Each newscast last week brought more horrific scenes -- from Monday’s murderous rampage at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, to Thursday night’s senseless shooting in a Chicago park, to Saturday’s brutal attack in a Nairobi shopping mall. While it all seemed numbing, it was also eerily familiar. Mass violence at gunpoint has become an all too regular phenomenon in America -- something President Obama noted when he told an interviewer that he’s deeply concerned about how these incidents are becoming “a ritual that we go through every three, four months.”
In the wake of all this, it’s hard not to live completely in the grip of fear. We want to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the madmen who perpetrate such atrocities. Pundits and news commentators are rehashing the usual list of themes that have been discussed previously (if never acted on): restricting access to automatic weaponry; instituting tighter background checks before allowing gun purchases; improving procedures and systems for identifying and treating the mentally ill; cracking down on gang culture in our inner cities; addressing the fetishization of violence in popular culture. (And of course, we could also include dealing with the inherent evil of the sinful human heart.) Terror shakes us -- it seems that no place in our lives is immune from random violence. Think of all the places mass shootings have taken place in recent years: schools, shopping malls, movie theaters, workplaces, political rallies, military bases, even houses of worship. In what can we trust?
As team member Dean Feldmeyer points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, some suggest that security is to be found in wealth or in armaments. But this week’s lectionary texts all remind us that any worldly refuges we turn to are bound to fail -- because the only place where we will find our ultimate deliverance from the tyranny of fear and evil is in the Lord. As Psalm 91 summarizes: “My refuge and my fortress [is] my God, in whom I trust.... Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.... I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them” -- even if, as Dean notes, that deliverance is on God’s time rather than ours.
Team member Leah Lonsbury offers some additional thoughts on what this week’s epistle and gospel passages have to say about the great chasm in our society between the rich and the poor, particularly those for whom “food security” is a daily issue. There are some who are well-to-do, like Panera Bread CEO Ron Shaich, who are trying to understand what life is like for those on the other side of the chasm... those who, like Lazarus, have to subsist on “what fell from the rich man’s table.” While for them it may only be a temporary exercise, it’s nevertheless extremely eye-opening -- and, Leah suggests, perhaps an important step in bridging the chasm and “tak[ing] hold of the life that really is life.”
A Vessel of Hope
by Dean Feldmeyer
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31
In what do we place our hope?
As the floods recede in Colorado and our brothers and sisters return to what used to be their towns and homes, this question must surely be on their minds.
The dead from last week’s gun massacre in Washington, DC, were not yet buried when we got the news of another mass shooting in a Chicago park. And then came word of a grisly attack in a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, that resulted in numerous casualties and mass terror.
Is there no place that is safe? Is there no longer any sanctuary?
Where does the assurance of our safety, our security, our hope for the future reside? Or is our search for security a fool’s errand? Can such a thing be found? And if it can actually be found and captured and owned, is it a value that Christians should pursue? Are “hope” and “security” synonymous?
In the News
Just over a year ago (April 2012) on public radio’s Marketplace program, host Kai Ryssdal interviewed Frank Newport, editor-in-chief of Gallup, about where Americans are investing their money. Newport reported that fear was one of the most important factors guiding Americans’ investment decisions. In a poll with five options, Newport noted that 28% responded that gold was the safest investment; 20% chose real estate; 19% said stocks were the best; and 19% chose savings accounts. The rest (14%) couldn’t even make a guess. In addition, Newport mentioned that only 53% of Americans were invested in the stock market, the lowest percentage in a decade and down from a high of 67% in 2002. Also noteworthy is that people under 30 years of age chose savings accounts and gold as their preferred investment strategies.
Only a year later (June 2013), Mitch Tuchman, writing for Forbes, points out: “If you’re like most folks, you want two things from your money: For it to increase, and bring you no surprises in the process. In effect, most people really want a savings account.” But his advice is the exact opposite -- explaining why cash and gold are two of the three riskiest investment strategies: “People love cash. They love paper money and associate it with financial firepower. What they forget is that inflation is a constant. Historically, inflation has been 3.4% a year since 1914. What that means is you need to earn at least 3.4% over the long haul just to stand still.” Historically, Tuchman says, precious metals tend to enjoy brief surges in popularity followed by decades wherein they are lousy investments.
He concludes by suggesting that the “safe” thing to do (he puts the word “safe” in quotation marks) is to invest in “a broad selection of stocks through inexpensive indexing products such as exchange-traded funds.”
Whatever that means. I can hardly wait to hear what will be “safe” next year.
Okay, so maybe safety, security, a sense of hope aren’t to be found in investment strategies. Maybe these things come from the barrel of a gun.
Gun manufacturers and their spokespeople at the NRA want us to believe that our only hope of safety and security is in our ability to arm ourselves. NRA executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre declared on Meet the Press that while we need to fix our mental health system, we don’t need to monkey around with our gun laws. “The whole country... knows the problem was there weren’t enough good guys with guns,” LaPierre said, echoing the oft-quoted sentiment that the only thing that can stop a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun. So, while we’ve never actually read that line in scripture, we will presumably only be safe when we are all armed to the teeth and prepared, at every moment, to kill each other.
And with the help of those gun manufacturers, we’re doing our best to get to just that point. Currently there are 101.5 guns in America for every 100 people. Of 178 countries that allow private ownership of guns, we rank number one in number of guns per capita. In our country of roughly 300 million people, there are currently 110 million rifles, 86 million shotguns, and 114 million handguns. American gun manufacturers have produced 38.9 million guns in the ten years from 2000-2010, with 2008 (4.5 million), 2009 (5.5 million), and 2010 (5.4 million) the highest ever.
With all those guns being manufactured, bought, and sold in the U.S., we must be the safest people on earth, right? Well...
A study released this week and published in the Oct. 2013 issue of the American Journal of Medicine concluded that “abundant gun availability facilitates firearm-related deaths” and that “the current study debunks the widely quoted hypothesis that countries with higher gun ownership are safer than those with low gun ownership.”
And nowhere is the correlation of gun ownership and gun violence more obvious than in our American cities. According to figures compiled from several sources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, our cities are at least as violent as some of the most violent countries on earth. If New Orleans was a country, it would tie with Honduras for the most gun deaths per 100,000 people in the world (62.1). “Detroit’s gun homicide rate (35.9) is just a bit less than El Salvador (39.9). Baltimore’s rate (29.7) is not too far off that of Guatemala (34.8). Gun murder in Newark (25.4) and Miami (23.7) is comparable to Colombia (27.1). Washington, DC (19) has a higher rate of gun homicide than Brazil (18.1). Atlanta’s rate (17.2) is about the same as South Africa (17). And Cleveland (17.4) has a higher rate than the Dominican Republic (16.3).”
So if we can’t place our hope and our trust in our money and other things we own or in our guns to keep us safe, where can we place it?
In the Scriptures
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
The prophet Jeremiah must have been asking pretty much this same question, even as it was being asked of him. The city of Jerusalem was under siege by King Nebuchadnezzar and the army of Babylon. The water was running out, disease was running rampant, the food was going bad. When King Zedekiah, whom he had tutored and cared for as a child, asked him for advice, Jeremiah consulted with God and then advised the king to surrender: “Put your trust not in the strength of your army or in the thickness of the city’s wall. Trust, instead, in the word of the Lord.”
For that, he was accused of treason and placed under house arrest in the court of the king’s bodyguard.
But when he learns from his confinement that a piece of land in his beloved and besieged country has become available for him to buy, he jumps on the opportunity. He purchases the land and has his companion Baruch bury the deed in an earthenware jar as a sign. Even if we surrender the city, he says, that is not the end. God will win out and bring us back here someday: “For thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”
Psalm 91
The Psalmist chooses the fortress, the refuge as a metaphor for God. God is the deliverer for those who love the Lord. Those who love God need not fear darkness or arrows or pestilence or destruction. “Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.”
1 Timothy 6:6-19
In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he reminds us that we “brought nothing into this world and can take nothing out of it.”
As we ponder our investment strategies, we hear him remind us that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” For a truly safe investment, he suggests that we invest in “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.” Christians should not “set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God.”
If we want to be rich, “be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.”
Luke 16:19-31
The Gospel writer tells us the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, whose name in myth and legend is Dives.
For years, Lazarus sits by the gate at Dives’ house and begs, but rich Dives is blind to the poor man’s presence. He doesn’t even see him. He walks by and does nothing for him.
Then one day they both die, and Lazarus goes to heaven and Dives goes to hell. That should be enough, right? The story could end here. But it goes on.
Heaven and hell, in this story, are pictured not as above and below but on the same plane, divided by a great chasm. When Dives sees Lazarus on the other side, sitting in the bosom of father Abraham, he asks that the poor man be put in his place and be sent to get a drink of water for the rich man. Father Abraham has to explain to him that things have been reversed here.
Dives, for whom this turnabout is a terrible shock, asks if Lazarus can be sent to warn his brothers, who are as rich and insensitive as he.
Abraham says that they have had fair warning from the prophets, and even one returning from the dead would not work on them.
The investments of Dives have not paid off in any way that is even remotely helpful.
In the Sermon
Much fun can be had with a sermon based on these texts. We all invest our hope in things that do not last, and the stories of such ill-advised investments are legion.
We invest in guns that are subsequently used to rob us. We invest in plastic surgery that leaves us looking worse than we did before. We invest our hope in our children, and ingrates that they are, they insist on growing up and living their own lives. We invest in gold just before precious metals tank. We invest in cassette tapes just as compact disks reach the market.
On September 22, 2013, my church celebrated our bicentennial anniversary. Part of our celebration was the sealing of a time capsule to be opened in 2063, the contents of which had been the subject of much discussion. We all agreed that a recording of the worship service would be nice -- until someone pointed out that no matter what we recorded it on, the chances were very good that in 50 years they would not have the means to play it back.
It is too easy, however, to say simply, “Our hope is in the Lord,” and leave it at that.
Homiletical integrity demands that we also deal honestly and sensitively with those who have placed their hope in God and been disappointed or hurt or even killed.
How shall we respond to those Pakistani Christians, at least 78 at last count, who put their trust and hope in the Lord and went to worship, only to be killed or wounded by suicide bombers last Sunday as they left church? And what assurance can we give to those fearful souls in Kenya who thought it was safe to go to the mall and found themselves quaking and hiding in fear as they watched their fellow shoppers murdered by terrorists?
King Zedekiah eventually followed Jeremiah’s advice and surrendered the city to Nebuchadnezzar. Captured with his family as he tried to escape, he was forced to watch as his sons were killed -- and then he was himself blinded and carried off to die in a Babylonian prison.
Jeremiah’s prediction would come true, however. After 70 years of exile, the children of Israel would be allowed to return and begin rebuilding their country and their lives.
God is a worthy vessel for our hope, but there is no promise of immediate safety or satisfaction in that hope. Hope placed in God is sometimes a profound and distant hope that may leave us waiting and wanting, only to bear fruit for our children and grandchildren.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Leah Lonsbury
1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31
Earlier this month, Forbes released its annual Forbes 400 -- a listing of this year’s 400 richest people in America. The list reveals that the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth just over $2 trillion, a number that is roughly equivalent to Russia’s GDP. Forbes reports that this constitutes a gain of $300 billion from just one year ago, and more than doubles the total tally from just a decade ago.
On average, the net worth of the 400 list members is an astounding and record-setting $5 billion, $800 million more than in 2012. The minimum net worth needed to make the list was a cool $1.3 billion, a high that hasn’t been seen since 2007 and 2008 -- before the economic collapse when property and stock market values started their downturn. Because this year’s minimum seems much more like a maximum for most, there were 61 American billionaires that didn’t even make it on the list.
If this week’s text from Luke was being used as an introduction to Forbes’ 2013 list, it might need to be edited to read: “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day...”
...and he didn’t even catch Forbes’ eye.
Before Forbes released its list this month, the New York Times was busy telling the story of Americans who find themselves on an entirely different list -- one that tallies the millions of people in our country who are living in “food insecure” households. That’s the bureaucratic jargon the Department of Agriculture uses to mean that some family members lack “consistent access throughout the year to adequate food.” In 2012, 49 million Americans lived in one of those “food insecure” households. As Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the Times puts it in her article, “In short, many Americans went hungry.”
The Department of Agriculture’s 2012 survey reports that this number of “many” has remained essentially unchanged since the economic downturn began in 2008, but that it was significantly higher than in the previous decade.
To borrow from our Luke text again, it would be easy to draw the conclusion that “a great chasm has been fixed” (v. 26), so great that on one side we see 400 Americans sitting on $2 trillion while on the other side 49 million people lacked the basic resources they needed to keep from going hungry last year. As Panera Bread’s CEO Ron Shaich puts it: “We live in the ‘land of plenty,’ and yet nearly 48 million people receive food stamps and 16 million children go to bed hungry.”
Shaich is one of those who is attempting to prove that the chasm is not fixed and the distance between us can be crossed. From September 13th to September 19th, he took the “SNAP Challenge” to draw awareness to Hunger Action Month. Budgeting just $4.50 for a day’s worth of food -- the average benefit per person provided by the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) -- for seven consecutive days, Shaich documented the challenges and precarious positions 49 million Americans find themselves in on a regular basis in a series of blog entries. (Shaich quickly and repeatedly drew attention to the controlled nature of this experiment.*** He acknowledged he didn’t face the stresses of years of living in this position, attempting to feed children with such limited means, or surviving poverty’s many threatening layers, such as unexpected household or medical expenses that could compromise the security of a month or more’s worth of food or stable housing.)
So what inspired a person in Shaich’s position to take the first steps toward crossing the chasm? Reading a New York Times article telling the stories of two people attempting to make it on the limited benefits SNAP (the official moniker of the food stamp program) provides as Congress considers a bill that would cut $40 billion in SNAP funding over the next 10 years “by imposing work requirements and eliminating waivers for some able-bodied adults.”
One of those people is Dustin Rigsby, a self-described “Southern man” and struggling mechanic who hunts deer, doves, and squirrels to help feed his family. He also searches for grocery bargains, fixes “budget-stretching stews,” and limits himself to one meal a day in an attempt to provide for his one year-old son and his wife. Recently Rigsby, out of work due to knee injury, had to sell his truck for cash. His wife Christina had this to say about her little family’s modest dreams: “When we got married, we told each other that we want to be able to sit down at the table and eat as a family. But we don’t really get to do that.”
In Dyersburg, a small city about 75 miles north of Memphis where the Rigsby family lives, corn and soybean farms abound. This bounty includes a farm owned by the local Republican congressman, Representative Stephen Fincher, that brings our chasm and Washington’s food stamp debate into sharp perspective. Mr. Fincher, the Rigsbys’ literal and biblical neighbor, collected nearly $3.5 million in farm subsidies from the government from 1999 to 2012, and also recently voted for a farm bill that omitted food stamps. After this vote last May, Fincher said publicly: “The role of citizens, of Christianity, of humanity, is to take care of each other, not for Washington to steal from those in the country and give to others in the country.” Yet in Dyer County, where Fincher and the Rigsbys reside, 19.4 percent of residents were “food insecure” in 2011, compared with 16.4 percent nationwide.
Can Ron Shaich with his one-week SNAP challenge even attempt to close the chasm that has Mr. Fincher on one side and the Rigsby family on the other?
Shaich might not get there completely on his own, but the question he answered for a reporter interviewing him about his SNAP challenge experience might provide the direction Shaich needs, that we all need, to start closing the distance. Here’s what he blogged about the reporter’s inquiry into any long-term goals that might have arisen from this experience:
I wasn’t stumped, but “eradicating hunger” seemed like a copout type of answer. Yes, of course, that’s the vision, but I told her that my overarching goal is to get the American public to think about and answer this question: In what kind of society do we want to live?
There are any number of news stories or issues in our daily lives that might challenge us to ask ourselves that same question.
So taking into consideration...
* the SNAP debate and farm bill legislation being floated;
* the current battle over gun control and the repeated loss of life from mass shootings and the growing mass of accidental and senseless acts of gun violence;
* the rising challenges and plummeting resources our veterans face in addressing their overwhelming post-service needs;
* recent action taken by the Supreme Court to gut portions of the Voting Rights Act and the immediate response by states to redistrict and institute stricter voter identification laws;
* the Supreme Court’s recent ruling to strike down central provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act that denied federal benefits to same-sex couples married in jurisdictions that recognize their unions;
...we must ask ourselves, in what kind of society do we want to live?
Our passage from 1 Timothy for this week has some clear direction as to how we must form our answer to that question as followers of Jesus. It teaches us to:
* pursue godliness through righteous living, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness;
* trade the maddening and ruinous race for wealth and accumulation for contentment in having the necessities and God’s promise of presence;
* set our hope in the riches of God’s blessings and love;
* and accumulate only acts of goodness and generous works.
This is the kind of society, the kind of kin-dom in which we want to live as followers of Jesus. Because as we follow his way, we learn that we can only reach and hold “the life that is really life” (v. 19) when we are extending our arms and hearts out to one another over the chasms between us.
In first Timothy’s language that means “if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these” (v. 8).
It also means we cannot be content until everyone has food and clothing. For that is what it means to “keep the commandment without spot or blame” (v. 14).
The commandment?
Loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Clothing our neighbors as ourselves.
Feeding our neighbors as ourselves.
Honoring our neighbors as ourselves.
Blessing our neighbors as ourselves.
This is the society in which we want to live. This is the life that is really life.
***************
*** Experiments like Shaich’s aren’t always well received. In light of some of the responses to Shaich’s blog -- and stories like this, about a South African family that exchanged their gated suburban estate for a month of life in a tin shack in a nearby squatters compound -- how can we carefully shape our response to the need before us? How can we challenge ourselves and our congregations to reach across the chasm instead of pushing our neighbors into the deep divide that lies between us?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Luke 16:19-31
Ron Shaich, the CEO of Panera Bread, decided to live for one week on food stamps. This allowed him to spend $4.50 per day, or a weekly grocery budget of $31. He reported many unhappy experiences with his budget, one of which was eating his morning cereal absent of milk. As the week progressed he became fixated on food -- his thoughts became “consumed by food” and he experienced “food insecurity.” Shaich did this experiment and blogged about his experience, for he is a strong advocate for hunger awareness. He has also established the program Panera Cares, which offers free food and is operated on donations.
Application: Lazarus was living on food stamps.
*****
Luke 16:19-31
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released their report on how Americans spend their income. The report indicated that only 5% went for entertainment; the remaining percentage was spent on what would be termed as necessities.
Application: Lazarus certainly fell into the group of individuals who have no disposable income.
*****
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Recently Forbes released its list of the 400 richest people in America. To be eligible for this year’s list an individual needed a net worth of at least $1.3 billion. Bill Gates was listed in the top two for the 20th year in a row, with a net worth of over $72 billion. The holder of the number two spot continued to be Warren Buffett, whose net worth exceeded $58 billion. Yet these two men are not haughty with their wealth. Gates has given $28 billion to charity, and Buffett has contributed $20 billion during his lifetime.
Application: We often have a disdain for people with wealth, failing to realize that many wealthy people are good people who are generous givers to social causes.
*****
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Sales are down 10% at Men’s Wearhouse this year. This is mainly because men are not renting or purchasing tuxedos for weddings. The reason for this is not related to the men, but to the women... the brides, to be exact. Bowing to superstition, many do not want to get married in a year that ends in 13.
Application: A temptation can misguide us not to spend money responsibly, on one of life’s most meaningful experiences.
*****
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Television talk shows are no longer about guests and informative topics. According to the New York Times, what they have become primarily about is “the brand of me” -- i.e., infomercials for celebrities to promote their name-brand products. At one time celebrities wanted to host a talk show as the peak of an aspiring career; now they seek talk shows for the purposes of marketing. As the Times notes: “Back in the days of Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore, and Phil Donahue, a talk show was a goal itself, either as a second act for older stars or as the apex to years of climbing the show business ladder. Now it’s added currency in the 24-hour-a-day business of being famous.”
Application: We are warned about not being content with the possessions and money we presently have.
***************
From team member Chris Keating:
Psalm 91
And God Shall Lift You Up
The popular hymn “On Eagle’s Wings” draws its imagery from Psalm 91 and is often sung at funerals. Its soothing tone and uplifting words have generated hope and comfort to many bereaved persons. Yet in the wake of so much violence this week -- the Navy Yard shootings, the attacks at a Chicago park, and acts of terror at a mall in Nairobi, Kenya -- perhaps soft words of hope are not sufficient. A recent video may help raise the poetry of this Psalm to new heights -- literally.
A videographer in France apparently equipped an eagle with a miniature high definition camcorder, capturing soaring views of the Mer de Glace glacier region. The 1 ½ minute clip, completely suitable for worship, has generated millions of views. “Flying Eagle Point of View” is part of a French documentary and includes sound of wind rushing through the eagle’s wings and near-misses with soaring trees. It reminds viewers that while safety may be found under the wings of God’s care, the view can be both frightening and breathtaking.
Application: Despite the popularity of “On Eagle’s Wings,” Psalm 91 is more than a chorus of soft hope and muted mercy. Rather, like an eagle taking flight, the Psalm promises God’s daring provision even in the midst of frightening landscapes.
*****
Luke 16:19-31
Broad Caverns of Division
The ever-widening gap between the rich and poor Americans provides another way of understanding this parable of gaps and chasms. According to The Economist, the broad gaps between rich and poor may actually serve to slow overall economic growth and also pose significant political and domestic challenges. For example, during this recent recovery, 95% of the economic gains have gone to the richest 1% of Americans.
Application: In the parable, Lazarus lies just outside the rich man’s gated home; eventually, however, even this small gap broadens into a deep, impassible chasm.
*****
Luke 16:19-31
Like the rich man, it may be hard to imagine the gaps that exist between rich and poor today. The Washington Post website offers an intriguing map which shows the United States’ growing inequality. On another site, there is a link to a Youtube video from 2012 that provides a different view of the gap between rich and poor. That video discusses the decline in savings in America, and shows how one percent of the nation owns 50 percent of all stocks and bonds. It challenges viewers to “wake up and realize that the reality in this country is not at all what we think it is.”
Application: The rich man pleaded with Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers in order that he might warn them of the dangers of ignoring the poor. How often have we ignored the warning signs that we have seen. Abraham remains certain that the brothers are not likely to change their ways “even if someone rises from the dead.”
*****
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Better Than a Blizzard
Teenager Joey Prusak was just doing his job at the Dairy Queen in Hopkins, Minnesota. But the 19-year old’s integrity and generosity earned him a phone call from one of the world’s richest men. According to reports, a blind man in line at the Dairy Queen accidentally dropped a $20 bill. Before anyone could say a word, a woman behind the man pocketed the bill. Prusak took action, politely asking the woman to give back the money or leave the store. When she refused, Prusak didn’t serve her, and took the additional step of reaching into his wallet to give the man $20. After the story went viral, the young boy received a surprise phone call from billionaire Warren Buffett, a majority stockholder in Dairy Queen.
Application: In the face of “all kinds of evil,” Paul reminds Timothy to pursue “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.” Joey Prusak shunned the love of money in order to fight the good fight of faith.
*****
1 Timothy 6:6-19
There He Goes Again
Once more showing his penchant for provocative off-the-cuff remarks, Pope Francis this week condemned economic systems that promote inequality between rich and poor. Later, he spoke against the idolization of “the god of money” that tends to marginalize the young, old, and poor. “We throw away grandparents, and we throw away young people,” the pope said. “We have to say no to this throwaway culture. We want a just system that helps everyone.” He was speaking on the island of Sardinia, an area of great income disparity.
Application: The pope’s call to greater income equality resonates with Paul’s words to be “rich in good works, generous, and ready to share” that enables taking “hold of the life that really is life.”
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
People: who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
Leader: will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress;
People: my God, in whom I trust.”
Leader: For God will deliver us from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence;
People: God’s faithfulness is our shield and buckler.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God who saves us!
People: In God alone do we find safety.
Leader: Come to the rock that stands forever.
People: In God’s shadow we rest secure.
Leader: Hope in the God of all eternity.
People: In God Eternal is our hope and our trust.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
found in:
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELA: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms”
found in:
UMH: 133
AAHH: 371
NNBH: 262
NCH: 471
CH: 560
ELA: 774
W&P: 496
AMEC: 525
“Trust and Obey”
found in:
UMH: 467
AAHH: 380
NNBH: 322
CH: 556
W&P: 443
AMEC: 377
“Give to the Winds Thy Fears”
found in:
UMH: 129
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand”
found in:
UMH: 474
PH: 404
AAHH: 471
NCH: 472
CH: 628
ELA: 773
W&P: 500
AMEC: 393
STLT: 199
“Stand By Me”
found in:
UMH: 512
NNBH: 318
CH: 629
W&P: 495
AMEC: 420
“On Eagle’s Wings”
found in:
UMH: 143
CH: 77
ELA: 787
W&P: 438
CCB: 97
Renew: 112
“The Voice of God Is Calling”
found in:
UMH: 436
“All I Need Is You”
found in:
CCB: 100
“Learning to Lean”
found in:
CCB: 74
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is our only true hope: Give us the grace to trust in you and your reign of love that we might not give in to fear and violence; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you are the ground of our hope. In you alone do we find safety. Help us to hear your words of hope and to ground our lives in your life. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we look to violence as our hope instead of looking to God’s reign.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have taken the name of Jesus upon us, but we have not taken his teachings seriously enough. We hear his words about loving enemies and turning the other cheek, but we arm ourselves instead. We demand more guns, harsher sentences for those convicted of crimes, and no release for violent criminals. We have lost all hope because we have taken our eyes off Jesus. Forgive us, and call us back to sit at his feet and listen. Help us to listen and obey. Amen.
Leader: God calls us back and is ever ready for us to learn and to change. Receive God’s love and forgiveness and live in the power of God’s Spirit.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We worship and adore you, O God, for you are our hope in every situation. In you we find strength for our lives.
(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 taken the name of Jesus upon us, but we have not taken his teachings seriously enough. We hear his words about loving enemies and turning the other cheek, but we arm ourselves instead. We demand more guns, harsher sentences for those convicted of crimes, and no release for violent criminals. We have lost all hope because we have taken our eyes off Jesus. Forgive us, and call us back to sit at his feet and listen. Help us to listen and obey.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you show us your love and in which you give us hope. We thank you for those who have loved us and nurtured us in so many ways. We thank you for our baptism and place in your Church, which reminds us of the security that you alone can provide.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our several needs. We pray for those who have lost hope and those born into hopelessness. We pray for those whose circumstances of life have taken their sense of security from them.
(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 about the things you can count on or trust in. You can trust a glass to hold a drink of water, but it can’t hold a gallon or an ocean. You can trust a fielder’s glove to catch a baseball, but not a cannonball. The only thing that we can trust in every situation is God.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Rich and Poor
Luke 16:19-31
Object: some play money
Sometimes it’s fun to pretend we’re rich and use play money like it were real money. I’ll bet you enjoy that -- I do. We can make lots and lots of play money, but can we really use it at the mall? Will merchants take our play money and give us what we want to buy? No, they won’t! It is just play money and they will not accept it -- unless they are also playing.
When it comes to true riches, even real money is play money -- because true riches come from God. Anyone with faith in God is rich. That means you and I are rich people! We have all that we ever need if we have faith.
One of the great gifts God gives to all those who believe is the gift of true wealth. Jesus showed us this one day when he told the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus was a very poor man, but the rich man had everything -- he thought. And then he died! Lazarus had nothing -- but faith. That made him very wealthy -- in true wealth.
Whether we are rich or poor with money and toys and things we own, our true wealth is our faith in Christ Jesus. I’m glad we have faith!
Prayer: We are rich people, God, because we believe and know you. Help us share the good news so that many others might become rich in this way as well. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, September 29, 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.
