Assurance But Not Insurance
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
This week's lectionary passage from the Hebrew scriptures describes the intense frustration of the Israelites in the wilderness as they find themselves without drinking water. They apparently have short memories, for even though the Lord has provided quail and manna for his people, they turn on Moses and deluge him with complaints until he finally cries out "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." We may find the people's reaction somewhat understandable -- after all, few of us deal well with being deprived of creature comforts, even those we have voluntarily chosen to deny ourselves during Lent. But as Moses makes clear, it's the sense of entitlement at the heart of their demands that's the real problem. The people have come to expect that God will provide everything they want -- and while the Lord instructs Moses to strike a rock and provide them with the water they so desperately need, Moses is left to wonder of his people: "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?"
In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Ron Love notes that the arduous nature of the Israelites' journey, and their testy response to it, has some instructive parallels with some of the difficult journeys that are in our current headlines -- and our journeys as well. Of course we pray for the safety and security of the people of Japan as they cope with the devastation wrought by the earthquake and tsunami, as well as trying to head off a possible nuclear meltdown at the crippled Fukushima reactor. And we also pray for a quick and peaceful resolution to the conflict in Libya, as the UN Security Council mandate to protect civilians from Qaddafi's government is enforced. But even though the world's humanitarian and military response to these crises might be construed as analogous to Moses striking the rock to bring forth the needed water, in both Japan and Libya there has been some understandable (if counterproductive) frustration and criticism about the response not occurring quickly enough. Ron asks us to consider if we perhaps have fallen into the same trap as those Israelites. Have we come to expect that God is nothing more than an insurance policy who we call on when tragic circumstances befall us -- and do we expect that our claims will be processed instantly (or at least as quickly as the insurance companies' television commercials promise us we can expect)? Ron reminds us that we have God's assurance that he is with us during our travails... but we should not construe that to mean it is insurance against all of life's difficulties.
Team member Roger Lovette shares some additional thoughts on suffering and our tendency in the midst of it to wonder, like the Israelites, if the Lord is truly among us. How do we respond in the face the unimaginable suffering we see on the news from so many places around the world? What does God want us to do? Roger suggests that perhaps the best thing to do is to avoid glib clichés and to simply acknowledge the suffering by reaching out to one another... and to know that God is with us in the time of trial.
Assurance but not Insurance
by Ronald H. Love
Exodus 17:1-7
THE WORLD
Life is a story of journeys -- some are pleasant; some are disappointing; some are joyful; some are sad. Some we travel alone; some we travel in the company of others. Some we personally experience; some we live viscerally through others.
Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel was on a journey to be an implacably dressed man whose ethics were reflected as the same (hence the nickname some gave him of "The Senator"), until a scandal of misinforming the school hierarchy about possible violations made front-page news. The executives of the most prominent corporations in Tokyo are making a journey as they escape the city in fear of radiation, while leaving their employees behind. Congress is on a journey with the Democrats demanding that the cafeterias use compostable cups and utensils and the Republicans arguing the opposite, all the while mayhem riddles the Middle East. The residents of California are on a journey to buy iodine to be protected from an unfounded fear of radiation poisoning. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried (the voice of the AFLAC duck) is on a journey to a new career after he twittered tasteless jokes about the Japanese natural disaster. A number of choir members of the Crystal Cathedral are on a journey, as they refuse to sign the required pledge that refuses to recognize homosexual marriage. Megachurches are on a journey, for ten years ago a worship attendance of 4,000 was the qualified number, now it has been upped to 8,000.
Everyone seems to be on a journey, but most are traveling the wrong road. Instead of moving toward Jesus and a benevolent disposition toward others, they are moving in the opposite direction of self-serving and self-promoting actions and attitudes. The question must be asked, "Which road are you and I traveling?"
THE WORD
Just what do we expect from God? Somehow we have arrived at the notion that to believe in God gives us privileges beyond an assured life insurance policy for eternal life in his heavenly abode. We also think it gives us permanent health care coverage from all illnesses, and even that it's the best auto insurance and homeowner's policy one can possess, for we are free from any worry of accident or misfortune. It is this mistaken attitude that is reflected in the moaning and complaining of the Israelites on their wilderness journey. Somehow, being freed from slavery is an insufficient miracle from God -- now they expect to travel a freshly cemented street lined with daffodils as they make their way to their new homeland. So when they become hungry and thirsty, they do not look to themselves for the need for spiritual renewal; instead they blame God for failing at the task of being a provider. The lesson to pursue from the Exodus story of water being brought forth form the rock in the midst of hardship and despair is that God still offers us the hope of a better tomorrow and the promise of a resurrection... but there is no assurance that life will be absent from hardship. This is why we journey on faith.
All of us have been freed from the bondages of life. We have been freed from sin with the forgiveness of the Cross. We have been freed from the fear of death with the promise of the Resurrection. We have been freed from solitude with the promise of dwelling in the Christian community of the church. Yet, like the Israelites who grumbled and complained in the desert, this does not seem to be enough. We want that insurance policy absent of loopholes and fine print.
The Israelites in their despair were not left forsaken by God as water was brought forth from the rock. God heard their cries of anguish and responded. But the water trickled, it did not gush forth; though it was enough water to sustain them and allow them to continue and complete their journey. The problem was not in the amount of water provided; the issue was a failure to comprehend God's goodness and everlasting presence.
We are going on a journey through the desert, similar to that traveled by the Israelites. The path at times will be smooth, but more often than not it will be strewn with annoying pebbles and encumbering boulders. At these times we cannot repeat the offense of the Israelites who forgot that God provided the biggest and most powerful miracle of all -- ten plagues that released them from slavery. We must always remember that we journey by faith enshrined in the greatest miracle and promise of all -- the Resurrection.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I. Discuss that life is a journey with many joys and sorrows. Use personal illustrations and news events (some examples might be the disaster in Japan or the struggle in Libya) to describe the journeys that people have embarked upon.
II. Next, discuss in what direction our journey is taking us. Is it one of complaining to God or praising God for deliverance? Is it a journey where we doubt God or a journey where we affirm God's promise?
III. Discuss how God repeatedly blessed the Israelites. God did so in a great way with the ten plagues of Egypt that called forth their deliverance. God did not promise a journey free of hardship, but God did continue to sustain them as seen from the water brought forth from the rock. In the stony road ahead of us, are we able to see and appreciate the trickling water from the rock as a sign of God's ever-present mercy? End by asking: "Do we expect assured assurance or infallible insurance from God?"
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Roger Lovette
Exodus 17:7 -- "Is the Lord among us or not?" (NRSV)
"Is Jehovah going to take care of us or not?" (Taylor)
"Is the Lord with us or not?" (Good News)
"Is the Lord in our midst or not?" (NEB)
Psalm 95:8 -- "Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah."
Romans 5:3b-5 -- "... suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."
This week (like last week) we will have to read our texts and sing our songs not quite able to forget that across the Pacific thousands have died in Japan, and many more live without food or water or much shelter. Many have lost everything, including members of their families. And the nuclear nightmare is with the whole country.
Down the street from your house a widow grieves, in the pew in front of you a gray-haired man just put in his wife with Alzheimer's in a nursing facility. And all over the house there are people who limp in carrying heavy burdens they hardly mention. What is the word of the Lord in the face of suffering?
We are told that a multitude of the Psalms are really songs of lament. Personally and corporately out of the depths of their lives they cried to God. Sometimes in sorrow, sometimes, like the Israelites and Moses on that journey, they railed out in anger. Sometimes they wondered, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, once said that the chief purpose of a temple is to be a place where people come to weep in common. I am wondering in the face of great pain and anguish if the church should not open its doors and invite fellow strugglers to come in and weep together.
Peerless preacher Fred Craddock tells the story that after Kennedy's assassination the little town of Kingfisher, Oklahoma, published their weekly newspaper as usual. In the paper there was a column by an Arapahoe Indian woman. She called herself, in English, Molly Shepherd. Every week she wrote about tribal customs and songs, and she told of funerals and giveaways and bits of gossip in that little place. In her broken English, Craddock said, she had a gift for words -- and sometimes they flowed like poetry.
One article was very brief after the assassination. She wrote: "Molly has no words for today. Molly has nothing to write today. Molly just goes through the house all day saying, 'Oh... oh... oh.' " Dr. Craddock said the proper translation of Molly's "oh" was really her travail for the pain of the world. (Fred B. Craddock. Craddock Stories [Chalice Press, 2001], pp. 90-91)
Like the preacher today, Moses had no word in the face of his thirsty, grumbling people. Moses was furious and had little to say about the dilemma except hitting a rock and water poured out. He did not sing, "Look for a silver lining..." Sometimes the people of faith do not need to send out smiley cards and give glib answers to people in pain. I remember once when a friend of mine lost his nine-year-old daughter I wrote him a note. I don't remember what I said. But he wrote back and said, "Thank you for what you did not say."
As we hug and pray, read the scriptures, and sing the hymns of those others who have struggled through the ages, sometimes it is enough to just simply lift up our longings, hug one another, and say, "We don't know -- but we do believe God is in this with us." Jesus did promise that as we reach out to one another we do see the face of Jesus. And maybe as we respond to our brothers and sisters in Japan through gifts and prayers, we may just not say the gospel but do the gospel.
Somehow in his own hard struggles Paul wrote these words to the Romans: "... suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us..."
We people of stubborn faith believe like the hymnodist:
"And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again and arms are strong,
Alleluia! Alleluia!" ("For All the Saints")
*****
On a less somber note, Tony Campolo tells a funny story he says is make-believe but could be true. In an American city during World War II a program was organized to train volunteers in the skills of emergency first aid. There was a fear that if their city should be bombed that there would not be enough adequate medical care available for the wounded. There was one woman in the class who seemed bored and detached from all they were taught. She was there out of a sense of obligation with no enthusiasm for learning.
One day this particular woman showed up in the first-aid class brimming with enthusiasm. She could hardly contain herself as she told her story. "This class never meant much to me until yesterday. Yesterday I was sitting on my front porch, when there was a terrible automobile accident in front of my house. Two cars had smashed head-on and several people were hurt. Blood was everywhere. The scene was so horrible I almost fainted. And then I remembered what I learned in this class -- I put my head between my legs and I didn't pass out!" (Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You A Story [Word, 2000], pp. 116-117)
Sometimes we Christians need to remember it isn't about us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
As soon as Dr. Robert Peter Gale learned about the Chernobyl nuclear accident, he knew he wanted to help. As the world's foremost expert in bone marrow transplantation and the chairperson of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, Gale realized he had a talent to share. He did not expect that his invitation would be accepted, for on the same day he offered his service the Soviet Union declined humanitarian aid from President Reagan and several European countries; but to Gale's surprise and astonishment he was welcomed. Gale was the first Western physician invited by the Soviet Union to help cope with a disaster since the close of World War II.
While sitting in his UCLA office between visits to Moscow, Gale shared with reporters a poem that appeared in Pravda:
God is in a man who walked into
A radiated complex,
Put out the fire, burned his skin
And clothes,
Who didn't save himself,
But saved Odessa and Kiev,
A man who simply acted like a
human being.
Gale explained that the Soviet citizens considered the firemen and everyone else who tried to help alleviate the suffering of a very tragic accident as great heroes. This was the only line of the two-page poem that Gale shared. A curious reporter silently read the rest of the poem, and on the second page came across this stanza:
God is... in Dr. Gale... who came to Russia...
We must recognize and applaud the 40 technicians and engineers who remained capsuled in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in order to prevent a meltdown, saving both lives and property. The radiation they are being exposed too will cause permanent health problems and possibly death. Yes, God can be seen walking in many places.
* * *
This past week, Arizona State senior Anthony Robles won the 125-lb. weight class and was voted the outstanding wrestler at the NCAA championship meet. Robles is an outstanding wrestler who gained All-American recognition by placing fourth and seventh the past two seasons, but winning the title this year was a spectacular and inspirational achievement. Why, you might ask? What sets Robles apart from other wrestlers? Well, he has an impediment that at first glance might seem to have made it impossible for him to scale those lofty heights. Robles, you see, has only one leg -- he was born with his right leg missing all the way to his hip. According to a Sports Illustrated profile, Robles' mother cried on the day he was born -- not so much because of the imperfection but because of the shock, for there had been no indication of the missing limb from prenatal ultrasounds. But they took a proactive attitude; as his mother puts it, "It's something that was just meant to be, and now we see it as a blessing." Anthony didn't let it limit his activity, and when he began wrestling in the ninth grade his only goal was to "avoid being seen as a novelty or an object of pity." But Robles persevered, and through endurance honed by intense training and many trials and errors on the wrestling mat, overcame what many might view as suffering incapable of producing hope. As the SI article aptly sums it up: "Sometimes sports build character; other times they reveal it. For Robles, wrestling has been a way of showing that he's too strong, in every sense, to be held back just because one leg of his pants hangs empty." Anthony Robles' achievement is an inspirational one that provides an excellent illustration of Paul's observation that "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us."
* * *
It's hard not to think of Anne Frank whenever we read the progression of suffering, endurance, character, hope. Almost two years into hiding, Anne wrote on February 23, 1944:
But I looked out of the open window too, over a large area of Amsterdam, over all the roofs and on to the horizon, which was such a pale blue that it was hard to see the dividing line. "As long as this exists," I thought, "and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy." The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.
-- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, translated by B.M. Mooyaart (Pocket Books, 1952)
* * *
Those Israelites were never happy, were they? Such a lot of complainers! Poor Moses had to put up with their grumbling almost from the moment they left Egypt. Our story of the water from the rock is just one of several stories about how God deals with the complainers in the wilderness. When the people quarreled, Moses told them that their arguing was a sign of their lack of faith in the power of God to take care of them. "Why do you test the Lord?" he asked, but they argued all the more. So Moses did what a good leader always does: He took the problem to God, and God told Moses what to do.
"Go into the wilderness with some of the elders and I will show you a rock. Strike the rock with your staff, the same staff you used to strike the Nile when you were still captive in Egypt, and I will give you water from the rock." When Moses did as God instructed, the water flowed from the rock and the people were happy... for a while at least.
Now wouldn't you think that when a miracle takes place, especially one as wondrous as water coming from a rock in the middle of the desert, that the very least Moses should do is name the spot after the miracle? Maybe he should have called the place "Waterstone" or "Streaming Boulders." That would certainly make sense. But that's not how Moses named this particular place, is it? He gave it the name "Quarreling and Testing," or in Hebrew, Meribah and Massah. He named the place after the attitude of the people toward their God. Moses knew that the most significant thing about this location wasn't the miracle, but the way the people revealed their mistrust of God's promises and presence.
Do you wonder if we are any better than these wandering Israelites? The next time you are tempted to complain about God's lack of care for you, remember "Quarreling and Testing," the place where God brought forth water to prove that he never abandons us and always loves us.
* * *
Any church leader who becomes impatient with the flock should read and reread what Moses faced as a head of God's people. Was he the first guy ever stuck between a rock and a hard place?
Moses didn't ask for the job. The Lord selected him and put him in charge of a few million complainers. We're responsible for only a tiny fraction of that amount, but at times it can feel like ten million.
Despite the fact that they witnessed spectacular miracles of deliverance, Israel always suffered short- and long-term memory deficit. When facing a physical challenge, they never seemed to remember God's earlier help in similar circumstances.
Moses' leadership qualities are admirable, but something about his situation makes me tremble. Regardless of the people's irritating ingratitude and short-lived faith, the Lord still held Moses accountable for doing the right thing. He allowed Moses no excuses, not even when he ordered him to get water from a rock.
* * *
The Israelites were needy, like children wanting what they want and not considering what they need. Today's children of God are not much different. Enough is never enough; we always want more. Wayne Muller, an author, minister, and the founder of Bread for the Journey International, addresses the maturing process that children of God go through as they become God-respecting adults: "... our prayer shifts, and we declare our willingness to let it be, to receive what we are given, to find peace and healing, whatever the outcome. To cultivate more than resignation; to cultivate acceptance, serenity, even gratitude for whatever seeds of wisdom, redemption, or liberation may be hidden in the unwanted challenges of the day."
* * *
In his book Born Again, convicted Watergate conspirator Charles Colson tells of something he observed in his fellow prisoners. Some of the strongest men, Colson noticed, simply give up under the ordeals of prison life. They turn, over time, into walking zombies. There's no place special to walk in prison, so these men walk slowly, taking tiny steps. Colson calls it "the prison shuffle." Some of them sleep every minute they can. (It's the only means of escape.) Others turn inward and begin to brood; in time they become filled with bitterness, until even their physical bodies begin to droop along with their spirits.
This is what happens to anyone who loses freedom. We can only imagine what a lack of freedom is felt by the Samaritan woman encountered by Jesus at the well. She's on the bottom of the heap, and Jesus reads the hopelessness on her face.
* * *
In one of his books Mark Twain tells the story of a slave who went to sleep one night on a narrow neck of land in Missouri that jutted out into the Mississippi River. That night there was a great storm, and the river cut a new channel right through the neck of land. When the slave awoke the next morning, he found himself not in Missouri but in Illinois -- a free man! The rushing water had freed him. So it is with the woman at the well -- she is freed by the living water.
* * *
What is the power of religion expected to do but to release the heart... from its cage of flesh, to work its wonders in the mystery of freedom?
-- Samuel Miller
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Mary Austin
Call to Worship
Leader: O God who meets every need,
People: gather us here in your love.
Leader: O God who fills every hunger,
People: meet us here with your abundance.
Leader: O God who satisfies every thirst,
People: fill us here with your living water.
Leader: O God who knows our hearts,
People: embrace us here so we can serve you everywhere.
Opening Prayer / Prayer of the Day
God, our rock and our deliverer,
we gather again as your people,
led to this place by your love,
graced in this time with your peace.
Let your Sprit enter in, we pray,
as we let go of the stresses of the week behind us,
and the worries of the week ahead of us,
and take in the gift of the Sabbath.
Bring us again to the well of living water, we ask,
so that our parched souls and dry lives
will find their home in you,
and we will worship you in spirit and in truth.
In the name of our living redeemer, Jesus, Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Faithful God,
as we make this journey of Lent,
we remember all the times we have gotten tired and stopped,
forgetting your gifts,
losing sight of your path.
Glorious God,
as we travel toward Easter,
we remember all the times we've grown angry and impatient,
forgiving too slowly,
losing track of your hand in all things.
Forgiving God,
as we find ourselves out of excuses,
we fall to our knees and ask for your mercy,
repenting what we have done and who we have been.
Forgive us, we pray,
and split the hard rock of our hearts.
Claim us again as your children,
as you lead us toward Easter as your own.
We pray in the name of the One whom we follow,
Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Prayer at Offering Time
God of living words and living water,
we are people who belong to you,
blessed by your hand and sustained by your love.
Your gifts surround us, and we come in thanksgiving and awe.
As we are made in your image,
teach us to give to one another with gracious abandon,
serving you with our treasure, our talents, and our hearts. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Theme: water
If your church has a pitcher of water by the baptismal font, you might begin with that, talking about water as the sign of baptism. Water is also essential for life. Water is easy to come by for most of us -- it comes from the faucet, clean and drinkable.
Other people around the world -- often women and girls -- travel long distances to get water. People in Japan, suffering after the earthquake and tsunami, are in need of clean water. Can we give the gift of water to them, as Jesus did once to a woman from another country?
Or: Water in Jesus' day was a precious commodity too, and had to be drawn from wells and carried home. This is where Jesus meets a woman and changes her life. Might we meet Jesus, as we're doing ordinary things?
Hymn Suggestions
"What Wondrous Love Is This?"
"There's a Wideness in God's Mercy"
"O God of Every Nation"
"Guide My Feet"
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
"I Want Jesus to Walk with Me"
"My Shepherd Will Supply My Need"
"Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken"
"O for a World"
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Pain Makes Us Stronger
Romans 5:1-11
Object: a combination lock
Good morning, boys and girls! Has anyone here had a hard week? (let the children answer) Things are not always easy. Sometimes I have a head cold and I feel miserable. Once in a while I get up in the middle of the night and stub my toe in the dark and it really hurts.
Saint Paul wrote to the Christians from Rome to tell them how much he cared about them and that they should not be discouraged. Paul said he was beginning to understand that his pain and sufferings, like sleeping on a cold floor and not having good food to eat, were now producing great endurance in him. Do you know what "endurance" means? (let them answer) Endurance is the power we use to get through very hard times. Do you remember a time when you had an earache or a toothache and you thought it would never quit hurting? You endured the pain until your ear or tooth got better. Paul said that endurance gives us character. Character is what makes us better people. You know how badly an earache hurts, and you can help me when I have an earache. Your character is such a help to me that it gives me hope. Hope means that I won't start to feel badly after a while. You tell me that I will get better because you got better. Since you give me hope, I am not disappointed. Even though it hurts, I know that God is pouring his Holy Spirit into me so that I will be healed.
Is there another way to explain this? Let me share this with you. I brought along a combination lock. It takes certain numbers to open the lock. The correct numbers are (read them off). But that isn't all there is to it. In addition to knowing the correct numbers, you also have to know whether to turn the knob to the right or the left and how many times you have to turn it. When you do everything correctly and in the right order the lock will open. (take the children through the experience) But if you do just one thing wrong, it will not open.
God teaches us that the hard parts of life -- the hurting and suffering -- are important for us to go through because they make us stronger people. When we are strong, we help ourselves and other people. Remember, living is like having the right combination to a lock. One thing leads to another in the process of living, and God is with us through it all.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 27, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Ron Love notes that the arduous nature of the Israelites' journey, and their testy response to it, has some instructive parallels with some of the difficult journeys that are in our current headlines -- and our journeys as well. Of course we pray for the safety and security of the people of Japan as they cope with the devastation wrought by the earthquake and tsunami, as well as trying to head off a possible nuclear meltdown at the crippled Fukushima reactor. And we also pray for a quick and peaceful resolution to the conflict in Libya, as the UN Security Council mandate to protect civilians from Qaddafi's government is enforced. But even though the world's humanitarian and military response to these crises might be construed as analogous to Moses striking the rock to bring forth the needed water, in both Japan and Libya there has been some understandable (if counterproductive) frustration and criticism about the response not occurring quickly enough. Ron asks us to consider if we perhaps have fallen into the same trap as those Israelites. Have we come to expect that God is nothing more than an insurance policy who we call on when tragic circumstances befall us -- and do we expect that our claims will be processed instantly (or at least as quickly as the insurance companies' television commercials promise us we can expect)? Ron reminds us that we have God's assurance that he is with us during our travails... but we should not construe that to mean it is insurance against all of life's difficulties.
Team member Roger Lovette shares some additional thoughts on suffering and our tendency in the midst of it to wonder, like the Israelites, if the Lord is truly among us. How do we respond in the face the unimaginable suffering we see on the news from so many places around the world? What does God want us to do? Roger suggests that perhaps the best thing to do is to avoid glib clichés and to simply acknowledge the suffering by reaching out to one another... and to know that God is with us in the time of trial.
Assurance but not Insurance
by Ronald H. Love
Exodus 17:1-7
THE WORLD
Life is a story of journeys -- some are pleasant; some are disappointing; some are joyful; some are sad. Some we travel alone; some we travel in the company of others. Some we personally experience; some we live viscerally through others.
Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel was on a journey to be an implacably dressed man whose ethics were reflected as the same (hence the nickname some gave him of "The Senator"), until a scandal of misinforming the school hierarchy about possible violations made front-page news. The executives of the most prominent corporations in Tokyo are making a journey as they escape the city in fear of radiation, while leaving their employees behind. Congress is on a journey with the Democrats demanding that the cafeterias use compostable cups and utensils and the Republicans arguing the opposite, all the while mayhem riddles the Middle East. The residents of California are on a journey to buy iodine to be protected from an unfounded fear of radiation poisoning. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried (the voice of the AFLAC duck) is on a journey to a new career after he twittered tasteless jokes about the Japanese natural disaster. A number of choir members of the Crystal Cathedral are on a journey, as they refuse to sign the required pledge that refuses to recognize homosexual marriage. Megachurches are on a journey, for ten years ago a worship attendance of 4,000 was the qualified number, now it has been upped to 8,000.
Everyone seems to be on a journey, but most are traveling the wrong road. Instead of moving toward Jesus and a benevolent disposition toward others, they are moving in the opposite direction of self-serving and self-promoting actions and attitudes. The question must be asked, "Which road are you and I traveling?"
THE WORD
Just what do we expect from God? Somehow we have arrived at the notion that to believe in God gives us privileges beyond an assured life insurance policy for eternal life in his heavenly abode. We also think it gives us permanent health care coverage from all illnesses, and even that it's the best auto insurance and homeowner's policy one can possess, for we are free from any worry of accident or misfortune. It is this mistaken attitude that is reflected in the moaning and complaining of the Israelites on their wilderness journey. Somehow, being freed from slavery is an insufficient miracle from God -- now they expect to travel a freshly cemented street lined with daffodils as they make their way to their new homeland. So when they become hungry and thirsty, they do not look to themselves for the need for spiritual renewal; instead they blame God for failing at the task of being a provider. The lesson to pursue from the Exodus story of water being brought forth form the rock in the midst of hardship and despair is that God still offers us the hope of a better tomorrow and the promise of a resurrection... but there is no assurance that life will be absent from hardship. This is why we journey on faith.
All of us have been freed from the bondages of life. We have been freed from sin with the forgiveness of the Cross. We have been freed from the fear of death with the promise of the Resurrection. We have been freed from solitude with the promise of dwelling in the Christian community of the church. Yet, like the Israelites who grumbled and complained in the desert, this does not seem to be enough. We want that insurance policy absent of loopholes and fine print.
The Israelites in their despair were not left forsaken by God as water was brought forth from the rock. God heard their cries of anguish and responded. But the water trickled, it did not gush forth; though it was enough water to sustain them and allow them to continue and complete their journey. The problem was not in the amount of water provided; the issue was a failure to comprehend God's goodness and everlasting presence.
We are going on a journey through the desert, similar to that traveled by the Israelites. The path at times will be smooth, but more often than not it will be strewn with annoying pebbles and encumbering boulders. At these times we cannot repeat the offense of the Israelites who forgot that God provided the biggest and most powerful miracle of all -- ten plagues that released them from slavery. We must always remember that we journey by faith enshrined in the greatest miracle and promise of all -- the Resurrection.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
I. Discuss that life is a journey with many joys and sorrows. Use personal illustrations and news events (some examples might be the disaster in Japan or the struggle in Libya) to describe the journeys that people have embarked upon.
II. Next, discuss in what direction our journey is taking us. Is it one of complaining to God or praising God for deliverance? Is it a journey where we doubt God or a journey where we affirm God's promise?
III. Discuss how God repeatedly blessed the Israelites. God did so in a great way with the ten plagues of Egypt that called forth their deliverance. God did not promise a journey free of hardship, but God did continue to sustain them as seen from the water brought forth from the rock. In the stony road ahead of us, are we able to see and appreciate the trickling water from the rock as a sign of God's ever-present mercy? End by asking: "Do we expect assured assurance or infallible insurance from God?"
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Roger Lovette
Exodus 17:7 -- "Is the Lord among us or not?" (NRSV)
"Is Jehovah going to take care of us or not?" (Taylor)
"Is the Lord with us or not?" (Good News)
"Is the Lord in our midst or not?" (NEB)
Psalm 95:8 -- "Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah."
Romans 5:3b-5 -- "... suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."
This week (like last week) we will have to read our texts and sing our songs not quite able to forget that across the Pacific thousands have died in Japan, and many more live without food or water or much shelter. Many have lost everything, including members of their families. And the nuclear nightmare is with the whole country.
Down the street from your house a widow grieves, in the pew in front of you a gray-haired man just put in his wife with Alzheimer's in a nursing facility. And all over the house there are people who limp in carrying heavy burdens they hardly mention. What is the word of the Lord in the face of suffering?
We are told that a multitude of the Psalms are really songs of lament. Personally and corporately out of the depths of their lives they cried to God. Sometimes in sorrow, sometimes, like the Israelites and Moses on that journey, they railed out in anger. Sometimes they wondered, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher, once said that the chief purpose of a temple is to be a place where people come to weep in common. I am wondering in the face of great pain and anguish if the church should not open its doors and invite fellow strugglers to come in and weep together.
Peerless preacher Fred Craddock tells the story that after Kennedy's assassination the little town of Kingfisher, Oklahoma, published their weekly newspaper as usual. In the paper there was a column by an Arapahoe Indian woman. She called herself, in English, Molly Shepherd. Every week she wrote about tribal customs and songs, and she told of funerals and giveaways and bits of gossip in that little place. In her broken English, Craddock said, she had a gift for words -- and sometimes they flowed like poetry.
One article was very brief after the assassination. She wrote: "Molly has no words for today. Molly has nothing to write today. Molly just goes through the house all day saying, 'Oh... oh... oh.' " Dr. Craddock said the proper translation of Molly's "oh" was really her travail for the pain of the world. (Fred B. Craddock. Craddock Stories [Chalice Press, 2001], pp. 90-91)
Like the preacher today, Moses had no word in the face of his thirsty, grumbling people. Moses was furious and had little to say about the dilemma except hitting a rock and water poured out. He did not sing, "Look for a silver lining..." Sometimes the people of faith do not need to send out smiley cards and give glib answers to people in pain. I remember once when a friend of mine lost his nine-year-old daughter I wrote him a note. I don't remember what I said. But he wrote back and said, "Thank you for what you did not say."
As we hug and pray, read the scriptures, and sing the hymns of those others who have struggled through the ages, sometimes it is enough to just simply lift up our longings, hug one another, and say, "We don't know -- but we do believe God is in this with us." Jesus did promise that as we reach out to one another we do see the face of Jesus. And maybe as we respond to our brothers and sisters in Japan through gifts and prayers, we may just not say the gospel but do the gospel.
Somehow in his own hard struggles Paul wrote these words to the Romans: "... suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us..."
We people of stubborn faith believe like the hymnodist:
"And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again and arms are strong,
Alleluia! Alleluia!" ("For All the Saints")
*****
On a less somber note, Tony Campolo tells a funny story he says is make-believe but could be true. In an American city during World War II a program was organized to train volunteers in the skills of emergency first aid. There was a fear that if their city should be bombed that there would not be enough adequate medical care available for the wounded. There was one woman in the class who seemed bored and detached from all they were taught. She was there out of a sense of obligation with no enthusiasm for learning.
One day this particular woman showed up in the first-aid class brimming with enthusiasm. She could hardly contain herself as she told her story. "This class never meant much to me until yesterday. Yesterday I was sitting on my front porch, when there was a terrible automobile accident in front of my house. Two cars had smashed head-on and several people were hurt. Blood was everywhere. The scene was so horrible I almost fainted. And then I remembered what I learned in this class -- I put my head between my legs and I didn't pass out!" (Tony Campolo, Let Me Tell You A Story [Word, 2000], pp. 116-117)
Sometimes we Christians need to remember it isn't about us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
As soon as Dr. Robert Peter Gale learned about the Chernobyl nuclear accident, he knew he wanted to help. As the world's foremost expert in bone marrow transplantation and the chairperson of the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, Gale realized he had a talent to share. He did not expect that his invitation would be accepted, for on the same day he offered his service the Soviet Union declined humanitarian aid from President Reagan and several European countries; but to Gale's surprise and astonishment he was welcomed. Gale was the first Western physician invited by the Soviet Union to help cope with a disaster since the close of World War II.
While sitting in his UCLA office between visits to Moscow, Gale shared with reporters a poem that appeared in Pravda:
God is in a man who walked into
A radiated complex,
Put out the fire, burned his skin
And clothes,
Who didn't save himself,
But saved Odessa and Kiev,
A man who simply acted like a
human being.
Gale explained that the Soviet citizens considered the firemen and everyone else who tried to help alleviate the suffering of a very tragic accident as great heroes. This was the only line of the two-page poem that Gale shared. A curious reporter silently read the rest of the poem, and on the second page came across this stanza:
God is... in Dr. Gale... who came to Russia...
We must recognize and applaud the 40 technicians and engineers who remained capsuled in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in order to prevent a meltdown, saving both lives and property. The radiation they are being exposed too will cause permanent health problems and possibly death. Yes, God can be seen walking in many places.
* * *
This past week, Arizona State senior Anthony Robles won the 125-lb. weight class and was voted the outstanding wrestler at the NCAA championship meet. Robles is an outstanding wrestler who gained All-American recognition by placing fourth and seventh the past two seasons, but winning the title this year was a spectacular and inspirational achievement. Why, you might ask? What sets Robles apart from other wrestlers? Well, he has an impediment that at first glance might seem to have made it impossible for him to scale those lofty heights. Robles, you see, has only one leg -- he was born with his right leg missing all the way to his hip. According to a Sports Illustrated profile, Robles' mother cried on the day he was born -- not so much because of the imperfection but because of the shock, for there had been no indication of the missing limb from prenatal ultrasounds. But they took a proactive attitude; as his mother puts it, "It's something that was just meant to be, and now we see it as a blessing." Anthony didn't let it limit his activity, and when he began wrestling in the ninth grade his only goal was to "avoid being seen as a novelty or an object of pity." But Robles persevered, and through endurance honed by intense training and many trials and errors on the wrestling mat, overcame what many might view as suffering incapable of producing hope. As the SI article aptly sums it up: "Sometimes sports build character; other times they reveal it. For Robles, wrestling has been a way of showing that he's too strong, in every sense, to be held back just because one leg of his pants hangs empty." Anthony Robles' achievement is an inspirational one that provides an excellent illustration of Paul's observation that "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us."
* * *
It's hard not to think of Anne Frank whenever we read the progression of suffering, endurance, character, hope. Almost two years into hiding, Anne wrote on February 23, 1944:
But I looked out of the open window too, over a large area of Amsterdam, over all the roofs and on to the horizon, which was such a pale blue that it was hard to see the dividing line. "As long as this exists," I thought, "and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy." The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.
-- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, translated by B.M. Mooyaart (Pocket Books, 1952)
* * *
Those Israelites were never happy, were they? Such a lot of complainers! Poor Moses had to put up with their grumbling almost from the moment they left Egypt. Our story of the water from the rock is just one of several stories about how God deals with the complainers in the wilderness. When the people quarreled, Moses told them that their arguing was a sign of their lack of faith in the power of God to take care of them. "Why do you test the Lord?" he asked, but they argued all the more. So Moses did what a good leader always does: He took the problem to God, and God told Moses what to do.
"Go into the wilderness with some of the elders and I will show you a rock. Strike the rock with your staff, the same staff you used to strike the Nile when you were still captive in Egypt, and I will give you water from the rock." When Moses did as God instructed, the water flowed from the rock and the people were happy... for a while at least.
Now wouldn't you think that when a miracle takes place, especially one as wondrous as water coming from a rock in the middle of the desert, that the very least Moses should do is name the spot after the miracle? Maybe he should have called the place "Waterstone" or "Streaming Boulders." That would certainly make sense. But that's not how Moses named this particular place, is it? He gave it the name "Quarreling and Testing," or in Hebrew, Meribah and Massah. He named the place after the attitude of the people toward their God. Moses knew that the most significant thing about this location wasn't the miracle, but the way the people revealed their mistrust of God's promises and presence.
Do you wonder if we are any better than these wandering Israelites? The next time you are tempted to complain about God's lack of care for you, remember "Quarreling and Testing," the place where God brought forth water to prove that he never abandons us and always loves us.
* * *
Any church leader who becomes impatient with the flock should read and reread what Moses faced as a head of God's people. Was he the first guy ever stuck between a rock and a hard place?
Moses didn't ask for the job. The Lord selected him and put him in charge of a few million complainers. We're responsible for only a tiny fraction of that amount, but at times it can feel like ten million.
Despite the fact that they witnessed spectacular miracles of deliverance, Israel always suffered short- and long-term memory deficit. When facing a physical challenge, they never seemed to remember God's earlier help in similar circumstances.
Moses' leadership qualities are admirable, but something about his situation makes me tremble. Regardless of the people's irritating ingratitude and short-lived faith, the Lord still held Moses accountable for doing the right thing. He allowed Moses no excuses, not even when he ordered him to get water from a rock.
* * *
The Israelites were needy, like children wanting what they want and not considering what they need. Today's children of God are not much different. Enough is never enough; we always want more. Wayne Muller, an author, minister, and the founder of Bread for the Journey International, addresses the maturing process that children of God go through as they become God-respecting adults: "... our prayer shifts, and we declare our willingness to let it be, to receive what we are given, to find peace and healing, whatever the outcome. To cultivate more than resignation; to cultivate acceptance, serenity, even gratitude for whatever seeds of wisdom, redemption, or liberation may be hidden in the unwanted challenges of the day."
* * *
In his book Born Again, convicted Watergate conspirator Charles Colson tells of something he observed in his fellow prisoners. Some of the strongest men, Colson noticed, simply give up under the ordeals of prison life. They turn, over time, into walking zombies. There's no place special to walk in prison, so these men walk slowly, taking tiny steps. Colson calls it "the prison shuffle." Some of them sleep every minute they can. (It's the only means of escape.) Others turn inward and begin to brood; in time they become filled with bitterness, until even their physical bodies begin to droop along with their spirits.
This is what happens to anyone who loses freedom. We can only imagine what a lack of freedom is felt by the Samaritan woman encountered by Jesus at the well. She's on the bottom of the heap, and Jesus reads the hopelessness on her face.
* * *
In one of his books Mark Twain tells the story of a slave who went to sleep one night on a narrow neck of land in Missouri that jutted out into the Mississippi River. That night there was a great storm, and the river cut a new channel right through the neck of land. When the slave awoke the next morning, he found himself not in Missouri but in Illinois -- a free man! The rushing water had freed him. So it is with the woman at the well -- she is freed by the living water.
* * *
What is the power of religion expected to do but to release the heart... from its cage of flesh, to work its wonders in the mystery of freedom?
-- Samuel Miller
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Mary Austin
Call to Worship
Leader: O God who meets every need,
People: gather us here in your love.
Leader: O God who fills every hunger,
People: meet us here with your abundance.
Leader: O God who satisfies every thirst,
People: fill us here with your living water.
Leader: O God who knows our hearts,
People: embrace us here so we can serve you everywhere.
Opening Prayer / Prayer of the Day
God, our rock and our deliverer,
we gather again as your people,
led to this place by your love,
graced in this time with your peace.
Let your Sprit enter in, we pray,
as we let go of the stresses of the week behind us,
and the worries of the week ahead of us,
and take in the gift of the Sabbath.
Bring us again to the well of living water, we ask,
so that our parched souls and dry lives
will find their home in you,
and we will worship you in spirit and in truth.
In the name of our living redeemer, Jesus, Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Faithful God,
as we make this journey of Lent,
we remember all the times we have gotten tired and stopped,
forgetting your gifts,
losing sight of your path.
Glorious God,
as we travel toward Easter,
we remember all the times we've grown angry and impatient,
forgiving too slowly,
losing track of your hand in all things.
Forgiving God,
as we find ourselves out of excuses,
we fall to our knees and ask for your mercy,
repenting what we have done and who we have been.
Forgive us, we pray,
and split the hard rock of our hearts.
Claim us again as your children,
as you lead us toward Easter as your own.
We pray in the name of the One whom we follow,
Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Prayer at Offering Time
God of living words and living water,
we are people who belong to you,
blessed by your hand and sustained by your love.
Your gifts surround us, and we come in thanksgiving and awe.
As we are made in your image,
teach us to give to one another with gracious abandon,
serving you with our treasure, our talents, and our hearts. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Theme: water
If your church has a pitcher of water by the baptismal font, you might begin with that, talking about water as the sign of baptism. Water is also essential for life. Water is easy to come by for most of us -- it comes from the faucet, clean and drinkable.
Other people around the world -- often women and girls -- travel long distances to get water. People in Japan, suffering after the earthquake and tsunami, are in need of clean water. Can we give the gift of water to them, as Jesus did once to a woman from another country?
Or: Water in Jesus' day was a precious commodity too, and had to be drawn from wells and carried home. This is where Jesus meets a woman and changes her life. Might we meet Jesus, as we're doing ordinary things?
Hymn Suggestions
"What Wondrous Love Is This?"
"There's a Wideness in God's Mercy"
"O God of Every Nation"
"Guide My Feet"
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
"I Want Jesus to Walk with Me"
"My Shepherd Will Supply My Need"
"Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken"
"O for a World"
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Pain Makes Us Stronger
Romans 5:1-11
Object: a combination lock
Good morning, boys and girls! Has anyone here had a hard week? (let the children answer) Things are not always easy. Sometimes I have a head cold and I feel miserable. Once in a while I get up in the middle of the night and stub my toe in the dark and it really hurts.
Saint Paul wrote to the Christians from Rome to tell them how much he cared about them and that they should not be discouraged. Paul said he was beginning to understand that his pain and sufferings, like sleeping on a cold floor and not having good food to eat, were now producing great endurance in him. Do you know what "endurance" means? (let them answer) Endurance is the power we use to get through very hard times. Do you remember a time when you had an earache or a toothache and you thought it would never quit hurting? You endured the pain until your ear or tooth got better. Paul said that endurance gives us character. Character is what makes us better people. You know how badly an earache hurts, and you can help me when I have an earache. Your character is such a help to me that it gives me hope. Hope means that I won't start to feel badly after a while. You tell me that I will get better because you got better. Since you give me hope, I am not disappointed. Even though it hurts, I know that God is pouring his Holy Spirit into me so that I will be healed.
Is there another way to explain this? Let me share this with you. I brought along a combination lock. It takes certain numbers to open the lock. The correct numbers are (read them off). But that isn't all there is to it. In addition to knowing the correct numbers, you also have to know whether to turn the knob to the right or the left and how many times you have to turn it. When you do everything correctly and in the right order the lock will open. (take the children through the experience) But if you do just one thing wrong, it will not open.
God teaches us that the hard parts of life -- the hurting and suffering -- are important for us to go through because they make us stronger people. When we are strong, we help ourselves and other people. Remember, living is like having the right combination to a lock. One thing leads to another in the process of living, and God is with us through it all.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 27, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
