A God Of New Things
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
As the new calendar year commences much media attention is focused on Washington, where this week our legislators returned from their holiday break and began a new session of Congress. The large crop of new representatives elected in November were sworn in, and it will be interesting to see how well they are able to deliver on their promises to change the government's fiscal priorities and spending habits. It's striking that "change" is a key and recurring theme for both parties (remember how central the theme of "change" was in President Obama's campaign two years ago) -- and yet it seems that the way business is conducted in our nation's capital is almost as enduring and immutable to change as the proverbial "death and taxes." In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer notes that what comes to mind is the familiar maxim "The more things change, the more they stay the same." We eternally hope for true, genuine change for the better in many areas of life -- but as we all know, one of life's great (if painful) lessons is that people and human institutions will often disappoint us. In this week's lectionary passage from Isaiah, the prophet talks about a covenant with the people that brings forth justice and light to the nations. We might wish that our political institutions would be able to, in Isaiah's words, "open the eyes that are blind [and] bring out the prisoners from the dungeon" -- but as Dean points out, we ought to remind ourselves of where to really look for the true light that will produce real change and "faithfully bring forth justice." Another team member offers some thoughts on the necessity of Jesus' baptism -- using the rather unlikely analogy of a "zombie satellite."
A God of New Things
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Roughly translated: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
So observed French satirist and author Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849, and so might we observe as we enter the opening days of a new year, 2011. We want to believe that things will change, and hopefully for the better. But hard experience tells us that this is often not the case.
People are people, after all. Just because a new year has rolled around doesn't mean we're going to suddenly bridge our estrangements and eschew our dysfunctional behaviors. And chances are, neither is anyone else.
If we put our trust in people -- in politicians and lobbyists, in management and labor, in masters and servants, even in preachers and priests -- we will most certainly be disappointed and find ourselves locked into Karr's epigram: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
But if we place our hope in God, as Isaiah and the Psalmist commend us, we can hope for and expect some genuinely "new things."
THE WORLD
The ball dropped and everyone cheered. On the morning news/talk shows reporters were out on the streets of New York asking people about their New Year's resolutions. The answers sounded oddly familiar -- lose weight, start exercising, quit smoking, get organized, save more money, spend more time with my family.
On CBS's The Early Show (12/30/10) we were surprised by one sweet elderly lady who resolved to "find a nice old gentleman who doesn't fall asleep before I do." And we yawned through a segment in which an "expert" told how to make resolutions we can keep, and keep the resolutions we make.
It all sounded so familiar. Didn't we see exactly this same segment last year? Does nothing ever change? I mean, really change? Was Alphonse Karr right? It would seem so. Just look at the news:
* Another politician -- this time it's a Republican, failed Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell -- is being investigated for campaign finance irregularities, and she says there's nothing to it, blaming it all on a disgruntled former employee or political rivals or the vice-president of the United States. Only the name and the party is different this time.
* Europe is digging out of some freak snowstorms. Blizzards are pounding the northeast US. Rain and mudslides are slashing at the west coast. Flu is gripping the Midwest. The Florida citrus crop is in danger of freezing... again.
* Terrorists are exploding bombs in Europe and the Middle East, and they're planning to explode some here in the USA.
* Newly elected politicians who voters elected just three months ago on their promises to be responsive to the voice of the people and keep "special interests" out of government, and who were sworn into office this week are, in fact, tripping over each other to raise money from and even hire as members of their staffs the very lobbyists they condemned in their campaigns just a few short months ago.
"These cases," says the Washington Post, "illustrate the endurance of Washington's traditional power structure, even in the wake of an election dominated by insurgent rhetoric." (Wednesday, December 8, 2010)
* North and South Korea are rattling their sabers at each other, threatening war... again.
* Gas prices are going up again, and some experts are predicting they will reach $4 per gallon by the end of the year -- but, they also say, that signals a return to a robust economy. But who knows, really? Does anyone believe them?
Does it seem to you, as it does to so many of us, that we've seen this movie before, that we've heard the promises, witnessed the reality, and are so hardened to it all that we don't even get disappointed anymore?
It follows -- as night follows day -- that placing our trust and our faith in the wrong things, in the creation instead of the Creator, always leads to disappointment, cynicism, and finally despair.
Fortunately, Isaiah and the Psalmist, in their offerings for this Sunday, have an alternative plan that leads to hope and joy.
THE WORD
Their plan is to start putting our trust and our hope not in created things but in the Creator, not in human beings but in the one who first breathed life into those first human lungs, not in the plans and schemes of politicians but in the promises of God and the prophecies of those who have served God.
For centuries scholars have debated the identity of the "my servant" introduced in Isaiah 42, and no consensus has been reached. Is this a poem to be read at the birth of a new prince, the inauguration of a new king, or the recognition of a new power? Or is the servant Isaiah himself?
Paul D. Hanson argues convincingly in the Interpretation Bible Commentary: Isaiah 40-66 (John Knox Press, 1995) that the servant may be the people of Israel, and indeed anyone who is called by God to lead God's people. The servant of which Isaiah speaks may be you, or the church, or your local church.
In verses 1-4 Isaiah points to the servant, confirms the authenticity of the servant's calling, and pronounces precisely what that calling is: to bring forth justice.
In verses 5-9 the prophet anticipates the arguments people will have against following this person who is called of God. They will whine about the servant's new ideas, they will complain about the risks involved in following the servant, they will romanticize about the past, and their desire will be for former things, the darkness that was before.
But God reminds the people that when you follow God's servant you must always expect the unexpected, the new, the untried, and the risky. Sometimes God will call us to walk boldly into the darkness, to actually build the bridge as we are crossing it: "The former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them."
The Psalmist sings a hymn to God's power, which is evident in the forces of nature. Trees we thought would live forever eventually die and fall down or are ripped up by winds and floods. Rivers we thought were eternal change their course after a flood. Forests decades old are as nothing before the power of a forest fire. Fierce winds strip the bark off an old tree and uproot a great oak.
Human beings would do well to see these things as evidence of the power and majesty of the God we worship. When we hear that wind and smell the smoke of that forest fire, how should we respond? "In his temple all say, 'Glory!' "
It is the Lord God who made us and all the creation in which we work and play and marvel. We, God's servants, are called to add just one thing to that creation: justice.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The indicative in these texts is so powerful that it cannot be spoken except in verse. Both Isaiah and the Psalmist see this clearly, and so should we as we approach our preaching for this week. As we begin our new year, let us pause for a few minutes on Sunday morning to take inventory of all that the Lord has given us. Let us be aware of both the awesome which can be a little scary, and the marvelous which can move us to tears. Let us sing songs of triumph, ballads of love, and lullabies of rich contentment, all to the glory of the God who gives them to us.
Then let us move ecstatically to the imperative that calls us to say "Glory to God" in the midst of the whirlwind and to "bring forth justice to the nations," always knowing that God has provided us with the "strength" and "peace" that is necessary to undertake that to which we are called.
ANOTHER VIEW
by David Jordan Squire
Matthew 3:13-17
John's baptism of Jesus raises several theological issues -- one of which Matthew's account places front and center when he tells us that John initially demurred when Jesus approached him. Why would Jesus, who was without sin, need to be baptized? John realizes this, and at first wants no part of such a ritual. He says to Jesus, "I need to be baptized by you; why do you come to me?"
Jesus replies that "It is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." And therein lies the key to understanding the conundrum that Jesus' baptism raises -- he doesn't need to be baptized, per se. But it is vitally important to us that Jesus is baptized, for some of the same reasons that our own baptisms are a key part of our identity as Christians. Just as with our baptisms, Jesus' baptism provides a sign -- a marker of his essence as not just one of God's children, but as the Son of God. This is underlined when the voice from heaven says, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Jesus needed to be baptized by John because it reveals to the world his identity, his inner being.
In an odd sort of way, I was reminded of that recently with the news item about Galaxy 15, the "zombie satellite" that after spending months adrift in orbit sending out uncontrolled signals suddenly resets itself and began responding to commands again. Apparently, once the satellite's battery became completely drained, it reset itself as designed and once again followed directions from its control center. It seems to me that this is an analogy for how baptism functions -- we are powered by the batteries of sin, and as long as that dominates our power sources, we are incapable of following the directions from our true Master. But with baptism, our sin is washed away (completely drained, if you will) and we are reset as we have been designed by the Creator and thus enabled to follow his guidance. Baptism is the outward sign that we have been reset by God -- and while Jesus may not have needed to be drained of sin in order to be reset, his baptism was an important signal to us, and to the world, of his identity. In a sense, it was a sign that was necessary "to fulfill all righteousness" because it signaled the beginning of Jesus' ministry.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson is in the process of producing Freedom Riders, a documentary about the 1961 Freedom Riders who brought public attention to the atrocities of segregation. The Freedom Riders were Northerners, mostly college students, who rode buses into the deep South in protesting segregation. Many were jailed, some were beaten, several were murdered, and a bus was burned, but they persisted in their witness. To bring a feeling of authenticity to the film, Nelson is recruiting 40 students to ride a bus that will trace the original route. In doing so, Nelson wants to thunder forth this message: "It really says that this movement was a movement of people. Nobody else will ever be a Martin Luther King. What Freedom Riders said is that you don't have to be."
We may never be an Isaiah who stands in the centerpiece of history as one who was called to "bring forth justice." But we do not have to be an Isaiah to make a difference. We will change lives and right wrongs if we follow Isaiah's example and faithfully implement his teachings.
* * *
I like to consider his baptism Jesus' first miracle: the miracle of his humility. The first thing Jesus does for us is go down with us. His whole life will be like this. It is well known that Jesus ended his career on a cross between two thieves; it deserves to be as well known that he began his ministry in a river among penitent sinners.
-- Dale Bruner
* * *
I think half the troubles for which men go slouching in prayer to God are caused by their intolerable pride. Many of our cares are but a morbid way of looking at our privileges. We let our blessings get moldy, and then call them curses.
-- Henry Ward Beecher
* * *
New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was named as the Associate Press's Male Athlete of the Year for 2010. He was selected by the AP not only for his part in rebuilding a football team, but also for helping to rebuild a city devastated by Hurricane Katrina through millions of dollars in charitable contributions.
Receiving the honor, Brees noted that New Orleans was an unlikely place for him to rebuild his career following a career-threatening shoulder injury. He said: "The Saints organization and team didn't have that great a reputation prior to (2006) and so it was probably not the most attractive place for anybody to come. Then right after the storm, the city's destroyed and everybody is displaced and I look back on those times and it was like we were really starting over."
In speaking of Isaiah, God said "Here is my servant." Bold before the people, yet humble before God, Isaiah went forth to restore the land. The Associated Press recognized in Drew Brees a man who was willing to go forth and restore a city.
You and I may not have the prominent position of being a Super Bowl quarterback, and we may lack the means to contribute millions of dollars to worthy causes, but we can certainly be one who is introduced by God as "Here is my servant" if we lovingly assist others.
* * *
Recently the Associated Press named Chip Kelly, head coach for the University of Oregon, as the AP's College Football Coach of the Year. Kelly is known for designing an explosive offense and his ability to negotiate problem players, and these attributes placed him at the top of the AP's list.
This season the Ducks have fully bought into Kelly's philosophy, expressed in his motto "Win the Day." This is the last thing the Oregon players see as they emerge onto the field at Autzen Stadium. The acronym "WTD" is prominently displayed at the four corners of the stadium. It is a constant reminder to stay focused on the game and the task that has been set before them.
The scriptures speak of Isaiah and his assigned task to bring justice into an idolatrous world with the words, "He will not grow faint..." Isaiah did set out to "Win the Day" for the Lord.
We are a part of a team of Christians who are to "Win the Day" for Jesus. It is a difficult task, as we are to be the advocates for justice and a friend to the disenfranchised. With our support team being limited to members of our immediate congregation, becoming faint in well-doing is commonplace. That is why it would be good for us to place in the four corners of our council chambers, where we huddle together to plan the ministry of the church, the letters "WTD."
* * *
John McPhee wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal titled, "Writing a Strong Lead Is Half the Battle". McPhee contends that in any written work, writing the lead sentence "is the hardest part of the story to write," yet it is the most important. McPhee, a Pulitzer Prize winner, concluded his essay with this admonition: "A lead is good not because it dances, fires cannons, or whistles like a train, but because it is absolute to what follows."
Peter said, "Jesus commanded us to preach." As we preach about Jesus we have an innumerable amount of the best leads possible. Just open the New Testament to any page and the lead sentence to our forthcoming sermon will be printed before us. It will take many forms -- from words spoken by Jesus, to words spoken about Jesus, to an act performed by Jesus, to an act performed in the name of Jesus. Wherever one would choose to place a finger on the page, there will be a lead sentence for our preaching.
* * *
In one of Bob Thaves' Frank and Ernest comic strips, Frank and Ernest are standing at a street corner. Ernie has a pillow tucked up under his arm, when another man arrives at the curb. Frank, in defense of his friend, says, "Some people always carry a laptop in case they get a chance to do some work -- it's different with Ernie."
Peter said Jesus "commands us to preach." There can be no mistaking the powerful connotation of the word "command." Shall Jesus find tucked up under our arm a pillow or a Bible?
* * *
In an interview conducted the week before Christmas, Oscar and Grammy award winner Jamie Foxx credits his success to his 16-year-old daughter, Corinne. As he began to first write music she walked into the room, listened for a short time, and then said, "I hope you don't put that on there because you going to put everybody to sleep."
Peter said, "We are witnesses to all that Jesus did both in Judea and Jerusalem." And I can assure you, when we share the story of Jesus and all the exciting and miraculous things that he did, we are not going to put anyone to sleep.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Ascribe to God glory and strength.
People: Ascribe to God the glory of God's Name.
Leader: The voice of God is over the waters.
People: The voice of God thunders over mighty waters.
Leader: May God give strength to the people.
People: May God bless us with peace!
OR
Leader: God calls the people to justice.
People: As God's servants, we hear that call.
Leader: God promises to be with us until justice is achieved.
People: We trust in God to be with us in our quest.
Leader: The old ways are fleeing!
People: God's new way of justice is coming!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
found in:
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
Renew: 249
"God Hath Spoken by the Prophets"
found in:
UMH: 108
LBW: 238
"O God of Every Nation"
found in:
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
"This Is My Song"
found in:
UMH: 437
NCH: 591
CH: 722
"What Does the Lord Require"
found in:
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
"Go Down, Moses"
found in:
UMH: 448
PH: 290
NCH: 33
"Cuando El Pobre" ("When the Poor Ones")
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 662
"Seek Ye First"
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 337
CH: 354
CCB: 76
"I Am Loved"
CCB: 80
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 seeks justice for all creation: Grant us the courage to truly be your servants and to work tirelessly until justice flows throughout all creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship you, O God, the God of Justice. We come to honor your Name with our songs and our prayers. We come to be strengthened and to honor your Name in our actions as we work for justice in all creation. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we honor God with our mouths but deny God by allowing injustice to reign among us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have taken the Name of Jesus as our Savior, and yet we have not committed ourselves to the agenda of peace and justice. We are content to defend our rights and possessions, but we care little for those nameless people who suffer daily from oppression and want. Forgive us and empower us with your Spirit that we may truly walk the path of Jesus and set people free to live in justice and peace throughout the world. Amen.
Leader: God has called us and God is faithful. When we return to God and seek to follow God's path, the way is always open. God forgives us and grants us the power to be faithful in our discipleship.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise and glorify your Name, O God, for you are the God of Justice. You see all your creatures as your very own and love all of us more than any of us can comprehend.
(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 have taken the Name of Jesus as our Savior, and yet we have not committed ourselves to the agenda of peace and justice. We are content to defend our rights and possessions, but we care little for those nameless people who suffer daily from oppression and want. Forgive us and empower us with your Spirit that we may truly walk the path of Jesus and set people free to live in justice and peace throughout the world.
We give you thanks for the ways in which you have shown us how to live in peace and justice with one another. We thank you for your prophets, judges, and seers, who have called us to be faithful to your vision of creation. We thank you for those who have clearly heard your call to justice and have helped move us closer to a just society.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for one another in our needs and especially for those who feel most keenly the lack of justice in their lives. We think of those in prisons for political viewpoints they hold, those who are denied food and the right to work because of their status, those who are treated shamefully and have no recourse to right the wrongs done to 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
a balance scale; a picture/statue of Lady Justice
Children's Sermon Starter
If you haven't eaten all your Christmas candy yet, why not share it with the children in your parish? Explain to the children that you want to share, but you are not sure how to do it properly. Tell them you want to try a couple of different ways and they can tell you which one they think is best. Give one piece to a child and several pieces to the next one. Make it obvious that it is not being distributed evenly. Try some other lopsided ways, such as giving much more to the taller children or some other silly distinction. Then distribute it evenly. Talk about how God cares for each of us.
If the children are older, you are feeling brave, or you want to make a point with the rest of the congregation, you can talk about that it would be different if all the children brought a bag of candy with them, except one. Because that child had no candy, justice would give them more to even things up.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Baptism
Matthew 3:13-17
Good morning, boys and girls! In our gospel lesson Jesus went to John the Baptist at the River Jordan to be baptized. In those days people were baptized by walking into the water and being dunked. When Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up out of the water, suddenly a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
Jennifer was six, and her greatest joy was to go with her father on his trips. Her father was a preacher, and he enjoyed the Jennifer's company as well. One day he invited Jennifer to go with him to another city where he would be preaching, and she said, "Yes!"
In the car he decided to talk to Jennifer about his sermon and asked, "Where do you think God is?"
After thinking a moment, she said, "Well, God is in heaven."
Her father decided to push her a bit and said, "But Jennifer, people have looked up into the sky with powerful telescopes and in spaceships and have never seen God."
Jennifer thought some more and said slowly, a bit upset, "Well, God is in your heart then."
Jennifer's father forgot that God is Spirit and you don't see God with your eyes, and he said, "But Jennifer, people have opened hearts and have never found God there either."
Jennifer began to cry and her father felt badly, when suddenly she continued, "Well, all I know, Daddy, is that God was what I knew before I knew anything else."
Jennifer's tears and words were like a baptism, when out of the heavens, whether from the sky or from his heart, her father heard the words, "This is my beloved daughter. Listen to her."
Talk together: How does God speak? What might be some ways?
Prayer: Dear God, whether in heaven or our hearts, we know you before we know anything else. Thank you for being like a loving Parent, loving and listening to us always. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 9, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 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.
A God of New Things
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 29
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Roughly translated: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
So observed French satirist and author Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849, and so might we observe as we enter the opening days of a new year, 2011. We want to believe that things will change, and hopefully for the better. But hard experience tells us that this is often not the case.
People are people, after all. Just because a new year has rolled around doesn't mean we're going to suddenly bridge our estrangements and eschew our dysfunctional behaviors. And chances are, neither is anyone else.
If we put our trust in people -- in politicians and lobbyists, in management and labor, in masters and servants, even in preachers and priests -- we will most certainly be disappointed and find ourselves locked into Karr's epigram: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
But if we place our hope in God, as Isaiah and the Psalmist commend us, we can hope for and expect some genuinely "new things."
THE WORLD
The ball dropped and everyone cheered. On the morning news/talk shows reporters were out on the streets of New York asking people about their New Year's resolutions. The answers sounded oddly familiar -- lose weight, start exercising, quit smoking, get organized, save more money, spend more time with my family.
On CBS's The Early Show (12/30/10) we were surprised by one sweet elderly lady who resolved to "find a nice old gentleman who doesn't fall asleep before I do." And we yawned through a segment in which an "expert" told how to make resolutions we can keep, and keep the resolutions we make.
It all sounded so familiar. Didn't we see exactly this same segment last year? Does nothing ever change? I mean, really change? Was Alphonse Karr right? It would seem so. Just look at the news:
* Another politician -- this time it's a Republican, failed Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell -- is being investigated for campaign finance irregularities, and she says there's nothing to it, blaming it all on a disgruntled former employee or political rivals or the vice-president of the United States. Only the name and the party is different this time.
* Europe is digging out of some freak snowstorms. Blizzards are pounding the northeast US. Rain and mudslides are slashing at the west coast. Flu is gripping the Midwest. The Florida citrus crop is in danger of freezing... again.
* Terrorists are exploding bombs in Europe and the Middle East, and they're planning to explode some here in the USA.
* Newly elected politicians who voters elected just three months ago on their promises to be responsive to the voice of the people and keep "special interests" out of government, and who were sworn into office this week are, in fact, tripping over each other to raise money from and even hire as members of their staffs the very lobbyists they condemned in their campaigns just a few short months ago.
"These cases," says the Washington Post, "illustrate the endurance of Washington's traditional power structure, even in the wake of an election dominated by insurgent rhetoric." (Wednesday, December 8, 2010)
* North and South Korea are rattling their sabers at each other, threatening war... again.
* Gas prices are going up again, and some experts are predicting they will reach $4 per gallon by the end of the year -- but, they also say, that signals a return to a robust economy. But who knows, really? Does anyone believe them?
Does it seem to you, as it does to so many of us, that we've seen this movie before, that we've heard the promises, witnessed the reality, and are so hardened to it all that we don't even get disappointed anymore?
It follows -- as night follows day -- that placing our trust and our faith in the wrong things, in the creation instead of the Creator, always leads to disappointment, cynicism, and finally despair.
Fortunately, Isaiah and the Psalmist, in their offerings for this Sunday, have an alternative plan that leads to hope and joy.
THE WORD
Their plan is to start putting our trust and our hope not in created things but in the Creator, not in human beings but in the one who first breathed life into those first human lungs, not in the plans and schemes of politicians but in the promises of God and the prophecies of those who have served God.
For centuries scholars have debated the identity of the "my servant" introduced in Isaiah 42, and no consensus has been reached. Is this a poem to be read at the birth of a new prince, the inauguration of a new king, or the recognition of a new power? Or is the servant Isaiah himself?
Paul D. Hanson argues convincingly in the Interpretation Bible Commentary: Isaiah 40-66 (John Knox Press, 1995) that the servant may be the people of Israel, and indeed anyone who is called by God to lead God's people. The servant of which Isaiah speaks may be you, or the church, or your local church.
In verses 1-4 Isaiah points to the servant, confirms the authenticity of the servant's calling, and pronounces precisely what that calling is: to bring forth justice.
In verses 5-9 the prophet anticipates the arguments people will have against following this person who is called of God. They will whine about the servant's new ideas, they will complain about the risks involved in following the servant, they will romanticize about the past, and their desire will be for former things, the darkness that was before.
But God reminds the people that when you follow God's servant you must always expect the unexpected, the new, the untried, and the risky. Sometimes God will call us to walk boldly into the darkness, to actually build the bridge as we are crossing it: "The former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them."
The Psalmist sings a hymn to God's power, which is evident in the forces of nature. Trees we thought would live forever eventually die and fall down or are ripped up by winds and floods. Rivers we thought were eternal change their course after a flood. Forests decades old are as nothing before the power of a forest fire. Fierce winds strip the bark off an old tree and uproot a great oak.
Human beings would do well to see these things as evidence of the power and majesty of the God we worship. When we hear that wind and smell the smoke of that forest fire, how should we respond? "In his temple all say, 'Glory!' "
It is the Lord God who made us and all the creation in which we work and play and marvel. We, God's servants, are called to add just one thing to that creation: justice.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The indicative in these texts is so powerful that it cannot be spoken except in verse. Both Isaiah and the Psalmist see this clearly, and so should we as we approach our preaching for this week. As we begin our new year, let us pause for a few minutes on Sunday morning to take inventory of all that the Lord has given us. Let us be aware of both the awesome which can be a little scary, and the marvelous which can move us to tears. Let us sing songs of triumph, ballads of love, and lullabies of rich contentment, all to the glory of the God who gives them to us.
Then let us move ecstatically to the imperative that calls us to say "Glory to God" in the midst of the whirlwind and to "bring forth justice to the nations," always knowing that God has provided us with the "strength" and "peace" that is necessary to undertake that to which we are called.
ANOTHER VIEW
by David Jordan Squire
Matthew 3:13-17
John's baptism of Jesus raises several theological issues -- one of which Matthew's account places front and center when he tells us that John initially demurred when Jesus approached him. Why would Jesus, who was without sin, need to be baptized? John realizes this, and at first wants no part of such a ritual. He says to Jesus, "I need to be baptized by you; why do you come to me?"
Jesus replies that "It is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." And therein lies the key to understanding the conundrum that Jesus' baptism raises -- he doesn't need to be baptized, per se. But it is vitally important to us that Jesus is baptized, for some of the same reasons that our own baptisms are a key part of our identity as Christians. Just as with our baptisms, Jesus' baptism provides a sign -- a marker of his essence as not just one of God's children, but as the Son of God. This is underlined when the voice from heaven says, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Jesus needed to be baptized by John because it reveals to the world his identity, his inner being.
In an odd sort of way, I was reminded of that recently with the news item about Galaxy 15, the "zombie satellite" that after spending months adrift in orbit sending out uncontrolled signals suddenly resets itself and began responding to commands again. Apparently, once the satellite's battery became completely drained, it reset itself as designed and once again followed directions from its control center. It seems to me that this is an analogy for how baptism functions -- we are powered by the batteries of sin, and as long as that dominates our power sources, we are incapable of following the directions from our true Master. But with baptism, our sin is washed away (completely drained, if you will) and we are reset as we have been designed by the Creator and thus enabled to follow his guidance. Baptism is the outward sign that we have been reset by God -- and while Jesus may not have needed to be drained of sin in order to be reset, his baptism was an important signal to us, and to the world, of his identity. In a sense, it was a sign that was necessary "to fulfill all righteousness" because it signaled the beginning of Jesus' ministry.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson is in the process of producing Freedom Riders, a documentary about the 1961 Freedom Riders who brought public attention to the atrocities of segregation. The Freedom Riders were Northerners, mostly college students, who rode buses into the deep South in protesting segregation. Many were jailed, some were beaten, several were murdered, and a bus was burned, but they persisted in their witness. To bring a feeling of authenticity to the film, Nelson is recruiting 40 students to ride a bus that will trace the original route. In doing so, Nelson wants to thunder forth this message: "It really says that this movement was a movement of people. Nobody else will ever be a Martin Luther King. What Freedom Riders said is that you don't have to be."
We may never be an Isaiah who stands in the centerpiece of history as one who was called to "bring forth justice." But we do not have to be an Isaiah to make a difference. We will change lives and right wrongs if we follow Isaiah's example and faithfully implement his teachings.
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I like to consider his baptism Jesus' first miracle: the miracle of his humility. The first thing Jesus does for us is go down with us. His whole life will be like this. It is well known that Jesus ended his career on a cross between two thieves; it deserves to be as well known that he began his ministry in a river among penitent sinners.
-- Dale Bruner
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I think half the troubles for which men go slouching in prayer to God are caused by their intolerable pride. Many of our cares are but a morbid way of looking at our privileges. We let our blessings get moldy, and then call them curses.
-- Henry Ward Beecher
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New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was named as the Associate Press's Male Athlete of the Year for 2010. He was selected by the AP not only for his part in rebuilding a football team, but also for helping to rebuild a city devastated by Hurricane Katrina through millions of dollars in charitable contributions.
Receiving the honor, Brees noted that New Orleans was an unlikely place for him to rebuild his career following a career-threatening shoulder injury. He said: "The Saints organization and team didn't have that great a reputation prior to (2006) and so it was probably not the most attractive place for anybody to come. Then right after the storm, the city's destroyed and everybody is displaced and I look back on those times and it was like we were really starting over."
In speaking of Isaiah, God said "Here is my servant." Bold before the people, yet humble before God, Isaiah went forth to restore the land. The Associated Press recognized in Drew Brees a man who was willing to go forth and restore a city.
You and I may not have the prominent position of being a Super Bowl quarterback, and we may lack the means to contribute millions of dollars to worthy causes, but we can certainly be one who is introduced by God as "Here is my servant" if we lovingly assist others.
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Recently the Associated Press named Chip Kelly, head coach for the University of Oregon, as the AP's College Football Coach of the Year. Kelly is known for designing an explosive offense and his ability to negotiate problem players, and these attributes placed him at the top of the AP's list.
This season the Ducks have fully bought into Kelly's philosophy, expressed in his motto "Win the Day." This is the last thing the Oregon players see as they emerge onto the field at Autzen Stadium. The acronym "WTD" is prominently displayed at the four corners of the stadium. It is a constant reminder to stay focused on the game and the task that has been set before them.
The scriptures speak of Isaiah and his assigned task to bring justice into an idolatrous world with the words, "He will not grow faint..." Isaiah did set out to "Win the Day" for the Lord.
We are a part of a team of Christians who are to "Win the Day" for Jesus. It is a difficult task, as we are to be the advocates for justice and a friend to the disenfranchised. With our support team being limited to members of our immediate congregation, becoming faint in well-doing is commonplace. That is why it would be good for us to place in the four corners of our council chambers, where we huddle together to plan the ministry of the church, the letters "WTD."
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John McPhee wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal titled, "Writing a Strong Lead Is Half the Battle". McPhee contends that in any written work, writing the lead sentence "is the hardest part of the story to write," yet it is the most important. McPhee, a Pulitzer Prize winner, concluded his essay with this admonition: "A lead is good not because it dances, fires cannons, or whistles like a train, but because it is absolute to what follows."
Peter said, "Jesus commanded us to preach." As we preach about Jesus we have an innumerable amount of the best leads possible. Just open the New Testament to any page and the lead sentence to our forthcoming sermon will be printed before us. It will take many forms -- from words spoken by Jesus, to words spoken about Jesus, to an act performed by Jesus, to an act performed in the name of Jesus. Wherever one would choose to place a finger on the page, there will be a lead sentence for our preaching.
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In one of Bob Thaves' Frank and Ernest comic strips, Frank and Ernest are standing at a street corner. Ernie has a pillow tucked up under his arm, when another man arrives at the curb. Frank, in defense of his friend, says, "Some people always carry a laptop in case they get a chance to do some work -- it's different with Ernie."
Peter said Jesus "commands us to preach." There can be no mistaking the powerful connotation of the word "command." Shall Jesus find tucked up under our arm a pillow or a Bible?
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In an interview conducted the week before Christmas, Oscar and Grammy award winner Jamie Foxx credits his success to his 16-year-old daughter, Corinne. As he began to first write music she walked into the room, listened for a short time, and then said, "I hope you don't put that on there because you going to put everybody to sleep."
Peter said, "We are witnesses to all that Jesus did both in Judea and Jerusalem." And I can assure you, when we share the story of Jesus and all the exciting and miraculous things that he did, we are not going to put anyone to sleep.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Ascribe to God glory and strength.
People: Ascribe to God the glory of God's Name.
Leader: The voice of God is over the waters.
People: The voice of God thunders over mighty waters.
Leader: May God give strength to the people.
People: May God bless us with peace!
OR
Leader: God calls the people to justice.
People: As God's servants, we hear that call.
Leader: God promises to be with us until justice is achieved.
People: We trust in God to be with us in our quest.
Leader: The old ways are fleeing!
People: God's new way of justice is coming!
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Great Is Thy Faithfulness"
found in:
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
Renew: 249
"God Hath Spoken by the Prophets"
found in:
UMH: 108
LBW: 238
"O God of Every Nation"
found in:
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
"This Is My Song"
found in:
UMH: 437
NCH: 591
CH: 722
"What Does the Lord Require"
found in:
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
"Go Down, Moses"
found in:
UMH: 448
PH: 290
NCH: 33
"Cuando El Pobre" ("When the Poor Ones")
found in:
UMH: 434
PH: 407
CH: 662
"Seek Ye First"
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 337
CH: 354
CCB: 76
"I Am Loved"
CCB: 80
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 seeks justice for all creation: Grant us the courage to truly be your servants and to work tirelessly until justice flows throughout all creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship you, O God, the God of Justice. We come to honor your Name with our songs and our prayers. We come to be strengthened and to honor your Name in our actions as we work for justice in all creation. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we honor God with our mouths but deny God by allowing injustice to reign among us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have taken the Name of Jesus as our Savior, and yet we have not committed ourselves to the agenda of peace and justice. We are content to defend our rights and possessions, but we care little for those nameless people who suffer daily from oppression and want. Forgive us and empower us with your Spirit that we may truly walk the path of Jesus and set people free to live in justice and peace throughout the world. Amen.
Leader: God has called us and God is faithful. When we return to God and seek to follow God's path, the way is always open. God forgives us and grants us the power to be faithful in our discipleship.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We praise and glorify your Name, O God, for you are the God of Justice. You see all your creatures as your very own and love all of us more than any of us can comprehend.
(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 have taken the Name of Jesus as our Savior, and yet we have not committed ourselves to the agenda of peace and justice. We are content to defend our rights and possessions, but we care little for those nameless people who suffer daily from oppression and want. Forgive us and empower us with your Spirit that we may truly walk the path of Jesus and set people free to live in justice and peace throughout the world.
We give you thanks for the ways in which you have shown us how to live in peace and justice with one another. We thank you for your prophets, judges, and seers, who have called us to be faithful to your vision of creation. We thank you for those who have clearly heard your call to justice and have helped move us closer to a just society.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for one another in our needs and especially for those who feel most keenly the lack of justice in their lives. We think of those in prisons for political viewpoints they hold, those who are denied food and the right to work because of their status, those who are treated shamefully and have no recourse to right the wrongs done to 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
a balance scale; a picture/statue of Lady Justice
Children's Sermon Starter
If you haven't eaten all your Christmas candy yet, why not share it with the children in your parish? Explain to the children that you want to share, but you are not sure how to do it properly. Tell them you want to try a couple of different ways and they can tell you which one they think is best. Give one piece to a child and several pieces to the next one. Make it obvious that it is not being distributed evenly. Try some other lopsided ways, such as giving much more to the taller children or some other silly distinction. Then distribute it evenly. Talk about how God cares for each of us.
If the children are older, you are feeling brave, or you want to make a point with the rest of the congregation, you can talk about that it would be different if all the children brought a bag of candy with them, except one. Because that child had no candy, justice would give them more to even things up.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Baptism
Matthew 3:13-17
Good morning, boys and girls! In our gospel lesson Jesus went to John the Baptist at the River Jordan to be baptized. In those days people were baptized by walking into the water and being dunked. When Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up out of the water, suddenly a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
Jennifer was six, and her greatest joy was to go with her father on his trips. Her father was a preacher, and he enjoyed the Jennifer's company as well. One day he invited Jennifer to go with him to another city where he would be preaching, and she said, "Yes!"
In the car he decided to talk to Jennifer about his sermon and asked, "Where do you think God is?"
After thinking a moment, she said, "Well, God is in heaven."
Her father decided to push her a bit and said, "But Jennifer, people have looked up into the sky with powerful telescopes and in spaceships and have never seen God."
Jennifer thought some more and said slowly, a bit upset, "Well, God is in your heart then."
Jennifer's father forgot that God is Spirit and you don't see God with your eyes, and he said, "But Jennifer, people have opened hearts and have never found God there either."
Jennifer began to cry and her father felt badly, when suddenly she continued, "Well, all I know, Daddy, is that God was what I knew before I knew anything else."
Jennifer's tears and words were like a baptism, when out of the heavens, whether from the sky or from his heart, her father heard the words, "This is my beloved daughter. Listen to her."
Talk together: How does God speak? What might be some ways?
Prayer: Dear God, whether in heaven or our hearts, we know you before we know anything else. Thank you for being like a loving Parent, loving and listening to us always. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, January 9, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 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.
