Enduring Purses
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
As you are no doubt aware if you read the business pages, there has been a bit of an ongoing soap opera over the impending sale of Dow Jones & Co. to international media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch is most well-known in America as the owner of Fox Broadcasting and several tabloid newspapers, including the New York Post. Dow Jones has been a pillar of the Wall Street financial community -- investors and businesses have often based their decisions on its famous "Dow Jones" index of leading industrial stocks, and as the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, it's also the leading source of business and financial news. But there is concern in many quarters over the future direction of the company. Given Murdoch and his News Corporation's history of slanted journalism, the question has been raised as to whether Dow Jones' foundation of integrity might be shaken.
In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Paul Bresnahan reflects on these concerns, along with recent stories about several recent scandals at the BBC, and wonders what we can depend on when trusted sources of information are called into question. Paul suggests that this week's Gospel passage from Luke 12:32-40, especially the phrase "Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out," offers a clue to the type of purse that God is looking for as he views the direction of our lives. That is the Dow Jones of the Christian faith that can provide us stability and strength. Team member Steve McCutchan discusses the tragic plight of the Korean hostages in Afghanistan. These Christians who were on a humanitarian mission to aid children have become political pawns, and they have had to rely on their faith in a sea of political violence which has already cost the lives of two of their leaders. Steve draws on this week's Hebrews text to contemplate the faith that sustains us in such tumultuous times. As usual, this week's material also includes several illustrations and worship resources, plus a children's message.
Enduring Purses
by Paul Bresnahan
The news is in: the venerable Dow Jones & Co. is now in the hands of Rupert Murdoch. Chills of concern are reverberating throughout the world of journalism as one of the "crown jewels" of American journalism falls into the hands of a man who has been known to put his personal stamp on all of his proprietary media interests. There is no question that he has that right. The question is whether the Wall Street Journal will be able to continue to provide the kind of steady and dispassionate view on matters of business and the economy that we have come to depend on. Not just within our national borders but around the world, when the Dow Jones speaks, everyone else listens. The distinguished history of Dow Jones -- the words themselves elicit a kind of unquestioned reverence for what they mean to the American and global economic community -- now falls prey to a man whose influence is yet to be completely understood.
At the same time as we watch the "fall" of the Dow Jones, we are also seeing the BBC slipping away from grace as well. The BBC has long been among the most dependable news sources worldwide. Not too long ago, the "global village" could sit at its short-wave radio, listen to the BBC, and count on it to provide the kind of honest news that both kings and commoners could respect as authoritative. Now a series unsettling revelations about shoddy reporting has made this venerable institution seem somewhat less than what we had expected.
In this week's Gospel lesson we're encouraged not to be afraid, because we've been given an enduring kingdom, purses that shall last, and an unfailing treasure that no thief can steal. I really would like to believe that -- but with so much of what I have come to depend on suddenly seeming so ephemeral, how can we depend on anything at all anymore? I believe Jesus can teach us the way.
THE WORLD
It is a good news/bad news world. While Rupert Murdoch takes control of the Wall Street Journal, he also is apparently musing on making the online edition free. That development is long overdue, what with most news services going thoroughly public. Nowadays many folks like to use search engines such as Google News for their news sources. (I do.) At a time when the truly independent newspapers with a reputation for integrity and autonomy are being "bought up" by corporate juggernauts, this kind of "free" news availability is critical to the marketplace of ideas that is the hallmark of freedom of speech in America.
What's new in freedom of information and analysis is that this amendment of the constitution is no longer the exclusive right of America. In fact, it seems to be less so in this country, as not only is the wealth of the nation concentrated in too few hands, but also the availability of news is now concentrated by corporate buy-outs.
The savvy news junkie now has to jump on the computer to get a fill of critical thought these days. With a healthy dose of online searching, one can jump from one region of the world to another for news and analysis of current events. The tendency toward national bias that we see in our own news sources then can be corrected by looking at ourselves as others see us from outside our borders.
There was always a time when we could at least depend on the BBC. People around the world over could tune their short-wave radios into the BBC World Service and receive what we thought was among the best independent news sources anywhere. Honesty and accuracy were once the hallmarks of the BBC. No longer! Now comes the news that even the BBC is tainted with scandal, as a faked phone-in competition comes to light, and before that a misleading trailer seemed to show no less a personage than the Queen of England stalking out of photography session. Public confidence in the BBC has plummeted, and a legislative review is underway in the House of Lords.
Dollars and cents and "hard news" are among those things that the world we live in depends on for its very lifeblood. But alas, we find that even those institutions we had once thought unshakable are now anything but. Now we've got to dig deeper, and look more askance even in those places we had once thought absolutely solid. The world is no place to look for purses that endure.
THE WORD
Isaiah was one of the prophets most quoted by Jesus. Jesus seems to have liked Isaiah, almost as a soulmate. No wonder why. As we look at this week's passage, we see the prophet speak directly to the king and equate his authority with that of those in charge of Sodom and Gomorrah. The notion of whoredom was a frequent literary device used by the prophet to heap up insult and make clear that God's anger with national policy was reaching a boiling point. Isaiah reports that God is not impressed with long prayers, sacrifices, incense, and all the liturgical niceties of impressive worship rituals, even when presented with all the fanfare that the Temple clerical staff could devise. I dare say that God might easily find many of our televangelists, megachurches, and great cathedrals to be anything but satisfying to the will of God. Isaiah says, rather, that God wants to see us take up the struggle for justice, to rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow. We spend so much of our effort on the worship of God without remembering to serve humanity. Isaiah and Jesus seem to note that something is radically amiss when worship alone passes for holiness. Instead, the prophet desires to see justice roll down the mountain of God like an ever-flowing stream. Indeed, Isaiah mentions "justice" 28 times as God's messenger, to be sure we get the message that it is not worship alone that satisfies the hunger of God, but the eager desire of God's people to respond to the needs of those who are left at the bottom rung of the social order.
The psalmist continues the theme by saying that around God's throne there is a consuming flame that seeks more than a rote observance of sacrificial offerings. God's will is searching the human heart for justice.
We also have a wonderful resource in Paul's opening words from the epistle: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen." In this one turn of phrase we begin to see the theological train of thought that will lead us toward the notion of "enduring purses." Paul goes on to speak of the Father of our faith and those others who came before us, before the "promises" we have in Jesus were made manifest. They kept the faith, and now we can do nothing less.
The Gospel reading presents us with vivid imagery -- purses that endure, unfailing treasure, eager vigilance at the wedding banquet, and a B & E [breaking and entering] thief -- of things that last and things that don't. It seems that this Gospel wants us to be vigilant because our relationships can fail, and so can the security of our homes be compromised. To have an unfailing treasure contained in something that endures is an achievement that the Gospel announces as being the essence of the challenge we face as people who wish to be connected to God's kingdom. How then do we proceed?
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Even though this dates me significantly, still I can remember it like it was yesterday. There were really only three television networks in America -- CBS, NBC, and ABC. PBS was still in its infancy, and it was merely an "educational" channel in the larger markets for the elite and educated people. We'd all gather in front of the television after dinner and sit glued to the "nightly news." Whether it was from Walter Cronkite, or Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, or Howard K. Smith, we grew to depend on the impartiality and honesty of the network news teams. Each evening for half an hour we'd get our news; and that was it until the next weekday night unless "breaking news" brought the anchors to the TV screens to cover a Big Story. And now they are all gone. They've fallen victim to CNN and FOX, and then many of us went to the old papers for the news: the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and so on.
One by one they've all fallen on hard times, as the stain of shoddy reporting practices has replaced the distinguished journalism we came to depend on. The pressure created by the 24/7 news cycle and corporate buyouts has put so much of our "free press" traditions in the throes of compromised standards of journalism. The one thing we thought we had right in this country was the First Amendment -- to wit, the freedom of the press. Now it comes to light that the politics of intimidation, the pressure of the deadline, and the power of the almighty dollar has taken its price. In the run-up to the war in Iraq, we really did not have a free press. We had an anemic and intimidated press, unable and unwilling to ask the tough questions that are really necessary as we conduct the formation of our national and international policies.
But we really aren't alone. The press around the world, in France, Germany, Britain, and elsewhere, has all found itself under the scrutiny of an increasingly skeptical public. This is not good for a democratic society. Without a vigorous, free press, we are more likely to fall victim to the influences of corporate power. I confess that my concern for the purchase of the Wall Street Journal by Rupert Murdoch is ultimately the concern of a citizen who cannot help but think that the influence of the oligarchy of the rich will find its way into the formation of the public mind.
Jesus was certainly aware of the power of the Temple authorities, and of the Roman Empire. What possible hope would there be against the overwhelming odds as presented by the powers and principalities of these oppressive realities? But Jesus knew that temples come and temples go. He knew that the destruction of the Temple was possible. He knew it was inevitable, given the zealots in religion and the power of the Roman Empire. Jesus was as "wise as a serpent," just as he told us to be. He was also "harmless as a dove," a somewhat more difficult lesson for humans to learn. Jesus also knew that the Roman Empire would come, and that the Roman Empire would go again... and that all other Empires would likewise come and go, just as history teaches us if we have ears to listen and eyes to see.
That is why he advised us to "make purses for ourselves that do not wear out." The vision of Jesus was the building of a kingdom whose foundations were built on the compassion, love, forgiveness, and reconciling power of God. That, coincidentally enough, is a foursquare foundation to build God's kingdom with. With justice as the plumb line, this kingdom would rise in an enduring way that would transcend every human and all political institutions.
The great purse that endures will not be filled with shekels, dollars, or euros -- it will be filled with the goodness of God as practiced by the saints. This is not an easy task; we have to be on the alert, with lamps lit. The darkness of evil is all around. There are thieves who will take away the things we need to make it through this life. But we are not to put our faith in the Dow, the BBC, or even in our political system, as much as we might love all the above.
Our faith doesn't even get most properly expressed in the worship of God, if we take Isaiah seriously. The faith that seems to matter to God is the practice of the presence of God as we love, forgive, reconcile, and have compassion for one another. That is an enduring purse. That is what will make us rich toward God. And this is the faith of "things hoped for, and the conviction of things unseen."
Rupert Murdoch is a very wealthy man. The BBC still has a great deal of credibility. We are indeed quite a mighty nation. The purse that endures, however, is unmistakably the connection we cultivate with Christ. As we live out our lives, the decisive factor in whether we will build that foundation firmly is a daily practice and a daily habit. Those who wield the power of the worldly purse and the earthly weapons are indeed most menacing. Today, Jesus calms us most steadily: "Don't be afraid. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out."
ANOTHER VIEW
by Stephen McCutchan
On July 19, the Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans riding on a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway -- the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The Koreans were on a Christian missionary journey. The father of two of the hostages said that his children had traveled to the country to assist Afghans in need. "They went there to help, thinking they (Afghans) are their friends."
As of this writing, the government has tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a release of the group. So far their pastor and one other leader have been killed. Relatives have gathered at Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, just outside Seoul. They waited anxiously for developments -- sharing prayers, meals, and sleepless nights as they followed 24-hour television newscasts.
Since short-term mission trips also have become very popular in American churches, we can imagine that such tragic circumstances could also happen to us. What type of faith would you need in such a circumstance? In what way does faith speak to us in a time in which we are experiencing the shaking of our foundations?
The book of Hebrews describes faith in this way: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." This famous definition of faith comes in the midst of the author's urging that believers not falter in their faith during a difficult time. For the hostages, it is important to have a faith that assures them despite appearances. They and their church family will certainly be praying for their release against seemingly impossible odds.
The author of Hebrews recognizes that sometimes you have to strive for those things that seem impossible and persevere when you can see no signs of progress. To reinforce his belief that these are things worth striving for, the author reviews the history of faith and cites a variety of examples of the achievements of faith against all odds. He begins with the creation story as a way of suggesting that acts of faith were a legitimate path from the very beginning. In the beginning there was nothing that would give evidence that creation was even a possibility. Yet (according to the testimony of Genesis 1:1ff), God was able, by merely speaking a word, to create the world out of nothing. This was not even a struggle for God, but was simply the result of God expressing Godself with a word. Can our belief in the God who can conquer chaos by merely speaking a word provide us hope in the midst of our own chaotic experiences?
The author of Hebrews offers some preliminary examples of living by faith, and then comes to Abraham as a primary example of living one's life through trusting in this invisible mystery that we call God. Abraham was pulled forward in life not in response to visible rewards but because of a promise made by an invisible God. It was by faith that he left everything behind to obey a God who promised a land that he had never seen. It was also by faith that he believed that God could produce progeny through his marriage to Sarai, even though it was clear that both of them were well past childbearing age. Living in faith does not mean simply setting out for a goal and persevering until you achieve it. Rather, according to Hebrews, it means trusting against all the evidence that God can fulfill God's promises.
At the same time, the Korean hostages have seen two of their members killed, and they must realize that they may also be killed. The author of Hebrews makes clear that his examples of faith all died before they "received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them." To live by faith is to trust that your efforts on God's behalf are worthwhile even when you cannot see any results. We are a paragraph in God's unfolding story, and none of what is written in faith is wasted.
On behalf of our brothers and sisters from South Korea who are being held hostage, we can pray that God will speak a word that will calm their chaos and offer them a sure hope beyond that which we can see. For ourselves, we pray that we might have the courage of such a faith if we find ourselves in equally difficult circumstances: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
ILLUSTRATIONS
This week's text from the book of Hebrews speaks of Abraham and Sarah as people of strong faith, people who trusted the Lord enough to follow him into whatever future the Lord had for them. Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells us:
"They are strangers and sojourners on earth. They seek those things that are above, not the things that are on the earth. For their true life is not yet made manifest, but hidden with Christ in God.... They wander on earth and live in heaven, and although they are weak, they protect the world; they taste of peace in the midst of turmoil; they are poor, and yet they have all they want. They stand in suffering and remain in joy, they appear dead to all outward sense and lead a life of faith within. When Christ, their life shall be manifested, when once he appears in glory, they too will appear in glory with him...."
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (Macmillan, 1969), p. 304
***
Our Luke text calls us to make purses for ourselves that do not wear out. In other words, we are called to use our money, and all of our resources, in such a way that we share with those in need. Thomas Merton quotes Raissa Maritain:
"If there were fewer wars, less thirst to dominate and to exploit others, less national egoism, less egoism of class and caste, if [we] were more concerned for [all of our brothers and sisters], and really wanted to collect together, for the good of the human race, all the resources that science places at [our] disposal, especially today, there would be on earth fewer populations deprived of their necessary sustenance, there would be fewer children who die or are incurably weakened by undernourishment."
-- Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer (Doubleday, 1971), pp. 113-114
***
Malcolm Muggeridge says: "The true purpose of our existence in this world is, quite simply, to look for God, and in looking, to find Him, and having found Him, to love Him."
-- quoted in Mark Allan Powell, Loving Jesus (Fortress Press, 2004), p. vi
***
Søren Kierkegaard once told a parable about a poor old couple. Desperate to know where they would find money to live, they offered up many anxious prayers to heaven.
Then it happened: one morning, the wife found a large jewel sitting on the hearth. She showed it to her husband, and the two joyfully concluded that they would be able to sell it and live comfortably for the rest of their lives on the proceeds.
That night, the woman dreamed that she had been transported to heaven. An angel showed her around, eventually bringing her to a magnificent hall. This vast room contained long rows of ornate armchairs, each of them adorned with pearls and precious stones. These, the angel explained, were for devout believers.
Taking the woman to one particular chair, the angel explained that it was the one set aside for her. Examining it, the woman noticed an empty place where a large jewel had once been. The missing jewel, the angel explained, was the very one the woman had found that morning on her hearth. "You received it in advance," the angel said, "and so it cannot be inserted again."
When the woman awoke from her dream, she told her husband about it. The two of them resolved not to sell the precious stone, lest it be lost to them through all eternity. And so that evening they laid the stone back on the hearth and prayed to God to take it back. In the morning, it was gone.
Kierkegaard interprets his parable thusly:
"Oh, remember this well! You may perhaps be cunning enough to avoid suffering and adversity in this life, you may perhaps be clever enough to evade ruin and ridicule and instead enjoy all the earth's goods, and you may perhaps be fooled into the vain delusion that you are on the right path just because you have won worldly benefits, but beware, you will have an eternity in which to repent! An eternity in which to repent, that you failed to invest your life upon that which lasts: to love God in truth, come what may.... Therefore do not deceive yourself! Of all deceivers fear most yourself!"
***
There are many things in life that never end. There is dishwashing. There is getting the car fixed. There is cutting the grass. Unless one keeps constantly in mind the values involved -- clean dishes, a smoothly running car, a soft and neat lawn, and the like -- these "never-ending things" become wearing and wearying.
It is not alone in utilities that we find this situation. In its deeper aspects, life has "never-ending things." There is the effort to be moral. There is sacrifice for others. There is telling the truth. The list is long. Yet life becomes worthwhile in proportion to our day-to-day efforts to keep doing these "never-ending things."
-- L. Wendell Fifield, writing in Guideposts, July 1963 (reprinted in Guideposts, October 1995, p. 35)
***
In his biography of John Adams, David McCullough quotes a passage from one of his letters, in which the aging former president engages in some philosophical rumination after observing his granddaughters Susanna and Abigail blowing soap bubbles with one of his clay pipes:
"They fill the air of the room with their bubbles, their air balloons, which roll and shine reflecting the light of fire and candles, and are very beautiful. There can be no more perfect emblem of the physical and political and theological aspects of human life.
"Morality only is eternal. All the rest is balloon and bubble from the cradle to the grave."
-- David McCullough, John Adams (Simon & Schuster, 2001), p. 611
***
Compared with the ravenous acquisition of assets by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, the tale of Philadelphia entrepreneur and philanthropist Hal Taussig is a useful corrective. Here's how a Philadelphia Inquirer feature article described him:
Hal Taussig wears baggy jeans and fraying work shirts that Goodwill might reject. His shoes have been resoled three times. He bought his one suit from a thrift shop for $14.
At age 81, he doesn't own a car. He performs errands and commutes to the office by bicycle.
He lives on the outskirts of Media in a narrow wood-frame house that was built for mill and factory workers.
And he has given away millions.
Given the fortune that Taussig has made through Untours, his unique travel business, and has given away through the Untours Foundation, you could call him the Un-millionaire. If he so chose, he could be living in a Main Line mansion and driving a Mercedes. But he considers money and what he calls "stuff," beyond what he needs to survive, a burden, an embarrassment.
Besides caring for his disabled wife and running his Untours business (a specialized travel agency that helps vacationers gain deep experience of foreign cultures), Taussig directs the Untours Foundation, into which he has poured $5 million worth of profits since 1992. The Foundation makes low-interest loans to businesses and non-profits that help the needy.
"If capitalism is good, it should be good for the poor," says Taussig. "I invest in entrepreneurial efforts to help poor people leverage themselves out of poverty." The Untours Foundation's motto: "a hand up, not a handout." Projects it has funded include Home Care Associates of Philadelphia, which is a business cooperative of mostly former welfare recipients who provide health care to the homebound; a shop in Hanoi that provides a market for crafts made in Vietnamese villages; and a water-bottling company in England that uses its profits to bring clean water to developing countries.
In order to plow all Untours income into the foundation, Taussig and his wife, Norma, live on Social Security and on the modest savings Norma earned as a school secretary and as an Untours bookkeeper.
"This is my way of finding meaning," says Taussig. "This is how I get joy out of life. The widening gap between the rich and poor is not sustainable. I fear there will be a violent revolution if we don't find a solution to poverty in the world."
(Source: Art Carey, "Unsung fortune: A rich man's secret: Untours' founder lives abundantly on little as his wealth aids world," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 26, 2007)
***
Last year, for the first time, everyone in the Forbes 400 index of the super-wealthy was a billionaire. Sales of 200-foot-plus yachts and other indulgences of extreme wealth are at record highs. Income for the top 1% of Americans has more than doubled in the last quarter of a century, while that of the bottom fifth barely budged. The rich, in short, are getting steadily richer, both in absolute terms and compared with the rest of society.
Yet with the sainted exception of Warren Buffett and maybe Bill Gates, virtually all of them refuse to give any meaningful fraction of their wealth to the less fortunate -- or even to give a decent fraction to such endeavors as art or medical research, which they'd benefit from.
Consider the numbers (which are based on current estimates in the recent Slate 60 index of the year's leading philanthropic donors and the net-worth estimates in the Forbes 400). The 60 leading American donors gave away $51 billion in 2006, according to Slate. They were led by Buffett, whose spectacular $44-billion donation -- mainly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose primary cause is healthcare in the developing world -- was the largest gift anyone has ever given. These donors had an estimated combined net worth of $630 billion last year, meaning that they gave away 8% of their money, on average. Sounds magnanimous, until you consider that the Dow Jones industrial average rose 16% in 2006 -- which suggests that, as a group, the leading donors contributed less than they gained.
Now subtract Buffett and his generous gift from the group, and the rest of them begin to look downright miserly, handing to others a mere $7 billion of a combined net worth of $584 billion -- or just over 1%. Numbers from the philanthropy watch organization Giving USA show that Americans as a whole annually give away about 0.5% of their net worth. So, except for Buffett, society's top givers donate to others at only a tad higher rate than the population as a whole.
-- Gregg Easterbrook, "Cheapskate billionaires: The super-rich have more money than they can possibly spend, so why do they give so little?" Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2007
***
I think of the taxation of the wealth of our most financially successful citizens as society collecting on a chit. It is a modest repayment for the government providing the conditions and the stimulation to economic life that has made wealth possible.
And I ask this: What is the basis for a social policy that would insist that every cent of the wealth of our richest families goes to their heirs? I cannot think of a good reason for such a policy and clearly can see value to society in minimizing inherited wealth.
-- Bill Gates Sr., "Reinstate 'the grateful heirs' tax," Seattle Press-Intelligencer, April 1, 2005 (Bill Gates Sr. is the father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. He was instrumental in convincing his son to establish the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.)
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: We are people who have been called to follow where God leads us.
People: By faith we can obey, even when asked to walk into an unknown future.
Leader: We are people who have been challenged to tell God's story to others.
People: By faith we have the ability to share the good news.
Leader: We are God's children who are invited to feast at the Table of grace.
People: By faith we will embrace our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Prayer of the Day (and Our Lord's Prayer)
Creator of the light:
when our sins stain our lives,
you dissolve them with your mercy;
when our souls become calloused by the hardness of our hearts,
your grace makes them as soft as a cashmere sweater,
so we can be dressed to serve others.
Creative Word:
when you had enough of our hollow words and empty promises,
you came to listen to the echoes of your hope deep within our hearts.
When you became bored with our endless meetings and petty squabbles,
you took delight in our willingness to follow you.
Breath of Creation:
when we could be sitting at home watching television,
you encourage us to rest in stillness with the grieving.
When we could be out shopping,
you nudge us to share our abundance with the poor and needy.
When we could be relaxing in our achievements,
you sit us down next to a child struggling to read.
God in Community, Holy in One,
as we seek to grow in our faith,
hear us as we pray as Jesus has taught us,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
We would like to keep our sins hidden and our failures a secret.
But God would not have us keep silent, but speak our confessions out loud,
so we may be blessed with God's mercy and grace.
I invite you to pray with me, saying . . .
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
You have a vision of all people as your beloved children, Imaginative God,
but we see folks whose language, dress, and skin make them different.
You have a vision of a universe filled with goodness and beauty,
and we damage it with litter, with violence, with poor choices.
You have a vision of a Table where we can feast on your grace and hope,
but we line up at the fast-food counters of sin and greed.
Forgive us, Envisioner of Mercy,
as we confess that we are not "insiders" but immigrants searching for our true home.
You love us enough to want us to be with you forever,
so may we take the hand of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who leads us into your kingdom.
(silence is kept)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: There is nothing to fear.
God's hope is more tenacious than our despair;
God's joy is more resilient than our grief;
God's love is more compelling than our hate.
People: By grace, we are gathered to God.
By faith, we rest in God's promises of forgiveness and restoration.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Do You Have Faith?
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Objects: a chair and a blindfold
I need a volunteer to help me with today's lesson. I need to blindfold somebody. (Select a child.) Are you ready to help me? I am going to blindfold you and then ask you to do something for me. Don't worry -- I won't ask you to do anything you cannot do. You need to trust me, okay? (Blindfold the child, and then move the chair nearby.)
There. You can't see, can you? Good. Now reach out and take my arms. I am going to lead you around for a bit, okay? (Carefully guide the child around for a moment, then lead him/her over to the chair.) Okay. There is a chair by you. I will put you in front of it, and I want you to sit when I tell you. Don't reach back to feel it; just trust me. Sit when I tell you. Can you do it? Okay, here we go. (Place the child in front of the chair, but not up against it. Make sure he/she will be able to sit without knowing exactly where the chair is.)
Are you ready? Now sit down. (Make sure he/she doesn't fall!) Good job! Now you can take your blindfold off. (Talk with the child for just a moment. Ask him/her about the experience. Was it scary? Did he/she really trust that you wouldn't hurt him/her? What did it feel like to sit without knowing the chair was there?) Thank you. You can go back to your seat now.
We all just saw what faith looks like. Our Bible verse (Hebrews 11:1) says that faith is "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." It's hard to be certain of what we do not see! Our volunteer trusted me, and he/she believed that the chair would be there even when he/she couldn't see it. God wants us to trust him like that. He wants us to believe that he is watching out for us. He wants us to believe that his plan for our life is the best one -- even when we don't know why some things happen to us. It is hard sometimes to have faith and trust God when we can't see, but it gets easier. When you know him well you will believe with all your heart that he will never hurt you or lead you into any kind of danger.
Prayer: Dear God, help us have faith in you. Help us know that you love us and are taking care of us every day of our lives. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, August 12, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
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In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Paul Bresnahan reflects on these concerns, along with recent stories about several recent scandals at the BBC, and wonders what we can depend on when trusted sources of information are called into question. Paul suggests that this week's Gospel passage from Luke 12:32-40, especially the phrase "Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out," offers a clue to the type of purse that God is looking for as he views the direction of our lives. That is the Dow Jones of the Christian faith that can provide us stability and strength. Team member Steve McCutchan discusses the tragic plight of the Korean hostages in Afghanistan. These Christians who were on a humanitarian mission to aid children have become political pawns, and they have had to rely on their faith in a sea of political violence which has already cost the lives of two of their leaders. Steve draws on this week's Hebrews text to contemplate the faith that sustains us in such tumultuous times. As usual, this week's material also includes several illustrations and worship resources, plus a children's message.
Enduring Purses
by Paul Bresnahan
The news is in: the venerable Dow Jones & Co. is now in the hands of Rupert Murdoch. Chills of concern are reverberating throughout the world of journalism as one of the "crown jewels" of American journalism falls into the hands of a man who has been known to put his personal stamp on all of his proprietary media interests. There is no question that he has that right. The question is whether the Wall Street Journal will be able to continue to provide the kind of steady and dispassionate view on matters of business and the economy that we have come to depend on. Not just within our national borders but around the world, when the Dow Jones speaks, everyone else listens. The distinguished history of Dow Jones -- the words themselves elicit a kind of unquestioned reverence for what they mean to the American and global economic community -- now falls prey to a man whose influence is yet to be completely understood.
At the same time as we watch the "fall" of the Dow Jones, we are also seeing the BBC slipping away from grace as well. The BBC has long been among the most dependable news sources worldwide. Not too long ago, the "global village" could sit at its short-wave radio, listen to the BBC, and count on it to provide the kind of honest news that both kings and commoners could respect as authoritative. Now a series unsettling revelations about shoddy reporting has made this venerable institution seem somewhat less than what we had expected.
In this week's Gospel lesson we're encouraged not to be afraid, because we've been given an enduring kingdom, purses that shall last, and an unfailing treasure that no thief can steal. I really would like to believe that -- but with so much of what I have come to depend on suddenly seeming so ephemeral, how can we depend on anything at all anymore? I believe Jesus can teach us the way.
THE WORLD
It is a good news/bad news world. While Rupert Murdoch takes control of the Wall Street Journal, he also is apparently musing on making the online edition free. That development is long overdue, what with most news services going thoroughly public. Nowadays many folks like to use search engines such as Google News for their news sources. (I do.) At a time when the truly independent newspapers with a reputation for integrity and autonomy are being "bought up" by corporate juggernauts, this kind of "free" news availability is critical to the marketplace of ideas that is the hallmark of freedom of speech in America.
What's new in freedom of information and analysis is that this amendment of the constitution is no longer the exclusive right of America. In fact, it seems to be less so in this country, as not only is the wealth of the nation concentrated in too few hands, but also the availability of news is now concentrated by corporate buy-outs.
The savvy news junkie now has to jump on the computer to get a fill of critical thought these days. With a healthy dose of online searching, one can jump from one region of the world to another for news and analysis of current events. The tendency toward national bias that we see in our own news sources then can be corrected by looking at ourselves as others see us from outside our borders.
There was always a time when we could at least depend on the BBC. People around the world over could tune their short-wave radios into the BBC World Service and receive what we thought was among the best independent news sources anywhere. Honesty and accuracy were once the hallmarks of the BBC. No longer! Now comes the news that even the BBC is tainted with scandal, as a faked phone-in competition comes to light, and before that a misleading trailer seemed to show no less a personage than the Queen of England stalking out of photography session. Public confidence in the BBC has plummeted, and a legislative review is underway in the House of Lords.
Dollars and cents and "hard news" are among those things that the world we live in depends on for its very lifeblood. But alas, we find that even those institutions we had once thought unshakable are now anything but. Now we've got to dig deeper, and look more askance even in those places we had once thought absolutely solid. The world is no place to look for purses that endure.
THE WORD
Isaiah was one of the prophets most quoted by Jesus. Jesus seems to have liked Isaiah, almost as a soulmate. No wonder why. As we look at this week's passage, we see the prophet speak directly to the king and equate his authority with that of those in charge of Sodom and Gomorrah. The notion of whoredom was a frequent literary device used by the prophet to heap up insult and make clear that God's anger with national policy was reaching a boiling point. Isaiah reports that God is not impressed with long prayers, sacrifices, incense, and all the liturgical niceties of impressive worship rituals, even when presented with all the fanfare that the Temple clerical staff could devise. I dare say that God might easily find many of our televangelists, megachurches, and great cathedrals to be anything but satisfying to the will of God. Isaiah says, rather, that God wants to see us take up the struggle for justice, to rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow. We spend so much of our effort on the worship of God without remembering to serve humanity. Isaiah and Jesus seem to note that something is radically amiss when worship alone passes for holiness. Instead, the prophet desires to see justice roll down the mountain of God like an ever-flowing stream. Indeed, Isaiah mentions "justice" 28 times as God's messenger, to be sure we get the message that it is not worship alone that satisfies the hunger of God, but the eager desire of God's people to respond to the needs of those who are left at the bottom rung of the social order.
The psalmist continues the theme by saying that around God's throne there is a consuming flame that seeks more than a rote observance of sacrificial offerings. God's will is searching the human heart for justice.
We also have a wonderful resource in Paul's opening words from the epistle: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen." In this one turn of phrase we begin to see the theological train of thought that will lead us toward the notion of "enduring purses." Paul goes on to speak of the Father of our faith and those others who came before us, before the "promises" we have in Jesus were made manifest. They kept the faith, and now we can do nothing less.
The Gospel reading presents us with vivid imagery -- purses that endure, unfailing treasure, eager vigilance at the wedding banquet, and a B & E [breaking and entering] thief -- of things that last and things that don't. It seems that this Gospel wants us to be vigilant because our relationships can fail, and so can the security of our homes be compromised. To have an unfailing treasure contained in something that endures is an achievement that the Gospel announces as being the essence of the challenge we face as people who wish to be connected to God's kingdom. How then do we proceed?
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Even though this dates me significantly, still I can remember it like it was yesterday. There were really only three television networks in America -- CBS, NBC, and ABC. PBS was still in its infancy, and it was merely an "educational" channel in the larger markets for the elite and educated people. We'd all gather in front of the television after dinner and sit glued to the "nightly news." Whether it was from Walter Cronkite, or Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, or Howard K. Smith, we grew to depend on the impartiality and honesty of the network news teams. Each evening for half an hour we'd get our news; and that was it until the next weekday night unless "breaking news" brought the anchors to the TV screens to cover a Big Story. And now they are all gone. They've fallen victim to CNN and FOX, and then many of us went to the old papers for the news: the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and so on.
One by one they've all fallen on hard times, as the stain of shoddy reporting practices has replaced the distinguished journalism we came to depend on. The pressure created by the 24/7 news cycle and corporate buyouts has put so much of our "free press" traditions in the throes of compromised standards of journalism. The one thing we thought we had right in this country was the First Amendment -- to wit, the freedom of the press. Now it comes to light that the politics of intimidation, the pressure of the deadline, and the power of the almighty dollar has taken its price. In the run-up to the war in Iraq, we really did not have a free press. We had an anemic and intimidated press, unable and unwilling to ask the tough questions that are really necessary as we conduct the formation of our national and international policies.
But we really aren't alone. The press around the world, in France, Germany, Britain, and elsewhere, has all found itself under the scrutiny of an increasingly skeptical public. This is not good for a democratic society. Without a vigorous, free press, we are more likely to fall victim to the influences of corporate power. I confess that my concern for the purchase of the Wall Street Journal by Rupert Murdoch is ultimately the concern of a citizen who cannot help but think that the influence of the oligarchy of the rich will find its way into the formation of the public mind.
Jesus was certainly aware of the power of the Temple authorities, and of the Roman Empire. What possible hope would there be against the overwhelming odds as presented by the powers and principalities of these oppressive realities? But Jesus knew that temples come and temples go. He knew that the destruction of the Temple was possible. He knew it was inevitable, given the zealots in religion and the power of the Roman Empire. Jesus was as "wise as a serpent," just as he told us to be. He was also "harmless as a dove," a somewhat more difficult lesson for humans to learn. Jesus also knew that the Roman Empire would come, and that the Roman Empire would go again... and that all other Empires would likewise come and go, just as history teaches us if we have ears to listen and eyes to see.
That is why he advised us to "make purses for ourselves that do not wear out." The vision of Jesus was the building of a kingdom whose foundations were built on the compassion, love, forgiveness, and reconciling power of God. That, coincidentally enough, is a foursquare foundation to build God's kingdom with. With justice as the plumb line, this kingdom would rise in an enduring way that would transcend every human and all political institutions.
The great purse that endures will not be filled with shekels, dollars, or euros -- it will be filled with the goodness of God as practiced by the saints. This is not an easy task; we have to be on the alert, with lamps lit. The darkness of evil is all around. There are thieves who will take away the things we need to make it through this life. But we are not to put our faith in the Dow, the BBC, or even in our political system, as much as we might love all the above.
Our faith doesn't even get most properly expressed in the worship of God, if we take Isaiah seriously. The faith that seems to matter to God is the practice of the presence of God as we love, forgive, reconcile, and have compassion for one another. That is an enduring purse. That is what will make us rich toward God. And this is the faith of "things hoped for, and the conviction of things unseen."
Rupert Murdoch is a very wealthy man. The BBC still has a great deal of credibility. We are indeed quite a mighty nation. The purse that endures, however, is unmistakably the connection we cultivate with Christ. As we live out our lives, the decisive factor in whether we will build that foundation firmly is a daily practice and a daily habit. Those who wield the power of the worldly purse and the earthly weapons are indeed most menacing. Today, Jesus calms us most steadily: "Don't be afraid. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out."
ANOTHER VIEW
by Stephen McCutchan
On July 19, the Taliban kidnapped 23 South Koreans riding on a bus through Ghazni province on the Kabul-Kandahar highway -- the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. The Koreans were on a Christian missionary journey. The father of two of the hostages said that his children had traveled to the country to assist Afghans in need. "They went there to help, thinking they (Afghans) are their friends."
As of this writing, the government has tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a release of the group. So far their pastor and one other leader have been killed. Relatives have gathered at Saemmul Community Church in Bundang, just outside Seoul. They waited anxiously for developments -- sharing prayers, meals, and sleepless nights as they followed 24-hour television newscasts.
Since short-term mission trips also have become very popular in American churches, we can imagine that such tragic circumstances could also happen to us. What type of faith would you need in such a circumstance? In what way does faith speak to us in a time in which we are experiencing the shaking of our foundations?
The book of Hebrews describes faith in this way: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." This famous definition of faith comes in the midst of the author's urging that believers not falter in their faith during a difficult time. For the hostages, it is important to have a faith that assures them despite appearances. They and their church family will certainly be praying for their release against seemingly impossible odds.
The author of Hebrews recognizes that sometimes you have to strive for those things that seem impossible and persevere when you can see no signs of progress. To reinforce his belief that these are things worth striving for, the author reviews the history of faith and cites a variety of examples of the achievements of faith against all odds. He begins with the creation story as a way of suggesting that acts of faith were a legitimate path from the very beginning. In the beginning there was nothing that would give evidence that creation was even a possibility. Yet (according to the testimony of Genesis 1:1ff), God was able, by merely speaking a word, to create the world out of nothing. This was not even a struggle for God, but was simply the result of God expressing Godself with a word. Can our belief in the God who can conquer chaos by merely speaking a word provide us hope in the midst of our own chaotic experiences?
The author of Hebrews offers some preliminary examples of living by faith, and then comes to Abraham as a primary example of living one's life through trusting in this invisible mystery that we call God. Abraham was pulled forward in life not in response to visible rewards but because of a promise made by an invisible God. It was by faith that he left everything behind to obey a God who promised a land that he had never seen. It was also by faith that he believed that God could produce progeny through his marriage to Sarai, even though it was clear that both of them were well past childbearing age. Living in faith does not mean simply setting out for a goal and persevering until you achieve it. Rather, according to Hebrews, it means trusting against all the evidence that God can fulfill God's promises.
At the same time, the Korean hostages have seen two of their members killed, and they must realize that they may also be killed. The author of Hebrews makes clear that his examples of faith all died before they "received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them." To live by faith is to trust that your efforts on God's behalf are worthwhile even when you cannot see any results. We are a paragraph in God's unfolding story, and none of what is written in faith is wasted.
On behalf of our brothers and sisters from South Korea who are being held hostage, we can pray that God will speak a word that will calm their chaos and offer them a sure hope beyond that which we can see. For ourselves, we pray that we might have the courage of such a faith if we find ourselves in equally difficult circumstances: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."
ILLUSTRATIONS
This week's text from the book of Hebrews speaks of Abraham and Sarah as people of strong faith, people who trusted the Lord enough to follow him into whatever future the Lord had for them. Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells us:
"They are strangers and sojourners on earth. They seek those things that are above, not the things that are on the earth. For their true life is not yet made manifest, but hidden with Christ in God.... They wander on earth and live in heaven, and although they are weak, they protect the world; they taste of peace in the midst of turmoil; they are poor, and yet they have all they want. They stand in suffering and remain in joy, they appear dead to all outward sense and lead a life of faith within. When Christ, their life shall be manifested, when once he appears in glory, they too will appear in glory with him...."
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (Macmillan, 1969), p. 304
***
Our Luke text calls us to make purses for ourselves that do not wear out. In other words, we are called to use our money, and all of our resources, in such a way that we share with those in need. Thomas Merton quotes Raissa Maritain:
"If there were fewer wars, less thirst to dominate and to exploit others, less national egoism, less egoism of class and caste, if [we] were more concerned for [all of our brothers and sisters], and really wanted to collect together, for the good of the human race, all the resources that science places at [our] disposal, especially today, there would be on earth fewer populations deprived of their necessary sustenance, there would be fewer children who die or are incurably weakened by undernourishment."
-- Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer (Doubleday, 1971), pp. 113-114
***
Malcolm Muggeridge says: "The true purpose of our existence in this world is, quite simply, to look for God, and in looking, to find Him, and having found Him, to love Him."
-- quoted in Mark Allan Powell, Loving Jesus (Fortress Press, 2004), p. vi
***
Søren Kierkegaard once told a parable about a poor old couple. Desperate to know where they would find money to live, they offered up many anxious prayers to heaven.
Then it happened: one morning, the wife found a large jewel sitting on the hearth. She showed it to her husband, and the two joyfully concluded that they would be able to sell it and live comfortably for the rest of their lives on the proceeds.
That night, the woman dreamed that she had been transported to heaven. An angel showed her around, eventually bringing her to a magnificent hall. This vast room contained long rows of ornate armchairs, each of them adorned with pearls and precious stones. These, the angel explained, were for devout believers.
Taking the woman to one particular chair, the angel explained that it was the one set aside for her. Examining it, the woman noticed an empty place where a large jewel had once been. The missing jewel, the angel explained, was the very one the woman had found that morning on her hearth. "You received it in advance," the angel said, "and so it cannot be inserted again."
When the woman awoke from her dream, she told her husband about it. The two of them resolved not to sell the precious stone, lest it be lost to them through all eternity. And so that evening they laid the stone back on the hearth and prayed to God to take it back. In the morning, it was gone.
Kierkegaard interprets his parable thusly:
"Oh, remember this well! You may perhaps be cunning enough to avoid suffering and adversity in this life, you may perhaps be clever enough to evade ruin and ridicule and instead enjoy all the earth's goods, and you may perhaps be fooled into the vain delusion that you are on the right path just because you have won worldly benefits, but beware, you will have an eternity in which to repent! An eternity in which to repent, that you failed to invest your life upon that which lasts: to love God in truth, come what may.... Therefore do not deceive yourself! Of all deceivers fear most yourself!"
***
There are many things in life that never end. There is dishwashing. There is getting the car fixed. There is cutting the grass. Unless one keeps constantly in mind the values involved -- clean dishes, a smoothly running car, a soft and neat lawn, and the like -- these "never-ending things" become wearing and wearying.
It is not alone in utilities that we find this situation. In its deeper aspects, life has "never-ending things." There is the effort to be moral. There is sacrifice for others. There is telling the truth. The list is long. Yet life becomes worthwhile in proportion to our day-to-day efforts to keep doing these "never-ending things."
-- L. Wendell Fifield, writing in Guideposts, July 1963 (reprinted in Guideposts, October 1995, p. 35)
***
In his biography of John Adams, David McCullough quotes a passage from one of his letters, in which the aging former president engages in some philosophical rumination after observing his granddaughters Susanna and Abigail blowing soap bubbles with one of his clay pipes:
"They fill the air of the room with their bubbles, their air balloons, which roll and shine reflecting the light of fire and candles, and are very beautiful. There can be no more perfect emblem of the physical and political and theological aspects of human life.
"Morality only is eternal. All the rest is balloon and bubble from the cradle to the grave."
-- David McCullough, John Adams (Simon & Schuster, 2001), p. 611
***
Compared with the ravenous acquisition of assets by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, the tale of Philadelphia entrepreneur and philanthropist Hal Taussig is a useful corrective. Here's how a Philadelphia Inquirer feature article described him:
Hal Taussig wears baggy jeans and fraying work shirts that Goodwill might reject. His shoes have been resoled three times. He bought his one suit from a thrift shop for $14.
At age 81, he doesn't own a car. He performs errands and commutes to the office by bicycle.
He lives on the outskirts of Media in a narrow wood-frame house that was built for mill and factory workers.
And he has given away millions.
Given the fortune that Taussig has made through Untours, his unique travel business, and has given away through the Untours Foundation, you could call him the Un-millionaire. If he so chose, he could be living in a Main Line mansion and driving a Mercedes. But he considers money and what he calls "stuff," beyond what he needs to survive, a burden, an embarrassment.
Besides caring for his disabled wife and running his Untours business (a specialized travel agency that helps vacationers gain deep experience of foreign cultures), Taussig directs the Untours Foundation, into which he has poured $5 million worth of profits since 1992. The Foundation makes low-interest loans to businesses and non-profits that help the needy.
"If capitalism is good, it should be good for the poor," says Taussig. "I invest in entrepreneurial efforts to help poor people leverage themselves out of poverty." The Untours Foundation's motto: "a hand up, not a handout." Projects it has funded include Home Care Associates of Philadelphia, which is a business cooperative of mostly former welfare recipients who provide health care to the homebound; a shop in Hanoi that provides a market for crafts made in Vietnamese villages; and a water-bottling company in England that uses its profits to bring clean water to developing countries.
In order to plow all Untours income into the foundation, Taussig and his wife, Norma, live on Social Security and on the modest savings Norma earned as a school secretary and as an Untours bookkeeper.
"This is my way of finding meaning," says Taussig. "This is how I get joy out of life. The widening gap between the rich and poor is not sustainable. I fear there will be a violent revolution if we don't find a solution to poverty in the world."
(Source: Art Carey, "Unsung fortune: A rich man's secret: Untours' founder lives abundantly on little as his wealth aids world," Philadelphia Inquirer, March 26, 2007)
***
Last year, for the first time, everyone in the Forbes 400 index of the super-wealthy was a billionaire. Sales of 200-foot-plus yachts and other indulgences of extreme wealth are at record highs. Income for the top 1% of Americans has more than doubled in the last quarter of a century, while that of the bottom fifth barely budged. The rich, in short, are getting steadily richer, both in absolute terms and compared with the rest of society.
Yet with the sainted exception of Warren Buffett and maybe Bill Gates, virtually all of them refuse to give any meaningful fraction of their wealth to the less fortunate -- or even to give a decent fraction to such endeavors as art or medical research, which they'd benefit from.
Consider the numbers (which are based on current estimates in the recent Slate 60 index of the year's leading philanthropic donors and the net-worth estimates in the Forbes 400). The 60 leading American donors gave away $51 billion in 2006, according to Slate. They were led by Buffett, whose spectacular $44-billion donation -- mainly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose primary cause is healthcare in the developing world -- was the largest gift anyone has ever given. These donors had an estimated combined net worth of $630 billion last year, meaning that they gave away 8% of their money, on average. Sounds magnanimous, until you consider that the Dow Jones industrial average rose 16% in 2006 -- which suggests that, as a group, the leading donors contributed less than they gained.
Now subtract Buffett and his generous gift from the group, and the rest of them begin to look downright miserly, handing to others a mere $7 billion of a combined net worth of $584 billion -- or just over 1%. Numbers from the philanthropy watch organization Giving USA show that Americans as a whole annually give away about 0.5% of their net worth. So, except for Buffett, society's top givers donate to others at only a tad higher rate than the population as a whole.
-- Gregg Easterbrook, "Cheapskate billionaires: The super-rich have more money than they can possibly spend, so why do they give so little?" Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2007
***
I think of the taxation of the wealth of our most financially successful citizens as society collecting on a chit. It is a modest repayment for the government providing the conditions and the stimulation to economic life that has made wealth possible.
And I ask this: What is the basis for a social policy that would insist that every cent of the wealth of our richest families goes to their heirs? I cannot think of a good reason for such a policy and clearly can see value to society in minimizing inherited wealth.
-- Bill Gates Sr., "Reinstate 'the grateful heirs' tax," Seattle Press-Intelligencer, April 1, 2005 (Bill Gates Sr. is the father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. He was instrumental in convincing his son to establish the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.)
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Thom M. Shuman
Call to Worship
Leader: We are people who have been called to follow where God leads us.
People: By faith we can obey, even when asked to walk into an unknown future.
Leader: We are people who have been challenged to tell God's story to others.
People: By faith we have the ability to share the good news.
Leader: We are God's children who are invited to feast at the Table of grace.
People: By faith we will embrace our sisters and brothers in Christ.
Prayer of the Day (and Our Lord's Prayer)
Creator of the light:
when our sins stain our lives,
you dissolve them with your mercy;
when our souls become calloused by the hardness of our hearts,
your grace makes them as soft as a cashmere sweater,
so we can be dressed to serve others.
Creative Word:
when you had enough of our hollow words and empty promises,
you came to listen to the echoes of your hope deep within our hearts.
When you became bored with our endless meetings and petty squabbles,
you took delight in our willingness to follow you.
Breath of Creation:
when we could be sitting at home watching television,
you encourage us to rest in stillness with the grieving.
When we could be out shopping,
you nudge us to share our abundance with the poor and needy.
When we could be relaxing in our achievements,
you sit us down next to a child struggling to read.
God in Community, Holy in One,
as we seek to grow in our faith,
hear us as we pray as Jesus has taught us,
Our Father . . .
Call to Reconciliation
We would like to keep our sins hidden and our failures a secret.
But God would not have us keep silent, but speak our confessions out loud,
so we may be blessed with God's mercy and grace.
I invite you to pray with me, saying . . .
(Unison) Prayer of Confession
You have a vision of all people as your beloved children, Imaginative God,
but we see folks whose language, dress, and skin make them different.
You have a vision of a universe filled with goodness and beauty,
and we damage it with litter, with violence, with poor choices.
You have a vision of a Table where we can feast on your grace and hope,
but we line up at the fast-food counters of sin and greed.
Forgive us, Envisioner of Mercy,
as we confess that we are not "insiders" but immigrants searching for our true home.
You love us enough to want us to be with you forever,
so may we take the hand of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
who leads us into your kingdom.
(silence is kept)
Assurance of Pardon
Leader: There is nothing to fear.
God's hope is more tenacious than our despair;
God's joy is more resilient than our grief;
God's love is more compelling than our hate.
People: By grace, we are gathered to God.
By faith, we rest in God's promises of forgiveness and restoration.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Do You Have Faith?
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
Objects: a chair and a blindfold
I need a volunteer to help me with today's lesson. I need to blindfold somebody. (Select a child.) Are you ready to help me? I am going to blindfold you and then ask you to do something for me. Don't worry -- I won't ask you to do anything you cannot do. You need to trust me, okay? (Blindfold the child, and then move the chair nearby.)
There. You can't see, can you? Good. Now reach out and take my arms. I am going to lead you around for a bit, okay? (Carefully guide the child around for a moment, then lead him/her over to the chair.) Okay. There is a chair by you. I will put you in front of it, and I want you to sit when I tell you. Don't reach back to feel it; just trust me. Sit when I tell you. Can you do it? Okay, here we go. (Place the child in front of the chair, but not up against it. Make sure he/she will be able to sit without knowing exactly where the chair is.)
Are you ready? Now sit down. (Make sure he/she doesn't fall!) Good job! Now you can take your blindfold off. (Talk with the child for just a moment. Ask him/her about the experience. Was it scary? Did he/she really trust that you wouldn't hurt him/her? What did it feel like to sit without knowing the chair was there?) Thank you. You can go back to your seat now.
We all just saw what faith looks like. Our Bible verse (Hebrews 11:1) says that faith is "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." It's hard to be certain of what we do not see! Our volunteer trusted me, and he/she believed that the chair would be there even when he/she couldn't see it. God wants us to trust him like that. He wants us to believe that he is watching out for us. He wants us to believe that his plan for our life is the best one -- even when we don't know why some things happen to us. It is hard sometimes to have faith and trust God when we can't see, but it gets easier. When you know him well you will believe with all your heart that he will never hurt you or lead you into any kind of danger.
Prayer: Dear God, help us have faith in you. Help us know that you love us and are taking care of us every day of our lives. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, August 12, 2007, issue.
Copyright 2007 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.
