4,000 Beagles and A Boy
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For August 21, 2022:
4,000 Beagles and A Boy
by Dean Feldmeyer
Jeremiah 1:4-10, Luke 13:10-17
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (reapplied).
On August 8, I celebrated my 71st birthday… and…
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before you were retired, I knew you and before you were an old man, I set you apart; I appointed you as a pastor and a grandfather and, well, a bunch of other things.”
And I said, “Wait! Hold on, there, Lord. Pump the breaks. I’m an old man. I’m too beat up and tired to do all the stuff you want me to do.”
But the Lord said to me, “I’m an old man. I’m an old man. Do not say, ‘I’m and old man.’ Just go and do what I tell you to do and say what I tell you to say and if you get in a jam I’ll help you out.”
Then the Lord reached out his hand and smacked me upside the head and said to me: “Now get outa here, ya knucklehead.”
In the Scriptures
We pastors are no different from anybody else. God calls us to do this or that, sometimes easy, more often difficult, and we can come up with a plethora of excuses for not doing what God asks.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
In today’s reading from the Hebrew scriptures, God calls Jeremiah, whose father was a priest and was probably grooming his son to be a priest, to be a prophet instead. God wants him to go before “nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Okay, granted, that’s a pretty tall order for a teenage boy and we can understand his feelings when he says to God, “Okay, one, I’m not a public speaker. And, two, I’m way too young for this assignment. I’m just a kid, for crying out loud.”
But God isn’t having any of that excuse. “Don’t say, ‘I’m just a kid.’ I’ll tell you what to say and whom to say it to. So, get going. And I’ll be with you to help you out if you get in a jam.”
Chronological age is one of the most common excuses people use for not answering God’s call. Either “I’m too young,” or “I’m too old.” But God doesn’t give a hoot about age. God cares about faithfulness.
Luke 13:10-17
In the gospel passage Jesus is teaching in the synagogue when he is approached by a woman who is bent over with an unidentified affliction. And she has been thus for 18 years. Jesus sees her, calls her over, and heals here. Just like that.
She stands up straight and begins praising God but the chairman of the board of elders, a self-righteous prig if ever there was one, points out to Jesus that healing someone is considered work and the Jewish law prohibits work on the Sabbath, which day this happened to be.
Jesus can hardly believe what he’s hearing. You can almost see his shoulders slump as he sighs and shakes his head. Then he points out to the church leaders that the law allows for work to be done in the name of compassion. If your ox is thirsty after eating, you are allowed to lead it to water. If your neighbor’s donkey is stuck in the mud and in danger of being injured, you are allowed to help your neighbor free the poor animal from the muck.
The law prohibits “ordinary” work on the Sabbath but allows works of ministry and emergency works of compassion. Throughout the gospels we see Jesus, a devout Jew, healing, feeding, and teaching on the Sabbath.
Jesus then makes this argument a personal one. He points to those sitting about and says, “Every one of you would lead your ox to drink on the Sabbath if the animal was thirsty, but you would make this woman, who has waited for healing for 18 years, wait yet another day because you’re afraid of breaking the law by being compassionate.” In other words, they care more about their livestock than they do for this woman.
Then everyone leaves. His fans, celebrating the great things he is doing, his opponents feeling ashamed for being so parsimonious in their approach to people in need of help.
Commentary
Humans have no end of excuses when it comes to avoiding being faithful to God’s calling. And we pastors have heard (or used) most of them. I don’t have time. I’ll do it after my kids are out of the house, or after I retire, or after I get that promotion I’ve been promised, or after I graduate from high school, or after I get my degree, or after I get more experience. Or, that’s not part of my skill set or, I don’t have those gifts or, I’m too busy or, I wouldn’t be comfortable doing that, as if being comfortable is one of the gifts of the spirit.
It’s comforting to know that the characters whom we meet in the scriptures were not all that different from us. In today’s lessons we hear two of the most common excuses that we hear in the modern church.
1. The wrong chronological age — “I’m too young,” or “I’m too old;” and
2. Fear of the law — “It’s too risky.” “We could get sued.”
In the News
Age doesn’t matter to 15-year-old Gitanjali Rao. The high school student is a scientist, inventor, innovator and educator. She has invented a test that detects lead in water faster than anything on the market. She's developed an app that flags bullying and created another device that detects opioid addiction. In 2021, she was awarded the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes.
Rao is all about inspiring the next generation of change makers, and there were more than a few in the audience in Boulder, Colorado, when she received the Barron Prize. Girls Inc. of Metro Denver brought a big group of its members. The young women got a tour of the “Bold Women. Change History.” exhibit, and met with Rao before the speech she delivered, there.
Rao is just one of many young people who have accomplished great things:
Tatum O’Neal won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award (Oscar) in 1973 at age 10.
Olympic Gymnast, Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10, which she did in the 1976 Olympics at the age of 14.
Bobby Fischer won the US Chess Championship while only 14 years old and became a Grand Master at the age of 15, the youngest of all time.
We may argue that these young people had extraordinary talent or gifts that we don’t have so they had an advantage, but remember that Pakistani Muslim girl, Malala Yousafzai, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize at age 16 for her work in bringing education and literacy to girls in the Middle East in defiance of the Taliban. And she was just a regular girl.
And environmentalist, Greta Thunberg, who has both Asperger’s Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, managed to influence the world to such a degree that she was invited to address the United Nations General Assembly at the age of 16.
The ability to ignore age as a barrier to accomplishment is evident at the opposite end of the spectrum as well. We old people are capable of more than we imagine:
Frank McCourt published the Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-seller, Angela's Ashes, at age 66; Fauja Singh ran the London Marathon at the age of 89; Grandma Moses took up painting at 76 and became a legendary American folk artist; Masako Wakamiya created the smartphone game, Hinadan, at age 82; Diana Nyad swam from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida at age 64; Yuichiro Miura reached the summit of Mt. Everest at the age of 80; and, Minoru Saito sailed alone around the world at age 75, finishing at age 77.
So pack up those age excuses — too young, too old — and throw them away. They don’t fly in this world and they don’t fly in the kingdom of God.
And neither does fear of the law.
The synagogue leaders in the gospel lesson chastised Jesus for doing “work” on the Sabbath because they were afraid of breaking God’s law and bringing God’s wrath down upon themselves or others. Simply put, they were afraid of the law.
Today, we have liticaphobia, the irrational fear of lawsuits or being sued by someone.
How many of us belong to churches who refused to put a basketball goal in the parking lot or a playground on the grounds for fear that some kid playing there might somehow get hurt and their parents sue us as the proximate cause of the injury? How many of us have had good and vital programs deferred until later while we “consult with the legal department” to make sure we aren’t, as a church or as individuals, exposed to possible litigation.
Well, relax.
Texas Attorney, Jeff Rasansky, says on his web site, “While it is certainly true that people can file a lawsuit for almost anything, you must understand that this means almost nothing. Filing a lawsuit simply means that an individual (or his/her lawyer) sent the court what amounts to a formalized letter of intent. There is a process involved in bringing a lawsuit, and there is no guarantee a lawsuit filed will ever make it to trial; in fact, 95% never do.”
The key is “reasonableness.” If a church, or any service organization, shows that it took reasonable action to provide safeguards to those using their facilities or participating in their ministries, they are protected from frivolous lawsuits.
In the Sermon
For, Jesus, the issue is what we care about and how we act out that caring in our lives. Age doesn’t matter.
The boy, Jeremiah, cares about his own safety, about not making a fool of himself, or being laughed at and ridiculed by the elders of the religious establishment. He has seen those eyerolling expressions among the adults in his community. He has heard those patronizing, condescending comments about “you’ll understand when you get older,” or “when you’ve seen what I’ve seen you’ll understand.”
Gideon faced the same misgivings. When God called him to lead the children of Israel against the Midianites, he responded that his tribe was the smallest of the 12 and he was the youngest of his family. How could he possibly do what God wanted?
When David volunteered to go up against Goliath, he was derided by his brothers and others in the trenches as too young, too small, and too inexperienced.
Abraham told God that he couldn’t create a new nation of people because he didn’t have an heir and he and Sarah were too old to produce one. When God suggested otherwise, Sarah laughed out loud.
Jesus chastised the leaders of the synagogue because they cared too much for the wrong thing. They cared for the law and they even cared for their livestock but they couldn’t bring themselves to care enough for a woman in pain and misery to take a gamble on healing her.
A couple of weeks ago there was a news story about the rescue of nearly 4,000 beagles from a breeding facility in Virginia that was selling them to be used in pharmaceutical trials. The rescue was undertaken by several animal welfare organizations working together after the facility ignored orders from the Justice Department and their own parent company to close down the breeding center.
For about two days the national news was saturated with accounts of the rescue and lots of pictures of beagle puppies, which must be about the cutest animals to walk the face of the earth, crowded into cages and barking at the camera. And, of course, the TV stations that originating the accounts were flooded with calls from people wanting to adopt the dogs.
Those responsible for finding new homes for the beagles said that even though every dog had to be medically evaluated and made healthy before they could be adopted, they expect to have all 4,000 into forever homes within 60 days.
No one would argue that animal cruelty of this kind and at this scale isn’t deplorable. And, of course, those who perpetrate such a thing should be punished. All of us would celebrate that the American public is so warm hearted that the dogs will all be adopted in short order.
But…
In 2020, the last year figures were available, about 117,470 children in the United States were waiting to be adopted.
And…
The USDA estimates that, as of 2018, more than 11 million children in the United States lived in food-insecure households. That means that 1 in 6 children may not have consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Most believe that the number has increased with the onset of Covid 19.
So, what do we value most? What is highest on our list of priorities? Animals or people?
Amen.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Bound by Loyalty — A Strength or Weakness?
by Tom Willadsen
Jeremiah 1:4-10, Hebrews 12:18-29, Luke 13:10-17, Psalm 71:1-6, Isaiah 58:9b-14, Psalm 103:1-8
In the Scriptures
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Today’s text from Jeremiah has been cherished by those seeking to make abortion illegal in the United States. The Lord calls Jeremiah before Jeremiah was “formed in the womb” and “consecrated” him before he was born. The text clearly indicates Jeremiah’s existence, preconception, was planned by God, part of God’s plan for the salvation of Judah.
This passage has the hallmarks of a Hebrew Bible call story.
Summons vv. 4-5
Resistance v. 6
Reassurance vv. 7-8
Touch v. 9
There is not a specific moment when Jeremiah accepts the call; think of it as an offer he can’t refuse.
The more significant portion of the call is the chiasmus in v. 10:
To pluck up and to pull down…
To build and to plant.
Note how pluck up’s opposite is at the end of the second line, while pull down’s opposite is at the beginning of the second line. This structure is called a chiasmus, its name comes from the Greek letter Chi, which looks like this Χ. This is significant because the first part of Jeremiah’s call, his first tasks, are to get rid of what exists so something new can take its place. Some scholars believe the middle portion of that verse “to destroy and overthrow” was added later, disrupting the chiasmus, but reinforcing the need for something like a divine wrecking ball.
Luke 13:10-17
Act this passage out physically. Really. Stand up and stoop forward as far as you can. Notice what your field of vision is. Stand that way until it becomes uncomfortable. Ask your congregation to do the same. Stand up to full height, notice what you’re able to see, how much more of the world. Straightening the woman’s back gave her more than good posture.
We assume that this woman is old, but that text does not indicate her age, only that she has been afflicted for 18 years. Jesus knew this detail, which appears in the text twice. Was the length of this woman’s suffering commonly known? How small a town was this?
The text indicates that the cause of this woman’s condition is a spirit, later identified as being of satanic origin.
There’s an interesting contrast between the woman who is bound by Satan and the leader of the synagogue who is bound by obedience to the law as he understands it. The livestock, whom Jesus indicates are of less importance than the daughter of Abraham, are untied (unbound) on the Sabbath and led to the manger and water. Could a woman be of greater value than livestock? If one routinely violates Sabbath for an animal, should not one do the same for a human being?
Note the aftermath of this encounter: Jesus’ opponents were put to shame. It appears that everyone else was delighted. Putting one’s enemies to shame may not be a wise tactic in the long run, a point Amanda Ripley makes in her recent book High Conflict.
Psalm 71:1-6
This reading could have been written by Jeremiah. Jeremiah was more honest than any other prophet about the cost he bore to speak God’s word. The last verse echoes v. 5 from the Jeremiah reading. The psalmist and Jeremiah have been called by God since birth. Jeremiah, like most of us, was born at a very young age.
Psalm 103:1-8
Could have been penned by the woman whose back Jesus straightened. On the Sabbath.
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Juxtaposing this lesson with the gospel reading brings some interesting insights. The prophet endorses Sabbath observance, along with removing “the yoke from among you.” One can understand the crippled woman’s condition as a yoke from which Jesus set her free. Yet the liberation takes place on the Sabbath to the chagrin of the leader of the synagogue. The prophet also admonishes against “the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil” which the leader of the synagogue is guilty of. But so is Jesus. It’s clear that Isaiah’s point is that the way to win God’s favor is to care for the hungry and prisoners, but also to delight in the Sabbath. Perhaps the synagogue leader’s lack of delight was the whole problem. Maybe that’s our whole problem, too.
Hebrews 12:18-29
There’s a contrast in this reading between Mount Sinai where Moses encountered the Lord and Mount Zion, a shorthand term for the Promised Land. Another contrast is the vengeful blood of Abel and the liberating blood of Jesus Christ.
The latter half of the reading echoes a point made in God’s call of Jeremiah, that the destruction of the old is essential for the new to emerge. And it’s pretty clear that the author of Hebrews believes the new is better and eternal.
In the News
There’s good news for President Biden and the Democrats as July’s inflation rate was 0.0%, largely because gasoline prices have dropped from historic highs. The annual inflation rate is still 8.5%, higher than it’s been in decades, but this is certainly good news for those hoping that the Democrats can hold onto their slim majorities in both houses of Congress.
A little more good news was that the Inflation Reduction Acts was passed, at last. Some of the provisions of the spending law are investments in clean energy production, a minimum corporate tax, an extension of the Affordable Care Act and a cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for those on Medicare. The law also permits the federal government to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. While the impact on inflation will not be immediate, this is a praise worthy piece of legislation.
The Democrats’ good news, and President Biden’s slightly higher approval numbers have been overshadowed in the news by the former president’s legal problems. Multiple legal problems.
After ignoring a subpoena seeking the return of classified documents from the former president, the FBI searched the former president’s residence in Florida. NBC news reported, “Federal agents removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some that were labeled top secret…”
Some media outlets have expressed outrage at the unprecedented search. It’s true, the FBI has never executed a search warrant at the residence of a former president before. Also unprecedented is a president’s handling of top secret documents so carelessly.
NewsOne quoted some on the political right:
“THE FBI HAS GONE ROUGE (sic) AND IT’S TIME TO KILL IT, KILL IT, KILL IT!!!!”
[Has the FBI gone rouge, thus confirming all those rumors about J. Edgar Hoover?]
Both Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) have called for the FBI to be defunded. The same legislators who accused the Democrats of wanting to defund police departments, the same legislators who stood staunchly for law and order during the riots following the murder of George Floyd, now want the nation’s premiere federal law enforcement agency defunded. In a baffling revision of history Rep. Boebert tweeted:
Weaponizing the FBI to raid President Trump’s home makes Watergate look like nothing.
In a separate legal proceeding the former president invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination 440 times on August 10, in a deposition in a civil case brought against his business empire by the state of New York. This is also unprecedented.
In the Sermon
There are a number of images contrasting bondage and liberation in today’s readings. The unnamed woman in the passage from Luke has been bound by Satan for 18 years. The leader of the synagogue is bound by a reverence for the law that is anything but life-giving.
Bob Dylan famously sang “you’re gonna have to serve somebody,” in his last Top 40 Hit. The song peaked at #24 in 1979.
Well it may be the Devil
Or it may be the Lord,
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
To Dylan it is not a question of whether one will be tied to someone else, just to whom. Paul Tillich made a similar point when he argued that everyone has an ultimate concern. Such affiliations give one identity and determine one’s life choices.
A brief study of the word “religion” shows the same thing. The “lig” comes from the same Latin root that is the basis for the English word “ligament,” it connotes tying or binding. One’s religion, then, is what one has chosen to bind oneself to. It does not have to be divine in any sense of the word.
The leader of the synagogue had bound himself to a strict, legalistic lifestyle. The woman had been physically bound by her bent body. When Jesus set her free from that bondage she became free to bind herself to something, or someone else.
Every day we have the freedom to choose whom we will serve. Every minute. Joshua famously gave this choice to the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land (Joshua 24:15). Unfortunately, Josh made it sound like they could only make one choice and it had to be right then. We’re free, always, to choose whom we will serve.
The loyalty that we see among followers of both major political parties in the United States can be binding in the same way. Less than three months before the midterm elections I wonder what would have to happen for someone to sever the ties they feel to a particular party, ideology, or individual, to freely choose something else.
Loyalty, like any strength, can be a weakness.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Luke 13:10-17
We Need More Chance Encounters
As the woman who is bent over encounters Jesus, the path of her life changes. Chance encounters can have the same impact in our lives, and yet, we are limiting our chances to meet people, says expert Priya Parker. Our world is organized to reduce such meetings.
Parker says, “With the ease of being able to order anything online, we're trading efficiency for community. Some community is intentional…but a lot of community is actually informal. So, going to the grocery store, going to the dry cleaners; going to the places, public or private, that you go for one specific need, which might be to get your lettuce, and we'd run into people on the way. We used to go — frankly — to the library, and now there are a lot of ways that we can consume content. We used to go to the movie theaters, and now we can watch Netflix at home. Part of this always on-demand economy is also making us not bump into people…”
She adds, “then I think a third element is we are really, really, really busy. This kind of culture of busyness, this culture of "always on," not just for technology, [but] the number of hours Americans are working. The desire to multitask all of the time. Our distraction levels have gone through the roof. There are studies that show that in any conversation now between people, the number of times we make eye contact with each other has gone down, in part because we're doing other things at the same time. Yes, looking at our phone, but also kind of have prioritized the values of productivity over the values of connection.”
If we want transformational encounters with people, we have to make room to meet up with them — and Jesus.
* * *
Luke 13:10-17
Church Where You Know People
When people asked author and pastor Eugene Peterson how they should choose a church, his advice was “go to the closest church where you live, and the smallest. And if, after six months, it’s just not working, go to the next smallest. Because you have to deal with people as they are. And you’ve got to learn how to love them when they’re not lovable.” In a small church, people have to encounter each other like Jesus and the woman do on the Sabbath day. These meetings help everyone become closer to God.
In his retirement, Peterson said, “we go to a church now — I’m a Presbyterian, but it’s a Lutheran church. And most of the people are my age, and our pastor is young, and he’s a really good pastor. I go there to be immersed in what I don’t know about. And these people — I mean, there’s 80 people in church, and, I know some of them quite well; I grew up with many of them.” Despite his renown as an author, he said, “they still treat me like a little kid. And so that’s kind of refreshing.” In those meetings, something holy was revealed, as with Jesus and his meeting with the woman.
* * *
Luke 13:10-17
Transformation on the Road
Jesus and the woman in the synagogue meet, and her life (and perhaps his?) changes as a result. A similar thing, and spending more time together, happened for Sharon Leslie Morgan and Thomas Norman DeWolf. They met through Coming to the Table, a nonprofit organization founded by the descendants of both slaveholders and enslaved people. Coming to the Table arranges for the descendants to meet, working to name and heal wounds that are rooted in the history of slavery.
As Tom remembers, “We were just lost souls looking for direction and relief. In 2009, Sharon and I embarked upon a journey to test whether two people — an African American woman from South Side Chicago who is descended from enslaved people, and a white man from central Oregon who is descended from the largest slave-trading dynasty in US history — could come to grips with deep, traumatic, historic wounds and find healing. We had no idea where we would end up.”
The two took a road trip together, based on their family history. “As part of a workshop designed to spark the healing process, they agreed to embark on a 30-day, 9,650-kilometre road trip together. They mapped out a route based on their families' genealogies. While on the road, they visited historically significant landmarks, including the location where a young man was lynched in 1954, an antebellum home in Mississippi and a sharecroppers farm in Louisiana.”
After crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the emotion hit hard for Morgan. “My ancestors were enslaved right down the road from there,” she said. “It's such a rush of emotion because you have connected this history.” In that moment, for Morgan, DeWolf represented every white person that enslaved, lynched, sharecropped, and beat her family.
Now, “Morgan hopes to pass along what she's experienced to her two grandchildren, and use her family's story of trauma as a source of inspiration.” She adds, “I want them to know that our ancestors were enslaved, and they suffered incredible, inhumane things in their lifetimes. But they were resilient enough to endure, so that we could be here today,” she said. “And now, our responsibility is to stand on their shoulders, and make the world a better place.”
Their meeting, and the trip, was transformational for both of them.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Exactly the Right Age
“I’m too young,” Jeremiah protests, when God says that God has work for him to do. Perhaps God called him at just the right moment in his faith development. Rabbi Sandy Sasso says that “the very best religious education is much broader than that and gives children a sense of a greater presence.” Jeremiah gets that and much more in his meeting with God. She adds, “children, with or without religious instruction, have this deeper sense of something grander in the universe and have these deeper questions, whether or not they’re involved in a religious community. On the other hand, I do feel that being involved in a religious community and participating in some traditional rituals and ceremonies really helps provide a language for a child to give expression.”
For parents, she notes, “We read tons of books, how to feed them, you know, how to bring them up, how to get them to sleep, how to potty-train them. We ought to also engage in educating ourselves about our own spiritual lives, because it’s very difficult to share with children what you’re thinking if you haven’t been thinking about these issues. So I think first we need to nurture our own spiritual lives. And most of what we do in terms of nurturing our children’s spirituality really happens when no one else is looking, meaning it’s not all planned for. It’s kind of what happens every day…You know, I think society does a very good job in teaching us how to be consumers and a very good job in teaching us how to be competitors. The question I think parents are struggling to answer is how do we not just teach our children’s minds, but how do we teach their souls? And that’s a much deeper question. And I know we want our children to be more than consumers and competitors.”
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
The Wisdom of Children
As God calls Jeremiah, God announces that Jeremiah has the wisdom to serve as God’s prophet, even though he’s young. Rabbi Sandy Sasso says that children have more spiritual wisdom than we expect. She recalls a moment with her own daughter, saying, “I was going through a really difficult time and — in my life, and I said to my daughter, “You know, I’m not sure that I should still be a rabbi, because I don’t know if I can believe in God anymore.” And my daughter looked at me without blinking and said, “Mom, you don’t believe in that kind of God.” And she was right, but I needed her to tell me at that moment…I don’t believe in a God who, you know, makes bad things happen to good people. I don’t believe in that kind of God. But, you know, in moments like that, you forget, and sometimes you need a child to remind you. And I think children often remind us what’s true and what’s most important in our lives.”
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Just a Boy
The late author and pastor Eugene Peterson recalls that God came into his life when he, like Jeremiah, was just a boy. Something opened up in Eugene Peterson when his family moved, and he recalls, “I was about — maybe 10 years old, and I had no friends. And I had a Bible that I’d purchased with my own money, and I started reading it, because I had no friends. And somebody told me that the Psalms were a good thing to read, so I started reading the Psalms. And I couldn’t understand them. God is a rock? What does that mean? “My tears are in your bottle?” What is going on here? And I just kind of struggled with that, and — but people had told me it was important to read the Psalms. And about a month into that, I realized what they were. And I didn’t know the term “metaphor,” but I realized what metaphors were. And so then, so I was off, and the Psalms were my introduction to poetry.” This was the start of his love of language, and his fascination with how God is revealed in the words of the Bible.
Peterson adds, “when I did The Message, I had a congregation of people that didn’t read books. And so I started translating the Bible in their language, not knowing what I was doing, and suddenly, they started paying attention to me in a way they never did before. And so I think — and see, I didn’t call it poetry. If I’d have done that, they would have quit.” He kept building on that childhood foundation.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Bonus illustration in honor of Frederick Buechner
Frederick Buechner, who died August 15, 2022, has been called “the minister’s minister,” and a “writer’s writer,” influenced generations of preachers and Christians. He called upon us to “listen to your life.” His sermons, novels, essays bridged theological divisions between conservatives and liberals, while also speaking prophetically about the sacred journey of faith.
Here’s a quote from his imaginative novel Godric (1980), a story of a 12-century English saint who settled along the River Wear. As an older man, Godric is brought into Durham Cathedral one Christmas Eve: “The Christmas mass begins,” Buechner writes:
“Lux fulgebit hodie!” they sing. “The Lord is born to us! Wonderful shall be his name, and God the Prince of Peace, the Father of the world to come!” (Godric continues) “An easy thing it is to love a babe. A babe asks nothing, never chides. A babe is fair to see. A babe is hope for better things to come. All this and more. But babes grow into men at last. That’s where it turns a bitter brew….Christ minds us to be good, to feed his sheep, take up our cross and follow him with Hell’s hot fires if we fail. All this and more our Savior bides when he becomes a man, and to a (person) we say him nay. Thus when the Bishop tends me with his own hands Christ’s flesh and blood, I slobber them with tears.” (Godric, p. 124)
Writing of Hell’s hot fires is as close as Mr. Buechner will ever come to experiencing them.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Don’t say you’re only a kid
While Jeremiah tries to deflect his calling to be a prophet because of his age, God reminds him that the prophet will be sent with the fullness of divine authority. It is an age-old question that young leaders face today (and that continues to confound older leaders). Aidan Kohn-Murphy is an incoming freshman at Harvard University, but has already achieved acclaim as the founder and executive director of Gen-Z for Change, a nonprofit coalition of more than 500 social media creators who use their platforms to advocate for change.
Kohn-Murphy spoke at the 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival recently, and commented on his vision for social change, and the obstacles he has faced as a young leader for change. He said he remains optimistic about his generation’s ability to impact society. “Even as the laundry list of issues facing our generation and world continues to expand, I’ve never lost faith in our generation’s ability to affect change. I’m fortunate enough to work alongside some of the most passionate and committed activists in the country. It’s impossible to lose hope when you’re surrounded by people who inspire you every single day.”
He continued:
As more and more young people turn away from traditional media, we have an opportunity to uplift perspectives that have traditionally been underrepresented and hear directly from those most affected by various rulings or policies. I wouldn’t describe Gen-Z for Change as a news outlet, but as a hub for progressive storytelling and action. As a coalition of over 500 creators, we know it’s impossible to encapsulate the views of all of our members, so we seek to uplift their voices on the issues they’re most passionate about and provide them with the resources they need to bring progressive values to their audiences.
* * *
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Satisfy the needs of the afflicted
Historic floods swept through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky last month, leaving thousands either permanently or temporarily unhoused. As emergency shelters close and assistance shifts to assessing long-term needs, Isaiah’s call to satisfy the needs of the afflicted remains ever urgent. One family living near St. Louis describes the situation as a “nightmare.”
In the University City School district, an urban district adjacent to the city of St. Louis, more than 70 families were displaced and are still in need of assistance. Many of them who don't even know where they're going to live when school starts, so we're working with them to make sure we can get their children to school," Superintendent of Schools Sharonica Hardin-Bartley said.
It's a current example of how federal disaster response continues to disproportionately harm communities of color and the poor. “For a variety of reasons,” writes Justin Dorazio of the center for American Progress, “Federal responses to support communities after natural disasters are inequitable. Housing assistance and rebuilding efforts in the disaster recovery period are often targeted to homeowners and wealthier survivors, deepening entrenched racial and socioeconomic inequities and exacerbating crises of homelessness, inadequate low-cost housing, displacement, and the racial wealth gap.”
Historical patterns of discrimination in housing and segregation have resulted in larger numbers of poor persons and persons of color living in neighborhoods considered to be less resilient to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding. In addition, Dorazio notes, many of these neighborhoods are also more likely to be located near EPA Superfund cleanup sites, making them more prone to becoming contaminated by toxic waste following disasters.
* * *
Luke 13:10-17
Jesus heals a woman’s chronic pain
Riddled by pain and bent over because of her condition, a woman happens to encounter Jesus teaching in one of the synagogues. It’s a chance encounter — and one that will become transforming.
For many people with chronic pain, their disability is not as visible. “The thing about chronic illness,” wrote Kari Cobham in the New York Times a year ago, “whether you’re living through pain or other debilitating symptoms, is this business of appearing normal, of portioning out limited energy on days when walking across the room without losing your breath isn’t possible.”
Cobham’s story illustrates the way chronic pain is quite often an invisible disease. Chronic pain is commonly associated with invisible illnesses, as well as enduring fatigue. The Verywell Mind website notes, “Many patients with invisible illnesses look healthy on the outside, leaving them to deal with friends, family members, and even medical practitioners who question whether they are truly sick.”
Jesus’ compassion for the woman’s struggle ultimately leads to his conflict with the religious leaders over the Sabbath observances. Without falling into an anti-Sematic trope, the story can offer a reminder of how the church can minister to the large numbers of people who live with these sorts of “invsisible” conditions. As Cobham writes:
It can feel like a solo battle, but it’s not. Around 40 percent of Americans live with at least one chronic illness that causes fatigue, mood disorders or persistent pain. Half as many struggle with chronic pain in particular, but a significant portion manage multiple illnesses like me.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
When my sister was little she invited her friend Felicia to church. Felicia’s parents generally worked nights, and they were happy for the invite for their daughter to come to church with us. Felicia’s mom, Ms. Toni, called my parents later that day and said, “Y’all didn’t happen to baptize my daughter did you?” My parents, said, “Of course not, we would never do that without your permission, why?” Apparently, Felicia came home from church and said that church was great, and oh, by the way, she had been baptized.
My parents asked my sister about the alleged baptism, and sure enough, she and Felicia had a private play baptism after worship. Felicia’s family was Baptist, and mine was Presbyterian, so we had different understandings of how and when Baptism should happen. But both families agreed, at least the girls had a firm understanding of how important baptism was — and there was a long conversation afterward about how one was never too young to ask about baptism and a call to God. The girls must have been four years old.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
When I was 11 years old, I wanted to be confirmed at church. The traditional age was 12, but we were about to move. The truth was I did not want to start over. I had already sat on the board as a youth representative. I lit candles, I read the Bible in church, I helped out in the nursery. I asked, do you want me to wait or get confirmed in the church I already know?
Between the time I asked and got confirmed, the church that I knew and loved burned down. I got confirmed on the porch, in the smell of ashes. I never regretted it. This was the church that knew who I was, and what I did. It wasn’t about work, it was about love. I could go to the next church confirmed as a member, saying I am ready. It was beautiful. As the 10 confirmands and I took our vows in the ruins of the church, the news came through that the insurance would pay for a total rebuild of the building — providing the room the church that had long outgrown its current space desperately needed. It was a miracle. I still remember it all; my confirmation, the ashes, and the resurrection all on the steps of the porch. I, being 11 years old, had nothing to do with it.
* * *
Isaiah 58:9-14
Too often we view perfection for the Sabbath, instead of disability as a part of the Sabbath. The number of times that we do not want to put in a ramp, handrail or allow a congregant to mutter during worship, the less we understand what it is the Sabbath is for.
The Sabbath is for those with disabilities to access God; the less accessible Sabbath is, the less it is the Sabbath. Sabbath space is not about perfection, it is about healing. Not the kind of healing where everyone looks and acts the same, but the kind of healing where everyone is safe and treated with the inherent dignity they deserve.
When my middle child, who has autism, takes communion, he loves it because he understands that he is doing something with the community. He loves every part of the ritual. He stims — rocking back and forth, throwing up his arms, muttering to himself — as the words of institution are said, to soothe himself through this important and communal moment. When the bread is passed out, he eats it right away. He holds the cup, which we take together, with bated breath, pregnant with anticipation. He is probably the only one not thinking about grocery lists or how he looks in the moment. He is completely focused on the cup. And when we drink, his tongue darts in to take in every sacred drop. He understands that this is his taste of Jesus and community, that he is beloved and he belongs in this moment. It is an access point for him. For him, this six to eight minute time (we keep it short) is sanctuary. Isn’t that what we all want for the rest of us?
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by Katy Stenta
Call to Worship
In you, O Lord, I take refuge.
Incline your ear to me, be our strong fortress.
I will put my trust in my God.
Come, let us praise God continually.
OR
Let us not say we are too young or too old.
Our God calls us.
Our God calls us and loves us.
Our God knows us and loves us.
Truly we know that we belong to God.
Come, let us praise our God together.
Prayer of the Day/Collect
God, lead us in such a way that we feel your refuge and strength instead of our inadequacies. Give us the gift of prophecy, so that we may tell the truth boldly and in love, and teach us to be a community that loves and supports one another. We pray this in your son, Jesus Christ’s most holy name. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
God, we confess that we have so many worries about the work that is to be done. What if I am too young or too old? What if I am not smart enough? What if I do not do enough? I do not know where to start, or when I am supposed to stop the work. Please help me God. Remind me that you are here to guide the work and to give us Sabbath. Remind us that the work is not for me alone, but for the community together. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Remind us that the work begun in Christ will be completed in Christ, and with that we can assure one another of the good news.
In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayers of the People
God we lift up to you all of us who feel ill, weak or incapable. All of us who are overwhelmed and are not receiving the community support that we need. We pray for all of those in need now:
(Prayers of Concern)
God we also lift up those prayers of joy, those that help us to remember that the work has already begun in joy. Let us lift those prayers of praise now:
(Prayers of Praise)
And Lord, we lift these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray by saying,
(The Lord’s Prayer)
Amen.
Prayer of the Day
I don’t know why perfection and worship seem to go together,
when this should be a space of sanctuary instead.
I do not know why we insist on smiles and hope — when Jesus so often listened and raged, and cried — in his fully human way.
I do not know why the church has forgotten to be a space of refuge, but I keep praying we find it again. And I hope that we become a space where no one feels
too
anything
to come to our doors.
May we become a space of grace.
I pray,
Amen.
Hymns
Spirit
CH: 249
ELW: 396
PH: 319
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
UMH: 110
H82: 687/688
PH: 260
AAHH: 124
NNBH: 37
NCH: 439/440
CH: 65
LBW: 228/229
ELW: 503/504/505
W&P: 588
AMEC: 54
STLT: 200
Wherever I May Wander
PH: 294
Jesus Loves Me
AAHH: 335
AMEC: 549
CH: 344
CH: 113
ELW: 179
PH: 304
UMH: 191
Here I Am Lord
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELW: 574
Renew: 149
PH: 525
UMH: 593
Music Resources Key
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
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
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Never Too Young
by Quantisha Mason-Doll
Jeremiah 1:4-10
How many of you have heard this story from our friend Jeremiah? (Leave space for children to respond.)
The prophet Jeremiah is a very special person. He was someone God picked specially to care for others. However, I want to let you all in on a little secret: “Jeremiah was fearful of his call because he thought he was too young.”
Can anyone tell me what it means to be called by God? (Leave space for children to respond.)
Our Lord is pretty cool if I may say. You see, our God does not care how little you are when it is your time you will be called. Our Savior sees your potential and wants to help you grow into the kingdom of heaven. Being young does not mean you cannot offer guidance to someone older than yourself. Jeremiah was afraid that he might fail but before he could even form the words, God reminded Jeremiah that the creator would always be with him.
How can you grow into God’s calling to become Christ’s hands and feet in this world? (Leave space for children to respond.)
(This can be left open depending on how your congregation views discipleship. I would offer reassurance to the youngest among us that their voice is valid and they are allowed to take up space. Remind them that there can be no growth without risk taking and that can take the form of speaking up and speaking out. The Spirit of God cannot and will not be confined to adults.)
(Show them the community) This community has been called to love and support you. If the Lord our god has called you, it is the responsibility of this community to nurture that call. Fear not! We will catch you if you fall.
Prayer
Loving God, we give you thanks for calling us to be your chosen. Help us to be unafraid to live into your call. We pray this in your son’s name, Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, August 21, 2022 issue.
Copyright 2022 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.
- 4,000 Beagles and A Boy by Dean Feldmeyer — Based on Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Luke 13:10-17.
- Second Thoughts: Bound by Loyalty — A Strength or Weakness? by Tom Willadsen.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Chris Keating, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by Katy Stenta.
- Children's sermon: Never Too Young by Quantisha Mason-Doll.
4,000 Beagles and A Boyby Dean Feldmeyer
Jeremiah 1:4-10, Luke 13:10-17
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (reapplied).
On August 8, I celebrated my 71st birthday… and…
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before you were retired, I knew you and before you were an old man, I set you apart; I appointed you as a pastor and a grandfather and, well, a bunch of other things.”
And I said, “Wait! Hold on, there, Lord. Pump the breaks. I’m an old man. I’m too beat up and tired to do all the stuff you want me to do.”
But the Lord said to me, “I’m an old man. I’m an old man. Do not say, ‘I’m and old man.’ Just go and do what I tell you to do and say what I tell you to say and if you get in a jam I’ll help you out.”
Then the Lord reached out his hand and smacked me upside the head and said to me: “Now get outa here, ya knucklehead.”
In the Scriptures
We pastors are no different from anybody else. God calls us to do this or that, sometimes easy, more often difficult, and we can come up with a plethora of excuses for not doing what God asks.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
In today’s reading from the Hebrew scriptures, God calls Jeremiah, whose father was a priest and was probably grooming his son to be a priest, to be a prophet instead. God wants him to go before “nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Okay, granted, that’s a pretty tall order for a teenage boy and we can understand his feelings when he says to God, “Okay, one, I’m not a public speaker. And, two, I’m way too young for this assignment. I’m just a kid, for crying out loud.”
But God isn’t having any of that excuse. “Don’t say, ‘I’m just a kid.’ I’ll tell you what to say and whom to say it to. So, get going. And I’ll be with you to help you out if you get in a jam.”
Chronological age is one of the most common excuses people use for not answering God’s call. Either “I’m too young,” or “I’m too old.” But God doesn’t give a hoot about age. God cares about faithfulness.
Luke 13:10-17
In the gospel passage Jesus is teaching in the synagogue when he is approached by a woman who is bent over with an unidentified affliction. And she has been thus for 18 years. Jesus sees her, calls her over, and heals here. Just like that.
She stands up straight and begins praising God but the chairman of the board of elders, a self-righteous prig if ever there was one, points out to Jesus that healing someone is considered work and the Jewish law prohibits work on the Sabbath, which day this happened to be.
Jesus can hardly believe what he’s hearing. You can almost see his shoulders slump as he sighs and shakes his head. Then he points out to the church leaders that the law allows for work to be done in the name of compassion. If your ox is thirsty after eating, you are allowed to lead it to water. If your neighbor’s donkey is stuck in the mud and in danger of being injured, you are allowed to help your neighbor free the poor animal from the muck.
The law prohibits “ordinary” work on the Sabbath but allows works of ministry and emergency works of compassion. Throughout the gospels we see Jesus, a devout Jew, healing, feeding, and teaching on the Sabbath.
Jesus then makes this argument a personal one. He points to those sitting about and says, “Every one of you would lead your ox to drink on the Sabbath if the animal was thirsty, but you would make this woman, who has waited for healing for 18 years, wait yet another day because you’re afraid of breaking the law by being compassionate.” In other words, they care more about their livestock than they do for this woman.
Then everyone leaves. His fans, celebrating the great things he is doing, his opponents feeling ashamed for being so parsimonious in their approach to people in need of help.
Commentary
Humans have no end of excuses when it comes to avoiding being faithful to God’s calling. And we pastors have heard (or used) most of them. I don’t have time. I’ll do it after my kids are out of the house, or after I retire, or after I get that promotion I’ve been promised, or after I graduate from high school, or after I get my degree, or after I get more experience. Or, that’s not part of my skill set or, I don’t have those gifts or, I’m too busy or, I wouldn’t be comfortable doing that, as if being comfortable is one of the gifts of the spirit.
It’s comforting to know that the characters whom we meet in the scriptures were not all that different from us. In today’s lessons we hear two of the most common excuses that we hear in the modern church.
1. The wrong chronological age — “I’m too young,” or “I’m too old;” and
2. Fear of the law — “It’s too risky.” “We could get sued.”
In the News
Age doesn’t matter to 15-year-old Gitanjali Rao. The high school student is a scientist, inventor, innovator and educator. She has invented a test that detects lead in water faster than anything on the market. She's developed an app that flags bullying and created another device that detects opioid addiction. In 2021, she was awarded the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes.
Rao is all about inspiring the next generation of change makers, and there were more than a few in the audience in Boulder, Colorado, when she received the Barron Prize. Girls Inc. of Metro Denver brought a big group of its members. The young women got a tour of the “Bold Women. Change History.” exhibit, and met with Rao before the speech she delivered, there.
Rao is just one of many young people who have accomplished great things:
Tatum O’Neal won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award (Oscar) in 1973 at age 10.
Olympic Gymnast, Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10, which she did in the 1976 Olympics at the age of 14.
Bobby Fischer won the US Chess Championship while only 14 years old and became a Grand Master at the age of 15, the youngest of all time.
We may argue that these young people had extraordinary talent or gifts that we don’t have so they had an advantage, but remember that Pakistani Muslim girl, Malala Yousafzai, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize at age 16 for her work in bringing education and literacy to girls in the Middle East in defiance of the Taliban. And she was just a regular girl.
And environmentalist, Greta Thunberg, who has both Asperger’s Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, managed to influence the world to such a degree that she was invited to address the United Nations General Assembly at the age of 16.
The ability to ignore age as a barrier to accomplishment is evident at the opposite end of the spectrum as well. We old people are capable of more than we imagine:
Frank McCourt published the Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-seller, Angela's Ashes, at age 66; Fauja Singh ran the London Marathon at the age of 89; Grandma Moses took up painting at 76 and became a legendary American folk artist; Masako Wakamiya created the smartphone game, Hinadan, at age 82; Diana Nyad swam from Havana, Cuba to Key West, Florida at age 64; Yuichiro Miura reached the summit of Mt. Everest at the age of 80; and, Minoru Saito sailed alone around the world at age 75, finishing at age 77.
So pack up those age excuses — too young, too old — and throw them away. They don’t fly in this world and they don’t fly in the kingdom of God.
And neither does fear of the law.
The synagogue leaders in the gospel lesson chastised Jesus for doing “work” on the Sabbath because they were afraid of breaking God’s law and bringing God’s wrath down upon themselves or others. Simply put, they were afraid of the law.
Today, we have liticaphobia, the irrational fear of lawsuits or being sued by someone.
How many of us belong to churches who refused to put a basketball goal in the parking lot or a playground on the grounds for fear that some kid playing there might somehow get hurt and their parents sue us as the proximate cause of the injury? How many of us have had good and vital programs deferred until later while we “consult with the legal department” to make sure we aren’t, as a church or as individuals, exposed to possible litigation.
Well, relax.
Texas Attorney, Jeff Rasansky, says on his web site, “While it is certainly true that people can file a lawsuit for almost anything, you must understand that this means almost nothing. Filing a lawsuit simply means that an individual (or his/her lawyer) sent the court what amounts to a formalized letter of intent. There is a process involved in bringing a lawsuit, and there is no guarantee a lawsuit filed will ever make it to trial; in fact, 95% never do.”
The key is “reasonableness.” If a church, or any service organization, shows that it took reasonable action to provide safeguards to those using their facilities or participating in their ministries, they are protected from frivolous lawsuits.
In the Sermon
For, Jesus, the issue is what we care about and how we act out that caring in our lives. Age doesn’t matter.
The boy, Jeremiah, cares about his own safety, about not making a fool of himself, or being laughed at and ridiculed by the elders of the religious establishment. He has seen those eyerolling expressions among the adults in his community. He has heard those patronizing, condescending comments about “you’ll understand when you get older,” or “when you’ve seen what I’ve seen you’ll understand.”
Gideon faced the same misgivings. When God called him to lead the children of Israel against the Midianites, he responded that his tribe was the smallest of the 12 and he was the youngest of his family. How could he possibly do what God wanted?
When David volunteered to go up against Goliath, he was derided by his brothers and others in the trenches as too young, too small, and too inexperienced.
Abraham told God that he couldn’t create a new nation of people because he didn’t have an heir and he and Sarah were too old to produce one. When God suggested otherwise, Sarah laughed out loud.
Jesus chastised the leaders of the synagogue because they cared too much for the wrong thing. They cared for the law and they even cared for their livestock but they couldn’t bring themselves to care enough for a woman in pain and misery to take a gamble on healing her.
A couple of weeks ago there was a news story about the rescue of nearly 4,000 beagles from a breeding facility in Virginia that was selling them to be used in pharmaceutical trials. The rescue was undertaken by several animal welfare organizations working together after the facility ignored orders from the Justice Department and their own parent company to close down the breeding center.
For about two days the national news was saturated with accounts of the rescue and lots of pictures of beagle puppies, which must be about the cutest animals to walk the face of the earth, crowded into cages and barking at the camera. And, of course, the TV stations that originating the accounts were flooded with calls from people wanting to adopt the dogs.
Those responsible for finding new homes for the beagles said that even though every dog had to be medically evaluated and made healthy before they could be adopted, they expect to have all 4,000 into forever homes within 60 days.
No one would argue that animal cruelty of this kind and at this scale isn’t deplorable. And, of course, those who perpetrate such a thing should be punished. All of us would celebrate that the American public is so warm hearted that the dogs will all be adopted in short order.
But…
In 2020, the last year figures were available, about 117,470 children in the United States were waiting to be adopted.
And…
The USDA estimates that, as of 2018, more than 11 million children in the United States lived in food-insecure households. That means that 1 in 6 children may not have consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. Most believe that the number has increased with the onset of Covid 19.
So, what do we value most? What is highest on our list of priorities? Animals or people?
Amen.
SECOND THOUGHTSBound by Loyalty — A Strength or Weakness?
by Tom Willadsen
Jeremiah 1:4-10, Hebrews 12:18-29, Luke 13:10-17, Psalm 71:1-6, Isaiah 58:9b-14, Psalm 103:1-8
In the Scriptures
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Today’s text from Jeremiah has been cherished by those seeking to make abortion illegal in the United States. The Lord calls Jeremiah before Jeremiah was “formed in the womb” and “consecrated” him before he was born. The text clearly indicates Jeremiah’s existence, preconception, was planned by God, part of God’s plan for the salvation of Judah.
This passage has the hallmarks of a Hebrew Bible call story.
Summons vv. 4-5
Resistance v. 6
Reassurance vv. 7-8
Touch v. 9
There is not a specific moment when Jeremiah accepts the call; think of it as an offer he can’t refuse.
The more significant portion of the call is the chiasmus in v. 10:
To pluck up and to pull down…
To build and to plant.
Note how pluck up’s opposite is at the end of the second line, while pull down’s opposite is at the beginning of the second line. This structure is called a chiasmus, its name comes from the Greek letter Chi, which looks like this Χ. This is significant because the first part of Jeremiah’s call, his first tasks, are to get rid of what exists so something new can take its place. Some scholars believe the middle portion of that verse “to destroy and overthrow” was added later, disrupting the chiasmus, but reinforcing the need for something like a divine wrecking ball.
Luke 13:10-17
Act this passage out physically. Really. Stand up and stoop forward as far as you can. Notice what your field of vision is. Stand that way until it becomes uncomfortable. Ask your congregation to do the same. Stand up to full height, notice what you’re able to see, how much more of the world. Straightening the woman’s back gave her more than good posture.
We assume that this woman is old, but that text does not indicate her age, only that she has been afflicted for 18 years. Jesus knew this detail, which appears in the text twice. Was the length of this woman’s suffering commonly known? How small a town was this?
The text indicates that the cause of this woman’s condition is a spirit, later identified as being of satanic origin.
There’s an interesting contrast between the woman who is bound by Satan and the leader of the synagogue who is bound by obedience to the law as he understands it. The livestock, whom Jesus indicates are of less importance than the daughter of Abraham, are untied (unbound) on the Sabbath and led to the manger and water. Could a woman be of greater value than livestock? If one routinely violates Sabbath for an animal, should not one do the same for a human being?
Note the aftermath of this encounter: Jesus’ opponents were put to shame. It appears that everyone else was delighted. Putting one’s enemies to shame may not be a wise tactic in the long run, a point Amanda Ripley makes in her recent book High Conflict.
Psalm 71:1-6
This reading could have been written by Jeremiah. Jeremiah was more honest than any other prophet about the cost he bore to speak God’s word. The last verse echoes v. 5 from the Jeremiah reading. The psalmist and Jeremiah have been called by God since birth. Jeremiah, like most of us, was born at a very young age.
Psalm 103:1-8
Could have been penned by the woman whose back Jesus straightened. On the Sabbath.
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Juxtaposing this lesson with the gospel reading brings some interesting insights. The prophet endorses Sabbath observance, along with removing “the yoke from among you.” One can understand the crippled woman’s condition as a yoke from which Jesus set her free. Yet the liberation takes place on the Sabbath to the chagrin of the leader of the synagogue. The prophet also admonishes against “the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil” which the leader of the synagogue is guilty of. But so is Jesus. It’s clear that Isaiah’s point is that the way to win God’s favor is to care for the hungry and prisoners, but also to delight in the Sabbath. Perhaps the synagogue leader’s lack of delight was the whole problem. Maybe that’s our whole problem, too.
Hebrews 12:18-29
There’s a contrast in this reading between Mount Sinai where Moses encountered the Lord and Mount Zion, a shorthand term for the Promised Land. Another contrast is the vengeful blood of Abel and the liberating blood of Jesus Christ.
The latter half of the reading echoes a point made in God’s call of Jeremiah, that the destruction of the old is essential for the new to emerge. And it’s pretty clear that the author of Hebrews believes the new is better and eternal.
In the News
There’s good news for President Biden and the Democrats as July’s inflation rate was 0.0%, largely because gasoline prices have dropped from historic highs. The annual inflation rate is still 8.5%, higher than it’s been in decades, but this is certainly good news for those hoping that the Democrats can hold onto their slim majorities in both houses of Congress.
A little more good news was that the Inflation Reduction Acts was passed, at last. Some of the provisions of the spending law are investments in clean energy production, a minimum corporate tax, an extension of the Affordable Care Act and a cap on out-of-pocket drug costs for those on Medicare. The law also permits the federal government to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. While the impact on inflation will not be immediate, this is a praise worthy piece of legislation.
The Democrats’ good news, and President Biden’s slightly higher approval numbers have been overshadowed in the news by the former president’s legal problems. Multiple legal problems.
After ignoring a subpoena seeking the return of classified documents from the former president, the FBI searched the former president’s residence in Florida. NBC news reported, “Federal agents removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some that were labeled top secret…”
Some media outlets have expressed outrage at the unprecedented search. It’s true, the FBI has never executed a search warrant at the residence of a former president before. Also unprecedented is a president’s handling of top secret documents so carelessly.
NewsOne quoted some on the political right:
“THE FBI HAS GONE ROUGE (sic) AND IT’S TIME TO KILL IT, KILL IT, KILL IT!!!!”
[Has the FBI gone rouge, thus confirming all those rumors about J. Edgar Hoover?]
Both Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) have called for the FBI to be defunded. The same legislators who accused the Democrats of wanting to defund police departments, the same legislators who stood staunchly for law and order during the riots following the murder of George Floyd, now want the nation’s premiere federal law enforcement agency defunded. In a baffling revision of history Rep. Boebert tweeted:
Weaponizing the FBI to raid President Trump’s home makes Watergate look like nothing.
In a separate legal proceeding the former president invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination 440 times on August 10, in a deposition in a civil case brought against his business empire by the state of New York. This is also unprecedented.
In the Sermon
There are a number of images contrasting bondage and liberation in today’s readings. The unnamed woman in the passage from Luke has been bound by Satan for 18 years. The leader of the synagogue is bound by a reverence for the law that is anything but life-giving.
Bob Dylan famously sang “you’re gonna have to serve somebody,” in his last Top 40 Hit. The song peaked at #24 in 1979.
Well it may be the Devil
Or it may be the Lord,
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
To Dylan it is not a question of whether one will be tied to someone else, just to whom. Paul Tillich made a similar point when he argued that everyone has an ultimate concern. Such affiliations give one identity and determine one’s life choices.
A brief study of the word “religion” shows the same thing. The “lig” comes from the same Latin root that is the basis for the English word “ligament,” it connotes tying or binding. One’s religion, then, is what one has chosen to bind oneself to. It does not have to be divine in any sense of the word.
The leader of the synagogue had bound himself to a strict, legalistic lifestyle. The woman had been physically bound by her bent body. When Jesus set her free from that bondage she became free to bind herself to something, or someone else.
Every day we have the freedom to choose whom we will serve. Every minute. Joshua famously gave this choice to the Israelites as they entered the Promised Land (Joshua 24:15). Unfortunately, Josh made it sound like they could only make one choice and it had to be right then. We’re free, always, to choose whom we will serve.
The loyalty that we see among followers of both major political parties in the United States can be binding in the same way. Less than three months before the midterm elections I wonder what would have to happen for someone to sever the ties they feel to a particular party, ideology, or individual, to freely choose something else.
Loyalty, like any strength, can be a weakness.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Luke 13:10-17
We Need More Chance Encounters
As the woman who is bent over encounters Jesus, the path of her life changes. Chance encounters can have the same impact in our lives, and yet, we are limiting our chances to meet people, says expert Priya Parker. Our world is organized to reduce such meetings.
Parker says, “With the ease of being able to order anything online, we're trading efficiency for community. Some community is intentional…but a lot of community is actually informal. So, going to the grocery store, going to the dry cleaners; going to the places, public or private, that you go for one specific need, which might be to get your lettuce, and we'd run into people on the way. We used to go — frankly — to the library, and now there are a lot of ways that we can consume content. We used to go to the movie theaters, and now we can watch Netflix at home. Part of this always on-demand economy is also making us not bump into people…”
She adds, “then I think a third element is we are really, really, really busy. This kind of culture of busyness, this culture of "always on," not just for technology, [but] the number of hours Americans are working. The desire to multitask all of the time. Our distraction levels have gone through the roof. There are studies that show that in any conversation now between people, the number of times we make eye contact with each other has gone down, in part because we're doing other things at the same time. Yes, looking at our phone, but also kind of have prioritized the values of productivity over the values of connection.”
If we want transformational encounters with people, we have to make room to meet up with them — and Jesus.
* * *
Luke 13:10-17
Church Where You Know People
When people asked author and pastor Eugene Peterson how they should choose a church, his advice was “go to the closest church where you live, and the smallest. And if, after six months, it’s just not working, go to the next smallest. Because you have to deal with people as they are. And you’ve got to learn how to love them when they’re not lovable.” In a small church, people have to encounter each other like Jesus and the woman do on the Sabbath day. These meetings help everyone become closer to God.
In his retirement, Peterson said, “we go to a church now — I’m a Presbyterian, but it’s a Lutheran church. And most of the people are my age, and our pastor is young, and he’s a really good pastor. I go there to be immersed in what I don’t know about. And these people — I mean, there’s 80 people in church, and, I know some of them quite well; I grew up with many of them.” Despite his renown as an author, he said, “they still treat me like a little kid. And so that’s kind of refreshing.” In those meetings, something holy was revealed, as with Jesus and his meeting with the woman.
* * *
Luke 13:10-17
Transformation on the Road
Jesus and the woman in the synagogue meet, and her life (and perhaps his?) changes as a result. A similar thing, and spending more time together, happened for Sharon Leslie Morgan and Thomas Norman DeWolf. They met through Coming to the Table, a nonprofit organization founded by the descendants of both slaveholders and enslaved people. Coming to the Table arranges for the descendants to meet, working to name and heal wounds that are rooted in the history of slavery.
As Tom remembers, “We were just lost souls looking for direction and relief. In 2009, Sharon and I embarked upon a journey to test whether two people — an African American woman from South Side Chicago who is descended from enslaved people, and a white man from central Oregon who is descended from the largest slave-trading dynasty in US history — could come to grips with deep, traumatic, historic wounds and find healing. We had no idea where we would end up.”
The two took a road trip together, based on their family history. “As part of a workshop designed to spark the healing process, they agreed to embark on a 30-day, 9,650-kilometre road trip together. They mapped out a route based on their families' genealogies. While on the road, they visited historically significant landmarks, including the location where a young man was lynched in 1954, an antebellum home in Mississippi and a sharecroppers farm in Louisiana.”
After crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, the emotion hit hard for Morgan. “My ancestors were enslaved right down the road from there,” she said. “It's such a rush of emotion because you have connected this history.” In that moment, for Morgan, DeWolf represented every white person that enslaved, lynched, sharecropped, and beat her family.
Now, “Morgan hopes to pass along what she's experienced to her two grandchildren, and use her family's story of trauma as a source of inspiration.” She adds, “I want them to know that our ancestors were enslaved, and they suffered incredible, inhumane things in their lifetimes. But they were resilient enough to endure, so that we could be here today,” she said. “And now, our responsibility is to stand on their shoulders, and make the world a better place.”
Their meeting, and the trip, was transformational for both of them.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Exactly the Right Age
“I’m too young,” Jeremiah protests, when God says that God has work for him to do. Perhaps God called him at just the right moment in his faith development. Rabbi Sandy Sasso says that “the very best religious education is much broader than that and gives children a sense of a greater presence.” Jeremiah gets that and much more in his meeting with God. She adds, “children, with or without religious instruction, have this deeper sense of something grander in the universe and have these deeper questions, whether or not they’re involved in a religious community. On the other hand, I do feel that being involved in a religious community and participating in some traditional rituals and ceremonies really helps provide a language for a child to give expression.”
For parents, she notes, “We read tons of books, how to feed them, you know, how to bring them up, how to get them to sleep, how to potty-train them. We ought to also engage in educating ourselves about our own spiritual lives, because it’s very difficult to share with children what you’re thinking if you haven’t been thinking about these issues. So I think first we need to nurture our own spiritual lives. And most of what we do in terms of nurturing our children’s spirituality really happens when no one else is looking, meaning it’s not all planned for. It’s kind of what happens every day…You know, I think society does a very good job in teaching us how to be consumers and a very good job in teaching us how to be competitors. The question I think parents are struggling to answer is how do we not just teach our children’s minds, but how do we teach their souls? And that’s a much deeper question. And I know we want our children to be more than consumers and competitors.”
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
The Wisdom of Children
As God calls Jeremiah, God announces that Jeremiah has the wisdom to serve as God’s prophet, even though he’s young. Rabbi Sandy Sasso says that children have more spiritual wisdom than we expect. She recalls a moment with her own daughter, saying, “I was going through a really difficult time and — in my life, and I said to my daughter, “You know, I’m not sure that I should still be a rabbi, because I don’t know if I can believe in God anymore.” And my daughter looked at me without blinking and said, “Mom, you don’t believe in that kind of God.” And she was right, but I needed her to tell me at that moment…I don’t believe in a God who, you know, makes bad things happen to good people. I don’t believe in that kind of God. But, you know, in moments like that, you forget, and sometimes you need a child to remind you. And I think children often remind us what’s true and what’s most important in our lives.”
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Just a Boy
The late author and pastor Eugene Peterson recalls that God came into his life when he, like Jeremiah, was just a boy. Something opened up in Eugene Peterson when his family moved, and he recalls, “I was about — maybe 10 years old, and I had no friends. And I had a Bible that I’d purchased with my own money, and I started reading it, because I had no friends. And somebody told me that the Psalms were a good thing to read, so I started reading the Psalms. And I couldn’t understand them. God is a rock? What does that mean? “My tears are in your bottle?” What is going on here? And I just kind of struggled with that, and — but people had told me it was important to read the Psalms. And about a month into that, I realized what they were. And I didn’t know the term “metaphor,” but I realized what metaphors were. And so then, so I was off, and the Psalms were my introduction to poetry.” This was the start of his love of language, and his fascination with how God is revealed in the words of the Bible.
Peterson adds, “when I did The Message, I had a congregation of people that didn’t read books. And so I started translating the Bible in their language, not knowing what I was doing, and suddenly, they started paying attention to me in a way they never did before. And so I think — and see, I didn’t call it poetry. If I’d have done that, they would have quit.” He kept building on that childhood foundation.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:Bonus illustration in honor of Frederick Buechner
Frederick Buechner, who died August 15, 2022, has been called “the minister’s minister,” and a “writer’s writer,” influenced generations of preachers and Christians. He called upon us to “listen to your life.” His sermons, novels, essays bridged theological divisions between conservatives and liberals, while also speaking prophetically about the sacred journey of faith.
Here’s a quote from his imaginative novel Godric (1980), a story of a 12-century English saint who settled along the River Wear. As an older man, Godric is brought into Durham Cathedral one Christmas Eve: “The Christmas mass begins,” Buechner writes:
“Lux fulgebit hodie!” they sing. “The Lord is born to us! Wonderful shall be his name, and God the Prince of Peace, the Father of the world to come!” (Godric continues) “An easy thing it is to love a babe. A babe asks nothing, never chides. A babe is fair to see. A babe is hope for better things to come. All this and more. But babes grow into men at last. That’s where it turns a bitter brew….Christ minds us to be good, to feed his sheep, take up our cross and follow him with Hell’s hot fires if we fail. All this and more our Savior bides when he becomes a man, and to a (person) we say him nay. Thus when the Bishop tends me with his own hands Christ’s flesh and blood, I slobber them with tears.” (Godric, p. 124)
Writing of Hell’s hot fires is as close as Mr. Buechner will ever come to experiencing them.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Don’t say you’re only a kid
While Jeremiah tries to deflect his calling to be a prophet because of his age, God reminds him that the prophet will be sent with the fullness of divine authority. It is an age-old question that young leaders face today (and that continues to confound older leaders). Aidan Kohn-Murphy is an incoming freshman at Harvard University, but has already achieved acclaim as the founder and executive director of Gen-Z for Change, a nonprofit coalition of more than 500 social media creators who use their platforms to advocate for change.
Kohn-Murphy spoke at the 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival recently, and commented on his vision for social change, and the obstacles he has faced as a young leader for change. He said he remains optimistic about his generation’s ability to impact society. “Even as the laundry list of issues facing our generation and world continues to expand, I’ve never lost faith in our generation’s ability to affect change. I’m fortunate enough to work alongside some of the most passionate and committed activists in the country. It’s impossible to lose hope when you’re surrounded by people who inspire you every single day.”
He continued:
As more and more young people turn away from traditional media, we have an opportunity to uplift perspectives that have traditionally been underrepresented and hear directly from those most affected by various rulings or policies. I wouldn’t describe Gen-Z for Change as a news outlet, but as a hub for progressive storytelling and action. As a coalition of over 500 creators, we know it’s impossible to encapsulate the views of all of our members, so we seek to uplift their voices on the issues they’re most passionate about and provide them with the resources they need to bring progressive values to their audiences.
* * *
Isaiah 58:9b-14
Satisfy the needs of the afflicted
Historic floods swept through parts of Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky last month, leaving thousands either permanently or temporarily unhoused. As emergency shelters close and assistance shifts to assessing long-term needs, Isaiah’s call to satisfy the needs of the afflicted remains ever urgent. One family living near St. Louis describes the situation as a “nightmare.”
In the University City School district, an urban district adjacent to the city of St. Louis, more than 70 families were displaced and are still in need of assistance. Many of them who don't even know where they're going to live when school starts, so we're working with them to make sure we can get their children to school," Superintendent of Schools Sharonica Hardin-Bartley said.
It's a current example of how federal disaster response continues to disproportionately harm communities of color and the poor. “For a variety of reasons,” writes Justin Dorazio of the center for American Progress, “Federal responses to support communities after natural disasters are inequitable. Housing assistance and rebuilding efforts in the disaster recovery period are often targeted to homeowners and wealthier survivors, deepening entrenched racial and socioeconomic inequities and exacerbating crises of homelessness, inadequate low-cost housing, displacement, and the racial wealth gap.”
Historical patterns of discrimination in housing and segregation have resulted in larger numbers of poor persons and persons of color living in neighborhoods considered to be less resilient to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding. In addition, Dorazio notes, many of these neighborhoods are also more likely to be located near EPA Superfund cleanup sites, making them more prone to becoming contaminated by toxic waste following disasters.
* * *
Luke 13:10-17
Jesus heals a woman’s chronic pain
Riddled by pain and bent over because of her condition, a woman happens to encounter Jesus teaching in one of the synagogues. It’s a chance encounter — and one that will become transforming.
For many people with chronic pain, their disability is not as visible. “The thing about chronic illness,” wrote Kari Cobham in the New York Times a year ago, “whether you’re living through pain or other debilitating symptoms, is this business of appearing normal, of portioning out limited energy on days when walking across the room without losing your breath isn’t possible.”
Cobham’s story illustrates the way chronic pain is quite often an invisible disease. Chronic pain is commonly associated with invisible illnesses, as well as enduring fatigue. The Verywell Mind website notes, “Many patients with invisible illnesses look healthy on the outside, leaving them to deal with friends, family members, and even medical practitioners who question whether they are truly sick.”
Jesus’ compassion for the woman’s struggle ultimately leads to his conflict with the religious leaders over the Sabbath observances. Without falling into an anti-Sematic trope, the story can offer a reminder of how the church can minister to the large numbers of people who live with these sorts of “invsisible” conditions. As Cobham writes:
It can feel like a solo battle, but it’s not. Around 40 percent of Americans live with at least one chronic illness that causes fatigue, mood disorders or persistent pain. Half as many struggle with chronic pain in particular, but a significant portion manage multiple illnesses like me.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:Jeremiah 1:4-10
When my sister was little she invited her friend Felicia to church. Felicia’s parents generally worked nights, and they were happy for the invite for their daughter to come to church with us. Felicia’s mom, Ms. Toni, called my parents later that day and said, “Y’all didn’t happen to baptize my daughter did you?” My parents, said, “Of course not, we would never do that without your permission, why?” Apparently, Felicia came home from church and said that church was great, and oh, by the way, she had been baptized.
My parents asked my sister about the alleged baptism, and sure enough, she and Felicia had a private play baptism after worship. Felicia’s family was Baptist, and mine was Presbyterian, so we had different understandings of how and when Baptism should happen. But both families agreed, at least the girls had a firm understanding of how important baptism was — and there was a long conversation afterward about how one was never too young to ask about baptism and a call to God. The girls must have been four years old.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
When I was 11 years old, I wanted to be confirmed at church. The traditional age was 12, but we were about to move. The truth was I did not want to start over. I had already sat on the board as a youth representative. I lit candles, I read the Bible in church, I helped out in the nursery. I asked, do you want me to wait or get confirmed in the church I already know?
Between the time I asked and got confirmed, the church that I knew and loved burned down. I got confirmed on the porch, in the smell of ashes. I never regretted it. This was the church that knew who I was, and what I did. It wasn’t about work, it was about love. I could go to the next church confirmed as a member, saying I am ready. It was beautiful. As the 10 confirmands and I took our vows in the ruins of the church, the news came through that the insurance would pay for a total rebuild of the building — providing the room the church that had long outgrown its current space desperately needed. It was a miracle. I still remember it all; my confirmation, the ashes, and the resurrection all on the steps of the porch. I, being 11 years old, had nothing to do with it.
* * *
Isaiah 58:9-14
Too often we view perfection for the Sabbath, instead of disability as a part of the Sabbath. The number of times that we do not want to put in a ramp, handrail or allow a congregant to mutter during worship, the less we understand what it is the Sabbath is for.
The Sabbath is for those with disabilities to access God; the less accessible Sabbath is, the less it is the Sabbath. Sabbath space is not about perfection, it is about healing. Not the kind of healing where everyone looks and acts the same, but the kind of healing where everyone is safe and treated with the inherent dignity they deserve.
When my middle child, who has autism, takes communion, he loves it because he understands that he is doing something with the community. He loves every part of the ritual. He stims — rocking back and forth, throwing up his arms, muttering to himself — as the words of institution are said, to soothe himself through this important and communal moment. When the bread is passed out, he eats it right away. He holds the cup, which we take together, with bated breath, pregnant with anticipation. He is probably the only one not thinking about grocery lists or how he looks in the moment. He is completely focused on the cup. And when we drink, his tongue darts in to take in every sacred drop. He understands that this is his taste of Jesus and community, that he is beloved and he belongs in this moment. It is an access point for him. For him, this six to eight minute time (we keep it short) is sanctuary. Isn’t that what we all want for the rest of us?
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby Katy Stenta
Call to Worship
In you, O Lord, I take refuge.
Incline your ear to me, be our strong fortress.
I will put my trust in my God.
Come, let us praise God continually.
OR
Let us not say we are too young or too old.
Our God calls us.
Our God calls us and loves us.
Our God knows us and loves us.
Truly we know that we belong to God.
Come, let us praise our God together.
Prayer of the Day/Collect
God, lead us in such a way that we feel your refuge and strength instead of our inadequacies. Give us the gift of prophecy, so that we may tell the truth boldly and in love, and teach us to be a community that loves and supports one another. We pray this in your son, Jesus Christ’s most holy name. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
God, we confess that we have so many worries about the work that is to be done. What if I am too young or too old? What if I am not smart enough? What if I do not do enough? I do not know where to start, or when I am supposed to stop the work. Please help me God. Remind me that you are here to guide the work and to give us Sabbath. Remind us that the work is not for me alone, but for the community together. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Remind us that the work begun in Christ will be completed in Christ, and with that we can assure one another of the good news.
In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayers of the People
God we lift up to you all of us who feel ill, weak or incapable. All of us who are overwhelmed and are not receiving the community support that we need. We pray for all of those in need now:
(Prayers of Concern)
God we also lift up those prayers of joy, those that help us to remember that the work has already begun in joy. Let us lift those prayers of praise now:
(Prayers of Praise)
And Lord, we lift these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray by saying,
(The Lord’s Prayer)
Amen.
Prayer of the Day
I don’t know why perfection and worship seem to go together,
when this should be a space of sanctuary instead.
I do not know why we insist on smiles and hope — when Jesus so often listened and raged, and cried — in his fully human way.
I do not know why the church has forgotten to be a space of refuge, but I keep praying we find it again. And I hope that we become a space where no one feels
too
anything
to come to our doors.
May we become a space of grace.
I pray,
Amen.
Hymns
Spirit
CH: 249
ELW: 396
PH: 319
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
UMH: 110
H82: 687/688
PH: 260
AAHH: 124
NNBH: 37
NCH: 439/440
CH: 65
LBW: 228/229
ELW: 503/504/505
W&P: 588
AMEC: 54
STLT: 200
Wherever I May Wander
PH: 294
Jesus Loves Me
AAHH: 335
AMEC: 549
CH: 344
CH: 113
ELW: 179
PH: 304
UMH: 191
Here I Am Lord
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELW: 574
Renew: 149
PH: 525
UMH: 593
Music Resources Key
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
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
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMONNever Too Young
by Quantisha Mason-Doll
Jeremiah 1:4-10
How many of you have heard this story from our friend Jeremiah? (Leave space for children to respond.)
The prophet Jeremiah is a very special person. He was someone God picked specially to care for others. However, I want to let you all in on a little secret: “Jeremiah was fearful of his call because he thought he was too young.”
Can anyone tell me what it means to be called by God? (Leave space for children to respond.)
Our Lord is pretty cool if I may say. You see, our God does not care how little you are when it is your time you will be called. Our Savior sees your potential and wants to help you grow into the kingdom of heaven. Being young does not mean you cannot offer guidance to someone older than yourself. Jeremiah was afraid that he might fail but before he could even form the words, God reminded Jeremiah that the creator would always be with him.
How can you grow into God’s calling to become Christ’s hands and feet in this world? (Leave space for children to respond.)
(This can be left open depending on how your congregation views discipleship. I would offer reassurance to the youngest among us that their voice is valid and they are allowed to take up space. Remind them that there can be no growth without risk taking and that can take the form of speaking up and speaking out. The Spirit of God cannot and will not be confined to adults.)
(Show them the community) This community has been called to love and support you. If the Lord our god has called you, it is the responsibility of this community to nurture that call. Fear not! We will catch you if you fall.
Prayer
Loving God, we give you thanks for calling us to be your chosen. Help us to be unafraid to live into your call. We pray this in your son’s name, Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, August 21, 2022 issue.
Copyright 2022 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.
