Immediate Word

In the opening verses of this week’s epistle passage, the writer of Ephesians makes a heartfelt plea for comity and respect -- begging the readers of his letter to live “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” But as team member Robin Lostetter points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, even a cursory glance at the headlines suggests that this request has fallen on deaf ears in our society. The most glaring current example, of course, is the ongoing soap opera that is Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Though Trump has become the favorite target of late-night comedians, he has undoubtedly benefitted from his repeated pattern of bold comments -- ranging from his characterization of Mexican immigrants as “drug dealers and rapists” to his trashing of anyone he sees as an opponent (political or otherwise). Indeed, he’s not only dominated media attention but also ascended to the top of the polls amongst a fractured field of Republican candidates. But Trump’s approach, while extreme, is hardly unique -- in our polarized political environment, it is a rare candidate who exhibits any degree of humility, gentleness, or patience. As a result, voters have become cynical and tend not to trust any candidate.

But as Robin notes, it’s not just politics where we see this lack of humility and patience -- in a culture where we have come to expect instant communication and instant solutions, and which is dominated by fascination with “celebrities,” the qualities lifted up by the writer of Ephesians are becoming more difficult to find. Our fascination with gaining fame and fortune -- and the tendency of our media to make stars of those who achieve success -- means that humility, gentleness, and patience are rarely rewarded as well as aggressiveness, impatience, and taking advantage of others. Perhaps we all need a refresher course in the importance of humility, respect for others, and “bearing with one another in love” -- for as our text reminds us, we are not the “masters of the universe.” Rather, we are merely one small part of the entire Body of Christ, “joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped.”

Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the 2 Samuel text, and on David's response to the particularly deft way in which the prophet Nathan exposed his misconduct. Even though the oft-repeated adage warns us that in many cases “the coverup is worse than the crime,” the typical reaction of those in prominent positions who find themselves publicly shamed is (at least initially) to deny, deny, deny... and to kneecap the messenger. As Chris notes, we’re seeing that Bill Cosby follow that script as he and his team of lawyers and publicists react to the continuing deluge of information about Cosby’s apparent pattern of sexual assaults. David might well have reacted in much the same manner -- but when Nathan’s hypothetical case results in David being condemned by his own words, he responds in the way that all of us must surely account for ourselves before God: “I have sinned against the Lord.” For both David and Bill Cosby, Chris points out, the phrase “You are the man!” has gone from a colloquial usage indicating respect and accomplishment to one that is synonymous with “J’accuse!”

 

Politics “Trumps” Ephesians
by Robin Lostetter
Ephesians 4:1-16

It’s satisfying, isn’t it? We get some guilty pleasure watching Donald Trump take potshots at the other presidential candidates. In part it may just be comedy, or that we share some of his views, or that he’s tackling issues that otherwise remain “the elephant in the room.” In part it may just be a play to our lower instincts, or perhaps it’s just branding --- he’s the best known name in the bunch.

But the writer of Ephesians says: “I... beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” What higher calling is there than to be a servant of the people? Surely confidence is needed in that calling -- especially when meeting other heads of state face to face. But that confidence might better be based in preparedness than in the aggression already evident in the early presidential campaign. And aggression and spitefulness are counter to humility, gentleness, and bearing with one another in love.

Politics and the media aren’t the only arenas where aggression and popularity seem to go hand in hand. Our entire cultural bent has gradually turned from humility and the common good toward the assertive promotion of the individual --- our rights, our personal space, our opinions (even when in defiance of facts). This can be seen in the change in our language, where cultural change over time can be tracked in song lyrics, television shows, and books. Two studies examining changes in the use of individualistic words and phrases in American English discovered that “Individualistic words and phrases increased in use between 1960 and 2008, even when controlling for changes in communal words and phrases. Language in American books has become increasingly focused on the self and uniqueness in the decades since 1960.”

We live in the soup of individualistic fervor -- I’m right and you’re not. In society, in church, and in government, it takes great exertion to “maintain unity in the bond of peace.”

In the Scriptures
Ephesians 4:1-16 stresses the theological theme of unity, grounded in the centrality of Christ. When an individual or community sets its focus on Christ, the individual remains unique in their gifts and talents (v. 11) as well as their needs. However, their actions and voice use their diverse gifts for the good of the whole, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (v. 12). And what is this equipping? It further underlines the focus on unity: “The equipping is not about accumulating skills or knowledge. Rather, the word ‘equip’ comes from the Greek noun katartismos, meaning ‘the setting of a bone.’ Its derivation is from a verb meaning ‘to reconcile,’ ‘to set bones,’ ‘to restore,’ ‘to create,’ ‘to prepare.’ To grow in one’s ministry, therefore, is to align oneself with God’s intentions, both individually and corporately” (G. Porter Taylor, “Theological Perspective on Ephesians 4:1-16,” in Feasting on the Word: Pentecost and Season after Pentecost 1 [Year B, Vol. 3]). To grow in one’s ministry is not to create a demagogue.

Further, the tools for equipping, for reconciling, for unifying, are humility, gentleness, and patience (Taylor, op. cit.). The tools for division, on the other hand, are aggressiveness, impatience, and taking advantage of others. These lead to distrust and more aggression, impatience, and anger.

In the News
By contrast, our national political scene has had no semblance of unity in recent years. However, the division has been primarily between Democrats and Republicans. Now, along comes Donald Trump... and the Republican “community” has been shattered: “Call it the Trump Effect. With Trump taking up so much media oxygen, candidates scrambling to get their name out in public have resorted to lighting things on fire to make it happen.” General in-fighting, name-calling, and YouTube reactions to the aforementioned abound. And this weekend, a speech by Mike Huckabee with inflammatory remarks comparing the proposed Iran nuclear agreement to the Holocaust has taken center stage from Trump. A CNN report refers to this as an attempt to out-Trump the other candidates, and to ensure Huckabee a spot on the stage for the first GOP presidential debate on August 6. In a marriage of celebrity and politics where ruthlessness and meanness have replaced humility of spirit, all publicity is considered good.

In fact, statistical analyst and prominent political prognosticator Nate Silver compared Donald Trump to an internet “troll,” noting that “ ‘A troll,’ according to one definition, ‘is a person who sows discord... by starting arguments or upsetting people... with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.’... Trolls operate on the principle that negative attention is better than none. In fact, the troll may feed off the negative attention, claiming it makes him a victim and proves that everyone is out to get him.”

It’s this aspect of the troll that makes the upcoming debate so dangerous for the other Republican candidates.  As Ken Tucker points out, “in addition to all their other headaches, the Republicans debating Trump on Aug. 6 will have to somehow simultaneously damage Trump’s credibility without getting into yelling matches with him, and avoid hurting his feelings too much, because Trump has said his third-party bid depends on ‘how I’m being treated by the Republicans.... If they’re not fair, that will be a factor.’ ” It’s Trump’s threat to run as a third-party candidate that they fear most.

Other recent headlines besides politics have shown the ease with which ordinary citizens, and even professionals, abandon gentleness, humility, and patience, and instead go almost immediately to “I’m right and you’re not.” (Confessional note: I fight this impulse myself... as I said, this is in our cultural milieu.)  One sad example is the arrest of Sandra Bland. The dialogue between Texas trooper Brian Encinia and Ms. Bland escalated almost immediately with anger on both sides, resulting in a physically harsh arrest over a simple traffic infraction. It seems possible that either party might have­­­ de-escalated the situation by changing their tone -- although it was the officer’s responsibility, as the professional, to set the tone and maintain order from the start, and Ms. Bland was in the more compromised position by race, gender, and power.

Another situation where the general good (as well as the civil rights of many) is being ignored by the insistence of one individual on asserting her personal rights/beliefs is in Kentucky -- where the refusal of Rowan County clerk Kim Davis to sign any marriage licenses, and banning her deputy clerks from doing so as well, has become the subject of a federal court case: “If I say they are authorized, I’m saying, ‘I agree with it.’ And I can’t,” Davis said. Monday’s testimony marked a second hearing in the case, and U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning said he expects to release a decision around Aug. 11. Meanwhile, Davis said she is denying licenses to all couples to avoid discriminating against those in same-sex relationships. [S]he argued that issuing licenses under her name would violate her religious beliefs even if a deputy clerk performs the task in her stead.”

One might sympathize with the conflict for Davis between her religious practice and her civil duty. However, not allowing her staff to sign licenses on her behalf, even though they may have no similar faith issues with the law, is projecting her personal beliefs (or one might say “opinions”) to control another’s behavior.

In the Sermon
This is the first Sunday of the month, on which many churches celebrate communion. So it seems like an optimal time to raise the theological ideal of church unity through humility, gentleness, and patience -- bearing with one another in love. 

If it would be helpful in your congregation to contrast the church community with the secular realm that’s reflected in the headlines, perhaps G. Porter Taylor’s description of how the two differ would help (emphasis mine):

To bear with one another is to sacrifice for the other. It is to help carry the other’s burdens. Love is not an emotion; love is an act of the will. Paul is not calling for the early Christians to feel warmly toward one another, but to act according to their calling. They are to do love by serving one another. The church is called to be a new community based not on the divisions inherent in the existing social order but on the new humanity in Christ. The social hierarchy has been replaced by the body of Christ. In this new order, all members are essential, and all members are connected. Love... is what knits the body together. The tools for this body are humility, gentleness, and patience (Taylor, op. cit.).

If there is division within your congregation, a low-level conflict that could be addressed during worship, perhaps Lutheran bishop Michael Rinehart’s approach might work. Thinking about the upcoming 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting in 1517 of his 95 Theses, an event that marked the start of the Protestant Reformation, Rinehart developed some ideas for building community between Lutherans and Roman Catholics. He chose as his starting point the opening statement of Luther’s 95 Theses: “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent,’ he called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” If one understands that repentance means to turn one’s life around, with true sorrow for one’s wrongdoing and the intention to turn from those wrong ways, then to repent puts one in a position of humility -- a good starting point for reconciliation and community. If we were to model church reconciliation and community after Rinehart’s ideas for the Reformation anniversary, what if we were to approach it “with repentance instead of arrogance? Would this not be in keeping with Jesus’ teaching?... Instead of pointing out the speck in my neighbor’s eye, I instead confess and begin working on the log in my own eye.” Rather than “recounting [our] divergent narratives of events, and rehearsing mutual anathemas... a better approach begins with all of us confessing our hubris, our party-allegiances... and the tendency to demonize the other and talk past one another.” Whatever we do, Rinehart says, “let’s do it together... in such a way that the world might know Jesus, and believing have life in his name.”
 
It’s unlikely that the Trumps (or Clintons or Huckabees or any other politicians) of this world will confess their hubris, their party-allegiances, and their tendency to demonize each other. But for us in the Church, it is indeed the calling for which we are to live a worthy life -- beginning with humility, gentleness, and patience... and bearing with one another in love: Love, the verb.

 

SECOND THOUGHTS
Is He the Man?
by Chris Keating
2 Samuel 11:26--12:13a

David was the fair-haired boy of Israel -- a strong and brave military leader, the pride of Bethlehem, the King of Israel. Even his name meant “beloved.”

David rocketed to success; but he veered off-course when his wandering eyes beheld Bathsheba’s afternoon bath. Following David’s illicit dalliance, the prophet Nathan comes to speak words of prophetic truth to royal power, declaring: “You are the man!”

You’re the man, David. You’re the man who abused his power. You’re the man who despised the promises of God. “Yes, indeedy, David. You are the man,” Nathan tells his king.

A powerful man accused of abusing a woman and then covering up the evidence resonates with the refrains rippling across our culture. In particular, accusations that legendary comedian Bill Cosby may have abused as many as 40 women continue to emerge. Coupled with Cosby’s admission that he gave Quaaludes to women in order to have sex with them, it begins to sound as if Nathan’s appellation might also fit the 77-year old entertainer.

For much of his 52-year career, Bill Cosby was indeed the man -- a comic genius, an educator who earned a doctorate mid-career, and a television innovator. Now it seems as though his alleged victims are turning the tables, playing Nathan as they cry “You are the man!”

Cosby’s indelible mark on the culture is quickly fading. His impressive career includes starring in the 1960s television show I Spy, where he was first black actor cast in a leading role. As the creator of the children’s cartoon series Fat Albert in the 1970s and as the iconic Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show in the 1980s, Cosby was propelled from Jell-O spokesperson to “America’s Dad.” The Cosby Show and its spinoff, A Different World, were critically acclaimed as making a difference in attitudes about race. His sweaters made a fashion statement, just as his routines about Noah, chocolate cake, and natural childbirth had made people laugh. He was certainly the “man” when it came to wholesome comedy, nurturing children, and reviving the TV sitcom as an art form. 

All of those accolades seem to be in freefall at the moment. Even the White House has been petitioned to revoke Cosby’s Medal of Freedom in the face of mounting allegations. Last week, after a deposition containing his testimony about drugging women was unsealed, Disney World removed the entertainer’s statue from a theme park, cable channels pulled reruns of his show, and a lawsuit alleging that he sexually abused a teenager moved forward.

It’s not hard to hear Nathan’s words to David echoing in the background. Could Bill Cosby be “the man” after all?

In the News
Accusations against Cosby continue to surface, even though he has never been criminally charged. Last week, the California Supreme Court declined to hear Cosby’s petition to dismiss Judy Huth’s case against the actor, paving the way for her lawsuit to move forward. Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents Huth in that case, now plans to depose Cosby within a month. Allred’s client claims that Cosby lured her to the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager. What sets this case apart is that because Huth was 15 at the time of alleged abuse, Allred is arguing that statute of limitations should be extended because Huth is an “adult survivor of abuse.”

Allred has said that during her deposition of Cosby she plans to explore other accusations in order to establish a pattern of sexual abuse, which could add to the controversy surrounding Cosby. He has continued to deny the allegations, with his lawyers arguing that his admission of using Quaaludes to attract women was as common as offering someone a drink.

But that may be hard to defend, especially in light of a bombshell story dropped this Sunday when New York magazine released a cover story on the Cosby women. The magazine’s cover featured a photo of 35 women seated next to each other, with an empty chair ready for more women to share their experience. The accompanying article highlights the stories and testimony of their claims of being victimized by Cosby.

One reporter noted that the accounts featured in the magazine function almost as a “longitudinal study” of Cosby’s abuse, both in terms of how each woman has dealt with the trauma and how our culture has changed its understanding of rape since the 1960s:

In the ’60s, when the first alleged assault by Cosby occurred, rape was considered to be something violent committed by a stranger; acquaintance rape didn’t register as such, even for the women experiencing it. A few of Cosby’s accusers claim that he molested or raped them multiple times; one remained in his orbit, in and out of a drugged state, for years. In the ’70s and ’80s, campus movements like Take Back the Night and “No Means No” helped raise awareness of the reality that 80 to 90 percent of victims know their attacker. Still, the culture of silence and shame lingered, especially when the men accused had any kind of status. The first assumption was that women who accused famous men were after money or attention. As Cosby allegedly told some of his victims: No one would believe you. So why speak up?

It’s a question that has haunted some of the women, like Barbara Bowman, who believes Cosby drugged and raped her in the 1980s. Bowman has tried to speak up, but met with resistance for decades. As she wrote in the Washington Post:

Their dismissive responses crushed any hope I had of getting help; I was convinced no one would listen to me. That feeling of futility is what ultimately kept me from going to the police. I told friends what had happened, and although they sympathized with me, they were just as helpless to do anything about it. I was a teenager from Denver acting in McDonald’s commercials. He was Bill Cosby: consummate American dad...

It was only after comedian Hannibal Buress called Cosby a rapist in 2014 that people began to listen. Bowman notes it took a man’s comments to make others begin to notice: “Why wasn’t I believed? Why didn’t I get the same reaction of shock and revulsion when I originally reported it? Why was I, a victim of sexual assault, further wronged by victim blaming when I came forward?”

Cosby continues to deny the allegations, noting only that he used drugs in a party-like manner to have consensual sex with several women. But the mounting cries of “Are you the man?” continue. Bowman’s questions make us wonder -- why aren’t victims believed?

We were used to seeing Bill Cosby as the “man” who generated wholesome comedy and upheld educational values. He was the man who developed children’s television programming. He was the man who made us laugh at the things children said -- could have also been the man who perpetrated egregious acts of abuse? Like Bathsheba’s mourning of her beloved husband, loud lamentations echo as the “Cosby women” share their stories.

In the Scriptures
David achieved the unthinkable by uniting the kingdom. Standing on the balcony of his palace, he reflected on what he had gained. While he considered what shape his legacy would take -- a temple perhaps, a sanctuary for the Ark? -- lust raged within him... lust to satisfy his longing for power, to perhaps become “like God” (as Genesis describes Adam and Eve’s fateful desire). Lust leads David to sleep with the wife of one of his military heroes.

Understanding this week’s lection requires backtracking a bit through the story of Bathsheba and David’s first encounter in 2 Samuel 11:1-15. David conceals the act of adultery from practically everyone -- except, of course, Yahweh. While David has managed to tie up most of the loose ends, there is one notable exception.

God is not impressed by David’s behavior.

“But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to him.” The opening sentences prepare the drama: Nathan is commissioned by God to be a truth-teller. Nathan then spins a story that grabs David’s rapt attention. There’s a king, an ambitious and wealthy king, whose corruption leads him to steal a poor man’s ewe. Nathan spells out the place of the ewe in the poor man’s family, stealthily leading David to the bait.

David is overcome with anger! What sort of man destroys a family in this way? What sort of man is so overrun with ambition and greed that he would steal a precious lamb?

Nathan tells him, “You are the man.” 

The prophet’s knife cuts deep into David’s soul. Even his customary charm and boyish good looks can’t remove the pain of David’s transgression. Yahweh had given David an abundance of grace -- yet David has chosen to act like a greedy king whose unchecked power devours his people. It is exactly what Samuel had warned Israel might happen should they demand a king.

The truth which Nathan tells breaks through the layers of David’s political bravado and image-conscious self. It is a personal address, writes Eugene Peterson: “God’s word, however it begins, and however long it takes to get there, always ends up direction and personal: me, you” (First and Second Samuel, Westminster Bible Companion, p. 185).

Nathan comes not to soothe the king’s guilty conscious (as if!). Nor does he come to advise him on how to manage a crisis or maintain his image. He comes to say a word of truth, which of course is a word from the Lord: “You are the man!” It might not massage David’s ego, but ultimately it is the only word which can help him remember who he is -- a child of God, beloved and in need of forgiveness.

It is the word which enables him to cry out “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.”

In the Sermon
A sermon on adultery can easily become a moralistic scolding or an R-rated rant on yet another celebrity’s sexual misconduct. Examples of abusive conduct abound, and we run the risk of adding to the media spectacle. Even in the face of 35 accusations, Cosby remains defiant that they are not telling the truth.

Still, there is a word of redemption in this text which begs to be proclaimed.

Somewhere in the narrative, Bathsheba’s voice is marginalized. It seems as though we are not much better at listening to the voices of victims of sexual assault and abuse -- and perhaps the connection between Cosby’s accusers and Bathsheba could yield a pastorally sensitive message about paying attention to the signs of abuse.

Another path through this text might be to explore the way Nathan is able to speak truth to power in such a way that it prompts David’s repentance. Those accused of sexual abuse do not often repent and exhibit the humility David achieves. As Peterson writes, “Nathan’s sentence brings David (and therefore us) to the brink of God. David realizes who he is, not as a power-wielding king in control of himself and others, but simply as himself before God” (Peterson, op. cit., p. 186).

When David replies “Yes, I am that man,” he recovers the truth about himself. And that is the good news we are sent to proclaim.

 

ILLUSTRATIONS

From team member Ron Love:

Ephesians 4:1-16
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson recently discussed the bombastic comments of Donald Trump. He closed his piece with this line: “The GOP isn’t free of him yet. Godzilla is still on the loose.”

Application: We are given special gifts for service of the church. Let us be sure we never use our gifts so that others think of us as “Godzilla is still on the loose.”

*****

John 6:24-35                   
The photograph went viral -- to the astonishment of Leroy Smith, the director of South Carolina’s Department of Public Safety. Smith, who is African-American, was working as part of the police detail for a Ku Klux Klan rally at the state’s capitol building following the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the capitol grounds. At the demonstration the KKK and its sympathizers squared off against churchgoers; the former proclaiming white power, the latter preaching equality. But it was a hot and muggy day; the temperature soared past 100, and a Klansman was struck with heat exhaustion. Smith was photographed as he helped the Klansman up the capitol steps into shade. Smith said that he was like the other officers “braving the heat” that day, present “to preserve and protect.” (Note: If your church uses screen presentations, the picture could be displayed.)

Application: The bread of life of Jesus is demonstrated in many compassionate acts performed by Christians.

*****

2 Samuel 11:26--12:13a
At the recently concluded British Open, Jordan Spieth narrowly lost the opportunity to continue in his quest to win golf’s Grand Slam this year. Having already won the Masters and the U.S. Open (the first two legs of the “slam”), Spieth’s prospects looked very promising heading into the final round at historic St. Andrews -- but a missed put on the 17th hole determined his fate, leaving him just one stroke shy of a playoff for the title. Of his loss, Spieth said, “I made a lot of right decisions down the stretch and certainly closed plenty of tournaments out.... It’s hard to do that every single time. I won’t beat myself up too bad, because I understand that.”

Application: We all make mistakes, but not all mistakes are equal and not all mistakes are innocent. David’s mistake was one where beating myself up would be more than appropriate. Spieth’s decisions did not lose his place in the sight of God; David’s decisions did.

*****

2 Samuel 11:26--12:13a
The 7th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals (based in Chicago) recently dismissed five of 18 corruption accounts against former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, convicted for trying to sell the U.S Senate seat vacated when Barack Obama was elected President. The court still upheld Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence as appropriate for the 58-year-old inmate, because of the seriousness of the remaining 13 counts.

Application: David did do some good things, but those good actions can never compensate for the evil imposed upon Uriah.

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From team member Mary Austin:

Ephesians 4:1-16
Empathy for Robots Too?
The Letter to the Ephesians calls us to remember our bond of unity with other people, and to act based on that bond. Now researchers are wondering if our human connection and compassion extend to robots too. 

Kate Darling, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, studies the connections between humans and robots. A recent article relates, “At a workshop in Geneva two years ago, [Darling] and her team observed how people treated Pleo robots -- advanced machines that react to external stimuli, shaped like cute baby dinosaurs. First they asked participants to name the robots and play with them. Once they were done, she asked them to torture and kill the machines. Most people hesitated.” Darling has since set up other experiments to assess the bond between people and our machines. She says that people experience more connection when they hear a story about the background of the robot, which she calls “framing.” She adds, “the people who have high empathic tendencies responded hugely to the framing. So they didn’t much care about the object when it was just an object. But when it was named Frank and had a back story, that had a huge effect on the high-empathy people. The low-empathy people didn’t care either way.” 

If we can connect with robots based on what we know of their history, perhaps we can do the same with each other. 

*****

Ephesians 4:1-16
Making a New Community
For women who are battered by their husbands and partners, “living a life worthy of your calling” can feel impossible. Living in a rural area with few services and shelters can make escaping from an abusive relationship even harder. Yes magazine reports that programs in Kentucky and West Virginia are tailoring their help to the rural women who need it, and building community with the women as they do. The obstacles are great. “Pam Gillenwater, program director of the YWCA Resolve Family Abuse Program in Charleston, put it succinctly: ‘If you live miles up in the holler and you don’t have a telephone, and you don’t have a land line, and your cellphone doesn’t work up there, and you don’t have a car, and you don’t read and write very well, and you’ve got three kids, how are you going to get help?’ ”

In rural areas people may be mistrustful of outsiders, and so the answer is for “advocates to integrate themselves into the communities. So Resolve [program] staffers make regular appearances at the Boone County’s West Virginia Coal Festival and the Clay County Golden Delicious Apple Festival. They never miss Headstart orientations, attend church services, and make friends with preachers and school principals.” They meet women at the government benefits office, the one place where husbands have to let them go if they want to receive a benefits check. One advocate “exchanged jackets with a woman to sneak her out of the [Department of Health and Human Resources] office while the husband waited in the parking lot.” 

Abuse isolates, but advocates for victims of domestic violence create bonds with women that allow them to help, and to begin creating a new life. 

*****

Ephesians 4:1-16
Humility Is Out of Style
The Letter to the Ephesians calls us to “live with all humility and gentleness,” but Nipun Mehta, the founder of ServiceSpace, an incubator for service projects, says that humility is a lost virtue in our time: “We live in an era that believes it can no longer afford to be humble.” He adds, “A few years ago, Google released a searchable database of 5.2 million books published since 1500. Researchers soon discovered that, between 1960 and 2008, individualistic words increasingly overshadowed communal ones. The usage of ‘kindness’ and ‘helpfulness’ dropped by 56%, even as ‘modesty’ and ‘humbleness’ dropped by 52%. Our language reflects our lives. Phrases like ‘community’ and ‘common good’ lost in popularity to ‘I can do it myself’ and ‘I come first.’ ” 

Mehta says that humility reminds us of the “power of the many,” all the people who have helped us, or who continue to influence us: “We have a greater impact on each other than we think.... Everything we do ripples out and affects each strand in the web of our connections.” Humility also calls us to “the power of one,” the opportunity to use our own gifts -- not for gain, but for service. 

*****

Ephesians 4:1-16
Bearing with One Another -- More Compassion
Researcher C. Daryl Cameron believes that we can grow in our ability to “bear with one another in love,” learning to increase our capacity for compassion. Cameron says that it’s easier for us to feel compassion for one person than for many: “When faced with many victims, people feel less compassion than they would have if they had just seen one victim. Precisely when compassion is needed most, it is felt the least.” It turns out that we worry about becoming overwhelmed. “We find that when there are more suffering victims, people think they will feel more compassion. Given this expectation, people may become concerned about the financial and emotional costs of intense compassion. Compassion for many victims can be seen as an expensive proposition -- one that will not make much of a difference. People may also become worried about being overwhelmed or burned out by compassion for many sufferers. For these reasons, people may actively and strategically turn off their compassion.” 

If we can turn off compassion, we can also turn it on. Cameron suggests two things: making helping easy (like texting a number that gives $10 to help right away), and working on staying mindful. As he says, “Mind-training techniques may be better suited to increase people’s ability (rather than motivation) to experience compassion. There are many meditation traditions that encourage people to cultivate compassion toward self, family, friends, enemies, and strangers. Compassion cultivation techniques have been shown to increase positive emotions and social support, reduce negative distress at human suffering, and reduce people’s fears of feeling compassion for others. Such training programs may prevent the collapse of compassion, by letting people overcome fears of fatigue and accept their own compassion.” 

Like lifting weights for physical strength, we can also increase the strength of our care for each other. 

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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:

John 6:24-35
A Brief History of Bread
Bread, in all its various forms, is the most widely consumed food in the world. Rich in carbohydrates and extremely portable, it’s been an integral part of the human diet for more than 30,000 years.

Scientists believe that the first breads were probably tortilla-like flatbreads, made from the roots of cattails and ferns that were dried, crushed into powder, added to water, and then fried on a hot stone. Food experts tell us that three things have been added since then to give us modern bread:

1. Leavening: This is the yeast, baking powder, or other agent that makes bread rise into a fluffy loaf. The first use of yeast was probably in Egypt in about 300 BCE.

2. Refined Flour: The earliest breads were made from whole or coarsely hand-ground grains, but around 800 BCE the Mesopotamians invented milling -- which is grinding grain into a fine powder between two flat rocks. This gave us the soft, fluffy bread we have today.

3. Mechanized Slicing: Until about 1928, bread was always sliced thick and by hand. Itinerant jeweler Otto Rohwedder created the first mechanized bread slicer in 1917 -- but many companies were convinced that people wouldn’t be interested in bread that was uniformly sliced, so his machine wasn’t installed in a factory until 1928. Within two years, 90% of store-bought bread was factory-sliced.

(Additional fun fact not for use in a sermon:  The word “pumpernickel” means “devil’s fart.”)

*****

Ephesians 4:1-16
Gift-Giving Customs
Every culture and every country has different customs for giving and receiving gifts. Here are a few that may be vastly different than what we are used to:

In Argentina it is considered rude to give wine as a gift, and knives or scissors are considered bad luck as they signal a cut or separation in the relationship between the giver and the recipient. Personal items like clothing are a no-no.

In China money is an appropriate gift, but it should always be given in a red envelope. It should be an even amount, given in an even number of bills. The number four should be avoided, but six is considered lucky; 88 and 168 are the luckiest numbers, and are always appropriate for money gifts. Gifts are never to be opened in front of the giver.

In Ireland gifts are customarily given on birthdays, on Christmas, and when you are invited to someone’s home. Flowers, sweets, cheese, and wine are always welcome -- but don’t give lilies, as they are reserved for religious occasions and white flowers are only displayed at funerals.

In South Africa gifts are usually reserved for birthdays and Christmas. The focus at Christmas is on the religious celebration, and it is not uncommon for a holiday gift to be a new suit or dress to wear to church for Christmas services. If gifts are exchanged in poorer communities, they are typically items such as schoolbooks, soap, cloth, candles, or other practical goods. If you’re invited to a South African’s home for a meal, it is common courtesy to bring flowers, good quality chocolates, or a bottle of South African wine to your host or hostess. In South Africa the presentation of the gift -- how it is wrapped and how it looks -- is almost as important as the gift itself, so don’t scrimp on the wrapping paper and ribbon. It is expected that a gift will be opened when it is received.

*****

2 Samuel 11:26--12:13a
Caught Red-Handed
King David was caught in an immoral act, and there was undeniable proof that he was guilty. It could be said that he was “caught red-handed.”

The phrase “caught red-handed” comes from Scotland, where it was first recorded in writing as “red hand” in the Scottish Acts of Parliament of James I in 1432. It is thought that the phrase “red hand” was originally applied to poachers who illegally caught or killed game or livestock on land that was not their own, and who were caught doing so with the still-bleeding animal in their hand. To be caught red-handed, then, referred to being caught with blood on one’s hands. Some historians believe that it may also have referred to the act of murder, and a person caught in the act or soon after with the bloody evidence still on their hands or clothing.

When the phrase moved from Scotland to England it morphed into “red-handed,” as evidenced by its usage in Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott and Guy Livingstone, written by George Alfred Lawrence in 1857.

*****

Psalm 51:1-12
To Give Up Completely
The psalmist in this song asks God for forgiveness. But what exactly is forgiveness? What does that word mean?

Etymology is the study of where words come from, and etymologists tell us that the word “forgive” actually comes from the Latin word perdonare, which means to give freely and without reservation.

When perdonare was translated into the ancient Germanic language that was the great-grandmother of English, it was done so in pieces. The first three letters (per) were translated as “for,” which was a prefix that meant “thoroughly.” And donare was translated as “giefan,” which meant “to give away or give up.” When you put the two Germanic words together you had forgeifan, which meant “to give up or allow.” It could also mean “to give away,” as in marriage.

Literally, the word forgeifan -- which eventually became “forgive” in English -- meant to give up any right you have for revenge or payback. If you wrong me in some way and I forgive you, it means that I thoroughly give up my right to exact revenge on you.

 

WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed

Call to Worship
Leader: Create in us a clean heart, O God.
People: Put a new and right spirit within us.
Leader: Do not cast us away from your presence.
People: Do not take your holy spirit from us.
Leader: Restore to us the joy of your salvation.
People: Sustain in us a willing spirit.

OR

Leader: Let us join our voices in praise to God.
People: We join together in worship to our Creator God.
Leader: The one who made us, made all of us.
People: God’s life is with us all.
Leader: Let us honor the God we praise.
People: We will honor God by living in unity and humility.

Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Now Thank We All Our God”
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396, 397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533, 534
ELA: 839, 840
W&P: 14
AMEC: 573
STLT: 32

“When Morning Gilds the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545, 546
W&P: 111
AMEC: 29

“The Church’s One Foundation”
found in:
UMH: 545, 546
H82: 525
PH: 442
AAHH: 337
NNBH: 297
NCH: 386
CH: 272
LBW: 369
ELA: 654
W&P: 544
AMEC: 519

“Where Charity and Love Prevail”
found in:
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 639

“Help Us Accept Each Other”
found in:
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
W&P: 596
AMEC: 558

“Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation”
found in:
UMH: 559
H82: 518
PH: 416, 417
NCH: 400
CH: 275
LBW: 367
ELA: 645
AMEC: 518

“O Spirit of the Living God”
found in:
UMH: 539
H82: 531
NCH: 263
LBW: 388

“Filled with the Spirit’s Power”
found in:
UMH: 537
NCH: 266
LBW: 160
W&P: 331

“Unity”
found in:
CCB: 59

“Surely the Presence of the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 1
Renew: 167

Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship

Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is one in unity with all of creation: Grant us the grace to sense the oneness you have created, so that we may be in communion with all your children and with the totality of your creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

OR

We praise you, O God, for you have created all humanity from the same dust of the earth. You have breathed into all of us your very own life. Open our eyes and our hearts to the unity with which you created us all, so that we may life in harmony and peace with all our sisters and brothers. Amen.

Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our failure to see all God’s children as our sisters and brothers.

People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have focused on ourselves and our desires more than we have thought about others and their needs. We have neglected to see others as also being children of God, and so we have not valued them rightly. Instead of looking at others through the eyes of Jesus, we have looked at them with suspicion and a lack of caring. Forgive us, and call us back to being true disciples who see everyone as God’s child. Amen.

Leader: We are God’s children, and God loves us and forgives us so that we may more clearly reflect God’s image.

Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Praise and blessing are yours, O God, for you are the creator of all. We worship you for your loving presence in 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. We have focused on ourselves and our desires more than we have thought about others and their needs. We have neglected to see others as also being children of God, and so we have not valued them rightly. Instead of looking at others through the eyes of Jesus, we have looked at them with suspicion and a lack of caring. Forgive us, and call us back to being true disciples who see everyone as God’s child.

We give you thanks that you created us in love. We thank you for your Spirit that you breathed into all of us. You created us to be in communion with you and one another, and we rejoice when we experience the wonder of that unity.

(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)

We pray for all who are in need, and especially for those who feel alone. We know that you love us all and desire us to share together. Help us to reach out in love and care to all our neighbors.

(Other intercessions may be offered.)

All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.

(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)

All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.

Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk about some of the obvious differences between us: eye color, hair color, height, etc. Then talk about the ways we are alike: all of us have two eyes, two hands, a heart, a brain, etc. Then talk about the most important way we are alike -- we are all created by God in the image of God. We are all children of God -- and therefore we are family.

 

CHILDREN’S SERMON
Gifts and Graces
by Dean Feldmeyer
Ephesians 4:1-16

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift... he gave gifts to his people.... The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry…” (vv. 7, 11-12a).

Paul tells us that God has given all of his people specific gifts for building up God’s church and other of God’s people.

Items needed:
Several boxes of different sizes, each gift-wrapped like Christmas or birthday presents. Each “present” should be labeled on the bottom: speaking, writing, singing, dancing, painting, running, teaching, etc.

(Stack the gift boxes in a pile where you can easily get to them.) I brought some pretend presents with me, because today we’re talking about presents. What’s another word for a “present”? That’s right -- a gift! In today’s Bible passage the apostle Paul tells us that God gives all kinds of gifts to people -- each person getting a special gift just for them.

If someone gives you a gift, do you have to pay them for it? No, that’s right. A gift is something that is given away freely. You don’t have to pay for it. It’s nice if you say “thank you,” but you don’t have to do anything -- it’s a gift.

When you give someone a gift at Christmas or for their birthday, is it okay to just give them any old thing -- you know, like an old sock or maybe a stick -- and wrap it up in a fancy package and give it to them?

No, of course not. If you give someone a gift, you put a lot of thought into it, don’t you? You want to give them something they will like, something they want -- something they can use, right?

Well, in today’s scripture reading the apostle Paul tells us that God gives us all gifts. And God has put a lot of thought into the gifts he has given to us. 

Now, the gifts I have here are pretend gifts -- but let’s go ahead and hand them out and see what kinds of gifts God may give to us. (Start to identify the packages and pass them out, offering help as needed. If you don’t have enough “gifts” for every child to have one, you could just keep them and let the kids help you identify what gift is represented by each box.) So what have we got here? Okay, this is the gift of singing --who wants that? (Continue with the next gift.) And this is the gift of writing stories. Anyone want that one? (Continue until all the boxes have been identified and distributed.) Okay, does everyone have a gift now?

See, that’s how God gives out gifts -- free of charge. There’s just one thing. God would really love it if you used your gift -- like your gift of singing or writing or speaking or whatever -- to help the church and to help other people.

You don’t have to. God has given you the gift, and you can keep it and use it for whatever you want -- but Paul says that the very best thing we can do with the gifts that God gives to us is to use them to help others.

Thanks for sharing with me this morning. This week let’s remember to pray for God to show us what gifts he has given to us and to help us use them to help others, okay? Okay!

 
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The Immediate Word, August 2, 2015, issue.

Copyright 2015 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.