Dear Fellow Preachers:
With prices at the pumps in the neighborhood of $3.00 a gallon as we enter the summer driving season, for most of us the story in the headlines with the greatest personal impact on our everyday lives is the soaring price of gasoline. Politicians have vigorously pursued short-term solutions: President Bush has halted new additions to the strategic petroleum reserve, Congress has moved to tax oil company profits, and debate over oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge has been revisited. Yet many commentators have noted that long-term trends -- our dependence on a depleting global supply of oil, burgeoning demand led by the rapid industrialization of China and India -- suggest that prices will not be dropping anytime soon. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Carter Shelley using the week's lectionary texts as a starting point for reflecting on American culture's attachment to large, gas-guzzling cars. Steve McCutchan provides an additional perspective, and the week's material also includes illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon.
Car-Nation And Christianity
by Carter Shelley
THE WORLD
We Americans love our cars. We love the individual mobility, flexibility, and independence our car provides. Often our cars are a source of status as well as freedom. The most important rite of passage any teenager makes isn't lettering in sports or earning a high school diploma; it's getting his or her driver's license. Many young as well as middle-age Americans spend more time in their cars commuting to and from work than they get to spend with their families. Most senior citizens know that the hardest part of aging isn't the loss of hearing, arthritis, or even trying to figure out Medicare-D; it's having to relinquish one's driver's license and become dependant upon family and friends for transportation.
"So," you are wondering, "what does any of this discussion about cars have to do with real or metaphorical sheep and shepherds?" "The Lord is our shepherd," begins Psalm 23. "I am the good shepherd," Jesus asserts in John 10:11-18. Then the author of 1 John 3:16-24 shows that Christ's sacrifice made for us calls for a unique witness and way of life for all Christians. Is there a connection between Car-Nation, USA, and Christianity? Yes, I believe there is.
Christ calls us "to lay down our lives for one another," and we don't even want to think about carpooling, changing our driving habits, or cutting back on car usage as ways to deal with escalating gas prices. We are a Car-Nation. We are the preeminent Car-Nation. How about instead of the old Esso slogan "Put a Tiger in Your Tank" we "Put a Savior in the Driver's Seat"? Can you imagine the kind of nation we would be if we were a Christian nation in truth and action as well as in word and speech? How might such a change in direction and values affect our lives? Our purpose this Sunday is not to make people feel guilty about driving big cars and SUVs; rather, it is to help us grapple with how we can be model shepherds in a motorized world.
THE WORD
It may seem a bit of a stretch to move from these beloved biblical passages that use the shepherd metaphor for God and Christ into a sermon that explores America's love affair with the automobile and the ongoing high cost of gasoline we've been experiencing, but it can be done. In Psalm 23 where "the Lord is my shepherd," God tends to our every need -- expressed in bucolic images more suited to sheep than to twenty-first-century urban, suburban, and rural Americans. Yet, Psalm 23 remains beloved. It offers comfort and assurance. When we are experiencing personal trials or losses, Psalm 23 consoles. When it seems there is little in life to hold on to, Psalm 23 reminds us that there is always God -- urging us to rest, leading us down the correct path, protecting us, loving us, and caring for us more deeply than any earthly shepherd ever cared for his or her sheep.
Jesus builds upon this Old Testament image of God as our shepherd in this Sunday's Gospel Lesson. First, Jesus makes a not-so-subtle connection between the Lord, our Shepherd, and Jesus himself. In John 10:14-18, God is identified by Jesus as his "Father." We know Jesus introduced this more personal and intimate patron for God in the Lord's Prayer with its opening words "Our Father who art in Heaven," but that is not the relationship Jesus describes here. God is Jesus' literal Father. Jesus is God's Son. Jesus reiterates the unique relationship he has with God the Creator through his use of the shepherd metaphor: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." The question that arises here might understandably be: "He does?" Sure, one can understand a shepherd throwing stones at a wolf or shooting arrows at a coyote, but would a shepherd really risk life and limb to save the sheep? Jesus here distinguishes between the One to whom the sheep truly belong -- their earthly owner shepherd -- and the hired help who are not willing to die to save the sheep. Jesus lives and dies for his followers in the same way the true shepherd dies for his sheep.
Psalm 23 shares the good news that "the Lord is my shepherd." John 10:11-18 offers even better news to followers of God and God's Son. Our lives are redeemed through the love and sacrifice of Jesus, the good shepherd, who not only dies in our place but also reaches out to all other "lost sheep" with the ultimate aim that all who hear and recognize the call of Christ will be united into one flock under the guidance and direction of the one shepherd.
1 John 3:16-24 shifts the focus from what Christ does for us to what we, Christ's followers, are called to do for one another and for those sheep (humans) who are still lost. The letter bluntly states that Christians ought to "lay down our lives for one another," and not be imitators of the rhetoricians and politicians who demonstrate their concern through "word or speech" when "truth and action" are required. The author goes on to note that as Christians we know when we are acting as Christ would have us act, because our hearts know the difference between a Christian act and a non-Christian act. How do we know? Our hearts condemn us when we fail to act in truth and love. If our focus remains upon God's Son Jesus Christ, we will know the right actions to take, and we will know the commandments Christ calls us to obey. The ability to understand the mind of Christ and the will of Christ comes through belief in the name of Jesus Christ and a desire to "abide in him." The more we seek Christ, the more we seek Christ's will; the more we adopt Christ's ways and experience Christ's love, the more like the good shepherd we become in our care and support for "a brother and sister in need." This insight and selflessness are confirmed by the Spirit, which serves as an ongoing witness to Christ's presence in our hearts and our minds.
 ANOTHER VIEW
by Stephen P. McCutchan
One aspect of the gasoline crisis is the issue of leadership -- what type of leadership is effective when the nation is in crisis. Jonathan Alter, in his new book The Defining Moment, examines the first 100 days in the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As reported in the May 1 issue of Newsweek, Alter said, "With the banks closed and millions of Americans wiped out, FDR used his 'first-class temperament' to treat the mental depression of Americans without curing their economic one.... (His) astounding act of ebullient leadership marked the 'defining moment' of modern American politics, when Roosevelt saved both capitalism and democracy within a few weeks and redefined the bargain -- the 'Deal' -- the country struck with its own people." Do we await such leadership to emerge among our politicians, or does the church have a responsibility to offer a renewing leadership to the society around it?
As was true for Roosevelt in the Depression, so with our gasoline crisis -- most economists agree that there is no quick fix. Alter, commenting on Roosevelt, notes that "in the days following his 'fear itself' Inaugural and first 'Fireside Chat,' the same citizens who had lined up the month before to withdraw their last savings from the bank... lined up to redeposit patriotically." Roosevelt was able to unite people around a common vision and engender them with courage and willingness to sacrifice in obtaining it. What type of vision does our church offer the world?
We live in a self-indulgent culture that is often unwilling to commit itself to actions that require sacrifice. As a church we know that being willing to make sacrifices on our neighbor's behalf is exactly what can provide us with a meaningful life that has transcended the divisiveness of fear (1 John 4:18). The "Good Shepherd" of which the Gospel of John speaks provides us with a unique model of leadership. It is a leadership that refuses to enrich oneself at the expense of others. The prophet Ezekiel spoke of both the false shepherds and the true shepherd that would heal the people (Ezekiel 34:1-24). Jesus embodies the Good Shepherd of which Ezekiel spoke.
The author of 1 John 3:16-24 makes a similar contrast between those who "talk the talk" and those who "walk the walk." If Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets were summed up in the twin commandments of love of God and neighbor, then John urged his congregation to demonstrate that love. He used the very actions of Jesus to demonstrate the true meaning of love. Love was not a feeling that people have which attracted them to each other. Rather, it was an action that people took on behalf of others. Love for John was a verb and not an abstract feeling: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us -- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another."
Any pastor has sometimes been discouraged to see members who loudly proclaimed their faith in Christ and then turned and took actions or made decisions that reflected a cruel indifference to the needs of other persons or groups. Historians suggest that the dramatic attraction of the early church to non-believers was that the unbelievers saw Christians risking their own safety and comfort to respond to the most needy of their society. The powerful effect of Mother Teresa on the world was not based on her wealth, power, or even intellect -- it was due to her almost single-minded devotion to serving the most needy on the streets in India. An individual or a church begins their renewal of faith when they shift their focus from themselves and begin to search out someone or some group that is clearly in need. When they respond without asking anything in return, they discover Christ waiting for them there.
Various proposals are being put forth about how to solve the problem of high gas prices. It is amazing to consider the impact of simply lowering the national speed limit to 55 miles per hour again and choosing to either car pool or use mass transportation as frequently as possible. Most of the solutions to this and many of the other crises in our society simply require us to be willing to inconvenience ourselves and sometimes even make sacrifices for the sake of our neighbors. Christians should be able to offer true leadership in this fashion because we know the truth about life. As our text says: "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action."
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ILLUSTRATIONS
The most prophetic thing that Thomas Merton ever did was to say to a drugstore clerk who asked him which brand of toothpaste he preferred, "I don't care." Intrigued by the clerk's response, Merton wrote, "He almost dropped dead. I was supposed to feel strongly about Colgate or Pepsodent or Crest.... And they all have a secret ingredient." He concluded that "the worst thing you can do is not care about these things."
Merton wrote in the early 1960s, long before the art of making us care about "the secret ingredient" had so aggressively entered into every aspect of American life. We can't ride a bus, open a magazine, or go online without being asked to consider which insurance company offers the best rates or which paper towel picks up the most dirt.
-- Kathleen Norris, "Apocalypse Now," a Living the Word column in The Christian Century, November 15, 2005
For all the advertising dollars that go into convincing us to buy toothpaste or insurance or paper towels, even more goes into creating a yearning in our hearts for the latest model car. What if we said to the car salesperson -- as Merton said to the drugstore clerk -- "I don't care what car I drive -- I want the model that is most faithful to principles of Christian stewardship"?
***
The motor car reflects our standard of living and gauges the speed of our present life. It long ago ran down Simple Living, and never halted to inquire about the prostrate figure which fell as its victim.
-- Warren Harding's State of the Union Address, 1922
***
My husband and I bought our first new car shortly after we were married.
Neither of us had ever had a very nice car before, and so to drive a new, albeit economy, car off the showroom floor was a momentous occasion for us. When I was driving the new car, I found myself sitting a little higher in my seat. I remember thinking, "Wow, I feel much better about myself when I drive this car. I feel like I'm really somebody now." Within a few days of getting the car, and feeling pretty proud of myself for driving something other than a rusty 15-year-old vehicle with 200,000+ miles, I stopped at a traffic light in front of a bus stop in an impoverished area of the city I was living in.
As I sat there I wondered if the people standing waiting for a bus were wishing they had my new car -- I wanted them to envy my new car -- and I wondered if I should lock my doors.
Looking back all of these years later, I am humbled by my reactions then, although I understand them. In a culture that tells you around the clock that you are what you have, as someone living closer to the bottom, I wanted "to be somebody" too. And I wanted someone else to see my value as well. I am thankful that through the years I have come into a little more wisdom about what real "value" is, but I have to admit, there are still moments when it is easy to fall into that kind of thinking.
-- Jan Sullivan Dockter, in the February 2005 Ministry of Money newsletter
***
In a classic Peanuts comic strip, Lucy is standing beside Linus at the base of a hill. With a dreamy look in her eye she says, "Someday I'm going over that hill and find the answer to my dreams.... Someday I'm going over that hill and find hope and fulfillment. I think, for me, all the answers to life lie beyond these clouds and over the grassy slopes of that hill!"
Her ever-wise little brother, Linus, responds: "Perhaps there's another little kid on the other side of that hill who is looking this way and thinking that all the answers to life lie on this side of the hill."
Lucy thinks for a moment, then shouts over the top of the hill, "Forget it, kid!"
***
An article published in the Atlantic Monthly magazine a few years back contains a potent story about a sustainable approach to the world's natural resources. It's about water resources in the American West. Near the small town of Fowler, Kansas, there's a valley known as the Artesian Valley. The reason for the valley's name is the artesian wells, or springs, that are plentiful there. As one longtime resident describes it (or, at least, as he describes the ways things used to be): "There were hundreds of natural springs in this valley. If you drilled a well for your house, the natural water pressure was enough to go through your hot-water system and out the shower head."
The authors of this article explain that back in the 1920s there were marshes in the Artesian Valley of Kansas where cattle used to sink up to their bellies in mud. But no longer. The bogs and springs of years past are gone, and the inhabitants of the valley must dig ever deeper wells to bring up water.
You can clearly see the reason for this from the air. If you fly over this part of Kansas in a plane, you can see hundreds upon hundreds of green discs, each one surrounded by barren areas of brown. Each of the discs represents the area covered by a mobile irrigation system that circles around a central pivot. The more years these irrigation systems operate, the more the underground aquifer becomes depleted -- and the more difficult it becomes for all the farmers to draw the water they need.
The authors of the Atlantic Monthly article compare this midwestern agricultural valley with another valley that shares similar geographical characteristics: the region around the city of Valencia in Spain:
"...the waters of the River Turia are shared by some 15,000 farmers in an arrangement that dates back at least 550 years and probably longer. Each farmer, when his turn comes, takes as much water as he needs from the distributory canal and wastes none. He is discouraged from cheating - watering out of turn - merely by the watchful eyes of his neighbors above and below him on the canal. If they have a grievance, they can take it to the Tribunal de las Aguas, which meets on Thursday mornings outside the Apostles' door of the Cathedral of Valencia. Records dating back to the 1400s suggest that cheating is rare. The huerta of Valencia is a profitable region, growing at least two crops a year.
Two irrigation systems: one sustainable, equitable, and long-lived, the other a doomed free-for-all. Two case histories cited by political scientists who struggle to understand the persistent human failure to solve 'common-pool resource problems.' The only way to avoid abuse is self-restraint. And yet nobody knows how best to persuade the human race to exercise self-restraint."
-- Matt Ridley and Bobbi S. Low, Atlantic Monthly, September 1993
***
The real problem with conspicuous consumption is not that it is selfish, but that it is ultimately unsatisfying. Because the Joneses are trying to keep up with us as much as we are with them, it is fruitless to expect any lasting satisfaction from gold watches and expensive gas grills. Nevertheless, [Robert Frank, author of Luxury Fever] estimates -- although it is hard to imagine how he arrives at this remarkable number -- that Americans squander trillions of dollars in the attempt. This money would be better spent on what he calls "inconspicuous consumption," that is, on things we enjoy in themselves. If we gave up our expensive cars or large houses, for example, we wouldn't have to work as hard and would have more time to spend with our families. We could also use a greater share of the money we do earn to address pressing social issues, either by giving to charity or by accepting a higher level of public spending. As a society, in other words, we could do more to keep our air and drinking water clean, educate our children, employ the poor, maintain our roads, treat and prevent drug addiction, save for the future, and so on.
-- Robert de Neufville, "Containing Consumerism," The Washington Monthly, May 1999, p. 54
***
I am old enough to remember when gasoline cost 39 cents a gallon, and I could fill my trusty, rusty VW Beetle for under $5.00. So it is tempting to want to go back to the "good old days" -- until I remember that at that time I was also making about $1.15 an hour, which meant that I had to work almost 3 1/2 hours in order to pay for that gasoline.
While gas has increased, so has my earning potential. In fact, I find I actually work fewer hours today in order to fill my gas tank than I did all those years before -- which makes me wonder what I am really grumbling about!
***
Ah, the good old days. Remember the gas lines of the '70s? Remember the "odd" and "even" days of when you could buy gas (depending on the last digit in your license plate)? Remember all the promises made by the politicians, the auto makers, the oil companies to find alternative fuels, to make better cars, to increase the mileage per gallon, to improve mass transit, to encourage people to carpool, yada, yada, yada?
The faces and names are all different, but 30 years later, we are hearing the same promises made by the politicians, the auto makers, the oil companies.
So let's stop complaining. We are back in the good ol' days! |
CRAFTING THE MESSAGE
I intend to begin this Sunday's sermon with a self-awareness exercise, which will go like this:
The title of today's sermon is "Car-Nation and Christianity." It may seem like an odd combination. There's no one in this sanctuary today who would say that your car is more important to you than your faith. On a spiritual, moral, and emotional level, love for and commitment to Jesus Christ wins hands-down over our SUV, minivan, or 1997 Camry. But sometimes our actions belie our beliefs. So I want you to get out a pen or pencil and write down the answers to the following questions in the blank space provided on the back page of this week's Grapevine [our weekly newsletter which is distributed with the order of worship bulletin each Sunday]. You don't have to be exact in your calculations, so if I ask something you don't know for sure, just round it off the best you can.
Here are the questions:
1) How many cars does your family currently own?
2) How much money are you and your family spending monthly on car payments?
3) How much money does your family spend on car insurance monthly?
4) How much does car maintenance and repair cost on average per month?
5) How many times a month do you fill your car(s) with gas?
6) How much money per month is it costing you now to put gas in your car(s)?
7) Add up the figures you now have listed, and circle that number.
I have two additional questions for you to answer:
8) How much money do you give monthly to Concord Presbyterian Church?
9) How much money do you give monthly to other organizations or causes?
10) Add those last two numbers together.
11) Now, subtract the church and charitable giving amount from the total amount you spend each month on your car(s).
Chances are, almost everyone of driving age in the congregation will discover that he or she spends a great deal more on their transportation than they do on the ministries of Jesus Christ in their church and in their other charitable giving.
From this initial insight, I would move on to the observations about how we Americans are a Car-Nation (outlined in the "World" section above).
The goal I have for this particular Sunday is to help American Christians consider our own lifestyle and the ways it has changed in the past fifty years. I don't want to point fingers and accuse people of profligate spending -- though personal debt (as well as our national debt) suggests that many of us are out of control in our personal spending. My aim instead is to facilitate reflection on behavior and lifestyles that we seem to take for granted. For example, the typical middle-class American family includes fewer children now than similar families of the 1950s and 1960s. Economic times were good in those two decades, yet upwardly mobile families did not live in houses as large as many of the "starter castles" being built today. Furthermore, not every family owned two cars or assumed that their teenage children would own cars once they were old enough to drive. Finally, as discussed in a recent issue of Newsweek magazine, in the past fifteen years we have become a commuter nation to a far greater degree than ever before (see "The Long and Grinding Road -- The Rat Race Is Turning Into a Marathon: Inside the Lives of Extreme Commuters," Newsweek, May 1, 2006). What is going on? Why do we drive SUVs and huge trucks when the majority of people using these vehicles are not outdoor explorers or sheep and cattle ranchers?
For those church members who may not fit into the middle-class economic strata, the question that needs addressing is: "How am I to make ends meet when fuel costs get higher and higher, and when driving my car is so expensive that I cannot afford to use it?" "I only make minimum wage; how can I afford to even drive to work?" These economic concerns are acute for the working poor and the unemployed, especially the majority who do not live in towns or cities where public transportation is a realistic, dependable option. We've paved the nation, but we haven't filled it with alternative forms of transportation except in the biggest of our big cities. Consequently, predictable, frequent bus routes, subway lines, trains, and taxis do not even exist in many of our communities.
Our current government is tossing around the idea of a $100 windfall to American motorists to ease our economic pain at escalating gas prices. Such an offering offers no real solution to our current situation. For starters, it only helps us for a month. It also seems to be an effort to overlook the greater challenge facing our nation when it comes to driving and gasoline. 1 John 3:16-24 speaks eloquently to American Christians. We are used to being able to fill up and drive with little thought of how people in other, poorer countries manage with less while paying more for the gas they buy and use. We'd all like to believe this price hike is a temporary occurrence, but what if it isn't? Is it really fair for us (the United States, that is) to spend such enormous amounts of money while simultaneously using up a disproportionate amount of the world's oil resources? Is such behavior not only selfish but self-destructive? Is it really okay for American Christians and other American citizens to continue to drive as much as we do?
These questions are not easy ones to ask or answer; they certainly cannot all be resolved in one sermon on one Sunday. Moreover, I know there are people in the church I serve who have jobs that demand distance driving. Truck drivers, salesmen, and women, and interim ministers like me drive a significant number of miles daily. We can't change our driving habits overnight, but hasn't the time come for us to start thinking beyond this month and this year? As Christians, are we not stewards of God's landscape rather that simply its consumers? Are there not ways we together can learn to share a ride or plan errands and grocery store runs in a more efficient and infrequent manner?
Here are a few ideas. I'm sure you and your congregation can think up many more:
1) Think about church members you know who can't afford to buy gas at these higher prices. Offer to pick them up for meetings or check in on your way to the grocery store if they want to go along.
2) Sit down as a family and see if each of you can suggest a way to reduce the number of car trips, errands, and so forth each of you make weekly.
3) Think "carpool." Many of us over the age of fifty remember a time when our parents only owned one car. My father drove to work with two work colleagues daily. They took turns driving, which meant there were two days a week when my mother could use the car for our school and after-school activity carpools. It took some planning on the parents' part, but it saved money and led to camaraderie among kids in carpools and adults doing the same.
4) Start to think globally and not just locally or nationally. God created all human beings. All Christians are called to serve and to share. We, who have the most, also have the most to offer.
5) The next time you buy a car, consider how its fuel requirements and size will affect not only your pocketbook but also the environment.
6) Pray that God will give our government leaders wisdom and insight beyond word or speech so they do not pander to our desire for cheaper gas and more of it, when the truth and action required of them and us -- when what we want and what may be best for us and the rest of the world -- is a radical change in our Car-Nation, so all of God's sheep may benefit from the resources of God's Creation.
 WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call To Worship
One: We gather in the presence of our God:
All: where grieving people and children with skinned knees
have their tears wiped away.
One: We gather as the little children of God:
All: to worship the One who provides what we need, not what we want.
One: We gather around the Table of God:
All: to taste the goodness of God, to drink deeply from God's mercy.
Prayer Of The Day
Lead us, Creation's Architect,
into all those places where we will discover your hope
waiting to nourish and restore our famished souls.
Lead us, Shepherd of little children,
into all those places where we may have the joy
of filling the emptiness of others with your goodness.
Lead us, Spirit of Goodness,
into all those places where deeds of kindness and hands overflowing with mercy
speak louder than platitudes.
God in Community, Holy in One,
lead us into your kingdom as we pray as Jesus has taught us, saying,
Our Father . . .
Call To Reconciliation
Knowing how easy it is to wander from the paths of right living;
aware of all the shadowed valleys we wander;
remembering how we have failed to place our trust in God --
how can we not come to God with our confessions?
Please join me as we pray, saying . . .
(Unison) Prayer Of Confession
Comfort of your people: we confess the emptiness of our souls
which sends us searching for all those things which cannot nourish us.
Our restless longing for the goods of the world fill us with every lust and envy.
Our belief that still waters are stagnant
causes us to thirst for whitewater thrills and adventures.
Our trust in the hollow promises of our culture
turns us away from the shelter you offer to us.
Forgive us, Goodness Incarnate.
Call us back from our wayward lives,
so we may find rest in your heart,
healing from your hands,
and life together in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
(silent prayers may be offered)
Assurance Of Pardon
One: This is the good news:
God will walk with us in every moment,
God will fill us with goodness and mercy,
God will bring us home to live forever.
All: Anointed with grace and forgiveness,
our lives overflow with love for all people.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Great Prayer Of Thanksgiving
One: May God be with you.
All: And also with you.
One: Beloved of God, lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them to the One who leads us where we need to go.
One: Beloved of God, give thanks to the Lord our God.
All: Our praise is continually offered to our Heart, our Shepherd, our God.
Holy God,
Planter of green pastures where we might be fed;
Pooler of waters that nourish us forever;
Shaper of paths that lead us into your presence:
all that you made is beautiful and good and given to those created in your image.
Sadly, our wisdom leads us to choose hunger over the feast you prepare for us;
we thirst in the deserts when we could drink deeply from your grace;
we stumble off those paths leading to your holy presence.
Yet you continue to seek us out, bring us home to your kingdom,
preparing a feast for those who will not respond to your gracious invitation.
Therefore, we lift our voices to you day and night,
with those gathered around your throne and with those who struggle to be faithful today,
singing your praise and our thanksgiving:
Sanctus
Holy are you, Shepherd of all people,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior,
one with you in every respect.
For your name's sake,
he left the green pastures
to climb the garbage heap of Golgotha;
he waded out of the living waters
to be drenched with the abuse of the world;
he wandered the streets of the kingdom covered with the dust of sin and death
to lead us into the kingdom of joy.
As we seek to follow the Good Shepherd into all the places he would lead us,
we celebrate that mystery we call faith:
Memorial Acclamation
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon these gifts of the bread and the cup
you have prepared for your Table.
As the bread which is broken makes us whole,
and the cup overflows with your grace,
so pour us out for others:
so we may offer shelter to those who have no home;
so we may comfort those whose hearts are broken by the world;
so we may share food with all who ache from hunger;
so we may guide the thirsty to the pools of life we have found.
Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honor are yours,
Shepherd of the ages. Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Action, not words
Object: some pictures (the larger the better) of some hungry children, some homeless people sleeping in the street or on a bench, and some people who are sick
Good morning, boys and girls. Today we have some real evidence to look over and make a decision about what we should do. First, I have a picture of some very hungry children. (hold up the picture) I am told that hundreds, maybe thousands, of children die everyday because they don't have food to eat. Have any of you ever seen pictures like this? (let them answer)
I think we should talk about it, don't you? (let them answer) You could even give a speech about it. Tell the whole world that there are hungry children. Maybe we can get lots of people to talk about it. Okay! Will you do a lot of talking? (let them answer)
Here's another picture. This is a picture of a homeless person. Homeless people don't have a home or anywhere to go when it gets cold. They wear the same clothes almost every day, beg for food, and sleep under bridges, in alleys, or in old buildings where no one lives. What can we do about it? (let them answer) Hard question, isn't it? I guess we can talk about it just like we did the hungry children. We can make speeches and tell all of the same people we told about the children. We are very good at speeches, aren't we? (let them answer)
I have one more picture. It is a picture of a lot sick people. Do you know any of them? (show them the picture close up) What can we do about them? How about one more speech? We are getting pretty good about speeches. Remember all of the people you can tell? Maybe you will find some new people with this story. People don't like being around sick people. It scares them because they are afraid they will get sick. Don't get near them; just talk about them.
The Bible has an answer also. In 1 John we read that our love should not be just words or speeches. No, instead the Bible says we should take action. What action can we take to feed hungry children? (let them answer) Great, give them food. What should we do about people that live on the street and are homeless? (let them answer) Right, we should help them find shelter and feed them and give them clothes. What about the sick? (let them answer) Make sure they have medicine and find a doctor and a nurse.
The Bible says that people need action, not words. Talk to your mom and dad and ask them what you can do to show real love, the kind of love that Jesus shares.
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The Immediate Word, May 7, 2006, issue.
Copyright 2006 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 permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 517 South Main Street, Lima, Ohio 45804. |
