Vote and ... Forgive?
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For September 13, 2020:
Vote and…Forgive?
by Mary Austin
Matthew 18:21-35
With fewer than sixty days until Election Day, politicians are fundraising frantically, pollsters are amassing data, and pundits are making predictions about the next President, the Electoral College and the make-up of the House and Senate. State and local races are in play. And free-floating rage is everywhere. Neighbors are stealing each other’s political yard signs. Families are divided. Perhaps it’s a good thing that many people are working from home, with no time to get into political conversations with colleagues.
None of that will go away on Election Day. We won’t wake up the next morning in a state of national harmony. Counting the votes may go on long after Election Day. One writer posits that “it is likely that we will not know the results of the 2020 election on election night in November — there will be more absentee ballots than ever before and it will take longer to count them. The trend toward mail ballots was happening before the pandemic. Had the pandemic never happened, it is safe to estimate given past trends that mail-in ballots would have constituted nearly 30% of all ballots cast. With the pandemic however, and the rapid changes taking place in every state in order to make it easier to vote by mail, a cautious estimate is that at least half if not more of all ballots cast in November will be by mail or via early voting.” That’s a long time to wait in suspense, with each side claiming victory — or fraud on the part of the other side. Thanksgiving will be stressful for many families, and bitterness between neighbors will continue after the election, no matter who wins.
If we are to live together as a nation, we need to find our way back to understanding and respect. Matthew’s parable is framed as an instruction to the church, and yet the lessons apply to our shared life as a nation, as well.
In the News
Why are tempers so fevered right now? The pandemic, plus unemployment, plus a focus on racial justice have amplified our national divisions. Is this a predictable cycle? Is there a cycle of rage? It has been suggested that we are living in an “age of anger,” which happens on a fifty year cycle. Whether it’s that predictable or not, social media feeds the social contagion of anger, allowing us to get riled up, and rile each other up, much more easily. “Like any stimulant, [anger] has addictive properties: you become habituated to it and start to rove around looking for things to make you angry. Rage has an illusion of power, the way the Incredible Hulk takes peculiar pride in the destructive potential of his strong emotion. “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” is such a curious catchphrase; the only logical response is: “I don’t like anyone when they are angry.” But it manages to make sense on a deeper, primeval level.” Still, there is a social cost. “The important consequences are not for your own health, but rather for that of society as a whole. Unprocessed anger pollutes the social sphere. Every outburst legitimizes the next. And we have landed — I like to think by accident — on a technology that perpetuates it and amplifies it, occasionally productively, but more often to no purpose at all.” Anger sucks up the oxygen, leaving less room for other mental states.
In a dramatically divisive election season, Facebook announced that it will ban new ads during the week of the election. The announcement ignores the voting calendar, and so the social media platform will still allow misleading ads during the weeks of early voting. “In another potential loophole, Facebook (FB) will continue to allow campaigns to run ads bought before the final week. Those ads can still run through Election Day. And Zuckerberg made no indication that Facebook would change its policy of allowing politicians to lie in targeted ads, meaning political candidates will be able to run false ads on the platform up until Election Day.”
Some are looking to the aftermath of the election as a tumultuous time. “The weeks after the election could be “a very dangerous period” for the country, says Miles Taylor, a former senior official in the Homeland Security Department, whose agents were deployed to quell recent police-violence protests in Portland, Oregon, against the wishes of the state’s leadership. Taylor left the agency last year and has since emerged as an outspoken critic of the president. “I talk to law-enforcement officials all the time who I used to serve with, and they’re nervous about November and December,” he continued. “We’re seeing an historic spike in gun sales. There’s some of the worst polarization in United States history. This is beyond a powder keg. This is the Titanic with powder kegs filled all the way to the hull.” Faced with civil unrest, a president’s job at the most basic level is to calm things down.
With all of that tension, fear, and division in the air, how are we to talk across our divides?
In the Scripture
The stress in Matthew’s parable comes when we imagine ourselves in the role of the king, generously doling out forgiveness. How often are we supposed to do that? What if people take advantage of us? If we see the parable from a different point of view, our sense of obligation shifts to gratitude. We forget that we are more often like the servant, owing more than we can pay. All of us begin at the same place as the servant who owed the king 10,000 talents. We have received abundant grace from God. We begin as people who have received a tremendous gift.
This is true in our life as citizens of this country, too.
If we are white, we benefit from our skin color in ways that we are just starting to understand. The list of the things we have been given is long. Greater access to healthcare, the benefit of the doubt at work, a feeling of welcome in any neighborhood where we want to live, the generational transfer of wealth that cushions our lives. If we live without a disability, or with the easy privilege of being straight, or have the benefit of education, we live with an ease that some of our neighbors do not. We have been given much, like the servant in the story. We didn’t ask for this privilege, and yet it works for us anyway.
The question for us is what we will do with the gifts given to us. Will we extend the same generosity? Or turn around and keep our gains, letting others fend for themselves? A parable is never exact, and we can take all the roles in the story, each in turn, depending on our circumstances.
What shall we do when we extend mercy to someone and they react like the indebted servant? What happens when our generous gestures of reconciliation go nowhere? What if we solicit honest, respectful conversation, and people are demeaning or refuse to meet us on some common ground? What happens to the name-callers and the bullies? Jesus gives us the gift of freedom from such people, telling us to quit counting and make forgiveness our usual policy. He doesn’t say that we have to talk politics with them, or invite them over for dinner. We are set free from the need to convince, reform and take responsibility for each other’s views and actions. We are set free from rage and disappointment.
In the Sermon
But how? We understand the need to forgive and reconnect with people, and yet it’s hard to know where to begin. Praying for the grace and strength to forgive is a good start, and the sermon might also offer practical tips for interacting with family, friends and neighbors. One piece of advice suggests these concrete (not easy) steps. Kwame Christian, director of the American Negotiation Institute, suggests:
Or the sermon might look at forgiveness as a habit. Peter offers what he thinks is a generous measure of forgiveness (see, he has learned some things from Jesus!) Seven times would be a lot. Jesus tells him to give up counting, and practice forgiveness beyond measuring. By the time we forgive seventy-seven times, we’ve lost track, and it has become the pattern on our lives. The sermon might look at how accomplished forgivers live their lives and how they get beyond counting. Like any discipline, this one takes practice.
Or, the sermon might look at why we are reluctant to forgive. Is it loss of control? Feeling taken advantage of? The feeling that we lose something when we forgive? The certainty that we’re right? Just don’t want to spend the energy? The sermon could explore the barriers to living lives of frequent forgiveness.
Jesus makes a connection here between forgiveness and the realm of heaven. Our nation is far from the kingdom of God right now, and yet Jesus is leading us forward to a kind of connection with each other that we need. This word is for the church and we can model this same way of living in our community life. More name-calling, more division and more belittling aren’t going to move us toward a shared life that works for everyone. A move toward a generous habit of forgiveness is worth a try.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
by Chris Keating
Exodus 14:19-31
One morning in high school, I looked out my bedroom window to see billowing smoke blocking the rising sun. I looked for the flames that were still rising off the foothills of Los Angeles’ San Gabriel mountains. I coughed on the smoky, char-scented air, and saw the ashes of a perfectly formed leaf floating across our pool.
Fortunately, we lived far from the fires and were never in danger. But that distance only augmented the impact of that ashen image lounging around our pool. When I hear about fires burning in California, that image returns to me, and I recall the fear I felt during those smoky days.
This year’s wildfire season, which started earlier than usual, has so far has burned over 2 million acres — more than ten times the area of New York City. That does not include fires burning in other places in Colorado, Montana, or elsewhere. Thanks to NASA satellites, images of the massive pillar of smoke arising from these infernos can be tracked. Other images reveal the pockmarked scars of the flames’ anger.
One technique firefighters will use in battling these sorts of wildfires is called a control line. It’s a boundary, either natural or constructed, that is used to control the spread of a fire. Sometimes firefighters will use another technique in conjunction with the control line. Somewhat counter intuitively, they may also set up a backburn in conjunction with the control line. A backburn is a controlled blaze set just inside the control line. By pushing the new fire toward the main fire, firefighters control the fire by burning up new fuel. It’s an example of power being applied from a different angle.
Something similar happens to Israel on its treacherous journey out of Egypt. Pharaoh’s hardened heart propels his army across the wilderness in pursuit of his labor source. Sounds of horses straining to catch Israel leap from the page. The camera pans to the Israelites shrinking in fear. They shout out to Moses, to God or anyone else who might be listening. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt, that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us?”
They are about to be crushed. On one side there is the sea, and on the other heavily armed warriors with orders to kill. As Egypt advances, God pushes the people forward into the sea. It does not matter if they forgot to pack their swimming togs. Yahweh makes it clear: their future lies somewhere beyond the sea.
Surely some were wondering if Moses should have made a stop at a gas station to ask for directions before leaving Egypt. So far God has been leading them by a cloud in the daytime and by fire at night — not exactly the most comforting way of giving directions.
Musing on these verses several years ago, Craig Barnes noted that this is still how God leads us through life.
“In the daytime hours when we are busy with plans and strategies,” Barnes wrote, “God is present only as a nebulous cloud. It is so hard to grab hold of that. At night when we are lying in bed staring at the ceiling, alone with our anxieties, God is a pillar of fire we cannot touch.” (“Cloud and Fire,” The Christian Century, July 27, 2010, p. 35).
Clouds are wonderful metaphors. They are amorphous but are filled with possibilities. PBS’ Bob Ross garnered fame by teaching people to paint big, happy clouds on their canvas. Winning the lottery puts us up on cloud nine! A broken hard drive no longer means lost data — it’s in the cloud, after all! Could Israel’s travails be leading them toward a silver lining?
The cloud of God’s presence had led them this far. But just as Pharaoh’s armies close in on Israel, the cloud moves (v. 19). In their most desperate moment, as Sean White notes, it must have felt as if God’s presence had vanished. (White, “Theological Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Year A, Proper 19, Exodus 14:19-31). Once again, Israel’s life has become destabilized.
The narrator does not tell us, but it is not hard to imagine the fear that gripped Israel when they noticed the cloud had disappeared. It is the fear that a Black person feels when they wonder if their son will be the next hashtag following an encounter with police. It is the fear that hangs in our hearts as a loved one dies. It is the dread that fills a preacher’s mind the morning after preaching a “difficult” sermon, or the pain that stabs us as chemo flows into our veins.
Are you with us God?
Six months into our socially distanced reality, and two months before the election, we may well be wondering if God’s presence has dissipated the way fog lifts before noon. Time and time again in 2020 our lives have been destabilized. Contemplating how to do the Christmas pageant on Zoom only adds to the gnawing fear that we are about to drown in a sea of anxiety.
But the cloud of God’s presence has not evaporated. It has shifted, becoming a buffer between Pharaoh’s goon squad and the people of God. In the darkness, the cloud is a light to Israel and a barrier to Egypt. “One did not come near the other all night,” the narrator says. You can almost hear the narrator’s soft chuckling.
God comes between the control line and the advancing fire.
“The task ahead of us,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “is never as great as the power behind us.” That was certainly true for Israel, and it remains true for us. The power and presence of God guide us even in the moments when the way forward is unclear. We step into the uncertainty of the sea, confident that God not only goes ahead of us, but also behind us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Exodus 14:19-31
A close reading of this text shows that Pharaoh’s army was in retreat, and having trouble retreating because the Lord had “locked the wheels” (a difficult translation) of their chariots. When the water returned, the Egyptians fled at its approach, but the Lord “hurled the Egyptians into the sea.” (JPS)
Do you hear echoes of people being shot in the back while fleeing from police?
* * *
Genesis 50: 15-21
For Good
Toward the end of the musical “Wicked,” Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, sing “For Good,” a duet that is their mutual farewell. Both witches confess they have been changed by their friendship.
The first verse goes
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives
For a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those
Who help us most to grow if we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you
Toward the end of the song Elphaba sings
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done, you blame me for
And Glinda replies
But then I guess
We know there's blame to share
This exchange is very similar to the conversation that Joseph has with his brothers that concludes in Genesis 50:20 with Joseph saying, “…although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so to being about the present result — the survival of many people.” (JPS)
* * *
Exodus 14:22
Into the sea on dry ground?
The NRSV says the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, which is an oxymoron. The Talmud explains this cryptic phrase this way:
Why does it say, “And the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground?” To teach us that only after they had gone “into the sea” up to their very nostrils did the water divide and expose “dry ground.”
* * *
Complimentary text Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21
It would appear that the newly-freed slaves’ liberation would be cause for rejoicing in heaven, but the Talmud says this: “God does not rejoice at the death of sinners. On seeing the destruction of the Egyptians the angels wanted to break forth into song. But God silenced them saying: “The work of my hands is drowning in the sea, and you desire to sing songs!”
* * *
Exodus 151b-11, 20-21
What song did they sing?
I had just finished telling my confirmation the story of the parting of the Sea of Reeds, the drowning of Pharaoh’s army and the rescue, salvation of the Chosen People. I asked the class, “What song did they sing when they knew they had been saved?” After a few seconds of silence, one of the braver students started singing Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”
* * * * * *
From team member Bethany Peerbolte:
Matthew 18:21-35
We are all in debt together
Jesus tells a parable about a landowner collecting debts from his slaves. When a slave who owes 10,000 talents cannot pay the debt the landowner demands his property and family be sold off to cover the debt. In desperation the slave begs for forgiveness. The landowner forgives the debt. Unfortunately, the relief of being forgiven the debt is superficial. The forgiven slave goes to someone who owes him money and makes the demand to pay now. When the debtor cannot pay, they beg for forgiveness but do not receive it.
I love how solidly Jesus ties these two actions together. The lesson is to forgive others since one has been forgiven by God. The parallels are unmistakable. Down to the literal words the first slaves uses to beg for forgiveness. The forgiven slave cannot even hear his own words being said back at him as he demands payment from another. The lesson he should have learned from being forgiven stalls out somewhere between his head and his heart.
The tension between landlords and tenets are going to rise in the next few months. As renters struggle to pay their bills, landlords struggle too. Even as rent moratoriums stand, landlords are adding fees to accounts and plan to demand these paid in full the minute the moratorium ends. Eviction processes have stalled but the paperwork is still being filed —waiting for the day courts can look and act on them. It is easy to understand why. Landlords have bills too. However, we are in this together. One landlord in Brooklyn understands our connectedness. He waived the rent in April for 200 renters on his properties. He is more concerned about the health of his people. A great example of how to forgive even when it means missing out on a debt rightly owed.
* * *
Romans 14:1-12
Vegans get a bad rap
This part of Paul’s letter begs the church to not judge. Hospitality is encouraged, but not for the sake of changing someone. There should be no agenda when we offer a welcome. Paul goes on to talk about the differences people can have. His tone is matter of fact and calm. It is what it is, don’t judge it.
One of the differences Paul mentions is how people eat. In 2020 we understand people have different eating habits. Some have dietary limitations because of wellness issues, others have moral standards they apply to their food. There are some who use food trends as status givers and some people who are just born picky eaters. With all these different reasons for eating a particular diet there is a ton of judgment that happens. Vegans are accused of being boastful of their diet. Gluten-free eaters are often accused of lying. The judgement often goes both ways with vegans shaking their heads at meat eaters and meat eaters rolling their eyes at vegans. The misconceptions only create pods of “others” and limit community.
In my experience though, those with limited diets are not terrible dinner guests. In fact, they often pack their own meals or are more than willing to offer helpful recipes. Paul offers us a vision of a welcoming community that does not fuss about personal eating habits. A community that can worship God together even if they aren’t eating the same thing.
* * *
Genesis 50:15-21
Joseph had done his work
Joseph’s brothers live with the regret and guilt of what they have done to their brother. They cannot imagine a scenario in which Joseph is kind to them. They know how they would react in this situation and assume Joseph will do the same. Joseph, however, has “done his work.” This phrase is used in circles that celebrate therapy. When someone has “done their work” it means they have spent time reflecting, learning, processing, and growing. It means they are self-differentiated. Joseph is a great example of someone who has done the work to become self-differentiated.
Joseph easily distinguishes his thoughts from his emotions. This helps him decide if he wants to be guided by emotion or logic. Joseph is human so he is hurt by the actions of his brothers. He could let his emotions take hold and take revenge. Paying back an eye for an eye for the trauma that has been done to him. Instead Joseph sets up a series of tests to make sure he can trust his family again.
Joseph can also tell the difference between his experience and the experience of his brothers. This is clear when he says “you meant this for harm, but God used it for good.” Joseph understands that his journey has been his own and has accepted the path as one that leads to a great present. His brothers cannot imagine another reaction to their actions because they cannot pull themselves out of how they would have experienced Joseph’s trauma.
Joseph’s work ends up healing the whole family structure. His calm and loving response gives his brother’s the chance to forgive themselves for their past. When the brothers were all living together the stresses were shared and amplified. Joseph, given the chance to live outside that structure, can breathe God’s love into a volatile family. The time apart made it possible for Joseph to strengthen the whole family.
* * * * * *
From team member Ron Love:
Matthew 18:30
But he refused…
Mark Driscoll established the Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, in 1996. The evangelical pastor has constantly been the center of controversy because of his questionable ethics. He was eventually forced to leave Mars Hill in 2014. Driscoll was forced to resign because he created a climate of fear through his verbally abusive language, lack of self-control, and arrogant domineering attitude. He then established The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2016.
His desire for recognition and wealth over servanthood can be showcased in this example of his uncouth behavior. He, along with his wife Grace, published a book in 2011 titled Real Marriage. The couple was paid $400,000 in advance for the book. Mars Hill agreed to buy 11,000 copies of the book, allowing it to become #1 on the bestseller list. The Driscolls were allowed to keep all the profits from this sale. It was later discovered that most of Real Marriage was plagiarized.
* * *
Romans 14:4
Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another?
Though homosexuals and their place in the church has become more accepted, there are still a number of congregations that practice being exclusive, disfranchising homosexuals from the fellowship of the church, from the Body of Christ.
This would be the case for the church of which I am a member, First Presbyterian Church of Florence, South Carolina. It is now a member of the Presbyterian denomination known as ECO, meaning the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians. ECO was established in 2012. The reason for the split is the pastors and parishioners refused to recognize homosexual marriage and maintained that the mainline Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) no longer lives by Scriptural mandates, as ECO interprets them.
I attend the church because I believe in attending a community church, and I like the members. Though, among the leaders of congregation, it is apparent in all that they do, homosexuals are not welcome, and anyone who does not adhere to their litmus test of beliefs are disfranchised because acceptance requires that — “you-think-as-I think” — “you-believe-as-I believe.” There is no debate. There is no compromise.
It is in situations like this that the voice of reason is always appreciated. In an interview in July 2015, former President Jimmy Carter said that Jesus would approve of homosexuals and gay marriage. Carter said, “I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don’t see that gay marriage damages anyone else. I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage. That’s just my own personal opinion.”
* * *
Matthew 18:30
But he refused…
Todd Bell is the senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine. Bell is well known for flying between states to attend many and various ministries. He does so on his own private plane. A private plane because God “burned his heart to do airplane ministry.”
Calvary is a distancing-defying church who says social distancing and masks are a part of a “socialist platform.” Bell preaches to trust “God, not the government” as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to progress.
On August 7, 2020, Bell flew into Millinocket, Maine, to officiate at a wedding. Attending the event at Big Moose Inn were sixty-five guests, none of whom wore a face mask or observed social distancing. The event was in violation of the state’s limit on large gatherings.
It was a super-spreader event. Directly related to the gathering at the Big Moose Inn, 144 individuals have been infected with the coronavirus, three have died. More than just the attending guests have suffered. Covid-19 outbreaks at a local rehabilitation center, a senior living facility, a county jail, and a school have been traced back to the wedding.
One Twitter post jokingly said that Bell should fly his airplane and infect a casino elsewhere in Maine. Bell quipped that a casino would be a good place to deliberately spread Covid-19. “Gambling has killed more people and ruined more homes and destroyed more things in our society almost more than liquor or pot or pornography. Gambling is wicked.”
The last line of a tweet offered by Calvary Baptist Church in defense of Bell reads, “Pastors are being made out to be enemies of the people by the media.”
* * *
Matthew 18:33
Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?
I have listened to hundres of sermons. I always find it interesting that when a pastor discusses sin, it is a sin that is not really relevant to the congregation. Leading the diatribe is always pornography. I am to the point now that I can predict when the preacher is going to launch into his wrath of filth. I almost get the feeling that everyone, actually just the men, have a computer link to xHamster and a home copy DVD of Behind the Green Door. Seldom, if ever, do I hear a pastor harp on the real sins of the congregation — vindictiveness, self-centeredness, being exclusive of others, being stingy, being self-righteous, unwillingness to forgive — which is the real list of congregational sins, with pornography taking the bottom rung on the hierarchy of wrongdoing.
Pope Francis maintains that the chief sin to be found in a congregation is “gossip.” The Pope considers that the devil is the “biggest gossiper” who is seeking to divide the church with his lies.
Parishioners live in the shadow of the “biggest gossiper.” On Sunday, September 6, 2020, Francis said, “Please brothers and sisters, let's try to not gossip. Gossip is a plague worse than Covid. Worse. Let's make a big effort: No gossiping!”
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: When Israel went out from Egypt
People: the people became God’s sanctuary.
Leader: The sea saw it and fled, Jordan turned back.
People: The mountains skipped like rams.
Leader: Tremble, O earth, at the presence of our God.
People: Our God turns rock into pools of water.
OR
Leader: God calls us to follow on the journey of faith.
People: We want to know all about our pathway.
Leader: The path is revealed one step at a time.
People: We must walk by faith, not by sight.
Leader: We are on the right path when we forgive others.
People: With God to guide us, we will follow by forgiving.
Hymns and Songs:
There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
UMH: 121
H82: 469/470
PH: 298
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELW: 587/588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive
UMH: 390
H82: 674
PH: 347
LBW: 307
ELW: 605
W&P: 382
Renew: 184
Help Us Accept Each Other
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
W&P: 596
AMEC: 558
Where Charity and Love Prevail
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELW: 359
In Christ There Is No East or West
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELW: 650
W&P: 600/603
AMEC: 557
The Church’s One Foundation
UMH: 545/546
H82: 525
PH: 442
AAHH: 337
NNBH: 297
NCH: 386
CH: 272
LBW: 369
ELW: 654
W&P: 544
AMEC: 519
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
We Meet You, O Christ
UMH: 257
PH: 311
CH: 183
W&P: 616
It’s Me, It’s Me, O Lord
UMH: 352
NNBH: 496
CH: 579
God, You Are My God (Step By Step)
CCB: 60
Your Loving Kindness Is Better than Life
CCB: 26
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: 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 calls all of creation into your redemption:
Grant us the faith to trust in your leading us
as we forgive others and there find our forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship and adore you, O God, because you are the one who calls all of your creation into redemption. You offer all of us the path to eternal life. In you we find forgiveness as we offer our forgiveness to others. Help us to follow you step by step. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our lack of faith and refusal to offer the forgiveness we seek for ourselves.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the way to eternal life and yet we hesitate to follow it. We think we know better what is good for ourselves even though the results of following our own advice has led us only to pain and destruction. You show us the path of forgiveness which leads to freedom but we prefer the chains of our resentment and anger. We say we trust you but we insist on knowing the complete journey rather than following your directions moment by moment. Renew us in your Spirit that we may truly reflect your image in our lives. Teach us to forgive that we might know we are forgiven. Amen.
Leader: God loves us and all creation. God desires that we might truly know forgiveness in our forgiving others. Receive God’s grace as your share it with others.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory are yours, O God, because you are the light that illumines everyone. The light of your love and forgiveness shines on all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the way to eternal life and yet we hesitate to follow it. We think we know better what is good for ourselves even though the results of following our own advice has led us only to pain and destruction. You show us the path of forgiveness which leads to freedom but we prefer the chains of our resentment and anger. We say we trust you but we insist on knowing the complete journey rather than following your directions moment by moment. Renew us in your Spirit that we may truly reflect your image in our lives. Teach us to forgive that we might know we are forgiven.
We give you thanks for the love with which you fill your creation. We thank you for your presence that calls us home and leads us to you. We thank you for your grace that we have found in the love and forgiveness of others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children and for all creation. We pray for those who struggle to forgive and to know forgiveness. We pray for those who fear to trust in your guiding hand.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Have you ever played on a see-saw (teeter-totter)? They can be a lot of fun but you can’t play alone. It takes two as you need a person on each side. Love is like that. It is great to be loved but to know love we need to share it with others. Forgiveness is the same way. It is nice to know we have been forgiven when we have done something wrong. But if we never forgive others, we won’t really know how great forgiveness can be.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Getting Directions
by Dean Feldmeyer
Exodus 14:19-31
You will need: A cell phone with the “Google Maps” app or some kind of GPS device and a roadmap.
Say:
Good morning, boys and girls.
I want to show you two things, here, things that are designed to keep us from getting lost.
This one (show GPS) is called a GPS device and it helps me get to where I want to go but it just does it one step at a time. Like this. “Drive one mile and turn left on Main Street.” So, I do that and then it tells me, “Now drive a half mile and turn right on First Street.” And I do that, and on and on until I arrive at my destination. It never tells me the whole route, just one thing at a time and I have to trust that, in the end, I’ll arrive where I want to be.
This is a map. (Show map.) We don’t see them much anymore but we used to use these all the time. A map shows you the whole route from where you are to where you want to be. You can follow the map, step by step, route by route, and it will help you get there. But usually you have to stop to read it from time to time, or you have to have a navigator, someone who can read the map and tell you where to turn.
Either way, with the GPS, or with the map, you have to have faith. You have to trust. You have to trust the GPS or you have to trust the map and the person reading it. If you don’t, you’ll never get to where you want to be
In one of our Bible readings, this morning, God gives the people of Israel, one of the earliest GPS’s in history. It’s in the book of Exodus and it tells us how God’s people, when they were escaping from Egypt, were in danger of getting lost in the wilderness so God gave them a cloud to guide them during the daytime.
They could see the cloud and all they had to do was follow it and they would, eventually, get to the Promised Land, which God was giving to them.
Well, I’ve been thinking about that cloud and, you know it would be nearly impossible to follow a cloud in the sky, so I think that cloud was down on the ground and do you know what we call a cloud on the ground? Fog! I think that cloud was what is called a fog bank. And a fog bank is so thick you can hardly see through it.
Now, can you imagine being lost and God saying, “No problem. Just walk into this fog where you can’t see your hand in front of your face and just keep walking and you’ll get to where you want to go.”
I don’t know about you but I’d be a little hesitant. I like to be able to see where I’m going. It would take a lot of faith to follow that fog bank without being able to see where you’re going. You would have to trust God.
And maybe that’s the point of the story. If you want to get to where you want to be and where God wants you to be, you have to trust God and do what God says. Just like we trust the GPS or the map…or the cloud.
(End with a prayer thanking God who, like a GPS, guides us through the tough times of life.)
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The Immediate Word, September 13, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
- Vote and…Forgive? by Mary Austin — In a season of national bitterness, we need Jesus’ word about forgiveness in this election season, as well as in our faith lives.
- Second Thoughts: Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Chris Keating — Israel steps into the uncertainty of the sea, confident that God not only goes ahead of them but behind them as well.
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen, Bethany Peerbolte, Ron Love.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on forgiveness; following the fog.
- Children’s sermon: Getting Directions by Dean Feldmeyer.
Vote and…Forgive?by Mary Austin
Matthew 18:21-35
With fewer than sixty days until Election Day, politicians are fundraising frantically, pollsters are amassing data, and pundits are making predictions about the next President, the Electoral College and the make-up of the House and Senate. State and local races are in play. And free-floating rage is everywhere. Neighbors are stealing each other’s political yard signs. Families are divided. Perhaps it’s a good thing that many people are working from home, with no time to get into political conversations with colleagues.
None of that will go away on Election Day. We won’t wake up the next morning in a state of national harmony. Counting the votes may go on long after Election Day. One writer posits that “it is likely that we will not know the results of the 2020 election on election night in November — there will be more absentee ballots than ever before and it will take longer to count them. The trend toward mail ballots was happening before the pandemic. Had the pandemic never happened, it is safe to estimate given past trends that mail-in ballots would have constituted nearly 30% of all ballots cast. With the pandemic however, and the rapid changes taking place in every state in order to make it easier to vote by mail, a cautious estimate is that at least half if not more of all ballots cast in November will be by mail or via early voting.” That’s a long time to wait in suspense, with each side claiming victory — or fraud on the part of the other side. Thanksgiving will be stressful for many families, and bitterness between neighbors will continue after the election, no matter who wins.
If we are to live together as a nation, we need to find our way back to understanding and respect. Matthew’s parable is framed as an instruction to the church, and yet the lessons apply to our shared life as a nation, as well.
In the News
Why are tempers so fevered right now? The pandemic, plus unemployment, plus a focus on racial justice have amplified our national divisions. Is this a predictable cycle? Is there a cycle of rage? It has been suggested that we are living in an “age of anger,” which happens on a fifty year cycle. Whether it’s that predictable or not, social media feeds the social contagion of anger, allowing us to get riled up, and rile each other up, much more easily. “Like any stimulant, [anger] has addictive properties: you become habituated to it and start to rove around looking for things to make you angry. Rage has an illusion of power, the way the Incredible Hulk takes peculiar pride in the destructive potential of his strong emotion. “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry” is such a curious catchphrase; the only logical response is: “I don’t like anyone when they are angry.” But it manages to make sense on a deeper, primeval level.” Still, there is a social cost. “The important consequences are not for your own health, but rather for that of society as a whole. Unprocessed anger pollutes the social sphere. Every outburst legitimizes the next. And we have landed — I like to think by accident — on a technology that perpetuates it and amplifies it, occasionally productively, but more often to no purpose at all.” Anger sucks up the oxygen, leaving less room for other mental states.
In a dramatically divisive election season, Facebook announced that it will ban new ads during the week of the election. The announcement ignores the voting calendar, and so the social media platform will still allow misleading ads during the weeks of early voting. “In another potential loophole, Facebook (FB) will continue to allow campaigns to run ads bought before the final week. Those ads can still run through Election Day. And Zuckerberg made no indication that Facebook would change its policy of allowing politicians to lie in targeted ads, meaning political candidates will be able to run false ads on the platform up until Election Day.”
Some are looking to the aftermath of the election as a tumultuous time. “The weeks after the election could be “a very dangerous period” for the country, says Miles Taylor, a former senior official in the Homeland Security Department, whose agents were deployed to quell recent police-violence protests in Portland, Oregon, against the wishes of the state’s leadership. Taylor left the agency last year and has since emerged as an outspoken critic of the president. “I talk to law-enforcement officials all the time who I used to serve with, and they’re nervous about November and December,” he continued. “We’re seeing an historic spike in gun sales. There’s some of the worst polarization in United States history. This is beyond a powder keg. This is the Titanic with powder kegs filled all the way to the hull.” Faced with civil unrest, a president’s job at the most basic level is to calm things down.
With all of that tension, fear, and division in the air, how are we to talk across our divides?
In the Scripture
The stress in Matthew’s parable comes when we imagine ourselves in the role of the king, generously doling out forgiveness. How often are we supposed to do that? What if people take advantage of us? If we see the parable from a different point of view, our sense of obligation shifts to gratitude. We forget that we are more often like the servant, owing more than we can pay. All of us begin at the same place as the servant who owed the king 10,000 talents. We have received abundant grace from God. We begin as people who have received a tremendous gift.
This is true in our life as citizens of this country, too.
If we are white, we benefit from our skin color in ways that we are just starting to understand. The list of the things we have been given is long. Greater access to healthcare, the benefit of the doubt at work, a feeling of welcome in any neighborhood where we want to live, the generational transfer of wealth that cushions our lives. If we live without a disability, or with the easy privilege of being straight, or have the benefit of education, we live with an ease that some of our neighbors do not. We have been given much, like the servant in the story. We didn’t ask for this privilege, and yet it works for us anyway.
The question for us is what we will do with the gifts given to us. Will we extend the same generosity? Or turn around and keep our gains, letting others fend for themselves? A parable is never exact, and we can take all the roles in the story, each in turn, depending on our circumstances.
What shall we do when we extend mercy to someone and they react like the indebted servant? What happens when our generous gestures of reconciliation go nowhere? What if we solicit honest, respectful conversation, and people are demeaning or refuse to meet us on some common ground? What happens to the name-callers and the bullies? Jesus gives us the gift of freedom from such people, telling us to quit counting and make forgiveness our usual policy. He doesn’t say that we have to talk politics with them, or invite them over for dinner. We are set free from the need to convince, reform and take responsibility for each other’s views and actions. We are set free from rage and disappointment.
In the Sermon
But how? We understand the need to forgive and reconnect with people, and yet it’s hard to know where to begin. Praying for the grace and strength to forgive is a good start, and the sermon might also offer practical tips for interacting with family, friends and neighbors. One piece of advice suggests these concrete (not easy) steps. Kwame Christian, director of the American Negotiation Institute, suggests:
- Acknowledge and validate the emotion. Recognize how everybody is feeling about the situation, even if it's difficult.
- Get curious with compassion. Ask lots of questions and genuinely listen to the answers.
- Joint problem-solving. Once both parties have acknowledged how they're feeling and identified why there's an issue, come up with solutions together — so that there is buy-in from both sides.
Or the sermon might look at forgiveness as a habit. Peter offers what he thinks is a generous measure of forgiveness (see, he has learned some things from Jesus!) Seven times would be a lot. Jesus tells him to give up counting, and practice forgiveness beyond measuring. By the time we forgive seventy-seven times, we’ve lost track, and it has become the pattern on our lives. The sermon might look at how accomplished forgivers live their lives and how they get beyond counting. Like any discipline, this one takes practice.
Or, the sermon might look at why we are reluctant to forgive. Is it loss of control? Feeling taken advantage of? The feeling that we lose something when we forgive? The certainty that we’re right? Just don’t want to spend the energy? The sermon could explore the barriers to living lives of frequent forgiveness.
Jesus makes a connection here between forgiveness and the realm of heaven. Our nation is far from the kingdom of God right now, and yet Jesus is leading us forward to a kind of connection with each other that we need. This word is for the church and we can model this same way of living in our community life. More name-calling, more division and more belittling aren’t going to move us toward a shared life that works for everyone. A move toward a generous habit of forgiveness is worth a try.
SECOND THOUGHTSSomewhere Beyond the Sea
by Chris Keating
Exodus 14:19-31
One morning in high school, I looked out my bedroom window to see billowing smoke blocking the rising sun. I looked for the flames that were still rising off the foothills of Los Angeles’ San Gabriel mountains. I coughed on the smoky, char-scented air, and saw the ashes of a perfectly formed leaf floating across our pool.
Fortunately, we lived far from the fires and were never in danger. But that distance only augmented the impact of that ashen image lounging around our pool. When I hear about fires burning in California, that image returns to me, and I recall the fear I felt during those smoky days.
This year’s wildfire season, which started earlier than usual, has so far has burned over 2 million acres — more than ten times the area of New York City. That does not include fires burning in other places in Colorado, Montana, or elsewhere. Thanks to NASA satellites, images of the massive pillar of smoke arising from these infernos can be tracked. Other images reveal the pockmarked scars of the flames’ anger.
One technique firefighters will use in battling these sorts of wildfires is called a control line. It’s a boundary, either natural or constructed, that is used to control the spread of a fire. Sometimes firefighters will use another technique in conjunction with the control line. Somewhat counter intuitively, they may also set up a backburn in conjunction with the control line. A backburn is a controlled blaze set just inside the control line. By pushing the new fire toward the main fire, firefighters control the fire by burning up new fuel. It’s an example of power being applied from a different angle.
Something similar happens to Israel on its treacherous journey out of Egypt. Pharaoh’s hardened heart propels his army across the wilderness in pursuit of his labor source. Sounds of horses straining to catch Israel leap from the page. The camera pans to the Israelites shrinking in fear. They shout out to Moses, to God or anyone else who might be listening. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt, that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us?”
They are about to be crushed. On one side there is the sea, and on the other heavily armed warriors with orders to kill. As Egypt advances, God pushes the people forward into the sea. It does not matter if they forgot to pack their swimming togs. Yahweh makes it clear: their future lies somewhere beyond the sea.
Surely some were wondering if Moses should have made a stop at a gas station to ask for directions before leaving Egypt. So far God has been leading them by a cloud in the daytime and by fire at night — not exactly the most comforting way of giving directions.
Musing on these verses several years ago, Craig Barnes noted that this is still how God leads us through life.
“In the daytime hours when we are busy with plans and strategies,” Barnes wrote, “God is present only as a nebulous cloud. It is so hard to grab hold of that. At night when we are lying in bed staring at the ceiling, alone with our anxieties, God is a pillar of fire we cannot touch.” (“Cloud and Fire,” The Christian Century, July 27, 2010, p. 35).
Clouds are wonderful metaphors. They are amorphous but are filled with possibilities. PBS’ Bob Ross garnered fame by teaching people to paint big, happy clouds on their canvas. Winning the lottery puts us up on cloud nine! A broken hard drive no longer means lost data — it’s in the cloud, after all! Could Israel’s travails be leading them toward a silver lining?
The cloud of God’s presence had led them this far. But just as Pharaoh’s armies close in on Israel, the cloud moves (v. 19). In their most desperate moment, as Sean White notes, it must have felt as if God’s presence had vanished. (White, “Theological Perspective,” Feasting on the Word, Year A, Proper 19, Exodus 14:19-31). Once again, Israel’s life has become destabilized.
The narrator does not tell us, but it is not hard to imagine the fear that gripped Israel when they noticed the cloud had disappeared. It is the fear that a Black person feels when they wonder if their son will be the next hashtag following an encounter with police. It is the fear that hangs in our hearts as a loved one dies. It is the dread that fills a preacher’s mind the morning after preaching a “difficult” sermon, or the pain that stabs us as chemo flows into our veins.
Are you with us God?
Six months into our socially distanced reality, and two months before the election, we may well be wondering if God’s presence has dissipated the way fog lifts before noon. Time and time again in 2020 our lives have been destabilized. Contemplating how to do the Christmas pageant on Zoom only adds to the gnawing fear that we are about to drown in a sea of anxiety.
But the cloud of God’s presence has not evaporated. It has shifted, becoming a buffer between Pharaoh’s goon squad and the people of God. In the darkness, the cloud is a light to Israel and a barrier to Egypt. “One did not come near the other all night,” the narrator says. You can almost hear the narrator’s soft chuckling.
God comes between the control line and the advancing fire.
“The task ahead of us,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “is never as great as the power behind us.” That was certainly true for Israel, and it remains true for us. The power and presence of God guide us even in the moments when the way forward is unclear. We step into the uncertainty of the sea, confident that God not only goes ahead of us, but also behind us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:Exodus 14:19-31
A close reading of this text shows that Pharaoh’s army was in retreat, and having trouble retreating because the Lord had “locked the wheels” (a difficult translation) of their chariots. When the water returned, the Egyptians fled at its approach, but the Lord “hurled the Egyptians into the sea.” (JPS)
Do you hear echoes of people being shot in the back while fleeing from police?
* * *
Genesis 50: 15-21
For Good
Toward the end of the musical “Wicked,” Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, sing “For Good,” a duet that is their mutual farewell. Both witches confess they have been changed by their friendship.
The first verse goes
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives
For a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those
Who help us most to grow if we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you
Toward the end of the song Elphaba sings
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done, you blame me for
And Glinda replies
But then I guess
We know there's blame to share
This exchange is very similar to the conversation that Joseph has with his brothers that concludes in Genesis 50:20 with Joseph saying, “…although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so to being about the present result — the survival of many people.” (JPS)
* * *
Exodus 14:22
Into the sea on dry ground?
The NRSV says the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, which is an oxymoron. The Talmud explains this cryptic phrase this way:
Why does it say, “And the Israelites went into the sea on dry ground?” To teach us that only after they had gone “into the sea” up to their very nostrils did the water divide and expose “dry ground.”
* * *
Complimentary text Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21
It would appear that the newly-freed slaves’ liberation would be cause for rejoicing in heaven, but the Talmud says this: “God does not rejoice at the death of sinners. On seeing the destruction of the Egyptians the angels wanted to break forth into song. But God silenced them saying: “The work of my hands is drowning in the sea, and you desire to sing songs!”
* * *
Exodus 151b-11, 20-21
What song did they sing?
I had just finished telling my confirmation the story of the parting of the Sea of Reeds, the drowning of Pharaoh’s army and the rescue, salvation of the Chosen People. I asked the class, “What song did they sing when they knew they had been saved?” After a few seconds of silence, one of the braver students started singing Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”
* * * * * *
From team member Bethany Peerbolte:Matthew 18:21-35
We are all in debt together
Jesus tells a parable about a landowner collecting debts from his slaves. When a slave who owes 10,000 talents cannot pay the debt the landowner demands his property and family be sold off to cover the debt. In desperation the slave begs for forgiveness. The landowner forgives the debt. Unfortunately, the relief of being forgiven the debt is superficial. The forgiven slave goes to someone who owes him money and makes the demand to pay now. When the debtor cannot pay, they beg for forgiveness but do not receive it.
I love how solidly Jesus ties these two actions together. The lesson is to forgive others since one has been forgiven by God. The parallels are unmistakable. Down to the literal words the first slaves uses to beg for forgiveness. The forgiven slave cannot even hear his own words being said back at him as he demands payment from another. The lesson he should have learned from being forgiven stalls out somewhere between his head and his heart.
The tension between landlords and tenets are going to rise in the next few months. As renters struggle to pay their bills, landlords struggle too. Even as rent moratoriums stand, landlords are adding fees to accounts and plan to demand these paid in full the minute the moratorium ends. Eviction processes have stalled but the paperwork is still being filed —waiting for the day courts can look and act on them. It is easy to understand why. Landlords have bills too. However, we are in this together. One landlord in Brooklyn understands our connectedness. He waived the rent in April for 200 renters on his properties. He is more concerned about the health of his people. A great example of how to forgive even when it means missing out on a debt rightly owed.
* * *
Romans 14:1-12
Vegans get a bad rap
This part of Paul’s letter begs the church to not judge. Hospitality is encouraged, but not for the sake of changing someone. There should be no agenda when we offer a welcome. Paul goes on to talk about the differences people can have. His tone is matter of fact and calm. It is what it is, don’t judge it.
One of the differences Paul mentions is how people eat. In 2020 we understand people have different eating habits. Some have dietary limitations because of wellness issues, others have moral standards they apply to their food. There are some who use food trends as status givers and some people who are just born picky eaters. With all these different reasons for eating a particular diet there is a ton of judgment that happens. Vegans are accused of being boastful of their diet. Gluten-free eaters are often accused of lying. The judgement often goes both ways with vegans shaking their heads at meat eaters and meat eaters rolling their eyes at vegans. The misconceptions only create pods of “others” and limit community.
In my experience though, those with limited diets are not terrible dinner guests. In fact, they often pack their own meals or are more than willing to offer helpful recipes. Paul offers us a vision of a welcoming community that does not fuss about personal eating habits. A community that can worship God together even if they aren’t eating the same thing.
* * *
Genesis 50:15-21
Joseph had done his work
Joseph’s brothers live with the regret and guilt of what they have done to their brother. They cannot imagine a scenario in which Joseph is kind to them. They know how they would react in this situation and assume Joseph will do the same. Joseph, however, has “done his work.” This phrase is used in circles that celebrate therapy. When someone has “done their work” it means they have spent time reflecting, learning, processing, and growing. It means they are self-differentiated. Joseph is a great example of someone who has done the work to become self-differentiated.
Joseph easily distinguishes his thoughts from his emotions. This helps him decide if he wants to be guided by emotion or logic. Joseph is human so he is hurt by the actions of his brothers. He could let his emotions take hold and take revenge. Paying back an eye for an eye for the trauma that has been done to him. Instead Joseph sets up a series of tests to make sure he can trust his family again.
Joseph can also tell the difference between his experience and the experience of his brothers. This is clear when he says “you meant this for harm, but God used it for good.” Joseph understands that his journey has been his own and has accepted the path as one that leads to a great present. His brothers cannot imagine another reaction to their actions because they cannot pull themselves out of how they would have experienced Joseph’s trauma.
Joseph’s work ends up healing the whole family structure. His calm and loving response gives his brother’s the chance to forgive themselves for their past. When the brothers were all living together the stresses were shared and amplified. Joseph, given the chance to live outside that structure, can breathe God’s love into a volatile family. The time apart made it possible for Joseph to strengthen the whole family.
* * * * * *
From team member Ron Love:Matthew 18:30
But he refused…
Mark Driscoll established the Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, in 1996. The evangelical pastor has constantly been the center of controversy because of his questionable ethics. He was eventually forced to leave Mars Hill in 2014. Driscoll was forced to resign because he created a climate of fear through his verbally abusive language, lack of self-control, and arrogant domineering attitude. He then established The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2016.
His desire for recognition and wealth over servanthood can be showcased in this example of his uncouth behavior. He, along with his wife Grace, published a book in 2011 titled Real Marriage. The couple was paid $400,000 in advance for the book. Mars Hill agreed to buy 11,000 copies of the book, allowing it to become #1 on the bestseller list. The Driscolls were allowed to keep all the profits from this sale. It was later discovered that most of Real Marriage was plagiarized.
* * *
Romans 14:4
Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another?
Though homosexuals and their place in the church has become more accepted, there are still a number of congregations that practice being exclusive, disfranchising homosexuals from the fellowship of the church, from the Body of Christ.
This would be the case for the church of which I am a member, First Presbyterian Church of Florence, South Carolina. It is now a member of the Presbyterian denomination known as ECO, meaning the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians. ECO was established in 2012. The reason for the split is the pastors and parishioners refused to recognize homosexual marriage and maintained that the mainline Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) no longer lives by Scriptural mandates, as ECO interprets them.
I attend the church because I believe in attending a community church, and I like the members. Though, among the leaders of congregation, it is apparent in all that they do, homosexuals are not welcome, and anyone who does not adhere to their litmus test of beliefs are disfranchised because acceptance requires that — “you-think-as-I think” — “you-believe-as-I believe.” There is no debate. There is no compromise.
It is in situations like this that the voice of reason is always appreciated. In an interview in July 2015, former President Jimmy Carter said that Jesus would approve of homosexuals and gay marriage. Carter said, “I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don’t see that gay marriage damages anyone else. I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage. That’s just my own personal opinion.”
* * *
Matthew 18:30
But he refused…
Todd Bell is the senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine. Bell is well known for flying between states to attend many and various ministries. He does so on his own private plane. A private plane because God “burned his heart to do airplane ministry.”
Calvary is a distancing-defying church who says social distancing and masks are a part of a “socialist platform.” Bell preaches to trust “God, not the government” as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to progress.
On August 7, 2020, Bell flew into Millinocket, Maine, to officiate at a wedding. Attending the event at Big Moose Inn were sixty-five guests, none of whom wore a face mask or observed social distancing. The event was in violation of the state’s limit on large gatherings.
It was a super-spreader event. Directly related to the gathering at the Big Moose Inn, 144 individuals have been infected with the coronavirus, three have died. More than just the attending guests have suffered. Covid-19 outbreaks at a local rehabilitation center, a senior living facility, a county jail, and a school have been traced back to the wedding.
One Twitter post jokingly said that Bell should fly his airplane and infect a casino elsewhere in Maine. Bell quipped that a casino would be a good place to deliberately spread Covid-19. “Gambling has killed more people and ruined more homes and destroyed more things in our society almost more than liquor or pot or pornography. Gambling is wicked.”
The last line of a tweet offered by Calvary Baptist Church in defense of Bell reads, “Pastors are being made out to be enemies of the people by the media.”
* * *
Matthew 18:33
Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?
I have listened to hundres of sermons. I always find it interesting that when a pastor discusses sin, it is a sin that is not really relevant to the congregation. Leading the diatribe is always pornography. I am to the point now that I can predict when the preacher is going to launch into his wrath of filth. I almost get the feeling that everyone, actually just the men, have a computer link to xHamster and a home copy DVD of Behind the Green Door. Seldom, if ever, do I hear a pastor harp on the real sins of the congregation — vindictiveness, self-centeredness, being exclusive of others, being stingy, being self-righteous, unwillingness to forgive — which is the real list of congregational sins, with pornography taking the bottom rung on the hierarchy of wrongdoing.
Pope Francis maintains that the chief sin to be found in a congregation is “gossip.” The Pope considers that the devil is the “biggest gossiper” who is seeking to divide the church with his lies.
Parishioners live in the shadow of the “biggest gossiper.” On Sunday, September 6, 2020, Francis said, “Please brothers and sisters, let's try to not gossip. Gossip is a plague worse than Covid. Worse. Let's make a big effort: No gossiping!”
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: When Israel went out from Egypt
People: the people became God’s sanctuary.
Leader: The sea saw it and fled, Jordan turned back.
People: The mountains skipped like rams.
Leader: Tremble, O earth, at the presence of our God.
People: Our God turns rock into pools of water.
OR
Leader: God calls us to follow on the journey of faith.
People: We want to know all about our pathway.
Leader: The path is revealed one step at a time.
People: We must walk by faith, not by sight.
Leader: We are on the right path when we forgive others.
People: With God to guide us, we will follow by forgiving.
Hymns and Songs:
There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
UMH: 121
H82: 469/470
PH: 298
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELW: 587/588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive
UMH: 390
H82: 674
PH: 347
LBW: 307
ELW: 605
W&P: 382
Renew: 184
Help Us Accept Each Other
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
W&P: 596
AMEC: 558
Where Charity and Love Prevail
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELW: 359
In Christ There Is No East or West
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELW: 650
W&P: 600/603
AMEC: 557
The Church’s One Foundation
UMH: 545/546
H82: 525
PH: 442
AAHH: 337
NNBH: 297
NCH: 386
CH: 272
LBW: 369
ELW: 654
W&P: 544
AMEC: 519
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
We Meet You, O Christ
UMH: 257
PH: 311
CH: 183
W&P: 616
It’s Me, It’s Me, O Lord
UMH: 352
NNBH: 496
CH: 579
God, You Are My God (Step By Step)
CCB: 60
Your Loving Kindness Is Better than Life
CCB: 26
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: 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 calls all of creation into your redemption:
Grant us the faith to trust in your leading us
as we forgive others and there find our forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship and adore you, O God, because you are the one who calls all of your creation into redemption. You offer all of us the path to eternal life. In you we find forgiveness as we offer our forgiveness to others. Help us to follow you step by step. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our lack of faith and refusal to offer the forgiveness we seek for ourselves.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the way to eternal life and yet we hesitate to follow it. We think we know better what is good for ourselves even though the results of following our own advice has led us only to pain and destruction. You show us the path of forgiveness which leads to freedom but we prefer the chains of our resentment and anger. We say we trust you but we insist on knowing the complete journey rather than following your directions moment by moment. Renew us in your Spirit that we may truly reflect your image in our lives. Teach us to forgive that we might know we are forgiven. Amen.
Leader: God loves us and all creation. God desires that we might truly know forgiveness in our forgiving others. Receive God’s grace as your share it with others.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory are yours, O God, because you are the light that illumines everyone. The light of your love and forgiveness shines on all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the way to eternal life and yet we hesitate to follow it. We think we know better what is good for ourselves even though the results of following our own advice has led us only to pain and destruction. You show us the path of forgiveness which leads to freedom but we prefer the chains of our resentment and anger. We say we trust you but we insist on knowing the complete journey rather than following your directions moment by moment. Renew us in your Spirit that we may truly reflect your image in our lives. Teach us to forgive that we might know we are forgiven.
We give you thanks for the love with which you fill your creation. We thank you for your presence that calls us home and leads us to you. We thank you for your grace that we have found in the love and forgiveness of others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children and for all creation. We pray for those who struggle to forgive and to know forgiveness. We pray for those who fear to trust in your guiding hand.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Have you ever played on a see-saw (teeter-totter)? They can be a lot of fun but you can’t play alone. It takes two as you need a person on each side. Love is like that. It is great to be loved but to know love we need to share it with others. Forgiveness is the same way. It is nice to know we have been forgiven when we have done something wrong. But if we never forgive others, we won’t really know how great forgiveness can be.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONGetting Directions
by Dean Feldmeyer
Exodus 14:19-31
You will need: A cell phone with the “Google Maps” app or some kind of GPS device and a roadmap.
Say:
Good morning, boys and girls.
I want to show you two things, here, things that are designed to keep us from getting lost.
This one (show GPS) is called a GPS device and it helps me get to where I want to go but it just does it one step at a time. Like this. “Drive one mile and turn left on Main Street.” So, I do that and then it tells me, “Now drive a half mile and turn right on First Street.” And I do that, and on and on until I arrive at my destination. It never tells me the whole route, just one thing at a time and I have to trust that, in the end, I’ll arrive where I want to be.
This is a map. (Show map.) We don’t see them much anymore but we used to use these all the time. A map shows you the whole route from where you are to where you want to be. You can follow the map, step by step, route by route, and it will help you get there. But usually you have to stop to read it from time to time, or you have to have a navigator, someone who can read the map and tell you where to turn.
Either way, with the GPS, or with the map, you have to have faith. You have to trust. You have to trust the GPS or you have to trust the map and the person reading it. If you don’t, you’ll never get to where you want to be
In one of our Bible readings, this morning, God gives the people of Israel, one of the earliest GPS’s in history. It’s in the book of Exodus and it tells us how God’s people, when they were escaping from Egypt, were in danger of getting lost in the wilderness so God gave them a cloud to guide them during the daytime.
They could see the cloud and all they had to do was follow it and they would, eventually, get to the Promised Land, which God was giving to them.
Well, I’ve been thinking about that cloud and, you know it would be nearly impossible to follow a cloud in the sky, so I think that cloud was down on the ground and do you know what we call a cloud on the ground? Fog! I think that cloud was what is called a fog bank. And a fog bank is so thick you can hardly see through it.
Now, can you imagine being lost and God saying, “No problem. Just walk into this fog where you can’t see your hand in front of your face and just keep walking and you’ll get to where you want to go.”
I don’t know about you but I’d be a little hesitant. I like to be able to see where I’m going. It would take a lot of faith to follow that fog bank without being able to see where you’re going. You would have to trust God.
And maybe that’s the point of the story. If you want to get to where you want to be and where God wants you to be, you have to trust God and do what God says. Just like we trust the GPS or the map…or the cloud.
(End with a prayer thanking God who, like a GPS, guides us through the tough times of life.)
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The Immediate Word, September 13, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
