Gleaning Some Wisdom
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In this week's gospel passage, Jesus counsels his disciples to avoid retaliation -- telling them to "turn the other cheek" as well as to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Needless to say, that's a particularly difficult teaching for modern sensibilities, conditioned as we are by the predatory "law of the jungle" that governs many of our interactions with one another. All too often in our world, fear rather than love is the coin of the realm -- and strength is usually rewarded instead of weakness. What Jesus asks of us flies in the face of our instincts... and it raises a dilemma that is at the heart of contemporary life on many different levels -- personal, community, national, and global -- namely, love vs. security. How can we reach out in love to others (especially to our enemies) and yet protect ourselves from those who want to take advantage of us? Moreover, how can we forgive and offer assistance to those who (at least in our minds) clearly don't deserve it? In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Mary Austin suggests that the answers to those perplexing quandaries are outlined for us in the lectionary's assigned texts from Matthew and Leviticus: We can't completely protect ourselves from risky situations, and that it's our Christian duty (no matter how difficult) to reach out to everyone as our neighbor... even our enemies. In the end, it's not about "them" and whether they deserve our beneficence but about us -- our faith is not to be merely a matter of private practice but should also be demonstrated through our public behavior. It may seem risky and counterintuitive, but reaching out to those we would rather avoid can have a multitude of benefits, both for ourselves and for the entire community. Team member Roger Lovette shares some additional thoughts on the epistle text from First Corinthians, in which Paul laments the fragmentation of the church. Roger notes that Paul's approach to dealing with factionalism offers a timely challenge for us as we think about how to build a church that is welcoming to all of God's children.
Gleaning Some Wisdom
by Mary Austin
Matthew 5:38-48
Free needles for people addicted to drugs? A safe place to overdose? Expensive housing for homeless people when single mothers with young children are struggling to keep a roof over their heads? Articles in the New York Times and the New Yorker have chronicled such unusual community health strategies, citing unexpected benefits.
Jesus, too, offers paradoxical wisdom in this week's text from Matthew -- and God's word to Moses and the people of Israel in Leviticus also goes against the grain. Paradox and puzzle abound in this week's lessons.
THE WORLD
Our world is full of puzzles too.
A recent New York Times article by Donald G. McNeil Jr. highlighted a place of paradoxical success in Vancouver. As the article says, "Insite, situated on the worst block of an area once home to the fastest-growing AIDS epidemic in North America, is one reason Vancouver is succeeding in lowering new AIDS infection rates while many other cities are only getting worse." The program offers clean needles to people addicted to drugs, controversial because it seems to be encouraging drug use instead of treatment. At the program, "addicts get clean needles, which they are not allowed to share with anyone else. In return, they are safe from robbery, which is common on the streets outside, and from arrest. Insite has a special exemption from Canada's narcotics laws. They also know that if they overdose, they won't die. In Insite's seven years of operation, there have been more than 1,000 overdoses inside, but not a single death."
While at the center, people receive medical care. Notes the article: " 'We feel very positive about Insite,' said Dr. Patricia Daly, chief public health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, the branch of the health system that covers this part of the country. 'There are fewer overdose deaths, less open drug use on the street, and we know it's brought more people into detox.' While the city's large gay community has more infected individuals, the drug-using community is harder to reach. Many addicts are mentally ill or barely educated; many are homeless. About a quarter are American Indians, who have historical reasons to view government testing with suspicion."
The city's AIDS rate decreases because the people served at the center receive AIDS tests, and the needed medication if they test positive. Canadian researchers believe that, as one said, "treatment is prevention." If they can get medication to people early enough, those who have the virus will infect fewer people.
A similar situation was chronicled in "Million-Dollar Murray", a 2006 New Yorker article in which the renowned author Malcolm Gladwell tells the story of a homeless man named Murray in Reno, Nevada. Murray was a charming, witty character of a man, who was also homeless and an alcoholic. In a treatment program with structure, Murray was able to quit drinking, maintain a job, and save money. But without the structure, he would return to drinking and spend all the money he had saved.
Two police officers who worked with homeless people added up the hospital bills of the largest users of the emergency room, and realized that a heavy user like Murray had emergency room costs of over $100,000 for less than a year. For the ten years he was on the streets, they estimated, "It cost us one million dollars not to do something about Murray."
Ten percent of the population of homeless people are chronically homeless and use the bulk of the resources and services. Thousands of dollars a year go to house these people in uncomfortable places and to provide medical care for them in emergency rooms. Notes Gladwell, "The homelessness problem... is a matter of a few hard cases... They need time and attention and lots of money. But enormous sums of money are already being spent on the chronically homeless." For Murray, who "used more health care dollars, after all, than almost anyone in the state of Nevada, it would probably have been cheaper to give him a full-time nurse and his own apartment."
The city of Denver is experimenting with a program to do just that. An apartment, plus a caseworker who only has ten clients, can keep people off the streets -- but it goes against our feeling that the rewards of a nice place to live should go to someone who merits it. Why the homeless alcoholic and not the hardworking single parent? Why someone who won't take care of the apartment, let alone get a job, instead of someone who deserves a helping hand? Oddly, not because they deserve it, but because it saves money -- lots of money. Curiously, the solution to seemingly unsolvable problems has nothing to do with fairness, and everything to do with meeting the needs of those who need the most.
THE WORD
In the instruction from Leviticus, God commands the people of Israel (through Moses) to be holy, as God is holy. The evidence of that is not, once again, perfect worship or faultless singing or blemish-free sacrifices, but how the people of faith care for one another. Some of the instructions are common-sense ways to live together -- not stealing, not cheating, and not lying about or to each other. Others are surprising -- unlike in the story of the Little Red Hen, the one who plants and harvests is not allowed to collect everything from the fields. Part of the crop is to be left for the poor and the stranger, who haven't done anything to deserve it. Our love for God is apparent in our actions toward one another.
How we live together in community is a focus of Jesus' teachings in Matthew's gospel too. This week's text continues the section that began with the Beatitudes. Jesus "sets forth God's vision of God's world, where love, genuine and unconditional, reigns," notes Barbara Essex in Feasting on the Word (Year A, Volume 1, p. 384). Once again, our love for God becomes apparent in our actions toward one another.
Curiously, Jesus never talks about who deserves this treatment.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
This can be a bitter pill to swallow. Our culture feels strongly about rewarding the deserving, and about deserving our rewards. Preachers, politicians, and parents all have careful systems to recognize virtue and punish bad behavior. Otherwise, in the cry of children everywhere, "It's not fair." We hear from our parents, and tell our children in turn, that life isn't fair -- but we secretly believe it should be.
Jesus, darn him, flips the equation around and makes it not about the person on the other end, but about us. It doesn't matter if someone merits our best treatment or not -- what matters is that we engage in the spiritual work of stretching our own souls to a place of generosity. Jesus starts from the laws that his hearers have always known, laws carefully calibrated for fairness, and asks for more. In asking us to go farther, forgive deeply, give more, he frees us from the calculation of who deserves our help, and allows us to be people who choose to give, instead of people who are forced to do something. No one can take advantage of what we choose to give.
Matthew's gospel and the Leviticus passage both remind us that God is about more than fairness. Or, as the stories above demonstrate, what's good for a few people is good for everyone, in the end. Reporter Paul McNeil's New York Times article concludes: "By offering clean needles and aggressively testing and treating those who may be infected with HIV, Vancouver is offering proof that an idea that was once controversial actually works: Widespread treatment, while expensive, protects not just individuals but the whole community." Everyone benefits from the success of a few people.
When a few people change, the whole community is richer. When a few people go the extra mile, everyone's burden is lighter. When we stop calculating who deserves what, we can give freely out of God's abundant gifts to us. When we stop doing the math about fairness, we can do the spiritual work of being vehicles of grace. It may help the other person, but it will surely benefit us.
ANOTHER VIEW
On Building a Church
by Roger Lovette
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
A parable is told about a church that finally completed their sanctuary. The planning took years and raising the money added even more time, but finally the great day came and the church was completed. The congregation was so proud as they gathered that first Sunday for worship. Dignitaries from the denomination were there to add gravity to the occasion, the musicians were at their best, and the preacher preached a splendid sermon. As he was finishing his message, he noticed that people were looking up toward the ceiling. He looked up -- and he and the congregation saw the strangest thing. A hand, a huge hand could be seen by all in the congregation... and the hand began to write in letters ten feet tall. The people and the preacher were dumbfounded as the hand wrote across the crown molding: Now Build Me a Church.
I think Paul would have loved that story. As he wrote across the miles to troubled Corinth, he used the building metaphor, which we find in this text. In verse 10 he talked about the foundation he had worked so hard to lay in Corinth. But after he left things began to fall apart -- they broke into factions. They were a church in trouble, with a multitude of problems. Their task was to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ that Paul had left. So we deal here, as we also find in Leviticus and our Matthew passage, with the truth that each member was to assume some personal responsibility for what was being built on their foundation. Paul also talked to them about the communal responsibility they all had to one another.
He warned them that Christ-like behavior was essential in the building they were to construct. He warned them that this was no private matter, but that they had to build together. He warned them that they could defile the temple by their poor behavior to one another. So the church they built had to be relational and it had to be personal, for each member had to share in the task.
He challenged them to remember that they were God's temple. Charles Talbert in his commentary on First Corinthians says that when Paul used the word "temple" he was not talking about simply a sacred place. Paul chose the word naos, which meant the most sacred part of the temple -- the Holy of Holies. What a dignifying word he called his friends in Corinth. They were the most precious part of God's building. And the way they treated one another would be the acid test if the temple they built would be defiled or not.
So all of our texts call us to a higher standard than the world knows. We are to shine as bright lights in a very dark world. The way they related to one another -- to their enemies inside and outside the church -- was important. It mattered the way they stood by all their leaders and not chose one over the other. They were in this together.
So we throw out the challenge. What is your particular congregation building? Is it a sacred place, a safe place, a place unlike the world -- or is it simply a reflection of the culture? Under your one roof there will surely be Republicans and Democrats. There will be liberals and conservatives. There will be those that want to move fast and those who want to stay put. Back in the corner there may be a young man who is gay. A most successful businessman might sit on the fourth row, and in front of him there may just be a man who has looked for work for nine months. And for the pastor, the challenge is not just herding cats but to reach up and share the vision of what First Corinthians 3 would mean for you and your people.
A Midwestern church-school teacher tells this true story. In her kindergarten class one day there came a new little boy named Johnny. All the children stared at Johnny because he had only one arm. As the teacher introduced him, the children began to whisper to one another: "He only has one arm." "What happened to his other arm?"
Later that day the teacher told the children she wanted to show them how to build a church. "Class," she said, "I'm going to show you how to build a church." Holding her own hands together, she said: "Here's the church, here's the steeple -- open the door and there's the people! So let's put our hands together and make a church."
The minute she spoke, the teacher realized what a monstrous mistake she had made. Johnny could not do the exercise with his one arm. Everything grew quiet. And then little Mary left her desk, walked over to Johnny, and said: "Johnny and I will put our hands together -- and we will build a church." Isn't this what Paul had in mind when he talked to the wild and woolly people in Corinth? That little tiny fragile community was the Temple of God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There is a story about a German Lutheran pastor by the name of Uwe Holmer. He was director of a church-owned retirement home in the secluded village of Lobetal. In early 1990, after the fall of the communist regime in East Germany, church officials approached him with an unusual request. Erich Honecker, the despised former dictator, had just been discharged from a state-run hospital where he had been recuperating from cancer surgery. He had been imprisoned, awaiting trial for treason, but a court had ruled him too sick to remain behind bars.
No one wanted Honecker. After all, this was the man who had ruled East Germany with an iron fist and had been responsible for the deaths of many thousands in the dungeons operated by his secret police. The government officials wanted to know if Pastor Holmer would be willing to accommodate Honecker in his retirement home.
The request put Pastor Holmer in a moral dilemma. Yes, his institution existed to serve the needs of the poor and outcast, but there was a waiting list. It would not be fair to move anyone -- even a person so unusual as Erich Honecker -- to the top of the list. So Pastor Holmer did the only thing he could think of. After consulting with his wife, he invited Honecker into his own home.
He began to receive hate mail and even bomb threats. Longtime financial supporters of his ministry in Lobetal threatened to cut off future gifts. But Pastor Holmer refused to back down. In a letter to the editor of a prominent East German newspaper, he wrote: "In Lobetal, there is a sculpture of Jesus inviting people to himself and crying out, 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' We have been commanded by our Lord Jesus to follow him and to receive all those who are weary and heavy laden, in spirit and in body, but especially the homeless. What Jesus asked his disciples to do is equally binding on us."
* * *
Neil Strauss, in a Wall Street Journal article titled "God at the Grammys: The Chosen Ones: Why do so many musical superstars think that their careers are a part of a divine plan?," summarizes the fallen morality of so many of the star musicians who were prepared to receive yet another reward. These individuals somehow look past their human failings, indiscriminate acts, self-centeredness, and poor judgment; but instead attribute their redemption and success as being the chosen ones from God.
Lady Gaga said, "It's hard to just chalk it up to myself," there's "a higher power that's been watching out for me." Snoop Dog said, "God makes everything happen." Christina Aguilera said, "All of this isn't something that I did. It's something that is totally there for a purpose." Eminem said, "God sent me to piss the world off." Diddy said, "Look who my gang really is. My gang is God."
This concept of God-ordained success stretches into the sports world. Aaron Rodgers said, "God always has a plan for us." Santonio Holmes said it was "God's will" that had him make a Super Bowl-winning catch. David Tyree said of the New York Giants win in the Super Bowl a few years ago, "It felt like it was destiny. I knew God would do what he said he was going to do."
After 20 years of interviewing media superstars, Strauss reports that his assessment of their God talk has changed. At first, Strauss received it as a sincere confession of a divine orientation. Now, he believes they live with the precept of predestination, absent of Calvin's application of this theological concept in relationship to one's soul. Strauss writes, "So what's helping these stars is not so much religion as a belief -- specifically, the belief that God favors their own personal, temporal success over that of almost everyone else." Strauss blatantly concludes, "Let's call it competitive theism, a self-styled spirituality that can be overlaid on any religion and has nothing to do with personal morality." Strauss goes on to write that these media stars live in a "faith gap." As long as they dwell on the top of the pop charts they fail to understand, according to Strauss, "that the meek will inherit the earth."
All of the lectionary readings for this Sunday emphasize serving God, both as a means of fulfilling his commands but also as a means of fulfilling the meaning of life. The Psalmist may best clarify this when he writes, "Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain" (Psalm 119:36). It would be difficult to find in any of the spiritual aspirations of the media stars cited above that personal gain did not take precedence over humble obedience.
If we are going to attribute our success to anything, let us be sure that it is because we learned how to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile, not because we are the MVP for catching the winning pass.
* * *
Iran has outlawed Valentine's Day. In the official government statement the decree reads, "Symbols of hearts, half-hearts, red roses, and any activities promoting this day are banned." In a nation where over 70% of the population is under 30, this does crimp a day in which one could freely express love to that certain someone in a very meaningful and special manner.
In an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, Melik Kaylan writes: "Theocratic regimes invariably suffer from the same besetting sin: As the world evolves, they must either revise their antiquated doctrines or try to hold the world rigidly in stasis." As there is no dogma prohibiting the celebration of Valentine's Day, the prohibition against the illicit socialization between the sexes seemed reason enough to suffice the disbanding of Valentine's Day. Kaylan concludes, "It convinces no one. Instead, the regime seems dedicated above all to stamping out joy wherever it may accidently arise -- a sour, paranoid struggle against the irrepressible forces of nature, change, the seasons, music, romance, and laughter."
Comparing Iran's ban on Valentine's Day and the Lord's decrees in the lectionary readings for this Sunday, we see two very distinct orientations. One, as correctly interpreted by Kaylan, "seems dedicated above all to stamping out joy wherever it may accidently arise." The other orientation, in which one serves to give assistance and meaning to life for another -- going the extra mile; loving your enemy; turning the other cheek; not defrauding your neighbor; not dealing falsely -- is joy-producing as it enhances interpersonal relationships. Which, I would guess, is also the meaning of the symbols of hearts, half-hearts, and red roses. By affirming others, let us allow joy to arise spontaneously.
* * *
When confronted recently by CNN's Piers Morgan, Joel Osteen had to admit that he believed homosexuality was a sin. Osteen said, "Yes, I've always believed the scriptures show that homosexuality is a sin. But I'm not one of those who is out there to bash homosexuals and tell them that they're terrible people."
The following topic was once again Osteen defending what has become known as the "prosperity gospel." In that segment of the interview, Osteen said, "God's desire is that we excel."
Elizabeth Tenety, in a commentary on that interview for the Washington Post, ended her piece with this question: "What do you think about religious leaders who advocate a 'hate the sin, love the sinner' (or in Osteen's case -- dislike the sin but inspire the sinner) approach to homosexuality?"
As Osteen, and so many other Christians, try to do, it is nearly impossible to condemn the sin without condemning the sinner as well. It may not be Osteen's intent to "bash" -- but if you were on the receiving end of his remark how could not help but feel bashed? However, according to Tenety's observation, you can still be bashed but wealthy, because in Osteen's view, excessive wealth is not a sin but a spiritual blessing. As it is often said, "What others do is a sin; what I do is a rationalization."
"Love your enemies" is not the same as "hate the sin, love the sinner." The latter has a note of condemnation and disenfranchisement; the former has a note of acceptance and reconciliation. We must guard ourselves against what we condemn. And if we do condemn a sin, let us be sure we leave the self-worth of an individual intact.
* * *
You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out he hates all the same people you do.
-- Anne Lamott
* * *
Evildoers and Bullies
But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also... (Matthew 5:39)
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, in a speech last Saturday (February 12) before the CPAC convention in Washington, took a decidedly different view. "Mr. President," he said, "bullies respect strength; they don't respect weakness. So when the United States of America projects its national security interests here and around the world, we need to do it with strength."
Is the United States government excused from the mandates of the Christian gospel? Can a government entity be expected to follow Jesus' commandments?
* * *
More on Bullies
Middletown, Ohio -- Three students have been arrested following an incident Friday in which a fellow student's hair was set on fire while riding a school bus.
Devin Lewis, 15, told the Middletown Journal that he was listening to music while on the bus when someone pulled off his hood, and another student held a flame in front of his face.
According to the police report, that's when another male student holding a lighter lit Lewis' hair on fire. "I felt the heat on the back and somebody blowing my hair," Lewis told WKRC. He reached to the back of his head, and when he looked at his hand, "I just saw ashes." His hair was singed almost to the scalp. Other students extinguished the flames.
On Monday another incident occurred on a Middletown school bus between a 16-year-old female student and another 17-year-old female student who is nine months pregnant, while riding home from an alternative school in West Chester Township.
The pregnant student and the bus driver were allegedly struck before the 16-year-old girl fled. An aide on the board who tried to intervene was also bruised.
Middletown City Schools spokeswoman Debbie Alberico said there is no connection between the two incidents, but that they are under investigation. "We don't tolerate any of this stuff," Alberico told the Middletown Journal. "We don't tolerate lighting hair on fire, fighting, hitting, bullying, and serious misbehavior."
* * *
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God; I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:14)
On January 23, 1990, the 101st Congress held a session to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability. Those present at that session agreed that the prohibition be cited as the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990" (ADA).
Their research showed that more than 43 million Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and that number is increasing as the population as a whole grows older.
Historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem.
Discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services.
Unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination.
Individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities.
Census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in the society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally.
The purpose of the law is to "provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities."
* * *
Let 'Em Play
You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God; I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:14)
The future of sports sits in a Massachusetts basement, down the hall from a roomful of Legos. The future of sports is happening in a cavernous building in Iceland. The future of sports lies under the bed of a 13-year-old boy with no legs in Florida.
The basement: It's in the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, and it's full of metal gizmos that surround an equation-covered whiteboard. A bilateral amputee professor named Hugh Herr here. If anyone can predict what sports will look like in 2050, it's Herr, who lost his legs 26 years ago in a climbing accident. Herr wears robotic limbs with motorized ankles and insists he doesn't want his human legs back because soon they'll be archaic. "People have always thought the human body is the ideal," he says. "It's not."
The building: It's the home of Ossur, a prosthetics-design firm in Reykjavik. Researchers here are developing limbs that rely on Bluetooth technology to "know" how to move. While the able-bodied don't need to tell their legs to run up steps, amputees must will their prosthetics to make every movement. But just because the limbs are gone doesn't mean the remaining nerves have stopped working. Scientists want to wire artificial legs and arms into the nervous system and make them part of the body itself. Already, a below-the-knee amputee at Ossur walks uphill and downhill on a treadmill. He dances. He kicks a soccer ball. He bends it like Beckham. Soon, prosthetics wearers will be able to turn, cut, and twist, motions difficult with current technology but essential in most sports...
The boy: His name is Anthony Burruto. He's 13 and has no idea what's happening in those labs. But you can bet he wants the technology if it means his two fake legs will work as well as his right arm, which can hurl a baseball scary fast. Little League opponents agree not to bunt when Burruto takes the mound. But soon he might have better legs than any of them. Soon there will be no need to change the rules so disabled boys can play with regular kids. Soon officials will be forced to wrestle with this question: How can able-bodied kids keep up with the superabled? And when that day comes, when the basement and the building and the boy come together, sports will change forever.
* * *
Fair Labor Laws in the Bible
You shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. (Leviticus 19:13c)
Fair labor laws were introduced in the time of Moses and probably codified and written during or shortly after the Babylonian captivity, but they have taken a long time to sink in. Here are just a few examples of the sacrifices that were required to bring fair labor practices to the United States of America.
*In 1806 the union of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers was convicted of and bankrupted by charges of criminal conspiracy after a strike for higher wages.
*On April 27, 1825, carpenters in Boston called the first strike for a 10-hour work-day.
*On July 3, 1835, children employed in the silk mills in Paterson, New Jersey, went on strike for an 11-hour day/6-day week.
*In July of 1851, two railroad strikers were shot dead and others injured by the state militia in Portgage, New York.
*In 1860, 800 women and 4,000 workmen marched during a shoemaker's strike in Lynn, Massachusetts.
*On January 13, 1874, as unemployed workers demonstrated in New York's Tompkins Square Park, a detachment of mounted police charged into the crowd, beating men, women, and children indiscriminately with billy clubs and leaving hundreds of casualties in their wake. Commented Abram Duryee, the Commissioner of Police: "It was the most glorious sight I ever saw..."
*On July 21, 1887, ten coal-mining union organizers were hanged in Pennsylvania.
*On July 14, 1887, when strikers halted railroad traffic in Chicago, federal troops killed 30 workers and wounded over 100.
*Not until 1884 did the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (forerunner of the AFL) pass a resolution stating that "8 hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Come and learn the way of our God.
People: We will learn and observe them to the end.
Leader: Let God turn your hearts to God's ways.
People: We want God's ways more than selfish gain.
Leader: Let God turn your eyes from vanities.
People: We would rather have the life that God's way brings.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God of love.
People: We come to praise and adore the God revealed in Jesus.
Leader: We are called to not only worship God but also become like God.
People: How can we become like God?
Leader: Jesus has set the example and given us his own Spirit.
People: By the power of Jesus, we will become the very image of God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee"
found in:
UMH: 89
H82: 376
PH: 464
AAHH: 120
NNBH: 40
NCH: 4
CH: 2
LBW: 551
"Hope of the World"
found in:
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
"Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies"
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
"I Am Thine, O Lord"
found in:
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
"Make Me a Captive, Lord"
found in:
UMH: 421
PH: 378
"The Gift of Love"
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
Renew: 155
"What Does the Lord Require"
found in:
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
"Jesu, Jesu"
found in:
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
CCB: 66
Renew: 289
"Make Me a Servant"
found in:
CCB: 90
"Sanctuary"
found in:
CCB: 87
Renew: 185
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who calls us into your life: Grant us the wisdom to realize that all you teach us is meant to shape us into your children and is not based on the behavior of others; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We have come to worship you, O God, the One who creates us and re-creates us time and again into your image. Open our hearts and minds this day that we may understand the ways in which you desire to shape and mold us into a clearer reflection of your love. Help us to not get distracted by the behaviors of others but to focus our lives on what you want us to become. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our justifying our bad behavior based on the bad behavior of others.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us to so live that we might become more and more like you. You have gifted us with your Spirit, the Spirit that dwelt in Jesus, and yet we have failed miserably in living out of your love and power. When you call us to be loving and forgiving, instead of looking to you and who you want us to become, we look at those who have offended us and decide they do not deserve our forgiveness. We totally miss the point that being forgiving is about our becoming like you and has little to do with what has been done to us. Forgive us, and call us once more to see in Jesus your clear image so that we too might shine with your glory. Amen.
Leader: God is always seeking us, always calling us to draw nearer so that we might reflect God's image more clearly. God loves us and forgives us and invites us to become all that we were created to be.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and adore you, O God, for the brightness of your love that is reflected in all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us to so live that we might become more and more like you. You have gifted us with your Spirit, the Spirit that dwelt in Jesus, and yet we have failed miserably in living out of your love and power. When you call us to be loving and forgiving, instead of looking to you and who you want us to become, we look at those who have offended us and decide they do not deserve our forgiveness. We totally miss the point that being forgiving is about our becoming like you and has little to do with what has been done to us. Forgive us, and call us once more to see in Jesus your clear image so that we too might shine with your glory.
We thank you for all the ways in which you have shown us your love and glory. We thank you for creation and your splendor that we see reflected there. We thank you for those who have lived before us lives that shine with your love. We thank you for their faithfulness to you and to us, as we have learned more about you and your love from them. Most of all we thank you for Jesus, and the clear reflection he allowed his life to be for us in his teaching, his living, and his dying.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for all who are in need of your love and care this day. We know you are already at work in their lives. We pray that we might become clearer reflections of your love so that they can more easily discern your love for them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
Images of Jesus before his accusers and judges; images of people using nonviolent protest. (Maybe you even have an old image of flower children sticking flowers in the barrels of soldiers' guns.)
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk about how you don't like some insects (bees, flies, mosquitoes, etc.). Tell the children that whenever you see one landing on the table in front of you, you slap yourself on the forehead. Tell them that no matter how you try that doesn't seem to do much to get rid of the insect you don't like. Explore with the children what you might be doing wrong. Oh, you are slapping yourself instead of the insect. Talk to the children about how we do the same thing when we don't forgive people. Not forgiving someone doesn't hurt them -- just us. It makes us angry and feel bad inside. The only way to stop the hurting is to forgive them.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
The Other Cheek
Matthew 5:38-48
Good morning, boys and girls! There once was a boy who was always fighting. If someone accidently touched him, he hit them with his fist. If someone called him a funny name, he kicked them. If someone laughed at him, he beat up on them. After a while the others learned to fight back, and the boy came home lonely with bruises and bad feelings.
One day someone asked, ducking his blow, "Why do you want to fight?"
"To show I am stronger than anyone else!" The boy clenched his fists.
"Does that make you feel good?" asked the other as he ran.
The boy asked himself, "Does fighting make me feel good? Of course, winning is good. But winning is lonely."
The next time a child made a face at him, he began to beat up on him and the voice said, "Turn the other cheek." The boy turned his head the other way and continued hitting the other.
"No, silly, I mean if someone hits you on one cheek, turn the other, so he can hit that one too."
The boy was so surprised by such a silly suggestion that he stopped fighting long enough to laugh. The more he thought about it, the harder he laughed. He laughed so loud the others heard him and began to laugh. Soon everyone was laughing, and it felt so good to be laughing together that the boy laughed even longer.
"This is better than fighting!" he thought. Since that day, whenever anyone calls him a funny name, he laughs, remembering the silly but wise advice someone gave him long ago.
Talk together: Do you like to fight? Who said "Turn the other cheek? Forgive"?
Prayer: Dear God, help me remember Jesus' words when I am angry. Remind me to count to ten or laugh and "turn the other cheek." Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 20, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word 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.
Gleaning Some Wisdom
by Mary Austin
Matthew 5:38-48
Free needles for people addicted to drugs? A safe place to overdose? Expensive housing for homeless people when single mothers with young children are struggling to keep a roof over their heads? Articles in the New York Times and the New Yorker have chronicled such unusual community health strategies, citing unexpected benefits.
Jesus, too, offers paradoxical wisdom in this week's text from Matthew -- and God's word to Moses and the people of Israel in Leviticus also goes against the grain. Paradox and puzzle abound in this week's lessons.
THE WORLD
Our world is full of puzzles too.
A recent New York Times article by Donald G. McNeil Jr. highlighted a place of paradoxical success in Vancouver. As the article says, "Insite, situated on the worst block of an area once home to the fastest-growing AIDS epidemic in North America, is one reason Vancouver is succeeding in lowering new AIDS infection rates while many other cities are only getting worse." The program offers clean needles to people addicted to drugs, controversial because it seems to be encouraging drug use instead of treatment. At the program, "addicts get clean needles, which they are not allowed to share with anyone else. In return, they are safe from robbery, which is common on the streets outside, and from arrest. Insite has a special exemption from Canada's narcotics laws. They also know that if they overdose, they won't die. In Insite's seven years of operation, there have been more than 1,000 overdoses inside, but not a single death."
While at the center, people receive medical care. Notes the article: " 'We feel very positive about Insite,' said Dr. Patricia Daly, chief public health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, the branch of the health system that covers this part of the country. 'There are fewer overdose deaths, less open drug use on the street, and we know it's brought more people into detox.' While the city's large gay community has more infected individuals, the drug-using community is harder to reach. Many addicts are mentally ill or barely educated; many are homeless. About a quarter are American Indians, who have historical reasons to view government testing with suspicion."
The city's AIDS rate decreases because the people served at the center receive AIDS tests, and the needed medication if they test positive. Canadian researchers believe that, as one said, "treatment is prevention." If they can get medication to people early enough, those who have the virus will infect fewer people.
A similar situation was chronicled in "Million-Dollar Murray", a 2006 New Yorker article in which the renowned author Malcolm Gladwell tells the story of a homeless man named Murray in Reno, Nevada. Murray was a charming, witty character of a man, who was also homeless and an alcoholic. In a treatment program with structure, Murray was able to quit drinking, maintain a job, and save money. But without the structure, he would return to drinking and spend all the money he had saved.
Two police officers who worked with homeless people added up the hospital bills of the largest users of the emergency room, and realized that a heavy user like Murray had emergency room costs of over $100,000 for less than a year. For the ten years he was on the streets, they estimated, "It cost us one million dollars not to do something about Murray."
Ten percent of the population of homeless people are chronically homeless and use the bulk of the resources and services. Thousands of dollars a year go to house these people in uncomfortable places and to provide medical care for them in emergency rooms. Notes Gladwell, "The homelessness problem... is a matter of a few hard cases... They need time and attention and lots of money. But enormous sums of money are already being spent on the chronically homeless." For Murray, who "used more health care dollars, after all, than almost anyone in the state of Nevada, it would probably have been cheaper to give him a full-time nurse and his own apartment."
The city of Denver is experimenting with a program to do just that. An apartment, plus a caseworker who only has ten clients, can keep people off the streets -- but it goes against our feeling that the rewards of a nice place to live should go to someone who merits it. Why the homeless alcoholic and not the hardworking single parent? Why someone who won't take care of the apartment, let alone get a job, instead of someone who deserves a helping hand? Oddly, not because they deserve it, but because it saves money -- lots of money. Curiously, the solution to seemingly unsolvable problems has nothing to do with fairness, and everything to do with meeting the needs of those who need the most.
THE WORD
In the instruction from Leviticus, God commands the people of Israel (through Moses) to be holy, as God is holy. The evidence of that is not, once again, perfect worship or faultless singing or blemish-free sacrifices, but how the people of faith care for one another. Some of the instructions are common-sense ways to live together -- not stealing, not cheating, and not lying about or to each other. Others are surprising -- unlike in the story of the Little Red Hen, the one who plants and harvests is not allowed to collect everything from the fields. Part of the crop is to be left for the poor and the stranger, who haven't done anything to deserve it. Our love for God is apparent in our actions toward one another.
How we live together in community is a focus of Jesus' teachings in Matthew's gospel too. This week's text continues the section that began with the Beatitudes. Jesus "sets forth God's vision of God's world, where love, genuine and unconditional, reigns," notes Barbara Essex in Feasting on the Word (Year A, Volume 1, p. 384). Once again, our love for God becomes apparent in our actions toward one another.
Curiously, Jesus never talks about who deserves this treatment.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
This can be a bitter pill to swallow. Our culture feels strongly about rewarding the deserving, and about deserving our rewards. Preachers, politicians, and parents all have careful systems to recognize virtue and punish bad behavior. Otherwise, in the cry of children everywhere, "It's not fair." We hear from our parents, and tell our children in turn, that life isn't fair -- but we secretly believe it should be.
Jesus, darn him, flips the equation around and makes it not about the person on the other end, but about us. It doesn't matter if someone merits our best treatment or not -- what matters is that we engage in the spiritual work of stretching our own souls to a place of generosity. Jesus starts from the laws that his hearers have always known, laws carefully calibrated for fairness, and asks for more. In asking us to go farther, forgive deeply, give more, he frees us from the calculation of who deserves our help, and allows us to be people who choose to give, instead of people who are forced to do something. No one can take advantage of what we choose to give.
Matthew's gospel and the Leviticus passage both remind us that God is about more than fairness. Or, as the stories above demonstrate, what's good for a few people is good for everyone, in the end. Reporter Paul McNeil's New York Times article concludes: "By offering clean needles and aggressively testing and treating those who may be infected with HIV, Vancouver is offering proof that an idea that was once controversial actually works: Widespread treatment, while expensive, protects not just individuals but the whole community." Everyone benefits from the success of a few people.
When a few people change, the whole community is richer. When a few people go the extra mile, everyone's burden is lighter. When we stop calculating who deserves what, we can give freely out of God's abundant gifts to us. When we stop doing the math about fairness, we can do the spiritual work of being vehicles of grace. It may help the other person, but it will surely benefit us.
ANOTHER VIEW
On Building a Church
by Roger Lovette
1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
A parable is told about a church that finally completed their sanctuary. The planning took years and raising the money added even more time, but finally the great day came and the church was completed. The congregation was so proud as they gathered that first Sunday for worship. Dignitaries from the denomination were there to add gravity to the occasion, the musicians were at their best, and the preacher preached a splendid sermon. As he was finishing his message, he noticed that people were looking up toward the ceiling. He looked up -- and he and the congregation saw the strangest thing. A hand, a huge hand could be seen by all in the congregation... and the hand began to write in letters ten feet tall. The people and the preacher were dumbfounded as the hand wrote across the crown molding: Now Build Me a Church.
I think Paul would have loved that story. As he wrote across the miles to troubled Corinth, he used the building metaphor, which we find in this text. In verse 10 he talked about the foundation he had worked so hard to lay in Corinth. But after he left things began to fall apart -- they broke into factions. They were a church in trouble, with a multitude of problems. Their task was to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ that Paul had left. So we deal here, as we also find in Leviticus and our Matthew passage, with the truth that each member was to assume some personal responsibility for what was being built on their foundation. Paul also talked to them about the communal responsibility they all had to one another.
He warned them that Christ-like behavior was essential in the building they were to construct. He warned them that this was no private matter, but that they had to build together. He warned them that they could defile the temple by their poor behavior to one another. So the church they built had to be relational and it had to be personal, for each member had to share in the task.
He challenged them to remember that they were God's temple. Charles Talbert in his commentary on First Corinthians says that when Paul used the word "temple" he was not talking about simply a sacred place. Paul chose the word naos, which meant the most sacred part of the temple -- the Holy of Holies. What a dignifying word he called his friends in Corinth. They were the most precious part of God's building. And the way they treated one another would be the acid test if the temple they built would be defiled or not.
So all of our texts call us to a higher standard than the world knows. We are to shine as bright lights in a very dark world. The way they related to one another -- to their enemies inside and outside the church -- was important. It mattered the way they stood by all their leaders and not chose one over the other. They were in this together.
So we throw out the challenge. What is your particular congregation building? Is it a sacred place, a safe place, a place unlike the world -- or is it simply a reflection of the culture? Under your one roof there will surely be Republicans and Democrats. There will be liberals and conservatives. There will be those that want to move fast and those who want to stay put. Back in the corner there may be a young man who is gay. A most successful businessman might sit on the fourth row, and in front of him there may just be a man who has looked for work for nine months. And for the pastor, the challenge is not just herding cats but to reach up and share the vision of what First Corinthians 3 would mean for you and your people.
A Midwestern church-school teacher tells this true story. In her kindergarten class one day there came a new little boy named Johnny. All the children stared at Johnny because he had only one arm. As the teacher introduced him, the children began to whisper to one another: "He only has one arm." "What happened to his other arm?"
Later that day the teacher told the children she wanted to show them how to build a church. "Class," she said, "I'm going to show you how to build a church." Holding her own hands together, she said: "Here's the church, here's the steeple -- open the door and there's the people! So let's put our hands together and make a church."
The minute she spoke, the teacher realized what a monstrous mistake she had made. Johnny could not do the exercise with his one arm. Everything grew quiet. And then little Mary left her desk, walked over to Johnny, and said: "Johnny and I will put our hands together -- and we will build a church." Isn't this what Paul had in mind when he talked to the wild and woolly people in Corinth? That little tiny fragile community was the Temple of God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There is a story about a German Lutheran pastor by the name of Uwe Holmer. He was director of a church-owned retirement home in the secluded village of Lobetal. In early 1990, after the fall of the communist regime in East Germany, church officials approached him with an unusual request. Erich Honecker, the despised former dictator, had just been discharged from a state-run hospital where he had been recuperating from cancer surgery. He had been imprisoned, awaiting trial for treason, but a court had ruled him too sick to remain behind bars.
No one wanted Honecker. After all, this was the man who had ruled East Germany with an iron fist and had been responsible for the deaths of many thousands in the dungeons operated by his secret police. The government officials wanted to know if Pastor Holmer would be willing to accommodate Honecker in his retirement home.
The request put Pastor Holmer in a moral dilemma. Yes, his institution existed to serve the needs of the poor and outcast, but there was a waiting list. It would not be fair to move anyone -- even a person so unusual as Erich Honecker -- to the top of the list. So Pastor Holmer did the only thing he could think of. After consulting with his wife, he invited Honecker into his own home.
He began to receive hate mail and even bomb threats. Longtime financial supporters of his ministry in Lobetal threatened to cut off future gifts. But Pastor Holmer refused to back down. In a letter to the editor of a prominent East German newspaper, he wrote: "In Lobetal, there is a sculpture of Jesus inviting people to himself and crying out, 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' We have been commanded by our Lord Jesus to follow him and to receive all those who are weary and heavy laden, in spirit and in body, but especially the homeless. What Jesus asked his disciples to do is equally binding on us."
* * *
Neil Strauss, in a Wall Street Journal article titled "God at the Grammys: The Chosen Ones: Why do so many musical superstars think that their careers are a part of a divine plan?," summarizes the fallen morality of so many of the star musicians who were prepared to receive yet another reward. These individuals somehow look past their human failings, indiscriminate acts, self-centeredness, and poor judgment; but instead attribute their redemption and success as being the chosen ones from God.
Lady Gaga said, "It's hard to just chalk it up to myself," there's "a higher power that's been watching out for me." Snoop Dog said, "God makes everything happen." Christina Aguilera said, "All of this isn't something that I did. It's something that is totally there for a purpose." Eminem said, "God sent me to piss the world off." Diddy said, "Look who my gang really is. My gang is God."
This concept of God-ordained success stretches into the sports world. Aaron Rodgers said, "God always has a plan for us." Santonio Holmes said it was "God's will" that had him make a Super Bowl-winning catch. David Tyree said of the New York Giants win in the Super Bowl a few years ago, "It felt like it was destiny. I knew God would do what he said he was going to do."
After 20 years of interviewing media superstars, Strauss reports that his assessment of their God talk has changed. At first, Strauss received it as a sincere confession of a divine orientation. Now, he believes they live with the precept of predestination, absent of Calvin's application of this theological concept in relationship to one's soul. Strauss writes, "So what's helping these stars is not so much religion as a belief -- specifically, the belief that God favors their own personal, temporal success over that of almost everyone else." Strauss blatantly concludes, "Let's call it competitive theism, a self-styled spirituality that can be overlaid on any religion and has nothing to do with personal morality." Strauss goes on to write that these media stars live in a "faith gap." As long as they dwell on the top of the pop charts they fail to understand, according to Strauss, "that the meek will inherit the earth."
All of the lectionary readings for this Sunday emphasize serving God, both as a means of fulfilling his commands but also as a means of fulfilling the meaning of life. The Psalmist may best clarify this when he writes, "Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain" (Psalm 119:36). It would be difficult to find in any of the spiritual aspirations of the media stars cited above that personal gain did not take precedence over humble obedience.
If we are going to attribute our success to anything, let us be sure that it is because we learned how to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile, not because we are the MVP for catching the winning pass.
* * *
Iran has outlawed Valentine's Day. In the official government statement the decree reads, "Symbols of hearts, half-hearts, red roses, and any activities promoting this day are banned." In a nation where over 70% of the population is under 30, this does crimp a day in which one could freely express love to that certain someone in a very meaningful and special manner.
In an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, Melik Kaylan writes: "Theocratic regimes invariably suffer from the same besetting sin: As the world evolves, they must either revise their antiquated doctrines or try to hold the world rigidly in stasis." As there is no dogma prohibiting the celebration of Valentine's Day, the prohibition against the illicit socialization between the sexes seemed reason enough to suffice the disbanding of Valentine's Day. Kaylan concludes, "It convinces no one. Instead, the regime seems dedicated above all to stamping out joy wherever it may accidently arise -- a sour, paranoid struggle against the irrepressible forces of nature, change, the seasons, music, romance, and laughter."
Comparing Iran's ban on Valentine's Day and the Lord's decrees in the lectionary readings for this Sunday, we see two very distinct orientations. One, as correctly interpreted by Kaylan, "seems dedicated above all to stamping out joy wherever it may accidently arise." The other orientation, in which one serves to give assistance and meaning to life for another -- going the extra mile; loving your enemy; turning the other cheek; not defrauding your neighbor; not dealing falsely -- is joy-producing as it enhances interpersonal relationships. Which, I would guess, is also the meaning of the symbols of hearts, half-hearts, and red roses. By affirming others, let us allow joy to arise spontaneously.
* * *
When confronted recently by CNN's Piers Morgan, Joel Osteen had to admit that he believed homosexuality was a sin. Osteen said, "Yes, I've always believed the scriptures show that homosexuality is a sin. But I'm not one of those who is out there to bash homosexuals and tell them that they're terrible people."
The following topic was once again Osteen defending what has become known as the "prosperity gospel." In that segment of the interview, Osteen said, "God's desire is that we excel."
Elizabeth Tenety, in a commentary on that interview for the Washington Post, ended her piece with this question: "What do you think about religious leaders who advocate a 'hate the sin, love the sinner' (or in Osteen's case -- dislike the sin but inspire the sinner) approach to homosexuality?"
As Osteen, and so many other Christians, try to do, it is nearly impossible to condemn the sin without condemning the sinner as well. It may not be Osteen's intent to "bash" -- but if you were on the receiving end of his remark how could not help but feel bashed? However, according to Tenety's observation, you can still be bashed but wealthy, because in Osteen's view, excessive wealth is not a sin but a spiritual blessing. As it is often said, "What others do is a sin; what I do is a rationalization."
"Love your enemies" is not the same as "hate the sin, love the sinner." The latter has a note of condemnation and disenfranchisement; the former has a note of acceptance and reconciliation. We must guard ourselves against what we condemn. And if we do condemn a sin, let us be sure we leave the self-worth of an individual intact.
* * *
You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out he hates all the same people you do.
-- Anne Lamott
* * *
Evildoers and Bullies
But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also... (Matthew 5:39)
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, in a speech last Saturday (February 12) before the CPAC convention in Washington, took a decidedly different view. "Mr. President," he said, "bullies respect strength; they don't respect weakness. So when the United States of America projects its national security interests here and around the world, we need to do it with strength."
Is the United States government excused from the mandates of the Christian gospel? Can a government entity be expected to follow Jesus' commandments?
* * *
More on Bullies
Middletown, Ohio -- Three students have been arrested following an incident Friday in which a fellow student's hair was set on fire while riding a school bus.
Devin Lewis, 15, told the Middletown Journal that he was listening to music while on the bus when someone pulled off his hood, and another student held a flame in front of his face.
According to the police report, that's when another male student holding a lighter lit Lewis' hair on fire. "I felt the heat on the back and somebody blowing my hair," Lewis told WKRC. He reached to the back of his head, and when he looked at his hand, "I just saw ashes." His hair was singed almost to the scalp. Other students extinguished the flames.
On Monday another incident occurred on a Middletown school bus between a 16-year-old female student and another 17-year-old female student who is nine months pregnant, while riding home from an alternative school in West Chester Township.
The pregnant student and the bus driver were allegedly struck before the 16-year-old girl fled. An aide on the board who tried to intervene was also bruised.
Middletown City Schools spokeswoman Debbie Alberico said there is no connection between the two incidents, but that they are under investigation. "We don't tolerate any of this stuff," Alberico told the Middletown Journal. "We don't tolerate lighting hair on fire, fighting, hitting, bullying, and serious misbehavior."
* * *
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God; I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:14)
On January 23, 1990, the 101st Congress held a session to establish a clear and comprehensive prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability. Those present at that session agreed that the prohibition be cited as the "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990" (ADA).
Their research showed that more than 43 million Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and that number is increasing as the population as a whole grows older.
Historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem.
Discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services.
Unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination.
Individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities.
Census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in the society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally.
The purpose of the law is to "provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities."
* * *
Let 'Em Play
You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God; I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:14)
The future of sports sits in a Massachusetts basement, down the hall from a roomful of Legos. The future of sports is happening in a cavernous building in Iceland. The future of sports lies under the bed of a 13-year-old boy with no legs in Florida.
The basement: It's in the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, and it's full of metal gizmos that surround an equation-covered whiteboard. A bilateral amputee professor named Hugh Herr here. If anyone can predict what sports will look like in 2050, it's Herr, who lost his legs 26 years ago in a climbing accident. Herr wears robotic limbs with motorized ankles and insists he doesn't want his human legs back because soon they'll be archaic. "People have always thought the human body is the ideal," he says. "It's not."
The building: It's the home of Ossur, a prosthetics-design firm in Reykjavik. Researchers here are developing limbs that rely on Bluetooth technology to "know" how to move. While the able-bodied don't need to tell their legs to run up steps, amputees must will their prosthetics to make every movement. But just because the limbs are gone doesn't mean the remaining nerves have stopped working. Scientists want to wire artificial legs and arms into the nervous system and make them part of the body itself. Already, a below-the-knee amputee at Ossur walks uphill and downhill on a treadmill. He dances. He kicks a soccer ball. He bends it like Beckham. Soon, prosthetics wearers will be able to turn, cut, and twist, motions difficult with current technology but essential in most sports...
The boy: His name is Anthony Burruto. He's 13 and has no idea what's happening in those labs. But you can bet he wants the technology if it means his two fake legs will work as well as his right arm, which can hurl a baseball scary fast. Little League opponents agree not to bunt when Burruto takes the mound. But soon he might have better legs than any of them. Soon there will be no need to change the rules so disabled boys can play with regular kids. Soon officials will be forced to wrestle with this question: How can able-bodied kids keep up with the superabled? And when that day comes, when the basement and the building and the boy come together, sports will change forever.
* * *
Fair Labor Laws in the Bible
You shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. (Leviticus 19:13c)
Fair labor laws were introduced in the time of Moses and probably codified and written during or shortly after the Babylonian captivity, but they have taken a long time to sink in. Here are just a few examples of the sacrifices that were required to bring fair labor practices to the United States of America.
*In 1806 the union of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers was convicted of and bankrupted by charges of criminal conspiracy after a strike for higher wages.
*On April 27, 1825, carpenters in Boston called the first strike for a 10-hour work-day.
*On July 3, 1835, children employed in the silk mills in Paterson, New Jersey, went on strike for an 11-hour day/6-day week.
*In July of 1851, two railroad strikers were shot dead and others injured by the state militia in Portgage, New York.
*In 1860, 800 women and 4,000 workmen marched during a shoemaker's strike in Lynn, Massachusetts.
*On January 13, 1874, as unemployed workers demonstrated in New York's Tompkins Square Park, a detachment of mounted police charged into the crowd, beating men, women, and children indiscriminately with billy clubs and leaving hundreds of casualties in their wake. Commented Abram Duryee, the Commissioner of Police: "It was the most glorious sight I ever saw..."
*On July 21, 1887, ten coal-mining union organizers were hanged in Pennsylvania.
*On July 14, 1887, when strikers halted railroad traffic in Chicago, federal troops killed 30 workers and wounded over 100.
*Not until 1884 did the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (forerunner of the AFL) pass a resolution stating that "8 hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Come and learn the way of our God.
People: We will learn and observe them to the end.
Leader: Let God turn your hearts to God's ways.
People: We want God's ways more than selfish gain.
Leader: Let God turn your eyes from vanities.
People: We would rather have the life that God's way brings.
OR
Leader: Come and worship the God of love.
People: We come to praise and adore the God revealed in Jesus.
Leader: We are called to not only worship God but also become like God.
People: How can we become like God?
Leader: Jesus has set the example and given us his own Spirit.
People: By the power of Jesus, we will become the very image of God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee"
found in:
UMH: 89
H82: 376
PH: 464
AAHH: 120
NNBH: 40
NCH: 4
CH: 2
LBW: 551
"Hope of the World"
found in:
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
"Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies"
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
"I Am Thine, O Lord"
found in:
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
"Make Me a Captive, Lord"
found in:
UMH: 421
PH: 378
"The Gift of Love"
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
Renew: 155
"What Does the Lord Require"
found in:
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
"Jesu, Jesu"
found in:
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
CCB: 66
Renew: 289
"Make Me a Servant"
found in:
CCB: 90
"Sanctuary"
found in:
CCB: 87
Renew: 185
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who calls us into your life: Grant us the wisdom to realize that all you teach us is meant to shape us into your children and is not based on the behavior of others; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We have come to worship you, O God, the One who creates us and re-creates us time and again into your image. Open our hearts and minds this day that we may understand the ways in which you desire to shape and mold us into a clearer reflection of your love. Help us to not get distracted by the behaviors of others but to focus our lives on what you want us to become. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our justifying our bad behavior based on the bad behavior of others.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us to so live that we might become more and more like you. You have gifted us with your Spirit, the Spirit that dwelt in Jesus, and yet we have failed miserably in living out of your love and power. When you call us to be loving and forgiving, instead of looking to you and who you want us to become, we look at those who have offended us and decide they do not deserve our forgiveness. We totally miss the point that being forgiving is about our becoming like you and has little to do with what has been done to us. Forgive us, and call us once more to see in Jesus your clear image so that we too might shine with your glory. Amen.
Leader: God is always seeking us, always calling us to draw nearer so that we might reflect God's image more clearly. God loves us and forgives us and invites us to become all that we were created to be.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and adore you, O God, for the brightness of your love that is reflected in all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us to so live that we might become more and more like you. You have gifted us with your Spirit, the Spirit that dwelt in Jesus, and yet we have failed miserably in living out of your love and power. When you call us to be loving and forgiving, instead of looking to you and who you want us to become, we look at those who have offended us and decide they do not deserve our forgiveness. We totally miss the point that being forgiving is about our becoming like you and has little to do with what has been done to us. Forgive us, and call us once more to see in Jesus your clear image so that we too might shine with your glory.
We thank you for all the ways in which you have shown us your love and glory. We thank you for creation and your splendor that we see reflected there. We thank you for those who have lived before us lives that shine with your love. We thank you for their faithfulness to you and to us, as we have learned more about you and your love from them. Most of all we thank you for Jesus, and the clear reflection he allowed his life to be for us in his teaching, his living, and his dying.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for all who are in need of your love and care this day. We know you are already at work in their lives. We pray that we might become clearer reflections of your love so that they can more easily discern your love for them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
Images of Jesus before his accusers and judges; images of people using nonviolent protest. (Maybe you even have an old image of flower children sticking flowers in the barrels of soldiers' guns.)
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk about how you don't like some insects (bees, flies, mosquitoes, etc.). Tell the children that whenever you see one landing on the table in front of you, you slap yourself on the forehead. Tell them that no matter how you try that doesn't seem to do much to get rid of the insect you don't like. Explore with the children what you might be doing wrong. Oh, you are slapping yourself instead of the insect. Talk to the children about how we do the same thing when we don't forgive people. Not forgiving someone doesn't hurt them -- just us. It makes us angry and feel bad inside. The only way to stop the hurting is to forgive them.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
The Other Cheek
Matthew 5:38-48
Good morning, boys and girls! There once was a boy who was always fighting. If someone accidently touched him, he hit them with his fist. If someone called him a funny name, he kicked them. If someone laughed at him, he beat up on them. After a while the others learned to fight back, and the boy came home lonely with bruises and bad feelings.
One day someone asked, ducking his blow, "Why do you want to fight?"
"To show I am stronger than anyone else!" The boy clenched his fists.
"Does that make you feel good?" asked the other as he ran.
The boy asked himself, "Does fighting make me feel good? Of course, winning is good. But winning is lonely."
The next time a child made a face at him, he began to beat up on him and the voice said, "Turn the other cheek." The boy turned his head the other way and continued hitting the other.
"No, silly, I mean if someone hits you on one cheek, turn the other, so he can hit that one too."
The boy was so surprised by such a silly suggestion that he stopped fighting long enough to laugh. The more he thought about it, the harder he laughed. He laughed so loud the others heard him and began to laugh. Soon everyone was laughing, and it felt so good to be laughing together that the boy laughed even longer.
"This is better than fighting!" he thought. Since that day, whenever anyone calls him a funny name, he laughs, remembering the silly but wise advice someone gave him long ago.
Talk together: Do you like to fight? Who said "Turn the other cheek? Forgive"?
Prayer: Dear God, help me remember Jesus' words when I am angry. Remind me to count to ten or laugh and "turn the other cheek." Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 20, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word 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.
