Polls, Parables, And Complaints
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
This week the lectionary offers a pair of texts in which we discover how God provides unimaginable benefits for those whom he favors. In the Old Testament passage from Exodus, we read of God's provision of manna and quail for the Israelites in their desert sojourn, and in the gospel Jesus tells a curious parable about laborers in a vineyard that is meant to demonstrate God's grace and generosity for all -- even for those who come to him late in life. Another striking feature of both texts is the centrality of complaining to human nature... even when God is the one whom we are kvetching about. The Exodus passage opens with the observation that "the whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness." Indeed, Moses and Aaron have to deal with so much bellyaching that one can easily envision them as God's embattled customer service representatives who have to somehow placate the dissatisfied Israelites. Likewise, in the gospel parable we are told that the laborers who worked the entire day in the scorching heat "grumbled against the landowner" -- their gripe being that their hourly wage pales in comparison to those lucky dogs who caught on late in the day. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Mary Austin notes that we're just as likely as the ancient Hebrews to complain about our leaders -- the most recent evidence for this enduring phenomenon being President Obama's sinking approval ratings. (But it's not just human leadership that comes in for criticism -- one recent poll indicates that even God's approval rating barely clears 50%!) Mary points out that the real reason for our complaints is that they are often rooted either in disappointment or in unrealistic expectations, both of which church people are vulnerable to feeling. But Mary reminds us that, despite our complaints, we need to think about the fact that God makes us beneficiaries of his marvelous grace -- rather than giving us sinful folk the fate we truly deserve.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer offers some additional thoughts on the Exodus and Matthew passages and on how they call us to consider "sustainable values" rather than the rampant consumerism that has driven our economy in recent decades. Dean finds it noteworthy that when God provides the people of Israel with their "daily bread," he does not cater to their desires -- instead he offers only an amount sufficient to meet their needs. Rather than worrying about whether we are getting all that we're entitled to -- and whether we're keeping up with the Joneses -- both scripture texts reinforce the idea that instead of complaining we should concentrate on giving thanks for the sustenance we receive from our gracious Lord.
Polls, Parables, and Complaints
by Mary Austin
Exodus 16:2-15; Matthew 20:1-16
"The whole congregation complained," Exodus recalls. Most church workers and pastors know the feeling. Even if it's not exactly the whole congregation, the complaints of a loud and forceful group can cause a lot of discomfort and drama.
President Obama, too, might well feel like the whole country is complaining. His poll numbers are low enough that fewer than half of the people polled believe he's doing a good job. Even before his recent speech on jobs, some Republican lawmakers announced that they would be skipping the event -- some to watch on TV and tweet reactions to followers (including Rep. Paul Broun) and others in favor of the Packers-Saints football game (including Sen. David Vitter).
Leaders of all kinds share the experience of Moses after leading the people of Israel out of Egypt. The plagues that made God's power visible to Pharaoh, and the dividing of the Red Sea to make their final escape possible, have all faded into the background by now. The people are tired and frightened -- and they start to do what frightened people do... complain. The same kind of muttering and grumbling shows up in the text from Matthew, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. And it may happen in your congregation too!
Is complaining part of our human condition? Is there any way to escape from it?
THE WORLD
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll reported that: "More than half of Americans now disapprove of Barack Obama's job performance, 6 in 10 rate his work on the economy and job creation negatively and more than 1 in 3 say they've become worse off financially under his presidency -- a high in ABC News/Washington Post polls since Ronald Reagan trademarked the question a generation ago." The poll also reported that 77% of the people asked answered that "the country is headed seriously off on the wrong track," an increase of 17 points this year. More people also believe that the Obama administration has "done more to harm [34%] rather than help [17%] the nation's economy." Another 47% of the people polled say the Obama presidency has "had no effect" on the economy.
Complaining about the president is almost a national pastime. Liberals complain that he hasn't fulfilled campaign promises to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for alleged terrorists, he hasn't supported unions in their battles in Ohio and Wisconsin this year, he hasn't defended women's reproductive health issues, he didn't work hard enough or quickly enough to end the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and he hasn't moved effectively to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conservatives complain that the health care reform act reaches too far and that the government is spending money they don't have on programs people don't need. A small group of fringe conservatives complain that he wasn't even born in America and that he's a Muslim. Business groups complain that he's out of touch with the needs of corporate America and doesn't understand their world. Small businesses complain that his administration favors big businesses and big banks. An August article in the National Review even complained about his summer reading list, noting that too much fiction might give the impression that he's out of touch with reality.
Apparently, we like to complain about lots of things. When I Googled "complaints about President Obama" to compile the list above, the search engine also offered me such diverse choices as "complaints about the [name withheld] bra," along with chances to complain about doctors, banks, a cable television provider, a phone company, and a chain of superstores.
THE WORD
The lectionary texts for today confirm that complaining is not a new phenomenon. The people of Israel have already complained when Pharaoh's army comes frighteningly close and then again when there's no water. Now they complain again about the lack of food. God has already sent ten -- ten! -- plagues to Egypt, to let Pharaoh know who's really in charge. Ten times God has displayed the divine power over human events. Ten times God has stood up for them, working through Moses and Aaron. And still there's complaining instead of a sense of trust that God has something up the divine sleeve.
Complaining is also at the center of the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 20:1-16. "The kingdom of heaven is like this," Jesus says, starting out the story of the day laborers hired at different times all through the day. The workers are hired by the day, so life for them is precarious. The first workers hired must have been pleased to have the security of a full day's work at the going rate. When the later workers are hired, there's no negotiating -- the owner tells the workers that he'll pay them "whatever is right." The first workers know exactly what they'll be paid but these later workers rely on the fairness of the owner.
At last, the end of a long, hot, sweaty day comes. When the last workers are paid first, they receive a whole day's wage. Imagine the excitement of the workers who worked all day, thinking about how much more they'll get. And then they get... a day's wage also. Instead of being grateful for the work, now they complain about the pay. Notice, though, that no one got cheated. The first workers get a day's pay for a day's work, exactly what they agreed on. Very fair.
We're tempted to join the chorus of complaints. Is it really fair that the first workers work so hard and get paid the same amount as people who did less? As the preacher Barbara Brown Taylor says, this "is a little like cod liver oil. You know Jesus is right, and you know it must be good for you, but that does not make it any easier to swallow" (The Seeds of Heaven, p. 100).
CRAFTING THE SERMON
This parable illuminates for me that the source of our complaints is often the gap between what we expect and what we get, or the difference between what we believe we deserve and what we really receive. Some of President Obama's most bitter critics were once his most ardent fans, and their complaints come from disappointment. It's the same with the people of Israel, who may not have been such slow learners -- maybe by now they expect God to come through for them in every need and are disappointed when God is too slow. The vineyard workers who are complaining are the ones who had time to imagine they would get more and then don't.
We church people are often like the first workers in the vineyard -- we've been here all along and believe we deserve more from God. But the people who find God after abuse or illness or struggling with addiction or despair often have much more joy in God's presence than we do. If we can learn to see ourselves as the ones who do less, come late, and fall short, then the parable feels different. Then we experience God's generosity, instead of an imagined shortfall. And surely in the eyes of God we all fall short of what we could do... we all come late to knowing God fully... we all learn much too late how to live generously... and yet, we too end up with more than we've earned.
Both the Exodus story and the parable from Matthew reveal this: God isn't too interested in fairness. If the people of Israel got what they deserved, they would still be in Egypt. If the vineyard workers got what they deserved, some people wouldn't have enough to live on. God is more interested in generosity than fairness. If we aim to follow, we might let go of our complaints, which are about disappointment and expectations unfulfilled and seek to be as generous as our God.
ANOTHER VIEW
Needful Things
by Dean Feldmeyer
Exodus 16:2-15; Matthew 20:1-16
As we struggle through what has become known as the "Great Recession," one of our greatest fears is that the economy may never recover to what it was in 2007. We may never again see the excessive, decadent, extravagant consumerism that marked the days prior to the subprime mortgage collapse and the subsequent economic downturn. We can hardly bring ourselves to imagine a world where we can't buy huge houses we can't afford, where we have to pay cash instead of using credit cards, and where families have to struggle along on a single wage-earner's income.
In other words, we are afraid that we may have to live the way our parents did. Eeeeek!
In his new book That Used To Be Us (co-written with Michael Mandelbaum), New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman says that living more like our parents did may actually be one of the answers to our current situation: "We shifted from [the] greatest generation that really operated on what we call in the book 'sustainable values' -- saving and investing -- and we handed power over to the baby boomer generation who really lived by 'situational values' -- borrow and consume," Friedman says in an interview on NPR. "The baby boomers, I believe, have a lot to answer for. They have not followed in the path of their parents in terms of making the hard decisions, making the long-term investments."
How can we recapture those "sustainable values" that Friedman speaks of? The lectionary texts for this week may be instructive.
In Exodus 16, the children of Israel complain to Moses that the wilderness economy is not to their liking and that they would rather return to the Egyptian economy (where they were slaves) than go broke in the wilderness. Moses carries their complaint to YHWH, who answers with manna and quail.
We note, however, that YHWH does not provide an abundance of food -- merely a sufficiency. God provides, each day, enough for that day. The trick for the Israelites is to learn to live by faith, giving thanks each day for their daily bread and meat.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Jesus underscores this same value in his perfect prayer: "Give us, this day, our daily bread."
To work, to save, and to give thanks that we have enough, today, to fill today's table, is a value, a discipline, and an act of faith -- a decision that scripture calls us to make.
But what about the rich, we ask. How come we have to live by faith, day to day, when they have so much? And what about the poor who get to live off welfare and food stamps?
Matthew addresses that question in chapter 20 of his gospel, but the answer is not necessarily one we want to hear. Using a somewhat parental tone, Jesus tells the parable of the generous employer, one message of which seems to be: You worry about you -- that should keep you busy. Let me worry about the rich and the poor.
Living the life of faith and thanksgiving, in other words, is a full-time job.
In his novel Needful Things, Stephen King tells a parable about a small New England town that is prosperous, happy, and healthy -- until a mysterious gentleman opens a small shop that offers to each patron who walks through the door exactly what they need. The mysterious gentleman, it turns out, is none other than Satan himself, and he nearly succeeds at winning the entire population of the town simply because they have lost the ability to differentiate between what they need and what they want.
The solution to our country's economic doldrums may not necessarily be a return to the extravagant consumerism of the subprime real estate boom but rather to those sustainable values wherein we work, save, and give thanks, secure in the knowledge that what we want isn't necessarily what we need.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The newest and most profitable way to promote products to college students is through "brand ambassadors" or "campus evangelists". These are upperclassmen that corporations hire to greet incoming freshmen and assist them in carrying belongings to their rooms. In so doing, a bond of friendship is formed. The ambassadors also have booths and trailers where they pass out sample products -- and they further promote the products by distributing company T-shirts, wearing company clothes, organizing midnight bus trips to company stores that have a party atmosphere, and holding seminars on how to use company products. To qualify as an ambassador, you must be a popular person on campus: an athlete, a fraternity or sorority member, or someone with a thousand Facebook friends.
Companies have realized that print and MTV advertising is no longer effective. They also know that if they can get a college freshman to start using their products, then a lifelong loyalty to the brand can be established. Clothes, computers, cell phones, shampoo, soft drinks, frozen food are just some of the many items that the campus evangelists smother the incoming class with. The motivation is clear -- college students spend $36 billion a year on just such items.
The freshmen classes, like the Israelites in the desert, just do not seem to know when enough is enough. Just as the corporations are egging the students on, so those who complained to Moses and Aaron created a false craving for the desert dwellers.
* * *
Our Exodus text describes how the Lord promises to "rain bread from heaven" for the Israelites, thoughtfully providing a double ration for them on the day before the Sabbath so that they won't have to gather food on the following day. After the dew lifts in the morning, the people discover a flaky white substance on the ground, and in the evening they find a multitude of quails that can be easily caught and eaten. It's a wonderful, if seemingly curious, story of divine providence -- but Old Testament scholar Terence Fretheim suggests that there's also a natural explanation for this phenomenon:
"A type of plant lice punctures the fruit of the tamarisk tree and excretes a substance from this juice, a yellowish-white flake or ball. During the warmth of the day it disintegrates, but it congeals when it is cold. It has a sweet taste. Rich in carbohydrates and sugar, it is still gathered by natives, who bake it into a kind of bread (and call it manna). The food decays quickly and attracts ants. Regarding the quails (see Numbers 11:31-32), migratory birds flying in from Africa or blown in from the Mediterranean are often exhausted enough to be caught by hand."
-- Terence Fretheim, Exodus, from the Interpretation commentary series (John Knox Press, 1991), p. 182
* * *
In the midst of their wilderness wanderings, the people of Israel became so frustrated that they seem to have developed very short memories about what God had done for them. After seeing Yahweh's terrible wrath in the form of ten plagues visited upon the Egyptians, they had made their hurried departure from the land of the Pharaohs in fear and trembling -- selecting a few cherished possessions they could carry with them and leaving everything else behind. They even ate their last meal on the run, chewing on unleavened bread that they'd barely had time to bake.
After that there was the passage through the Red Sea -- that great experience of deliverance that would become the stuff of Jewish song and story. In times of dire persecution, the people of Israel could recall for each other how the Lord had brought them out of slavery and through the waters of the sea to safety.
But in this week's text God's people evidently forgot that they had been chosen. They became experts on where they had been and "complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness." In their hunger they began to believe that even the grub back in Pharaoh's mess hall -- where they "sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread" -- was preferable. How quickly in the distorting lens of human imagination the back-breaking labor, the beatings, and the starvation-rations of slavery became the stuff of nostalgia for those faithless people.
The view through the rear window is always distorted and deceiving -- yet how attractive it is for all of us! The French have a proverb: "Ah, les bons vieux temps ou nous Ètions si malheureux!" -- in English: "Ah, the good old times when we were so unhappy!" So often, when we take the backward view, we see reality through a sort of gauzy distortion. All the bad times -- of which there were many -- fall away and only the good times remain in our unreliable memory banks.
It's always easier to look back over familiar territory than to gaze ahead into an uncertain future still shrouded in mystery. Yet we must strive to look forward -- because the only alternative is to die in the desert.
* * *
In his book Out of the Blue, former star baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser shared the secret of his success on the mound: his rare ability to concentrate on the next pitch. Hershiser swiftly learned that when he was on the mound, he couldn't afford to fret over his mistakes or to worry about the slugger swinging his bat in the on-deck circle or to complain about bad calls from the umpire.
Hershiser knew that even when he gave up a home run to a batter he could have struck out, he couldn't relive that moment -- he had to put it out of his mind and focus on the next pitch. Because he was able to do this, he was able to have an outstanding career without having overpowering physical gifts.
Jesus told his disciples: "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own" (Matthew 6:34).
* * *
According to a recent New York Times article, the video game industry is one of the largest government-subsidized industries in America. The Times observes that the video game companies' "main contribution is to create amusing and sometimes anti-social entertainment." And for this endeavor, they receive numerous tax breaks.
For example, Electronic Arts, based in Redwood City, California, produces the game Dead Space 2, "which challenges players to advance through an apocalyptic battlefield by killing space zombies." The company's sales slogan for this game is "Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2" -- yet mom's tax dollars have been paying the bill for its software development, even though Electronic Arts' global profits for the last five years have been $1.2 billion.
The gaming industry is able to lucratively use tax deductions, tax credits, and tax write-offs often devised for other industries because the companies straddle the lines between software development, the entertainment industry, and online retailing.
Three changes to the tax code have permitted this. The first occurred in 1954, during the early years of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Fearful that the Soviets would develop new technology faster than our own country, technology companies received tax incentives in order to keep us competitive in the nuclear arms race. The second was in 1969, when the U.S. was concerned that it was falling behind other countries in mainframe computer development. Again, the tax code was changed to promote software development. The third was in 1981, when we feared the technological advancements of the Japanese automobile industry. Again, the tax code was changed to promote investment in technology and software deployment. Because video gaming companies classify themselves as software development corporations, they feel they are entitled to the same tax initiatives.
But as the article's author, David Kochieniewski, makes clear, tax breaks for Dead Space 2 are not the same as "tax incentives for companies pursuing medical breakthroughs."
In Jesus' parable the workers who started their day early were upset because they were paid the same amount as those who started their work day at a much later hour. But one of the many messages that comes to us from this parable is that no matter when the laborer started his day, each made a valuable contribution to the good of the community. Like all of Jesus' teachings, this parable must be used with caution. The message is one of equality in the importance of working for the kingdom of God. It is not about a shady individual who tags behind legitimate workers, only to claim the same rights as the others. It doesn't matter when one starts to work for Christ, but it does matter that the work is honest and not one that imitates the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
* * *
The parable of the laborers in the vineyard definitely pushes us beyond our comfort zone -- as it challenges our modern notions about fairness. In the age of labor unions and minimum-wage laws, we tend to think of just compensation in terms of equitable hourly wages; yet the farmer pays all the workers he's hired exactly the same amount -- fair recompense for a full day's labor but excessively generous for those who began working late in the day. Those hired in the early morning complain that this is unfair, while the farmer insists that's not at all the case since he is paying the first-hired workers exactly what he contracted to pay them. If he opts to pay the late arrivals the same amount, why should that be of any concern to the early birds? "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?" (Matthew 20:15a).
That very verse is engraved in large letters above the imposing Greek-style portico of Kirby Hall on the campus of Lafayette College. It was placed there at the request of the wealthy entrepreneur who paid for the building, which he intended as a new home for the college's business department. He considered it to be a sort of proof-text for free-market capitalism, suitable to adorn his new temple of commerce. Of course, the donor was taking the verse completely out of context, twisting its meaning from generosity to selfishness. One who conducts business in the manner of the farmer in the parable is closer to socialism than to capitalism. But Jesus is not talking about economics -- at least not in any earthly sense. He's talking about the reign of God in which "the last will be first, and the first will be last" (Matthew 20:16). God's economics are different than ours -- they have nothing to do with fairness or with selfishness.
* * *
To feel the power of the parable of the workers in the vineyard, it is important to put on a completely different pair of glasses. On the streets in many urban areas, there are street corners where groups of (often mainly Hispanic) men stand, hoping someone will come by and give them a day's work. If they don't get work, their families don't eat. Imagine that you are a desperate father with hungry children at home. You've been standing there all day and no one has hired you. You're almost ready to turn and go home empty-handed when finally someone comes by and hires you. Then at the end of the day, he pays you the full day's wage! It's not difficult to imagine the joy and gratitude this father feels. Perhaps one of the reasons that the last shall be first is because of that joy and deep, deep gratefulness. Those who are smug and self-righteous because they always have a full day's work and resent those to whom God is gracious are the very ones who find themselves last in the kingdom of God.
* * *
Even when we know that the blessings that come to us have been delivered to the wrong address, there are not many of us who will send them back. We thank God quickly and carry them inside. But when we look out the window and see the delivery man carrying an identical package next door to those really unpleasant people who sit on their porch drinking beer after beer, playing their music too loudly until the wee hours, and whose children stray into our yard only to deposit debris that we have to clean up, that is something we tend to resent. We apparently believe that undeserved blessings are only supposed to go to the deserving.
-- Barbara Brown Taylor
* * *
Alyce Dixon just celebrated her 104th birthday. She was born on September 11, 1907, and as a resident of Washington DC, she watched the construction of the Pentagon -- a building she subsequently worked in for many years. She now lives in a VA Medical Center. On 9/11 she was in her own home in Washington, terrified about the prospect that the Pentagon would be hit. She says that this year, on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, her birthday cake tastes even better.
During World War II Alyce enlisted in the Women's Army Corps, and she was one of a very few African-American women that the government allowed to go overseas during the war. Ms. Dixon says that she and her fellow WACS sorted "900 billion" pieces of mail in a large warehouse in France during those years. She is proud that all of the mail made its way out of the warehouse and back to the States.
At the VA Medical Center Alyce is known as "Queen Bee" for her spirited behavior and her love for telling jokes. When she was asked her secret for longevity, she replied, "If you share, you feel good. And God will help you, too."
Paul writes that we are to live our lives "in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1:27a). If we do so, maybe we will exhibit the spirit of Queen Bee.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O give thanks to God, call on God's Name,
People: make known God's deeds among the peoples.
Leader: Sing to God, sing praises;
People: tell of all God's wonderful works.
Leader: Glory in God's holy name;
People: let the hearts of those who seek God rejoice.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the one who holds all creation in hands of love.
People: We bring our songs and words of praise to God.
Leader: God desires more than words, God desires our lives.
People: We trust God with our lives in the hereafter.
Leader: God wants our trust in the here and now.
People: That is not as easy but we will offer God as much of ourselves as we possibly can at this time.
Leader: That is all God ever asks of us.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"O God, Our Help in Ages Past"
found in:
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"
found in:
UMH: 110
H82: 687/688
PH: 260
AAHH: 124
NNBH: 37
NCH: 439/440
CH: 65
LBW: 228/229
ELW: 503/504/505
"Rock of Ages"
found in:
UMH: 361
H82: 685
AAHH: 559
NNBH: 254
NCH: 596
CH: 214
LBW: 327
ELW: 623
"Trust and Obey"
found in:
UMH: 467
AAHH: 380
NNBH: 322
CH: 556
"Lonely the Boat"
found in:
UMH: 476
PH: 373
"Seek Ye First"
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
CCB: 76
"Be Thou My Vision"
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 591
ELW: 793
Renew: 151
"All I Need Is You"
found in:
CCB: 100
"Learning to Lean"
CCB: 74
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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is ever faithful: Help us to trust you with all our hearts so that we may quit grasping for things that can never satisfy the desires of our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to offer our worship and praise to you, O God, but we know that what you want most is our trust and faith. Help us, as we sing your praises, to turn our lives over to your loving care that we may live in peace. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we fail to trust in God and seek security in things.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have spoken of faith in you, but our trust is more in the things we have gathered around us. We feel safer in our homes, surrounded by our things, than we do placing ourselves in your hands. Forgive us and help us to see that it is only in you that we dwell in safety. Amen.
Leader: It is in God alone that we dwell secure. God is faithful and always welcomes us back into the loving arms of salvation, where nothing can destroy us.
Prayer for Illumination
Send, O God, the light of your presence on our hearts so that as your truth is proclaimed we may trust in you with all our hearts. Amen.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise and worship you, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, who offers us the only sure place on which to stand.
(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 spoken of faith in you but our trust is more in the things we have gathered around us. We feel safer in our homes, surrounded by our things, than we do placing ourselves in your hands. Forgive us and help us to see that it is only in you that we dwell in safety.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have held us in safety. In you, and in you alone, we find the meaning to our lives that allows us to face what it means to be alive.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer up to you those who are struggling in this life and find it hard to place their lives in your loving care. Life seems so cruel and difficult at times. Help us all to remember it is at exactly those times that we need to trust in you more and not be lured into trusting things that do not last.
(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
Ask the children if they have ever been to a circus (or seen one on television). Talk about the high acrobatics, high wire, or flying trapeze. Talk about how it takes a lot of skill and practice to do that. When we watch these performers, we believe they can do those things. But to really trust them, we would have to let them carry us on the wire or let go of the trapeze and let them catch us. When we talk about faith in the church, we are not just talking about what we believe -- but about who we really trust.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
That's Not Fair!
Matthew 20:1-16
Object: money (pennies, nickels, dimes, and one dollar bill)
Good morning, boys and girls! I've decided that I will give everybody some money today. Do you all think that's a good idea? Would you all like to get some money? (let the children answer) Good! Hold out your hands, and let me give each of you some money. (Give each child a coin and give one child the dollar bill.) Now, you all got some money, didn't you? How do you feel about the money you got? (Let them answer. There will be some complaints that some got more than others. If this doesn't happen, lead them by asking one who got a penny how he or she feels about the one getting a dollar.)
I suppose you could say it is unfair that some get more money than others but remember that it is my money and I can do what I want with it. If you feel envious that some got more than others, you should think about the fact that I didn't have to give anybody anything. I may have some reason for giving different amounts to different people, reasons that you know nothing about.
God gives his gifts much like I gave out the money today. Some people are blessed to be born with Christian parents, and they live their whole lives as Christians trying to do the things God wants them to do. Others don't know anything about God and they live very sinful lives, but when they are old and ready to die, they hear about Jesus and believe in him. God gives each of these people eternal life in heaven. Does that seem fair to you? (let them answer) We have no way of knowing why God does all the things he does, but we have to understand that we can't know why he does all that he does. We just need to be grateful that God gives us eternal life with him in heaven. Let's thank God for that.
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, we're sorry that we are sometimes envious of what you do for others. Please forgive us and make us thankful for all the things that you do for us. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, September 18, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer offers some additional thoughts on the Exodus and Matthew passages and on how they call us to consider "sustainable values" rather than the rampant consumerism that has driven our economy in recent decades. Dean finds it noteworthy that when God provides the people of Israel with their "daily bread," he does not cater to their desires -- instead he offers only an amount sufficient to meet their needs. Rather than worrying about whether we are getting all that we're entitled to -- and whether we're keeping up with the Joneses -- both scripture texts reinforce the idea that instead of complaining we should concentrate on giving thanks for the sustenance we receive from our gracious Lord.
Polls, Parables, and Complaints
by Mary Austin
Exodus 16:2-15; Matthew 20:1-16
"The whole congregation complained," Exodus recalls. Most church workers and pastors know the feeling. Even if it's not exactly the whole congregation, the complaints of a loud and forceful group can cause a lot of discomfort and drama.
President Obama, too, might well feel like the whole country is complaining. His poll numbers are low enough that fewer than half of the people polled believe he's doing a good job. Even before his recent speech on jobs, some Republican lawmakers announced that they would be skipping the event -- some to watch on TV and tweet reactions to followers (including Rep. Paul Broun) and others in favor of the Packers-Saints football game (including Sen. David Vitter).
Leaders of all kinds share the experience of Moses after leading the people of Israel out of Egypt. The plagues that made God's power visible to Pharaoh, and the dividing of the Red Sea to make their final escape possible, have all faded into the background by now. The people are tired and frightened -- and they start to do what frightened people do... complain. The same kind of muttering and grumbling shows up in the text from Matthew, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. And it may happen in your congregation too!
Is complaining part of our human condition? Is there any way to escape from it?
THE WORLD
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll reported that: "More than half of Americans now disapprove of Barack Obama's job performance, 6 in 10 rate his work on the economy and job creation negatively and more than 1 in 3 say they've become worse off financially under his presidency -- a high in ABC News/Washington Post polls since Ronald Reagan trademarked the question a generation ago." The poll also reported that 77% of the people asked answered that "the country is headed seriously off on the wrong track," an increase of 17 points this year. More people also believe that the Obama administration has "done more to harm [34%] rather than help [17%] the nation's economy." Another 47% of the people polled say the Obama presidency has "had no effect" on the economy.
Complaining about the president is almost a national pastime. Liberals complain that he hasn't fulfilled campaign promises to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for alleged terrorists, he hasn't supported unions in their battles in Ohio and Wisconsin this year, he hasn't defended women's reproductive health issues, he didn't work hard enough or quickly enough to end the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and he hasn't moved effectively to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conservatives complain that the health care reform act reaches too far and that the government is spending money they don't have on programs people don't need. A small group of fringe conservatives complain that he wasn't even born in America and that he's a Muslim. Business groups complain that he's out of touch with the needs of corporate America and doesn't understand their world. Small businesses complain that his administration favors big businesses and big banks. An August article in the National Review even complained about his summer reading list, noting that too much fiction might give the impression that he's out of touch with reality.
Apparently, we like to complain about lots of things. When I Googled "complaints about President Obama" to compile the list above, the search engine also offered me such diverse choices as "complaints about the [name withheld] bra," along with chances to complain about doctors, banks, a cable television provider, a phone company, and a chain of superstores.
THE WORD
The lectionary texts for today confirm that complaining is not a new phenomenon. The people of Israel have already complained when Pharaoh's army comes frighteningly close and then again when there's no water. Now they complain again about the lack of food. God has already sent ten -- ten! -- plagues to Egypt, to let Pharaoh know who's really in charge. Ten times God has displayed the divine power over human events. Ten times God has stood up for them, working through Moses and Aaron. And still there's complaining instead of a sense of trust that God has something up the divine sleeve.
Complaining is also at the center of the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 20:1-16. "The kingdom of heaven is like this," Jesus says, starting out the story of the day laborers hired at different times all through the day. The workers are hired by the day, so life for them is precarious. The first workers hired must have been pleased to have the security of a full day's work at the going rate. When the later workers are hired, there's no negotiating -- the owner tells the workers that he'll pay them "whatever is right." The first workers know exactly what they'll be paid but these later workers rely on the fairness of the owner.
At last, the end of a long, hot, sweaty day comes. When the last workers are paid first, they receive a whole day's wage. Imagine the excitement of the workers who worked all day, thinking about how much more they'll get. And then they get... a day's wage also. Instead of being grateful for the work, now they complain about the pay. Notice, though, that no one got cheated. The first workers get a day's pay for a day's work, exactly what they agreed on. Very fair.
We're tempted to join the chorus of complaints. Is it really fair that the first workers work so hard and get paid the same amount as people who did less? As the preacher Barbara Brown Taylor says, this "is a little like cod liver oil. You know Jesus is right, and you know it must be good for you, but that does not make it any easier to swallow" (The Seeds of Heaven, p. 100).
CRAFTING THE SERMON
This parable illuminates for me that the source of our complaints is often the gap between what we expect and what we get, or the difference between what we believe we deserve and what we really receive. Some of President Obama's most bitter critics were once his most ardent fans, and their complaints come from disappointment. It's the same with the people of Israel, who may not have been such slow learners -- maybe by now they expect God to come through for them in every need and are disappointed when God is too slow. The vineyard workers who are complaining are the ones who had time to imagine they would get more and then don't.
We church people are often like the first workers in the vineyard -- we've been here all along and believe we deserve more from God. But the people who find God after abuse or illness or struggling with addiction or despair often have much more joy in God's presence than we do. If we can learn to see ourselves as the ones who do less, come late, and fall short, then the parable feels different. Then we experience God's generosity, instead of an imagined shortfall. And surely in the eyes of God we all fall short of what we could do... we all come late to knowing God fully... we all learn much too late how to live generously... and yet, we too end up with more than we've earned.
Both the Exodus story and the parable from Matthew reveal this: God isn't too interested in fairness. If the people of Israel got what they deserved, they would still be in Egypt. If the vineyard workers got what they deserved, some people wouldn't have enough to live on. God is more interested in generosity than fairness. If we aim to follow, we might let go of our complaints, which are about disappointment and expectations unfulfilled and seek to be as generous as our God.
ANOTHER VIEW
Needful Things
by Dean Feldmeyer
Exodus 16:2-15; Matthew 20:1-16
As we struggle through what has become known as the "Great Recession," one of our greatest fears is that the economy may never recover to what it was in 2007. We may never again see the excessive, decadent, extravagant consumerism that marked the days prior to the subprime mortgage collapse and the subsequent economic downturn. We can hardly bring ourselves to imagine a world where we can't buy huge houses we can't afford, where we have to pay cash instead of using credit cards, and where families have to struggle along on a single wage-earner's income.
In other words, we are afraid that we may have to live the way our parents did. Eeeeek!
In his new book That Used To Be Us (co-written with Michael Mandelbaum), New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman says that living more like our parents did may actually be one of the answers to our current situation: "We shifted from [the] greatest generation that really operated on what we call in the book 'sustainable values' -- saving and investing -- and we handed power over to the baby boomer generation who really lived by 'situational values' -- borrow and consume," Friedman says in an interview on NPR. "The baby boomers, I believe, have a lot to answer for. They have not followed in the path of their parents in terms of making the hard decisions, making the long-term investments."
How can we recapture those "sustainable values" that Friedman speaks of? The lectionary texts for this week may be instructive.
In Exodus 16, the children of Israel complain to Moses that the wilderness economy is not to their liking and that they would rather return to the Egyptian economy (where they were slaves) than go broke in the wilderness. Moses carries their complaint to YHWH, who answers with manna and quail.
We note, however, that YHWH does not provide an abundance of food -- merely a sufficiency. God provides, each day, enough for that day. The trick for the Israelites is to learn to live by faith, giving thanks each day for their daily bread and meat.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Jesus underscores this same value in his perfect prayer: "Give us, this day, our daily bread."
To work, to save, and to give thanks that we have enough, today, to fill today's table, is a value, a discipline, and an act of faith -- a decision that scripture calls us to make.
But what about the rich, we ask. How come we have to live by faith, day to day, when they have so much? And what about the poor who get to live off welfare and food stamps?
Matthew addresses that question in chapter 20 of his gospel, but the answer is not necessarily one we want to hear. Using a somewhat parental tone, Jesus tells the parable of the generous employer, one message of which seems to be: You worry about you -- that should keep you busy. Let me worry about the rich and the poor.
Living the life of faith and thanksgiving, in other words, is a full-time job.
In his novel Needful Things, Stephen King tells a parable about a small New England town that is prosperous, happy, and healthy -- until a mysterious gentleman opens a small shop that offers to each patron who walks through the door exactly what they need. The mysterious gentleman, it turns out, is none other than Satan himself, and he nearly succeeds at winning the entire population of the town simply because they have lost the ability to differentiate between what they need and what they want.
The solution to our country's economic doldrums may not necessarily be a return to the extravagant consumerism of the subprime real estate boom but rather to those sustainable values wherein we work, save, and give thanks, secure in the knowledge that what we want isn't necessarily what we need.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The newest and most profitable way to promote products to college students is through "brand ambassadors" or "campus evangelists". These are upperclassmen that corporations hire to greet incoming freshmen and assist them in carrying belongings to their rooms. In so doing, a bond of friendship is formed. The ambassadors also have booths and trailers where they pass out sample products -- and they further promote the products by distributing company T-shirts, wearing company clothes, organizing midnight bus trips to company stores that have a party atmosphere, and holding seminars on how to use company products. To qualify as an ambassador, you must be a popular person on campus: an athlete, a fraternity or sorority member, or someone with a thousand Facebook friends.
Companies have realized that print and MTV advertising is no longer effective. They also know that if they can get a college freshman to start using their products, then a lifelong loyalty to the brand can be established. Clothes, computers, cell phones, shampoo, soft drinks, frozen food are just some of the many items that the campus evangelists smother the incoming class with. The motivation is clear -- college students spend $36 billion a year on just such items.
The freshmen classes, like the Israelites in the desert, just do not seem to know when enough is enough. Just as the corporations are egging the students on, so those who complained to Moses and Aaron created a false craving for the desert dwellers.
* * *
Our Exodus text describes how the Lord promises to "rain bread from heaven" for the Israelites, thoughtfully providing a double ration for them on the day before the Sabbath so that they won't have to gather food on the following day. After the dew lifts in the morning, the people discover a flaky white substance on the ground, and in the evening they find a multitude of quails that can be easily caught and eaten. It's a wonderful, if seemingly curious, story of divine providence -- but Old Testament scholar Terence Fretheim suggests that there's also a natural explanation for this phenomenon:
"A type of plant lice punctures the fruit of the tamarisk tree and excretes a substance from this juice, a yellowish-white flake or ball. During the warmth of the day it disintegrates, but it congeals when it is cold. It has a sweet taste. Rich in carbohydrates and sugar, it is still gathered by natives, who bake it into a kind of bread (and call it manna). The food decays quickly and attracts ants. Regarding the quails (see Numbers 11:31-32), migratory birds flying in from Africa or blown in from the Mediterranean are often exhausted enough to be caught by hand."
-- Terence Fretheim, Exodus, from the Interpretation commentary series (John Knox Press, 1991), p. 182
* * *
In the midst of their wilderness wanderings, the people of Israel became so frustrated that they seem to have developed very short memories about what God had done for them. After seeing Yahweh's terrible wrath in the form of ten plagues visited upon the Egyptians, they had made their hurried departure from the land of the Pharaohs in fear and trembling -- selecting a few cherished possessions they could carry with them and leaving everything else behind. They even ate their last meal on the run, chewing on unleavened bread that they'd barely had time to bake.
After that there was the passage through the Red Sea -- that great experience of deliverance that would become the stuff of Jewish song and story. In times of dire persecution, the people of Israel could recall for each other how the Lord had brought them out of slavery and through the waters of the sea to safety.
But in this week's text God's people evidently forgot that they had been chosen. They became experts on where they had been and "complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness." In their hunger they began to believe that even the grub back in Pharaoh's mess hall -- where they "sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread" -- was preferable. How quickly in the distorting lens of human imagination the back-breaking labor, the beatings, and the starvation-rations of slavery became the stuff of nostalgia for those faithless people.
The view through the rear window is always distorted and deceiving -- yet how attractive it is for all of us! The French have a proverb: "Ah, les bons vieux temps ou nous Ètions si malheureux!" -- in English: "Ah, the good old times when we were so unhappy!" So often, when we take the backward view, we see reality through a sort of gauzy distortion. All the bad times -- of which there were many -- fall away and only the good times remain in our unreliable memory banks.
It's always easier to look back over familiar territory than to gaze ahead into an uncertain future still shrouded in mystery. Yet we must strive to look forward -- because the only alternative is to die in the desert.
* * *
In his book Out of the Blue, former star baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser shared the secret of his success on the mound: his rare ability to concentrate on the next pitch. Hershiser swiftly learned that when he was on the mound, he couldn't afford to fret over his mistakes or to worry about the slugger swinging his bat in the on-deck circle or to complain about bad calls from the umpire.
Hershiser knew that even when he gave up a home run to a batter he could have struck out, he couldn't relive that moment -- he had to put it out of his mind and focus on the next pitch. Because he was able to do this, he was able to have an outstanding career without having overpowering physical gifts.
Jesus told his disciples: "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own" (Matthew 6:34).
* * *
According to a recent New York Times article, the video game industry is one of the largest government-subsidized industries in America. The Times observes that the video game companies' "main contribution is to create amusing and sometimes anti-social entertainment." And for this endeavor, they receive numerous tax breaks.
For example, Electronic Arts, based in Redwood City, California, produces the game Dead Space 2, "which challenges players to advance through an apocalyptic battlefield by killing space zombies." The company's sales slogan for this game is "Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2" -- yet mom's tax dollars have been paying the bill for its software development, even though Electronic Arts' global profits for the last five years have been $1.2 billion.
The gaming industry is able to lucratively use tax deductions, tax credits, and tax write-offs often devised for other industries because the companies straddle the lines between software development, the entertainment industry, and online retailing.
Three changes to the tax code have permitted this. The first occurred in 1954, during the early years of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Fearful that the Soviets would develop new technology faster than our own country, technology companies received tax incentives in order to keep us competitive in the nuclear arms race. The second was in 1969, when the U.S. was concerned that it was falling behind other countries in mainframe computer development. Again, the tax code was changed to promote software development. The third was in 1981, when we feared the technological advancements of the Japanese automobile industry. Again, the tax code was changed to promote investment in technology and software deployment. Because video gaming companies classify themselves as software development corporations, they feel they are entitled to the same tax initiatives.
But as the article's author, David Kochieniewski, makes clear, tax breaks for Dead Space 2 are not the same as "tax incentives for companies pursuing medical breakthroughs."
In Jesus' parable the workers who started their day early were upset because they were paid the same amount as those who started their work day at a much later hour. But one of the many messages that comes to us from this parable is that no matter when the laborer started his day, each made a valuable contribution to the good of the community. Like all of Jesus' teachings, this parable must be used with caution. The message is one of equality in the importance of working for the kingdom of God. It is not about a shady individual who tags behind legitimate workers, only to claim the same rights as the others. It doesn't matter when one starts to work for Christ, but it does matter that the work is honest and not one that imitates the hypocrisy of the Pharisees.
* * *
The parable of the laborers in the vineyard definitely pushes us beyond our comfort zone -- as it challenges our modern notions about fairness. In the age of labor unions and minimum-wage laws, we tend to think of just compensation in terms of equitable hourly wages; yet the farmer pays all the workers he's hired exactly the same amount -- fair recompense for a full day's labor but excessively generous for those who began working late in the day. Those hired in the early morning complain that this is unfair, while the farmer insists that's not at all the case since he is paying the first-hired workers exactly what he contracted to pay them. If he opts to pay the late arrivals the same amount, why should that be of any concern to the early birds? "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?" (Matthew 20:15a).
That very verse is engraved in large letters above the imposing Greek-style portico of Kirby Hall on the campus of Lafayette College. It was placed there at the request of the wealthy entrepreneur who paid for the building, which he intended as a new home for the college's business department. He considered it to be a sort of proof-text for free-market capitalism, suitable to adorn his new temple of commerce. Of course, the donor was taking the verse completely out of context, twisting its meaning from generosity to selfishness. One who conducts business in the manner of the farmer in the parable is closer to socialism than to capitalism. But Jesus is not talking about economics -- at least not in any earthly sense. He's talking about the reign of God in which "the last will be first, and the first will be last" (Matthew 20:16). God's economics are different than ours -- they have nothing to do with fairness or with selfishness.
* * *
To feel the power of the parable of the workers in the vineyard, it is important to put on a completely different pair of glasses. On the streets in many urban areas, there are street corners where groups of (often mainly Hispanic) men stand, hoping someone will come by and give them a day's work. If they don't get work, their families don't eat. Imagine that you are a desperate father with hungry children at home. You've been standing there all day and no one has hired you. You're almost ready to turn and go home empty-handed when finally someone comes by and hires you. Then at the end of the day, he pays you the full day's wage! It's not difficult to imagine the joy and gratitude this father feels. Perhaps one of the reasons that the last shall be first is because of that joy and deep, deep gratefulness. Those who are smug and self-righteous because they always have a full day's work and resent those to whom God is gracious are the very ones who find themselves last in the kingdom of God.
* * *
Even when we know that the blessings that come to us have been delivered to the wrong address, there are not many of us who will send them back. We thank God quickly and carry them inside. But when we look out the window and see the delivery man carrying an identical package next door to those really unpleasant people who sit on their porch drinking beer after beer, playing their music too loudly until the wee hours, and whose children stray into our yard only to deposit debris that we have to clean up, that is something we tend to resent. We apparently believe that undeserved blessings are only supposed to go to the deserving.
-- Barbara Brown Taylor
* * *
Alyce Dixon just celebrated her 104th birthday. She was born on September 11, 1907, and as a resident of Washington DC, she watched the construction of the Pentagon -- a building she subsequently worked in for many years. She now lives in a VA Medical Center. On 9/11 she was in her own home in Washington, terrified about the prospect that the Pentagon would be hit. She says that this year, on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, her birthday cake tastes even better.
During World War II Alyce enlisted in the Women's Army Corps, and she was one of a very few African-American women that the government allowed to go overseas during the war. Ms. Dixon says that she and her fellow WACS sorted "900 billion" pieces of mail in a large warehouse in France during those years. She is proud that all of the mail made its way out of the warehouse and back to the States.
At the VA Medical Center Alyce is known as "Queen Bee" for her spirited behavior and her love for telling jokes. When she was asked her secret for longevity, she replied, "If you share, you feel good. And God will help you, too."
Paul writes that we are to live our lives "in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1:27a). If we do so, maybe we will exhibit the spirit of Queen Bee.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O give thanks to God, call on God's Name,
People: make known God's deeds among the peoples.
Leader: Sing to God, sing praises;
People: tell of all God's wonderful works.
Leader: Glory in God's holy name;
People: let the hearts of those who seek God rejoice.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the one who holds all creation in hands of love.
People: We bring our songs and words of praise to God.
Leader: God desires more than words, God desires our lives.
People: We trust God with our lives in the hereafter.
Leader: God wants our trust in the here and now.
People: That is not as easy but we will offer God as much of ourselves as we possibly can at this time.
Leader: That is all God ever asks of us.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"O God, Our Help in Ages Past"
found in:
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"
found in:
UMH: 110
H82: 687/688
PH: 260
AAHH: 124
NNBH: 37
NCH: 439/440
CH: 65
LBW: 228/229
ELW: 503/504/505
"Rock of Ages"
found in:
UMH: 361
H82: 685
AAHH: 559
NNBH: 254
NCH: 596
CH: 214
LBW: 327
ELW: 623
"Trust and Obey"
found in:
UMH: 467
AAHH: 380
NNBH: 322
CH: 556
"Lonely the Boat"
found in:
UMH: 476
PH: 373
"Seek Ye First"
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
CCB: 76
"Be Thou My Vision"
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 591
ELW: 793
Renew: 151
"All I Need Is You"
found in:
CCB: 100
"Learning to Lean"
CCB: 74
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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is ever faithful: Help us to trust you with all our hearts so that we may quit grasping for things that can never satisfy the desires of our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to offer our worship and praise to you, O God, but we know that what you want most is our trust and faith. Help us, as we sing your praises, to turn our lives over to your loving care that we may live in peace. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we fail to trust in God and seek security in things.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have spoken of faith in you, but our trust is more in the things we have gathered around us. We feel safer in our homes, surrounded by our things, than we do placing ourselves in your hands. Forgive us and help us to see that it is only in you that we dwell in safety. Amen.
Leader: It is in God alone that we dwell secure. God is faithful and always welcomes us back into the loving arms of salvation, where nothing can destroy us.
Prayer for Illumination
Send, O God, the light of your presence on our hearts so that as your truth is proclaimed we may trust in you with all our hearts. Amen.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise and worship you, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, who offers us the only sure place on which to stand.
(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 spoken of faith in you but our trust is more in the things we have gathered around us. We feel safer in our homes, surrounded by our things, than we do placing ourselves in your hands. Forgive us and help us to see that it is only in you that we dwell in safety.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have held us in safety. In you, and in you alone, we find the meaning to our lives that allows us to face what it means to be alive.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer up to you those who are struggling in this life and find it hard to place their lives in your loving care. Life seems so cruel and difficult at times. Help us all to remember it is at exactly those times that we need to trust in you more and not be lured into trusting things that do not last.
(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
Ask the children if they have ever been to a circus (or seen one on television). Talk about the high acrobatics, high wire, or flying trapeze. Talk about how it takes a lot of skill and practice to do that. When we watch these performers, we believe they can do those things. But to really trust them, we would have to let them carry us on the wire or let go of the trapeze and let them catch us. When we talk about faith in the church, we are not just talking about what we believe -- but about who we really trust.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
That's Not Fair!
Matthew 20:1-16
Object: money (pennies, nickels, dimes, and one dollar bill)
Good morning, boys and girls! I've decided that I will give everybody some money today. Do you all think that's a good idea? Would you all like to get some money? (let the children answer) Good! Hold out your hands, and let me give each of you some money. (Give each child a coin and give one child the dollar bill.) Now, you all got some money, didn't you? How do you feel about the money you got? (Let them answer. There will be some complaints that some got more than others. If this doesn't happen, lead them by asking one who got a penny how he or she feels about the one getting a dollar.)
I suppose you could say it is unfair that some get more money than others but remember that it is my money and I can do what I want with it. If you feel envious that some got more than others, you should think about the fact that I didn't have to give anybody anything. I may have some reason for giving different amounts to different people, reasons that you know nothing about.
God gives his gifts much like I gave out the money today. Some people are blessed to be born with Christian parents, and they live their whole lives as Christians trying to do the things God wants them to do. Others don't know anything about God and they live very sinful lives, but when they are old and ready to die, they hear about Jesus and believe in him. God gives each of these people eternal life in heaven. Does that seem fair to you? (let them answer) We have no way of knowing why God does all the things he does, but we have to understand that we can't know why he does all that he does. We just need to be grateful that God gives us eternal life with him in heaven. Let's thank God for that.
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, we're sorry that we are sometimes envious of what you do for others. Please forgive us and make us thankful for all the things that you do for us. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, September 18, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
