Where Is Emmaus?
Children's sermon
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Our lectionary gospel text this week brings us the familiar story from Luke of two disciples encountering a stranger on the road to Emmaus. The disciples, while perhaps a little wary initially, soon engage the stranger with a fevered recounting of recent events -- and they seem surprised that their walking companion seems so "out of the loop." Of course, the stranger soon indirectly reveals his identity to them, beginning by chiding them with the words "Oh how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe." After sharing a meal with them the stranger departs, and as the disciples reflect on their experience they realize that they should have known the man's identity all along, particularly since "our hearts [were] burning within us while he was talking to us on the road." In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Roger Lovette suggests that there are many links between this account and the news of the day. (One that springs to mind quickly is the controversy about whether President Obama is really a native-born American, which Obama attempted to finally put to rest last week with the release of his long-form birth certificate. One can certainly imagine that the thought "how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe" or something similar crossed the president's mind.) But Roger concludes that the real meaning of this story for us is to understand that the road to Emmaus embodies both the grief and despair of life (which the disciples were still carrying with them) and the hope and possibility of new life, if we only open our eyes to see, and feel our "hearts burning within us."
Team member Ron Love shares some additional thoughts on the directness of Peter's sermon in this week's Acts passage. Ron notes that Peter makes no attempt to take the rough edges off his message or to test-market it with focus groups -- instead, he simply draws a line in the sand, says "listen to me," and makes a straightforward plea to repent and be baptized. Ron points out that the essence of what Peter tells us is that while we are to accept others, that does not mean an absence of accountability. Peter did not compromise his integrity in order to "sell" his message ... and similarly, there will be no compromising of God's accountability for the unjust and ungodly.
Finally, team member Dean Feldmeyer shares a "meditation on the death of an enemy" in response to the news of Osama bin Laden's killing by American counterintelligence forces. The country's response has been exultant triumphalism, as the monster behind the 9/11 attack has finally been located and brought to justice after nearly a decade on the run. But Dean points out that for Christians, some ambivalence is in order. While we're all relieved to see bin Laden removed from the scene, and hope that this will offer some degree of closure for the families of the 9/11 victims as well as a further neutering of the terrorist threat, perhaps the thought of our fellow Americans dancing on the grave of one of God's children -- even one as bloodthirsty as bin Laden -- ought to give us some pause. As important as accountability is for bin Laden's evil deeds, are we substituting a desire for simple revenge for God's divine judgment? There is a long tradition in the Old Testament of rejoicing when God's enemies are killed -- but would Jesus approve of the taking of an eye for an eye regarding bin Laden? Dean reminds us of the troubling implications implicit in the necessity we feel to eliminate our enemies.
Where Is Emmaus?
by Roger Lovette
Luke 24:13-35
THE WORLD
Lectionary texts emerge out of the soil of everyday life -- the words were addressed to specific concerns and hurts. The Psalms, sometimes praise and sometimes laments, arose out of the depths of life, hard and raw. The books of Acts and First Peter were addressed to a tiny church surrounded by a tumultuous world. And Luke's Gospel also wrote to a fragile and all-too-human church. Could we put down those words down beside so much of the South, where tornadoes tore through lives and communities leaving over 265 dead in six states? Thousands have been left hurt and many homeless. Or we could turn to last week's Time magazine and study the long list of their choices of 100 of the world's most influential people. Only two of those 100 are religious figures. Evangelical preacher Rob Bell was chosen because of his recent book on hell. Muslim preacher Feisal Abdul Rauf was picked because of his work in interfaith dialogue. Could that list reflect the fact that despite all our talk about religion it occupies little importance in our cultural life? Could one of our texts this week speak to this strange situation where the president releases his birth certificate only to have his enemies still mistrust him and refuse to accept his leadership? And the late-breaking news that Osama bin Laden has been killed will certainly be on everyone's minds. Could the Bible still speak to our problems and our time?
THE WORD
Our primary focus this week is found after Easter in Luke's account of the Emmaus Road experience. Paul Scherer said that "this is a story of singular grace and charm." As the spotlight shines on two forlorn disciples leaving Jerusalem and trudging slowly toward Emmaus, they say over and over that "we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel." Luke reports that even as word spread of the Resurrection, "these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe" (Luke 24:11). Of course, the story did not end there. A stranger walked with those two on the road to Emmaus, and they poured out their hearts. Their grief was summed up in their words "we had hoped." As they came near the end of their journey, sitting at table and breaking bread, they suddenly knew this stranger was the risen Lord. That encounter changed their lives. They turned around and went back to Jerusalem to tell the wonderful story of seeing the Lord firsthand. They told their friends of their experience on the road and how, as they broke bread, they came to know who he was -- the living Lord.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The preacher could put the Emmaus Road story down beside the events in our lives and our time. She could talk about the two roads in the text. There is the road to Emmaus, where there is doubt and confusion and grief. Many people today walk this first road, and life is hard. But there is another road: the road back to Jerusalem. And how different was that trip. The disciples had seen the risen Lord, and their lives were energized with hope and wonder. And this second road is a hopeful alternative for all those who feel the sad road to Emmaus is the end of their story.
Scholars say that there are three different places that claim to be Emmaus. Geographically we are not certain which spot is right. But Marcus Borg asks: Where is Emmaus? Emmaus is everywhere. It is a place where we can walk with Jesus and not recognize him at all. It is the place where we move from discouragement and despair to hope and finally a renewed faith. It is a place where we experience God in a personal kind of a way. It is a place where even ordinary events glisten with glory.
You might remind your congregation that on the Emmaus Road of grief and hopelessness, God meets us in those hard places. So Emmaus becomes a place of hope and possibility. Emmaus is the place where in the simplest of things, like the breaking of bread, we might discover life infused with more than we ever thought. If we open our eyes and look closely, we may see that Emmaus is right where we are.
If the Emmaus Road is everywhere -- including the road where we have just learned that Osama bin Laden has been killed by our troops in a special operation -- what are we to say? Jesus walks this road. Surely he is saddened that any of his children is dead -- even someone with bin Laden's reputation. You might lead your congregation not in a time of celebration, but rather in lifting up this whole situation and praying that God might use even this time to help us as a world come closer to liberty and justice for all. If Emmaus is everywhere, Emmaus is even here. You might unpack that for yourself and your people.
SECOND THOUGHTS
A Line in the Sand
by Ron Love
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
"And listen to what I say." These are very forceful and uncompromising words on the part of Peter, especially when one considers he was standing before a very hostile crowd. He was speaking to a Jewish community who questioned and challenged the Resurrection. Yet Peter continued his sermon undaunted. The power of his words, coupled with his sincerity, "cut to the heart" of those who listened. Then with great fervor Peter declared, "Repent, and be baptized." Those who were willing to entertain his words non-judgmentally "welcomed his message" and came forward and joined the church.
This was a simple message from a simple man in a simple setting. Peter's sanctuary was not a glass cathedral or a purchased stadium. There were no big-screen TVs projecting his image. It was not broadcast live on television. There was no plea for money and a promise of prosperity. There were no book deals. There was no ad hoc purpose-driven theology. There was no flamboyant attire. It was not a women's group where he dashed from couch to chair, holding hands and wiping tears. Peter did not speak of himself, and he had a total disregard for public perception and popularity. And he certainly did not offer the populace a universalist approach where sin has no accountability. There was only one message -- salvation. There was only one response -- repent.
One can question if the church has lost Peter's "draw the line in the sand" approach. One wonders if the church has lost the straightforwardness of his message. On the one extreme we have Rob Bell, who wrote not theology but an essay that God's love transcends accountability. On the other extreme of misguided theology we have Rick Warren, who wrote that we suffer to be like Jesus rather than the doctrinal stance that Jesus entered into our suffering. In the craziness of these times when megachurch preachers and media stars are vying for the public's attention, Franklin Graham recently concluded that since the scriptures say everyone will see the return of Jesus, God will telecommunicate the Second Coming on cell phones, since we all have one. And one can only wonder -- when will all this nonsense stop?
Those who pastor rural churches and mid-size suburban complexes that are absent of overhead projectors are not immune from these larger theatrical productions. Every town, somewhere within or near its borders, has that new church that is a small replica of Houston and Orange County. And this combination of showcasing does influence parishioners, either in creating a yearning for more of the same or a bewilderment that borders on becoming agnostic.
There is only one answer -- and it was demonstrated by Peter, who remained unfazed by his surroundings. He had a message. He preached it. He called for a response. Did it work? Three thousand true believers came forth and were baptized. You tell me...
But Peter did not just draw a line in the sand regarding the message of salvation. He also did it in regard to ethical behavior. This can be ascribed to the vision of the descending sheet. As recorded in Acts 10: "About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.' 'Surely not, Lord!' Peter replied. 'I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.' The voice spoke to him a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.' " This vision informed and transformed Peter into the realization that all people are equal, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians alike.
The message of Peter is not confined to Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians alone, for it has become the doctrinal stance of the church to embrace all people regardless of nationality and religious orientation. This worldview echoes the writings of Paul, who penned in Colossians, "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." Again, this is a worldview that the church has expanded to include an acceptance of all people across the globe.
Acceptance of others is not to be confused with an absence of judgment upon the ungodly. Peter was told to accept all brethren; but never was Peter told that God surrendered the authority of justice upon the disobedient who violated the basic precept of all religions -- to love one's neighbor as one's self.
As this message of acceptance is often lost to Christian evangelical biblical literalists, it is also lost to Muslim extremists. The jihadists of Islam accept only one view, one religion. Instead of seeing the vision of a falling sheet, they envision airplanes crashing into skyscrapers, and train terminals becoming bloody assemblies, and the sweetness of a wedding being transformed into a funeral briar. This was the religion practiced by Osama bin Laden. He drew a line in the sand -- and it was not to promote a message of inclusiveness but one of separation. Rather than preaching his message with words, he chose suicide bombers.
Israel was long-suffering as they awaited the security of living in the Promise Land. They endured invasions and exile, droughts and plagues. Yet remaining faithful, they did acquire the long-sought freedom and safety only dreamed of by Abraham. The Old Testament message, especially reflected in the Psalms, is that God will bring forth justice -- but one must have the patience and faith to wait. It has now been nearly ten years of patient waiting, but President Obama announced Sunday evening that justice has come upon the Islamic jihadists with the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The lesson that Peter clearly gives us in his ministry is that we do draw a line in the sand, and we do stand behind it, for those standing alongside of Peter believe in the message of salvation, the consequence of judgment if one fails to repent, and the universality of justice.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I. Discuss Peter and his sermon. Reflect on the setting and the audience. Emphasize the strength of Peter's conviction and the uncompromising nature of his message.
II. Discuss how the church must recapture the integrity and forthrightness of Peter. New innovations such as big screens in worship are not wrong if they truly enhance worship and do not border on entertainment. Preaching and worship must be biblical, not popular.
III. Discuss how the salvation message incorporates a concept of justice and judgment.
IV. Peter completed his sermon with a strong call for commitment. Review the commitments that your congregation has made with their membership vows, and outline how these vows must be fulfilled.
A MEDITATION ON THE DEATH OF AN ENEMY
by Dean Feldmeyer
Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble, or else the Lord will see it and be displeased and turn away his anger from them.
-- Proverbs 24:17-18
Osama bin Laden was once our friend. When his enemies were our enemies we applauded his courage, his craftiness, his resourcefulness, and his commitment. We gave him weapons.
Then in 1989, the Russians left Afghanistan and bin Laden changed. He embraced a twisted and malformed version of Islam, and for nearly 20 years, he financed, planned, plotted, enabled, and carried out the murders of thousands of people without regard to their religion, politics, or ethnic heritage. His targets included anyone who didn't agree with his every pronouncement and, primary among them, Americans. Not the least of these plots was the murder of 2,998 people in the United States on September 11, 2001.
From 1992 to 2011, he became one of the most prolific mass murderers in the history of the world, in the same league as Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong.
So, proclaiming us his enemy, he became ours. After 9/11 President George W. Bush vowed to bring him to justice "dead or alive," and President Barack Obama vowed, upon his election, to redouble that effort. For nearly ten years, military and intelligence agencies of the United States government sought him, and last summer they discovered that he was living in a walled compound in a suburban neighborhood in Pakistan. Last week 24 Navy Seals entered that compound and during a brief firefight killed Osama Bin Laden.
Few indeed are those who will argue that this was an unnecessary or unjust death. He had vowed and demonstrated a determination to destroy everything that we value, stand for, and love. He had killed indiscriminately and gave every indication that he would continue to do so as long as he was able. He had embraced everything that we know as evil and made it his constant companion. And he had said that he would not be taken alive. So he had to be stopped -- if not to protect ourselves, then to protect the thousands of innocents who this man would kill without a qualm or a second thought. He needed to be captured and imprisoned, or failing that, killed.
How then do we, as Christians, respond to the news of his death?
Certainly we acknowledge that there is within us a sense of relief. The long hunt is over. The promise that was made to those who lost loved ones on 9/11 has been kept. A threat, a danger to us and to those we love has been defused and rendered harmless. Not all danger has been removed of course, but even the most jaded and cautious analysts have admitted that Osama bin Laden was a charismatic, eloquent, and wealthy leader whose death will leave al-Qaeda at loose ends and maybe even mortally wounded.
We might also feel a sense of justice. A mass murderer has been made to stand accountable for his actions, for the pain and misery and suffering he has brought to the world. He died violently as he lived violently; he was, in a sense, the author of his own demise.
These are understandable and appropriate responses as we meditate on the death of our enemy.
Scripture instructs us that there are inappropriate responses as well.
Revenge is an uneasy subject in the Bible, treated differently, depending on where we look. The Psalmist says that "the righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked" (Psalm 58:10). On the other hand, Proverbs 24:17-18 reminds us that God removes his favor from those who gloat over or celebrate the fall of their enemies.
As Christians, however, we are taught to filter all of life and scripture through the life of our Savior, even he who taught us to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). Saint Paul, who had every reason to hate his enemies who beat him, jailed him, tried him, and eventually succeeded in killing him, said: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord' " (Romans 10:19).
In fact, the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are filled with warnings against revenge. It is inappropriate for people of faith, a temptation that must be resisted with prayer and humility. Gloating, celebrating, dancing on the graves of fallen enemies -- these too are inappropriate for Christians.
In the hours immediately following the announcement of the death of bin Laden, television images of Americans smiling, waving flags, shouting "U-S-A," and singing "We Are the Champions" were perhaps understandable as we experienced a sort of corporate emotional catharsis.
But as the emotion of the moment wears off, we would do well to remember that this death is a sad reminder that, as a race, we have not evolved past the point where we still find it necessary to kill each other. We still have not figured out how to live together in peace. We still have to carry guns to feel safe in each other's company. There is no joy to be found in any death. There is no appropriate glee to be felt in any killing. If we are called to love our enemies and yet must kill them, then that paradox must be lived with a sense of solemnity and regret.
When the Children of Israel were delivered from Pharaoh's army at the crossing of the Red Sea, the story ends with the shirat hayam, a song sung by the people to praise God for their deliverance and for the destruction of the Egyptian army. The Talmud expands on this story by telling how the angels asked God if they could join in the singing. God responds: "The works of my hands are drowning in the sea, and you wish to sing praises?" (Talmud Tractate Megillah 10b).
Perhaps, as we search for an appropriate and faithful response to the death of our enemy, we might remember this story and accept the possibility that such an ending as this does not please God and should not please us.
Perhaps the only appropriate response is not singing but a sad, respectful silence.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The president of the United Church of Christ offers some thought-provoking sentiments in response to the news of the Osama bin Laden raid, and calls for "listening deeply and patiently for God to guide our thoughts and actions along the pathways to a just peace, healing of the human heart, and reconciliation": http://www.ucc.org/news/a-call-to-prayer-for-the.html.
* * *
The key lesson we need to learn following Easter and the events leading up to Easter is the truth that "The best can emerge from the worst!" Evil individuals had done their worst by placing the sinless Son of God on the cross. He who brought hope to everyone had died. Then came the morning! The best was emerging from the worst. The stone was rolled away.
"If anyone is in Christ there is a new creation, everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.... For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21).
The grain of irritating sand produces a pearl as the oyster coats the irritant again and again until the pearl is formed. In a similar manner, 95 types of flowers and shrubs, unknown for decades, were found in London following World War II in craters where nitrates from bursting and burning bombs had enriched the soil. The seeds were there all along, but waiting for the right conditions before they would sprout. Open your life to the indwelling presence of God, and you will find that the seeds of the Spirit are there to bless and prosper.
* * *
Mother Teresa understood the command to repent and be baptized. For her it meant focusing one's attention on the cross, allowing oneself to be engulfed by the divine Spirit of Christ. Mother Teresa recognized the reigning yet personal Savior when she wrote: "The more we empty ourselves, the more room we give God to fill us. Let there be no pride or vanity in the work. The work is God's work; the poor are God's poor. Work for Jesus and Jesus will work with you, pray with Jesus and Jesus will pray through you. The more you forget yourself, the more Jesus will think of you. The more you detach yourself from self, the more attached Jesus is to you."
* * *
The story of Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman, is well-known. He suffered a spinal cord injury in an equestrian competition and became a quadriplegic. Reeve never gave up fighting to get as well as he could, and he dedicated his life to helping others with spinal cord injuries. His is quoted as saying, "Once you choose hope, anything's possible."
* * *
Jesus must have gotten an earful from the companions with which he walked to Emmaus. Their guard was down, they didn't recognize him, and they said exactly what they were thinking and feeling.
The same thing happened to U.S. Grant, the famous Union general whose leadership probably won the Civil War for the North. On his way to a reception held in his honor, he was caught in a rain shower. A stranger walking in the same direction had no umbrella, so Grant offered to share his.
As it turned out, the stranger was headed for the same reception. As the two walked along, the second man admitted he had never seen Grant and that he was only going in order to satisfy a personal curiosity. He said, "Between us, I have always thought that Grant was a very much overrated man."
Grant replied, "That's my view also."
* * *
When the two disciples recognized Jesus as he broke the bread for them in their house in Emmaus, he "vanished from their sight" (Luke 24:31). The recognition and the disappearance of Jesus are one and the same event. Why? Because the disciples recognized that their Lord Jesus, the Christ, now lives in them... that they have become Christ-bearers. Therefore, Jesus no longer sits across the table from them as the stranger, the guest, the friend with whom they can speak and from who they can receive good counsel. He has become one with them. He has given them his own Spirit of love. Their companion on the journey has become the companion of their souls. They are alive, yet it is no longer them, but Christ living in them (see Galatians 2:20).
-- Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (HarperCollins, 1997)
* * *
There is an old story from the Eastern Orthodox tradition about a man who went to a monastery and told the abbot that he wanted to see God. He asked the abbot, "How many prayers, how many days of fasting will I have to undergo before I see God?"
The abbot stood up from behind his desk and said: "So you want to see God? Come with me." He then led the man down many winding corridors and dark staircases until they came at last to the kitchen and to the place where the dishes were washed. There, covered with grease and grime, was the meanest, lowliest, most mentally deficient of all the monks. The abbot pointed to him and said, "God."
* * *
The preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick once said, "The problem with many of us is not that we think God untrue, but that we find God unreal." That's the difficulty of faith: not that we've struggled with doubt and lost, but that we have let God slip into irrelevance and have banished God to a remote and dusty corner of our lives.
* * *
An old cartoon by Goddard Sherman depicts a father, mother, and their young son on their way home from Sunday services. The father tells the son, "I want you to stop referring to the church as the Repentagon."
But of course, the boy had it exactly right, didn't he?
* * *
Anne Sullivan was the daughter of Irish immigrant farmers Thomas Sullivan and Alice Cloesy; she had one brother, Jimmie, who was crippled from tuberculosis. Growing up, Anne was subject to poverty and physical abuse by her alcoholic father, and at the age of five trachoma struck Anne, leaving her almost blind. Two years later, her mother died and her father abandoned his children to an orphanage where her brother died shortly thereafter.
Despite being left in an orphanage with no formal educational facilities, Anne Sullivan prospered. When the state board of charities chairman visited her orphanage, Anne literally threw herself in front of him, crying, "Mr. Sanborn, I want to go to school."
After regaining her eyesight from a series of operations and graduating as class valedictorian in 1886 from the Perkins Institute for the Blind, Sullivan began teaching Helen Keller. When Anne first arrived, Helen was seven years old and highly undisciplined. Sullivan had to begin her teaching with lessons in obedience, followed by teaching the manual and Braille alphabets. Sullivan attended classes with Keller and tutored her through the Perkins Institute, the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, and Radcliffe College. All who came in contact with them were amazed at the ability of Sullivan to reach Keller, and at Keller's heightened ability to grasp concepts unheard of by deaf and blind students before her.
-- http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/sull-ann.htm
* * *
Mary Fields lived by her wits and her strength. She traveled north to Ohio, settled in Toledo, and worked for the Catholic convent. She formed a strong bond with Mother Amadeus. When the nuns moved to Montana and Mary learned of Mother Amadeus' failing health, she went west to help out. Having nursed Mother Amadeus back to health, Fields decided to stay and help build the St. Peter's mission school. She protected the nuns. Mary was a pistol-packing, hard-drinking woman, who needed nobody to fight her battles for her. When turned away from the mission because of her behavior, the nuns financed her in her own business. She opened a café -- but Mary's big heart drove her business into the ground several times because she would feed the hungry. In 1895 she found a job that suited her, as a U.S. mail coach driver for the Cascade County region of central Montana. She and her mule Moses never missed a day, and it was in this capacity that she earned her nickname of "Stagecoach," for her unfailing reliability.
-- http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/fiel-mar.htm
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God has heard our voice and our supplications.
People: We call on the God who listens to us.
Leader: What shall we return to God for all the bounty we have received?
People: We will lift up the cup of salvation and call on God's Name.
Leader: Let us offer our thanksgiving as we call on God.
People: We will pay our vows to God! Praise be to God on high!
OR
Leader: Let us come before God with hope!
People: Hope? With all that is going on in the world?
Leader: Yes, hope, for God is the one who is present in trouble.
People: Is God really with us? Does God really care?
Leader: God loves us and raised Jesus that we might have life eternal.
People: God is awesome! We will hope in our God!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Christ for the World, We Sing"
found in:
UMH: 568
H82: 537
Renew: 299
"Hope of the World"
found in:
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
"This Is a Day of New Beginnings"
found in:
UMH: 383
NCH: 417
CH: 518
"My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less"
found in:
UMH: 368
PH: 379
AAHH: 385
NNBH: 274
NCH: 403
CH: 537
LBW: 293, 294
"How Firm a Foundation"
found in:
UMH: 529
H82: 636, 637
PH: 361
AAHH: 146
NNBH: 48
NCH: 407
CH: 618
LBW: 507
"Because He Lives"
found in:
UMH: 364
AAHH: 281
NNBH: 120
CH: 562
"Lift Every Voice and Sing"
found in:
UMH: 519
H82: 599
PH: 563
AAHH: 540
NNBH: 457
CH: 631
LBW: 562
"If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee"
found in:
UMH: 142
H82: 635
PH: 282
NCH: 410
LBW: 453
"Be not Afraid"
found in:
Renew: 243
"The Steadfast Love of the Lord"
found in:
CCB: 28
Renew: 23
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who has a vision of wholeness for all creation: Grant us the grace to hope with you for the salvation of your world; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come, O God, to worship and praise you and to hear your words of hope for us and for our world. Open our eyes, our ears, our minds, and our hearts, that we may catch your vision, your hope, for our world. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we allow the events of our lives to dash our hopes.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have allowed the events taking place in the world and in our lives to drain us of hope. We look at the situations around us and we have no answers. We forget that you alone have the answers for the world's problems. We see evil around us and cannot understand why the violence we offer doesn't defeat the evil. We have totally forgotten that evil can only be overcome with good, and violence can only be overcome with peace. Forgive us and call us back to the words of our Savior that we might truly be his faithful disciples. Amen.
Leader: God still has hope for creation, and that includes hope for us. God invites us to repent so that in turning toward Jesus we will find hope, peace, and grace for ourselves and our world. In the Name of Jesus, we are forgiven!
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
This is a day that we offer praise and blessing to our God, the God who created and continues to create so that all that is may come to its fullness in Christ.
(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 allowed the events taking place in the world and in our lives to drain us of hope. We look at the situations around us and we have no answers. We forget that you alone have the answers for the world's problems. We see evil around us and cannot understand why the violence we offer doesn't defeat the evil. We have totally forgotten that evil can only be overcome with good, and violence can only be overcome with peace. Forgive us and call us back to the words of our Savior that we might truly be his faithful disciples.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which we have caught a glimpse of what the world can be when it reflects your intentions. We thank you for those who have reflected your love and grace in their lives so that we could hope for it in ours.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer to you those who have found it impossible to hope anymore. Many look around them and find nothing but discouragement and despair. Grant that as your people we may bring hope to all your children.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals (suggestions for either a worship center or a slide show)
a genie's lamp, a gun, a checkbook, pictures of military power, etc.; the Bible, a picture of Jesus
Children's Sermon Starter
Bring in a stuffed animal. Tell the children that you are hoping this stuffed animal will build you a house, bake you a cake, or whatever. Ask the children if they think it will happen. Talk about how silly it is to have hope in someone or something that can't possible do what you want done. That is why our hope is in God. God is the only one who can make us and the world what we all need to be.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
The Talk of the Town
Luke 24:13-35
Object: a newspaper article on a subject that everyone in the community or the country is talking about (like the killing of Osama bin Laden)
Good morning, boys and girls! Have you heard about what happened to Osama bin Laden? Did you see the stories in the newspaper? (let the children answer) It's been on television and the radio too. Have you heard your mom and dad talking about it? (let them answer) By the time they are tired of talking about it, someone else will bring it up. This is quite a story, and people have been hoping and waiting for this to happen for many years.
After Jesus was resurrected there was a lot of talk about him too, especially in and around Jerusalem. Some said that Jesus was hiding, while others said that the Roman soldiers must have hidden his body. Others said he was resurrected. It didn't really make any difference where people went because there was a lot of talk about Jesus -- just as there is about Osama bin Laden this week.
That's the way it was in and around Jerusalem after Jesus was resurrected. People were talking to friends and strangers. If they stopped for coffee they talked about it, and before they went to the temple to pray they talked about it.
In Jerusalem they did not have television, newspapers, or the internet, so you had to depend on the talk of others. Sometimes people added to the story or subtracted from the story. Not everyone could talk to a Peter, John, Thomas, or Mary Magdalene, but we know of one disciple by the name of Cleopas who could not get it out of his mind. He was talking so fast to his friend that when another person came up to ask Cleopas what he was talking about, Cleopas didn't even look up. He just said, "Where have you been? You must be the only person in Jerusalem who doesn't know what happened."
Well, that person was Jesus. Jesus listened to them talk while they walked, and they found him very interesting but they still did not know who he was. It was only when they stopped to eat and Jesus blessed the meal that they realized they were talking to the Messiah, the same person they had been talking about all day. As soon as they knew who he was, Jesus vanished from sight.
Cleopas and his friend raced back to Jerusalem to tell the eleven disciples what had happened to them. It was a very exciting day.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 8, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Ron Love shares some additional thoughts on the directness of Peter's sermon in this week's Acts passage. Ron notes that Peter makes no attempt to take the rough edges off his message or to test-market it with focus groups -- instead, he simply draws a line in the sand, says "listen to me," and makes a straightforward plea to repent and be baptized. Ron points out that the essence of what Peter tells us is that while we are to accept others, that does not mean an absence of accountability. Peter did not compromise his integrity in order to "sell" his message ... and similarly, there will be no compromising of God's accountability for the unjust and ungodly.
Finally, team member Dean Feldmeyer shares a "meditation on the death of an enemy" in response to the news of Osama bin Laden's killing by American counterintelligence forces. The country's response has been exultant triumphalism, as the monster behind the 9/11 attack has finally been located and brought to justice after nearly a decade on the run. But Dean points out that for Christians, some ambivalence is in order. While we're all relieved to see bin Laden removed from the scene, and hope that this will offer some degree of closure for the families of the 9/11 victims as well as a further neutering of the terrorist threat, perhaps the thought of our fellow Americans dancing on the grave of one of God's children -- even one as bloodthirsty as bin Laden -- ought to give us some pause. As important as accountability is for bin Laden's evil deeds, are we substituting a desire for simple revenge for God's divine judgment? There is a long tradition in the Old Testament of rejoicing when God's enemies are killed -- but would Jesus approve of the taking of an eye for an eye regarding bin Laden? Dean reminds us of the troubling implications implicit in the necessity we feel to eliminate our enemies.
Where Is Emmaus?
by Roger Lovette
Luke 24:13-35
THE WORLD
Lectionary texts emerge out of the soil of everyday life -- the words were addressed to specific concerns and hurts. The Psalms, sometimes praise and sometimes laments, arose out of the depths of life, hard and raw. The books of Acts and First Peter were addressed to a tiny church surrounded by a tumultuous world. And Luke's Gospel also wrote to a fragile and all-too-human church. Could we put down those words down beside so much of the South, where tornadoes tore through lives and communities leaving over 265 dead in six states? Thousands have been left hurt and many homeless. Or we could turn to last week's Time magazine and study the long list of their choices of 100 of the world's most influential people. Only two of those 100 are religious figures. Evangelical preacher Rob Bell was chosen because of his recent book on hell. Muslim preacher Feisal Abdul Rauf was picked because of his work in interfaith dialogue. Could that list reflect the fact that despite all our talk about religion it occupies little importance in our cultural life? Could one of our texts this week speak to this strange situation where the president releases his birth certificate only to have his enemies still mistrust him and refuse to accept his leadership? And the late-breaking news that Osama bin Laden has been killed will certainly be on everyone's minds. Could the Bible still speak to our problems and our time?
THE WORD
Our primary focus this week is found after Easter in Luke's account of the Emmaus Road experience. Paul Scherer said that "this is a story of singular grace and charm." As the spotlight shines on two forlorn disciples leaving Jerusalem and trudging slowly toward Emmaus, they say over and over that "we had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel." Luke reports that even as word spread of the Resurrection, "these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe" (Luke 24:11). Of course, the story did not end there. A stranger walked with those two on the road to Emmaus, and they poured out their hearts. Their grief was summed up in their words "we had hoped." As they came near the end of their journey, sitting at table and breaking bread, they suddenly knew this stranger was the risen Lord. That encounter changed their lives. They turned around and went back to Jerusalem to tell the wonderful story of seeing the Lord firsthand. They told their friends of their experience on the road and how, as they broke bread, they came to know who he was -- the living Lord.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The preacher could put the Emmaus Road story down beside the events in our lives and our time. She could talk about the two roads in the text. There is the road to Emmaus, where there is doubt and confusion and grief. Many people today walk this first road, and life is hard. But there is another road: the road back to Jerusalem. And how different was that trip. The disciples had seen the risen Lord, and their lives were energized with hope and wonder. And this second road is a hopeful alternative for all those who feel the sad road to Emmaus is the end of their story.
Scholars say that there are three different places that claim to be Emmaus. Geographically we are not certain which spot is right. But Marcus Borg asks: Where is Emmaus? Emmaus is everywhere. It is a place where we can walk with Jesus and not recognize him at all. It is the place where we move from discouragement and despair to hope and finally a renewed faith. It is a place where we experience God in a personal kind of a way. It is a place where even ordinary events glisten with glory.
You might remind your congregation that on the Emmaus Road of grief and hopelessness, God meets us in those hard places. So Emmaus becomes a place of hope and possibility. Emmaus is the place where in the simplest of things, like the breaking of bread, we might discover life infused with more than we ever thought. If we open our eyes and look closely, we may see that Emmaus is right where we are.
If the Emmaus Road is everywhere -- including the road where we have just learned that Osama bin Laden has been killed by our troops in a special operation -- what are we to say? Jesus walks this road. Surely he is saddened that any of his children is dead -- even someone with bin Laden's reputation. You might lead your congregation not in a time of celebration, but rather in lifting up this whole situation and praying that God might use even this time to help us as a world come closer to liberty and justice for all. If Emmaus is everywhere, Emmaus is even here. You might unpack that for yourself and your people.
SECOND THOUGHTS
A Line in the Sand
by Ron Love
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
"And listen to what I say." These are very forceful and uncompromising words on the part of Peter, especially when one considers he was standing before a very hostile crowd. He was speaking to a Jewish community who questioned and challenged the Resurrection. Yet Peter continued his sermon undaunted. The power of his words, coupled with his sincerity, "cut to the heart" of those who listened. Then with great fervor Peter declared, "Repent, and be baptized." Those who were willing to entertain his words non-judgmentally "welcomed his message" and came forward and joined the church.
This was a simple message from a simple man in a simple setting. Peter's sanctuary was not a glass cathedral or a purchased stadium. There were no big-screen TVs projecting his image. It was not broadcast live on television. There was no plea for money and a promise of prosperity. There were no book deals. There was no ad hoc purpose-driven theology. There was no flamboyant attire. It was not a women's group where he dashed from couch to chair, holding hands and wiping tears. Peter did not speak of himself, and he had a total disregard for public perception and popularity. And he certainly did not offer the populace a universalist approach where sin has no accountability. There was only one message -- salvation. There was only one response -- repent.
One can question if the church has lost Peter's "draw the line in the sand" approach. One wonders if the church has lost the straightforwardness of his message. On the one extreme we have Rob Bell, who wrote not theology but an essay that God's love transcends accountability. On the other extreme of misguided theology we have Rick Warren, who wrote that we suffer to be like Jesus rather than the doctrinal stance that Jesus entered into our suffering. In the craziness of these times when megachurch preachers and media stars are vying for the public's attention, Franklin Graham recently concluded that since the scriptures say everyone will see the return of Jesus, God will telecommunicate the Second Coming on cell phones, since we all have one. And one can only wonder -- when will all this nonsense stop?
Those who pastor rural churches and mid-size suburban complexes that are absent of overhead projectors are not immune from these larger theatrical productions. Every town, somewhere within or near its borders, has that new church that is a small replica of Houston and Orange County. And this combination of showcasing does influence parishioners, either in creating a yearning for more of the same or a bewilderment that borders on becoming agnostic.
There is only one answer -- and it was demonstrated by Peter, who remained unfazed by his surroundings. He had a message. He preached it. He called for a response. Did it work? Three thousand true believers came forth and were baptized. You tell me...
But Peter did not just draw a line in the sand regarding the message of salvation. He also did it in regard to ethical behavior. This can be ascribed to the vision of the descending sheet. As recorded in Acts 10: "About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.' 'Surely not, Lord!' Peter replied. 'I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.' The voice spoke to him a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.' " This vision informed and transformed Peter into the realization that all people are equal, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians alike.
The message of Peter is not confined to Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians alone, for it has become the doctrinal stance of the church to embrace all people regardless of nationality and religious orientation. This worldview echoes the writings of Paul, who penned in Colossians, "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." Again, this is a worldview that the church has expanded to include an acceptance of all people across the globe.
Acceptance of others is not to be confused with an absence of judgment upon the ungodly. Peter was told to accept all brethren; but never was Peter told that God surrendered the authority of justice upon the disobedient who violated the basic precept of all religions -- to love one's neighbor as one's self.
As this message of acceptance is often lost to Christian evangelical biblical literalists, it is also lost to Muslim extremists. The jihadists of Islam accept only one view, one religion. Instead of seeing the vision of a falling sheet, they envision airplanes crashing into skyscrapers, and train terminals becoming bloody assemblies, and the sweetness of a wedding being transformed into a funeral briar. This was the religion practiced by Osama bin Laden. He drew a line in the sand -- and it was not to promote a message of inclusiveness but one of separation. Rather than preaching his message with words, he chose suicide bombers.
Israel was long-suffering as they awaited the security of living in the Promise Land. They endured invasions and exile, droughts and plagues. Yet remaining faithful, they did acquire the long-sought freedom and safety only dreamed of by Abraham. The Old Testament message, especially reflected in the Psalms, is that God will bring forth justice -- but one must have the patience and faith to wait. It has now been nearly ten years of patient waiting, but President Obama announced Sunday evening that justice has come upon the Islamic jihadists with the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The lesson that Peter clearly gives us in his ministry is that we do draw a line in the sand, and we do stand behind it, for those standing alongside of Peter believe in the message of salvation, the consequence of judgment if one fails to repent, and the universality of justice.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I. Discuss Peter and his sermon. Reflect on the setting and the audience. Emphasize the strength of Peter's conviction and the uncompromising nature of his message.
II. Discuss how the church must recapture the integrity and forthrightness of Peter. New innovations such as big screens in worship are not wrong if they truly enhance worship and do not border on entertainment. Preaching and worship must be biblical, not popular.
III. Discuss how the salvation message incorporates a concept of justice and judgment.
IV. Peter completed his sermon with a strong call for commitment. Review the commitments that your congregation has made with their membership vows, and outline how these vows must be fulfilled.
A MEDITATION ON THE DEATH OF AN ENEMY
by Dean Feldmeyer
Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble, or else the Lord will see it and be displeased and turn away his anger from them.
-- Proverbs 24:17-18
Osama bin Laden was once our friend. When his enemies were our enemies we applauded his courage, his craftiness, his resourcefulness, and his commitment. We gave him weapons.
Then in 1989, the Russians left Afghanistan and bin Laden changed. He embraced a twisted and malformed version of Islam, and for nearly 20 years, he financed, planned, plotted, enabled, and carried out the murders of thousands of people without regard to their religion, politics, or ethnic heritage. His targets included anyone who didn't agree with his every pronouncement and, primary among them, Americans. Not the least of these plots was the murder of 2,998 people in the United States on September 11, 2001.
From 1992 to 2011, he became one of the most prolific mass murderers in the history of the world, in the same league as Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong.
So, proclaiming us his enemy, he became ours. After 9/11 President George W. Bush vowed to bring him to justice "dead or alive," and President Barack Obama vowed, upon his election, to redouble that effort. For nearly ten years, military and intelligence agencies of the United States government sought him, and last summer they discovered that he was living in a walled compound in a suburban neighborhood in Pakistan. Last week 24 Navy Seals entered that compound and during a brief firefight killed Osama Bin Laden.
Few indeed are those who will argue that this was an unnecessary or unjust death. He had vowed and demonstrated a determination to destroy everything that we value, stand for, and love. He had killed indiscriminately and gave every indication that he would continue to do so as long as he was able. He had embraced everything that we know as evil and made it his constant companion. And he had said that he would not be taken alive. So he had to be stopped -- if not to protect ourselves, then to protect the thousands of innocents who this man would kill without a qualm or a second thought. He needed to be captured and imprisoned, or failing that, killed.
How then do we, as Christians, respond to the news of his death?
Certainly we acknowledge that there is within us a sense of relief. The long hunt is over. The promise that was made to those who lost loved ones on 9/11 has been kept. A threat, a danger to us and to those we love has been defused and rendered harmless. Not all danger has been removed of course, but even the most jaded and cautious analysts have admitted that Osama bin Laden was a charismatic, eloquent, and wealthy leader whose death will leave al-Qaeda at loose ends and maybe even mortally wounded.
We might also feel a sense of justice. A mass murderer has been made to stand accountable for his actions, for the pain and misery and suffering he has brought to the world. He died violently as he lived violently; he was, in a sense, the author of his own demise.
These are understandable and appropriate responses as we meditate on the death of our enemy.
Scripture instructs us that there are inappropriate responses as well.
Revenge is an uneasy subject in the Bible, treated differently, depending on where we look. The Psalmist says that "the righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked" (Psalm 58:10). On the other hand, Proverbs 24:17-18 reminds us that God removes his favor from those who gloat over or celebrate the fall of their enemies.
As Christians, however, we are taught to filter all of life and scripture through the life of our Savior, even he who taught us to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). Saint Paul, who had every reason to hate his enemies who beat him, jailed him, tried him, and eventually succeeded in killing him, said: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord' " (Romans 10:19).
In fact, the Hebrew and Christian scriptures are filled with warnings against revenge. It is inappropriate for people of faith, a temptation that must be resisted with prayer and humility. Gloating, celebrating, dancing on the graves of fallen enemies -- these too are inappropriate for Christians.
In the hours immediately following the announcement of the death of bin Laden, television images of Americans smiling, waving flags, shouting "U-S-A," and singing "We Are the Champions" were perhaps understandable as we experienced a sort of corporate emotional catharsis.
But as the emotion of the moment wears off, we would do well to remember that this death is a sad reminder that, as a race, we have not evolved past the point where we still find it necessary to kill each other. We still have not figured out how to live together in peace. We still have to carry guns to feel safe in each other's company. There is no joy to be found in any death. There is no appropriate glee to be felt in any killing. If we are called to love our enemies and yet must kill them, then that paradox must be lived with a sense of solemnity and regret.
When the Children of Israel were delivered from Pharaoh's army at the crossing of the Red Sea, the story ends with the shirat hayam, a song sung by the people to praise God for their deliverance and for the destruction of the Egyptian army. The Talmud expands on this story by telling how the angels asked God if they could join in the singing. God responds: "The works of my hands are drowning in the sea, and you wish to sing praises?" (Talmud Tractate Megillah 10b).
Perhaps, as we search for an appropriate and faithful response to the death of our enemy, we might remember this story and accept the possibility that such an ending as this does not please God and should not please us.
Perhaps the only appropriate response is not singing but a sad, respectful silence.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The president of the United Church of Christ offers some thought-provoking sentiments in response to the news of the Osama bin Laden raid, and calls for "listening deeply and patiently for God to guide our thoughts and actions along the pathways to a just peace, healing of the human heart, and reconciliation": http://www.ucc.org/news/a-call-to-prayer-for-the.html.
* * *
The key lesson we need to learn following Easter and the events leading up to Easter is the truth that "The best can emerge from the worst!" Evil individuals had done their worst by placing the sinless Son of God on the cross. He who brought hope to everyone had died. Then came the morning! The best was emerging from the worst. The stone was rolled away.
"If anyone is in Christ there is a new creation, everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.... For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21).
The grain of irritating sand produces a pearl as the oyster coats the irritant again and again until the pearl is formed. In a similar manner, 95 types of flowers and shrubs, unknown for decades, were found in London following World War II in craters where nitrates from bursting and burning bombs had enriched the soil. The seeds were there all along, but waiting for the right conditions before they would sprout. Open your life to the indwelling presence of God, and you will find that the seeds of the Spirit are there to bless and prosper.
* * *
Mother Teresa understood the command to repent and be baptized. For her it meant focusing one's attention on the cross, allowing oneself to be engulfed by the divine Spirit of Christ. Mother Teresa recognized the reigning yet personal Savior when she wrote: "The more we empty ourselves, the more room we give God to fill us. Let there be no pride or vanity in the work. The work is God's work; the poor are God's poor. Work for Jesus and Jesus will work with you, pray with Jesus and Jesus will pray through you. The more you forget yourself, the more Jesus will think of you. The more you detach yourself from self, the more attached Jesus is to you."
* * *
The story of Christopher Reeve, the actor who played Superman, is well-known. He suffered a spinal cord injury in an equestrian competition and became a quadriplegic. Reeve never gave up fighting to get as well as he could, and he dedicated his life to helping others with spinal cord injuries. His is quoted as saying, "Once you choose hope, anything's possible."
* * *
Jesus must have gotten an earful from the companions with which he walked to Emmaus. Their guard was down, they didn't recognize him, and they said exactly what they were thinking and feeling.
The same thing happened to U.S. Grant, the famous Union general whose leadership probably won the Civil War for the North. On his way to a reception held in his honor, he was caught in a rain shower. A stranger walking in the same direction had no umbrella, so Grant offered to share his.
As it turned out, the stranger was headed for the same reception. As the two walked along, the second man admitted he had never seen Grant and that he was only going in order to satisfy a personal curiosity. He said, "Between us, I have always thought that Grant was a very much overrated man."
Grant replied, "That's my view also."
* * *
When the two disciples recognized Jesus as he broke the bread for them in their house in Emmaus, he "vanished from their sight" (Luke 24:31). The recognition and the disappearance of Jesus are one and the same event. Why? Because the disciples recognized that their Lord Jesus, the Christ, now lives in them... that they have become Christ-bearers. Therefore, Jesus no longer sits across the table from them as the stranger, the guest, the friend with whom they can speak and from who they can receive good counsel. He has become one with them. He has given them his own Spirit of love. Their companion on the journey has become the companion of their souls. They are alive, yet it is no longer them, but Christ living in them (see Galatians 2:20).
-- Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (HarperCollins, 1997)
* * *
There is an old story from the Eastern Orthodox tradition about a man who went to a monastery and told the abbot that he wanted to see God. He asked the abbot, "How many prayers, how many days of fasting will I have to undergo before I see God?"
The abbot stood up from behind his desk and said: "So you want to see God? Come with me." He then led the man down many winding corridors and dark staircases until they came at last to the kitchen and to the place where the dishes were washed. There, covered with grease and grime, was the meanest, lowliest, most mentally deficient of all the monks. The abbot pointed to him and said, "God."
* * *
The preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick once said, "The problem with many of us is not that we think God untrue, but that we find God unreal." That's the difficulty of faith: not that we've struggled with doubt and lost, but that we have let God slip into irrelevance and have banished God to a remote and dusty corner of our lives.
* * *
An old cartoon by Goddard Sherman depicts a father, mother, and their young son on their way home from Sunday services. The father tells the son, "I want you to stop referring to the church as the Repentagon."
But of course, the boy had it exactly right, didn't he?
* * *
Anne Sullivan was the daughter of Irish immigrant farmers Thomas Sullivan and Alice Cloesy; she had one brother, Jimmie, who was crippled from tuberculosis. Growing up, Anne was subject to poverty and physical abuse by her alcoholic father, and at the age of five trachoma struck Anne, leaving her almost blind. Two years later, her mother died and her father abandoned his children to an orphanage where her brother died shortly thereafter.
Despite being left in an orphanage with no formal educational facilities, Anne Sullivan prospered. When the state board of charities chairman visited her orphanage, Anne literally threw herself in front of him, crying, "Mr. Sanborn, I want to go to school."
After regaining her eyesight from a series of operations and graduating as class valedictorian in 1886 from the Perkins Institute for the Blind, Sullivan began teaching Helen Keller. When Anne first arrived, Helen was seven years old and highly undisciplined. Sullivan had to begin her teaching with lessons in obedience, followed by teaching the manual and Braille alphabets. Sullivan attended classes with Keller and tutored her through the Perkins Institute, the Cambridge School for Young Ladies, and Radcliffe College. All who came in contact with them were amazed at the ability of Sullivan to reach Keller, and at Keller's heightened ability to grasp concepts unheard of by deaf and blind students before her.
-- http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/sull-ann.htm
* * *
Mary Fields lived by her wits and her strength. She traveled north to Ohio, settled in Toledo, and worked for the Catholic convent. She formed a strong bond with Mother Amadeus. When the nuns moved to Montana and Mary learned of Mother Amadeus' failing health, she went west to help out. Having nursed Mother Amadeus back to health, Fields decided to stay and help build the St. Peter's mission school. She protected the nuns. Mary was a pistol-packing, hard-drinking woman, who needed nobody to fight her battles for her. When turned away from the mission because of her behavior, the nuns financed her in her own business. She opened a café -- but Mary's big heart drove her business into the ground several times because she would feed the hungry. In 1895 she found a job that suited her, as a U.S. mail coach driver for the Cascade County region of central Montana. She and her mule Moses never missed a day, and it was in this capacity that she earned her nickname of "Stagecoach," for her unfailing reliability.
-- http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/fiel-mar.htm
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God has heard our voice and our supplications.
People: We call on the God who listens to us.
Leader: What shall we return to God for all the bounty we have received?
People: We will lift up the cup of salvation and call on God's Name.
Leader: Let us offer our thanksgiving as we call on God.
People: We will pay our vows to God! Praise be to God on high!
OR
Leader: Let us come before God with hope!
People: Hope? With all that is going on in the world?
Leader: Yes, hope, for God is the one who is present in trouble.
People: Is God really with us? Does God really care?
Leader: God loves us and raised Jesus that we might have life eternal.
People: God is awesome! We will hope in our God!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Christ for the World, We Sing"
found in:
UMH: 568
H82: 537
Renew: 299
"Hope of the World"
found in:
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
"This Is a Day of New Beginnings"
found in:
UMH: 383
NCH: 417
CH: 518
"My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less"
found in:
UMH: 368
PH: 379
AAHH: 385
NNBH: 274
NCH: 403
CH: 537
LBW: 293, 294
"How Firm a Foundation"
found in:
UMH: 529
H82: 636, 637
PH: 361
AAHH: 146
NNBH: 48
NCH: 407
CH: 618
LBW: 507
"Because He Lives"
found in:
UMH: 364
AAHH: 281
NNBH: 120
CH: 562
"Lift Every Voice and Sing"
found in:
UMH: 519
H82: 599
PH: 563
AAHH: 540
NNBH: 457
CH: 631
LBW: 562
"If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee"
found in:
UMH: 142
H82: 635
PH: 282
NCH: 410
LBW: 453
"Be not Afraid"
found in:
Renew: 243
"The Steadfast Love of the Lord"
found in:
CCB: 28
Renew: 23
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who has a vision of wholeness for all creation: Grant us the grace to hope with you for the salvation of your world; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come, O God, to worship and praise you and to hear your words of hope for us and for our world. Open our eyes, our ears, our minds, and our hearts, that we may catch your vision, your hope, for our world. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we allow the events of our lives to dash our hopes.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have allowed the events taking place in the world and in our lives to drain us of hope. We look at the situations around us and we have no answers. We forget that you alone have the answers for the world's problems. We see evil around us and cannot understand why the violence we offer doesn't defeat the evil. We have totally forgotten that evil can only be overcome with good, and violence can only be overcome with peace. Forgive us and call us back to the words of our Savior that we might truly be his faithful disciples. Amen.
Leader: God still has hope for creation, and that includes hope for us. God invites us to repent so that in turning toward Jesus we will find hope, peace, and grace for ourselves and our world. In the Name of Jesus, we are forgiven!
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
This is a day that we offer praise and blessing to our God, the God who created and continues to create so that all that is may come to its fullness in Christ.
(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 allowed the events taking place in the world and in our lives to drain us of hope. We look at the situations around us and we have no answers. We forget that you alone have the answers for the world's problems. We see evil around us and cannot understand why the violence we offer doesn't defeat the evil. We have totally forgotten that evil can only be overcome with good, and violence can only be overcome with peace. Forgive us and call us back to the words of our Savior that we might truly be his faithful disciples.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which we have caught a glimpse of what the world can be when it reflects your intentions. We thank you for those who have reflected your love and grace in their lives so that we could hope for it in ours.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer to you those who have found it impossible to hope anymore. Many look around them and find nothing but discouragement and despair. Grant that as your people we may bring hope to all your children.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals (suggestions for either a worship center or a slide show)
a genie's lamp, a gun, a checkbook, pictures of military power, etc.; the Bible, a picture of Jesus
Children's Sermon Starter
Bring in a stuffed animal. Tell the children that you are hoping this stuffed animal will build you a house, bake you a cake, or whatever. Ask the children if they think it will happen. Talk about how silly it is to have hope in someone or something that can't possible do what you want done. That is why our hope is in God. God is the only one who can make us and the world what we all need to be.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
The Talk of the Town
Luke 24:13-35
Object: a newspaper article on a subject that everyone in the community or the country is talking about (like the killing of Osama bin Laden)
Good morning, boys and girls! Have you heard about what happened to Osama bin Laden? Did you see the stories in the newspaper? (let the children answer) It's been on television and the radio too. Have you heard your mom and dad talking about it? (let them answer) By the time they are tired of talking about it, someone else will bring it up. This is quite a story, and people have been hoping and waiting for this to happen for many years.
After Jesus was resurrected there was a lot of talk about him too, especially in and around Jerusalem. Some said that Jesus was hiding, while others said that the Roman soldiers must have hidden his body. Others said he was resurrected. It didn't really make any difference where people went because there was a lot of talk about Jesus -- just as there is about Osama bin Laden this week.
That's the way it was in and around Jerusalem after Jesus was resurrected. People were talking to friends and strangers. If they stopped for coffee they talked about it, and before they went to the temple to pray they talked about it.
In Jerusalem they did not have television, newspapers, or the internet, so you had to depend on the talk of others. Sometimes people added to the story or subtracted from the story. Not everyone could talk to a Peter, John, Thomas, or Mary Magdalene, but we know of one disciple by the name of Cleopas who could not get it out of his mind. He was talking so fast to his friend that when another person came up to ask Cleopas what he was talking about, Cleopas didn't even look up. He just said, "Where have you been? You must be the only person in Jerusalem who doesn't know what happened."
Well, that person was Jesus. Jesus listened to them talk while they walked, and they found him very interesting but they still did not know who he was. It was only when they stopped to eat and Jesus blessed the meal that they realized they were talking to the Messiah, the same person they had been talking about all day. As soon as they knew who he was, Jesus vanished from sight.
Cleopas and his friend raced back to Jerusalem to tell the eleven disciples what had happened to them. It was a very exciting day.
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The Immediate Word, May 8, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
