What are We Doing Here?
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
For January 27, 2019:
What Are We Doing Here?
by Mary Austin
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
On the Fourth of July, the neighbors in my tiny town come out to the curb with lawn chairs and lemonades, united in the fun of watching the local parade. The high school band goes by, followed by the mayor in a convertible. Classic cars fill the air with the kind of exhaust fumes that are now banned, and the small kids throw candy to the spectators. Then we all walk down to the park and admire the baked goods in the bake-off, and eat hot dogs grilled by the Recreation Department. Police officers inflate balloons for kids.
We’re all there to celebrate America and the gift of our freedom. Or maybe it’s to see our other neighbors. Or maybe we have a kid in the parade.
It’s hard to rally people around a common cause, even one as simple as the Fourth of July. Political beliefs fuel our large public gatherings, like the annual March for Life, supporting an end to abortion and the Women's March, which had broad support two years ago, and has run into controversy this time. Marching is fun, and it stirs up enthusiasm for a cause. It’s fun to be with other people who share one’s political beliefs. One participant in the Women’s March flew from California to Washington, DC, for the march, saying, “It’s my dream come true. For the first time in my lifetime, I don’t feel like the only feminist in my town.”
When our big public assemblies unite around political causes, some people joyfully jump in, and others are left fuming — or puzzled — at home. Even the now-iconic March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech was controversial in its day. Now seen as a great moment in American history, paving the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “the liberals and even conservatives were happy to claim the demonstration as their own — often focusing narrowly on the relatively moderate and conciliatory message of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech while overlooking more confrontational statements” by others.
In Nehemiah, the gathering of the people in Jerusalem includes everyone, women and men, the priests and Levites, plus ordinary people who have come from the towns all around Jerusalem. What cause might draw us all out the National Mall, or Central Park, or to our small town squares?
In the Scriptures
The story of Nehemiah begins when he’s the cupbearer for the King of Persia. Reports come from Jerusalem about the battered state of the city, and he weeps at the news. The king sees him sad, and asks why. He’s determined to rebuild, and secures permission to travel to Jerusalem, safe passage along the way and the ability to use wood from the king’s forest to rebuild the broken city (2:4-10). The king even sends officers of the army along with him.
He finds Jerusalem burned and battered, and inspires the people to rebuild different sections of the city. (Chapter 3.) After the hard work of rebuilding, Nehemiah calls this assembly, which is a mixture of people. Some have stayed behind, and others have returned from exile. The people who return are not the people who left, but new generations who have lived all their lives in the magnificent city of the exile. They have only heard about Jerusalem from parents and grandparents. Perhaps the city grew in the telling, and we can imagine their surprise when they see how battered and broken down Jerusalem is, after the splendors of big city Babylon. The city they longed to return to doesn’t look all that great. The people are hungry (5:2) while enemies circle around (6:16). Everything is in the process of becoming something new. “The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few and no houses had been built.” (7:4) Still, some people are thriving, and contributing large sums to the rebuilding effort, and “the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their towns.”
We see Nehemiah call the people to Jerusalem for the reading of the law, and they listen attentively for much longer than any modern church goers would stand for. Dr. Patricia Tull gives us the historical background at Working Preacher, “They gather on the first day of the seventh month, which today is Rosh Hashanah (the fall new year), which is followed by Yom Kippur and the Festival of Sukkot, or Booths. They gather not at the temple but at the Water Gate, where all are admitted. The location of this gate is uncertain, but its name suggests proximity to the Gihon spring, Jerusalem’s only natural water source, on the eastern side of the city (cf. Nehemiah 3:26; 12:37). The Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 4) would later place the Water Gate on the way to the pool of Siloam, and would associate it with a joyous water-drawing ritual during the week of Sukkot (see verses 14-18).”
As they listen, the people weep, and are called back to joy. Ezra and Nehemiah tell the assembled people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” They add: “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Whether they weep because of the state of their lives, or when they see their separation from God, they are not to stop there. There’s another step. Dr. Tull adds, in the article above, “The grammar of this final assertion is intriguing. Translations and commentators disagree over whether it is more properly rendered, “[your] joy in the Lord is your strength,” or “the Lord’s joy is your strength.” Either way, the point of cheerful trust in God is clear.”
In the News
The people at the Water Gate in Jerusalem have a unity of purpose that we never seem to find in our big public assemblies. The annual March for Life, where Vice President Pence and his wife appeared, generated an encounter between a Native American activist, Catholic high school boys and the Hebrew Israelites, a group of African-American men. “Soon, the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, 64, was encircled by an animated group of high school boys. He beat a ceremonial drum as a boy wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat stood inches away. The boy identified himself in a statement released on Sunday night as Nick Sandmann, a junior. It was a provocative image that rocketed across social media, leading many, including the students’ own school, to condemn the boys’ behavior as disrespectful. But on Sunday, Mr. Phillips clarified that it was he who had approached the crowd and that he had intervened because racial tensions — primarily between the white students and the black men — were “coming to a boiling point.” “I stepped in between to pray,” Mr. Phillips said. In his statement, Mr. Sandmann said he did not antagonize or try to block Mr. Phillips. “I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves,” he said. The encounter became the latest touch point for racial and political tensions in America, with diverging views about what really had happened. The three groups were all in the same space for different purposes. Despite the presence of videos, no one agrees even on what actually happened.
The Vice President and his wife are also facing criticism after she accepted a part-time teaching job at a school that prohibits LGBTQ students or parents. “A clause in the Immanuel Christian School's parent agreement says the school "reserves the right" to refuse admission to or discontinue enrollment of a student if their activities are "in opposition to the biblical lifestyle the school teaches." Mrs. Pence taught at the school previously, when the Vice President served in Congress. The school’s stance fits with the Pences’ Christian beliefs, but raises the question of whether the Vice President and his wife should support a place that openly discriminates. Mrs. Pences’ spokeswoman said, “It’s absurd that her decision to teach art to children at a Christian school, and the school’s religious beliefs, are under attack.”
Even when we share a common Christian faith, the unity of the people listening at the Water Gate is elusive for us.
In the Sermon
What would unify us a Christians? What cause could we all gather around? Our faith is a source of support and guidance for each of us, but we live it in such different ways. Even a national gathering of Christians designed to simply rejoice in God would run into controversy about what songs we sing to express our rejoicing, and about who gets to address the assembly. Could we do better about unity around the things we can all agree on? Could all Christians agree on care for the poor? Care for the immigrant and the alien, as the Bible commands? Could we agree just to demonstrate our faith in public?
Part of Nehemiah’s journey is deep repentance. (1:5-7). He confesses his own distance from God, and the sins of his family and the people of Israel. Would a true season of repentance help us turn more fully to God? What would it look like? What sacrifices would we need to make to deeply repent?
Or, the sermon might look at how we rejoice in God. As pastors, we know better than to tell people, “don’t cry about that; be happy.” No one with a serious illness, or grieving the loss of a loved one, or facing financial stress wants to be told to be joyful. The sermon might look at the ways we recover joy in our lives. Most often it comes step by step, as grief or pain shifts, instead of all at once. Nehemiah himself “mourns for days,” (1:4) before he sets on his quest to restore the city. He’s so mournful that the king even notices that his wine-bearer is sad, when he never has been before. The sermon might look at the long process of bringing joy back after a deep sorrow. How might we help each other recover joy, as we live together in communities of faith? Can we be joy-bringers to one another as we live together in a community of faith?
Or the sermon might look at the complexities of rebuilding. People all over the country face Nehemiah’s dilemma. In California, people are rebuilding homes burned by wildfires. Should they rebuild in the same place, knowing wildfires will come again? “Each successive blaze has claimed more homes, reflecting increasing development in the area — 100 structures in a 1956 blaze, 103 in 1970, 230 in 1978 and 268 in 1993.” The 2018 fires took over 600 homes. “Besides the threat to life, there's the cost to taxpayers involving the massive effort needed to fight the fires. The average cost of defending a home under threat from wildfires is about $82,000.” In Houston, Hurricane Harvey posed the same question. Should communities rebuild in the same place? Apart from the financial cost, the stress for homeowners is unrelenting. A year after the storm, there were disparities in who was able to rebuild their homes. “In many low-income neighborhoods around Houston, it feels like Harvey struck not last year but last month. Some of Houston’s most vulnerable and impoverished residents remain in the early stages of their rebuilding effort and live in the shadows of the widespread perception that Texas has successfully rebounded from the historic flooding.” The sermon might look at the level of stress people face in any rebuilding project.
The gathering of the people in Jerusalem is inspiring, as we look at their dedication to restoring their city, and the energy they put into it. Even there, though, there are obstacles and people who don’t believe in the project. Still, Nehemiah calls the people to turn toward God and celebrate what they can. Even in the incomplete city, there is something to inspire joy. We are allowed to weep, to mourn as long as we need to, and then God’s call is back to joy in what God is doing. For the people among us who can’t reach for joy just yet, our work is to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, and to help them move toward joy. This feels like an obligation, but is really a gift.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Jesus Throws His Hat Into The Ring
by Bethany Peerbolte
Luke 4.14-21
Anticipation builds, the rumors of will they or won’t they spread. Every time they speak in public the expectation of a big announcement buzzes in the crowd. Then one day they finally make the announcement, they will be running for president in 2020.
As 2019 begins we have seen several democratic candidates declare their intent to run for president. Some are people we expected, some are people we have never heard of, but all of them come with a glimmer of hope. This could be the person to turn the whole ship around. They might be the leader we need to call us back into alignment with our sacred text, The Constitution, and guide us to fulfilling liberty and justice for all.
Each candidate comes with years of preparation and experience behind them. Whether they have studied law their whole lives or just recently made the career switch they do not come unseasoned. Each one has thought carefully about this decision. They have talked to their family, trusted advisors, possibly even past presidents to make sure this is the right choice. Candidates make sure they are informed on important topics and surround themselves with people who will help them along the way. Running in a presidential race is not something someone does on a whim.
Every announcement is carefully plotted too. The location, the outfit, the words are all crafted to appeal to the demographic that will win the election for that candidate. First impressions count and these announcements can tell voters a lot about a person. There is a difference between a candidate who makes the announcement standing on the steps of a capital building surrounded by reporters and a candidate who makes the announcement from their kitchen surrounded by family. It is not a coincidence Senator Kamala Harris made her announcement on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Some candidates choose “hip” late night shows to get on the radar of young voters. Senator Kristen Gillibrand made her announcement on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Even the most intricately planned announcements can go wrong. The choices candidates make are not always well received. Gillibrand has gotten criticism for saying in her announcement that she is a “young mom” but critics do not think her 52 years of life experience qualify her as such. Candidates have tried to use social media but often fail to make the impression they want through the new technology. Whether the announcement goes well or fails terribly there is a lot of work ahead for anyone who launches a campaign. You can also tell a lot about a person by how they pick themselves up after a bad step.
Jesus did not step out on the scene untrained or uneducated. He had spent years studying scripture and listening to how others taught scripture. When we read the biblical story, we skip the years of practice and the shaping of Jesus’ style or teaching. It seems to modern readers that Jesus gets up one day, walks to the synagogue, and decides “today is the day I begin something huge.” That is not how it was. Jesus had prepared, had been tempted away from the ministry but stayed with the original plan.
He had even planned out the announcement. He would begin in Galilee, an island of Jewish tradition, surrounded by different cultural influences. This made Galilee an open community to new ideas. They were also a community that loved their own, so of course Jesus would be welcomed. The beginning worked well. Jesus taught and did the random miracle and word spread quickly. He was held in high esteem and people began to murmur that he might be the one to lead the rebellion.
Jesus chose the synagogue to make his announcement. He wanted his ministry to be rooted in scripture and in Jewish tradition. Jesus wanted to honor the community that had raised him and make the announcement surrounded by those who have loved him. It should have been a celebration with the people who helped him grow into the man and teacher he had become. These past babysitters, carpentry clients, and grocery clerks were a tough crowd though. They have a hard time seeing Jesus as anything other than the kid down the road. Mary and Joseph’s son, or at least he was Joseph’s if the rumors were wrong about who got Mary pregnant.
Jesus choice to declare his ministry was not a spur of the moment decision. The plan went off without a hitch. The problem comes after these verses. When the people finally really hear what Jesus is saying and it is not what they wanted to hear. He will not lead a rebellion, he will begin a new covenant. This covenant will not be for Jews only but for gentiles too. Jesus will not be harassed to do anything he does not see as beneficial to the ministry. The only voice he answers to is God’s — the crowd’s demands will go unfulfilled. This is not the warrior messiah leader they wanted. When Jesus does not conform to the crowd’s desires, he is threatened and driven out of town. Thank goodness Jesus did not need to be elected messiah because he would not have won that election.
Politicians walk a thin line, needing the crowd to get them elected, but needing to stay true to their call. The next few months will be filled with missteps and miscommunications. We the people will hold them against the fire and examine them under a microscope. Many will falter, but a few will stay strong. The ones who remain will be the ones who continue to give us hope. The ones who know the crowd is fickle but forgive us and keep reminding us we can be better. In the end, one candidate will remain and then the hard work begins of leading people who are divided, but who are so desperate for hope.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Nehemiah 8:5 “all the people stood”
The original mascot of Clemson University was a costumed Southern Gentleman wearing a formal purple suit, along with a top hat and cane. It was finally decided that this mascot did nothing to scare the opposing football team, and it certainly was not an imposing figure on the field. So, in 1973 Clemson adopted a new mascot, “The Tiger.” We now know the team as the Clemson Tigers. Though this is a rather unimaginative name for a mascot, as over 1,300 teams are known as being Tigers, it was a vast improvement over a Southern Gentlemen parading around the football filed in a purple suit and top hat.
* * *
Luke 4:18 “to let the oppressed go free”
The novel Johnny Got His Gun, was written by Dalton Trumbo and was published in 1938. The book has a very strong pacifist message. It is a modified stream-of-consciousness narrative occurring in the mind of a soldier, Joe Bonham, whose arms, legs, ears, eyes, nose, and mouth have been blown away in a bomb blast during World War I. He has a desire to commit suicide, but he is unable to do so. He can’t even hold his breath until he dies, since he breathes through a tube.
As the book progresses, Bonham begins to consider himself dead, with the mind of a living man. Bonham then decides that he wants his mutilated body to go on tour as an educational exhibit, a tangible statement that “This is war.”
Before Bonham reaches this decision, he deals with the agonizing condition of his body. In one poignant scene, he cries out in distress, “Mother where are you? Hurry mother hurry hurry and wake me up. I’m having a nightmare mother where are you? Hurry mother”
* * *
Luke 4:18 “and recovery of sight to the blind”
Elaine Pagels is a religious historian who is best known for her writings on the Gnostic Gospels. In 2018 she published a book titled Why Religion? A Personal Story. In the book she shares the death of her husband Heinz. Each summer the family lived in Colorado where Heinz attended the Center for Physics. Those in attendance were active outdoorsmen who spent time mountain biking, hiking and rock climbing. On one climb Heinz stepped on a lose rock on Pyramid Peak and fell to his death. When Heinz did not return home that afternoon and Elaine later learned that he had fallen, questions and fear began to grip her. As it was hours before a rescue team could locate the body, Elaine had to live with the uncertainty of not knowing. With excellent writing skill she was able to bring the reader into the world of her feelings. “No other information.” “Waiting.” “Nowhere to flee.” “He’d fallen – what could that mean?” Listening to the “ominous buzz of helicopters” searching for the body. “A black hole had opened up and swallowed our life.” I was “mute as a stone.”
* * *
Luke 4:18 “and recovery of sight to the blind”
Elaine Pagels is a religious historian who is best known for her writings on the Gnostic Gospels. In 2018 she published a book titled Why Religion? A Personal Story. In the book she shares that her first child, Mark, was born with a heart defect. At the age of six he died from this. The first 100 pages of her book relate the agony she experienced watching over and caring for a dying son. Elaine was visiting with Mark in his hospital room the evening before yet another surgery. Several times the nurses told her that visiting hours were over and that she had to leave and go home. But with a mother’s love she refused to leave, and finally the nurses allowed her to remain overnight in Mark’s room. Elaine wrote that I spent the “hours stretched out on the cold floor while Mark slept.”
Often times when we read a passage such as this we pause, but I wonder if we pause long enough to contemplate the love and sacrifice of sleeping on a “cold floor.”
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:12 “the body is one and has many members”
Thomas Davis was a linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, having played 14 seasons with the team. The three-time Pro Bowl player had his final year with the Panthers this 2018 season as he was let go. While with the Panthers he had 1,094 tackles, 28 sacks, 13 interceptions and played in the 2015 Super Bowl, losing to the Denver Broncos. The 35-year-old Davis is not deterred, as he is making plans to play for another team in his fifteenth season. Davis said, “I feel like I have way too much football left in me to walk away from the game right now.”
* * *
Nehemiah 8:1 “book of the law”
Psalm 19:9 “ordinances”
When California legalized marijuana the legislature expected a huge increase in income from the product’s tax revenue. The state is expected to receive $355 million in marijuana tax revenue by the end of June. This may seem like a lot of money, but it is only half of the projected income. With a 15% tax on marijuana sold legally, people still continue to buy marijuana illegally as it is cheaper absent of the state tax.
* * *
Luke 4:18 “and recovery of sight to the blind”
Zimbawe’s health care system is in shambles. Hospitals use plastic bread bags with catheters, doctors operate with bare hands as there are no surgical gloves, rope is used in place of bandages and of course there is no medicine to distribute to patients. The conditions are so severe that the doctors, in protest, went on strike in early January. One striking doctor, Wallace Hlambelo, who used a plastic bread bag for an elderly patient said, “What we were doing was not to treat patients. Patients feel you have done something but you would have done nothing.”
* * *
Nehemiah 8:8 “with interpretation”
Luke 4:15 “teach”
I often attend the Tuesday morning men’s prayer breakfast at First Presbyterian Church in Florence, South Carolina. It is a large church in a suburban neighborhood that sits far enough back off the road surrounded by a green pasture of grass that gives it a pastoral setting. The brilliant white steeple is majestic, but not overpowering.
Quincy, a financer who is nearing retirement, is our devotional leader. Recently he shared how we are all sinners, and we must be deliberate in ridding ourselves of this part of our behavior. He then asked this question, “What is the demon that resides in the darkness of your soul that you don’t want anyone else to see?”
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:12 “the body is one and has many members”
Lou Holtz, the renowned coach of Notre Dame, concluded his autobiography, which was published in 2006, with this message: “God answers prayers.” As a youth he was an altar boy for his church. Each day he would pray that God would make him bigger and quicker and faster so he could be a star football player. Remaining slim and small, each morning he wondered why his prayer went unanswered. When Holtz’s life was directed into coaching, he realized that God had answered his prayer. The Lord directed his life in a way that allowed him to have an even greater impact upon the sport and society. Holtz wrote that God “has more than amply answered all those prayers that I didn’t think he had.” Holtz thought his only contribution could come from physical strength; the Lord intended it to be from wisdom and virtue.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:12 “the body is one and has many members”
In order to foster congeniality and cooperation among various Christian denominations, the World Council of Churches established a week of Christian unity called the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In 1980 liturgies and material were written that all denominations could use to foster unity. Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, referred to the resources as “the kindergarten of ecumenism.”
* * * * * * * * *
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Golf Priorities
Dave and Bob were golfing buddies who played together once a week twelve months a year, regardless of the weather. They were good friends but fiercely competitive on the links. No matter who won, however, they both always went home happy at the end of the round.
One day Dave came home uncharacteristically unhappy. He moped through the door with a frown on his face and flopped dejectedly down on the couch.
Noting his bad mood, his wife asked him how the game went.
“Terrible,” he said, “Just terrible.”
“Why?” she responded. “What happened?”
“Well, Bob had a heart attack and died on the course.”
“Oh, my gosh! Dave, I’m so sorry. That must have been awful.”
“Awful?” he said. “You’re not kidding, awful. The last seven holes it was hit the ball, drag Bob, hit the ball, drag Bob. I ended up with an eighteen over par, ninety. My worst score of the summer!”
* * *
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Hunting Priorities
A group of friends decided to go deer hunting. When they got to the hunting lodge they agreed to split up into teams of two and meet back at the lodge at dusk.
As the sun fell all the hunters but two arrived at the lodge. Finally, as darkness was descending, one of the other hunters came trudging up the trail, carrying a deer across his shoulders.
“Good hunt!” his friends called out upon seeing the game. “But where’s Ron?”
“Oh, Ron had a heart attack or something back down the trail. He’s coming but slowly.”
“You left Ron behind and carried the deer?” they ask incredulously.
“Well,” he said. “I figured no one would want to steal Ron.”
* * *
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Home Priorities
This year’s Golden Globe Awards telecast was hailed by many as a triumph of empowerment for women but, in the midst of all the congratulations and promises of inclusivity one story struck me as rather sad.
When actress Glenn Close came forward to receive her award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama, an award which she apparently did not expect to win, she told a story comparing the character she played in the movie, “Wife” to her own mother. “I’m thinking of my mom who really sublimated herself to my father her whole life,” she said. “And in her 80s she said to me, ‘I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything.’”
Bettine Moore Close raised five children, one adopted, and died with her family at her side at the age of 90. To consider this as having accomplished nothing is, to my way of thinking, a sad understanding of priorities and as regrettable an obituary as one might write.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Unity in Battle
In 61 C.E. the English Iceni Queen, Boudica, rallied over 100,000 warriors to drive the Romans out of Britain. Her rebellion was successful for some months until the Roman general Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was able to bring together about 10,000 battle seasoned legionnaires in what would become known as the Battle of Watling Street.
The Iceni’s preferential battle strategy was to simply swarm and overwhelm their opponents with superior numbers, a plan that looked very possible at Watling Street as the Iceni outnumbered the Romans 10 to 1. The Roman Legions, however, fought from a formation known as a phalanx, a tightly compact unit with shields locked together in an impenetrable wall, which they had learned from the Spartans.
Forced by the terrain to attack from the front the Iceni warriors hurled themselves at the phalanx over and over only to be driven back time after time. At the end of the day the Romans had suffered 400 casualties, the Iceni, 80,000.
Roman unity had won the day and the war. Watling Street marked the end of the Iceni rebellion and establishment of Roman rule that would last 400 years.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Unity in Peanuts
In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demands that her little brother, Linus, change TV channels. He attempts to defy her by asking her why he should. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” he asks.
Lucy holds up her hand and shows it to him. “These five fingers,” she says. “Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.”
“Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can't you guys get organized like that?”
* * *
Luke 4:14-21
…and the Bad News
A large, two-engine train was making its way across America. While crossing the western mountains, one of the engines broke down. “No problem, we can make it to Denver and get a replacement engine there,” the engineer thought, and carried on at half power. Farther on down the line (if you didn't guess by now), the other engine broke down, and the train came to a standstill in the middle of nowhere.
The engineer needed to inform the passengers about why the train had stopped, and always trying to look on the bright side of things, made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for some time until the additional engines arrive. The good news is that you didn't take this trip in a plane!
* * *
Luke 4:14-21
Fake Good News
As the partial government shutdown continues the very real suffering of government workers who are being furloughed or forced to work without pay is becoming more and more evident to even the casual observer. Our news outlets, however, seem to be working overtime to find something, anything, a story, a news item, however meager, that might mitigate the bad news that is this shutdown.
Yes, hundreds of thousands of people are living on the edge of their last resources but here’s a story about a man who gave a trunk full of sandwiches to the local food kitchen.
Yes, our schools are tragically underfunded and our teachers are underpaid but here’s a story about a rich man who gave a pick-up truck load of glue sticks to his local elementary school.
Yes, government workers are selling their belongings to pay their bills, but here’s a story about a child who sold his/her toys and gave the money to the local soup kitchen.
These kinds of stories beg the question — is it really good news if it is only good for a few? And do those who claim it to be so do us a service when they do so claim?
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: The heavens are telling the glory of God.
People: The firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Leader: The law of God is perfect, reviving the soul.
People: The decrees of God are sure, making wise the simple;
Leader: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
People: Be acceptable to you, O God, my rock and my redeemer.
OR
Leader: Come and hear the word of God’s wisdom.
People: We will attend to all that God speaks to us.
Leader: God speaks so that we may find abundant life.
People: With joy we will follow the instructions God gives.
Leader: God speaks to us and to all creation.
People: We will share God’s words with others.
Hymns and Songs:
Break Thou the Bread of Life
UMH: 599
PH: 329
AAHH: 334
NNBH: 295
NCH: 321
CH: 235
LBW: 575
ELA: 665
W&P: 209
Wonderful Words of Life
UMH: 600
AAHH: 332
NNBH: 293
NCH: 319
CH: 323
W&P: 668
AMEC: 207
Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word
UMH: 596
H82: 440
PH: 450
LBW: 248
Renew: 93
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELA: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
Lord, You Give the Great Commission
UMH: 584
H82: 528
PH: 429
CH: 459
ELA: 579
W&P: 592
Renew: 305
Here I Am,Lord
UMH: 593
PH: 525
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELA: 574
W&P: 559
The Church’s One Foundation
UMH: 545/546
H82: 525
PH: 442
AAHH: 337
NNBH: 297
NCH: 386
CH: 272
LBW: 369
ELA: 654
W&P: 544
AMEC: 519
Forward Through the Ages
UMH: 555
NCH: 377
STLT: 114
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
People Need the Lord
CCB: 52
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
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 gifts your people with your instructions for life:
Grant us the wisdom to heed your directions
that we may lead others into eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for the direction you give for our lives. We bless you for helping us find our way to life eternal. Pour out your Spirit upon us that we may follow you instructions and help others to find the path to life, as well. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to diligently heed your word.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have graciously offered us directions for the path to life and we have not paid attention to the map. We have listened to all sorts of ideas and suggestions about how things should go while ignoring the words of the one who created all that is. Help us to hear you calling us back once again to the path of life and then to use that path for us and for those around us. Amen.
Leader: God desires us to have life abundant and joyful. Receive God’s blessings and grace and share them with others on your journey into life.
Prayers of the People
Glory and honor are yours, O God, because you are the creator and the architect of life. All that is good and holy comes from you.
(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. You have graciously offered us directions for the path to life and we have not paid attention to the map. We have listened to all sorts of ideas and suggestions about how things should go while ignoring the words of the one who created all that is. Help us to hear you calling us back once again to the path of life and then to use that path for us and for those around us.
We thank you for those who have shared with us the way of truth and life. We thank you for those who have told us the stories of faith and those who have lived those stories before us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their need and we lift up to you those who are struggling to find their way to life and peace. We pray for those who have dedicated themselves to being guides on your way.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about Jesus’ message in the gospel lesson for today. He had a big job ahead of him. But he didn’t do it alone. He called disciples and he still does. He call each and every one of us to help him.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
In Your Own Words
by Tom Willadsen
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
(First, a little context…I’m 54 years old and I am part of the very first generation of American youth who played soccer. It was just starting to take off when I started high school in 1978. Mine was the first high school in my area to have a team. By my senior year all seven high schools in my hometown had teams. There’s a very good chance that the little ones who come forward are familiar with soccer in a way that the older generation are not. You know that bit about, “and a little child will lead them” — it’s in the Bible.)
When the kids come forward ask them if any of them play soccer. Ask them what positions they play — maybe what positions they’d like to play. A soccer team needs people who play a variety of positions. If everyone were the goalkeeper, no one would ever score a goal. And if everyone wanted to have the ball all the time that person would get worn out and everyone else on the team would be really, really bored! Remember, you play soccer, you don’t work it. So teams need a variety of players, players who spread out on the whole field.
(Maybe a little more background…younger soccer teams are basically scrums of 20 kids in t-shirts of two different colors who move as a pack around the ball. Each team has a goalkeeper wearing a different colored shirt who stands far away from most of the action. A spectator might not even see the ball for minutes at a time. Only when the players learn to spread out does a team really act like a team. Generally the scrums try to kick the ball as hard as they can in the direction of their goal.)
Ask the kids what skills a person needs to play soccer. Obviously you’ve got to learn how to kick the ball — and kick it with both feet. But soccer players learn to use other parts of their body too. They really use their heads…but also their bodies and even their upper legs to bring the ball under control.
Another skill is dribbling, keeping the ball and giving it small, controlled kicks as you move on the field. Dribbling can be thought of as kicking to oneself.
Goalkeepers are the only ones who need to learn how to user their hands and arms. They’re the only ones who can use every part of their body.
But there’s a set of skills in soccer that is even more important than kicking, dribbling or keeping the ball out of the goal — trapping. Trapping is bringing the ball under control. It’s hard to kick a ball. It’s really hard to kick a moving ball. It’s really, really hard to kick a moving ball where you want it to go. Soccer players almost always trap the ball when it comes to them before passing it to a teammate or kicking toward the goal.
Big pivot here — hold onto “trapping” bringing the ball under control.
In the Nehemiah lesson (those verses that are skipped are a bunch of really hard names; don’t think the people who set the lectionary are doing anything other than saving lay readers in every worship service the embarrassment of trying to pronounce “Jozabad” and “Malchijah.”) the people hear the Bible for the first time and the leaders explained what the words of the Bible mean. When the people realize that they have not been living by the rules that God wanted them to live by, they felt really sad. But it took them a while to understand for themselves that God really, really loves them and wants them to tell other people about how much God loves everyone.
They could have memorized everything that had been read to them. But it would be much better if they understood what God wanted them to do in their own words, based on their own experiences. Before they started trying to kick the ball toward the goal, they had to bring it under control, make those words, those ideas, their own.
That’s true of everyone who wants to share good news with other people. You’ve got to start with what God’s love feels like to you. Tell other people in your own words, understand it for yourself, get it under control; “trap” it before you try to pass it on to someone else.
Trapping a soccer ball is like taking the time to understand something in one’s own terms before passing the message on to another teammate.
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The Immediate Word, January 27, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 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.
- What Are We Doing Here? by Mary Austin — In our fractured political climate, what could draw us all together, in a gathering like the one in Nehemiah’s Jerusalem?
- Second Thoughts by Bethany Peerbolte — Anticipation builds, the rumors of will they or won’t they spread. Every time they speak in public the expectation of a big announcement buzzes in the crowd....
- Sermon illustrations by Ron Love, Dean Feldmeyer and Chris Keating.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on reform centered in scripture; it takes all of us.
- Children’s sermon: In Your Own Words by Tom Willadsen — Taking time to understand God's message and expressing it in our own words is important for all of us.
What Are We Doing Here?
by Mary Austin
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
On the Fourth of July, the neighbors in my tiny town come out to the curb with lawn chairs and lemonades, united in the fun of watching the local parade. The high school band goes by, followed by the mayor in a convertible. Classic cars fill the air with the kind of exhaust fumes that are now banned, and the small kids throw candy to the spectators. Then we all walk down to the park and admire the baked goods in the bake-off, and eat hot dogs grilled by the Recreation Department. Police officers inflate balloons for kids.
We’re all there to celebrate America and the gift of our freedom. Or maybe it’s to see our other neighbors. Or maybe we have a kid in the parade.
It’s hard to rally people around a common cause, even one as simple as the Fourth of July. Political beliefs fuel our large public gatherings, like the annual March for Life, supporting an end to abortion and the Women's March, which had broad support two years ago, and has run into controversy this time. Marching is fun, and it stirs up enthusiasm for a cause. It’s fun to be with other people who share one’s political beliefs. One participant in the Women’s March flew from California to Washington, DC, for the march, saying, “It’s my dream come true. For the first time in my lifetime, I don’t feel like the only feminist in my town.”
When our big public assemblies unite around political causes, some people joyfully jump in, and others are left fuming — or puzzled — at home. Even the now-iconic March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech was controversial in its day. Now seen as a great moment in American history, paving the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “the liberals and even conservatives were happy to claim the demonstration as their own — often focusing narrowly on the relatively moderate and conciliatory message of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech while overlooking more confrontational statements” by others.
In Nehemiah, the gathering of the people in Jerusalem includes everyone, women and men, the priests and Levites, plus ordinary people who have come from the towns all around Jerusalem. What cause might draw us all out the National Mall, or Central Park, or to our small town squares?
In the Scriptures
The story of Nehemiah begins when he’s the cupbearer for the King of Persia. Reports come from Jerusalem about the battered state of the city, and he weeps at the news. The king sees him sad, and asks why. He’s determined to rebuild, and secures permission to travel to Jerusalem, safe passage along the way and the ability to use wood from the king’s forest to rebuild the broken city (2:4-10). The king even sends officers of the army along with him.
He finds Jerusalem burned and battered, and inspires the people to rebuild different sections of the city. (Chapter 3.) After the hard work of rebuilding, Nehemiah calls this assembly, which is a mixture of people. Some have stayed behind, and others have returned from exile. The people who return are not the people who left, but new generations who have lived all their lives in the magnificent city of the exile. They have only heard about Jerusalem from parents and grandparents. Perhaps the city grew in the telling, and we can imagine their surprise when they see how battered and broken down Jerusalem is, after the splendors of big city Babylon. The city they longed to return to doesn’t look all that great. The people are hungry (5:2) while enemies circle around (6:16). Everything is in the process of becoming something new. “The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few and no houses had been built.” (7:4) Still, some people are thriving, and contributing large sums to the rebuilding effort, and “the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their towns.”
We see Nehemiah call the people to Jerusalem for the reading of the law, and they listen attentively for much longer than any modern church goers would stand for. Dr. Patricia Tull gives us the historical background at Working Preacher, “They gather on the first day of the seventh month, which today is Rosh Hashanah (the fall new year), which is followed by Yom Kippur and the Festival of Sukkot, or Booths. They gather not at the temple but at the Water Gate, where all are admitted. The location of this gate is uncertain, but its name suggests proximity to the Gihon spring, Jerusalem’s only natural water source, on the eastern side of the city (cf. Nehemiah 3:26; 12:37). The Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 4) would later place the Water Gate on the way to the pool of Siloam, and would associate it with a joyous water-drawing ritual during the week of Sukkot (see verses 14-18).”
As they listen, the people weep, and are called back to joy. Ezra and Nehemiah tell the assembled people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” They add: “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Whether they weep because of the state of their lives, or when they see their separation from God, they are not to stop there. There’s another step. Dr. Tull adds, in the article above, “The grammar of this final assertion is intriguing. Translations and commentators disagree over whether it is more properly rendered, “[your] joy in the Lord is your strength,” or “the Lord’s joy is your strength.” Either way, the point of cheerful trust in God is clear.”
In the News
The people at the Water Gate in Jerusalem have a unity of purpose that we never seem to find in our big public assemblies. The annual March for Life, where Vice President Pence and his wife appeared, generated an encounter between a Native American activist, Catholic high school boys and the Hebrew Israelites, a group of African-American men. “Soon, the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, 64, was encircled by an animated group of high school boys. He beat a ceremonial drum as a boy wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat stood inches away. The boy identified himself in a statement released on Sunday night as Nick Sandmann, a junior. It was a provocative image that rocketed across social media, leading many, including the students’ own school, to condemn the boys’ behavior as disrespectful. But on Sunday, Mr. Phillips clarified that it was he who had approached the crowd and that he had intervened because racial tensions — primarily between the white students and the black men — were “coming to a boiling point.” “I stepped in between to pray,” Mr. Phillips said. In his statement, Mr. Sandmann said he did not antagonize or try to block Mr. Phillips. “I did not speak to him. I did not make any hand gestures or other aggressive moves,” he said. The encounter became the latest touch point for racial and political tensions in America, with diverging views about what really had happened. The three groups were all in the same space for different purposes. Despite the presence of videos, no one agrees even on what actually happened.
The Vice President and his wife are also facing criticism after she accepted a part-time teaching job at a school that prohibits LGBTQ students or parents. “A clause in the Immanuel Christian School's parent agreement says the school "reserves the right" to refuse admission to or discontinue enrollment of a student if their activities are "in opposition to the biblical lifestyle the school teaches." Mrs. Pence taught at the school previously, when the Vice President served in Congress. The school’s stance fits with the Pences’ Christian beliefs, but raises the question of whether the Vice President and his wife should support a place that openly discriminates. Mrs. Pences’ spokeswoman said, “It’s absurd that her decision to teach art to children at a Christian school, and the school’s religious beliefs, are under attack.”
Even when we share a common Christian faith, the unity of the people listening at the Water Gate is elusive for us.
In the Sermon
What would unify us a Christians? What cause could we all gather around? Our faith is a source of support and guidance for each of us, but we live it in such different ways. Even a national gathering of Christians designed to simply rejoice in God would run into controversy about what songs we sing to express our rejoicing, and about who gets to address the assembly. Could we do better about unity around the things we can all agree on? Could all Christians agree on care for the poor? Care for the immigrant and the alien, as the Bible commands? Could we agree just to demonstrate our faith in public?
Part of Nehemiah’s journey is deep repentance. (1:5-7). He confesses his own distance from God, and the sins of his family and the people of Israel. Would a true season of repentance help us turn more fully to God? What would it look like? What sacrifices would we need to make to deeply repent?
Or, the sermon might look at how we rejoice in God. As pastors, we know better than to tell people, “don’t cry about that; be happy.” No one with a serious illness, or grieving the loss of a loved one, or facing financial stress wants to be told to be joyful. The sermon might look at the ways we recover joy in our lives. Most often it comes step by step, as grief or pain shifts, instead of all at once. Nehemiah himself “mourns for days,” (1:4) before he sets on his quest to restore the city. He’s so mournful that the king even notices that his wine-bearer is sad, when he never has been before. The sermon might look at the long process of bringing joy back after a deep sorrow. How might we help each other recover joy, as we live together in communities of faith? Can we be joy-bringers to one another as we live together in a community of faith?
Or the sermon might look at the complexities of rebuilding. People all over the country face Nehemiah’s dilemma. In California, people are rebuilding homes burned by wildfires. Should they rebuild in the same place, knowing wildfires will come again? “Each successive blaze has claimed more homes, reflecting increasing development in the area — 100 structures in a 1956 blaze, 103 in 1970, 230 in 1978 and 268 in 1993.” The 2018 fires took over 600 homes. “Besides the threat to life, there's the cost to taxpayers involving the massive effort needed to fight the fires. The average cost of defending a home under threat from wildfires is about $82,000.” In Houston, Hurricane Harvey posed the same question. Should communities rebuild in the same place? Apart from the financial cost, the stress for homeowners is unrelenting. A year after the storm, there were disparities in who was able to rebuild their homes. “In many low-income neighborhoods around Houston, it feels like Harvey struck not last year but last month. Some of Houston’s most vulnerable and impoverished residents remain in the early stages of their rebuilding effort and live in the shadows of the widespread perception that Texas has successfully rebounded from the historic flooding.” The sermon might look at the level of stress people face in any rebuilding project.
The gathering of the people in Jerusalem is inspiring, as we look at their dedication to restoring their city, and the energy they put into it. Even there, though, there are obstacles and people who don’t believe in the project. Still, Nehemiah calls the people to turn toward God and celebrate what they can. Even in the incomplete city, there is something to inspire joy. We are allowed to weep, to mourn as long as we need to, and then God’s call is back to joy in what God is doing. For the people among us who can’t reach for joy just yet, our work is to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, and to help them move toward joy. This feels like an obligation, but is really a gift.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Jesus Throws His Hat Into The Ring
by Bethany Peerbolte
Luke 4.14-21
Anticipation builds, the rumors of will they or won’t they spread. Every time they speak in public the expectation of a big announcement buzzes in the crowd. Then one day they finally make the announcement, they will be running for president in 2020.
As 2019 begins we have seen several democratic candidates declare their intent to run for president. Some are people we expected, some are people we have never heard of, but all of them come with a glimmer of hope. This could be the person to turn the whole ship around. They might be the leader we need to call us back into alignment with our sacred text, The Constitution, and guide us to fulfilling liberty and justice for all.
Each candidate comes with years of preparation and experience behind them. Whether they have studied law their whole lives or just recently made the career switch they do not come unseasoned. Each one has thought carefully about this decision. They have talked to their family, trusted advisors, possibly even past presidents to make sure this is the right choice. Candidates make sure they are informed on important topics and surround themselves with people who will help them along the way. Running in a presidential race is not something someone does on a whim.
Every announcement is carefully plotted too. The location, the outfit, the words are all crafted to appeal to the demographic that will win the election for that candidate. First impressions count and these announcements can tell voters a lot about a person. There is a difference between a candidate who makes the announcement standing on the steps of a capital building surrounded by reporters and a candidate who makes the announcement from their kitchen surrounded by family. It is not a coincidence Senator Kamala Harris made her announcement on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Some candidates choose “hip” late night shows to get on the radar of young voters. Senator Kristen Gillibrand made her announcement on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Even the most intricately planned announcements can go wrong. The choices candidates make are not always well received. Gillibrand has gotten criticism for saying in her announcement that she is a “young mom” but critics do not think her 52 years of life experience qualify her as such. Candidates have tried to use social media but often fail to make the impression they want through the new technology. Whether the announcement goes well or fails terribly there is a lot of work ahead for anyone who launches a campaign. You can also tell a lot about a person by how they pick themselves up after a bad step.
Jesus did not step out on the scene untrained or uneducated. He had spent years studying scripture and listening to how others taught scripture. When we read the biblical story, we skip the years of practice and the shaping of Jesus’ style or teaching. It seems to modern readers that Jesus gets up one day, walks to the synagogue, and decides “today is the day I begin something huge.” That is not how it was. Jesus had prepared, had been tempted away from the ministry but stayed with the original plan.
He had even planned out the announcement. He would begin in Galilee, an island of Jewish tradition, surrounded by different cultural influences. This made Galilee an open community to new ideas. They were also a community that loved their own, so of course Jesus would be welcomed. The beginning worked well. Jesus taught and did the random miracle and word spread quickly. He was held in high esteem and people began to murmur that he might be the one to lead the rebellion.
Jesus chose the synagogue to make his announcement. He wanted his ministry to be rooted in scripture and in Jewish tradition. Jesus wanted to honor the community that had raised him and make the announcement surrounded by those who have loved him. It should have been a celebration with the people who helped him grow into the man and teacher he had become. These past babysitters, carpentry clients, and grocery clerks were a tough crowd though. They have a hard time seeing Jesus as anything other than the kid down the road. Mary and Joseph’s son, or at least he was Joseph’s if the rumors were wrong about who got Mary pregnant.
Jesus choice to declare his ministry was not a spur of the moment decision. The plan went off without a hitch. The problem comes after these verses. When the people finally really hear what Jesus is saying and it is not what they wanted to hear. He will not lead a rebellion, he will begin a new covenant. This covenant will not be for Jews only but for gentiles too. Jesus will not be harassed to do anything he does not see as beneficial to the ministry. The only voice he answers to is God’s — the crowd’s demands will go unfulfilled. This is not the warrior messiah leader they wanted. When Jesus does not conform to the crowd’s desires, he is threatened and driven out of town. Thank goodness Jesus did not need to be elected messiah because he would not have won that election.
Politicians walk a thin line, needing the crowd to get them elected, but needing to stay true to their call. The next few months will be filled with missteps and miscommunications. We the people will hold them against the fire and examine them under a microscope. Many will falter, but a few will stay strong. The ones who remain will be the ones who continue to give us hope. The ones who know the crowd is fickle but forgive us and keep reminding us we can be better. In the end, one candidate will remain and then the hard work begins of leading people who are divided, but who are so desperate for hope.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Nehemiah 8:5 “all the people stood”
The original mascot of Clemson University was a costumed Southern Gentleman wearing a formal purple suit, along with a top hat and cane. It was finally decided that this mascot did nothing to scare the opposing football team, and it certainly was not an imposing figure on the field. So, in 1973 Clemson adopted a new mascot, “The Tiger.” We now know the team as the Clemson Tigers. Though this is a rather unimaginative name for a mascot, as over 1,300 teams are known as being Tigers, it was a vast improvement over a Southern Gentlemen parading around the football filed in a purple suit and top hat.
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Luke 4:18 “to let the oppressed go free”
The novel Johnny Got His Gun, was written by Dalton Trumbo and was published in 1938. The book has a very strong pacifist message. It is a modified stream-of-consciousness narrative occurring in the mind of a soldier, Joe Bonham, whose arms, legs, ears, eyes, nose, and mouth have been blown away in a bomb blast during World War I. He has a desire to commit suicide, but he is unable to do so. He can’t even hold his breath until he dies, since he breathes through a tube.
As the book progresses, Bonham begins to consider himself dead, with the mind of a living man. Bonham then decides that he wants his mutilated body to go on tour as an educational exhibit, a tangible statement that “This is war.”
Before Bonham reaches this decision, he deals with the agonizing condition of his body. In one poignant scene, he cries out in distress, “Mother where are you? Hurry mother hurry hurry and wake me up. I’m having a nightmare mother where are you? Hurry mother”
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Luke 4:18 “and recovery of sight to the blind”
Elaine Pagels is a religious historian who is best known for her writings on the Gnostic Gospels. In 2018 she published a book titled Why Religion? A Personal Story. In the book she shares the death of her husband Heinz. Each summer the family lived in Colorado where Heinz attended the Center for Physics. Those in attendance were active outdoorsmen who spent time mountain biking, hiking and rock climbing. On one climb Heinz stepped on a lose rock on Pyramid Peak and fell to his death. When Heinz did not return home that afternoon and Elaine later learned that he had fallen, questions and fear began to grip her. As it was hours before a rescue team could locate the body, Elaine had to live with the uncertainty of not knowing. With excellent writing skill she was able to bring the reader into the world of her feelings. “No other information.” “Waiting.” “Nowhere to flee.” “He’d fallen – what could that mean?” Listening to the “ominous buzz of helicopters” searching for the body. “A black hole had opened up and swallowed our life.” I was “mute as a stone.”
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Luke 4:18 “and recovery of sight to the blind”
Elaine Pagels is a religious historian who is best known for her writings on the Gnostic Gospels. In 2018 she published a book titled Why Religion? A Personal Story. In the book she shares that her first child, Mark, was born with a heart defect. At the age of six he died from this. The first 100 pages of her book relate the agony she experienced watching over and caring for a dying son. Elaine was visiting with Mark in his hospital room the evening before yet another surgery. Several times the nurses told her that visiting hours were over and that she had to leave and go home. But with a mother’s love she refused to leave, and finally the nurses allowed her to remain overnight in Mark’s room. Elaine wrote that I spent the “hours stretched out on the cold floor while Mark slept.”
Often times when we read a passage such as this we pause, but I wonder if we pause long enough to contemplate the love and sacrifice of sleeping on a “cold floor.”
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1 Corinthians 12:12 “the body is one and has many members”
Thomas Davis was a linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, having played 14 seasons with the team. The three-time Pro Bowl player had his final year with the Panthers this 2018 season as he was let go. While with the Panthers he had 1,094 tackles, 28 sacks, 13 interceptions and played in the 2015 Super Bowl, losing to the Denver Broncos. The 35-year-old Davis is not deterred, as he is making plans to play for another team in his fifteenth season. Davis said, “I feel like I have way too much football left in me to walk away from the game right now.”
* * *
Nehemiah 8:1 “book of the law”
Psalm 19:9 “ordinances”
When California legalized marijuana the legislature expected a huge increase in income from the product’s tax revenue. The state is expected to receive $355 million in marijuana tax revenue by the end of June. This may seem like a lot of money, but it is only half of the projected income. With a 15% tax on marijuana sold legally, people still continue to buy marijuana illegally as it is cheaper absent of the state tax.
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Luke 4:18 “and recovery of sight to the blind”
Zimbawe’s health care system is in shambles. Hospitals use plastic bread bags with catheters, doctors operate with bare hands as there are no surgical gloves, rope is used in place of bandages and of course there is no medicine to distribute to patients. The conditions are so severe that the doctors, in protest, went on strike in early January. One striking doctor, Wallace Hlambelo, who used a plastic bread bag for an elderly patient said, “What we were doing was not to treat patients. Patients feel you have done something but you would have done nothing.”
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Nehemiah 8:8 “with interpretation”
Luke 4:15 “teach”
I often attend the Tuesday morning men’s prayer breakfast at First Presbyterian Church in Florence, South Carolina. It is a large church in a suburban neighborhood that sits far enough back off the road surrounded by a green pasture of grass that gives it a pastoral setting. The brilliant white steeple is majestic, but not overpowering.
Quincy, a financer who is nearing retirement, is our devotional leader. Recently he shared how we are all sinners, and we must be deliberate in ridding ourselves of this part of our behavior. He then asked this question, “What is the demon that resides in the darkness of your soul that you don’t want anyone else to see?”
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1 Corinthians 12:12 “the body is one and has many members”
Lou Holtz, the renowned coach of Notre Dame, concluded his autobiography, which was published in 2006, with this message: “God answers prayers.” As a youth he was an altar boy for his church. Each day he would pray that God would make him bigger and quicker and faster so he could be a star football player. Remaining slim and small, each morning he wondered why his prayer went unanswered. When Holtz’s life was directed into coaching, he realized that God had answered his prayer. The Lord directed his life in a way that allowed him to have an even greater impact upon the sport and society. Holtz wrote that God “has more than amply answered all those prayers that I didn’t think he had.” Holtz thought his only contribution could come from physical strength; the Lord intended it to be from wisdom and virtue.
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1 Corinthians 12:12 “the body is one and has many members”
In order to foster congeniality and cooperation among various Christian denominations, the World Council of Churches established a week of Christian unity called the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In 1980 liturgies and material were written that all denominations could use to foster unity. Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, referred to the resources as “the kindergarten of ecumenism.”
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Golf Priorities
Dave and Bob were golfing buddies who played together once a week twelve months a year, regardless of the weather. They were good friends but fiercely competitive on the links. No matter who won, however, they both always went home happy at the end of the round.
One day Dave came home uncharacteristically unhappy. He moped through the door with a frown on his face and flopped dejectedly down on the couch.
Noting his bad mood, his wife asked him how the game went.
“Terrible,” he said, “Just terrible.”
“Why?” she responded. “What happened?”
“Well, Bob had a heart attack and died on the course.”
“Oh, my gosh! Dave, I’m so sorry. That must have been awful.”
“Awful?” he said. “You’re not kidding, awful. The last seven holes it was hit the ball, drag Bob, hit the ball, drag Bob. I ended up with an eighteen over par, ninety. My worst score of the summer!”
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Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Hunting Priorities
A group of friends decided to go deer hunting. When they got to the hunting lodge they agreed to split up into teams of two and meet back at the lodge at dusk.
As the sun fell all the hunters but two arrived at the lodge. Finally, as darkness was descending, one of the other hunters came trudging up the trail, carrying a deer across his shoulders.
“Good hunt!” his friends called out upon seeing the game. “But where’s Ron?”
“Oh, Ron had a heart attack or something back down the trail. He’s coming but slowly.”
“You left Ron behind and carried the deer?” they ask incredulously.
“Well,” he said. “I figured no one would want to steal Ron.”
* * *
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Home Priorities
This year’s Golden Globe Awards telecast was hailed by many as a triumph of empowerment for women but, in the midst of all the congratulations and promises of inclusivity one story struck me as rather sad.
When actress Glenn Close came forward to receive her award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama, an award which she apparently did not expect to win, she told a story comparing the character she played in the movie, “Wife” to her own mother. “I’m thinking of my mom who really sublimated herself to my father her whole life,” she said. “And in her 80s she said to me, ‘I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything.’”
Bettine Moore Close raised five children, one adopted, and died with her family at her side at the age of 90. To consider this as having accomplished nothing is, to my way of thinking, a sad understanding of priorities and as regrettable an obituary as one might write.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Unity in Battle
In 61 C.E. the English Iceni Queen, Boudica, rallied over 100,000 warriors to drive the Romans out of Britain. Her rebellion was successful for some months until the Roman general Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was able to bring together about 10,000 battle seasoned legionnaires in what would become known as the Battle of Watling Street.
The Iceni’s preferential battle strategy was to simply swarm and overwhelm their opponents with superior numbers, a plan that looked very possible at Watling Street as the Iceni outnumbered the Romans 10 to 1. The Roman Legions, however, fought from a formation known as a phalanx, a tightly compact unit with shields locked together in an impenetrable wall, which they had learned from the Spartans.
Forced by the terrain to attack from the front the Iceni warriors hurled themselves at the phalanx over and over only to be driven back time after time. At the end of the day the Romans had suffered 400 casualties, the Iceni, 80,000.
Roman unity had won the day and the war. Watling Street marked the end of the Iceni rebellion and establishment of Roman rule that would last 400 years.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
Unity in Peanuts
In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demands that her little brother, Linus, change TV channels. He attempts to defy her by asking her why he should. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” he asks.
Lucy holds up her hand and shows it to him. “These five fingers,” she says. “Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.”
“Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can't you guys get organized like that?”
* * *
Luke 4:14-21
…and the Bad News
A large, two-engine train was making its way across America. While crossing the western mountains, one of the engines broke down. “No problem, we can make it to Denver and get a replacement engine there,” the engineer thought, and carried on at half power. Farther on down the line (if you didn't guess by now), the other engine broke down, and the train came to a standstill in the middle of nowhere.
The engineer needed to inform the passengers about why the train had stopped, and always trying to look on the bright side of things, made the following announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we will be stuck here for some time until the additional engines arrive. The good news is that you didn't take this trip in a plane!
* * *
Luke 4:14-21
Fake Good News
As the partial government shutdown continues the very real suffering of government workers who are being furloughed or forced to work without pay is becoming more and more evident to even the casual observer. Our news outlets, however, seem to be working overtime to find something, anything, a story, a news item, however meager, that might mitigate the bad news that is this shutdown.
Yes, hundreds of thousands of people are living on the edge of their last resources but here’s a story about a man who gave a trunk full of sandwiches to the local food kitchen.
Yes, our schools are tragically underfunded and our teachers are underpaid but here’s a story about a rich man who gave a pick-up truck load of glue sticks to his local elementary school.
Yes, government workers are selling their belongings to pay their bills, but here’s a story about a child who sold his/her toys and gave the money to the local soup kitchen.
These kinds of stories beg the question — is it really good news if it is only good for a few? And do those who claim it to be so do us a service when they do so claim?
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: The heavens are telling the glory of God.
People: The firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Leader: The law of God is perfect, reviving the soul.
People: The decrees of God are sure, making wise the simple;
Leader: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
People: Be acceptable to you, O God, my rock and my redeemer.
OR
Leader: Come and hear the word of God’s wisdom.
People: We will attend to all that God speaks to us.
Leader: God speaks so that we may find abundant life.
People: With joy we will follow the instructions God gives.
Leader: God speaks to us and to all creation.
People: We will share God’s words with others.
Hymns and Songs:
Break Thou the Bread of Life
UMH: 599
PH: 329
AAHH: 334
NNBH: 295
NCH: 321
CH: 235
LBW: 575
ELA: 665
W&P: 209
Wonderful Words of Life
UMH: 600
AAHH: 332
NNBH: 293
NCH: 319
CH: 323
W&P: 668
AMEC: 207
Blessed Jesus, at Thy Word
UMH: 596
H82: 440
PH: 450
LBW: 248
Renew: 93
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELA: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
Lord, You Give the Great Commission
UMH: 584
H82: 528
PH: 429
CH: 459
ELA: 579
W&P: 592
Renew: 305
Here I Am,Lord
UMH: 593
PH: 525
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELA: 574
W&P: 559
The Church’s One Foundation
UMH: 545/546
H82: 525
PH: 442
AAHH: 337
NNBH: 297
NCH: 386
CH: 272
LBW: 369
ELA: 654
W&P: 544
AMEC: 519
Forward Through the Ages
UMH: 555
NCH: 377
STLT: 114
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
People Need the Lord
CCB: 52
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
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 gifts your people with your instructions for life:
Grant us the wisdom to heed your directions
that we may lead others into eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for the direction you give for our lives. We bless you for helping us find our way to life eternal. Pour out your Spirit upon us that we may follow you instructions and help others to find the path to life, as well. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to diligently heed your word.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have graciously offered us directions for the path to life and we have not paid attention to the map. We have listened to all sorts of ideas and suggestions about how things should go while ignoring the words of the one who created all that is. Help us to hear you calling us back once again to the path of life and then to use that path for us and for those around us. Amen.
Leader: God desires us to have life abundant and joyful. Receive God’s blessings and grace and share them with others on your journey into life.
Prayers of the People
Glory and honor are yours, O God, because you are the creator and the architect of life. All that is good and holy comes from you.
(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. You have graciously offered us directions for the path to life and we have not paid attention to the map. We have listened to all sorts of ideas and suggestions about how things should go while ignoring the words of the one who created all that is. Help us to hear you calling us back once again to the path of life and then to use that path for us and for those around us.
We thank you for those who have shared with us the way of truth and life. We thank you for those who have told us the stories of faith and those who have lived those stories before us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their need and we lift up to you those who are struggling to find their way to life and peace. We pray for those who have dedicated themselves to being guides on your way.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about Jesus’ message in the gospel lesson for today. He had a big job ahead of him. But he didn’t do it alone. He called disciples and he still does. He call each and every one of us to help him.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
In Your Own Words
by Tom Willadsen
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
(First, a little context…I’m 54 years old and I am part of the very first generation of American youth who played soccer. It was just starting to take off when I started high school in 1978. Mine was the first high school in my area to have a team. By my senior year all seven high schools in my hometown had teams. There’s a very good chance that the little ones who come forward are familiar with soccer in a way that the older generation are not. You know that bit about, “and a little child will lead them” — it’s in the Bible.)
When the kids come forward ask them if any of them play soccer. Ask them what positions they play — maybe what positions they’d like to play. A soccer team needs people who play a variety of positions. If everyone were the goalkeeper, no one would ever score a goal. And if everyone wanted to have the ball all the time that person would get worn out and everyone else on the team would be really, really bored! Remember, you play soccer, you don’t work it. So teams need a variety of players, players who spread out on the whole field.
(Maybe a little more background…younger soccer teams are basically scrums of 20 kids in t-shirts of two different colors who move as a pack around the ball. Each team has a goalkeeper wearing a different colored shirt who stands far away from most of the action. A spectator might not even see the ball for minutes at a time. Only when the players learn to spread out does a team really act like a team. Generally the scrums try to kick the ball as hard as they can in the direction of their goal.)
Ask the kids what skills a person needs to play soccer. Obviously you’ve got to learn how to kick the ball — and kick it with both feet. But soccer players learn to use other parts of their body too. They really use their heads…but also their bodies and even their upper legs to bring the ball under control.
Another skill is dribbling, keeping the ball and giving it small, controlled kicks as you move on the field. Dribbling can be thought of as kicking to oneself.
Goalkeepers are the only ones who need to learn how to user their hands and arms. They’re the only ones who can use every part of their body.
But there’s a set of skills in soccer that is even more important than kicking, dribbling or keeping the ball out of the goal — trapping. Trapping is bringing the ball under control. It’s hard to kick a ball. It’s really hard to kick a moving ball. It’s really, really hard to kick a moving ball where you want it to go. Soccer players almost always trap the ball when it comes to them before passing it to a teammate or kicking toward the goal.
Big pivot here — hold onto “trapping” bringing the ball under control.
In the Nehemiah lesson (those verses that are skipped are a bunch of really hard names; don’t think the people who set the lectionary are doing anything other than saving lay readers in every worship service the embarrassment of trying to pronounce “Jozabad” and “Malchijah.”) the people hear the Bible for the first time and the leaders explained what the words of the Bible mean. When the people realize that they have not been living by the rules that God wanted them to live by, they felt really sad. But it took them a while to understand for themselves that God really, really loves them and wants them to tell other people about how much God loves everyone.
They could have memorized everything that had been read to them. But it would be much better if they understood what God wanted them to do in their own words, based on their own experiences. Before they started trying to kick the ball toward the goal, they had to bring it under control, make those words, those ideas, their own.
That’s true of everyone who wants to share good news with other people. You’ve got to start with what God’s love feels like to you. Tell other people in your own words, understand it for yourself, get it under control; “trap” it before you try to pass it on to someone else.
Trapping a soccer ball is like taking the time to understand something in one’s own terms before passing the message on to another teammate.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 27, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 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.
