The brutally cold temperatures that held much of America in its icy grip last week put a major freeze on the activities of everyday life -- not only were schools shut down, but business and travel were also severely impacted. But while analysts debated just how large a hit the extreme weather delivered to the economy, their round estimates hardly accounted for the real and much more chilling human cost, measured in the suffering and even lives lost of those ill-equipped to cope of the bitter cold (like the homeless and the elderly). In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Leah Lonsbury points to the circumstances surrounding the recent deaths of two homeless men in Madison, Wisconsin -- including one who died on the steps outside a shelter at a local Episcopal church. Leah looks at the points of intersection between their stories and this week’s lectionary texts, and she asks some hard questions about whether the arctic chill in our hearts toward the less fortunate may be a contributing factor in such tragic outcomes.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer offers some additional thoughts on the theme of “speaking out” in this week’s lectionary texts -- of telling the truth of Christ. As Dean notes, our attempts at truth-telling are often quite self-serving -- whether in the literary form of “tell-all” memoirs and “unauthorized” biographies, or in our more prosaic fascination with social media, where the mundane details of our lives spread to everyone who might be the least bit interested. But as Dean points out, telling about Christ is very different -- it’s not all about us; rather, we’re to be Christ’s beacons in the world, bringing his light to others.
The Cost of Cold Hearts
by Leah Lonsbury
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Before last week, a “polar vortex” sounded to most of us like something out of an icy sci-fi flick. But now that many of us have experienced its power, there’s no denying its reality or impact on the routines of our everyday lives. With almost two-thirds of the country under its icy grip, the polar vortex closed thousands of schools and businesses and brought much travel to an abrupt halt. It also put a freeze on an already stumbling American economy, sending it sprawling with a chilling loss of up to $5 billion. Millions of people were unable to get to work, do their shopping, go to business meetings, or even reach their vacation destinations. Add to that the costs of heating private residences and businesses, and many of us experienced the cold’s bite in our wallets as well as on our exposed skin.
But inconvenience and emptier wallets don’t come close to the true human costs this vortex enacted, especially upon the homeless, the poor, the ill, and the elderly who don’t have the resources to withstand the chill. According to press reports, 21 people died as a result of the freeze. One of those deaths happened in Madison, Wisconsin, on January 5, when 48-year-old Charles Heimbecker collapsed outside a homeless shelter at Grace Episcopal Church. Heimbecker had just been turned away and told to walk to another shelter in -15 degree temperatures. No transportation between shelters had been arranged by county administrators to accommodate overflows, despite calls by community advocates for the homeless to do just that. The county said the cost was too high.
On Monday, January 6, transportation was finally put in place when it became clear how high was truly too high a cost.
The medical examiner’s office in Madison claims that Heimbecker’s death wasn’t a result of the cold, but it’s very hard to imagine it wasn’t a factor. The American Heart Association reports that cold weather places stress on already fragile hearts, increasing the likelihood of heart attacks and exacerbating other conditions.
What effect does this cold have on our hearts -- those of us who are able to put on another pair of socks, crank up our space heaters, and hunker down in our cozy homes? How do we react to its threat, especially to those who are most vulnerable? What part do we play in the cost it extracts by way of our action or inaction?
This week we’ll look at Isaiah’s pronouncement that a light has been given so that God’s salvation might “extend to the ends of the earth.” During this cold season of Epiphany, how far are we bearing that light and salvation? How would we define “the ends of the earth”? What or who might those ends look like to us? A shelter for the homeless? Charles Heimbecker?
We’ll also look at the Psalm text that tells us “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” How does that preach in light of Heimbecker’s death or the suffering we see happening throughout our communities and all over the world? How can we make that case when we, Christ’s followers, are often more inclined to turn our backs instead of answer the cries of those in need?
And finally we’ll draw from First Corinthians, which tells us that the testimony of Christ living in us strengthens us so that we are “not lacking in any spiritual gift.” How do we square that with our hesitancy and squeamishness about reaching out to those in need, especially when that living testimony tells us that our action (or inaction) toward those in need is synonymous for our action (or inaction) toward Christ?
In the News
On December 23rd, 2013, another Madison resident without a home lost his life. Billy Briggs died in the cold in a staircase at Monona Terrace, one of Madison, Wisconsin’s signature landmarks and the handiwork of the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Inside, the Terrace hosts lavish parties, over-the-top wedding receptions, home and bridal expos, and annual conventions for well-known national and international companies. Outside, many of Madison’s residents who are homeless gather in the Terrace’s nooks and crannies, like Briggs did in the staircase, hoping to ward off the cold wind coming off Lake Monona.
On January 3, Madison’s 27 News interviewed some individuals who are currently homeless at a day shelter that has only been open since mid-December. When asked about Briggs, his friend Rickie Below remembered him as funny, as a “very, very comical person.”
The very next line in the 27 News story? “But they say Billy had a problem with drinking.”
This is often where stories about people who are without homes in Madison, and anywhere else for that matter, quickly turn. They often miss the more “normal” and positive details of a person’s life, like the fact that Briggs was a regular at a local church’s spirituality and book group and that he was known there for his sly smile and the way he touched other people’s lives. The group’s leader, Suzanne Alexander, remembers Billy this way: “Billy was a light for us. He shone a light on how homeless people are not what you think -- they are unique individuals. He was so fun to be with.”
Madison, often called “the Berkeley of the Midwest” and known for its progressive thinking and policymaking, is proving itself a hard place to be homeless, and not just because of the winter weather. For the last several years, Linda Ketcham, Executive Director of Madison-Area Urban Ministry, has helped to organize a memorial service for homeless individuals who have died in Madison over the past year. The service is held on the winter solstice, when the longest night of the year begins. She speaks about that kind of darkness in her community: “People in our community are homeless because we choose not to pay attention to their struggle.”
The notion that any of them would die unnoticed is just wrong, Ketcham continues.
Wrong. But not uncommon.
Like the quick turn to Billy Briggs’ darker side in the media report mentioned above, our thinking about those who are without homes, the poor, and the struggling in our midst has a tendency to move rapidly to fault-finding and blaming. If someone is sleeping outside in sub-zero temperatures, it must be because they are a drug addict, not because, like Ketcham says, “we choose not to pay attention to their struggle.”
Hearts are frozen not just in chilly Madison but all over the country. The National Coalition for the Homeless reports that 700 people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness are killed by hypothermia every year in the United States.
Hearts are frozen not just about people experiencing homelessness but also about many other ways people struggle.
Feeding America reports that in 2012, 15.9 million American children lived in households that were food-insecure. What is food insecurity? ABC News puts it this way: “One in four children in the country is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life.” Food insecurity is shown to negatively affect cognitive development and school performance. Research also shows that with hunger comes more frequent sickness and higher health care costs. And yet, Congress has authorized $5 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (colloquially known as food stamps). 76% of all households receiving SNAP benefits include a child, an elderly person, or disabled person. And how are the households of the decision-makers, our Congress members, faring during these difficult times? The Center for Responsive Politics reports that for the first time ever, a majority of the members of Congress are millionaires. The Center’s analysis reads in part:
Members of Congress have long been far wealthier than the typical American, but the fact that now a majority of members -- albeit just a hair over 50 percent -- are millionaires represents a watershed moment at a time when lawmakers are debating issues like unemployment benefits, food stamps, and the minimum wage, which affect people with far fewer resources, as well as considering an overhaul of the tax code.
In another chilling analysis of the ways Americans struggle, the National Institute of Mental Health reports that 57.7 million people, or about one in four adults (18 and over), suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. While mental health advocates are celebrating progress with the mental health parity and the pre-existing condition coverage of the Affordable Health Care Act, access to mental health care might not actually be getting any easier to get. In a JAMA Psychiatry study released last month, researchers found that only 55% of psychiatrists accept insurance. Similar statistics were seen with Medicaid, a government program relied on heavily by people who are severely mentally ill, those who are already at increased risk for unemployment and poverty.
Comparable numbers and conundrums could easily be reported involving drug addiction, domestic violence, widening income disparity, entrenched racism, gender inequality, sexual violence, and so many other problems that cause God’s children to struggle every day in our country and across the world. The similar lack of solutions and the dearth of political action and public compassion, interest, or energy to address these struggles unfortunately follow suit.
So much darkness. So many frozen hearts. When does that bit about light and salvation enter the scene?
In the Scriptures
Isaiah 49:1-7
According to Isaiah, the light and salvation come from God through the most surprising of vessels. The servant that God calls to glorify God through the gathering of Israel and Jacob, God’s chosen people, is the most unlikely of characters. The servant has been hidden away and readied for the big, big job to come. Was the servant even aware this is happening when it was happening? Perhaps not. A “What?! Who? Me? Really?!” would fit in nicely right before “But I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity...’ ” (v. 4).
And yet the surprised and surprising servant knows somehow deep within that ultimately “my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God” (v. 4).
That one church member who just rubs us wrong?
That one ungraspable outlier who floats through on Sunday mornings, enjoying the hard work of all the committee members and contributing nothing?
That quiet woman in the back row?
That man who is clearly homeless who wanders in 15 minutes late and noisily makes his way to the front pew?
And don’t forget about you and me, perhaps the most unlikely characters of all.
That just might be the surprising servant whom God is calling to carry God’s light and salvation to “the end of the earth.”
And the end of the earth? That isn’t a reference to the last pew, the edge of the neighborhood surrounding the church building, our even what we might consider the fringes of The Body we think we are called to build up and cling to.
It’s likely that the end of the earth is somewhere and someone far beyond our comfort zones. God is reaching for the “peoples from far away” (v. 1) and “the nations” far beyond just our tribal boundaries.
And yes, we are each that servant, despite any claim we might make to the contrary. We’ve been holed up somewhere, avoiding God and each other. We’ve been doing what feels like spinning our wheels and hiding out, but all the while God has been preparing, sharpening, and polishing us. Because there is work to be done, and it is most definitely outside of our comfort zones.
But thankfully, we are not without hope or help. God honors the potential that lies within our cranky, unappealing, stubborn, and resistant servant selves, and God becomes our strength (v. 5), like it or not. God gives our unexpected characters as light and salvation, so clearly the potential to shine and save lies within us, however deep we may have buried it or however hard we try not to discover it in someone we have decided couldn’t possibly manage, handle, or deliver light, much less salvation. That includes ourselves.
God’s taste in servants, light-bearers, and saving agents obviously leaves much to be desired, in our humble opinions. But what should be even more shocking is what God intends to do with those who are being called. Reaching God’s people is, according to God, “too light a thing” (v. 6). “Fling the doors wide open, and carry that light and salvation to the farthest point and person you can reach, and then go farther!” says God.
Amy Oden, a professor at St. Paul’s School of Theology in Oklahoma City, calls God’s grandiose expectations and boundary busting “astonishing.” She writes on workingpreacher.org that “God’s people do not exist for themselves alone, nor is their restoration an end in itself. God gathers God’s people into God’s life for one purpose: the salvation of the world.”
Oden writes of Isaiah 49 reminding us that God is always reaching and calling us even further, beyond ourselves and our frozen hearts to the people and places we never dreamed of, or in some cases could even begin to imagine. From Oden: “Yet God is not done. These so-called endings are beginnings, each a new horizon of possibility. Not for ourselves alone, but for the world God loves.”
Are we prepared to be astonished and astonishing? Can we manage the thaw that will get us there? It’s a very good thing God is honoring our potential and serving as our strength, because we could never manage to reach the “ends of the earth” of our own devices.
Psalm 40:1-11
If we’re going to allow Psalm 40 to be read in public (or at least in our public worship), then we’re going to need some reminding -- reminding that we, those oh-so-unlikely servants, are God’s answer to the cries we hear (or tend to tune out). We are how God inclines to those in the desolation of our world. We are the new song. God is trying again and again to melt the icicles and sing through us. Remember that bit about being the hands and feet of Christ? And the one about “whatever you do to the least of these”? Those teachings must inform our reading of Psalm 40.
Psalm 40 also calls us to patience, trust in God, and an open ear. This all can seem rather counterintuitive in a world of hurry, self-sufficiency, and constant noise. It will require a shift, a willingness to believe in what we cannot yet see or comprehend, and a dogged determination to rely on and enact the benevolence, faithfulness, and trustworthiness of God. And if we can’t quite get all the way there, it will require our best attempts and persistent effort at reaching.
Additionally, Psalm 40 calls us to look within to discover how God’s law (which is love) is written within our hearts. Some days, that might take a second or even third look. And we’ll likely find that it’s easier to get to our hearts when we decide to stop turning our backs and make the move to face each other and God. It will require us to make ourselves vulnerable. Laying ourselves bare and finding the Divine Love that lies within will surely expose us to messiness, discomfort, sacrifice, hurt, and loss -- our own and others’. It may show us that we are not quite so far from the ends of the earth as we once thought.
All this hard work can be counterintuitive and uncomfortable at first (and sometimes for a long time or always). James Howell of workingpreacher.org writes of this struggle:
What fills our ears so we cannot hear God? And is the doing of God’s will a chore? A duty? Or is it a delight? Young lovers take great delight in doing any little favor for the beloved; can we be as eager and gleeful to do favors for God? The happy or blessed one “makes the Lord his trust” -- and history has taught us that those who trust in the Lord are not comfortable or sheltered from difficulty, but may well find themselves in difficulty and even in agony, because trusting God means we serve God courageously in a world that is not in sync with God.
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
This is one of those texts not to read or mess with if you want to hang onto any excuse to avoid fully engaging with the struggles and mess of humanity that lie around you. Don’t touch it if you want to remain comfortably in denial, aloof, or unscathed. If the list above (homelessness, hunger, mental illness, drug addiction, domestic violence, widening income disparity, entrenched racism, gender inequality, and sexual violence) seems too long and overwhelming, that’s because it is. But that’s no reason to think we can call ourselves followers of Jesus and not be actively working to alleviate the pain and struggles of God’s people, according to Paul. And news flash -- they’re ALL God’s people. (See Isaiah’s “peoples from far away” and “end of the earth.”) Before one or all of us start to hyperventilate, it’s important to hone in on verse 4. We’ve been given the grace we need to do what Jesus does, it says. Then there’s verse 5 -- we have “in every way” been enriched in him, and the witness, the story of Jesus is strong within us, whether we can believe it or not. One more -- verse 6 -- we lack nothing.
If we’re standing by ourselves, this sounds ludicrous. But if we’re standing in the community of believers, the Body, it’s a little easier to understand. Paul was writing to a community at odds with each other. He’s calling them back together and reminding them that it is only together that they are the Body. Fingers are no good without the hand to help them navigate. Eyes are no good without the face to secure and hold them up and without the brain to process what they’re seeing.
Lutheran pastor Mary Hinkle Shore writes of this (on workingpreacher.org):
It is impossible to come away from this text with the impression of Christian life as an individualized spiritual journey. Paul gives thanks for God’s gifts to the Corinthians as a group and names their community with Christ as the defining characteristic of their life together. What would it be like for those listening to a sermon on this text to understand themselves not so much as blessed individuals but as part of a community that has received gifts of God’s grace?...
What does it mean to give thanks for the grace of the Crucified One among a people? At least part of what it means is that God’s power in that particular place is manifest in ways beyond the things people like best about themselves, perhaps even in weakness (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:25 and other occurrences of “weakness” in the Corinthian letters). Without valorizing failure, a sermon on this text might call to mind ways that God is at work in unexpected, often unvalued people and places among us.
In the Sermon
This week, the preacher might consider...
* What keeps our hearts frozen. Self-protection? Numbing circumstances, life choices, habits, etc.? Fear? Discomfort? Anger? Resentment? How do we address these “icebergs” or patches of dangerous and hidden “black ice”? What will bring our thaw?
* What or who our “end of the earth” looks like. Why? How are we being sent there or to them? How will we get there? What will it take? What will we risk?
* How we hide our frozen hearts in the unlikeliness of our call. What excuses do we make about how unprepared, not gifted, or under-resourced we are as individuals and churches?
* Who the unlikely servants are in our midst. Which ones do we recognize, and who do we overlook? Why? How must that change?
* The struggles of God’s people to which we choose not to pay attention. Why? What lies beneath our inattention and inaction? What cost is attached to our inattention and inaction?
* How crucial being a part of the Body is to following the way of Jesus and addressing the struggles we naturally tune out on our own. UCC pastor and author Lillian Daniel writes and speaks eloquently on this as she addresses the broader cultural idea of being “spiritual but not religious.”
SECOND THOUGHTS
To Tell the Truth
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-11; John 1:29-42
Someone once said that if we found a surefire cure for athlete’s foot, we would tell everyone we know -- but we Christians have found a surefire cure for inauthentic living, and we’re afraid to tell anyone.
Evangelical reticence in the old mainline Christian denominations is a curious phenomenon, especially in this current age when everyone is willing to tell everything to everyone.
On the macro scale, this compulsion to say everything that crosses one’s mind was demonstrated by former secretary of defense Robert Gates with the publication of his “tell-all” memoir, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. Due for release on January 14, early leaks and reviews describe it as a formidable attack on President Barack Obama’s leadership style, even though Gates believes that the president is a “person of personal integrity” who “was right in each of these decisions.” He offers some milder criticism of former president George W. Bush, but the person who really takes a beating is Vice President Joe Biden, who, according to Gates, has been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Hillary Clinton, however, is portrayed as a clear-thinking, level-headed, and astute Secretary of State. In one interview Gates even admitted that he thought she’d make a good president.
Fox News says that “the tone of Gates’ book is a break from Washington decorum, in which former Cabinet members rarely level tough judgments against sitting presidents.” And one is left to wonder why. Why now? Why this book, saying these things at this particular time? What did Mr. Gates hope to accomplish with this publication?
As is often the case with memoirs, the answer to those questions is more to be found in the author than in the subject. What this book is really about is Robert Gates.
One can probably say much the same for Gabriel Sherman’s new “unauthorized biography” of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, The Loudest Voice in the Room. The book is reportedly filled with salacious anecdotes and stories about the media powerhouse whose agenda is nakedly and frankly political. Sherman describes his subject as “like Citizen Kane meets P.T. Barnum.”
Gabriel Sherman was more open about his agenda in writing the book, however, when he told CBS This Morning that Roger Ailes is the “most powerful man in America that most Americans don't know and should know... he controls the most powerful cable news network, whose ratings surpass its rivals combined. When he puts something on air, it drives the agenda.”
We needn’t look to the news to find examples of our compulsion to tell all, however. There are plenty of micro-examples. No experience is so mundane, no thought so shallow, no fact so trivial that it does not merit exposure and examination in the social media.
Some of us spend more time broadcasting our thoughts on Twitter than we do sharing them with our friends and relatives. We all know that person who doesn’t seem to have a thought or experience that is not recorded in pictures and published on Facebook.
This week’s lectionary readings call us to a deeper and more profound kind of truth-telling.
In Psalm 40, the psalmist asks God to “put a new song in my mouth” -- but not so he/she can sing about him/herself. The song to be sung is one “of praise to our God,” so that “many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord” (v. 3).
The psalmist wants to publish good news about the God of Israel who draws us up from the desolate pit and out of the miry bog, who sets our feet upon a rock and makes our steps secure.
There is not much “look at me” in this post.
Isaiah opens his oracle at 49:1 with a demand that might be seen on Facebook. To paraphrase his opening: “Listen to me! Pay attention to me!”
The prophet’s calling is no small one as he, at first, assumed. He is not just a prophet to God’s chosen people, Israel. He is, in fact, called to be a prophet to the entire world! But this calling is not so everyone will pay attention to and praise Isaiah. No, Isaiah is called to be a “light to the nations” so that God’s “salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Isaiah is called be a sign that points not to himself but to the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel.
And in the gospel reading, John the Baptizer is shown to be the most selfless of prophets. When he sees Jesus he points his followers toward him, saying, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Later, he watches Jesus walk by and says to his disciples, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”
Hardly a sound strategy for growing your own flock!
In fact, two of John’s flock leave to join Jesus, and they bring Peter to him as well. And apparently they never look back.
Our world tells us that the thing to do is to constantly draw attention to ourselves, to post our every thought, to text our every felling, to tweet our every experience so the world will look at and appreciate us.
Our Christian faith, however, calls us to be signs that point to others -- to the poor, the sick, the lonely and imprisoned, and to Jesus Christ who gives us life abundant.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Costly Freeze
Waiting for the thaw -- not to mention God -- may be costly. Because millions were unable to work, travel, or transact business, the “polar vortex” may exact a toll of more than $5 billion on the U.S. economy. According to NBC:
The huddled masses are huddling at home until an easing of the extreme temperatures that have been colder in some parts of the country than at the South Pole. “We think that the problem will be short-lived, but we estimate it will cost about $5 billion because of the sheer size of the population affected -- about 200 million people in the eastern two-thirds of the country,” said Evan Gold, senior vice president at business weather intelligence company Planalytics.
*****
Scapegoating Weather
Blogger Adam Erickson, a writer for Sojourners, lives in Chicago and studies mimetic theory. He writes about the way this winter has created opportunities for community. Neighbors check on one another, suffer through the weather together, and unite in the face of brutal temperatures. Yet he also says that becomes the problem: in uniting against weather, Erickson and his neighbors make winter their scapegoat. So what’s the problem?
Of course, the weather is not a person per se, but the problem with the scapegoating mechanism is that it is addictive. Once we start to find unity against a common enemy, we will repeat the scapegoating process. It will become a ritual that might start with “harmlessly” scapegoating the weather, but soon it will turn into scapegoating that neighbor three houses down who blows the snow only out of his driveway and never helps us blow snow out of the neighborhood.
Waiting for the thaw, just like waiting for the Lord, can prove problematic. In the end, Erickson says, we may need to look at Jesus’ response to his own experience of being a scapegoat:
When he was scapegoated, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Jesus knew something important about human nature. We scapegoat without knowing what we do. And we can trust in his prayer, that God forgives us for it. Once we accept that forgiveness, we can begin to forgive ourselves for getting caught up in the mechanism, and begin to forgive others for it, too.
*****
Truth and Consequences
In becoming a witness to Jesus, disciples are called to point out the truth they have discovered. Yet truth-telling is hard work, as politicians routinely demonstrate. For example, some think that if New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is not telling the truth in his response to the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal, his political future is in jeopardy.
“He says he didn’t know. I think it’s pretty darn credible. He wouldn’t make this blanket denial unless it’s not true,” former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani told ABC News. “If, for some reason, it’s not true, the man has put his political career completely at risk if it turns out there is some evidence that he knew about it,” Giuliani added. “He’s taken the complete risk that his political career is over. I don’t think he’d do that if there’s any suggestion he knew about this.”
The upshot for Christie is going to be costly -- literally, and also in terms of his future and prestige. A group of New Jersey residents has already filed a class action lawsuit against the governor, and the legal woes are just now beginning.
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 49:1-7
This past week was the 50th anniversary of the Surgeon General’s report on the health risks of cigarette smoking. The news it contained was dire enough that public disclosure of the report was made on a Saturday morning so it would not adversely affect the stock market. At the time the report was issued on January 11, 1964, 42 percent of American adults smoked -- but with repeated warnings on the dangers of cigarettes and ensuing legislation in the years since then, only 18 percent of the U.S. adult population now smokes. This percentage still translates into 43 million smokers, and smoking remains the most preventable form of death.
Application: Isaiah often questioned the effectiveness of his preaching, but as a “sharp sword” he did make an impact on society.
*****
Isaiah 49:1-7
When he was instructed in 1962 to convene a committee to study the effects of smoking cigarettes on health, Surgeon General Luther Terry was himself a smoker -- and so were five of the ten members of his committee. Several months before the report was to be issued in January 1964, Terry was confronted by an assistant Surgeon General, Eugene Guthrie, and told that he had to surrender his smoking habit before the report could be issued. If he could not stop smoking, Guthrie told Terry, then he had to smoke in complete and total secrecy. In order to validate the report, Terry stopped smoking.
Application: Isaiah lived the message he preached.
*****
Isaiah 49:1-7
After Reader’s Digest magazine printed an article titled “Cancer by the Carton” in 1952, reporting that cigarette smoking caused numerous health problems and was the leading cause of preventable death, the rate of smoking dropped 15 percent in the next three months. In response, cigarette manufacturers embarked on campaign of their own and quickly recouped their lost constituency. The industry came out with filtered cigarettes, claiming they would trap all toxins. The manufacturers also placed a full-page ad in hundreds of newspapers claiming that the research linking smoking to poor health was inconclusive. As a result, cigarette sales rebounded.
Application: Isaiah did not preach his message unopposed; he was challenged with every word he spoke.
*****
Isaiah 49:1-7
January 1 is the day the Vatican designates as the day to proclaim the message of peace. Pope Francis was delivering his sermon on this topic when he broke from his prepared text, looked up at the crowd gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica, and said, “What is happening in the human heart? What is happening in the heart of humanity? It’s time to stop.”
Application: We continue this day to not only preach the message of Isaiah, but we continue to preach it with the same passion.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers recently died at the age of 74. Phil and his brother Don Everly were the architects of rock ’n roll harmony -- their style led to the success of Simon and Garfunkel, and even the Beatles. Their hit songs are still remembered today: “Bye Bye Love”; “All I Have to Do Is Dream”; “When Will I Be Loved”; “Wake Up, Little Susie.” But there’s another tradition that’s also attributed to the Everly Brothers -- feuding partners. Offstage there was always discontent between them, which came to a head at a concert in 1973 when Phil famously threw down his guitar and walked off. This prompted Don to tell the audience, “The Everly Brothers died ten years ago.” The fractious tradition of feuding brothers has been carried on by such notables as Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks and Noel and Liam Gallagher of Oasis.
Application: Paul is speaking to the harmony within the Corinthian church. It was a harmony that was short-lived within that congregation -- and most, if not all, congregations today.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God has put a new song in our mouths,
People: A song of praise to our God.
Leader: Happy are those who make our God their trust.
People: Happy are those who do not turn to the proud.
Leader: We delight to do your will, O God;
People: Your law is within our hearts.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the giver of all good gifts.
People: We praise our generous God.
Leader: Open your hearts to the Spirit of God.
People: We ask for the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon us.
Leader: Share God’s gift of love with all around you.
People: We will pour out God’s love and kindness on all we meet.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Jesus Shall Reign”
found in:
UMH: 157
H82: 544
PH: 423
NNBH: 10
NCH: 300
CH: 95
LBW: 530
ELA: 434
W&P: 341
AMEC: 96
Renew: 296
“Ye Servants of God”
found in:
UMH: 181
H82: 535
PH: 477
NCH: 305
CH: 110
LBW: 252
W&P: 112
“Hope of the World”
found in:
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
“Cuando El Pobre” (“When the Poor Ones”)
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 662
ELA: 725
W&P: 624
“Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life”
found in:
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELA: 719
W&P: 591
AMEC: 561
“O Zion, Haste”
found in:
UMH: 573
H82: 539
NNBH: 422
LBW: 397
ELA: 668
AMEC: 566
“God of Grace and God of Glory”
found in:
UMH: 577
H82: 594, 595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELA: 705
W&P: 569
AMEC: 62
STLT: 115
Renew: 301
“Lord God, Your Love Has Called Us Here”
found in:
UMH: 579
“Lord, Be Glorified”
found in:
CCB: 62
Renew: 172
“People Need the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 52
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian 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 reaches out to the ends of the earth to bring salvation: Grant us the courage and the faith to join in your mission that all your children might find wholeness for their lives; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship you and praise you, O God, the one who created and now redeems to the very ends of the earth. Help us not to be just hearers of your word but also doers. Fit us with every spiritual gift, that we may reach out in your love to those others consider the dregs of society. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways we separate ourselves from others.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You offer us your own life that we may find wholeness for ourselves and for all creation, and yet we continue to think that we can hoard your gifts for ourselves when they are meant for others. Instead of seeing the down and out as our brothers and sisters, we see them as being out of your sphere of love and care. Instead of loving and reaching out to them, we push them away. Forgive us and empower us with your Spirit, that we may truly possess and use your gifts for the redemption of the world. Amen.
Leader: God loves us and all creation. Receive God’s forgiveness and the power of God’s Spirit to love and care for others.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We worship you, O God, and praise your holy name. You have gifted us with life and all of creation. You continue to give us gifts of love and compassion, that we may grow in your image.
(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. You offer us your own life that we may find wholeness for ourselves and for all creation, and yet we continue to think that we can hoard your gifts for ourselves when they are meant for others. Instead of seeing the down and out as our brothers and sisters, we see them as being out of your sphere of love and care. Instead of loving and reaching out to them, we push them away. Forgive us and empower us with your Spirit, that we may truly possess and use your gifts for the redemption of the world.
We thank you for all the gifts and blessings we have received through your great love. We thank you that you invite us to join in sharing those gifts with others. We rejoice in the wonder that as we give your love away, we find it grows within us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We offer to you the hurts of our world and the cares of our own hearts. We pray that your wholeness may indeed come to all creation, from the greatest to the least.
(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
Talk to the children about how much fun it is to be gifts. You might ask them to recall Christmas. You might talk about some of the gifts you received as a child that you were so thrilled to get, but that you no longer have because they wore out, got lost, or were broken. God has gifts for us as well. These gifts won’t wear out, but instead will grow -- gifts like patience, kindness, and love. These are the best gifts.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
We Are Called to Follow
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Object: a picture of the Last Supper
Today we are going to talk about the disciples. A “disciple” is a follower. Jesus had 12 disciples -- 12 men who followed him and helped him do his work. Here's one artist’s idea of what Jesus and his disciples looked like. (hold up the picture) See? After Jesus was baptized he collected his disciples, and together they did many marvelous things. After Jesus went to heaven, the disciples continued to do the work of Jesus and spread his message of love to the world.
There were 12 original disciples. They were the first ones who decided to follow Jesus and do his work. After them, there were many more people who decided to follow Jesus Christ. People who follow Christ are called Christians. In our scripture lesson today, Paul is writing a letter to the Christians in the city of Corinth. Paul wrote lots of letters, and some of them have become part of our Bible. In this letter, Paul tells the Christians how grateful he is for them and how blessed they are to be followers of Jesus. He tells them that they have been called to follow Christ and that God will continue to give them the strength they need to follow him in everything they do.
First came the original 12 disciples. Next came others who heard about Jesus and made the decision to follow him. Now, more than 2,000 years later, we are called to follow him too. We’re learning about the things Jesus did for us, and just how much God cares for us. We have the chance to be disciples like so many others. We can choose to follow Jesus, loving him and helping him do his work in the world. Every day we can make the decision to put him first and follow him.
Prayer: God, you call us to follow you. Give us the strength we need to give our lives to you and make you more important than everything else. Help us be your disciples. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, January 19, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 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.
