Written on the heart
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For March 18, 2018:
Written on the Heart
by Chris Keating
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Jeremiah knows change is in the air. The dispirited exiles had watched as both the symbols of national pride and the reminders of God’s faithfulness had been destroyed. They’ve tried to make do as best as they can, but still they yearn for both a physical and spiritual homecoming.
In response, the prophet offers much more than a politically nuanced promise. He offers much more than thoughts and prayers, much more than knee-jerk attempts at assuaging their pain. In place of all of that, Jeremiah offers the consolation of God. In response, God declares a new covenant, a law that will be lasting and permanent.
It’s a reminder that the ever-creating God is about to do something new.
The days are coming, declares Jeremiah, when those who have been exiled will hear a promise that shall not disappoint. “I will put my law within them,” declares God. “and I will write it on their hearts.” It’s a far cry from the promises, laws and covenants created by most modern legislatures.
Last week it was reported, for example, that Congress will try its best to keep a low profile for the early part of 2018. Looking ahead to the midterm elections, Congress is planning a slim agenda even as Republicans bask in the victory of last year’s tax legislation. There will be talk here and there about reforms, rollbacks, initiatives and directives, but don’t expect major decisions until the its clear that control of the House of Representatives and Senate won’t be in play.
As CBS News reported, “the GOP-controlled Congress is looking ahead to a year of abbreviated workweeks and low-profile and small-bore initiatives. The House is spending more and more time on the obscure and the arcane; the Senate chamber is being turned over for weeks at a time to routine nominations.”
Even more telling are the failed attempts by legislators to write laws that truly help those most hurting, or that offer care for those who are marginalized, vulnerable, or lost. But God’s laws are written upon the heart, and not churned through messy and often unjust sausage factories and are reminders of God’s grace and mercy.
In the News
Jeremiah declares a promise of urgency, compassion, and hope. His proclaims the promise of God who keeps faith with Israel, despite their repeated infidelities. This is a God who acts, who forgives, and whose merciful actions can be trusted. God continues to use Jeremiah to build and to plant, to announce the new thing which will soon happen.
This new law stands in stunning contrast to the variety of political streams which flow across our land. The law of God does not need to be inscribed across monuments nor chiseled into public offices. Unlike statutes requiring “In God We Trust” to be displayed on public buildings, this law is written in the innermost parts of a person, and is visible only by way of their actions.
While our contemporary political streams may seem so often hopelessly riven, dammed up by special interests, lobbyists and endless coffers of cash, the promise of God flows freely and graciously. Jeremiah announces that God is writing a new covenant that will unify and transform. Legislation bounced around by Congress, on the other hand, may never be written at all.
In the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting, it looked like the articulate witness of the victims and students might help sway widespread change. That is still a possibility. A planned national student walk out on March 14, for example, and an upcoming march on Washington, DC may help encourage efforts at making substantive changes.
But there are also signs pointing to the tenacity of special interests in thwarting changes to gun control laws. Promises of a few new more stringent restrictions have now been walked back by President Trump and others. The proposal to raise the minimum age for buying guns from 18 to 21 will now be studied by a commission instead of being debated in Congress. Other sorts of more sweeping changes have now become modest fixes.
Overall, look for less attention to be placed on guns, and increased conversations about toughening school security and arming teachers. More guns, not less, seems to be the intent of these acts, even though large majorities of Americans now indicate a preference for stronger gun laws. Legislators like Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn have indicated rather bluntly that now is the time to be “realistic” about what can actually get done.
In classic Western shootout terms, “Nobody move. We’ve got you surrounded.” Like so many other areas of legislative action, the prevailing sense is we shouldn’t expect Congress to attempt substantive legislative changes. In other words, contents may be volatile if shaken or stirred.
Note the obstacles faced as Florida lawmakers grappled with passing new gun and school safety legislation. Lobbyists picked apart the bill with fine tooth combs. Witnesses gave compelling testimony, but hard-handed arm twisting were employed. The law was eventually passed and signed, but every attempt was made to try and change the conversation.
Governor Rick Scott’s signature on the bill was met with steely-eyed threats from the National Rifle Association. One NRA lobbyist criticized both Scott and the legislature as “turncoat Republicans” who had “caved to bullying and coercion.”
It’s a remarkable statement coming from the NRA of all groups. But it points out just how hard it is to churn the sausage factory’s grinder.
Gun legislation is only one example of how legislators play it safe. Given the electoral map, most predict that Congress will pursue a relatively modest agenda in 2018, at least until the midterm elections are decided. During last month’s congressional retreat, GOP leaders identified five major legislative priorities for 2018. Yet only two received detailed attention during breakout sessions, and there was only brief conversations on the other areas. A leaner agenda is being pursued, contrary to what might had been suggested following the passage of the tax bill in 2017.
Leaner, certainly. Meaner, perhaps. Cleaner? Doubtful.
Lawmaking is, after all, more of a craft than an act of mass production. Recently a handful of Utah legislators got together to try and explain the process to a younger generation. The result was something painfully reminiscent of what sometimes happens when a church gets anxious about reaching out to young people. The representative’s woefully misguided attempt produced a video parody of the 1990’s rap “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
Cringeworthy? So much so that even Fox News was yelping. Listening to middle-aged, mostly male, largely white politicians rap must surely be a form of punishment. (For those considering making a rap for your Easter sunrise service, here’s a tip. Don’t. Just don’t.)
If nothing else, the video serves as a reminder of our human limitations. Taken to an extreme, those same ego-driven acts of selfishness taint the political system and harden our divisions. Those sorts of divisions and injustices opened the door for Israel’s exile. Hearts hardened, judgments followed.
By contrast, Jeremiah offers a word of hope built on a law inscribed on hearts, not enshrined on monuments. God will do something new. It’s a law that shall not disappoint.
In the Scriptures
Jeremiah’s Book of Comfort offers the assurance that God has not given up on Israel, all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. The temple may have been destroyed and the monarchy lost, but God yearns to remain in a covenant relationship. Having proclaimed God’s judgment, Jeremiah now speaks of God’s loving concern. Here is the unexpected, undeserved good news: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”
The word comes despite Israel’s infidelity. While the previous covenants were neglected, this new covenant will look different. This is more than just a replacement part; this is a new system. The Spirit of God, which hovered over the uneasy and chaotic waters of creation, hovers once more. The days are surely coming, Jeremiah cries, when life will come out of death.
There are marvelous commentaries on this passage that offer more in-depth perspectives, including Patrick D. Miller’s commentary in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 6, and Walter Brueggemann’s A Commentary on Jeremiah -- Exile and Homecoming. Both would be worth consulting, especially in looking at how this pericope falls within the entire scope of Jeremiah. Brueggemann particularly pushes the reader to consider that exile is not equivalent to abandonment.
Brueggemann reminds us:
God will not quit. The loving faithfulness of God spills forth in messages of forgiveness and an insistence that the new law will be placed within the hearts of God’s people. The distance between God and God’s people will be eliminated. No need to tattoo “In God We Trust” on our arms or across our schools -- its already inked inside our vena cava. The promise of this passage, the thrust of the good news, is the expectation that the lives of God’s people will forever reflect this sentinel change.
In the Sermon
One interpretative decision facing the preacher will be allowing the text to retain its Jewishness. We hear “new covenant,” and our ears are trained to decode it as “Jesus Christ.” Brueggemann points out that this urge is somewhat prompted by rendering the Hebrew Bible as the “Old Testament” and the Christian scriptures as being the “real” covenant. (See A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, Kindle Location 3576, Kindle Edition.) As far as Jeremiah is concerned, it is the people of Israel who constitute the “new” covenant community.
There is gospel, however, in Jeremiah’s words. The preacher comes to this text in the middle of Lent. For some it is also the midst of spring break, while others a tramping through a miserable sequence of blizzards. We come to this also in a time of division, a time when the laws etched on buildings and inked on law books are under scrutiny. We come yearning for good news, and Jeremiah will not disappoint. “The days are coming.” God’s newness will erupt like the crocus and jonquils.
In my congregation, Lent has also been a time of mourning and grief. The promise of Jeremiah offers the promise that hearts torn apart by grief will be mended, and that God will claim those who are grieving. The possibility of newness emerging from grief is a theme which will resonate within the lives of many who are mourning.
Another possibility will explore what it means to live as if the laws of God were inscribed within our hearts. Does honoring the covenant inscribed in our hearts mean eliminating access to military grade weapons? We are rightly concerned about the 40,000 or so individuals who died from opioid related overdoses in 2015, but somehow are less prompted to respond to 36,252 persons who died from firearms. (See CDC FastStats.) Put another way, 1952 was the height of the polio epidemic in the United States. It’s often credited as increasing public awareness on the need for a vaccine. In 1952, 3,145 persons died from polio in the United States.
Jeremiah’s vision challenges us to look beyond the status quo. Jeremiah invites God’s people to begin imagining the new thing that God is doing. It’s a promise echoed by the Gospel lection this week: “Whoever serves me must follow me.” We follow, with our hearts inked in God’s love.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Seeds
by Mary Austin
John 12:20-33
Under a magnet on my fridge, next to tickets for upcoming events and a coupon for pizza, is the funeral program for a young man with a connection to my church. On a December evening, he went to a friend’s house to talk about his plans to attend Oregon State, starting in January. As he stood in the front yard, he was shot to death by someone driving by.
Young men, some in suits and others in jeans, and young women in impossibly tall shoes, filled the church halls for the funeral, where a colleague tried to provide words that would stay with them longer than the hurt. Most heart-breaking of all, no one seemed surprised to be there. No one thought it could be any different.
But the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who survived a horrible shooting inside their school, do believe that things can be different. With a combination of grief, shock, and energetic naiveté, and they are determinedly planting seeds for a different way to think about gun laws.
With the benefit of their passionate activism, we wonder again if this is the time that gun laws will change. Is this the seed that will bear fruit?
These seeds have fallen on the ground of America’s stony hearts before. Americans who favor sensible gun laws, with restrictions on semi-automatic weapons and background checks for all buyers, have thought the moment of change had come several times before. Surely, they thought in 2012, America won’t allow twenty first graders, along with school staff and the shooter’s mother, to be killed, and not do anything. Before that, people thought that change would surely come when then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot at a campaign event in 2011. She had life-altering injuries, and six people, including a child and a federal judge, were killed that day. Ms. Giffords and her husband, Navy veteran and former astronaut Mark Kelly, who are themselves gun owners, formed an organization dedicated to saving lives from gun violence. Last fall, people again thought that this was the moment, when a single shooter killed 58 people in Las Vegas, and wounded over 480 more. America won’t allow people to be killed by the dozens at outdoor events and not do anything. Each time, after a few weeks, it seemed that all of those seeds fell into the ground and didn’t bear fruit.
But all of those seeds have contributed to this moment, when gun law reform seems possible. The seeds of change have been planted by survivors and grieving families after each public tragedy, and by people touched by invisible, seemingly routine violence. No one knows if this is the moment that the laws will change. No one knows when all of these seeds, watered by the tears of the injured, the traumatized and the grieving, will come to life.
March 14 is the National School Walkout, one month to the day that 17 people were killed at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. It is part protest, part memorial. “The event will be at 10 a.m. across every time zone and last 17 minutes -- one minute for each of the victims gunned down in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.” The organizers of the National Women’s March have helped the students organize the walkout. Over 2,000 schools have registered to be part of the walkout. Each location is encouraged to use the 17 minutes in whatever way is right for their location.
On the protest side of the equation, “according to EMPOWER, the group organizing the action…participants want Congress to: Ban assault weapons, require universal background checks before gun sales, pass a gun violence restraining order law that would allow courts to disarm people who display warning signs of violent behavior.” On March 24, the March for our Lives will protest in Washington, DC and other locations.
School shootings are relatively rare, but gun violence is an everyday reality in the United States. Mass shootings (defined as four or more people at one time) are only a small fraction “of gun violence in the United States…Many gun deaths, especially in large cities, never make the news. This means that the most effective gun violence reduction strategies -- in terms of lives saved -- might not target mass shootings at all.” Further, gun violence has an economic impact on neighborhoods where violence is common. “In areas where it is prevalent, just the threat of violence makes neighborhoods poorer. It's very difficult to quantify the total harm caused by gun violence, but by asking many people how much they would pay to avoid this threat -- a technique called contingent valuation -- researchers have estimated a cost to American society of $100 billion dollars.” The emotional cost is also tremendous.
Poignantly, high school students from Chicago, where violence has claimed hundreds of lives in the last few years, recently traveled to Florida to meet students who survived the shooting at Stoneman Douglas. “The purpose was simple and hard: Unite the students across race, class and geography to help them see that gun violence, which disproportionately affects young people, is a common cause. In the weeks since the shooting, the crusading students in the wealthy, predominantly white town of Parkland have received a lot of attention, most of it positive. Their prominence has hurt or rankled people who don’t see the same praise and publicity given to crusading students in less advantaged places. “I felt that way before I went down,” said Lamar Johnson…Why, he wondered, were they going to Florida? No one came to them to talk about the violence in Chicago. After a few hours in Parkland, his resentment melted.” The Parkland students shared the same pain as the Chicago students, and also understood their level of privilege within the same sorrow.
“We would see Jesus,” the spiritual seekers say, hoping for wisdom from Jesus. They don’t get their wish -- Jesus is on to a new chapter. But we, their heirs as people seeking wisdom, may see Jesus in the pain of the Parkland students, and the Chicago students, and the sobbing kids from Detroit who have attended so many funerals. We may see Jesus when this season of activism bears the fruit of common sense laws, and a season of compassion for everyone touched by violence. We can grow, and move forward, if we have the will to. But growth always has a cost. The seed has to crack and fall away for the plant to grow. Jesus holds together this tension between life-giving growth and loss when he says that his soul is troubled. Even the most longed-for growth comes at some price, and his approaching death will come at a great price.
As Jesus notes, no one knows what will happen after a seed falls into the ground. Similarly, no one knows what will happen after these protests. Seeds fall, and some grow. But if we never plant anything, nothing will grow.
I keep that funeral program on my fridge so I can pray for the family, but also so I remember the level of trauma that people experience all the time, without much notice in the media. To my shame, it has grown familiar to me, too. But the Parkland students, and the seeds they’re planting, remind me that growth is possible.
The Chicago high school students who traveled to Parkland, Florida, have stayed in touch with the Florida students “by text and social media. They hope to connect at the March for Our Lives on March 24 in Washington, DC. Before they left, Emma [Gonzalez] invited them to come visit this summer. They invited her to Chicago for the Fourth of July. They felt slightly changed, which is how you begin to change the world.” May the seeds of change that are in all of this sprout, and bear fruit. May the seeds within us crack, and yield to new growth, so all of us grow toward the Light.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Imprinted on Our Hearts
Nothing prepares you for parenting like being the oldest child in a large family. All the experts say that and I can attest to the veracity of the claim. I’m the oldest of five.
For the first 14 years of my life my mother was either pregnant or there was a new baby in the house. And as the number of children grew so did my responsibility for helping to care for and raise them. My mother’s constant direction to me was, “Dean, take your brother.”
People would say to my mother, “Five kids. How did you manage?” She would answer, “Well, I couldn’t have managed the last three without the help of the first two.” And I was proud of that acknowledgement.
I could change a diaper when I was ten years old. By eleven I had mastered the art of shoving baby food into a 1-year-old’s mouth complete with that wrist action where you scrape it off his cheeks and reinsert it for a second try. At fifteen, I was teaching my youngest brother how to hit and catch a baseball and my second youngest how to ride a bicycle.
Parenting was imprinted on me as surely as my name. Being a dad was as much a part of my calling as being a pastor. It was, as Jeremiah says, written on my heart.
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Jeremiah 31:31-34
The Rule of 10,000
In his book, Outliers, Malcom Gladwell says that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice or ten thousand repetitions to achieve mastery in a field of endeavor. He cites numerous examples, but one of the most fascinating is that of the German violin students:
In the early 1990s, a team of psychologists in Berlin, Germany, studied violin students. Specifically, they studied their practice habits in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. All of the subjects were asked this question: “Over the course of your entire career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced?”
All of the violinists had begun playing at roughly five years of age with similar practice times. However, at age eight, practice times began to diverge. By age twenty, the elite performers averaged more than 10,000 hours of practice each, while the less able performers had only 4,000 hours of practice.
The elite had more than double the practice hours of the less capable performers.
One fascinating point of the study: No “naturally gifted” performers emerged. If natural talent had played a role, we would expect some of the “naturals” to float to the top of the elite level with fewer practice hours than everyone else. But the data showed otherwise. The psychologists found a direct statistical relationship between hours of practice and achievement. No shortcuts. No naturals.
One conclusion Gladwell draws is that to achieve 10,000 hours of practice or 10,000 repetitions of an action one must actually enjoy practicing. Practice cannot be approached as a chore or a duty. The one who achieves top-level mastery of any pursuit must come to actually enjoy the practice, almost to the exclusion of everything else.
It is only in this way that the skill becomes written not just in the mind but on the heart as well.
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Jeremiah 31:31-34
Is “Muscle Memory” a Thing?
The precise mechanism of the muscle memory is still unknown but it is believed that when a person is learning and practicing an activity, the brain of that person works during that time storing memories of the activity. Faced with the same or similar challenge, the brain will recall the memory and signal the muscles and the muscles will respond in the way they have before.
In other words, muscle memory is just a way of talking about memories that are stored in your brain about how your body should move in any given situation.
Some movements are instinctive, like fight or flight. Others are learned, like hitting a tennis ball, or catching a baseball, or the Palmer method of handwriting. The trick to doing the learned movements well is to practice them so many times that they act and feel like instinctual movements.
The typist who uses the touch system often can’t find the letters when looking at a keyboard but can find them instantly when he looks away. The pianist hears a tune and her fingers are automatically drawn to the right keys to repeat the melody. Asked how she did it, she probably cannot tell you why because she’s been doing it so long it’s become automatic. How does the child keep from crashing a bicycle? How does Phil Mickelson play golf left handed when he’s naturally right handed? It’s all “muscle memory.” Repeating actions over and over and over until the brain becomes imprinted with the way the action is to be done.
Perhaps this is something like what Jeremiah is talking about when he speaks of God’s law being written on the hearts of God’s people.
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John 12: 20-33
A Great Seed Planter
"Oooooh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord is good to me. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen." (Johnny Appleseed’s Prayer)
John Chapman was born on September 26, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts, the second child (after his sister Elizabeth) of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Chapman
When John was 18 years old, he persuaded his brother, Nate, to go west with him and in 1792 they left to live a nomadic life until 1805, when their father brought the rest of the family to meet them in Ohio. There, Nate stayed to help the family farm and John left to take an apprenticeship as an orchardist under a Mr. Crawford who had apple orchards.
After learning the trade of orchardist, John began traveling the country and starting apple tree nurseries, leaving them in the care of people he trained to tend them and returning every two years to collect the portion that was due to him from the sale of apples and trees. Some of the areas he traveled include Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His first nursery was planted on the bank of Brokenstraw Creek, south of Warren, Pennsylvania. Most of his nurseries were in the Mohican area of north-central Ohio, including the towns of Mansfield, Lisbon, Lucas, Perrysville, and Loudonville.
Besides being an orchardist, he was also a faithful member of the Swedenborgian church and he would spread “The New Church” gospel to the adults, and tell stories and sing songs for the children, receiving a floor to sleep on for the night, and sometimes supper, in return. He preached the gospel as he traveled, and during his travels he is said to have converted many Native Americans, whom he admired. The Native Americans regarded him as “touched by the Great Spirit,” and generally, received him with kindness and friendship.
During his later life, he became a vegetarian. He never married nor fathered any children. Images of him wearing a cooking pot on his head and raggedy clothing are, apparently, accurate according to those who knew him, though they report that he was happy and content to live a simple life, free of all but the most rudimentary personal property.
Johnny Appleseed died and was buried in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the age of 70. He left an estate of over 1,200 acres of valuable nurseries to his sister. He also owned four plots in Allen County, Indiana, including a nursery in Milan Township with 15,000 trees and two plots in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
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John 12: 20-33
The Ten Fastest Growing Trees and Plants in the World
https://www.conservationinstitute.org/10-fastest-growing-trees-plants-in-the-world/
1. Bamboo -- Bamboo grows incredibly quickly, which is one reason it is often used to make sustainable, eco-friendly products. Some species can literally grow 10 centimeters per day!
2. Hybrid poplar -- This species of poplar is a popular shade tree. It only takes about five years to grow poplars to harvestable height, making them popular in industry applications as well (lumber, etc.). Hybrid poplars can put on ten feet a year.
3. Algae -- Algae are very fast growing eukaryotes (they are plantlike, but not technically plants; they are actually quite hard to classify), and are found all over the world. They grow so quickly that they sometimes “bloom.”
4. Duckweed -- This small, flowering plant is one which also grows very quickly. Every 30 hours, the species can undergo an entire life cycle. If a duckweed were able to reproduce continuously at maximum efficiency, it would theoretically be able to create four Earth-sized masses of duckweed inside of just four months.
5. Eastern Cottonwood -- This species of tree may be the fastest growing tree in North America. In some locations it can put on a good 10-15 feet per year, and can often do so for several years in a row.
6. Giant Sequoia -- Sequoia trees are best known for their mammoth size, but they are also very fast growing. They can put on 4-6 feet per year for around 10 years, and then can keep adding on around 2 feet per year for the next 30.
7. Acacia -- Acacia can be an impressively fast growing tree. One acacia falcate tree which was planted in Sabah, Malaysia, managed to put on an astounding 35 feet of height in just 13 months, which comes out to just over an inch per day.
8. Wisconsin Fast Plants -- This trademarked strain of field mustard grows so quickly it has actually been marketed as “fast plants.” Developed by agricultural researchers at the University of Wisconsin, it can produce a brand new generation every five weeks.
9. Kudzu -- This is an incredibly fast-growing plant which can add a whole foot a day, and under prime conditions, may add a whole 60 feet in a single growing season! This form of Japanese arrowroot is considered quite a pest. It climbs over everything and is very hard to kill. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park pays a bounty on Kudzu, rewarding hikers who see it and report its location so it can be killed. They fear that, left unchecked, it could take over the entire park.
10. Transgenic Eucalyptus -- Another artificially developed plant on our list is transgenic eucalyptus, developed by splicing brassica genes with eucalyptus genes. These trees grow 30% faster than other types of natural eucalyptus, and can add 16 feet a year. Within just five years, some plants may manage to top 100 feet.
From team member Ron Love:
The posted illustrations are based on the major themes in this week’s lectionary readings.
Scripture
Dana Loesch is a conservative talk radio host, with her program The Dana Show. She is also a member of the Tea Party movement. Loesch has 765,000 Twitter followers. She has been selected as the spokesperson for the National Rifle Association. She is an advocate for Second Amendment rights. As a mommy blogger she contends that women need to possess weapons for self-protection. Loesch is known to many for the cover on her 2014 book titled Hands Off My Gun: Defending the Plot to Disarm America. The cover shows her holding a rifle while wearing a revealing outfit with extremely tall heels. The NRA sent Loesch to Parkland, Florida, after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, to defend gun rights, and in particular promoting a citizen’s right to own an assault rifle, similar to the AR-15 used in the Parkland massacre. The day after her visit to Parkland, Loesch, with her voice dripping with condescension, addressed journalists from the mainstream media, saying the mainstream media “love mass shootings” because “crying white mothers are ratings gold.” Recently Loesch got an extremely large tattoo on her right forearm. The tattoo reads “Ephesians 6:12-13.” The verse reads, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” The tattoo is a statement that citizens must possess assault rifles in the case of civil unrest or a government coup.
Application: Loesch, like many of us, needs to understand what it means to have the scriptures written on our hearts and not on our arms.
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Judgment
Martin Shkreli was recently sentenced to seven years in federal prison for fraud. Shkreli is best known to the public for raising the price of the drug Daraprim, which us used by individuals with AIDS, by 5,000 percent when he was chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Although this act was immoral, it was not illegal. Shkreli was sent to prison for defrauding the investors of his hedge funds of MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare. Shkreli lied to obtain investors’ money. He then did not tell them that he made bad investments that led to massive losses. He then raised more money to cover his losses as well as taking money and stock from Retrophin, a drug company he was running. During his sentencing Federal District Court Judge Kiyo Matsuoto, in her Brooklyn courtroom, cited Shkreli’s “egregious multitude of lies.” The jugde believed that Shkreli was “genuinely remorseful,” but in passing down her sentence Matsuoto noted that Shkreli “reputedly minimized” his conduct by his conduct during the court proceedings with his boisterous and obnoxious behavior. During the court proceedings, Shkreli posted on Facebook that if he was a acquitted he would be able of have sex with the female journalist that he often posted about online. Shkreli offered a $5,000 bounty to anyone who could pluck a hair from Hillary Clinton’s head during her book signing tour. This post resulted in Shkreli’s bail being rescinded placing him back in prison.
Application: Shkreli may be able to say that “I know my transgression,” but his actions demonstrated he was not willing to become a part of the new covenant.
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Judgment
Martin Shkreli was recently sentenced to seven years in federal prison for fraud. Shkreli is best known to the public for raising the price of the drug Daraprim, which us used by individuals with AIDS, by 5,000 percent when he was chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Although this act was immoral, it was not illegal. Shkreli was sent to prison for defrauding the investors of his hedge funds of MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare. Shkreli lied to obtain investors’ money. He then did not tell then that he made bad investments that led to massive losses. He then raised more money to cover his losses as well as taking money and stock from Retrophin, a drug company he was running. Federal District Court Judge Kiyo Matsuoto, in her Brooklyn courtroom, presided over the case. Shkreli, during his statement during the sentencing procedure, was no longer boisterous or defiant. Wearing a dark black prison uniform and black glasses, and starring down at his lap, he cried. He was even handed a box of Kleenex. He then told the judge that “poor judgment led me here…The only person to blame for me here is me.” Shkreli went on to say, “That I am not the same person I was during the MSMB era.”
Application: The Psalmist said, “I know my transgression.” Jeremiah said of his people, “a covenant that they broke.” It may not be possible for some people to understand or accept being a part of the new covenant.
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Judgment
Martin Shkreli was recently sentenced to seven years in federal prison for fraud. Shkreli is best known to the public for raising the price of the drug Daraprim, which us used by individuals with AIDS, by 5,000 percent when he was chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Although this act was immoral, it was not illegal. Shkreli was sent to prison for defrauding the investors of his hedge funds of MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare. Shkreli lied to obtain investors’ money. He then did not tell then that he made bad investments that led to massive losses. He then raised more money to cover his losses as well as taking money and stock from Retrophin, a drug company he was running. Federal District Court Judge Kiyo Matsuoto, in her Brooklyn courtroom, presided over the case. The prosecutors sought a 15-year sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Smith told Judge Matsumoto that Shkreli wasn’t being prosecuted for being “the most hated man in America,” but because he is a convicted criminal. Smith said, “This is not an isolated lapse in judgment. This is four different fraud schemes over five years…He has no respect for the law.”
Application: Those who broke the covenant lacked any understanding of its meaning. Shkreli is also an individual who lost his life because he loved it.
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Wisdom
Farhad Manjoo is a columnist for The New York Times. Manjoo’s New Year’s resolution was to give up for two months all news that was reported on social media, and instead get his news only from printed sources. He would have delivered to his home three print newspapers which are The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and his local paper, The San Francisco Chronicle, plus a weekly magazine, The Economist. In doing so Manjoo realized he was not exposed to the malicious misdirection of news reports that come immediately after a tragedy, such as the Parkland school shooting. Manjoo realized that social media emphasizes speed over depth. Online news is often more commentary than a news report, which can distort a reader’s understanding. Manjoo wrote that, “Online, commentary preceded facts.” Manjoo said that after the Parkland school shooting he heard nothing until his three newspapers arrived on his doorstep the next morning. He wrote “that my first experience of the news was an accurate account of the actual events of the day.” Manjoo went on to write, “I was getting the news a day old, but in the delay between when the news happened and when it showed up on my front door, hundreds of experienced professionals had done the hard work for me.” What is disturbing is that during the 2016 election, fewer than 3 percent of Americans cited print as their most important source of campaign news.
Application: In our lectionary readings we learn that truth is to be written upon one’s heart. We have a Psalmist asking “teach me wisdom.” Another Psalmist asks “teach me your statutes.” While accompanying Jesus, the disciples heard a heavenly voice of instruction. We must seek the news. We must seek to learn. We must be willing to make that knowledge a part of our lives. And, most importantly, we must be careful of the source of where we receive that information.
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Discipleship
On Valentine’s Day, February 14, the senior class of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was exactly 110 days away from graduation. This festive experience was destroyed by a mass shooting. An expelled 19-year-old student, using an AR-15 assault rifle, murdered 17 students. This incident has galvanized the students to seek gun reform legislation. They took to social media to rally others to their cause and they made a pilgrimage to the state capital in Tallahassee to protests in congregational offices. Their public outcry, along with the support of the general public across the nation, has brought some modest legislative initiatives. Emma Gonzalez, a senior, said, “We don’t want people forgetting, the momentum slowing down. This is about the people who died and us having to be the adults who demand change.”
Application: Those who lived by the new covenant knew they had to be a part of change. The disciples who learned the details about the coming of Jesus’ death knew that they were going have to be a part of change. We live in the covenant and in the shadow of the resurrection. We must be willing to be disciples of change.
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Covenant
The final show of this season’s the Bachelor was so bizarre, that not only was it reported in tabloid magazines, but the show received full coverage in both The New York Times and The Washington Post. To make a long story short, Arie Luyendyk proposed, live on television, to Becca Kufrin. This took place over Thanksgiving, and months before the show would be aired. Luyendyk then had second thoughts, with his desire turning to runner up Lauren Burnham. Luyendyk contacted her on New Year’s Eve, and the two agreed to reunite. He informed the host of the show, Chris Harrison, of his plans to end his engagement to Kufrin, and instead propose to Burnham. He gave this information to Harrison before he told Kufrin. This allowed ABC to put into motion a television special where the network would air live footage of Kufrin’s emotional betrayal, and a new live telecast of the proposal to Burnham. ABC has received severe criticism for airing live Luyendyk telling Kufrin the engagement was over. Kufrin, aware of the cameras, went from room to room in the house to escape exposure, only to have the cameras capture her every tear. Luyendyk said, “It was a battle between my head and my heart.” Luyendyk’s head told him that Kufrin would have been a better and more dependable partner, but his heart went with Burnham. Regarding Kufrin, Luyendyk said, “But I had only one foot in that relationship.”
Application: When we make a covenantal agreement, it is both with our head and our heart.
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Covenant
We all like fairy tales, and this is why the coming marriage between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has constantly been a part of the news cycle. As with all fairy tales, we wait patiently for the next installment, and in this case, it was the disclosure of the wedding plans. It has now been made public that 2,640 people will be invited as guests to Windsor Castle. Of those, 800 will be permitted to sit in St. George’s Chapel to view the actual service.
Application: God did make a covenant with the Hebrews and all succeeding generations, which does include the Christian community. But we must remember, a covenant is always an individual, personal experience.
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Scripture / Covenant
On March 9, 320, Roman soldiers left 40 Christian soldiers naked on the ice of a frozen pond in Sebaste, Armenia. The soldiers placed baths of hot water around them to tempt them to renounce their faith. One Christian did renounce his faith. But the fact that the others remained so inspired a pagan guard of the fortitude displayed by the 39 who remined, that he converted and joined the freezing Christians. While on the ice the Christians stripped off their own clothing, saying, “What is death for us but an entrance into eternal life?”
Application: These martyred Christians understood the meaning of the covenant and they understood what it meant to have the scriptures written on their hearts.
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Covenant
On Sunday, March 5, 1899, the evangelist Sam Jones opened his crusade in Toledo, Ohio. The mayor of Toledo was also named Sam Jones. But the mayor was known to his constituents as “Golden Rule” Jones because of his ethical approach to administration and legislation. Mayor Jones was popular among the working class and the poor as he tried to improve their wages and living conditions. Understandably, as a result of this, Mayor Jones was not popular with the politicians and business leaders of the city. Evangelist Jones was dependent upon the elite populace to financially support his rallies. As such, evangelist Jones denounced the immorality he found in the impoverished parts of the city. This failed to recognize the progressive programs the mayor was instituting. Mayor Jones welcomed evangelist Jones to his city until the evangelist said at a tent rally, “If the Devil were mayor of Toledo, he wouldn’t change a thing.” Despite the evangelist's preaching, Mayor Sam Jones was reelected by a wide margin.
Application: Evangelist Jones failed to realize that while keeping a covenant may not be a perfect enterprise, those who struggle with it do make social progress.
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Have mercy on us, O God,
People: according to your steadfast love;
Leader: according to your abundant mercy
People: blot out our transgressions.
Leader: Wash us thoroughly from our iniquity,
People: and cleanse us from our sin.
OR
Leader: You desire truth in the inward being;
People: therefore teach us wisdom in our secret heart.
Leader: Purge us with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
People: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Leader: Create in us a clean heart, O God,
People: and put a new and right spirit within me.
OR
Leader: God calls us to open our hearts to God’s teaching.
People: We offer our hearts and minds to our God.
Leader: God invites us into a new way of life.
People: Our old life is death. We will receive God’s life in us.
Leader: God calls us to die to the old ways and embrace life.
People: In newness of life, we offer ourselves to God and the world.
Hymns and Songs:”
“He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought”
UMH: 128
AAHH: 142
NNBH: 235
CH: 545
LBW: 501
W&P: 499
AMEC: 395
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELA: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
“If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee”
UMH: 142
H82: 635
PH: 282
NCH: 410
LBW: 453
ELA: 769
W&P: 429
“This Is a Day of New Beginnings”
UMH: 383
NCH: 417
CH: 518
W&P: 355
“Spirit of the Living God”
UMH: 393
PH: 322
AAHH: 320
NNBH: 133
NCH: 283
CH: 259
W&P: 492
Renew: 90
“I Am Thine, O Lord”
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
“Make Me a Captive, Lord”
UMH: 421
PH: 378
“My Faith Looks Up to Thee”
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELA: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415:
“Make Me a Servant”
CCB 90
“Sing Unto the Lord a New Song”
CCB: 16
Renew: 99
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 desires to lead us into new life:
Grant us the faith to open our hearts to you
so that you may inscribe your ways within us;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship you, O God who leads us to new life. You offer yourself to us so that your life and your ways may live within our hearts. Help us to focus on your ways that we may share your love and life with others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our clinging to the old ways of death.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered us your own Spirit to dwell within us and guide us to life but we have listened instead to the old ways of the world that take us to death. We act as if we understand the world and life better than you, the creator of all. Call us back one more to listen to your Word that we may find life eternal. Amen.
Leader: God is the God of life. God desires life for all of us. Receive God’s love and grace and be filled with the newness of God’s life within you.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory are yours, O God of love and life. You are the creator of life and you seek to restore life to all your children.
(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 offered us your own Spirit to dwell within us and guide us to life but we have listened instead to the old ways of the world that take us to death. We act as if we understand the world and life better than you, the creator of all. Call us back once more to listen to your Word that we may find life eternal.
We give you thanks for the wonder of creation and the wonders that are our lives. We thank you for those who have helped us listen to your instructions so that we have moved from death toward life. We thank you for your Church and all who have faithfully witnessed for you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their need. We know that too many exist without really knowing life. As you walk among them with your healing presence, help us to share your life with all we come in contact with this week.
(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
Ask the children if they know John 3:16 or some other verse. If most do have them say it together. Tell them that is one way that God puts God’s teachings in our heart.
If they don’t know it, or if you want to teach them another verse, hand out slips with the verse on it. Say it together a few times and then encourage them to take it home and practice so God can write it on their hearts.
CHILDREN’s SERMON
Planting and Growing Faith
by Bethany Peerbolte
John 12:20-33
Please join us in welcoming new team member Bethany Peerbolte. You can find out more about her here.
In the lesson from John 12:20-33, Jesus uses the image of a grain of wheat falling to the ground so that it can grow and bear fruit. With a clear cup, some paper towel, and a bean seed this can come to life before the children’s eyes. This lesson is two for one! Plant a seed this week, then next week bring it back to show how it has grown.
Supplies:
Clear cup, Paper Towel, Broad Bean Seed (Amazon has Fava bean seeds for $7 and quick shipping)
What to do:
Soak the paper towel in water. It should be soaked well but does not need to be dripping wet.
Fold it and place it in the cup. Use enough paper towel so it fills the cup and presses against the glass.
Place the bean seed between the paper towel and the glass of the cup.
Everyday keep the paper towel wet and place the cup in a sunny window.
*Ministry hack: plant a couple like this for backup. Sometimes the packs come with a dud seed *
What will happen:
In one week the seed will have germinated, sprouted roots and a stem. This should happen in a couple of days. You will be able to see the seed as it grows so you can check your backups and see which one is doing the best. If you want to keep the plant alive, in a church garden for example, the seed will need to go into dirt after 10 days.
On Sunday:
Bring the “planted” seed with you. (If you want to be interactive you could have the kids help you soak the towel, fold it, etc.)
Say something like “in our story today Jesus says a seed has to die and fall to the ground so that it can grow and make new fruit. When Jesus said this, he knew he was going to die, but he also knew he was going to be alive again. Just like a seed!
How many of you have a garden at home? Once you plant a seed, what else do you need to do to help a seed grow? Water it, put it in sunlight, weed around it. We must help it along, we can’t just leave it and forget about it. Our relationship with God is like a little seed of faith inside us. If we want it to grow, we have to do a little work. Helping others, Sunday school, reading our Bibles, praying; these all help our relationship with God grow!
It can be hard to see our faith growing, just like it is hard to see a seed growing because it usually happens underground…BUT…I have planted a seed in a special way so we can watch it come to life. (Show them the planted seed, or have them help you plant the seed) Now it just looks kind of like a dead rock in there right? I will put this in a sunny place and add a little water each day, then I’ll bring it back next week, so we can see what happened. I need you to pray for our seed each day too. Can you do that? Good let’s say a prayer now.”
Prayer: God of life, we promise to take good care of this seed by adding water and praying for it. We know you will be close by helping it grow too. We also want our faith to grow so we can be closer to you. Help us to find ways to grow our faith this week. Amen.
Next week (Palm/Passion Sunday), bring the seed back and show the kids how it has grown.
Say Something like: “Last week we planted a seed because in our story Jesus said seeds have to be planted before they can grow. We planted a seed to see how a seed grows. (bring out the cup with the seed) Look at how our seed has grown! What can you see? Stem, roots, broken open shell. Do you think I put this in a dark closet and forgot about it all week, or do you think I put it in a nice window with sun and added a little water every day? Of course, I watered it and made sure it had sun. I even prayed for it, did anyone else pray for our seed last week too? Seeds take work to get them to grow.
Does anyone remember from last week the seed I said we have inside us? Faith! Our faith is like a seed inside us and to help it grow there is some work we can do. We can pray, read the Bible, come to church, help others (add in your own examples, or events coming up the kids can participate in). The best part though is we don’t do the work of growing our faith alone. God helps us too! God sent Jesus to show and teach us how to have faith and to forgive our sins so we can be closer to God. SO we don’t have to work super hard because God always helps us. Let’s say thank you to God”
Prayer: God, you created water and you created the sun which our seed needed to grow. Thank you for helping our seed grow. You also have made sure we have everything we need to grow our faith. Thank you for the Bible, and Jesus, and a church, and so many other things that help our faith grow strong. We want our faith to grow and want to work with you.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 18, 2018, issue.
Copyright 2018 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.
- Written on the Heart by Chris Keating -- New laws are always arising, yet none of our laws can compare with God’s promised covenant -- a law Jeremiah says will be planted within us.
- Seeds by Mary Austin -- The image Jesus uses of a seed falling into the earth grounds his message in the understanding of resurrection hope as an organic process. Mary looks at how hope emerges through these simple, almost undetectable actions.
- Sermon illustrations by Ron Love and Dean Feldmeyer.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Planting and Growing Faith -- Children's sermon by new team member Bethany Peerbolte. This object lesson demonstrates the need to die in order to live.
Written on the Heart
by Chris Keating
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Jeremiah knows change is in the air. The dispirited exiles had watched as both the symbols of national pride and the reminders of God’s faithfulness had been destroyed. They’ve tried to make do as best as they can, but still they yearn for both a physical and spiritual homecoming.
In response, the prophet offers much more than a politically nuanced promise. He offers much more than thoughts and prayers, much more than knee-jerk attempts at assuaging their pain. In place of all of that, Jeremiah offers the consolation of God. In response, God declares a new covenant, a law that will be lasting and permanent.
It’s a reminder that the ever-creating God is about to do something new.
The days are coming, declares Jeremiah, when those who have been exiled will hear a promise that shall not disappoint. “I will put my law within them,” declares God. “and I will write it on their hearts.” It’s a far cry from the promises, laws and covenants created by most modern legislatures.
Last week it was reported, for example, that Congress will try its best to keep a low profile for the early part of 2018. Looking ahead to the midterm elections, Congress is planning a slim agenda even as Republicans bask in the victory of last year’s tax legislation. There will be talk here and there about reforms, rollbacks, initiatives and directives, but don’t expect major decisions until the its clear that control of the House of Representatives and Senate won’t be in play.
As CBS News reported, “the GOP-controlled Congress is looking ahead to a year of abbreviated workweeks and low-profile and small-bore initiatives. The House is spending more and more time on the obscure and the arcane; the Senate chamber is being turned over for weeks at a time to routine nominations.”
Even more telling are the failed attempts by legislators to write laws that truly help those most hurting, or that offer care for those who are marginalized, vulnerable, or lost. But God’s laws are written upon the heart, and not churned through messy and often unjust sausage factories and are reminders of God’s grace and mercy.
In the News
Jeremiah declares a promise of urgency, compassion, and hope. His proclaims the promise of God who keeps faith with Israel, despite their repeated infidelities. This is a God who acts, who forgives, and whose merciful actions can be trusted. God continues to use Jeremiah to build and to plant, to announce the new thing which will soon happen.
This new law stands in stunning contrast to the variety of political streams which flow across our land. The law of God does not need to be inscribed across monuments nor chiseled into public offices. Unlike statutes requiring “In God We Trust” to be displayed on public buildings, this law is written in the innermost parts of a person, and is visible only by way of their actions.
While our contemporary political streams may seem so often hopelessly riven, dammed up by special interests, lobbyists and endless coffers of cash, the promise of God flows freely and graciously. Jeremiah announces that God is writing a new covenant that will unify and transform. Legislation bounced around by Congress, on the other hand, may never be written at all.
In the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting, it looked like the articulate witness of the victims and students might help sway widespread change. That is still a possibility. A planned national student walk out on March 14, for example, and an upcoming march on Washington, DC may help encourage efforts at making substantive changes.
But there are also signs pointing to the tenacity of special interests in thwarting changes to gun control laws. Promises of a few new more stringent restrictions have now been walked back by President Trump and others. The proposal to raise the minimum age for buying guns from 18 to 21 will now be studied by a commission instead of being debated in Congress. Other sorts of more sweeping changes have now become modest fixes.
Overall, look for less attention to be placed on guns, and increased conversations about toughening school security and arming teachers. More guns, not less, seems to be the intent of these acts, even though large majorities of Americans now indicate a preference for stronger gun laws. Legislators like Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn have indicated rather bluntly that now is the time to be “realistic” about what can actually get done.
In classic Western shootout terms, “Nobody move. We’ve got you surrounded.” Like so many other areas of legislative action, the prevailing sense is we shouldn’t expect Congress to attempt substantive legislative changes. In other words, contents may be volatile if shaken or stirred.
Note the obstacles faced as Florida lawmakers grappled with passing new gun and school safety legislation. Lobbyists picked apart the bill with fine tooth combs. Witnesses gave compelling testimony, but hard-handed arm twisting were employed. The law was eventually passed and signed, but every attempt was made to try and change the conversation.
Governor Rick Scott’s signature on the bill was met with steely-eyed threats from the National Rifle Association. One NRA lobbyist criticized both Scott and the legislature as “turncoat Republicans” who had “caved to bullying and coercion.”
It’s a remarkable statement coming from the NRA of all groups. But it points out just how hard it is to churn the sausage factory’s grinder.
Gun legislation is only one example of how legislators play it safe. Given the electoral map, most predict that Congress will pursue a relatively modest agenda in 2018, at least until the midterm elections are decided. During last month’s congressional retreat, GOP leaders identified five major legislative priorities for 2018. Yet only two received detailed attention during breakout sessions, and there was only brief conversations on the other areas. A leaner agenda is being pursued, contrary to what might had been suggested following the passage of the tax bill in 2017.
Leaner, certainly. Meaner, perhaps. Cleaner? Doubtful.
Lawmaking is, after all, more of a craft than an act of mass production. Recently a handful of Utah legislators got together to try and explain the process to a younger generation. The result was something painfully reminiscent of what sometimes happens when a church gets anxious about reaching out to young people. The representative’s woefully misguided attempt produced a video parody of the 1990’s rap “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
Cringeworthy? So much so that even Fox News was yelping. Listening to middle-aged, mostly male, largely white politicians rap must surely be a form of punishment. (For those considering making a rap for your Easter sunrise service, here’s a tip. Don’t. Just don’t.)
If nothing else, the video serves as a reminder of our human limitations. Taken to an extreme, those same ego-driven acts of selfishness taint the political system and harden our divisions. Those sorts of divisions and injustices opened the door for Israel’s exile. Hearts hardened, judgments followed.
By contrast, Jeremiah offers a word of hope built on a law inscribed on hearts, not enshrined on monuments. God will do something new. It’s a law that shall not disappoint.
In the Scriptures
Jeremiah’s Book of Comfort offers the assurance that God has not given up on Israel, all appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. The temple may have been destroyed and the monarchy lost, but God yearns to remain in a covenant relationship. Having proclaimed God’s judgment, Jeremiah now speaks of God’s loving concern. Here is the unexpected, undeserved good news: “I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”
The word comes despite Israel’s infidelity. While the previous covenants were neglected, this new covenant will look different. This is more than just a replacement part; this is a new system. The Spirit of God, which hovered over the uneasy and chaotic waters of creation, hovers once more. The days are surely coming, Jeremiah cries, when life will come out of death.
There are marvelous commentaries on this passage that offer more in-depth perspectives, including Patrick D. Miller’s commentary in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 6, and Walter Brueggemann’s A Commentary on Jeremiah -- Exile and Homecoming. Both would be worth consulting, especially in looking at how this pericope falls within the entire scope of Jeremiah. Brueggemann particularly pushes the reader to consider that exile is not equivalent to abandonment.
Brueggemann reminds us:
It is easy in exile to conclude either that God is hostile to Israel or that events are completely out of control. This insistent text, however, refuses both the conclusion of God's hostility and the conclusion that matters are out of control. What is in fact happening, so the text asserts, is happening under the watchful superintending eye of God, who will not quit until all is accomplished. “A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming” (Kindle Locations 3559-3561). Kindle Edition.
God will not quit. The loving faithfulness of God spills forth in messages of forgiveness and an insistence that the new law will be placed within the hearts of God’s people. The distance between God and God’s people will be eliminated. No need to tattoo “In God We Trust” on our arms or across our schools -- its already inked inside our vena cava. The promise of this passage, the thrust of the good news, is the expectation that the lives of God’s people will forever reflect this sentinel change.
In the Sermon
One interpretative decision facing the preacher will be allowing the text to retain its Jewishness. We hear “new covenant,” and our ears are trained to decode it as “Jesus Christ.” Brueggemann points out that this urge is somewhat prompted by rendering the Hebrew Bible as the “Old Testament” and the Christian scriptures as being the “real” covenant. (See A Commentary on Jeremiah: Exile and Homecoming, Kindle Location 3576, Kindle Edition.) As far as Jeremiah is concerned, it is the people of Israel who constitute the “new” covenant community.
There is gospel, however, in Jeremiah’s words. The preacher comes to this text in the middle of Lent. For some it is also the midst of spring break, while others a tramping through a miserable sequence of blizzards. We come to this also in a time of division, a time when the laws etched on buildings and inked on law books are under scrutiny. We come yearning for good news, and Jeremiah will not disappoint. “The days are coming.” God’s newness will erupt like the crocus and jonquils.
In my congregation, Lent has also been a time of mourning and grief. The promise of Jeremiah offers the promise that hearts torn apart by grief will be mended, and that God will claim those who are grieving. The possibility of newness emerging from grief is a theme which will resonate within the lives of many who are mourning.
Another possibility will explore what it means to live as if the laws of God were inscribed within our hearts. Does honoring the covenant inscribed in our hearts mean eliminating access to military grade weapons? We are rightly concerned about the 40,000 or so individuals who died from opioid related overdoses in 2015, but somehow are less prompted to respond to 36,252 persons who died from firearms. (See CDC FastStats.) Put another way, 1952 was the height of the polio epidemic in the United States. It’s often credited as increasing public awareness on the need for a vaccine. In 1952, 3,145 persons died from polio in the United States.
Jeremiah’s vision challenges us to look beyond the status quo. Jeremiah invites God’s people to begin imagining the new thing that God is doing. It’s a promise echoed by the Gospel lection this week: “Whoever serves me must follow me.” We follow, with our hearts inked in God’s love.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Seeds
by Mary Austin
John 12:20-33
Under a magnet on my fridge, next to tickets for upcoming events and a coupon for pizza, is the funeral program for a young man with a connection to my church. On a December evening, he went to a friend’s house to talk about his plans to attend Oregon State, starting in January. As he stood in the front yard, he was shot to death by someone driving by.
Young men, some in suits and others in jeans, and young women in impossibly tall shoes, filled the church halls for the funeral, where a colleague tried to provide words that would stay with them longer than the hurt. Most heart-breaking of all, no one seemed surprised to be there. No one thought it could be any different.
But the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who survived a horrible shooting inside their school, do believe that things can be different. With a combination of grief, shock, and energetic naiveté, and they are determinedly planting seeds for a different way to think about gun laws.
With the benefit of their passionate activism, we wonder again if this is the time that gun laws will change. Is this the seed that will bear fruit?
These seeds have fallen on the ground of America’s stony hearts before. Americans who favor sensible gun laws, with restrictions on semi-automatic weapons and background checks for all buyers, have thought the moment of change had come several times before. Surely, they thought in 2012, America won’t allow twenty first graders, along with school staff and the shooter’s mother, to be killed, and not do anything. Before that, people thought that change would surely come when then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot at a campaign event in 2011. She had life-altering injuries, and six people, including a child and a federal judge, were killed that day. Ms. Giffords and her husband, Navy veteran and former astronaut Mark Kelly, who are themselves gun owners, formed an organization dedicated to saving lives from gun violence. Last fall, people again thought that this was the moment, when a single shooter killed 58 people in Las Vegas, and wounded over 480 more. America won’t allow people to be killed by the dozens at outdoor events and not do anything. Each time, after a few weeks, it seemed that all of those seeds fell into the ground and didn’t bear fruit.
But all of those seeds have contributed to this moment, when gun law reform seems possible. The seeds of change have been planted by survivors and grieving families after each public tragedy, and by people touched by invisible, seemingly routine violence. No one knows if this is the moment that the laws will change. No one knows when all of these seeds, watered by the tears of the injured, the traumatized and the grieving, will come to life.
March 14 is the National School Walkout, one month to the day that 17 people were killed at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. It is part protest, part memorial. “The event will be at 10 a.m. across every time zone and last 17 minutes -- one minute for each of the victims gunned down in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.” The organizers of the National Women’s March have helped the students organize the walkout. Over 2,000 schools have registered to be part of the walkout. Each location is encouraged to use the 17 minutes in whatever way is right for their location.
On the protest side of the equation, “according to EMPOWER, the group organizing the action…participants want Congress to: Ban assault weapons, require universal background checks before gun sales, pass a gun violence restraining order law that would allow courts to disarm people who display warning signs of violent behavior.” On March 24, the March for our Lives will protest in Washington, DC and other locations.
School shootings are relatively rare, but gun violence is an everyday reality in the United States. Mass shootings (defined as four or more people at one time) are only a small fraction “of gun violence in the United States…Many gun deaths, especially in large cities, never make the news. This means that the most effective gun violence reduction strategies -- in terms of lives saved -- might not target mass shootings at all.” Further, gun violence has an economic impact on neighborhoods where violence is common. “In areas where it is prevalent, just the threat of violence makes neighborhoods poorer. It's very difficult to quantify the total harm caused by gun violence, but by asking many people how much they would pay to avoid this threat -- a technique called contingent valuation -- researchers have estimated a cost to American society of $100 billion dollars.” The emotional cost is also tremendous.
Poignantly, high school students from Chicago, where violence has claimed hundreds of lives in the last few years, recently traveled to Florida to meet students who survived the shooting at Stoneman Douglas. “The purpose was simple and hard: Unite the students across race, class and geography to help them see that gun violence, which disproportionately affects young people, is a common cause. In the weeks since the shooting, the crusading students in the wealthy, predominantly white town of Parkland have received a lot of attention, most of it positive. Their prominence has hurt or rankled people who don’t see the same praise and publicity given to crusading students in less advantaged places. “I felt that way before I went down,” said Lamar Johnson…Why, he wondered, were they going to Florida? No one came to them to talk about the violence in Chicago. After a few hours in Parkland, his resentment melted.” The Parkland students shared the same pain as the Chicago students, and also understood their level of privilege within the same sorrow.
“We would see Jesus,” the spiritual seekers say, hoping for wisdom from Jesus. They don’t get their wish -- Jesus is on to a new chapter. But we, their heirs as people seeking wisdom, may see Jesus in the pain of the Parkland students, and the Chicago students, and the sobbing kids from Detroit who have attended so many funerals. We may see Jesus when this season of activism bears the fruit of common sense laws, and a season of compassion for everyone touched by violence. We can grow, and move forward, if we have the will to. But growth always has a cost. The seed has to crack and fall away for the plant to grow. Jesus holds together this tension between life-giving growth and loss when he says that his soul is troubled. Even the most longed-for growth comes at some price, and his approaching death will come at a great price.
As Jesus notes, no one knows what will happen after a seed falls into the ground. Similarly, no one knows what will happen after these protests. Seeds fall, and some grow. But if we never plant anything, nothing will grow.
I keep that funeral program on my fridge so I can pray for the family, but also so I remember the level of trauma that people experience all the time, without much notice in the media. To my shame, it has grown familiar to me, too. But the Parkland students, and the seeds they’re planting, remind me that growth is possible.
The Chicago high school students who traveled to Parkland, Florida, have stayed in touch with the Florida students “by text and social media. They hope to connect at the March for Our Lives on March 24 in Washington, DC. Before they left, Emma [Gonzalez] invited them to come visit this summer. They invited her to Chicago for the Fourth of July. They felt slightly changed, which is how you begin to change the world.” May the seeds of change that are in all of this sprout, and bear fruit. May the seeds within us crack, and yield to new growth, so all of us grow toward the Light.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Imprinted on Our Hearts
Nothing prepares you for parenting like being the oldest child in a large family. All the experts say that and I can attest to the veracity of the claim. I’m the oldest of five.
For the first 14 years of my life my mother was either pregnant or there was a new baby in the house. And as the number of children grew so did my responsibility for helping to care for and raise them. My mother’s constant direction to me was, “Dean, take your brother.”
People would say to my mother, “Five kids. How did you manage?” She would answer, “Well, I couldn’t have managed the last three without the help of the first two.” And I was proud of that acknowledgement.
I could change a diaper when I was ten years old. By eleven I had mastered the art of shoving baby food into a 1-year-old’s mouth complete with that wrist action where you scrape it off his cheeks and reinsert it for a second try. At fifteen, I was teaching my youngest brother how to hit and catch a baseball and my second youngest how to ride a bicycle.
Parenting was imprinted on me as surely as my name. Being a dad was as much a part of my calling as being a pastor. It was, as Jeremiah says, written on my heart.
*****
Jeremiah 31:31-34
The Rule of 10,000
In his book, Outliers, Malcom Gladwell says that it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice or ten thousand repetitions to achieve mastery in a field of endeavor. He cites numerous examples, but one of the most fascinating is that of the German violin students:
In the early 1990s, a team of psychologists in Berlin, Germany, studied violin students. Specifically, they studied their practice habits in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. All of the subjects were asked this question: “Over the course of your entire career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced?”
All of the violinists had begun playing at roughly five years of age with similar practice times. However, at age eight, practice times began to diverge. By age twenty, the elite performers averaged more than 10,000 hours of practice each, while the less able performers had only 4,000 hours of practice.
The elite had more than double the practice hours of the less capable performers.
One fascinating point of the study: No “naturally gifted” performers emerged. If natural talent had played a role, we would expect some of the “naturals” to float to the top of the elite level with fewer practice hours than everyone else. But the data showed otherwise. The psychologists found a direct statistical relationship between hours of practice and achievement. No shortcuts. No naturals.
One conclusion Gladwell draws is that to achieve 10,000 hours of practice or 10,000 repetitions of an action one must actually enjoy practicing. Practice cannot be approached as a chore or a duty. The one who achieves top-level mastery of any pursuit must come to actually enjoy the practice, almost to the exclusion of everything else.
It is only in this way that the skill becomes written not just in the mind but on the heart as well.
****
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Is “Muscle Memory” a Thing?
The precise mechanism of the muscle memory is still unknown but it is believed that when a person is learning and practicing an activity, the brain of that person works during that time storing memories of the activity. Faced with the same or similar challenge, the brain will recall the memory and signal the muscles and the muscles will respond in the way they have before.
In other words, muscle memory is just a way of talking about memories that are stored in your brain about how your body should move in any given situation.
Some movements are instinctive, like fight or flight. Others are learned, like hitting a tennis ball, or catching a baseball, or the Palmer method of handwriting. The trick to doing the learned movements well is to practice them so many times that they act and feel like instinctual movements.
The typist who uses the touch system often can’t find the letters when looking at a keyboard but can find them instantly when he looks away. The pianist hears a tune and her fingers are automatically drawn to the right keys to repeat the melody. Asked how she did it, she probably cannot tell you why because she’s been doing it so long it’s become automatic. How does the child keep from crashing a bicycle? How does Phil Mickelson play golf left handed when he’s naturally right handed? It’s all “muscle memory.” Repeating actions over and over and over until the brain becomes imprinted with the way the action is to be done.
Perhaps this is something like what Jeremiah is talking about when he speaks of God’s law being written on the hearts of God’s people.
****
John 12: 20-33
A Great Seed Planter
"Oooooh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord is good to me. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen." (Johnny Appleseed’s Prayer)
John Chapman was born on September 26, 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts, the second child (after his sister Elizabeth) of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Chapman
When John was 18 years old, he persuaded his brother, Nate, to go west with him and in 1792 they left to live a nomadic life until 1805, when their father brought the rest of the family to meet them in Ohio. There, Nate stayed to help the family farm and John left to take an apprenticeship as an orchardist under a Mr. Crawford who had apple orchards.
After learning the trade of orchardist, John began traveling the country and starting apple tree nurseries, leaving them in the care of people he trained to tend them and returning every two years to collect the portion that was due to him from the sale of apples and trees. Some of the areas he traveled include Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His first nursery was planted on the bank of Brokenstraw Creek, south of Warren, Pennsylvania. Most of his nurseries were in the Mohican area of north-central Ohio, including the towns of Mansfield, Lisbon, Lucas, Perrysville, and Loudonville.
Besides being an orchardist, he was also a faithful member of the Swedenborgian church and he would spread “The New Church” gospel to the adults, and tell stories and sing songs for the children, receiving a floor to sleep on for the night, and sometimes supper, in return. He preached the gospel as he traveled, and during his travels he is said to have converted many Native Americans, whom he admired. The Native Americans regarded him as “touched by the Great Spirit,” and generally, received him with kindness and friendship.
During his later life, he became a vegetarian. He never married nor fathered any children. Images of him wearing a cooking pot on his head and raggedy clothing are, apparently, accurate according to those who knew him, though they report that he was happy and content to live a simple life, free of all but the most rudimentary personal property.
Johnny Appleseed died and was buried in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at the age of 70. He left an estate of over 1,200 acres of valuable nurseries to his sister. He also owned four plots in Allen County, Indiana, including a nursery in Milan Township with 15,000 trees and two plots in Mount Vernon, Ohio.
****
John 12: 20-33
The Ten Fastest Growing Trees and Plants in the World
https://www.conservationinstitute.org/10-fastest-growing-trees-plants-in-the-world/
1. Bamboo -- Bamboo grows incredibly quickly, which is one reason it is often used to make sustainable, eco-friendly products. Some species can literally grow 10 centimeters per day!
2. Hybrid poplar -- This species of poplar is a popular shade tree. It only takes about five years to grow poplars to harvestable height, making them popular in industry applications as well (lumber, etc.). Hybrid poplars can put on ten feet a year.
3. Algae -- Algae are very fast growing eukaryotes (they are plantlike, but not technically plants; they are actually quite hard to classify), and are found all over the world. They grow so quickly that they sometimes “bloom.”
4. Duckweed -- This small, flowering plant is one which also grows very quickly. Every 30 hours, the species can undergo an entire life cycle. If a duckweed were able to reproduce continuously at maximum efficiency, it would theoretically be able to create four Earth-sized masses of duckweed inside of just four months.
5. Eastern Cottonwood -- This species of tree may be the fastest growing tree in North America. In some locations it can put on a good 10-15 feet per year, and can often do so for several years in a row.
6. Giant Sequoia -- Sequoia trees are best known for their mammoth size, but they are also very fast growing. They can put on 4-6 feet per year for around 10 years, and then can keep adding on around 2 feet per year for the next 30.
7. Acacia -- Acacia can be an impressively fast growing tree. One acacia falcate tree which was planted in Sabah, Malaysia, managed to put on an astounding 35 feet of height in just 13 months, which comes out to just over an inch per day.
8. Wisconsin Fast Plants -- This trademarked strain of field mustard grows so quickly it has actually been marketed as “fast plants.” Developed by agricultural researchers at the University of Wisconsin, it can produce a brand new generation every five weeks.
9. Kudzu -- This is an incredibly fast-growing plant which can add a whole foot a day, and under prime conditions, may add a whole 60 feet in a single growing season! This form of Japanese arrowroot is considered quite a pest. It climbs over everything and is very hard to kill. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park pays a bounty on Kudzu, rewarding hikers who see it and report its location so it can be killed. They fear that, left unchecked, it could take over the entire park.
10. Transgenic Eucalyptus -- Another artificially developed plant on our list is transgenic eucalyptus, developed by splicing brassica genes with eucalyptus genes. These trees grow 30% faster than other types of natural eucalyptus, and can add 16 feet a year. Within just five years, some plants may manage to top 100 feet.
From team member Ron Love:
The posted illustrations are based on the major themes in this week’s lectionary readings.
Scripture
Dana Loesch is a conservative talk radio host, with her program The Dana Show. She is also a member of the Tea Party movement. Loesch has 765,000 Twitter followers. She has been selected as the spokesperson for the National Rifle Association. She is an advocate for Second Amendment rights. As a mommy blogger she contends that women need to possess weapons for self-protection. Loesch is known to many for the cover on her 2014 book titled Hands Off My Gun: Defending the Plot to Disarm America. The cover shows her holding a rifle while wearing a revealing outfit with extremely tall heels. The NRA sent Loesch to Parkland, Florida, after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, to defend gun rights, and in particular promoting a citizen’s right to own an assault rifle, similar to the AR-15 used in the Parkland massacre. The day after her visit to Parkland, Loesch, with her voice dripping with condescension, addressed journalists from the mainstream media, saying the mainstream media “love mass shootings” because “crying white mothers are ratings gold.” Recently Loesch got an extremely large tattoo on her right forearm. The tattoo reads “Ephesians 6:12-13.” The verse reads, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” The tattoo is a statement that citizens must possess assault rifles in the case of civil unrest or a government coup.
Application: Loesch, like many of us, needs to understand what it means to have the scriptures written on our hearts and not on our arms.
****
Judgment
Martin Shkreli was recently sentenced to seven years in federal prison for fraud. Shkreli is best known to the public for raising the price of the drug Daraprim, which us used by individuals with AIDS, by 5,000 percent when he was chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Although this act was immoral, it was not illegal. Shkreli was sent to prison for defrauding the investors of his hedge funds of MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare. Shkreli lied to obtain investors’ money. He then did not tell them that he made bad investments that led to massive losses. He then raised more money to cover his losses as well as taking money and stock from Retrophin, a drug company he was running. During his sentencing Federal District Court Judge Kiyo Matsuoto, in her Brooklyn courtroom, cited Shkreli’s “egregious multitude of lies.” The jugde believed that Shkreli was “genuinely remorseful,” but in passing down her sentence Matsuoto noted that Shkreli “reputedly minimized” his conduct by his conduct during the court proceedings with his boisterous and obnoxious behavior. During the court proceedings, Shkreli posted on Facebook that if he was a acquitted he would be able of have sex with the female journalist that he often posted about online. Shkreli offered a $5,000 bounty to anyone who could pluck a hair from Hillary Clinton’s head during her book signing tour. This post resulted in Shkreli’s bail being rescinded placing him back in prison.
Application: Shkreli may be able to say that “I know my transgression,” but his actions demonstrated he was not willing to become a part of the new covenant.
****
Judgment
Martin Shkreli was recently sentenced to seven years in federal prison for fraud. Shkreli is best known to the public for raising the price of the drug Daraprim, which us used by individuals with AIDS, by 5,000 percent when he was chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Although this act was immoral, it was not illegal. Shkreli was sent to prison for defrauding the investors of his hedge funds of MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare. Shkreli lied to obtain investors’ money. He then did not tell then that he made bad investments that led to massive losses. He then raised more money to cover his losses as well as taking money and stock from Retrophin, a drug company he was running. Federal District Court Judge Kiyo Matsuoto, in her Brooklyn courtroom, presided over the case. Shkreli, during his statement during the sentencing procedure, was no longer boisterous or defiant. Wearing a dark black prison uniform and black glasses, and starring down at his lap, he cried. He was even handed a box of Kleenex. He then told the judge that “poor judgment led me here…The only person to blame for me here is me.” Shkreli went on to say, “That I am not the same person I was during the MSMB era.”
Application: The Psalmist said, “I know my transgression.” Jeremiah said of his people, “a covenant that they broke.” It may not be possible for some people to understand or accept being a part of the new covenant.
****
Judgment
Martin Shkreli was recently sentenced to seven years in federal prison for fraud. Shkreli is best known to the public for raising the price of the drug Daraprim, which us used by individuals with AIDS, by 5,000 percent when he was chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Although this act was immoral, it was not illegal. Shkreli was sent to prison for defrauding the investors of his hedge funds of MSMB Capital and MSMB Healthcare. Shkreli lied to obtain investors’ money. He then did not tell then that he made bad investments that led to massive losses. He then raised more money to cover his losses as well as taking money and stock from Retrophin, a drug company he was running. Federal District Court Judge Kiyo Matsuoto, in her Brooklyn courtroom, presided over the case. The prosecutors sought a 15-year sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra Smith told Judge Matsumoto that Shkreli wasn’t being prosecuted for being “the most hated man in America,” but because he is a convicted criminal. Smith said, “This is not an isolated lapse in judgment. This is four different fraud schemes over five years…He has no respect for the law.”
Application: Those who broke the covenant lacked any understanding of its meaning. Shkreli is also an individual who lost his life because he loved it.
****
Wisdom
Farhad Manjoo is a columnist for The New York Times. Manjoo’s New Year’s resolution was to give up for two months all news that was reported on social media, and instead get his news only from printed sources. He would have delivered to his home three print newspapers which are The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and his local paper, The San Francisco Chronicle, plus a weekly magazine, The Economist. In doing so Manjoo realized he was not exposed to the malicious misdirection of news reports that come immediately after a tragedy, such as the Parkland school shooting. Manjoo realized that social media emphasizes speed over depth. Online news is often more commentary than a news report, which can distort a reader’s understanding. Manjoo wrote that, “Online, commentary preceded facts.” Manjoo said that after the Parkland school shooting he heard nothing until his three newspapers arrived on his doorstep the next morning. He wrote “that my first experience of the news was an accurate account of the actual events of the day.” Manjoo went on to write, “I was getting the news a day old, but in the delay between when the news happened and when it showed up on my front door, hundreds of experienced professionals had done the hard work for me.” What is disturbing is that during the 2016 election, fewer than 3 percent of Americans cited print as their most important source of campaign news.
Application: In our lectionary readings we learn that truth is to be written upon one’s heart. We have a Psalmist asking “teach me wisdom.” Another Psalmist asks “teach me your statutes.” While accompanying Jesus, the disciples heard a heavenly voice of instruction. We must seek the news. We must seek to learn. We must be willing to make that knowledge a part of our lives. And, most importantly, we must be careful of the source of where we receive that information.
****
Discipleship
On Valentine’s Day, February 14, the senior class of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was exactly 110 days away from graduation. This festive experience was destroyed by a mass shooting. An expelled 19-year-old student, using an AR-15 assault rifle, murdered 17 students. This incident has galvanized the students to seek gun reform legislation. They took to social media to rally others to their cause and they made a pilgrimage to the state capital in Tallahassee to protests in congregational offices. Their public outcry, along with the support of the general public across the nation, has brought some modest legislative initiatives. Emma Gonzalez, a senior, said, “We don’t want people forgetting, the momentum slowing down. This is about the people who died and us having to be the adults who demand change.”
Application: Those who lived by the new covenant knew they had to be a part of change. The disciples who learned the details about the coming of Jesus’ death knew that they were going have to be a part of change. We live in the covenant and in the shadow of the resurrection. We must be willing to be disciples of change.
****
Covenant
The final show of this season’s the Bachelor was so bizarre, that not only was it reported in tabloid magazines, but the show received full coverage in both The New York Times and The Washington Post. To make a long story short, Arie Luyendyk proposed, live on television, to Becca Kufrin. This took place over Thanksgiving, and months before the show would be aired. Luyendyk then had second thoughts, with his desire turning to runner up Lauren Burnham. Luyendyk contacted her on New Year’s Eve, and the two agreed to reunite. He informed the host of the show, Chris Harrison, of his plans to end his engagement to Kufrin, and instead propose to Burnham. He gave this information to Harrison before he told Kufrin. This allowed ABC to put into motion a television special where the network would air live footage of Kufrin’s emotional betrayal, and a new live telecast of the proposal to Burnham. ABC has received severe criticism for airing live Luyendyk telling Kufrin the engagement was over. Kufrin, aware of the cameras, went from room to room in the house to escape exposure, only to have the cameras capture her every tear. Luyendyk said, “It was a battle between my head and my heart.” Luyendyk’s head told him that Kufrin would have been a better and more dependable partner, but his heart went with Burnham. Regarding Kufrin, Luyendyk said, “But I had only one foot in that relationship.”
Application: When we make a covenantal agreement, it is both with our head and our heart.
****
Covenant
We all like fairy tales, and this is why the coming marriage between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle has constantly been a part of the news cycle. As with all fairy tales, we wait patiently for the next installment, and in this case, it was the disclosure of the wedding plans. It has now been made public that 2,640 people will be invited as guests to Windsor Castle. Of those, 800 will be permitted to sit in St. George’s Chapel to view the actual service.
Application: God did make a covenant with the Hebrews and all succeeding generations, which does include the Christian community. But we must remember, a covenant is always an individual, personal experience.
****
Scripture / Covenant
On March 9, 320, Roman soldiers left 40 Christian soldiers naked on the ice of a frozen pond in Sebaste, Armenia. The soldiers placed baths of hot water around them to tempt them to renounce their faith. One Christian did renounce his faith. But the fact that the others remained so inspired a pagan guard of the fortitude displayed by the 39 who remined, that he converted and joined the freezing Christians. While on the ice the Christians stripped off their own clothing, saying, “What is death for us but an entrance into eternal life?”
Application: These martyred Christians understood the meaning of the covenant and they understood what it meant to have the scriptures written on their hearts.
****
Covenant
On Sunday, March 5, 1899, the evangelist Sam Jones opened his crusade in Toledo, Ohio. The mayor of Toledo was also named Sam Jones. But the mayor was known to his constituents as “Golden Rule” Jones because of his ethical approach to administration and legislation. Mayor Jones was popular among the working class and the poor as he tried to improve their wages and living conditions. Understandably, as a result of this, Mayor Jones was not popular with the politicians and business leaders of the city. Evangelist Jones was dependent upon the elite populace to financially support his rallies. As such, evangelist Jones denounced the immorality he found in the impoverished parts of the city. This failed to recognize the progressive programs the mayor was instituting. Mayor Jones welcomed evangelist Jones to his city until the evangelist said at a tent rally, “If the Devil were mayor of Toledo, he wouldn’t change a thing.” Despite the evangelist's preaching, Mayor Sam Jones was reelected by a wide margin.
Application: Evangelist Jones failed to realize that while keeping a covenant may not be a perfect enterprise, those who struggle with it do make social progress.
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Have mercy on us, O God,
People: according to your steadfast love;
Leader: according to your abundant mercy
People: blot out our transgressions.
Leader: Wash us thoroughly from our iniquity,
People: and cleanse us from our sin.
OR
Leader: You desire truth in the inward being;
People: therefore teach us wisdom in our secret heart.
Leader: Purge us with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
People: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Leader: Create in us a clean heart, O God,
People: and put a new and right spirit within me.
OR
Leader: God calls us to open our hearts to God’s teaching.
People: We offer our hearts and minds to our God.
Leader: God invites us into a new way of life.
People: Our old life is death. We will receive God’s life in us.
Leader: God calls us to die to the old ways and embrace life.
People: In newness of life, we offer ourselves to God and the world.
Hymns and Songs:”
“He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought”
UMH: 128
AAHH: 142
NNBH: 235
CH: 545
LBW: 501
W&P: 499
AMEC: 395
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELA: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
“If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee”
UMH: 142
H82: 635
PH: 282
NCH: 410
LBW: 453
ELA: 769
W&P: 429
“This Is a Day of New Beginnings”
UMH: 383
NCH: 417
CH: 518
W&P: 355
“Spirit of the Living God”
UMH: 393
PH: 322
AAHH: 320
NNBH: 133
NCH: 283
CH: 259
W&P: 492
Renew: 90
“I Am Thine, O Lord”
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
“Make Me a Captive, Lord”
UMH: 421
PH: 378
“My Faith Looks Up to Thee”
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELA: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415:
“Make Me a Servant”
CCB 90
“Sing Unto the Lord a New Song”
CCB: 16
Renew: 99
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 desires to lead us into new life:
Grant us the faith to open our hearts to you
so that you may inscribe your ways within us;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship you, O God who leads us to new life. You offer yourself to us so that your life and your ways may live within our hearts. Help us to focus on your ways that we may share your love and life with others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our clinging to the old ways of death.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered us your own Spirit to dwell within us and guide us to life but we have listened instead to the old ways of the world that take us to death. We act as if we understand the world and life better than you, the creator of all. Call us back one more to listen to your Word that we may find life eternal. Amen.
Leader: God is the God of life. God desires life for all of us. Receive God’s love and grace and be filled with the newness of God’s life within you.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory are yours, O God of love and life. You are the creator of life and you seek to restore life to all your children.
(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 offered us your own Spirit to dwell within us and guide us to life but we have listened instead to the old ways of the world that take us to death. We act as if we understand the world and life better than you, the creator of all. Call us back once more to listen to your Word that we may find life eternal.
We give you thanks for the wonder of creation and the wonders that are our lives. We thank you for those who have helped us listen to your instructions so that we have moved from death toward life. We thank you for your Church and all who have faithfully witnessed for you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their need. We know that too many exist without really knowing life. As you walk among them with your healing presence, help us to share your life with all we come in contact with this week.
(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
Ask the children if they know John 3:16 or some other verse. If most do have them say it together. Tell them that is one way that God puts God’s teachings in our heart.
If they don’t know it, or if you want to teach them another verse, hand out slips with the verse on it. Say it together a few times and then encourage them to take it home and practice so God can write it on their hearts.
CHILDREN’s SERMON
Planting and Growing Faith
by Bethany Peerbolte
John 12:20-33
Please join us in welcoming new team member Bethany Peerbolte. You can find out more about her here.
In the lesson from John 12:20-33, Jesus uses the image of a grain of wheat falling to the ground so that it can grow and bear fruit. With a clear cup, some paper towel, and a bean seed this can come to life before the children’s eyes. This lesson is two for one! Plant a seed this week, then next week bring it back to show how it has grown.
Supplies:
Clear cup, Paper Towel, Broad Bean Seed (Amazon has Fava bean seeds for $7 and quick shipping)
What to do:
Soak the paper towel in water. It should be soaked well but does not need to be dripping wet.
Fold it and place it in the cup. Use enough paper towel so it fills the cup and presses against the glass.
Place the bean seed between the paper towel and the glass of the cup.
Everyday keep the paper towel wet and place the cup in a sunny window.
*Ministry hack: plant a couple like this for backup. Sometimes the packs come with a dud seed *
What will happen:
In one week the seed will have germinated, sprouted roots and a stem. This should happen in a couple of days. You will be able to see the seed as it grows so you can check your backups and see which one is doing the best. If you want to keep the plant alive, in a church garden for example, the seed will need to go into dirt after 10 days.
On Sunday:
Bring the “planted” seed with you. (If you want to be interactive you could have the kids help you soak the towel, fold it, etc.)
Say something like “in our story today Jesus says a seed has to die and fall to the ground so that it can grow and make new fruit. When Jesus said this, he knew he was going to die, but he also knew he was going to be alive again. Just like a seed!
How many of you have a garden at home? Once you plant a seed, what else do you need to do to help a seed grow? Water it, put it in sunlight, weed around it. We must help it along, we can’t just leave it and forget about it. Our relationship with God is like a little seed of faith inside us. If we want it to grow, we have to do a little work. Helping others, Sunday school, reading our Bibles, praying; these all help our relationship with God grow!
It can be hard to see our faith growing, just like it is hard to see a seed growing because it usually happens underground…BUT…I have planted a seed in a special way so we can watch it come to life. (Show them the planted seed, or have them help you plant the seed) Now it just looks kind of like a dead rock in there right? I will put this in a sunny place and add a little water each day, then I’ll bring it back next week, so we can see what happened. I need you to pray for our seed each day too. Can you do that? Good let’s say a prayer now.”
Prayer: God of life, we promise to take good care of this seed by adding water and praying for it. We know you will be close by helping it grow too. We also want our faith to grow so we can be closer to you. Help us to find ways to grow our faith this week. Amen.
Next week (Palm/Passion Sunday), bring the seed back and show the kids how it has grown.
Say Something like: “Last week we planted a seed because in our story Jesus said seeds have to be planted before they can grow. We planted a seed to see how a seed grows. (bring out the cup with the seed) Look at how our seed has grown! What can you see? Stem, roots, broken open shell. Do you think I put this in a dark closet and forgot about it all week, or do you think I put it in a nice window with sun and added a little water every day? Of course, I watered it and made sure it had sun. I even prayed for it, did anyone else pray for our seed last week too? Seeds take work to get them to grow.
Does anyone remember from last week the seed I said we have inside us? Faith! Our faith is like a seed inside us and to help it grow there is some work we can do. We can pray, read the Bible, come to church, help others (add in your own examples, or events coming up the kids can participate in). The best part though is we don’t do the work of growing our faith alone. God helps us too! God sent Jesus to show and teach us how to have faith and to forgive our sins so we can be closer to God. SO we don’t have to work super hard because God always helps us. Let’s say thank you to God”
Prayer: God, you created water and you created the sun which our seed needed to grow. Thank you for helping our seed grow. You also have made sure we have everything we need to grow our faith. Thank you for the Bible, and Jesus, and a church, and so many other things that help our faith grow strong. We want our faith to grow and want to work with you.
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The Immediate Word, March 18, 2018, issue.
Copyright 2018 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.
