Give to God the Things That are God's
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For October 18, 2020:
Give to God the Things That are God's
by Tom Willadsen
Matthew 22:15-22
Jesus’ famous admonition, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” comes to us at a moment when our starkly polarized nation is responding to a pandemic and getting ready for an election. How does one decide where to draw the line between Caesar and God, Church and State? Some American Christians have fought in wars; other have been conscientious objectors. Some American Christians demonstrate against police violence, others faithfully assert the duty of faithful Christians to support all police officers. Clearly, different people hold different opinions of what is appropriate behavior for Christians and for Americans. As we face an election in a bitterly, rigidly, divided nation there is fear that our unity as a nation is unraveling. Forces in society who are working to stoke fear may be doing irreparable harm to civic life. How do we lead our congregations to understand their obligations to the living God and civic life, the very heart of today’s gospel message?
In the News
Given the rapid pace of the news cycle, I realize I’m reaching back to ancient history — about two weeks ago. Sandwiched between the colossal fires in the West, the President’s Covid-19 diagnosis and the fly that rested on the Vice-President’s head, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the speed with which the President nominated her successor was wall-to-wall for several days a few weeks ago. Remember? The day after Ginsburg’s body lay in state in the Capitol, the first woman and first Jew to be so honored, the President named the Honorable Amy Coney Barrett as his choice to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. The confirmation process will be extremely contentious. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has promised that the confirmation will occur prior to the election. The Republicans’ control of the Senate may come to an end following November’s elections. McConnell’s haste is a marked contrast to 2016. In that year, then- President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia. McConnell refused to begin the confirmation process for Garland, arguing that the next justice should be selected by whoever won the Presidency in November of that year. The seat remained vacant until Donald Trump took office.
While the parties are bickering over the process, partisans on both sides of the abortion issue are drawing battle lines for their latest skirmish. Judge Barrett is an observant Roman Catholic who has made her opposition to Roe v. Wade (and the Affordable Care Act) very clear.
When she was confirmed by the Senate for the position she now holds on the 7th Circuit Court, in 2017, she was subject to close scrutiny by Senator Dianne Feinstein, “The dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that people have fought for for years in this country,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) told Barrett.
But when Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked when it would be “proper for a judge to put their religious views above applying the law,” Barrett answered, “Never.”
“It’s never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge’s personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else, on the law,” she added. (Ibid.)
One way the process for confirming Judge Barrett will be framed is whether she permits her religious faith to inform and shape her judicial decisions. That is, where, and how, she draws the line between Church and State.
A judge cannot avoid having her life experiences influence her judicial decisions. The Constitution is a living document and it is interpreted by individuals. When Sonia Sotomayor was being confirmed by the Senate in 2009, she was grilled about a remark she had made in a speech she gave at the University of California Law School in 2001, when she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
Where is the line between being shaped by one’s lived experience, or religious faith, and imposing that experience or faith on the interpretation of the Law? Where is the line that separates Church from State, God from Caesar?
In the Scriptures
Matthew 22:15-22 “Rendering unto Caesar”
A cursory look at today’s Gospel lesson appears to show Jesus winning yet another battle of wits with powerful forces who seek to trap him. He does, but the stakes are much higher.
Matthew places this pronouncement story among other heated exchanges Jesus had in and around the temple between the triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) and the Passover, what Christians think of as Maundy Thursday. His teaching is provocative and challenging. The religious authorities are repeatedly shown in a bad light, thus their “case” against Jesus is strengthened.
This story’s conclusion/pronouncement is one of Jesus’ most memorable — and possibly misunderstood — lines. The King James version has it “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Here the English is most unfortunate, because “God’s” sounds exactly the same as “gods.” I misunderstood this reading for decades until I spotted the apostrophes. It sure sounds like an endorsement of idolatry, equating money with gods.
Some commentators have pointed out that Jesus did not have a denarius when confronted by the Pharisees and Herodians. Perhaps this showed his poverty, or his profound trust that the Lord would provide. One could go a little further and contend that Jesus couldn’t read, or couldn’t read Greek, because he asks whose head and title appear on the coin.
One thing that makes this exchange so fraught is that Jesus is approached by both the Pharisees and the Herodians. They were on opposite sides of the question of paying taxes. This story is the only place in the gospels where both groups are present. The Pharisees represented the power and temple among the Jews; the Herodians, so named for their loyalty to Herod’s dynasty, were more likely to be collaborators with the occupying Romans. Taking either side would put Jesus against Church or State, and there would be witnesses from each side to his heresy or treason.
Pay close attention to the terminology in verse 18. The NRSV has it, “But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?’” The Greek, here rendered “malice” is πονηρίαν, the same term rendered “evil,” or “the evil one,” in the Lord’s Prayer. Similarly, the Greek term, πειράζετε, for “putting me to the test” is the same used in the Lord’s Prayer for “temptation.” Matthew also uses Πειράζετε in 4:11 describing Jesus’ time in the wilderness following his baptism. It could be argued that Jesus perceived this question not as a mere mental sparring contest with clever opponents, but something much deeper and more sinister, a lure to a political power struggle. Many of his followers saw him as leading a political revolution. This text offers another argument to support that Jesus would not be lured into a civil, political power struggle, though perhaps he was tempted to engage in one.
In the Sermon
Christians have had to decide how to participate in civic life as long as there have been Christians. Paul instructed the Christians in Rome to be loyal citizens with these words:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. (Romans 13:1-2, NRSV)
Paul, in this passage, makes it simple for Christians: being a good Christian is the same thing as being a good Roman citizen. Paul was writing to a misunderstood and not trusted minority people, thus instructing them to obey the law was a way to keep from calling attention to themselves. In that context it may have made sense to make no distinction between rendering unto Caesar and rendering unto God. There are certainly Americans who would agree with Paul. Many would not.
Some American Christians have fought in wars; other have been conscientious objectors. Some American Christians demonstrate against police violence, others faithfully assert the duty of faithful Christians to support all police officers. Clearly, different people hold different opinions of what is appropriate behavior for Christians and for Americans. As we face an election in a bitterly, rigidly, divided nation there is fear that our unity as a nation is unraveling. Forces in society who are working to stoke fear may be doing irreparable harm to civic life. How do we lead our congregations to understand their obligations to the living God and civic life, the very heart of today’s gospel message?
Presbyterians find some historic guidance to this question in the Book of Order:
a. That “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his Word, or beside it, in matters of faith or worship.”
b. Therefore we consider the rights of private judgment, in all matters that respect religion, as universal and unalienable: We do not even wish to see any religious constitution aided by the civil power, further than may be necessary for protection and security, and at the same time, be equal and common to all others. (Book of Order, F-3.0101a. & b.)
We do not even wish to see any religious constitution aided by the civil power…
It may be tempting, seductive even, to force one’s faith on others, but it is profoundly un-American, and un-Presbyterian (dare I add “un-Christian”?) to do so. Jesus makes it clear that we live in two realms. Faithfulness requires a clear faith identity and self-understanding. Pay your taxes, so they don’t distract you from living the faith we know in Christ Jesus.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Who Owns Whom?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 22:15-22, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” (KJV)
My, how often have we heard that one line quoted, by itself, as though it suddenly appeared, written across the sky, without context or explanation. The thing, we are to believe, explains itself. It is as simple and direct as a phrase could be and it obviously means, at the very least, “Pay your taxes,” and, at the very most. “Do what the government tells you to do.”
And, oh, how I wish it was that simple.
But this line does not appear in the sky; it appears in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And it appears in context. It is the penultimate line of a story and the story, itself, appears in a context or setting that illuminates its meaning.
Before we attempt to interpret that line for our own time and place, we would do well to take a quick look at the scriptural context in which it appears and a text from St. Paul that may apply to its interpretation.
A Question of Taxes
The story is pretty much the same in all three gospels: The Pharisees (a popular religious group) and the Herodians (an elitist political party) cooperate in a plot to trap Jesus into saying something that will undo him.
They will ask Jesus a question to which there is no safe answer. No matter what he answers, he will lose, and quite possibility break the law. But, before they ask the question, they grease the skids with some flattery, hoping to draw him off guard. “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.”
Then they spring the trap. “Tell us, then, is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (Yes or no.)
This is one of the places that context is so important, especially historical context. Roman taxes, as you can imagine, were hated by the countries they conquered and occupied. This was not the IRS coming to collect the taxes that were levied by their elected representatives to protect and serve their country. No, these were the taxes levied by a conquering nation and collected by force to enrich the fat cats back in Rome and pay for the army of oppression.
And the only currency that was accepted in payment of these despised taxes was the silver denarius, the commonest coin of the empire, of which many are still in existence today. Jesus lived most of his life during the reign of Tiberius, the stepson and, later, adopted son of Augustus, and the denarius in those days was stamped with the image of Tiberius on one side and his mother, on the other. But it’s the inscriptions, the words, that are most telling.
On the side with Tiberius’s mother were the words, “Pontus Maxim” which mean, Supreme Priest, the head of the Roman state religion that worshipped the emperor. On the side of the coin with Tiberius’s profile the words are an abbreviated version of the phrase: Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine August, the new Augustus.”
The denarius, in other words, claimed that the emperor was divine, a God to be worshiped, which made the coin an instrument of idolatry that observant Jews were forbidden to touch.
So, the first thing Jesus does in response to their question, he calls them out for being hypocrites. And then he demonstrates their hypocrisy: He asks them to bring him a denarius and describe it to him, which they do, proving that
a) they are carrying around one of these idolatrous coins, and
b) they are so familiar with it that they can tell him what’s imprinted on it.
Quick…whose picture is on the one-dollar bill? George Washington, right? We’re all pretty familiar with that one, aren’t we? Whose picture is on the twenty? Andrew Jackson, right? The one hundred? Ben Franklin. Notice how the higher we go the less certain we are about the picture? That’s because we aren’t exactly on a first name basis with hundred-dollar bills, right? So, whose picture is on the $500 dollar bill? Trick question, they stopped printing $500’s and anything greater in 1945 so they’re probably all in the hands of collectors. (It was William McKinley.)
Jesus knows that their inquiry is not serious. It was merely a trap. If he said, “Yes, pay the taxes,” he would be encouraging idolatry, and if he said, “No, don’t pay the taxes,” he would be suborning treason. So, he shrugs it off. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God, what belongs to God.
Simple, right? But what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God? That’s the 64,000 denarii question, isn’t it? And we can find the answer to that question by going to the context.
Matthew sets this story after two other stories, one having to do with a landlord who sets up a vineyard and leases it out to a group of workers who refuse to pay him the rent when it comes due. In fact, they kill his slaves and even his son when he sends them to collect.
The second story, and the one immediately before the question of taxes, is about a king who gives a wedding banquet for his son and invites the aristocracy of the country to come. Understand that this is a command performance. When the king invites you to come, you come. But none of them do. In fact, they abuse and even kill his messengers. So, he puts them to the sword, burns their estates, and invites people from off the streets to come to the party.
Mark and Luke include the story of the tenants immediately before the question of the taxes. Luke moves the wedding story, or one very like it, to another location in his gospel. Mark leaves it out completely.
So, before entering the issue of the taxes, Matthew asks two questions: “Who owns the vineyard and to whom do the tenants owe the rent?” And, “Who is extending the invitation, and to whom do the aristocrats owe allegiance and obedience?”
Then, with that context, Matthew shows Jesus asking, “Who owns you?” Yeah, Caesar owns and demands your money. His imprint is on it. But whose imprint is upon you? And what does that imprint demand of you?
The answer, of course, is God. God’s imprint is upon us, brothers and sisters. It says it right here in the book of Genesis 1:27 — “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (NRSV)
Okay, great, but what does it look like to live with God’s imprint stamped upon us? For the answer to that question, we go to the Epistle for today, Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, especially the opening paragraph of that letter.
Living With God’s Imprint
Biblical scholars tell us that 1 Thessalonians was written in about 50 C.E., 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus and about 30 years before the earliest Gospel, Mark. It is the oldest piece of Christian literature in existence and in it, Paul sets down the first written account of life lived according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He starts the letter with a traditional greeting from himself, Silvanus, and Timothy and then he leaps right into his subject. He is thankful for the Thessalonian Christians, he says, because even his absence and in the midst of some criticism and persecution, they have been unwavering in their commitment to the Gospel. And then he describes what that kind of commitment actually looks like.
First, it looks like works of faith. Faith, for Paul, is not just an intellectual affirmation, a belief in something that’s difficult to believe. Faith is a physical thing and it is imprinted on the people of God. It’s working for a good result — of which we may never see. It’s planting a tree — the fruit of which we may never eat. It’s teaching a lesson to a child and never knowing if the lesson will take root and grow. Faith is not just a belief; it is the imprint of God and it compells in us a work that is grounded in that imprint.
Secondly, it looks like a labor of love. There are all kinds of labors, are there not? There’s the labor that we do simply to put food on the table and a roof over our family’s heads. There’s the labor we do to pay back a favor or pay off a debt. There’s labor we undertake out of duty to our nation or community. But there is another kind of labor that is the result of having God’s imprint on our souls and that is the labor of love. It is the labor undertaken without a thought of reward, undertaken for the good of another, sometimes another we don’t even know and it is in that work that others see the imprint of God that is written on God’s people
And, finally, the imprint of God looks like steadfast hope. As people of God, we know that the arc of the universe does, indeed, bend toward justice. That God’s promises will be kept. That works of faith and love will, eventually, be fruitful and produce good beyond any measure of counting. We know that while it may look gloomy today, the sun will rise on the morrow and the glory of Almighty God will chase away fear and doubt and wipe the tear from every eye.
Works of faith. Labors of love. Steadfast hope. This is what it looks like to live with the imprint of God upon us. And, Paul says, if we endeavor to live this way our faith, hope and love will shine like rays of light beyond us and into the world and we will serve as examples for other Christians and those who struggle to live in the gospel.
When the Going Gets Tough
Now, with that in mind, we can be honest and admit that the year 2020 has been a tough year, hasn’t it?
The coronavirus has taken more than a million lives worldwide, more than a fifth of them in the United States, the richest, most scientifically advanced, strongest nation on earth. The United States represents just 4.29% of the world’s population and 22% of all Covid-19 cases as well as 21% of Covid-19 deaths.
The President and 30+ people in his orbit are infected with Covid-19 and he blames gold star families for infecting him and refuses to follow science-established protocols for containing the virus.
42,000 wildfires have burned over 6.7 million acres on the western end of our nation. 33 people have died and over 100 are missing. More than 1,000 homes and scores of businesses including 20 wineries have been reduced to ashes. And the peak fire season is still before them.
In the south, hurricanes are pummeling the coast over and over and over again, from Alabama to Texas.
Unemployment hovers around 8%, nationally. According to former Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erica Groshen, that’s about 25 million American souls who can’t pay their rent. One out of every six Americans who had a job back in February, before the pandemic hit, now don’t. Estimates of the number of people who will be evicted from their homes by the end of the year are approaching 40 million.
Every week seems to uncover another story of an unarmed black person being shot and killed by police. Americans of all colors take to the streets to protest and, when 3 percent of them turn to rioting, they are all indicted in the press. Armed, right wing extremists invade our statehouses and plot to kidnap and/or kill the governor of Michigan.
Senators and congressional leaders who could, with the stroke of a pen, help relieve the economic pain of these days for millions of people, refuse to meet at the table and bargain in good faith.
And the two candidates, one of which will become president, meet in a debate that is an out-of-control embarrassment for the entire country.
Yeah, 2020 has been rough, and it’s not over yet.
I saw a meme the other day that said, “This year instead of setting our clocks back on November 1, let’s set them forward. Six months seems about right to me.”
But the New Testament readings for this week remind us that no matter how tough things get, we Christians cannot afford the luxury of despair. The world is watching us, brothers and sisters, and they are not just judging us, they’re judging our Lord as well.
They are looking for examples of how to live lives that are faithful and loving, authentic and full of hope, not just when times are fun and easy, but when times are tough as well. Jesus is calling on us to be those examples.
A General Example
In November of 1927 General George C. Marshall was reeling from the death of his wife, grief stricken and depressed, and considering retiring from the army when he was offered the post of Assistant Commander of the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He reluctantly accepted the post and, as he expected, found Fort Benning in a generally run-down condition.
He later wrote that he was tempted to start chewing people out and demanding better from his subordinates but then thought better of it. What this institution needed, he said, was not bosses but leaders. So, rather than issue orders for specific improvements, he did something no officer had ever done in the history of the camp. He simply got out his own paintbrushes and lawn equipment and went to work on his personal quarters. As the improvements began to emerge, the officers who lived on either side of his quarters began to spruce up their own homes. Soon, a few others on that block did the same. Within a few months, the entire fort had been cleaned up, spruced up, and squared away.
Using the momentum created by that effort and the new sense of pride and purpose those little improvements made, General Marshall began to apply the lessons he had learned in World War I to how infantry should be educated and trained for real war situations. He eliminated 70 percent of the classroom lectures and studies and moved them outdoors and onto the mock battlefield. He simulated real battle conditions by giving the troops tasks to accomplish with maps that were wrong and intelligence that was incomplete, requiring them to be flexible and improvise in the field.
He often said, “in a battle, is it not so important what decision is made as it is that a decision was made quickly.”
History has recorded that it was this new form of infantry training, introduced by George Marshall in 1927, that gave the allied infantry the skills they needed to win the World War II. And it also allows that the changes he made would never have been accepted if he had introduced them in lectures instead of through his own example.
The challenge of the gospel for us, today, brothers and sisters, is to lead in our families, our communities, and our world, as General George Marshall led at Fort Benning — and as Jesus led his entire life, by example. That is — to lead as St. Paul encourages the Thessalonians to lead, through works of faith, and labors of love, committed to a hope that is steadfast and true.
If we do this, and do it resolutely, we will not just survive in these difficult times, we will thrive and we will be the founders of a new and better world for our children and our grandchildren.
Thus saith the Lord.
Amen.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Matthew 22:15-22
The Blessing of Taxes
Give to God what belongs to God, Jesus counsels, and Michelle Cox has found a way to do that even as she prepares her taxes each year. She combines both parts of Jesus’ instruction in one process. As she says, “I’m going to be brutally honest — when I begin working on our taxes, I whine, cry and groan about the process. With two businesses and personal taxes, it’s a huge job with a mountain of receipts and forms to go through. I dread it with every cell in my body. And the fact that no matter how much we pay, we always owe more, doesn’t help. But this morning as I sat down to conquer more file folders, it was as if God whispered to me, “Have you ever thought about the blessing of doing your taxes?”
God got my “Surely, you jest!” face, but then the whispers continued:
1) The fact that you have to do taxes means that I have blessed you with income. Your family contracting business and your writing career are gifts from Me. 2) Those heating and electric bills mean that you’ve been warm and had lights to brighten dark evenings. 3) That pile of gas receipts that you have to go through are a reminder that you had a vehicle and the funds to pay for gasoline.”
She finds other gifts from God in the piles of paper, including such messages from God as, “the property tax receipts wouldn’t be there if I hadn’t blessed you with a home.” She concludes, “this year as I work on our taxes, I’ll still probably grumble a bit and complain about having to pay more. But I’m also going to pause and thank God for the evidence of blessings in that mountain of tax papers.”
Rendering to God what is due to God can come even in the most stressful work.
* * *
Matthew 22:15-22
Render to God
Jesus trumps his questioners by having them pull out a coin — basically a graven image. The coin has the image of Caesar, and Jesus reminds them that we each carry an image, too. We carry the image of God. Archbishop Desmond Tutu recalls serving a small parish in Soweto, South Africa. “Most of my parishioners were domestic workers, not people who are very well educated. But I would say to them, “You know, mama, when they ask who are you” — you see, the white employer most frequently didn’t use the person’s name. They said the person’s name was too difficult. And so most Africans, women would be called “Annie” and most black men really, you were “boy.” And I would say to them, “When they ask who are you, you say, ‘Me? I’m a God-carrier. I’m God’s partner. I’m created in the image of God.’ And you could see those dear old ladies as they walked out of church on that occasion as if they were on cloud nine. You know, they walked with their backs slightly straighter. And, yeah, it was amazing.” Render to God what belongs to God.
* * *
Exodus 33:12-23
Meeting Up With God
Moses, after so many conversations with God about the work of leading the people out of slavery, is longing for a deeper meeting with God. Physician Diane Komp recalls a young cancer patient who understood just what such a meeting might be like. The boy talked about how he understood the story of David and Goliath, the meeting of a young boy and a large opponent, a parallel to his own battle with cancer. Then, Dr. Komp says, “he turned on me, and he said, ‘Do you pray?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And I said to him, ‘Do you pray?’ And he said ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Well, now that really interests me because I have a lot to learn about prayer.’ And then he said, ‘I start by saying a prayer, and then I pray for everybody I know. And he started saying a prayer rote, “A Children’s Prayer,” ‘Now I lay me down to sleep.’ And then he stopped and he slowed down. And remember, this is a boy who could barely breathe and had to worry about coughing if he was talking and had oxygen running. And he slowed down, and it’s as if he was looking at a ticker tape running in front of his eyes, and he started saying, slower, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep.’ And he started nodding as if he was reading this ticker tape and agreeing with what he saw. ‘I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.’ And then he said, ‘And then I pray for everybody I know.’ And I’m looking at his mom and saying ‘What do we have to teach him about death? What did he just teach us?’ He’s got it all together. He was confident enough that he could’ve said to me, ‘Why do 80 percent of kids with my lymphoma get cured and I’m not?’ He could have asked that question, but that wasn’t his question. The moral of the story that I get from the kids is this issue of connecting with the relationship with God, and somehow it’s that relationship transcends even a question as important as ‘Why me?’” In God’s abundant care — for Moses and for us — we can meet up with God without fear or worry.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Example of Faith
How do we live faithfully in such trying times, wonders Pablo Diaz? We draw upon examples of faith, he says, using them to build our own faith just as the Thessalonians modeled their faith on the example of Paul. Diaz notes, “In these trying times, it can feel like our country is divided beyond hope. We face a relentless pandemic. Racial equality is a distant hope for many. Americans struggle to find work, pay rent and care for their families. Forests and towns are being decimated by blazing wildfires. Hurricanes are making landfall with life-threatening flooding and wind. We grieve the human loss. How do we keep getting up every day, believing that our situation will get better? Where do we find the strength to face another battle? We turn to our faith — a force greater than fear, a power whose source has never-ending energy. It’s faith that kept people in the past moving forward when facing the trials of their days. We can look to those who believed in impossible dreams in a hard-pressed world. People who rose above the odds, never quitting even in their weakest and hardest days. Who is that person for you? I have many. But recently the life of John Lewis has been added to my list of faith heroes.” He adds, “Lewis, the son of Alabama sharecroppers, survived a brutal beating by police during a landmark 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. He went on to become a towering figure of the civil rights movement and a longtime United States congressman — regarded as “the conscience of Congress.” In July, he died at 80 following a months-long battle with cancer. Lewis devoted his life to make our country a better place not only for African Americans but for all citizens. There was one question people asked him more than any other: How did he do it? How did he hold to nonviolence when surrounded by anger and hate during protests and sit-ins? How was it possible to be cracked on the head with a nightstick, left bleeding and unconscious, and not raise his hand one time in self-defense?”
As John Lewis wrote in his book, Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and A Vision For Change: “The answer is simple. Faith. Faith has the power to deliver us all, even from greatest harm. Faith…is knowing in the solid core of your soul that the work is already done, even as an idea is being conceived in your mind. It is being as sure as you are about your dreams as you are about anything you know is a hard fact. Even if you do not live to see it come to pass, you know without one doubt that it will be. That is faith.”
Our faithful examples lead us forward, just as happened for the people of the early church.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Being an Example
As Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, he notes that faith is contagious. The people there learned to imitate his faith, and then became examples for others. We find the same in our own lives, as we learn to be people of faith. Generosity is modeled for us until we become generous ourselves. Developmental scientist Anne Dunlea notes that we are examples of faithful generosity for the children in our lives, and we can also practice gratitude for our children, in the same way Paul expresses gratitude for the people of faith in Thessalonica. She urges, “If you’re a parent, what happens when your child walks into the room? Most of the time we click into responsibility mode or caregiving mode. We check to see if a toddler’s shoes are on the right feet; ask a preschooler what she’s doing; find out if our child is feeling hungry; ask if there’s a spelling test tomorrow; remind a teen about a project that needs to be worked on; notice the time to see what we — or our child — should be doing next. These reactions come from our caring, wanting to support, wanting to make sure things are okay. It feels like responsible parenting. How do our children feel when we do that? They see our concern, or our critical expression. They may have a sinking feeling that they haven’t done something. They may think, “uh-oh, what’s wrong now?” One remarkable benefit of grateful parenting is that we step more easily out of this critical on-the-lookout mode. We are more likely to greet with a smile and a zap of connection. As a result, both we and our child experience a huge reduction in stress and a nice boost in happiness and ease of being. The first thing you and your child experience on seeing one another is what’s good, not what’s wrong. Any important caregiving can follow afterwards.”
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Our God is Sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
People: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Leader: God is exalted over all the peoples.
People: Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Leader: Lover of justice, you have established equity.
People: Extol our God and worship at God’s footstool.
OR
Leader: God calls us to follow the way to life eternal.
People: We hear God’s call and we have come.
Leader: The world calls us to another pathway.
People: We hear that call and sometimes we follow.
Leader: God desires to give us life but we must decide our path.
People: With God’s help, we will listen and obey.
Hymns and Songs:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52/53/65
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELW: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
O Jesus, I Have Promised
UMH: 396
H82: 655
PH: 388/389
NCH: 493
CH: 612
LBW: 503
ELW: 810
W&P: 458
AMEC: 280
Jesus Calls Us
UMH: 398
H82: 549/550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171/172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELW: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
God of Grace and God of Glory
UMH: 577
H82: 594/595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELW: 705
W&P: 569
AMEC: 62
STLT: 115
Renew: 301
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELW: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
Trust and Obey
UMH: 467
AAHH: 380
NNBH: 322
CH: 556
W&P: 443
AMEC: 377
Walk with Me
CCB: 88
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: 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 whose actions and thoughts are always one:
Grant us the grace to center our thoughts on you
and to allow your Spirit to direct our actions;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because your actions and thoughts are always one. All that you do issues from your being of love. Help us to center ourselves on you and your love so that your Spirit can direct all our actions. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially how our actions often are in conflict with what we say we believe.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We know the right words to say. We can be very correct in our theology but very wrong in our actions. We speak about you as a God of love but we can be very petty and mean to your children. We talk about the golden rule and instead of treating others as we want to be treated we try show them up and take advantage of them. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we may not only talk like we are your children but act like it. Amen.
Leader: We are God’s children, all of us. Even when we don’t act like it, God still loves us and claims us as God’s very own. Receive the gracious love of God and share it as God has shared it with us.
Prayers of the People
Glory and praise to you, O God of perfect unity. In your purity your nature, words, and actions are all one.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We know the right words to say. We can be very correct in our theology but very wrong in our actions. We speak about you as a God of love but we can be very petty and mean to your children. We talk about the golden rule and instead of treating others as we want to be treated we try show them up and take advantage of them. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we may not only talk like we are your children but act like it.
We give you thanks for all your love toward us and all your children. We thank you for the gift of creation and for our place in your realm. We thank you for those who have been examples to us of the kind of integrity that we aspire to.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children, everywhere. As your children we hold one another up to your blessing. We pray for strength and courage to be part of your blessing as we reach out to others in need.
(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 Our Father 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
If someone says that they like you and would do anything for you but they won’t share their toys with you do you believe what they said? (Use several examples.) Sometimes it is easy to say something but harder to actually do it. Today we are reminded that we need to keep our words and actions together. They are like our hands clapping. We need both to make it work.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Mind, Body, Spirit
by Ron Love
Message:
We need healthy a mind, body, and spirit.
Materials:
Presentation
As you show each item to the children explain with dialogue:
* * * * * *
Copy Cats!
by Chris Keating
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
This week’s epistle lesson holds a couple of different possibilities for a children’s conversation. One possibility is to use this week for a quick lesson about the epistle form of New Testament literature. This text provides an opportunity to explore how Paul’s letters were addressed to specific people facing real-life circumstances may help these books and their mysterious-sounding names and places come alive for children.
Aside from birthday and holiday cards, children may not receive many personal letters anymore. But that may reinforce the importance of a letter. If you have the chance, you can have the children write postcards to people who are not able to attend church. Alternatively, if your church is not worshipping in person, you could mail each child in the church a personal letter ahead of Sunday. Consider paraphrasing Paul’s words:
I give thanks to God for all of you! I am praying for you all the time as I think about you and your family. I remember the fun we have shared at church, and am thinking of all the things you are doing in school and with your friends. I always give thanks to God for you!
Alternatively, if you are meeting in person or pre-recording a children’s sermon, you could pick up on Paul’s references to imitation in verse 6. He commends the Thessalonians for deftly imitating him and the Lord. Children will enjoy playing imitation games. You might consider a form of “Simon Says,” where you say, “Pastor says, imitate a monkey.” “Pastor says, ‘imitate an elephant.’” Do that several times, ending with “Pastor says, ‘imitate God.’” How do you imitate God? Invite the children to wonder with you about what that might involve — loving others, acting with justice, showing mercy, and so on.
Imitation is a powerful teacher, especially when it comes to learning skills, musical instruments, or art. But kids also know that being labelled a copycat can be painful. The wonderful children’s book, Ruby the Copy Cat by Peggy Rathman is a story about a little girl who copies the actions of others because she has a poor sense of self-confidence. The other girls in the class were annoyed by Ruby’s constant copying, but in truth she was just trying to fit in to a new school.
When we imitate God, we are learning what it means to be examples of God’s love in the world. We are not copying God to be annoying but are rather using God or Jesus as models for life. Paul congratulates the Thessalonians for being good examples of Christian faith and life.
Close with a prayer that invites the children to repeat after you:
Dear God,
Thank you for your love. Thank you helping us. Help us to learn what it means to be like you so that we may be examples of your mercy and grace every day. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 18, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
- Give to God the Things That are God's by Tom Willadsen — Forces in society who are working to stoke fear may be doing irreparable harm to civic life. How do we lead our congregations to understand their obligations to the living God and civic life, the very heart of today’s gospel message?
- Second Thoughts: Who Owns Whom? by Dean Feldmeyer — What does Caesar own and what does God own? We get to decide.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on divided loyalties/preach by example. (How have we done with 2020?)
- Children’s sermon: Mind, Body, and Spirit by Ron Love.
- Children’s sermon: Copy Cats! by Chris Keating — “Imitation,” said George Bernard Shaw, “is not just the sincerest form of flattery, it’s the sincerest form of learning.”
Give to God the Things That are God'sby Tom Willadsen
Matthew 22:15-22
Jesus’ famous admonition, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” comes to us at a moment when our starkly polarized nation is responding to a pandemic and getting ready for an election. How does one decide where to draw the line between Caesar and God, Church and State? Some American Christians have fought in wars; other have been conscientious objectors. Some American Christians demonstrate against police violence, others faithfully assert the duty of faithful Christians to support all police officers. Clearly, different people hold different opinions of what is appropriate behavior for Christians and for Americans. As we face an election in a bitterly, rigidly, divided nation there is fear that our unity as a nation is unraveling. Forces in society who are working to stoke fear may be doing irreparable harm to civic life. How do we lead our congregations to understand their obligations to the living God and civic life, the very heart of today’s gospel message?
In the News
Given the rapid pace of the news cycle, I realize I’m reaching back to ancient history — about two weeks ago. Sandwiched between the colossal fires in the West, the President’s Covid-19 diagnosis and the fly that rested on the Vice-President’s head, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the speed with which the President nominated her successor was wall-to-wall for several days a few weeks ago. Remember? The day after Ginsburg’s body lay in state in the Capitol, the first woman and first Jew to be so honored, the President named the Honorable Amy Coney Barrett as his choice to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. The confirmation process will be extremely contentious. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has promised that the confirmation will occur prior to the election. The Republicans’ control of the Senate may come to an end following November’s elections. McConnell’s haste is a marked contrast to 2016. In that year, then- President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia. McConnell refused to begin the confirmation process for Garland, arguing that the next justice should be selected by whoever won the Presidency in November of that year. The seat remained vacant until Donald Trump took office.
While the parties are bickering over the process, partisans on both sides of the abortion issue are drawing battle lines for their latest skirmish. Judge Barrett is an observant Roman Catholic who has made her opposition to Roe v. Wade (and the Affordable Care Act) very clear.
When she was confirmed by the Senate for the position she now holds on the 7th Circuit Court, in 2017, she was subject to close scrutiny by Senator Dianne Feinstein, “The dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern when you come to big issues that people have fought for for years in this country,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) told Barrett.
But when Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked when it would be “proper for a judge to put their religious views above applying the law,” Barrett answered, “Never.”
“It’s never appropriate for a judge to impose that judge’s personal convictions, whether they derive from faith or anywhere else, on the law,” she added. (Ibid.)
One way the process for confirming Judge Barrett will be framed is whether she permits her religious faith to inform and shape her judicial decisions. That is, where, and how, she draws the line between Church and State.
A judge cannot avoid having her life experiences influence her judicial decisions. The Constitution is a living document and it is interpreted by individuals. When Sonia Sotomayor was being confirmed by the Senate in 2009, she was grilled about a remark she had made in a speech she gave at the University of California Law School in 2001, when she said, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
Where is the line between being shaped by one’s lived experience, or religious faith, and imposing that experience or faith on the interpretation of the Law? Where is the line that separates Church from State, God from Caesar?
In the Scriptures
Matthew 22:15-22 “Rendering unto Caesar”
A cursory look at today’s Gospel lesson appears to show Jesus winning yet another battle of wits with powerful forces who seek to trap him. He does, but the stakes are much higher.
Matthew places this pronouncement story among other heated exchanges Jesus had in and around the temple between the triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) and the Passover, what Christians think of as Maundy Thursday. His teaching is provocative and challenging. The religious authorities are repeatedly shown in a bad light, thus their “case” against Jesus is strengthened.
This story’s conclusion/pronouncement is one of Jesus’ most memorable — and possibly misunderstood — lines. The King James version has it “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Here the English is most unfortunate, because “God’s” sounds exactly the same as “gods.” I misunderstood this reading for decades until I spotted the apostrophes. It sure sounds like an endorsement of idolatry, equating money with gods.
Some commentators have pointed out that Jesus did not have a denarius when confronted by the Pharisees and Herodians. Perhaps this showed his poverty, or his profound trust that the Lord would provide. One could go a little further and contend that Jesus couldn’t read, or couldn’t read Greek, because he asks whose head and title appear on the coin.
One thing that makes this exchange so fraught is that Jesus is approached by both the Pharisees and the Herodians. They were on opposite sides of the question of paying taxes. This story is the only place in the gospels where both groups are present. The Pharisees represented the power and temple among the Jews; the Herodians, so named for their loyalty to Herod’s dynasty, were more likely to be collaborators with the occupying Romans. Taking either side would put Jesus against Church or State, and there would be witnesses from each side to his heresy or treason.
Pay close attention to the terminology in verse 18. The NRSV has it, “But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?’” The Greek, here rendered “malice” is πονηρίαν, the same term rendered “evil,” or “the evil one,” in the Lord’s Prayer. Similarly, the Greek term, πειράζετε, for “putting me to the test” is the same used in the Lord’s Prayer for “temptation.” Matthew also uses Πειράζετε in 4:11 describing Jesus’ time in the wilderness following his baptism. It could be argued that Jesus perceived this question not as a mere mental sparring contest with clever opponents, but something much deeper and more sinister, a lure to a political power struggle. Many of his followers saw him as leading a political revolution. This text offers another argument to support that Jesus would not be lured into a civil, political power struggle, though perhaps he was tempted to engage in one.
In the Sermon
Christians have had to decide how to participate in civic life as long as there have been Christians. Paul instructed the Christians in Rome to be loyal citizens with these words:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. (Romans 13:1-2, NRSV)
Paul, in this passage, makes it simple for Christians: being a good Christian is the same thing as being a good Roman citizen. Paul was writing to a misunderstood and not trusted minority people, thus instructing them to obey the law was a way to keep from calling attention to themselves. In that context it may have made sense to make no distinction between rendering unto Caesar and rendering unto God. There are certainly Americans who would agree with Paul. Many would not.
Some American Christians have fought in wars; other have been conscientious objectors. Some American Christians demonstrate against police violence, others faithfully assert the duty of faithful Christians to support all police officers. Clearly, different people hold different opinions of what is appropriate behavior for Christians and for Americans. As we face an election in a bitterly, rigidly, divided nation there is fear that our unity as a nation is unraveling. Forces in society who are working to stoke fear may be doing irreparable harm to civic life. How do we lead our congregations to understand their obligations to the living God and civic life, the very heart of today’s gospel message?
Presbyterians find some historic guidance to this question in the Book of Order:
a. That “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his Word, or beside it, in matters of faith or worship.”
b. Therefore we consider the rights of private judgment, in all matters that respect religion, as universal and unalienable: We do not even wish to see any religious constitution aided by the civil power, further than may be necessary for protection and security, and at the same time, be equal and common to all others. (Book of Order, F-3.0101a. & b.)
We do not even wish to see any religious constitution aided by the civil power…
It may be tempting, seductive even, to force one’s faith on others, but it is profoundly un-American, and un-Presbyterian (dare I add “un-Christian”?) to do so. Jesus makes it clear that we live in two realms. Faithfulness requires a clear faith identity and self-understanding. Pay your taxes, so they don’t distract you from living the faith we know in Christ Jesus.
SECOND THOUGHTSWho Owns Whom?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 22:15-22, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” (KJV)
My, how often have we heard that one line quoted, by itself, as though it suddenly appeared, written across the sky, without context or explanation. The thing, we are to believe, explains itself. It is as simple and direct as a phrase could be and it obviously means, at the very least, “Pay your taxes,” and, at the very most. “Do what the government tells you to do.”
And, oh, how I wish it was that simple.
But this line does not appear in the sky; it appears in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And it appears in context. It is the penultimate line of a story and the story, itself, appears in a context or setting that illuminates its meaning.
Before we attempt to interpret that line for our own time and place, we would do well to take a quick look at the scriptural context in which it appears and a text from St. Paul that may apply to its interpretation.
A Question of Taxes
The story is pretty much the same in all three gospels: The Pharisees (a popular religious group) and the Herodians (an elitist political party) cooperate in a plot to trap Jesus into saying something that will undo him.
They will ask Jesus a question to which there is no safe answer. No matter what he answers, he will lose, and quite possibility break the law. But, before they ask the question, they grease the skids with some flattery, hoping to draw him off guard. “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.”
Then they spring the trap. “Tell us, then, is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (Yes or no.)
This is one of the places that context is so important, especially historical context. Roman taxes, as you can imagine, were hated by the countries they conquered and occupied. This was not the IRS coming to collect the taxes that were levied by their elected representatives to protect and serve their country. No, these were the taxes levied by a conquering nation and collected by force to enrich the fat cats back in Rome and pay for the army of oppression.
And the only currency that was accepted in payment of these despised taxes was the silver denarius, the commonest coin of the empire, of which many are still in existence today. Jesus lived most of his life during the reign of Tiberius, the stepson and, later, adopted son of Augustus, and the denarius in those days was stamped with the image of Tiberius on one side and his mother, on the other. But it’s the inscriptions, the words, that are most telling.
On the side with Tiberius’s mother were the words, “Pontus Maxim” which mean, Supreme Priest, the head of the Roman state religion that worshipped the emperor. On the side of the coin with Tiberius’s profile the words are an abbreviated version of the phrase: Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine August, the new Augustus.”
The denarius, in other words, claimed that the emperor was divine, a God to be worshiped, which made the coin an instrument of idolatry that observant Jews were forbidden to touch.
So, the first thing Jesus does in response to their question, he calls them out for being hypocrites. And then he demonstrates their hypocrisy: He asks them to bring him a denarius and describe it to him, which they do, proving that
a) they are carrying around one of these idolatrous coins, and
b) they are so familiar with it that they can tell him what’s imprinted on it.
Quick…whose picture is on the one-dollar bill? George Washington, right? We’re all pretty familiar with that one, aren’t we? Whose picture is on the twenty? Andrew Jackson, right? The one hundred? Ben Franklin. Notice how the higher we go the less certain we are about the picture? That’s because we aren’t exactly on a first name basis with hundred-dollar bills, right? So, whose picture is on the $500 dollar bill? Trick question, they stopped printing $500’s and anything greater in 1945 so they’re probably all in the hands of collectors. (It was William McKinley.)
Jesus knows that their inquiry is not serious. It was merely a trap. If he said, “Yes, pay the taxes,” he would be encouraging idolatry, and if he said, “No, don’t pay the taxes,” he would be suborning treason. So, he shrugs it off. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God, what belongs to God.
Simple, right? But what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God? That’s the 64,000 denarii question, isn’t it? And we can find the answer to that question by going to the context.
Matthew sets this story after two other stories, one having to do with a landlord who sets up a vineyard and leases it out to a group of workers who refuse to pay him the rent when it comes due. In fact, they kill his slaves and even his son when he sends them to collect.
The second story, and the one immediately before the question of taxes, is about a king who gives a wedding banquet for his son and invites the aristocracy of the country to come. Understand that this is a command performance. When the king invites you to come, you come. But none of them do. In fact, they abuse and even kill his messengers. So, he puts them to the sword, burns their estates, and invites people from off the streets to come to the party.
Mark and Luke include the story of the tenants immediately before the question of the taxes. Luke moves the wedding story, or one very like it, to another location in his gospel. Mark leaves it out completely.
So, before entering the issue of the taxes, Matthew asks two questions: “Who owns the vineyard and to whom do the tenants owe the rent?” And, “Who is extending the invitation, and to whom do the aristocrats owe allegiance and obedience?”
Then, with that context, Matthew shows Jesus asking, “Who owns you?” Yeah, Caesar owns and demands your money. His imprint is on it. But whose imprint is upon you? And what does that imprint demand of you?
The answer, of course, is God. God’s imprint is upon us, brothers and sisters. It says it right here in the book of Genesis 1:27 — “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (NRSV)
Okay, great, but what does it look like to live with God’s imprint stamped upon us? For the answer to that question, we go to the Epistle for today, Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, especially the opening paragraph of that letter.
Living With God’s Imprint
Biblical scholars tell us that 1 Thessalonians was written in about 50 C.E., 20 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus and about 30 years before the earliest Gospel, Mark. It is the oldest piece of Christian literature in existence and in it, Paul sets down the first written account of life lived according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He starts the letter with a traditional greeting from himself, Silvanus, and Timothy and then he leaps right into his subject. He is thankful for the Thessalonian Christians, he says, because even his absence and in the midst of some criticism and persecution, they have been unwavering in their commitment to the Gospel. And then he describes what that kind of commitment actually looks like.
First, it looks like works of faith. Faith, for Paul, is not just an intellectual affirmation, a belief in something that’s difficult to believe. Faith is a physical thing and it is imprinted on the people of God. It’s working for a good result — of which we may never see. It’s planting a tree — the fruit of which we may never eat. It’s teaching a lesson to a child and never knowing if the lesson will take root and grow. Faith is not just a belief; it is the imprint of God and it compells in us a work that is grounded in that imprint.
Secondly, it looks like a labor of love. There are all kinds of labors, are there not? There’s the labor that we do simply to put food on the table and a roof over our family’s heads. There’s the labor we do to pay back a favor or pay off a debt. There’s labor we undertake out of duty to our nation or community. But there is another kind of labor that is the result of having God’s imprint on our souls and that is the labor of love. It is the labor undertaken without a thought of reward, undertaken for the good of another, sometimes another we don’t even know and it is in that work that others see the imprint of God that is written on God’s people
And, finally, the imprint of God looks like steadfast hope. As people of God, we know that the arc of the universe does, indeed, bend toward justice. That God’s promises will be kept. That works of faith and love will, eventually, be fruitful and produce good beyond any measure of counting. We know that while it may look gloomy today, the sun will rise on the morrow and the glory of Almighty God will chase away fear and doubt and wipe the tear from every eye.
Works of faith. Labors of love. Steadfast hope. This is what it looks like to live with the imprint of God upon us. And, Paul says, if we endeavor to live this way our faith, hope and love will shine like rays of light beyond us and into the world and we will serve as examples for other Christians and those who struggle to live in the gospel.
When the Going Gets Tough
Now, with that in mind, we can be honest and admit that the year 2020 has been a tough year, hasn’t it?
The coronavirus has taken more than a million lives worldwide, more than a fifth of them in the United States, the richest, most scientifically advanced, strongest nation on earth. The United States represents just 4.29% of the world’s population and 22% of all Covid-19 cases as well as 21% of Covid-19 deaths.
The President and 30+ people in his orbit are infected with Covid-19 and he blames gold star families for infecting him and refuses to follow science-established protocols for containing the virus.
42,000 wildfires have burned over 6.7 million acres on the western end of our nation. 33 people have died and over 100 are missing. More than 1,000 homes and scores of businesses including 20 wineries have been reduced to ashes. And the peak fire season is still before them.
In the south, hurricanes are pummeling the coast over and over and over again, from Alabama to Texas.
Unemployment hovers around 8%, nationally. According to former Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erica Groshen, that’s about 25 million American souls who can’t pay their rent. One out of every six Americans who had a job back in February, before the pandemic hit, now don’t. Estimates of the number of people who will be evicted from their homes by the end of the year are approaching 40 million.
Every week seems to uncover another story of an unarmed black person being shot and killed by police. Americans of all colors take to the streets to protest and, when 3 percent of them turn to rioting, they are all indicted in the press. Armed, right wing extremists invade our statehouses and plot to kidnap and/or kill the governor of Michigan.
Senators and congressional leaders who could, with the stroke of a pen, help relieve the economic pain of these days for millions of people, refuse to meet at the table and bargain in good faith.
And the two candidates, one of which will become president, meet in a debate that is an out-of-control embarrassment for the entire country.
Yeah, 2020 has been rough, and it’s not over yet.
I saw a meme the other day that said, “This year instead of setting our clocks back on November 1, let’s set them forward. Six months seems about right to me.”
But the New Testament readings for this week remind us that no matter how tough things get, we Christians cannot afford the luxury of despair. The world is watching us, brothers and sisters, and they are not just judging us, they’re judging our Lord as well.
They are looking for examples of how to live lives that are faithful and loving, authentic and full of hope, not just when times are fun and easy, but when times are tough as well. Jesus is calling on us to be those examples.
A General Example
In November of 1927 General George C. Marshall was reeling from the death of his wife, grief stricken and depressed, and considering retiring from the army when he was offered the post of Assistant Commander of the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He reluctantly accepted the post and, as he expected, found Fort Benning in a generally run-down condition.
He later wrote that he was tempted to start chewing people out and demanding better from his subordinates but then thought better of it. What this institution needed, he said, was not bosses but leaders. So, rather than issue orders for specific improvements, he did something no officer had ever done in the history of the camp. He simply got out his own paintbrushes and lawn equipment and went to work on his personal quarters. As the improvements began to emerge, the officers who lived on either side of his quarters began to spruce up their own homes. Soon, a few others on that block did the same. Within a few months, the entire fort had been cleaned up, spruced up, and squared away.
Using the momentum created by that effort and the new sense of pride and purpose those little improvements made, General Marshall began to apply the lessons he had learned in World War I to how infantry should be educated and trained for real war situations. He eliminated 70 percent of the classroom lectures and studies and moved them outdoors and onto the mock battlefield. He simulated real battle conditions by giving the troops tasks to accomplish with maps that were wrong and intelligence that was incomplete, requiring them to be flexible and improvise in the field.
He often said, “in a battle, is it not so important what decision is made as it is that a decision was made quickly.”
History has recorded that it was this new form of infantry training, introduced by George Marshall in 1927, that gave the allied infantry the skills they needed to win the World War II. And it also allows that the changes he made would never have been accepted if he had introduced them in lectures instead of through his own example.
The challenge of the gospel for us, today, brothers and sisters, is to lead in our families, our communities, and our world, as General George Marshall led at Fort Benning — and as Jesus led his entire life, by example. That is — to lead as St. Paul encourages the Thessalonians to lead, through works of faith, and labors of love, committed to a hope that is steadfast and true.
If we do this, and do it resolutely, we will not just survive in these difficult times, we will thrive and we will be the founders of a new and better world for our children and our grandchildren.
Thus saith the Lord.
Amen.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Matthew 22:15-22
The Blessing of Taxes
Give to God what belongs to God, Jesus counsels, and Michelle Cox has found a way to do that even as she prepares her taxes each year. She combines both parts of Jesus’ instruction in one process. As she says, “I’m going to be brutally honest — when I begin working on our taxes, I whine, cry and groan about the process. With two businesses and personal taxes, it’s a huge job with a mountain of receipts and forms to go through. I dread it with every cell in my body. And the fact that no matter how much we pay, we always owe more, doesn’t help. But this morning as I sat down to conquer more file folders, it was as if God whispered to me, “Have you ever thought about the blessing of doing your taxes?”
God got my “Surely, you jest!” face, but then the whispers continued:
1) The fact that you have to do taxes means that I have blessed you with income. Your family contracting business and your writing career are gifts from Me. 2) Those heating and electric bills mean that you’ve been warm and had lights to brighten dark evenings. 3) That pile of gas receipts that you have to go through are a reminder that you had a vehicle and the funds to pay for gasoline.”
She finds other gifts from God in the piles of paper, including such messages from God as, “the property tax receipts wouldn’t be there if I hadn’t blessed you with a home.” She concludes, “this year as I work on our taxes, I’ll still probably grumble a bit and complain about having to pay more. But I’m also going to pause and thank God for the evidence of blessings in that mountain of tax papers.”
Rendering to God what is due to God can come even in the most stressful work.
* * *
Matthew 22:15-22
Render to God
Jesus trumps his questioners by having them pull out a coin — basically a graven image. The coin has the image of Caesar, and Jesus reminds them that we each carry an image, too. We carry the image of God. Archbishop Desmond Tutu recalls serving a small parish in Soweto, South Africa. “Most of my parishioners were domestic workers, not people who are very well educated. But I would say to them, “You know, mama, when they ask who are you” — you see, the white employer most frequently didn’t use the person’s name. They said the person’s name was too difficult. And so most Africans, women would be called “Annie” and most black men really, you were “boy.” And I would say to them, “When they ask who are you, you say, ‘Me? I’m a God-carrier. I’m God’s partner. I’m created in the image of God.’ And you could see those dear old ladies as they walked out of church on that occasion as if they were on cloud nine. You know, they walked with their backs slightly straighter. And, yeah, it was amazing.” Render to God what belongs to God.
* * *
Exodus 33:12-23
Meeting Up With God
Moses, after so many conversations with God about the work of leading the people out of slavery, is longing for a deeper meeting with God. Physician Diane Komp recalls a young cancer patient who understood just what such a meeting might be like. The boy talked about how he understood the story of David and Goliath, the meeting of a young boy and a large opponent, a parallel to his own battle with cancer. Then, Dr. Komp says, “he turned on me, and he said, ‘Do you pray?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And I said to him, ‘Do you pray?’ And he said ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Well, now that really interests me because I have a lot to learn about prayer.’ And then he said, ‘I start by saying a prayer, and then I pray for everybody I know. And he started saying a prayer rote, “A Children’s Prayer,” ‘Now I lay me down to sleep.’ And then he stopped and he slowed down. And remember, this is a boy who could barely breathe and had to worry about coughing if he was talking and had oxygen running. And he slowed down, and it’s as if he was looking at a ticker tape running in front of his eyes, and he started saying, slower, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep.’ And he started nodding as if he was reading this ticker tape and agreeing with what he saw. ‘I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.’ And then he said, ‘And then I pray for everybody I know.’ And I’m looking at his mom and saying ‘What do we have to teach him about death? What did he just teach us?’ He’s got it all together. He was confident enough that he could’ve said to me, ‘Why do 80 percent of kids with my lymphoma get cured and I’m not?’ He could have asked that question, but that wasn’t his question. The moral of the story that I get from the kids is this issue of connecting with the relationship with God, and somehow it’s that relationship transcends even a question as important as ‘Why me?’” In God’s abundant care — for Moses and for us — we can meet up with God without fear or worry.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Example of Faith
How do we live faithfully in such trying times, wonders Pablo Diaz? We draw upon examples of faith, he says, using them to build our own faith just as the Thessalonians modeled their faith on the example of Paul. Diaz notes, “In these trying times, it can feel like our country is divided beyond hope. We face a relentless pandemic. Racial equality is a distant hope for many. Americans struggle to find work, pay rent and care for their families. Forests and towns are being decimated by blazing wildfires. Hurricanes are making landfall with life-threatening flooding and wind. We grieve the human loss. How do we keep getting up every day, believing that our situation will get better? Where do we find the strength to face another battle? We turn to our faith — a force greater than fear, a power whose source has never-ending energy. It’s faith that kept people in the past moving forward when facing the trials of their days. We can look to those who believed in impossible dreams in a hard-pressed world. People who rose above the odds, never quitting even in their weakest and hardest days. Who is that person for you? I have many. But recently the life of John Lewis has been added to my list of faith heroes.” He adds, “Lewis, the son of Alabama sharecroppers, survived a brutal beating by police during a landmark 1965 march for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. He went on to become a towering figure of the civil rights movement and a longtime United States congressman — regarded as “the conscience of Congress.” In July, he died at 80 following a months-long battle with cancer. Lewis devoted his life to make our country a better place not only for African Americans but for all citizens. There was one question people asked him more than any other: How did he do it? How did he hold to nonviolence when surrounded by anger and hate during protests and sit-ins? How was it possible to be cracked on the head with a nightstick, left bleeding and unconscious, and not raise his hand one time in self-defense?”
As John Lewis wrote in his book, Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and A Vision For Change: “The answer is simple. Faith. Faith has the power to deliver us all, even from greatest harm. Faith…is knowing in the solid core of your soul that the work is already done, even as an idea is being conceived in your mind. It is being as sure as you are about your dreams as you are about anything you know is a hard fact. Even if you do not live to see it come to pass, you know without one doubt that it will be. That is faith.”
Our faithful examples lead us forward, just as happened for the people of the early church.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Being an Example
As Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, he notes that faith is contagious. The people there learned to imitate his faith, and then became examples for others. We find the same in our own lives, as we learn to be people of faith. Generosity is modeled for us until we become generous ourselves. Developmental scientist Anne Dunlea notes that we are examples of faithful generosity for the children in our lives, and we can also practice gratitude for our children, in the same way Paul expresses gratitude for the people of faith in Thessalonica. She urges, “If you’re a parent, what happens when your child walks into the room? Most of the time we click into responsibility mode or caregiving mode. We check to see if a toddler’s shoes are on the right feet; ask a preschooler what she’s doing; find out if our child is feeling hungry; ask if there’s a spelling test tomorrow; remind a teen about a project that needs to be worked on; notice the time to see what we — or our child — should be doing next. These reactions come from our caring, wanting to support, wanting to make sure things are okay. It feels like responsible parenting. How do our children feel when we do that? They see our concern, or our critical expression. They may have a sinking feeling that they haven’t done something. They may think, “uh-oh, what’s wrong now?” One remarkable benefit of grateful parenting is that we step more easily out of this critical on-the-lookout mode. We are more likely to greet with a smile and a zap of connection. As a result, both we and our child experience a huge reduction in stress and a nice boost in happiness and ease of being. The first thing you and your child experience on seeing one another is what’s good, not what’s wrong. Any important caregiving can follow afterwards.”
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Our God is Sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
People: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Leader: God is exalted over all the peoples.
People: Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Leader: Lover of justice, you have established equity.
People: Extol our God and worship at God’s footstool.
OR
Leader: God calls us to follow the way to life eternal.
People: We hear God’s call and we have come.
Leader: The world calls us to another pathway.
People: We hear that call and sometimes we follow.
Leader: God desires to give us life but we must decide our path.
People: With God’s help, we will listen and obey.
Hymns and Songs:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52/53/65
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELW: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
O Jesus, I Have Promised
UMH: 396
H82: 655
PH: 388/389
NCH: 493
CH: 612
LBW: 503
ELW: 810
W&P: 458
AMEC: 280
Jesus Calls Us
UMH: 398
H82: 549/550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171/172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELW: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
I Am Thine, O Lord
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
God of Grace and God of Glory
UMH: 577
H82: 594/595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELW: 705
W&P: 569
AMEC: 62
STLT: 115
Renew: 301
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELW: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
Trust and Obey
UMH: 467
AAHH: 380
NNBH: 322
CH: 556
W&P: 443
AMEC: 377
Walk with Me
CCB: 88
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: 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 whose actions and thoughts are always one:
Grant us the grace to center our thoughts on you
and to allow your Spirit to direct our actions;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because your actions and thoughts are always one. All that you do issues from your being of love. Help us to center ourselves on you and your love so that your Spirit can direct all our actions. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially how our actions often are in conflict with what we say we believe.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We know the right words to say. We can be very correct in our theology but very wrong in our actions. We speak about you as a God of love but we can be very petty and mean to your children. We talk about the golden rule and instead of treating others as we want to be treated we try show them up and take advantage of them. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we may not only talk like we are your children but act like it. Amen.
Leader: We are God’s children, all of us. Even when we don’t act like it, God still loves us and claims us as God’s very own. Receive the gracious love of God and share it as God has shared it with us.
Prayers of the People
Glory and praise to you, O God of perfect unity. In your purity your nature, words, and actions are all one.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We know the right words to say. We can be very correct in our theology but very wrong in our actions. We speak about you as a God of love but we can be very petty and mean to your children. We talk about the golden rule and instead of treating others as we want to be treated we try show them up and take advantage of them. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we may not only talk like we are your children but act like it.
We give you thanks for all your love toward us and all your children. We thank you for the gift of creation and for our place in your realm. We thank you for those who have been examples to us of the kind of integrity that we aspire to.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children, everywhere. As your children we hold one another up to your blessing. We pray for strength and courage to be part of your blessing as we reach out to others in need.
(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 Our Father 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
If someone says that they like you and would do anything for you but they won’t share their toys with you do you believe what they said? (Use several examples.) Sometimes it is easy to say something but harder to actually do it. Today we are reminded that we need to keep our words and actions together. They are like our hands clapping. We need both to make it work.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMONMind, Body, Spirit
by Ron Love
Message:
We need healthy a mind, body, and spirit.
Materials:
- Food from some of the five food groups
- School book
- Tennis shoe
- Bible
Presentation
As you show each item to the children explain with dialogue:
- Food: we need to eat good food for healthy bodies...
- School book: we need to learn and study to have healthy minds...
- Tennis shoe: we need to exercise to have heathy bodies...
- Bible: we need to read the Bible to have healthy spirit...
* * * * * *
Copy Cats!by Chris Keating
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
This week’s epistle lesson holds a couple of different possibilities for a children’s conversation. One possibility is to use this week for a quick lesson about the epistle form of New Testament literature. This text provides an opportunity to explore how Paul’s letters were addressed to specific people facing real-life circumstances may help these books and their mysterious-sounding names and places come alive for children.
Aside from birthday and holiday cards, children may not receive many personal letters anymore. But that may reinforce the importance of a letter. If you have the chance, you can have the children write postcards to people who are not able to attend church. Alternatively, if your church is not worshipping in person, you could mail each child in the church a personal letter ahead of Sunday. Consider paraphrasing Paul’s words:
I give thanks to God for all of you! I am praying for you all the time as I think about you and your family. I remember the fun we have shared at church, and am thinking of all the things you are doing in school and with your friends. I always give thanks to God for you!
Alternatively, if you are meeting in person or pre-recording a children’s sermon, you could pick up on Paul’s references to imitation in verse 6. He commends the Thessalonians for deftly imitating him and the Lord. Children will enjoy playing imitation games. You might consider a form of “Simon Says,” where you say, “Pastor says, imitate a monkey.” “Pastor says, ‘imitate an elephant.’” Do that several times, ending with “Pastor says, ‘imitate God.’” How do you imitate God? Invite the children to wonder with you about what that might involve — loving others, acting with justice, showing mercy, and so on.
Imitation is a powerful teacher, especially when it comes to learning skills, musical instruments, or art. But kids also know that being labelled a copycat can be painful. The wonderful children’s book, Ruby the Copy Cat by Peggy Rathman is a story about a little girl who copies the actions of others because she has a poor sense of self-confidence. The other girls in the class were annoyed by Ruby’s constant copying, but in truth she was just trying to fit in to a new school.
When we imitate God, we are learning what it means to be examples of God’s love in the world. We are not copying God to be annoying but are rather using God or Jesus as models for life. Paul congratulates the Thessalonians for being good examples of Christian faith and life.
Close with a prayer that invites the children to repeat after you:
Dear God,
Thank you for your love. Thank you helping us. Help us to learn what it means to be like you so that we may be examples of your mercy and grace every day. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 18, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
