity and not be afraid to be silent.
We give you thanks for all the blessings you have bestowed upon us. We thank you for the honesty with which you deal with us. Sometimes we don’t like to hear the truth about ourselves, yet we know that truth brings life and wholeness. We thank you for family and friends and for our fellow disciples who are courageous enough to speak the truth to us. We thank you for those who are more interested in caring than in persuading, in listening than talking.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who are wounded by words as well as those who are wounded by actions. The wounds of words are not as visible, but they can be as deadly. Help us to be healers with our speech.
(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
Talk to the children about how good it feels when someone says something nice to us. Talk about how bad it feels when someone says something hurtful to us. God is love, and God does not desire us to hurt one another with our words. God wants us to bless one another with kind words.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
The Importance of Being Grateful
Luke 17:11-19
Object: a bird feeder filled with seed
How many of you feed the birds in your yard? (let the children answer) Different birds like different kinds of feed. I put a different kind of feed in each of my bird feeders so they will attract hummingbirds, bluebirds, cardinals, and even woodpeckers. My backyard is filled with beautiful birds all year long.
I brought along one kind of feed today. This one attracts yellow birds called finches. I just love to watch them hang from the bird feeders and eat their fill. But a couple of years ago, I was really disappointed. I put out the feed and the yellow birds came, but as soon as they finished they flew far away. I could never hear them sing or watch them fly around the backyard. I remember only one of them staying long enough to sing his song and perch on top of the feeder for a while. I wondered where the other birds had gone. How do you think you would feel if you fed the birds every day and they treated you like this? (let them answer) It would make you feel bad, wouldn’t it?
This reminds me of a story. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem when he came to a village. As soon as he entered the village some men began to shout, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” All of these men were very sick. Jesus told them to go to the priests in the temple and show them how sick they were. While they were limping and stumbling toward the temple they began to feel better. Before they even reached the temple, they were healed. One of the men who had been very sick turned around and went back to Jesus. He praised God and fell down on the ground before Jesus and thanked him for healing him.
But where were the other men? What do you think they did? (let them answer) They ran home to tell everyone how happy they were, but they never said a word of thanks to Jesus or praised God in any way. The birds in my backyard are a lot like those ungrateful men.
Does it make any difference if you thank God for all of the good things he gives you? Does it really matter if you thank God for the special things that happen in your life? (let them answer)
The sun will always rise and the rain will fall for everyone. But only the people who thank God will know how much God really loves them and cares for them.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 13, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 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.
