Sermon Illustrations for Proper 14 | OT 19 (2016)
Illustration
Object:
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
I was new to the congregation and had called the church’s lay leaders together for a weekend planning retreat. One of the agenda items was to review the congregation’s history for the benefit of the new minister. All went well, until an incident from the distant past was mentioned.
A respected, trusted pastor and another much-loved church staff person had become entangled in an inappropriate relationship. Immediately, the tone of the retreat group’s conversation intensified. The mission and ministry of the congregation had suffered significantly as the pastor and staff person neglected their ministries in favor of tending their interpersonal relationship. Voices were raised as people spoke of their disappointment in leaders they trusted. Older leaders seemed obliged to remember in great detail the unpleasant events from a quarter-century ago.
Frankly, I was surprised at the intensity of people’s feelings. I had previously been told that the minister and staff person had left the church, married, and founded a new congregation a couple thousand miles away. Their marriage continued to flourish, as did the faith community they founded. Yet the planning retreat conversation seemed to have pulled a scab off an unhealed wound.
When trust is interrupted and the covenant to faithfully perform the functions of mission and ministry is broken, the scandal is not only anger-producing, it is long-lasting and difficult to heal.
This is the species of scandal underlying this passage from Isaiah. Political and religious leaders had not been faithful to the covenant. They had broken the trust of God and the community. The prophet tells us that God is angry and something has to change.
R. Robert C.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
The U.S. Census Bureau reported in late 2015 that 14.9% of Americans are in poverty, with the poverty rate among blacks and Hispanics well over 20%. Martin Luther nicely described the dynamics of why this can happen in a nation full of Christians: “Many live for themselves. Meanwhile they neglect the poor, devote themselves to prayer, and consider themselves saints. Yet it is not enough not to have harmed one’s neighbor; God also demands positive uplifting of the needy through love” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 16, p. 19).
God wants us to do a little less worship and more for the poor. But God also has a remedy -- God’s forgiving mercy. About that, Luther writes: “...we are completely worthless. Yet we must convince ourselves that God is merciful to us, because that is what he has promised. If only our faith were strong, this gracious disposition of God would make us fearless in all things” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 16, pp.16-17). God’s mercy makes us fearless, gives us the kind of guts it will take to change our nation.
This sort of care and concern for the poor is the sort of worship or sacrifice that Isaiah calls for in our lesson. It is as Victorian-era English poet William Blake once said: “Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.”
Mark E.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Tom House is a trainer and coach for NFL quarterbacks and professional baseball pitchers, who is most noted for the work he did with Tim Tebow (who was always admired for his Christian witness). House introduced high-tech methods for evaluating the performance of quarterbacks and baseball pitchers. One of his tools is a three-dimension motion analysis camera that can take from 750 to 1,000 frames a second. From watching the pictures of a quarterback’s motion House realized that “what we were teaching wasn’t quite right.” He went on to say it wasn’t quite right because the photos showed that “our eyes were lying.”
Application: As we learn from Isaiah, it can be difficult to hear, see, and understand God.
Ron L.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Have a little faith! Where is your faith? Have you ever been asked those questions as you lived through a difficult time or a crisis, the loss of your own health, or the loss of a loved one? I remember an experience when my father was critically ill and I was noticeably upset about it at work. I needed to ask for some time off and went to talk with my boss. She, an ordained minister, simply asked me: “Where is your faith?” It was not a question asked with compassion or understanding. It was, rather, a challenge to my faithfulness and trust in God. There seemed no way to answer her. I have faith, but the concern and worry over my dad’s illness was not going away because of my prayers. My act of faith was praying in spite of my fear and concern and worry.
I’m fairly sure that Abram was a little concerned and worried about going from his home to an unknown place, but he did it. Joshua may have been worried about leading the Hebrew people into the Promised Land, but he did it. Isaac went home after cheating his brother Esau out of his birthright and the text tells us he was afraid, but he went anyway. I don’t think the measure of faith or the lack thereof has anything to do with fear or concern or worry or confusion. Those are human emotions, and God knows they are a part of us. What is the act of faithfulness then? The act of faithfulness is going forward anyway, yielding to God’s call, moving into the pathway God has laid before us. So where is our faith? It is present amidst the concerns and worries of the world when we pause and listen for the voice of God, when we move into the world knowing that God is present with us. That’s faith!
Bonnie B.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
“I don’t believe it!” This exclamation was made by Luke Skywalker as he watched the Jedi master Yoda use the force to lift the X-wing from the bog in the movie The Empire Strikes Back. I enjoyed those movies as a kid, and still do today. That particular scene, though, is a powerful one. Luke has just begun his Jedi training with Yoda. He is out one day in the bog with Yoda. He notices that his ship has sunk into the bog. Yoda tells him to use the force to raise it. He tries, but only gets it out a little before it sinks back down. He’s dejected. Yoda then uses the force to raise the ship. It’s an incredible sight. Luke is stunned. He exclaims, “I don’t believe it!” In what is one of the most powerful moments of the movie, Yoda turns away and tells him, “That is why you fail.”
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Though the journey seemed foolish, by faith Abraham left his homeland to go where God directed him. Though it was humanly impossible, by faith Abraham trusted that God would provide him and Sarah a child. Abraham believed and trusted that God could and would do as he had promised. Believing in the unbelievable -- that makes all the difference. That’s faith.
Bill T.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
In a way, and in a word, the author of Hebrews is stating something that is not explicit in Genesis -- that God created everything out of nothing. Genesis 1:1 does tell us that “When God began to create the heavens and the earth the earth was formless and void.” We assume the text is telling us that God created everything, but in Genesis the author’s concern is only with creation as we know it now, not with first creation from nothing. We get that elsewhere in scripture! For instance, the Letter to the Hebrews makes this explicit: “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible” (Hebrews 11:3).
Sometimes we try to make a scripture passage do something it’s not interested in. The question of the time and length of creation is not a concern in the Genesis passage. The concern there is establishing with concrete images that God creates and is in charge. In other creation stories the gods that created the universe are overthrown by their children, and in any event things like the stars, like fate, like chance are more powerful than the gods. The Genesis account wants to make it clear that God created the stars and controls them. God controls the waters. God controls formlessness and chaos.
In Hebrews the author is addressing the Greek mind, which wants to understand the abstract rather than the concrete. That which is perfect and unseen is the source for that which is seen, and God is the one who fashioned it. Perfection does not exist independently of God and creation. God is the source.
Frank R.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Instead of giving a dictionary definition of the word “faith,” as the writer of Hebrews tries to do in the first verse of this passage, the Bible more often gives examples and stories. That can make it much clearer.
Abraham was a man of faith -- great example!
It can be so simple to say that we had faith in our parents or our teachers in school. Our faith in them was built over a period of time, as they proved to be faithful to us and to others. Sometimes one parent might have failed that faith, in ways such as drinking or drugging that might have made him or her miss important appointments or opportunities for us or themselves, or in giving us undeserved punishments, etc.
God is different, as the Bible tells us. He has been faithful since the beginning of the creation, which he made. Sometimes there are events which might make some lose faith, like the earthquake in Nepal. But when we look back on it, we see that God has been faithful in providing for those who lost everything. No, it might not be easy, but at least they might still be alive and have some hope for their future.
Doesn’t that sound a little like the challenge that faces immigrants from Muslim countries -- some of whom are Christian? They were led to leave the familiar and head off to the unknown.
The story of Abraham suggests that when God leads us in directions that seem difficult or even dangerous, we can count on him to keep his promised rewards (even if we don’t know what they will be). He would not send us off to be destroyed when he asks us to do something. Our faith, if we have it, tells us to go ahead and obey and we will be rewarded, as Abraham was.
How rewarded my wife and I were when we obeyed God and went to Nepal after the age of retirement! It was a wonderful blessing the Lord gave us. No, we did not stay there, but we still have friends from there who are constantly in touch with us to show how much they love us and miss us. That was also a lesson for our kids, who thought we were crazy to go to Nepal at our age and who now realize what a blessing it was for us -- as well as for the people over there.
In Abe’s case, the promise of offspring seemed impossible at his age. At 89 I don’t expect any more children -- I have to count on grandchildren now. I did read about a woman in her 60s who had a child -- but it would be totally unheard of in her 90s!
Obedience is often a test that has great rewards. Listen to what God is telling you!
Bob O.
Luke 12:32-40
“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (Luke 12:40 NRSV).
I recently received a phone call. My younger brother David had died suddenly and unexpectedly.
His day had begun the usual way. He went to the gym for some exercise. He had been doing this regularly for nearly 50 years. His only concession to the fact that he was two weeks short of his 72nd birthday was that he was walking on the track rather than running. Then, without so much as a cry of pain or a call for help, he fell to the floor. In spite of the medical assistance only a few minutes away, he could not be revived.
There had been no serious illness; no warning that he was not feeling well. One moment he was living. The next moment he was not. He certainly was not preparing to depart this life. In fact, he was planning for the future. The previous month he became a first-time great-grandfather. He was looking forward to watching that child grow. Rather than slowing down and retiring, he was still running the business that he founded 40 years ago. He was even remodeling and adding a couple new rooms to his home.
It has been said that the best way to prepare for death is to live each day as if it just might be the last day of your life. There is wisdom in that idea, because today just might be the last day of life. Refuse to live with an unhealed relationship, an unaddressed problem, a sin unforgiven, or an important task unfinished.
R. Robert C.
Luke 12:32-40
Jesus wants to get us ready for the coming of his Kingdom, noting that our excessive concern about what we possess can block our preparation. John Calvin notes our wrong-headed priorities: “Men are grown mad with an insatiable desire for gain.... They are blind and destitute of sound judgment who give themselves so much toil and uneasiness in amassing wealth, which is liable to putrefaction, or robbery, or a thousand other accidents” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XVI/1, p. 332). Sucked up in materialism, with our own treasures, we are hardly ready for the Day of our Lord.
Famed modern theologian Karl Barth offers solid advice for getting us ready. He tells us that “in this interval we must orient ourselves by the fact that time is expiring quickly” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. III/4, pp. 582-583). When you have this sort of end-times perspective, then you will not be so hung up on what you have, will be more oriented towards the future.
Former NFL quarterback and University of Florida star Tim Tebow reflects this freeing perspective -- a willingness to face the future with confidence, without needing to be so protective of what we have. As he put it: “I don’t know what my future holds, but I know who holds my future.” With that end-times orientation, we can say with motivational speaker Earl Nightingale: “Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.”
Savor every minute. The future and the end of time are coming.
Mark E.
Luke 12:32-40
It was discovered in 2015 that the Army mistakenly sent live anthrax specimens to 183 labs across the United States. The cause for this blunder was inadequate killing and testing of the specimens. At Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground, only 5% of the spores were tested to see if they were all dead before being shipped. The results could have been disastrous, as an anthrax epidemic could have ensued. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said of the incident, “By any means this was a massive institutional failure.”
Application: Good stewardship, as discussed in our reading from Luke, applies to all areas of our lives.
Ron L.
I was new to the congregation and had called the church’s lay leaders together for a weekend planning retreat. One of the agenda items was to review the congregation’s history for the benefit of the new minister. All went well, until an incident from the distant past was mentioned.
A respected, trusted pastor and another much-loved church staff person had become entangled in an inappropriate relationship. Immediately, the tone of the retreat group’s conversation intensified. The mission and ministry of the congregation had suffered significantly as the pastor and staff person neglected their ministries in favor of tending their interpersonal relationship. Voices were raised as people spoke of their disappointment in leaders they trusted. Older leaders seemed obliged to remember in great detail the unpleasant events from a quarter-century ago.
Frankly, I was surprised at the intensity of people’s feelings. I had previously been told that the minister and staff person had left the church, married, and founded a new congregation a couple thousand miles away. Their marriage continued to flourish, as did the faith community they founded. Yet the planning retreat conversation seemed to have pulled a scab off an unhealed wound.
When trust is interrupted and the covenant to faithfully perform the functions of mission and ministry is broken, the scandal is not only anger-producing, it is long-lasting and difficult to heal.
This is the species of scandal underlying this passage from Isaiah. Political and religious leaders had not been faithful to the covenant. They had broken the trust of God and the community. The prophet tells us that God is angry and something has to change.
R. Robert C.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
The U.S. Census Bureau reported in late 2015 that 14.9% of Americans are in poverty, with the poverty rate among blacks and Hispanics well over 20%. Martin Luther nicely described the dynamics of why this can happen in a nation full of Christians: “Many live for themselves. Meanwhile they neglect the poor, devote themselves to prayer, and consider themselves saints. Yet it is not enough not to have harmed one’s neighbor; God also demands positive uplifting of the needy through love” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 16, p. 19).
God wants us to do a little less worship and more for the poor. But God also has a remedy -- God’s forgiving mercy. About that, Luther writes: “...we are completely worthless. Yet we must convince ourselves that God is merciful to us, because that is what he has promised. If only our faith were strong, this gracious disposition of God would make us fearless in all things” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 16, pp.16-17). God’s mercy makes us fearless, gives us the kind of guts it will take to change our nation.
This sort of care and concern for the poor is the sort of worship or sacrifice that Isaiah calls for in our lesson. It is as Victorian-era English poet William Blake once said: “Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.”
Mark E.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Tom House is a trainer and coach for NFL quarterbacks and professional baseball pitchers, who is most noted for the work he did with Tim Tebow (who was always admired for his Christian witness). House introduced high-tech methods for evaluating the performance of quarterbacks and baseball pitchers. One of his tools is a three-dimension motion analysis camera that can take from 750 to 1,000 frames a second. From watching the pictures of a quarterback’s motion House realized that “what we were teaching wasn’t quite right.” He went on to say it wasn’t quite right because the photos showed that “our eyes were lying.”
Application: As we learn from Isaiah, it can be difficult to hear, see, and understand God.
Ron L.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Have a little faith! Where is your faith? Have you ever been asked those questions as you lived through a difficult time or a crisis, the loss of your own health, or the loss of a loved one? I remember an experience when my father was critically ill and I was noticeably upset about it at work. I needed to ask for some time off and went to talk with my boss. She, an ordained minister, simply asked me: “Where is your faith?” It was not a question asked with compassion or understanding. It was, rather, a challenge to my faithfulness and trust in God. There seemed no way to answer her. I have faith, but the concern and worry over my dad’s illness was not going away because of my prayers. My act of faith was praying in spite of my fear and concern and worry.
I’m fairly sure that Abram was a little concerned and worried about going from his home to an unknown place, but he did it. Joshua may have been worried about leading the Hebrew people into the Promised Land, but he did it. Isaac went home after cheating his brother Esau out of his birthright and the text tells us he was afraid, but he went anyway. I don’t think the measure of faith or the lack thereof has anything to do with fear or concern or worry or confusion. Those are human emotions, and God knows they are a part of us. What is the act of faithfulness then? The act of faithfulness is going forward anyway, yielding to God’s call, moving into the pathway God has laid before us. So where is our faith? It is present amidst the concerns and worries of the world when we pause and listen for the voice of God, when we move into the world knowing that God is present with us. That’s faith!
Bonnie B.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
“I don’t believe it!” This exclamation was made by Luke Skywalker as he watched the Jedi master Yoda use the force to lift the X-wing from the bog in the movie The Empire Strikes Back. I enjoyed those movies as a kid, and still do today. That particular scene, though, is a powerful one. Luke has just begun his Jedi training with Yoda. He is out one day in the bog with Yoda. He notices that his ship has sunk into the bog. Yoda tells him to use the force to raise it. He tries, but only gets it out a little before it sinks back down. He’s dejected. Yoda then uses the force to raise the ship. It’s an incredible sight. Luke is stunned. He exclaims, “I don’t believe it!” In what is one of the most powerful moments of the movie, Yoda turns away and tells him, “That is why you fail.”
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Though the journey seemed foolish, by faith Abraham left his homeland to go where God directed him. Though it was humanly impossible, by faith Abraham trusted that God would provide him and Sarah a child. Abraham believed and trusted that God could and would do as he had promised. Believing in the unbelievable -- that makes all the difference. That’s faith.
Bill T.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
In a way, and in a word, the author of Hebrews is stating something that is not explicit in Genesis -- that God created everything out of nothing. Genesis 1:1 does tell us that “When God began to create the heavens and the earth the earth was formless and void.” We assume the text is telling us that God created everything, but in Genesis the author’s concern is only with creation as we know it now, not with first creation from nothing. We get that elsewhere in scripture! For instance, the Letter to the Hebrews makes this explicit: “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible” (Hebrews 11:3).
Sometimes we try to make a scripture passage do something it’s not interested in. The question of the time and length of creation is not a concern in the Genesis passage. The concern there is establishing with concrete images that God creates and is in charge. In other creation stories the gods that created the universe are overthrown by their children, and in any event things like the stars, like fate, like chance are more powerful than the gods. The Genesis account wants to make it clear that God created the stars and controls them. God controls the waters. God controls formlessness and chaos.
In Hebrews the author is addressing the Greek mind, which wants to understand the abstract rather than the concrete. That which is perfect and unseen is the source for that which is seen, and God is the one who fashioned it. Perfection does not exist independently of God and creation. God is the source.
Frank R.
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Instead of giving a dictionary definition of the word “faith,” as the writer of Hebrews tries to do in the first verse of this passage, the Bible more often gives examples and stories. That can make it much clearer.
Abraham was a man of faith -- great example!
It can be so simple to say that we had faith in our parents or our teachers in school. Our faith in them was built over a period of time, as they proved to be faithful to us and to others. Sometimes one parent might have failed that faith, in ways such as drinking or drugging that might have made him or her miss important appointments or opportunities for us or themselves, or in giving us undeserved punishments, etc.
God is different, as the Bible tells us. He has been faithful since the beginning of the creation, which he made. Sometimes there are events which might make some lose faith, like the earthquake in Nepal. But when we look back on it, we see that God has been faithful in providing for those who lost everything. No, it might not be easy, but at least they might still be alive and have some hope for their future.
Doesn’t that sound a little like the challenge that faces immigrants from Muslim countries -- some of whom are Christian? They were led to leave the familiar and head off to the unknown.
The story of Abraham suggests that when God leads us in directions that seem difficult or even dangerous, we can count on him to keep his promised rewards (even if we don’t know what they will be). He would not send us off to be destroyed when he asks us to do something. Our faith, if we have it, tells us to go ahead and obey and we will be rewarded, as Abraham was.
How rewarded my wife and I were when we obeyed God and went to Nepal after the age of retirement! It was a wonderful blessing the Lord gave us. No, we did not stay there, but we still have friends from there who are constantly in touch with us to show how much they love us and miss us. That was also a lesson for our kids, who thought we were crazy to go to Nepal at our age and who now realize what a blessing it was for us -- as well as for the people over there.
In Abe’s case, the promise of offspring seemed impossible at his age. At 89 I don’t expect any more children -- I have to count on grandchildren now. I did read about a woman in her 60s who had a child -- but it would be totally unheard of in her 90s!
Obedience is often a test that has great rewards. Listen to what God is telling you!
Bob O.
Luke 12:32-40
“You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour” (Luke 12:40 NRSV).
I recently received a phone call. My younger brother David had died suddenly and unexpectedly.
His day had begun the usual way. He went to the gym for some exercise. He had been doing this regularly for nearly 50 years. His only concession to the fact that he was two weeks short of his 72nd birthday was that he was walking on the track rather than running. Then, without so much as a cry of pain or a call for help, he fell to the floor. In spite of the medical assistance only a few minutes away, he could not be revived.
There had been no serious illness; no warning that he was not feeling well. One moment he was living. The next moment he was not. He certainly was not preparing to depart this life. In fact, he was planning for the future. The previous month he became a first-time great-grandfather. He was looking forward to watching that child grow. Rather than slowing down and retiring, he was still running the business that he founded 40 years ago. He was even remodeling and adding a couple new rooms to his home.
It has been said that the best way to prepare for death is to live each day as if it just might be the last day of your life. There is wisdom in that idea, because today just might be the last day of life. Refuse to live with an unhealed relationship, an unaddressed problem, a sin unforgiven, or an important task unfinished.
R. Robert C.
Luke 12:32-40
Jesus wants to get us ready for the coming of his Kingdom, noting that our excessive concern about what we possess can block our preparation. John Calvin notes our wrong-headed priorities: “Men are grown mad with an insatiable desire for gain.... They are blind and destitute of sound judgment who give themselves so much toil and uneasiness in amassing wealth, which is liable to putrefaction, or robbery, or a thousand other accidents” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XVI/1, p. 332). Sucked up in materialism, with our own treasures, we are hardly ready for the Day of our Lord.
Famed modern theologian Karl Barth offers solid advice for getting us ready. He tells us that “in this interval we must orient ourselves by the fact that time is expiring quickly” (Church Dogmatics, Vol. III/4, pp. 582-583). When you have this sort of end-times perspective, then you will not be so hung up on what you have, will be more oriented towards the future.
Former NFL quarterback and University of Florida star Tim Tebow reflects this freeing perspective -- a willingness to face the future with confidence, without needing to be so protective of what we have. As he put it: “I don’t know what my future holds, but I know who holds my future.” With that end-times orientation, we can say with motivational speaker Earl Nightingale: “Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.”
Savor every minute. The future and the end of time are coming.
Mark E.
Luke 12:32-40
It was discovered in 2015 that the Army mistakenly sent live anthrax specimens to 183 labs across the United States. The cause for this blunder was inadequate killing and testing of the specimens. At Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground, only 5% of the spores were tested to see if they were all dead before being shipped. The results could have been disastrous, as an anthrax epidemic could have ensued. Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work said of the incident, “By any means this was a massive institutional failure.”
Application: Good stewardship, as discussed in our reading from Luke, applies to all areas of our lives.
Ron L.
