Ash Wednesday - A

For June 14, 2026:

• Can We Really Kiss Nasty People Goodbye? by Mary Austin based on Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23).
• Second Thoughts: Laughing Out Loud by Chris Keating.

Contents
"Most Improved" by David O. Bales
"Echoing Sheep" by David O. Bales
"Having Compassion" by John Fitzgerald

Most Improved
Genesis 18:1-15 (21:1-7)
By David O. Bales

In the teachers’ lounge at South Middle School the morning gossip and general world critique turned to Darrell Schmeling. “Old prune face,” one called him.

A teacher getting a soda from the refrigerator turned and said, “I saw him smile once, but I think he was getting paid.”

Contents
What's Up This Week
A Story to Live By: "She Had Compassion"
Shining Moments: "I Gave You to God" by Andrew Oren
Sermon Starter: "Like Having a Baby" by John Sumwalt
Scrap Pile: "Preaching without a Manuscript" by R. Karl Watkins
"How Do You Preach?" by John Sumwalt


What's Up This Week

Call to Worship:
When Jesus saw the people he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless. Is he calling you today to become a shepherd for his sheep?

Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, I wonder why you don't call me to work for you?
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, I'm happy to work for you as long as I don't have to change anything in my life.
Christ, have mercy.
Jesus, help me to tune into your voice so that I may hear your call, and then to respond.
Lord, have mercy.

Interesting collection of workers Jesus chose to accompany him -- the twelve. Not a genius among 'em. Common folks: a few fishermen, farmers, even a tax collector. They were not even particularly religious. What they were was willing to be used to further the work of a man they admired, even loved, despite the fact that he was a man they misunderstood. Eventually, they came to realize (even as a few others did) that "this truly was the Son of God." And with the training they had received combined with the commitment they came to develop, those folks turned the world upside down.

I grew up in a predominately Catholic town, and I have three friends who are priests. I admire their adherence to the vows they took at their ordination: a vow of obedience, a vow of celibacy, and a vow of poverty. Each took their vows quite seriously at their ordination and still do to this day.

The phone rings in the middle of the night. There is only one reason why someone would call you at this time of the night, and it can't be good. The deadpan voice of the police officer tells you the horrible news rather matter-of-factly. Your imagination runs wild. You were not there, but you can hear the tires screeching, the metal smashing, the glass breaking, and the sirens whining. It was not supposed to end this way. She had so much of life yet to live.

Jesus' ministry and mission was shifting into high gear. Matthew reports that Jesus had gone about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues. But he had not just been preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 9:35a). It seems that Jesus had compassion on the crowd because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). Matthew reports that Jesus cured every disease and sickness he encountered (Matthew 9:35b).

Unlike many businesses today engaged in the process of "downsizing," it was time for Jesus to "upsize." Too much happening, too many demands, too many needs, too much illness, too many people sapping Jesus' strength. So, he called the twelve. Did he have any idea what he was doing? What a pathetic band of characters, at least by society's standards. In a choose-up-sides baseball game, the captain probably would have picked them last. They looked and acted like the "Charlie Browns" of the first century.

The young woman squirmed uncomfortably in the cushioned chair to which she had been directed by the receptionist. Not only was she nervous about the impending job interview, but the shuttle service which had provided transportation from the airport to this office building had been the worst of her life. The others who had been on the van seemed as upset as she was -- and just as captive. Now, because of the traffic, and because that driver had not known which building was hers, she was late for her appointment.

Call To Worship
One: On an ordinary Sunday,
we come to worship God.
All: We come, trusting God will speak to us;
we come, hoping God will surprise us.
One: On this day, like every other day,
we seek to follow Jesus.
All: We follow, believing Jesus will be with us;
we follow, hoping Jesus will work through us.
One: On this day,
we lift our souls to God's Spirit;
All: we open our hearts, that the Spirit may fill us;
we open our hands that we might be a gift to others.

Confession And Absolution
P: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

P: Merciful God, your will for us is to know the abundance of life, yet this world's suffering continues.
C: We have no answers, and we confess to you the failure of our self-reliance and the anger that is born of our despair. Speak to our questions. Speak to our confusion. Speak to our tears.

Silence for reflection

A few years back, the religious media was filled with reports of "holy laughter." Some charismatic churches saw what proponents called a new manifestation of the Holy Spirit, as their members were seized by fits of uncontrollable laughing. Advocates insisted that this was an indication that God was doing a new thing among believers. Critics countered that this new thing was a manifestation of the wrong sort of spirit, and brought about by New Age doctrine and mind control techniques. Outsiders looked at the whole controversy as yet another dumb thing fundamentalists do.

Psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl, often wrote about the meaninglessness of his patients' lives. He was able to sympathize with them in a powerful way, since he spent part of World War II in a concentration camp. He remembered the dark weeks of 1944 vividly: the numbness of the gray days, the cold sameness of every dreary morning.

Suddenly, like a bolt of bright colors, came the stunning whisper that the Allies had landed at Normandy. The push was on. The Germans were running. The tide of the war had turned. "By Christmas we'll be released!" they told each other.

Good morning, boys and girls. Today we are going to have a real treat. I found out the other day that our friend, Mike, is taking guitar lessons. So I asked Mike if he wouldn't mind playing for us.

Mike, how do you like playing the guitar? (let him answer) How long have you been taking lessons? (let him answer) How often do you practice? (let him answer) That is very good. I bet some day you will be a great musician. Would you play your favorite song for us? (ask him to play something that he knows very well)

Good morning, boys and girls. How many of your parents read a newspaper? (Let them answer.) Do some of you look at the newspaper? Do you read the comics or other sections? (Let them answer.) Some of you aren't old enough to read yet, but some day you'll start reading. One thing you will read will be a newspaper like this one. (Show the paper.) What does a newspaper have in it that is so important to people? (Let them answer.) It has stories in it. We call these stories "news." Some of the news is good news. Some of the news is bad news.