Better Than Chocolate Chip Cookies
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
This week's lectionary gospel text brings us one of the most familiar passages in all of scripture -- the parable of the Good Samaritan. It's become such a part of our culture that the term "Good Samaritan" has entered the popular lexicon and become descriptive of a whole set of laws intended to encourage people to aid others in distress by protecting them from legal consequences for their actions. In colloquial usage, we tend to think of Good Samaritans as those who benevolently help strangers in need.
But Jesus seems to have a very different perspective in mind -- one that he reveals by focusing not on strangers but on neighbors. Jesus identifies the neighbor in the parable not as the man who needed assistance but as the one who stopped and showed him mercy. As team member Mary Austin notes in this installment of The Immediate Word, when we use the term "neighbor" we usually think of the folks in our neighborhoods -- those who live near us, look like us, think like us, and behave like us... in other words, the kind of friendly, wise, and non-threatening voices over the backyard fence typified by Wilson in Home Improvement. But Jesus is telling us that being a good neighbor is a much more risky proposition. In today's danger-filled world, there's so much we're scared of (understandably so). We've learned -- often the hard way -- that it's so much safer to pass by on the other side of the road (like the priest and the Levite) and let the professionals handle assistance, rather than to take the risk that we might come to the same fate as the traveler in the parable... stripped, beaten, robbed, and left for dead. But Mary points out that several stories in the news give us an opportunity to reflect on Jesus' definition of what constitutes a neighbor -- and to consider whether giving in to our fear keeps us from being open enough to take the risk of helping others. Jesus poses us with a difficult question: Are we willing to cross the barrier of our mistrust and reach out to those who are different from us?
Team member Dean Feldmeyer offers some additional thoughts on the Amos text. The prophet uses the metaphor of a plumb line to illustrate the sturdy and reliable base of God's Word on which we can build our lives (as opposed to the jerry-rigged fashion we all too often use). Furthermore, Dean points out, it offers us definitive, unchanging standards against which we can judge our behavior. But who is qualified to interpret that revelation? Anyone can use a plumb line -- one doesn't have to be a certified carpenter -- and similarly, God chooses Amos even though he lacks the requisite framed†sheepskin on the wall from Yeshiva U. What this passage tells us, Dean notes, is that the only credential we need is the willingness to take the risk of speaking the truth plainly and clearly as it is revealed by God and to live accordingly... even if that leads us to uncomfortable situations.
Better than Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Mary Austin
Luke 10:25-37
New neighbors moved in across the street recently, and I went over, pan of brownies in hand, to say hello and welcome them to our street. They're delightful people, and it's fun to run into them outside and hear the updates on their lives. Our neighbors next door have been there longer, and this week we went to a 70th birthday party for one of them. I feel blessed to have such good neighbors, to know their names and a little bit about their lives. Still, I can't help but think that Jesus has more in mind when he asks who our neighbors are.
The trial of George Zimmerman, accused of the fatal shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin, prods us to consider who seems like a neighbor to us, and how we choose between neighbor and stranger. The deaths of 19 elite firefighters in Arizona also call us to think about the people who choose to be neighbors to all of us, whether we see it or not.
In the Scriptures
Middle East expert Kenneth Bailey writes about the story of the Good Samaritan in his book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. He notes that the Jerusalem Temple was served by three classes of people: priests, Levites, and laymen who served non-religious functions. Many of the priests lived in Jericho and traveled to Jerusalem for two-week assignments at the temple. As a hereditary class, priests were wealthy, and Bailey suggests that any first-century listener would have imagined the priest riding on a horse for this 17-mile journey. Bailey writes, "The priest had a special problem.... If the victim was a fellow Jew, and especially a law-abiding Jew, the priest would have been responsible to reach out and help him." But how was the priest to know, since the victim was stripped of his clothes and unconscious? What was his obligation to this man? And what was his obligation to others -- in not becoming unclean so he could do his duties at the temple, and so he and his family could eat the tithed food?
As a temple assistant, the Levite simply follows the example set by the priest. He has no such dilemma, and no claim to know the law better than the priest does.
Following the arc of the story, listeners would have expected the third man to be the layperson who serves in the temple. Instead, they get a hated Samaritan. Bailey observes, "It would have been more acceptable to the audience if Jesus had told a story about a good Jew who helped a wounded Samaritan." Instead, they get the reverse.
The Samaritan takes a great risk in bringing the wounded man to an inn in Jewish territory. Traveling with the man on his animal, he has to move slowly, and is exposed to other Jews who may misread the situation and blame him for the man's condition. Inns are found where people are, not out in the empty places. He places himself at risk for more violence by transporting the man to shelter. After he pays the bill the next day, the Samaritan is still in dangerous territory.
In that day, anyone who didn't pay their bill at the inn could be sold by the innkeeper to recoup the costs. The Samaritan guarantees the man's future by promising to pay the whole bill in full, and by leaving a down payment, enough to cover the first week or two. The Samaritan makes sure the man has a future to look forward to.
In the News
What if, on the night that George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin met up, each one had seen the other differently? Only the two of them know what really happened between them, and only one of them is here to tell his side of the story. A jury is working hard to figure it out, and the rest of us can only imagine the levels of fear and mistrust between them. I believe it's safe to say, though, that neither of them saw the other as a neighbor.
George Zimmerman, watching out for the neighborhood, saw a young African-American man as a possible menace, instead of a young man on his way home from a convenience store. Trayvon Martin's thoughts are more mysterious to us, but he apparently didn't see George Zimmerman as someone to chat with about the Miami Heat, or the Florida weather, or the quiet of the evening. For reasons that shape all of our lives, neither saw the other as a possible neighbor.
In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the power of a first glance to tell us what we need to know about another person -- and about the power of prejudice to get in the way of that. Our assumptions cloud our intuitive wisdom, and make us see people through the frame of our own minds instead of as they are. Gladwell notes in the book that we can change our unconscious prejudices by deliberately exposing ourselves to people who rewire our stereotypes. Or, in other words, by seeking out new neighbors, we become better at being a neighbor to different kinds of people. To become a neighbor, we have to get out of our way, and learn to see wildly different people as the neighbors they can be.
In the Pulpit
Becoming a neighbor is never easy, but it is possible.
Former ESPN producer Lisa Fenn writes about making herself into a neighbor for two young men she met during her work for ESPN. Step by step, the three became friends, and then an unlikely family.
Fenn got to know Leroy Sutton and Dartanyon Crockett four years ago in the process of producing a feature segment on them. As Fenn recalls now, "Dartanyon Crockett and Leroy Sutton grubbed their way into my heart four years ago. As an ESPN television features producer at the time, I was always on the hunt for unique athlete pieces. For 10 years, I traveled the country, chronicling human-interest stories against the backdrop of sports. I covered Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan all the way down to disabled amateurs and terminally ill little leaguers who imprinted a special brand of heroics onto this world. What a privilege to be invited into their private pains and sacred celebrations. But what I found on the wrestling mats at Cleveland's Lincoln-West High School in 2009 caused my spirit to sink and soar, all in the same moment."
She met Dartanyon, the high school team's biggest talent, who was also the team member with arguably the most difficult life. He was a substantial-sized wrestler who was also homeless. His mother died when he was eight, and then, as Fenn writes, his "family collected him and took him to live in an East Cleveland crack house. Where exactly it was Dartanyon could not say because Dartanyon is legally blind. Born with Leber's disease, a condition that causes acute vision loss, he can barely make out the facial features of a person sitting a few feet away."
Dartanyon rarely traveled alone. Riding on his back was teammate Leroy Sutton. "He traveled around up there because he had no legs, and the school had no elevator." At the age of 11, Leroy was hit by a train and lost both legs. Other losses followed. As Fenn says, "His mother, ravaged by guilt, soon slipped into drug use and disappeared for stretches of time, leaving Leroy alone to care for his younger sister. His father spent nearly all of Leroy's youth in jail."
The unusual friendship benefited them both. "In addition to being intense practice partners, Dartanyon and Leroy shared a handful of classes, always sitting side by side. Dartanyon would get up to sharpen Leroy's pencils; Leroy ensured Dartanyon could read small print."
Fenn recalls that she grew up eight miles -- and many levels of privilege -- from Lincoln-West. Their rough high school made her uneasy. "But Dartanyon and Leroy eased me in graciously. As we filmed over the course of five months, I tagged along to their classes, their practices, and on team bus rides. They taught me their lingo and poked fun when I tried to use it. They opened up about their struggles -- Dartanyon with great eagerness, as I think he had waited his entire life for someone to want to know him, to truly see him. Leroy's revelations emerged more reluctantly. He had been emotionally abandoned too many times before. But sharing his past began a type of therapy for him. Both began to believe that, perhaps, I genuinely cared."
One night, everything Dartanyon owned was taken from him while he was at a competition. That week, Fenn drove him around to replace everything he had lost. Cell phone, bus pass, birth certificate -- each one requiring its own stop, and its own wait in line. Fenn says, "Dartanyon later told me it was during that week of errands that he grew convinced God placed me into his life for reasons beyond television, that no one else would have taken the time and money to help him in those ways." As Fenn edited the piece, she prayed that just one viewer would be moved to help the boys. Instead, she got nearly 1,000 emails, which she answered personally, not wanting to miss out on an offer that would help them. Fenn recalls:
Each time I shared exciting new developments with them, Dartanyon gushed with thank yous and hugs, broad grins and relieved exhales. But Leroy's stoic posture never budged. "Leroy, if at any point you don't want this, you need to speak up," I said. "The last thing I want is to inflict my desires on you."
"No, it's all good," he said.
"But usually, when it's 'all good,' people smile or say something," I said. "Each time I call you with good news, you are so quiet. I'm not even sure you're on the line."
"No one's ever called me with good news before," he said. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say."
Fenn continued to facilitate their future, even after she left ESPN to pursue other professional opportunities in 2010. In the fall of 2009, Fenn writes, "Thanks to the generosity of ESPN viewers, Leroy moved to Arizona to study video game design at Collins College. I had my doubts that he could manage on his own, but time and again, he disarms his skeptics. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school, and, this August, he will be the first to receive a college diploma. Dartanyon and I will be in the front row, listening as the sound of this cycle of poverty shatters."
And his friend Dartanyon? He received an offer from the United States Olympic Committee, inviting him to live at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to study judo and compete in the Paralympics. He made the 2012 Paralympic team and traveled to London, winning a bronze medal there.
As Fenn remembers it, after the win he told her, "Things like this don't happen to kids like us." She adds:
And he is right. Blind and legless kids from the ghettos don't get college educations and shiny accolades, but they should. And that is why I stayed. Because hope and love and rejoicing and redemption can happen to kids like them. And people like me, people from the "other side," who can soften life's blows for them, ought to help.
Those who know the story behind this story heap a lot of credit onto me for dedicating my last four years to improving Dartanyon's and Leroy's lives. Indeed, I have spent thousands of hours removing obstacles from the paths of their dreams, providing for their needs, reprogramming poorly learned habits, exposing new horizons, and piling on the encouragement they need to rise above. I drove Dartanyon to the dentist to drill the first of 15 cavities. I taught Leroy how to pay a bill. I sat with Dartanyon at the social security office to apply for disability benefits, something he could have received all his life had anyone submitted the forms for him. I soothed the burn of Leroy's broken heart and phantom limbs. And through it all, we grew into an eclectic family of our own. We carried on.
When he made a visit to the eye doctor in 2009, I asked Dartanyon to include me on the consent form so I could access his records if need be. Later that day, I received a call from the office administrator. "I just thought you should know what Dartanyon wrote on his consent form today," she said, somewhat undone. "Next to your name, on the release, is a space that says 'Relationship to Patient.' Dartanyon wrote 'Guardian Angel.' "
I stayed because we only get one life, and we don't truly live it until we give it away.
I stayed because we can change the world only when we enter into another's world.
Perhaps that's the best definition there is of becoming a neighbor.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Standards and Credentials
by Dean Feldmeyer
Amos 7:7-17
Certificate of Ordination... check.
License to Solemnize Marriages in the State of Ohio... check.
Bachelor of Arts degree... check.
Master of Divinity degree... check.
When I first started out in the ministry more than 30 years ago, I had all of these framed and hanging on the wall of my tiny little office. They proved that I was qualified to occupy the chair behind the desk and the pulpit in the sanctuary. When I visited someone in the hospital or performed a wedding, I wore a shirt with a clerical collar so people would know who I was and what I was there for.
They were my credentials. They showed that I had met certain, often rigid, standards that allowed me to enter certain places and say and do certain things.
I still wear the collar sometimes, but in my office I tend to let my gray hair and the pictures of my grandchildren serve as my curriculum vitae.
In the Scriptures
This week's Amos passage speaks to the subject of standards and credentials.
The prophet opens the passage by saying that God is done messing around with the people of Israel. God is done being lenient and giving them second and third and fourth chances. A new standard is being established, and God's judgment on the people will be like a "plumb line."
A plumb line is simply a string with a weight at the end. When it is hung and allowed to come to rest, it provides a perfectly straight, perpendicular line. Plumb lines are used by builders to make sure that walls or columns are not leaning. When one uses a plumb line, one need not guess whether a wall is perfectly upright or not; one need not be satisfied that the column seems to stand straight. It can be measured objectively against a perfect standard.
According to Amos, YHWH says that this is how Israel will be measured from now on -- against a perfectly upright standard. And starting with King Jeroboam, there will be no question as to whether the people pass the test or not. But the high priest, Amaziah, whose income relies on the favor of the king, questions Amos' credentials to make such a prophecy. How dare you speak harshly to the king, he says. Who are you to speak the word of the Lord? How do we know you aren't just spouting off your own opinions? Where's your ordination certificate? What seminary did you go to?
Amos replies that he doesn't have a fancy college education. He is merely a herdsman and an orchard tender. His only credential is the word of the Lord itself. If it turns out that he is right, his prophecy must be authentic. If not, it isn't.
And then he leaves the high priest with an implied challenge: "Do you really want to risk it?"
In the News
The issues of standards and credentials permeate the news on a regular basis.
In the George Zimmerman trial, the prosecution is asking what credentials Zimmerman had to arm himself and protect the neighborhood. They want to know by what standard he was trained for that task, and if he acted in accordance with those standards. What standards did he use to judge that Trayvon Martin was a potential risk to law-abiding citizens of the community?
In Egypt, a democratically elected president has been removed from office by the military. Some rejoice at his removal, claiming that he had abandoned the standards of democracy by which he was elected and no longer held the appropriate credentials to run the country. Islamists, who made up most of former president Mohammed Morsi's support, did so because he upheld the standards they valued. His strict, fundamentalist Islamic faith was the only credential they cared about. The official response from America has been understandably cautious as we sort out which standards we are going to support. We want to support democracy and the people's right to choose their own leaders. But what do we do when the people choose a leader whose credentials we do not recognize?
And finally, the state Supreme Court of Wisconsin recently upheld the murder convictions of Leilani and Dale Neumann, who instead of seeking medical help for their diabetic 11-year-old daughter chose to pray while they watched her die. The court held that there are certain minimum legal standards of child care that all parents are required by law to meet, regardless of their religious convictions, and one of those standards is medical care. Medical care is a child-care plumb line.
In the Pulpit
Hang a plumb line in the chancel near the pulpit. Really! Let your people see what one looks like, and let it remain there throughout the sermon.
Now we can discuss credentials. What kinds of credentials do we require of our doctors, our dentists, even our plumbers?
Angie's List has become a nationwide sensation and made its founder rich by offering a place where people can share and discuss the credentials of people offering professional services.
We can also discuss standards. By what standards do we judge the people we elect and the people we hire? What do we demand of them as proof of their worthiness?
And, of course, this discussion inevitably leads us to the credentials that are required for us to call ourselves Christians. By what standards do we measure our success in this lifelong adventure we call the Christian faith? If Christianity was against the law, would there be enough evidence to convict us?
Some would hold that the Ten Commandments are a good place to start, insisting that they be written on the walls of our schools and prominently displayed in the halls of government. Others would offer the Beatitudes, or the Great Commandment, or the Great Commission as standards for Christian behavior.
What about the great historic creedal statements and confessions of the church? Are these standards for membership or guides to help us on the journey?
Ultimately, this discussion will always lead us back to the response of Amos. Regardless of how many college degrees we have or don't have and how many times we have been born, the final standard by which our words and actions are to be judged is always the Word of the Lord.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Luke 10:25-37
The lawyer who stood up to Jesus might have thought he was a hotshot. But Jesus knows that it is actions that show one's ability to be a neighbor -- something many in Arizona also know.
Enduring triple-digit heat, thousands of persons lined streets and highways this week to honor the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who died fighting the Yarnell mountain fire earlier this month.
A slow procession of 19 white hearses made its way back from Phoenix to Prescott, Arizona. The corteges brought together families, friends, and even complete strangers. Residents from the small town the firefighters died trying to save were also present. Other firefighters accompanied their 19 brethren in a symbolic gesture. According to one report:
"Since they were discovered, they have never been out of the presence of a brother firefighter," said Paul Bourgeois, a Phoenix-area fire chief who is acting as a spokesman in Prescott for the firefighters' families. "From the time they were taken to the medical examiner in Phoenix, while they're at the medical examiner's office, when they are received in a funeral home -- there will always be a brother firefighter on site with them until they are interred.
"That's something people don't realize. We never leave your side," he said of the tradition. "It's a comfort to the survivors, whether they're families or fellow firefighters."
These "hotshots" earn their name by placing themselves on the front lines of deadly fires. There are 112 of these elite interagency crews in the United States. These firefighters receive rigorous training and are expected to work long hours away from such basic comforts as beds, showers, and hot meals. Job requirements include problem solving, teamwork, decision-making in stressful environments, and simply "being nice."
Application: The lawyer essentially asks Jesus what are the job requirements for becoming a disciple. The 19 firefighters who died also knew the requirements, but in giving their lives for others, they demonstrated their willingness to do more than what was merely expected of them. It remains unknown whether the hotshot lawyer was able to do the same.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
The life and witness of Nelson Mandela, who is now perilously ill and apparently on life support, provide remarkable insight into the risky behavior demonstrated in the parable of the Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.
One of the astonishing aspects of Nelson Mandela's life in prison was the relationships he established with a few of his prison guards, including warder Christo Brand. As a young prison guard, Brand was assigned in 1978 to Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned. Brand was a typical 18-year-old South African, and held strong pro-apartheid views. But his encounters with Mandela challenged those boundaries. He came to question his country's policies and grew in his respect for Mandela.
Brand became Mandela's "neighbor." He broke prison rules and brought Mandela bread and personal products. Though physical contact between visitors and prisoners was restricted, Brand saw to it that Mandela could hold his newborn grandson.
In 2007, Brand was interviewed about his relationship with Mandela: "When I came to the prison, Nelson Mandela was already 60. He was down-to-earth and courteous. He treated me with respect and my respect for him grew. After a while, even though he was a prisoner, a friendship grew. It was a friendship behind bars," he said.
Today, Brand is still at Robben Island -- now working as the manager of the museum's gift shop. He works alongside former political prisoners and embodies the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Application: Christo Brand crossed hard racial boundaries in order to grow in his appreciation of Nelson Mandela, embodying the selfless neighborliness Jesus calls his followers to emulate.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
The power of the parable of the Samaritan lies in the astonishing truth of how love reaches across boundaries. While the priest and Levite acted with reasonable caution, the Samaritan acted unreasonably -- that is, he took a risk. Likewise, as Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa, there were many times he was called to take risks that seemed (especially to his supporters) unreasonable. The popular film Invictus demonstrates Mandela's stunning commitment to reach across boundaries in taking risks.
As Mandela (portrayed by Morgan Freeman) assumes the office of president, many South Africans wonder if he will be able to run a divided country. He immediately signals his desire for change by reaching across boundaries, including inviting white former staffers of President de Klerk to stay on the job. He further challenges assumptions and perplexes his own bodyguards by demanding they work with white security officers, some of whom had previously terrorized blacks. When one of his close aides challenges Mandela's decision, the new president bluntly tells him, "Forgiveness starts here." (The clip may be viewed here.) There is to be no retribution, Mandela insists. Instead, a new understanding of what it means to be neighbors united in one country emerges.
Application: The Samaritan proved to be an unlikely neighbor to the fallen man because of the risks he undertook in caring for him. Likewise, Nelson Mandela took what many saw as political risks in demanding that "reconciliation starts here" through the unlikely action of including white bodyguards on his personal security team.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
Invictus elaborates on the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation by showing how Mandela encouraged the white rugby team to become a unifying symbol in the divided nation. In South Africa, rugby had traditionally been the white man's sport, while soccer was the black man's sport. The floundering national rugby team, known as the Springboks, receives President Mandela's full-fledged support, encouraging its captain Francois Pienaar (played by Matt Damon) to achieve success in the 1995 World Cup, hosted by South Africa. Mandela's witness to reconciliation and his desire to unify the nation inspires the young Pienaar to see things in new ways. Pienaar takes the (mainly white) team to visit Mandela's former cell on Robben Island. Some on the team members scoff at Pienaar's interest in seeing the cell where the future president was held captive. But Pienaar's visit to the cell changes him and is in a real sense a "crossing of the road" for the young rugby player. He imagines how the small cell was a space where Mandela was strengthened despite hardship. Pienaar is then inspired to lead the Springbok team to new victories. The stirring success of the team bridges divisions in the nation, becoming part of the nation's pathway through divides of "us" and "them."
(See this link for a thoughtful review of the film. Also, there's a marvelous documentary on the events that inspired Invictus. Part of ESPN's acclaimed 30 for 30 series, The 16th Man details how the rubgy team and its inspiring win at the World Cup brought a nation together. It features commentary from Pienaar and several of his Springbok teammates, as well as stirring testimony from two former radicals, one black and one white, each of whom had been imprisoned for racially motivated killings, on how these once unimaginable events completely changed their perspectives.)
Application: For South Africa, Mandela's support of the Springbok rugby team became a further witness to his yearning for reconciliation by symbolically encouraging others to "cross boundaries" that had long divided the nation.
* * *
From team member Ron Love:
Luke 10:25-37
Ahmed Kathrada and Nelson Mandela, both political activists and members of the African National Congress, were incarcerated together in the South African prison on Robben Island for their activism and opposition to apartheid. After their release and Mandela's election as South Africa's president, they understood that many people wanted to visit the prison -- and so Mandela asked Kathrada to give dignitaries a guided tour of the prison, a role he has filled for nearly 20 years. On President Obama's latest visit to Africa, Kathrada gave the president and his family a tour of the prison that he and Mandela shared for so many years. Kathrada said in an interview that the ANC faces more varied problems today than when apartheid was its singular focus. Kathrada reported: "Our challenge is poverty, hunger, unemployment, disease, children without schools, street children who haven't got homes, AIDS orphans, thousands and thousands of them. So perhaps the challenges now are greater than smashing apartheid."
Application: We will always have problems. We will always be walking with the Good Samaritan.
* * *
Amos 7:7-17
"Big Mountain Jesus" can remain where it is. United States District Judge Dana Christensen recently ruled that a statue of Jesus that has stood on Montana's Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort (a.k.a. "Big Mountain") for nearly six decades can remain, even though the resort rents land from the United States Forest Service. It is reported that the statue was saved by snowboarders who ascribed no religious significance to Jesus. Realizing this, Christensen wrote: "The statue's secular and irreverent uses far outweigh the few religious uses it has served.... Typical observers of the statue are more interested in giving it a high five or adorning it with ski gear than sitting before it in prayer."
Application: One must wonder where the plumb line is at Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
The Eye of God, James Rollins' latest thriller, is currently at number six on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover fiction. The book has a lively plot about Genghis Khan's tomb, a comet hurtling toward earth, and a satellite transmitting apocalyptic images from the future. A good part of the sway that Rollins has upon readers lies in his ability to make such a story believable. Regarding this, he says, "There are many gray areas that tread the line so finely between fact and fiction, between reality and speculation, that you can safely argue both sides of that equation."
Application: Paul wrote his letter to a church that was being influenced by false teachers, especially the Gnostics. This is why he called for understanding, so Christians would know on which side of the fine line of the theological equation to place their beliefs.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
Oliver Sacks is a renowned author and a professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine. Last week he penned an opinion piece for the New York Times on what it means for him to be celebrating his 80th birthday. In his closing paragraph he wrote of feeling "not a shrinking but an enlargement of mental life and perspective. One has had a long experience of life, not only one's own life, but others', too.... At 80, one can take a long view and have a vivid, lived sense of history not possible at an earlier age. I can imagine, feel in my bones, what a century is like, which I could not do when I was 40 or 60."
Application: This is what it means when Paul encourages us to continue learning.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
Twice each week the New York Times interviews a business leader for its "Corner Office" column -- and a recent interview subject was Ken Lombard, a partner in the real estate and development firm Capri Capital Partners. When Lombard seeks a new employee he wants someone "who is hungry to continue to learn." Regarding his own professional development, Lombard said: "You can speed up the learning curve by positioning yourself in a way so people who have the experience want to help you. You have to make it conducive for them to really want to provide you with information. Then become a sponge."
Application: Paul instructed the readers of his letter to continue to learn, to continue being a sponge absorbing theological knowledge.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
People: maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
Leader: Rescue the weak and the needy;
People: deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Leader: Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
People: for all the nations belong to you!
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God of compassion and love.
People: We come in awe to acknowledge the great love of our God.
Leader: Come and learn the ways of God's care for the least, the lost, and the lonely.
People: We come to learn to be true disciples of Jesus and true children of the living God.
Leader: Come that you may go and serve in God's name.
People: We come to be sent as bearers of God's love and grace.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"
found in:
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
AAHH: 138, 139
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18, 19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELA: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52, 53, 65
"Your Love, O God"
found in:
UMH: 120
CH: 71
"There's a Wideness in God's Mercy"
found in:
UMH: 121
H82: 469, 470
PH: 298
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELA: 587, 588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
"Bread of the World"
found in:
UMH: 624
H82: 301
PH: 502
NCH: 346
CH: 387
W&P: 693
"The Voice of God Is Calling"
found in:
UMH: 436
"Cuando el Pobre" ("When the Poor Ones")
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 602
ELA: 725
W&P: 624
"Jesu, Jesu"
found in:
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELA: 708
W&P: 273
CCB: 66
Renew: 289
"O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee"
found in:
UMH: 430
H82: 659, 660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELA: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
"Make Me a Servant"
found in:
CCB: 90
"We Are His Hands"
found in:
CCB: 85
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who comes to our aid in the midst of our brokenness: Grant us the grace to become neighbors to others by going to them in their need without regard to the differences that may be between us; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship and praise your name, O God, because you have been a neighbor to us. You have found us in our need, and you have given yourself to our healing. As we offer you our worship this day, help us to receive anew your Spirit that we may be neighbors to others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our quickness to receive help and our slowness to give it.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are so much more sensitive to our own "suffering" than that of others. We see the things that inconvenience us as major problems and think everyone should be concerned about them. But when we see the true suffering of others who live in poverty, hunger, and the midst of violence, we are unconcerned. Forgive us and renew us with your Spirit, so that we may truly be neighbors by acting with the compassion of the one we call Lord. Amen.
Leader: God is our neighbor and desires our salvation. God knows it will only come as we serve as neighbors to others.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
Glory and honor are yours, O God, creator and redeemer of all. You are far beyond us and yet closer to us than our own breath.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are so much more sensitive to our own "suffering" than that of others. We see the things that inconvenience us as major problems and think everyone should be concerned about them. But when we see the true suffering of others who live in poverty, hunger, and the midst of violence, we are unconcerned. Forgive us and renew us with your Spirit, so that we may truly be neighbors by acting with the compassion of the one we call Lord.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have shown us your care and compassion for us and for all your children. We thank you for the witness of your care that we have seen in the care others have shown for us. We thank you for those wondrous times when we have been aware of your presence in the simple acts of caring we have offered others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We know that many feel alone without a neighborly presence. There are many who are unaware of your love because of the evil and hate that surrounds them. As you enfold them with your Spirit of compassion, help us to reach out to them as well.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Share with the children various scenarios -- for example, someone is carrying many things and they drop some or someone is sitting alone while others are playing a game -- and ask how they could be a neighbor in each situation.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Who Is My Neighbor?
Luke 10:25-37
Objects: a picture of several houses together, and a globe
Good morning, boys and girls! Who can tell me what a "neighbor" is? (let the children respond) Okay, a neighbor is someone who lives near you. (hold up the picture) The people who live in these houses are neighbors because they all live near one another. We call several houses that are close together a "neighborhood," right?
Can a neighbor be someone who lives far away from you? (Get their responses, and ask them why or why not. Now hold up the globe.) This is a globe of the world. We live right here. (point to where you live) Are we the neighbors of people who live around on the other side of the world in Australia? What about the people who live in France?
Now let me ask you another question. Do you have to know a person to be a neighbor? In our reading today Jesus tells a parable about a man who is beaten and robbed while walking down a road. The robbers leave him wounded and lying on the side of the road. Several people walk by the hurt man, but they do not stop to help him. Why? Because they don't think that the man is their problem. After all, he isn't their neighbor. They don't know him, so why should they help him? That's mean. Finally, someone does stop and help him. This man, a Samaritan, cleans him up and takes him to a safe place where he can get better.
This is the lesson Jesus teaches us: our neighbors are everywhere. You don't need to live by your neighbor, you don't need to look like your neighbor, and you don't need even to know your neighbor. In God's eyes, everyone is your neighbor. The last part of our verse today says that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We should love all people and treat them in the same way we would like to be treated. Neighbors are everywhere. Today, try to find a way to help one of your neighbors.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for today's lesson. Please help us learn to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 14, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 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.
But Jesus seems to have a very different perspective in mind -- one that he reveals by focusing not on strangers but on neighbors. Jesus identifies the neighbor in the parable not as the man who needed assistance but as the one who stopped and showed him mercy. As team member Mary Austin notes in this installment of The Immediate Word, when we use the term "neighbor" we usually think of the folks in our neighborhoods -- those who live near us, look like us, think like us, and behave like us... in other words, the kind of friendly, wise, and non-threatening voices over the backyard fence typified by Wilson in Home Improvement. But Jesus is telling us that being a good neighbor is a much more risky proposition. In today's danger-filled world, there's so much we're scared of (understandably so). We've learned -- often the hard way -- that it's so much safer to pass by on the other side of the road (like the priest and the Levite) and let the professionals handle assistance, rather than to take the risk that we might come to the same fate as the traveler in the parable... stripped, beaten, robbed, and left for dead. But Mary points out that several stories in the news give us an opportunity to reflect on Jesus' definition of what constitutes a neighbor -- and to consider whether giving in to our fear keeps us from being open enough to take the risk of helping others. Jesus poses us with a difficult question: Are we willing to cross the barrier of our mistrust and reach out to those who are different from us?
Team member Dean Feldmeyer offers some additional thoughts on the Amos text. The prophet uses the metaphor of a plumb line to illustrate the sturdy and reliable base of God's Word on which we can build our lives (as opposed to the jerry-rigged fashion we all too often use). Furthermore, Dean points out, it offers us definitive, unchanging standards against which we can judge our behavior. But who is qualified to interpret that revelation? Anyone can use a plumb line -- one doesn't have to be a certified carpenter -- and similarly, God chooses Amos even though he lacks the requisite framed†sheepskin on the wall from Yeshiva U. What this passage tells us, Dean notes, is that the only credential we need is the willingness to take the risk of speaking the truth plainly and clearly as it is revealed by God and to live accordingly... even if that leads us to uncomfortable situations.
Better than Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Mary Austin
Luke 10:25-37
New neighbors moved in across the street recently, and I went over, pan of brownies in hand, to say hello and welcome them to our street. They're delightful people, and it's fun to run into them outside and hear the updates on their lives. Our neighbors next door have been there longer, and this week we went to a 70th birthday party for one of them. I feel blessed to have such good neighbors, to know their names and a little bit about their lives. Still, I can't help but think that Jesus has more in mind when he asks who our neighbors are.
The trial of George Zimmerman, accused of the fatal shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin, prods us to consider who seems like a neighbor to us, and how we choose between neighbor and stranger. The deaths of 19 elite firefighters in Arizona also call us to think about the people who choose to be neighbors to all of us, whether we see it or not.
In the Scriptures
Middle East expert Kenneth Bailey writes about the story of the Good Samaritan in his book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. He notes that the Jerusalem Temple was served by three classes of people: priests, Levites, and laymen who served non-religious functions. Many of the priests lived in Jericho and traveled to Jerusalem for two-week assignments at the temple. As a hereditary class, priests were wealthy, and Bailey suggests that any first-century listener would have imagined the priest riding on a horse for this 17-mile journey. Bailey writes, "The priest had a special problem.... If the victim was a fellow Jew, and especially a law-abiding Jew, the priest would have been responsible to reach out and help him." But how was the priest to know, since the victim was stripped of his clothes and unconscious? What was his obligation to this man? And what was his obligation to others -- in not becoming unclean so he could do his duties at the temple, and so he and his family could eat the tithed food?
As a temple assistant, the Levite simply follows the example set by the priest. He has no such dilemma, and no claim to know the law better than the priest does.
Following the arc of the story, listeners would have expected the third man to be the layperson who serves in the temple. Instead, they get a hated Samaritan. Bailey observes, "It would have been more acceptable to the audience if Jesus had told a story about a good Jew who helped a wounded Samaritan." Instead, they get the reverse.
The Samaritan takes a great risk in bringing the wounded man to an inn in Jewish territory. Traveling with the man on his animal, he has to move slowly, and is exposed to other Jews who may misread the situation and blame him for the man's condition. Inns are found where people are, not out in the empty places. He places himself at risk for more violence by transporting the man to shelter. After he pays the bill the next day, the Samaritan is still in dangerous territory.
In that day, anyone who didn't pay their bill at the inn could be sold by the innkeeper to recoup the costs. The Samaritan guarantees the man's future by promising to pay the whole bill in full, and by leaving a down payment, enough to cover the first week or two. The Samaritan makes sure the man has a future to look forward to.
In the News
What if, on the night that George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin met up, each one had seen the other differently? Only the two of them know what really happened between them, and only one of them is here to tell his side of the story. A jury is working hard to figure it out, and the rest of us can only imagine the levels of fear and mistrust between them. I believe it's safe to say, though, that neither of them saw the other as a neighbor.
George Zimmerman, watching out for the neighborhood, saw a young African-American man as a possible menace, instead of a young man on his way home from a convenience store. Trayvon Martin's thoughts are more mysterious to us, but he apparently didn't see George Zimmerman as someone to chat with about the Miami Heat, or the Florida weather, or the quiet of the evening. For reasons that shape all of our lives, neither saw the other as a possible neighbor.
In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the power of a first glance to tell us what we need to know about another person -- and about the power of prejudice to get in the way of that. Our assumptions cloud our intuitive wisdom, and make us see people through the frame of our own minds instead of as they are. Gladwell notes in the book that we can change our unconscious prejudices by deliberately exposing ourselves to people who rewire our stereotypes. Or, in other words, by seeking out new neighbors, we become better at being a neighbor to different kinds of people. To become a neighbor, we have to get out of our way, and learn to see wildly different people as the neighbors they can be.
In the Pulpit
Becoming a neighbor is never easy, but it is possible.
Former ESPN producer Lisa Fenn writes about making herself into a neighbor for two young men she met during her work for ESPN. Step by step, the three became friends, and then an unlikely family.
Fenn got to know Leroy Sutton and Dartanyon Crockett four years ago in the process of producing a feature segment on them. As Fenn recalls now, "Dartanyon Crockett and Leroy Sutton grubbed their way into my heart four years ago. As an ESPN television features producer at the time, I was always on the hunt for unique athlete pieces. For 10 years, I traveled the country, chronicling human-interest stories against the backdrop of sports. I covered Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan all the way down to disabled amateurs and terminally ill little leaguers who imprinted a special brand of heroics onto this world. What a privilege to be invited into their private pains and sacred celebrations. But what I found on the wrestling mats at Cleveland's Lincoln-West High School in 2009 caused my spirit to sink and soar, all in the same moment."
She met Dartanyon, the high school team's biggest talent, who was also the team member with arguably the most difficult life. He was a substantial-sized wrestler who was also homeless. His mother died when he was eight, and then, as Fenn writes, his "family collected him and took him to live in an East Cleveland crack house. Where exactly it was Dartanyon could not say because Dartanyon is legally blind. Born with Leber's disease, a condition that causes acute vision loss, he can barely make out the facial features of a person sitting a few feet away."
Dartanyon rarely traveled alone. Riding on his back was teammate Leroy Sutton. "He traveled around up there because he had no legs, and the school had no elevator." At the age of 11, Leroy was hit by a train and lost both legs. Other losses followed. As Fenn says, "His mother, ravaged by guilt, soon slipped into drug use and disappeared for stretches of time, leaving Leroy alone to care for his younger sister. His father spent nearly all of Leroy's youth in jail."
The unusual friendship benefited them both. "In addition to being intense practice partners, Dartanyon and Leroy shared a handful of classes, always sitting side by side. Dartanyon would get up to sharpen Leroy's pencils; Leroy ensured Dartanyon could read small print."
Fenn recalls that she grew up eight miles -- and many levels of privilege -- from Lincoln-West. Their rough high school made her uneasy. "But Dartanyon and Leroy eased me in graciously. As we filmed over the course of five months, I tagged along to their classes, their practices, and on team bus rides. They taught me their lingo and poked fun when I tried to use it. They opened up about their struggles -- Dartanyon with great eagerness, as I think he had waited his entire life for someone to want to know him, to truly see him. Leroy's revelations emerged more reluctantly. He had been emotionally abandoned too many times before. But sharing his past began a type of therapy for him. Both began to believe that, perhaps, I genuinely cared."
One night, everything Dartanyon owned was taken from him while he was at a competition. That week, Fenn drove him around to replace everything he had lost. Cell phone, bus pass, birth certificate -- each one requiring its own stop, and its own wait in line. Fenn says, "Dartanyon later told me it was during that week of errands that he grew convinced God placed me into his life for reasons beyond television, that no one else would have taken the time and money to help him in those ways." As Fenn edited the piece, she prayed that just one viewer would be moved to help the boys. Instead, she got nearly 1,000 emails, which she answered personally, not wanting to miss out on an offer that would help them. Fenn recalls:
Each time I shared exciting new developments with them, Dartanyon gushed with thank yous and hugs, broad grins and relieved exhales. But Leroy's stoic posture never budged. "Leroy, if at any point you don't want this, you need to speak up," I said. "The last thing I want is to inflict my desires on you."
"No, it's all good," he said.
"But usually, when it's 'all good,' people smile or say something," I said. "Each time I call you with good news, you are so quiet. I'm not even sure you're on the line."
"No one's ever called me with good news before," he said. "I don't know what I'm supposed to say."
Fenn continued to facilitate their future, even after she left ESPN to pursue other professional opportunities in 2010. In the fall of 2009, Fenn writes, "Thanks to the generosity of ESPN viewers, Leroy moved to Arizona to study video game design at Collins College. I had my doubts that he could manage on his own, but time and again, he disarms his skeptics. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school, and, this August, he will be the first to receive a college diploma. Dartanyon and I will be in the front row, listening as the sound of this cycle of poverty shatters."
And his friend Dartanyon? He received an offer from the United States Olympic Committee, inviting him to live at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to study judo and compete in the Paralympics. He made the 2012 Paralympic team and traveled to London, winning a bronze medal there.
As Fenn remembers it, after the win he told her, "Things like this don't happen to kids like us." She adds:
And he is right. Blind and legless kids from the ghettos don't get college educations and shiny accolades, but they should. And that is why I stayed. Because hope and love and rejoicing and redemption can happen to kids like them. And people like me, people from the "other side," who can soften life's blows for them, ought to help.
Those who know the story behind this story heap a lot of credit onto me for dedicating my last four years to improving Dartanyon's and Leroy's lives. Indeed, I have spent thousands of hours removing obstacles from the paths of their dreams, providing for their needs, reprogramming poorly learned habits, exposing new horizons, and piling on the encouragement they need to rise above. I drove Dartanyon to the dentist to drill the first of 15 cavities. I taught Leroy how to pay a bill. I sat with Dartanyon at the social security office to apply for disability benefits, something he could have received all his life had anyone submitted the forms for him. I soothed the burn of Leroy's broken heart and phantom limbs. And through it all, we grew into an eclectic family of our own. We carried on.
When he made a visit to the eye doctor in 2009, I asked Dartanyon to include me on the consent form so I could access his records if need be. Later that day, I received a call from the office administrator. "I just thought you should know what Dartanyon wrote on his consent form today," she said, somewhat undone. "Next to your name, on the release, is a space that says 'Relationship to Patient.' Dartanyon wrote 'Guardian Angel.' "
I stayed because we only get one life, and we don't truly live it until we give it away.
I stayed because we can change the world only when we enter into another's world.
Perhaps that's the best definition there is of becoming a neighbor.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Standards and Credentials
by Dean Feldmeyer
Amos 7:7-17
Certificate of Ordination... check.
License to Solemnize Marriages in the State of Ohio... check.
Bachelor of Arts degree... check.
Master of Divinity degree... check.
When I first started out in the ministry more than 30 years ago, I had all of these framed and hanging on the wall of my tiny little office. They proved that I was qualified to occupy the chair behind the desk and the pulpit in the sanctuary. When I visited someone in the hospital or performed a wedding, I wore a shirt with a clerical collar so people would know who I was and what I was there for.
They were my credentials. They showed that I had met certain, often rigid, standards that allowed me to enter certain places and say and do certain things.
I still wear the collar sometimes, but in my office I tend to let my gray hair and the pictures of my grandchildren serve as my curriculum vitae.
In the Scriptures
This week's Amos passage speaks to the subject of standards and credentials.
The prophet opens the passage by saying that God is done messing around with the people of Israel. God is done being lenient and giving them second and third and fourth chances. A new standard is being established, and God's judgment on the people will be like a "plumb line."
A plumb line is simply a string with a weight at the end. When it is hung and allowed to come to rest, it provides a perfectly straight, perpendicular line. Plumb lines are used by builders to make sure that walls or columns are not leaning. When one uses a plumb line, one need not guess whether a wall is perfectly upright or not; one need not be satisfied that the column seems to stand straight. It can be measured objectively against a perfect standard.
According to Amos, YHWH says that this is how Israel will be measured from now on -- against a perfectly upright standard. And starting with King Jeroboam, there will be no question as to whether the people pass the test or not. But the high priest, Amaziah, whose income relies on the favor of the king, questions Amos' credentials to make such a prophecy. How dare you speak harshly to the king, he says. Who are you to speak the word of the Lord? How do we know you aren't just spouting off your own opinions? Where's your ordination certificate? What seminary did you go to?
Amos replies that he doesn't have a fancy college education. He is merely a herdsman and an orchard tender. His only credential is the word of the Lord itself. If it turns out that he is right, his prophecy must be authentic. If not, it isn't.
And then he leaves the high priest with an implied challenge: "Do you really want to risk it?"
In the News
The issues of standards and credentials permeate the news on a regular basis.
In the George Zimmerman trial, the prosecution is asking what credentials Zimmerman had to arm himself and protect the neighborhood. They want to know by what standard he was trained for that task, and if he acted in accordance with those standards. What standards did he use to judge that Trayvon Martin was a potential risk to law-abiding citizens of the community?
In Egypt, a democratically elected president has been removed from office by the military. Some rejoice at his removal, claiming that he had abandoned the standards of democracy by which he was elected and no longer held the appropriate credentials to run the country. Islamists, who made up most of former president Mohammed Morsi's support, did so because he upheld the standards they valued. His strict, fundamentalist Islamic faith was the only credential they cared about. The official response from America has been understandably cautious as we sort out which standards we are going to support. We want to support democracy and the people's right to choose their own leaders. But what do we do when the people choose a leader whose credentials we do not recognize?
And finally, the state Supreme Court of Wisconsin recently upheld the murder convictions of Leilani and Dale Neumann, who instead of seeking medical help for their diabetic 11-year-old daughter chose to pray while they watched her die. The court held that there are certain minimum legal standards of child care that all parents are required by law to meet, regardless of their religious convictions, and one of those standards is medical care. Medical care is a child-care plumb line.
In the Pulpit
Hang a plumb line in the chancel near the pulpit. Really! Let your people see what one looks like, and let it remain there throughout the sermon.
Now we can discuss credentials. What kinds of credentials do we require of our doctors, our dentists, even our plumbers?
Angie's List has become a nationwide sensation and made its founder rich by offering a place where people can share and discuss the credentials of people offering professional services.
We can also discuss standards. By what standards do we judge the people we elect and the people we hire? What do we demand of them as proof of their worthiness?
And, of course, this discussion inevitably leads us to the credentials that are required for us to call ourselves Christians. By what standards do we measure our success in this lifelong adventure we call the Christian faith? If Christianity was against the law, would there be enough evidence to convict us?
Some would hold that the Ten Commandments are a good place to start, insisting that they be written on the walls of our schools and prominently displayed in the halls of government. Others would offer the Beatitudes, or the Great Commandment, or the Great Commission as standards for Christian behavior.
What about the great historic creedal statements and confessions of the church? Are these standards for membership or guides to help us on the journey?
Ultimately, this discussion will always lead us back to the response of Amos. Regardless of how many college degrees we have or don't have and how many times we have been born, the final standard by which our words and actions are to be judged is always the Word of the Lord.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Luke 10:25-37
The lawyer who stood up to Jesus might have thought he was a hotshot. But Jesus knows that it is actions that show one's ability to be a neighbor -- something many in Arizona also know.
Enduring triple-digit heat, thousands of persons lined streets and highways this week to honor the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots who died fighting the Yarnell mountain fire earlier this month.
A slow procession of 19 white hearses made its way back from Phoenix to Prescott, Arizona. The corteges brought together families, friends, and even complete strangers. Residents from the small town the firefighters died trying to save were also present. Other firefighters accompanied their 19 brethren in a symbolic gesture. According to one report:
"Since they were discovered, they have never been out of the presence of a brother firefighter," said Paul Bourgeois, a Phoenix-area fire chief who is acting as a spokesman in Prescott for the firefighters' families. "From the time they were taken to the medical examiner in Phoenix, while they're at the medical examiner's office, when they are received in a funeral home -- there will always be a brother firefighter on site with them until they are interred.
"That's something people don't realize. We never leave your side," he said of the tradition. "It's a comfort to the survivors, whether they're families or fellow firefighters."
These "hotshots" earn their name by placing themselves on the front lines of deadly fires. There are 112 of these elite interagency crews in the United States. These firefighters receive rigorous training and are expected to work long hours away from such basic comforts as beds, showers, and hot meals. Job requirements include problem solving, teamwork, decision-making in stressful environments, and simply "being nice."
Application: The lawyer essentially asks Jesus what are the job requirements for becoming a disciple. The 19 firefighters who died also knew the requirements, but in giving their lives for others, they demonstrated their willingness to do more than what was merely expected of them. It remains unknown whether the hotshot lawyer was able to do the same.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
The life and witness of Nelson Mandela, who is now perilously ill and apparently on life support, provide remarkable insight into the risky behavior demonstrated in the parable of the Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.
One of the astonishing aspects of Nelson Mandela's life in prison was the relationships he established with a few of his prison guards, including warder Christo Brand. As a young prison guard, Brand was assigned in 1978 to Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned. Brand was a typical 18-year-old South African, and held strong pro-apartheid views. But his encounters with Mandela challenged those boundaries. He came to question his country's policies and grew in his respect for Mandela.
Brand became Mandela's "neighbor." He broke prison rules and brought Mandela bread and personal products. Though physical contact between visitors and prisoners was restricted, Brand saw to it that Mandela could hold his newborn grandson.
In 2007, Brand was interviewed about his relationship with Mandela: "When I came to the prison, Nelson Mandela was already 60. He was down-to-earth and courteous. He treated me with respect and my respect for him grew. After a while, even though he was a prisoner, a friendship grew. It was a friendship behind bars," he said.
Today, Brand is still at Robben Island -- now working as the manager of the museum's gift shop. He works alongside former political prisoners and embodies the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Application: Christo Brand crossed hard racial boundaries in order to grow in his appreciation of Nelson Mandela, embodying the selfless neighborliness Jesus calls his followers to emulate.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
The power of the parable of the Samaritan lies in the astonishing truth of how love reaches across boundaries. While the priest and Levite acted with reasonable caution, the Samaritan acted unreasonably -- that is, he took a risk. Likewise, as Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa, there were many times he was called to take risks that seemed (especially to his supporters) unreasonable. The popular film Invictus demonstrates Mandela's stunning commitment to reach across boundaries in taking risks.
As Mandela (portrayed by Morgan Freeman) assumes the office of president, many South Africans wonder if he will be able to run a divided country. He immediately signals his desire for change by reaching across boundaries, including inviting white former staffers of President de Klerk to stay on the job. He further challenges assumptions and perplexes his own bodyguards by demanding they work with white security officers, some of whom had previously terrorized blacks. When one of his close aides challenges Mandela's decision, the new president bluntly tells him, "Forgiveness starts here." (The clip may be viewed here.) There is to be no retribution, Mandela insists. Instead, a new understanding of what it means to be neighbors united in one country emerges.
Application: The Samaritan proved to be an unlikely neighbor to the fallen man because of the risks he undertook in caring for him. Likewise, Nelson Mandela took what many saw as political risks in demanding that "reconciliation starts here" through the unlikely action of including white bodyguards on his personal security team.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
Invictus elaborates on the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation by showing how Mandela encouraged the white rugby team to become a unifying symbol in the divided nation. In South Africa, rugby had traditionally been the white man's sport, while soccer was the black man's sport. The floundering national rugby team, known as the Springboks, receives President Mandela's full-fledged support, encouraging its captain Francois Pienaar (played by Matt Damon) to achieve success in the 1995 World Cup, hosted by South Africa. Mandela's witness to reconciliation and his desire to unify the nation inspires the young Pienaar to see things in new ways. Pienaar takes the (mainly white) team to visit Mandela's former cell on Robben Island. Some on the team members scoff at Pienaar's interest in seeing the cell where the future president was held captive. But Pienaar's visit to the cell changes him and is in a real sense a "crossing of the road" for the young rugby player. He imagines how the small cell was a space where Mandela was strengthened despite hardship. Pienaar is then inspired to lead the Springbok team to new victories. The stirring success of the team bridges divisions in the nation, becoming part of the nation's pathway through divides of "us" and "them."
(See this link for a thoughtful review of the film. Also, there's a marvelous documentary on the events that inspired Invictus. Part of ESPN's acclaimed 30 for 30 series, The 16th Man details how the rubgy team and its inspiring win at the World Cup brought a nation together. It features commentary from Pienaar and several of his Springbok teammates, as well as stirring testimony from two former radicals, one black and one white, each of whom had been imprisoned for racially motivated killings, on how these once unimaginable events completely changed their perspectives.)
Application: For South Africa, Mandela's support of the Springbok rugby team became a further witness to his yearning for reconciliation by symbolically encouraging others to "cross boundaries" that had long divided the nation.
* * *
From team member Ron Love:
Luke 10:25-37
Ahmed Kathrada and Nelson Mandela, both political activists and members of the African National Congress, were incarcerated together in the South African prison on Robben Island for their activism and opposition to apartheid. After their release and Mandela's election as South Africa's president, they understood that many people wanted to visit the prison -- and so Mandela asked Kathrada to give dignitaries a guided tour of the prison, a role he has filled for nearly 20 years. On President Obama's latest visit to Africa, Kathrada gave the president and his family a tour of the prison that he and Mandela shared for so many years. Kathrada said in an interview that the ANC faces more varied problems today than when apartheid was its singular focus. Kathrada reported: "Our challenge is poverty, hunger, unemployment, disease, children without schools, street children who haven't got homes, AIDS orphans, thousands and thousands of them. So perhaps the challenges now are greater than smashing apartheid."
Application: We will always have problems. We will always be walking with the Good Samaritan.
* * *
Amos 7:7-17
"Big Mountain Jesus" can remain where it is. United States District Judge Dana Christensen recently ruled that a statue of Jesus that has stood on Montana's Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort (a.k.a. "Big Mountain") for nearly six decades can remain, even though the resort rents land from the United States Forest Service. It is reported that the statue was saved by snowboarders who ascribed no religious significance to Jesus. Realizing this, Christensen wrote: "The statue's secular and irreverent uses far outweigh the few religious uses it has served.... Typical observers of the statue are more interested in giving it a high five or adorning it with ski gear than sitting before it in prayer."
Application: One must wonder where the plumb line is at Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort.
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Colossians 1:1-14
The Eye of God, James Rollins' latest thriller, is currently at number six on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover fiction. The book has a lively plot about Genghis Khan's tomb, a comet hurtling toward earth, and a satellite transmitting apocalyptic images from the future. A good part of the sway that Rollins has upon readers lies in his ability to make such a story believable. Regarding this, he says, "There are many gray areas that tread the line so finely between fact and fiction, between reality and speculation, that you can safely argue both sides of that equation."
Application: Paul wrote his letter to a church that was being influenced by false teachers, especially the Gnostics. This is why he called for understanding, so Christians would know on which side of the fine line of the theological equation to place their beliefs.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
Oliver Sacks is a renowned author and a professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine. Last week he penned an opinion piece for the New York Times on what it means for him to be celebrating his 80th birthday. In his closing paragraph he wrote of feeling "not a shrinking but an enlargement of mental life and perspective. One has had a long experience of life, not only one's own life, but others', too.... At 80, one can take a long view and have a vivid, lived sense of history not possible at an earlier age. I can imagine, feel in my bones, what a century is like, which I could not do when I was 40 or 60."
Application: This is what it means when Paul encourages us to continue learning.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
Twice each week the New York Times interviews a business leader for its "Corner Office" column -- and a recent interview subject was Ken Lombard, a partner in the real estate and development firm Capri Capital Partners. When Lombard seeks a new employee he wants someone "who is hungry to continue to learn." Regarding his own professional development, Lombard said: "You can speed up the learning curve by positioning yourself in a way so people who have the experience want to help you. You have to make it conducive for them to really want to provide you with information. Then become a sponge."
Application: Paul instructed the readers of his letter to continue to learn, to continue being a sponge absorbing theological knowledge.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
People: maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
Leader: Rescue the weak and the needy;
People: deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Leader: Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
People: for all the nations belong to you!
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God of compassion and love.
People: We come in awe to acknowledge the great love of our God.
Leader: Come and learn the ways of God's care for the least, the lost, and the lonely.
People: We come to learn to be true disciples of Jesus and true children of the living God.
Leader: Come that you may go and serve in God's name.
People: We come to be sent as bearers of God's love and grace.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah"
found in:
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
AAHH: 138, 139
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18, 19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELA: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52, 53, 65
"Your Love, O God"
found in:
UMH: 120
CH: 71
"There's a Wideness in God's Mercy"
found in:
UMH: 121
H82: 469, 470
PH: 298
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELA: 587, 588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
"Bread of the World"
found in:
UMH: 624
H82: 301
PH: 502
NCH: 346
CH: 387
W&P: 693
"The Voice of God Is Calling"
found in:
UMH: 436
"Cuando el Pobre" ("When the Poor Ones")
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 602
ELA: 725
W&P: 624
"Jesu, Jesu"
found in:
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELA: 708
W&P: 273
CCB: 66
Renew: 289
"O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee"
found in:
UMH: 430
H82: 659, 660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELA: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
"Make Me a Servant"
found in:
CCB: 90
"We Are His Hands"
found in:
CCB: 85
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who comes to our aid in the midst of our brokenness: Grant us the grace to become neighbors to others by going to them in their need without regard to the differences that may be between us; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship and praise your name, O God, because you have been a neighbor to us. You have found us in our need, and you have given yourself to our healing. As we offer you our worship this day, help us to receive anew your Spirit that we may be neighbors to others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our quickness to receive help and our slowness to give it.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are so much more sensitive to our own "suffering" than that of others. We see the things that inconvenience us as major problems and think everyone should be concerned about them. But when we see the true suffering of others who live in poverty, hunger, and the midst of violence, we are unconcerned. Forgive us and renew us with your Spirit, so that we may truly be neighbors by acting with the compassion of the one we call Lord. Amen.
Leader: God is our neighbor and desires our salvation. God knows it will only come as we serve as neighbors to others.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
Glory and honor are yours, O God, creator and redeemer of all. You are far beyond us and yet closer to us than our own breath.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are so much more sensitive to our own "suffering" than that of others. We see the things that inconvenience us as major problems and think everyone should be concerned about them. But when we see the true suffering of others who live in poverty, hunger, and the midst of violence, we are unconcerned. Forgive us and renew us with your Spirit, so that we may truly be neighbors by acting with the compassion of the one we call Lord.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have shown us your care and compassion for us and for all your children. We thank you for the witness of your care that we have seen in the care others have shown for us. We thank you for those wondrous times when we have been aware of your presence in the simple acts of caring we have offered others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We know that many feel alone without a neighborly presence. There are many who are unaware of your love because of the evil and hate that surrounds them. As you enfold them with your Spirit of compassion, help us to reach out to them as well.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Share with the children various scenarios -- for example, someone is carrying many things and they drop some or someone is sitting alone while others are playing a game -- and ask how they could be a neighbor in each situation.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Who Is My Neighbor?
Luke 10:25-37
Objects: a picture of several houses together, and a globe
Good morning, boys and girls! Who can tell me what a "neighbor" is? (let the children respond) Okay, a neighbor is someone who lives near you. (hold up the picture) The people who live in these houses are neighbors because they all live near one another. We call several houses that are close together a "neighborhood," right?
Can a neighbor be someone who lives far away from you? (Get their responses, and ask them why or why not. Now hold up the globe.) This is a globe of the world. We live right here. (point to where you live) Are we the neighbors of people who live around on the other side of the world in Australia? What about the people who live in France?
Now let me ask you another question. Do you have to know a person to be a neighbor? In our reading today Jesus tells a parable about a man who is beaten and robbed while walking down a road. The robbers leave him wounded and lying on the side of the road. Several people walk by the hurt man, but they do not stop to help him. Why? Because they don't think that the man is their problem. After all, he isn't their neighbor. They don't know him, so why should they help him? That's mean. Finally, someone does stop and help him. This man, a Samaritan, cleans him up and takes him to a safe place where he can get better.
This is the lesson Jesus teaches us: our neighbors are everywhere. You don't need to live by your neighbor, you don't need to look like your neighbor, and you don't need even to know your neighbor. In God's eyes, everyone is your neighbor. The last part of our verse today says that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We should love all people and treat them in the same way we would like to be treated. Neighbors are everywhere. Today, try to find a way to help one of your neighbors.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for today's lesson. Please help us learn to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, July 14, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 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.
