Going Home
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
In the Old Testament text appointed by the lectionary for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Isaiah addresses the circumstances facing the exiled Israelites, who were in what seemed to be a hopeless situation as their army had been disbanded and their nation destroyed. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer points out that in many ways that mirrors the plight of refugees throughout the world today, whose entire neighborhoods have often been reduced to rubble and a dysfunctional (or even non-existent) civil infrastructure appears to be unable (or unwilling) to help them cope with the most basic needs of daily life -- let alone enabling them to rebuild their lives. Yet Isaiah and the Psalmist remind us that the Lord is with the Israelites and will provide for his people, telling them that "those who go out weeping... shall come home with shouts of joy" (Psalm 126:6). However, Dean also reminds us that does not mean a return trip in the "wayback machine" -- Isaiah pointedly notes that going home also implies starting over when he says: "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing" (Isaiah 43:18-19a). It's an object lesson for us not to get stuck in reliving past glories -- we are called to constantly rebuild and keep the gospel fresh.
Team member Robin Lostetter offers some additional thoughts on the gospel text about Mary anointing Jesus with expensive perfume. Judas excoriates Mary for her extravagance, noting that the nard could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Although John inserts some parenthetical comments questioning Judas' motives, Robin notes that it's striking how Jesus' observation that "you always have the poor with you" offers a counterbalance to his usual emphasis on social justice. But if Jesus suggests that focusing only on the needs of the poor is missing the bigger picture, his use of the word "always" also implies that this is an ongoing concern -- which might come as news to controversial talk show host Glenn Beck, who has created something of a firestorm with recent comments suggesting that his listeners should avoid churches who use the words "social justice" or "economic justice" on their websites because he thinks they are code words for "socialism". Using "blindness" as a metaphor, Robin discusses how Judas and Glenn Beck each personify a lack of understanding of the thrust of Jesus' message.
Going Home
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126
In this fifth week of Lent, Deutero-Isaiah speaks words of promise and comfort to the Hebrew people who are held captive by the Chaldeans, worn down by the years of life in the ghetto by the rivers of Babylon. God, he assures them, is not enslaved to the past; God is about to do a new thing.
The Lord who made a dry road through the Red Sea will now make a highway through the desert. God will bring water to the dry land, a river through the wilderness, and even the animals who dwell there will bow down and worship God for the great things God is about to do.
The people are going home.
In Psalm 126, however, the people who have only just returned to their homeland have discovered it in ruins. Their celebration has been cut short and they realize that life will not go on as it did before. Even as God has done a new thing to bring them here, they will have to do some new things if they hope to stay and survive.
THE WORLD
Refugees -- they have become part of the twenty-first-century landscape, an inescapable reality of post-modern life on planet earth. Rarely does a day go by when our television news programs don't bring us word of some new horror, some new disaster, some new plague or war or drought or famine or storm. And out of the clouds of chaos and misery come the people marching in a long parade of despair and hopelessness, seeking refuge -- seeking shelter, a crumb of bread, a moment of safety, and perhaps a small grain of mercy.
We saw them in our newspapers and on TV fleeing Hurricane Katrina, stranded on bridges, waving from rooftops, warehoused in the Superdome in insufferable heat and humidity. We saw them filling the motels north of the impact area, hoping and praying that they would have something to go home to. We saw them running from Hurricane Ike in Texas, clogging the highways, learning the lesson of Hurricane Katrina and fleeing before the wrath of the storm.
In recent weeks we have seen them fleeing the cities and villages of Haiti and Chile, running to the open country, holding each other, singing and praying as the aftershocks rattled the earth and shifted the boundaries they thought were fixed.
In Somalia, Palestine, and Iraq we have watched as they fled the brutality of terrorism and the sightless horror of war.
We have met them in our cities and on our farms, the refugees who have fled north out of Latin America in order to escape the grinding and desperate poverty that makes them hopeless victims if they stay in their countries and criminals if they enter ours.
We see them so often in news footage that we have nearly become numb to their plight. There they are again, walking along the road. This one has a bundle perched atop her head. That one holds the hand of a frightened and confused child. Another walks beside a cart quietly urging an ox or a donkey just a few more steps. This one is bandaged with rags, and that one runs through the desert at night to avoid capture. These are black, those are brown; some speak Spanish, some Arabic, and some converse in languages we have never heard before.
They spend their days and nights in refugee centers sleeping on cots, or in tent cities sleeping in tents or under blue plastic tarps spread to keep the sun and rain off their heads. They line up at the Red Cross or Red Crescent tent for a cup of broth, a loaf of bread, a sack of rice. The hospitals turn away all but the worst and most treatable cases. When help finally arrives their hunger and desperation drives them to a frenzy. Riots break out in the food lines. Clean water becomes as dear as gold; penicillin is platinum; grains of rice are diamonds.
Desperate, shocked, miserable, they take stock of their situation, and once they realize they are whole, they have survived, they are safe and relatively unhurt, their desire is for one thing: to go home.
The need that drives them to survive just one more day is the need to return to their homes, to see if there is anything left, to salvage some memory of their past, some crumb of hope that life really will go on even after this horrible devastation.
And it will. Life will go on, but it will never be the same.
Desperate times and desperate circumstances demand new things. Houses can't be built as they were. Evacuation can't be handled as it was. Refugees can't be treated the way they were treated. Something new, something better must be done so we will be better prepared the next time. Peace must be obtained, truces must be agreed upon.
Something new is required.
Or maybe the refugees you see are the ones who aren't fleeing from one country to another. Maybe they are the ones who are fleeing from private, more mundane threats and more personal demons.
They are fleeing alcoholism or addiction, seeking a life free of substances that degrade and imprison. They are fleeing abusive relationships, hoping for a safe and normal life. They are fleeing the ongoing consequences of their own bad choices, looking for a second chance, an opportunity to start over and build a new life for themselves.
Or maybe they are just fleeing mistakes and failures, searching for someone who will, if for only a moment, believe in them again.
THE WORD
The Children of Israel understood perfectly the meaning if the word "refugee."
Their ancestors had fled Egypt after generations of enslavement. They had united their tribes into a nation. They had established a homeland for themselves and built a country.
Then, in 586 BCE it had all come crumbling down. King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon invaded the country of Judah, razed the city of Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, blinded and imprisoned the king, and murdered his children. All of the leaders of the country, the intelligentsia, the politicians, the teachers, were put in chains with their families and taken back to Babylon to live in a ghetto near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Seventy years later some of the Hebrews had intermarried with the Chaldeans, the upper class of Babylon, and made lives for themselves in Babylon. Others, like the prophet Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, had gone to work in the government and become successful, even powerful.
Others had continued to live in the Hebrew ghetto and had made lives for themselves, albeit temporary lives. Their desire was to go home -- not just to their geographical home in Judah but back to the lives they had lived before the invasion. They wanted to go back to the Holy City, back to the temple, back to the reign of the aristocracy and their privileged, powerful lives.
Finally the prophet Isaiah -- sometimes referred to as Deutero- or Second Isaiah to differentiate him from the Isaiah who preached before the fall of Jerusalem -- brings some words of hope and assurance to the people who are waiting to go home.
First, in verses 16-17 he reminds them of the first time God led their ancestors out of captivity, through the desert and the Red Sea, how he made a dry road through the sea and crushed the army of Pharaoh as they chased the Hebrews.
Then he tells them to forget about that. "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old." Neither the things from long ago nor those from the recent past have any bearing on what is yet to come. God is not tied to the past. The God who freed the Children of Israel from their suffering in Egypt will now do a new thing.
Where before God created a dry road through the sea, now God will create a road in the wilderness, a river in the desert. Those who long to go home will have their wish. God will let them return.
Only it's not that simple, is it?
Seventy years have passed, and as the author of Psalm 126 points out, things aren't as they were. There is much anxiety about what the pilgrims will find when they return. And when they finally come over the Mount of Olives and look upon what was once their capital city, they weep bitter tears.
The city has been destroyed, the temple burned to the ground. All around them is devastation and destruction. And no sooner do they reach the ruins of their once great city then they begin arguing about what the first order of business shall be: What shall they rebuild first, the wall or the temple? Or should they worry about planting crops and let the city go for now?
The Psalmist prays the prayer that is weighing heavily on everyone's hearts. He asks God to help in the restoration of not just the city and the temple, but of their former way of life.
Isaiah, however, has already laid the groundwork for this return. The former things are to be forgotten, the things of old are not to be remembered. This is a time for new things.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
In his novel You Can't Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe tells the story of novelist George Webber, who writes a critically acclaimed story set in his hometown. But the people who live back where George grew up aren't happy about all of the secrets George has revealed. When he goes back home, expecting to be congratulated on his success, George is met with anger and resentment.
Eventually he comes to realize that he "can't go home again." He has changed, even if his hometown hasn't. Change is not just necessary, it is inevitable. The home you left will not be the home you return to. The you that returns will not be the you that left.
In the finale of the novel George says, "You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time -- back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."
The temptation with these passages may be to ground them too securely in history. We cannot ignore the historic settings from which they sprung, but neither can we forget to apply them to our contemporary lives.
The flight of the refugee is a historic story and a contemporary one, but it is also a private one. We are all refugees, fleeing the imprisonment of guilt, fear, resentment, and a thousand other chains and shackles.
The Lord of History promises freedom from imprisonment. A road has been built through the wilderness. A river flows in the desert. A new light dawns, the past is consigned to history, and the future has been declared open. God has declared a new thing.
A new thing is exactly what will be needed, because things have changed. The old city is gone. A new city will have to be built.
And this new city, this new Jerusalem, will require not just a new wall and a new temple, but a new people as well.
ANOTHER VIEW
Double Blind
by Robin Lostetter
John 12:1-8
"Charity is no substitute for justice withheld." -- St. Augustine
Let me begin with a major disclaimer -- I am very active in the world of "disability theology," the inclusion of those who live with a disability, and generally developing disability awareness. So I find it rather treacherous to speak of blindness metaphorically. Let us then, right up front, note that one definition of "blind" is to be "unable or unwilling to perceive or understand," and that is the sense in which I am using the term... with emphasis on the unwilling. Someone who lives with the physical reality of sight impairment is not likely to have sought out the condition willingly -- nor, let me hasten to add, has s/he necessarily sought out pity! The folk who live with limited sight are as varied in attitude and circumstance as any two of God's children. What is usually asked of us is that we take the time to learn what accommodations are needed and that we be equal companions on the Way.
When speaking of one who is metaphorically "blind," there's usually an unwillingness or a lack of self-knowledge involved. Such is the difficulty with the English language. And so, with apologies to my friends who live in a sensory world that I cannot imagine, and with a warning to those who may choose to use this metaphor, let's proceed.
The two figures I want to compare in their "blindness" are Judas Iscariot and Glenn Beck. Let's start with Judas.
Personally, I'm rather convinced that Judas' criticism of Mary of Bethany in verse 5 stems from selfish motives. I'm among those who think John's heavy-handed hint shows that Judas' true motive is that he's dreaming dollar signs. (Were there "denarius signs" in those days?) This seems consistent with his selling Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver, and lends emotion to his rationalizing critique.
In that context, I hear Jesus' response in verse 7 to "leave her alone" as tinged with anger. Jesus, being who he is, with the kind of knowledge he possesses (whether from omniscience or from being a very perceptive human being), knows whatever unspoken agenda might lie behind Judas' words. And Jesus (through John's lens) focuses instead on Mary's understanding of his coming passion. In the custom of the time for anointing the dead, Mary anoints Jesus' feet, not his head. She "gets it," and John (through Jesus' words) wants us to know that.
Yet we have Judas' words to deal with, despite any psychological analysis of his motive. His words resonate with us: "Why was this [you fill in the blank] not sold for a year's wages, and the money given to the poor?" This is the argument that always erupts in church councils when stock is received from an estate, or money is raised for a pipe organ (yes, I was a church organist!), or someone purchases a rich tapestry for the sanctuary in memory of Aunt Jane. "We should liquidate the endowment fund and give the money to Living Waters International, or the Heifer Project, or Bread for the World." Think of what $100,000 or $300,000 could do!
Yet, if we take this passage at face value, Jesus offers a counterbalance to his usual emphasis on social justice. Are we missing the bigger picture? The all-knowing Jesus would also remind us that until every human being lives with kingdom values, the issues of poverty and hunger will never disappear. Luke 6:20-21 tells us: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled." The solution to hunger and poverty is in God's future, and the solution is not likely to come through human hands alone. But the Good News of the Kingdom or Reign of God centers on the ministry, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus -- and proclaiming that includes acts such as pouring the expensive nard on Jesus' feet. It includes proclamation through the beauty of architecture and stained glass and music. It includes worshiping God both through the adoration of Jesus and the pursuit of social justice. This may be tough to understand when we're confronted with the pervasive pain, poverty, hunger, oppression, and injustice in the world. But think a moment on how important our Holy Week traditions are to us -- how they have motivated us since childhood; have inspired artists, poets, and musicians; and how they lead us to the agony and ecstasy of religious experience. Think also of Jesus' practice as a first-century Jew, attending synagogue "as was his custom," observing feast days, and learning Torah. These practices contributed to who he was -- he used scripture to turn away Satan in the wilderness, and he taught (justice) with authority in the synagogue.
The 300 denarii, like the church endowment, would be gone in a moment -- in one simple gesture of compassion. And then, without the vision (or capital) to sustain further ministry, that gesture would end up being a drop in the bucket without a continuing living source.
This brings me to our second vision-impaired (in contrast to sight-impaired) subject: Glenn Beck. It pains me to say there may be a grain of truth in his rantings. But like Judas, even if his words bear some truth, I don't believe his motive is pure. Therefore I don't believe that such truth is more than a smokescreen for the quest for fame, notoriety, and plain old money. He really doesn't seem that far from Judas in that respect. His response to the inchoate frustration of many Americans bespeaks an agenda of self-aggrandizement and hunger for celebrity, rather than a measured critique of the Church in America. He demeans (or is ignorant of) the partnership among hands-on ministry, revelatory liturgy, and good theology in drawing people to Christ. Our "millennial generation" is not alone in finding God through serving God's children. I've observed youth "come to Christ" through mission trips to heal the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. But I've also seen adults (including myself) have their faith deepened as they make connections with the faithful whom they serve.
Nevertheless, I am dragging myself kicking and screaming as I say there is a grain of truth in Beck's outrageous statements. No, "social justice" and "economic justice" are not code words for socialism or Nazism. No, the churches that practice social justice ministries are not necessarily perverting scripture. And it is counterintuitive to anyone who values the community aspect of faith communities that abandoning one makes us better Christians and ethicists.
Yet, any secular charitable organization can pursue social justice. But, just as in the case of Jesus' response to Judas, Glenn Beck makes the point that churches, or all faith communities, are not solely organized for the purpose of social justice. Without strong beliefs, spiritual awareness, faith practices, and so on, we would not be the "Church," even if we sold our nard for 300 denarii.
It seems to me that Jesus is calling for some sort of balance in his response to Judas. It's a balance that many of us struggle with. The majority of Americans live in comfortable climate-controlled homes with adequate space, sufficient food, transportation, the satisfaction of employment, and leisure activities. We hear the call of John the Baptist to give away our second warm coat, we hear Jesus' invitation to "leave everything and follow me." And since these extreme measures are not attractive to us, sometimes our response is simply breast-beating (whether through despair or copping out). Even in a passage from Isaiah that pointedly calls for justice (Isaiah 58:3-7), we read in verses 3b and 5a (bold text):
"Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Seeking social justice is more than a pious posture or the empty words of either of our blind subjects; it is more than "woe is me" and spiraling into cynicism at the overwhelming presence of social injustice; it is more than an ideological stance. And it may not be best served by selling the nard or giving away the whole endowment in one piece. Seeking social justice is seeing Christ in everyone we meet and ministering to their needs, just as Mary of Bethany ministered to Jesus with what she had accumulated for that purpose. It involves (sorry, Glenn Beck) confronting the causes of hunger and poverty as well as giving money and food. It is about using our God-given reasoning -- not as a rationalization for greed, but rather as we seek how best to be stewards of God's gifts to us as we both proclaim and act out the Good News.
Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
ILLUSTRATIONS
When my church and parsonage burned to the ground, the congregation mourned the loss of the building and the traditions the century-old wooden structure housed. Yet, they would not allow nostalgia to keep them from moving forward into the next century. By purchasing a parsonage elsewhere in town, they had the unique opportunity to expand their church facilities onto two lots. In planning for the new building it was decided, by nearly a unanimous vote, that the sanctuary would be octagonal in shape. The semi-circle seating would promote fellowship among the worshipers. This seating would keep the furthest pew 30 feet from the pulpit, promoting an intimacy with the pastor. Plans moved swiftly until an unexpected interruption exploded onto the scene. The people in the community were inflexibly opposed to an octagon building on Main Street, for it would be far too modern for this small rural Pennsylvania community. Undaunted, the congregation redrew their plans. With creative ingenuity they built a square building that contained within it an octagonal sanctuary.
Isaiah, in our reading for this Sunday, spoke of returning home. In so doing he stated, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!" When we step into the future we relish the opportunity to do that which is new, such as a contemporary-styled sanctuary. But there are still those who cannot relinquish the past -- thus a square building on Main Street. As one rural Pennsylvania congregation realized, doing that which is new cannot always escape the parochial shadow of the past.
-- Ron Love
* * *
Estamene Lamour is typical of many of the Haitians who were transported to the United States for medical treatment for themselves or family members after the recent earthquake. While being thankful to the Americans for helping her daughter, she said, "I am not staying here. I want to go back home to my family."
* * *
By the rivers of Babylon --
there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our harps.
For there our captors asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
-- from Psalm 137
* * *
Although they were separated during Hurricane Katrina when she evacuated and he continued his work as a police officer, David Duplantier and his wife Melissa Eugene are determined to continue living in New Orleans. It is their home, they say, and they'll live in New Orleans "until it completely falls apart, if that ever happens."
* * *
Family Systems Theory (or Bowen Theory) calls folks to return home but in a different way. People are encouraged to return to their family of origins not to re-enter those relationships but to discover the roots of their emotional responses within their family systems. This new way of looking at family relationships has helped folks break the old patterns and establish new, healthier ones.
* * *
Although written around the story of the Magi visiting Jesus, the James Taylor song "Home by Another Way" has some wonderful lines about going home by another route:
"Home is where they want you now.
You can, more or less, assume that you'll be welcomed in the end."
* * *
Thornton Wilder's famous play Our Town tells the story of Emily Webb, a young woman who dies in childbirth in the small, turn-of-the century town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. As the play ends, Emily's ghost is allowed one last look back at her hometown before moving on to the afterlife. It's time for her to go on, she knows, but Emily lingers -- turning around to look one last time. "Wait!" she says to the Stage Manager (that character who seems to know how everything works), "one more look. Good-bye, good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking... And Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths... And sleeping and waking up. Oh earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you."
Emily turns then to the Stage Manager. She asks him through her tears, "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"
"No," answers the Stage Manager. "The saints and poets maybe -- they do some."
By that definition, Mary of Bethany surely was a saint. Maybe something of a poet too -- for what she did with that vial of perfume was a poetic act of subversion, if ever there was one. Mary made Judas so furious -- and Jesus so glad!
* * *
Think of those artisans who spent lifetimes crafting the great cathedrals of Europe. Surely one could design a more functional structure than a Gothic cathedral! Those soaring stone arches, hoisted so high at such tremendous risk to workers' life and limb -- they could have easily been replaced with simpler, more prosaic designs. And those stone-carvers -- the ones who discovered gargoyles hiding in blocks of marble, then liberated them with their chisels -- they placed some of them so high up that no one but the pigeons could ever see them. Surely those sculptors could have directed their energies more productively. The same could be said for the woodcarvers who decorated even the underside of the choir benches: what a waste of talent!
* * *
Dorothy Day has been called an American saint. She took her Christian faith right into the most dreadful slums of New York City -- establishing there the first Catholic Worker House, a place of radical Christian discipleship. That house became a place of hospitality for the down-and-out -- for men Dorothy Day later described as "grey men, the color of lifeless trees and bushes and winter soil, who had in them as yet none of the green of hope, the rising sap of faith." Not long after, the Catholic Worker House began welcoming women and children as well.
One day a wealthy socialite pulled up to the house in a big car. She received the obligatory tour of the mission from Dorothy herself. When she was about to leave, the woman impulsively pulled a diamond ring off her finger and handed it to Dorothy.
The staff was ecstatic when they heard about this act of generosity. The ring, they realized, could be sold for a princely sum: enough money to take some pressure off the budget, at least for a while.
A day or two later, one of them noticed the diamond ring on the finger of a homeless woman who was leaving the mission. Immediately they confronted Dorothy. Why in heaven's name would she just give away a valuable piece of jewelry like that?
Dorothy told them, "That woman was admiring the ring -- she thought it was so beautiful. So I gave it to her. Do you think God made diamonds just for the rich?"
* * *
A recent New York Times editorial titled "A Nonfrivolous Suit" discussed how late-night talk show hosts have enjoyed lampooning the woman who sued McDonald's because she was scalded by hot coffee. But what the comedians have not included in their monologues is the fact that the 79-year-old woman who filed that suit was hospitalized for her burns. The late-night jokes are again surfacing, this time against one Frank Sutton. Sutton bit into a McDonald's hot fried-chicken sandwich and scalding grease flew all over his face, leaving him with blistered lips. It has been seven months since the incident and his burns have not yet healed. At the time of the incident he was told by an employee that the grease explodes like that if the chicken has not been properly drained. He sued, but the trial court ruled that Sutton bore the blame for failing to exercise reasonable care when biting into his sandwich. He continued to seek compensation for his injuries. Last month the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Virginia, reinstated the case. The Court of Appeals ruled that the restaurant violated Virginia's food safety laws, as diners do not expect a "fried-chicken sandwich to contain a hot pocket of grease."
The editorial concluded by noting: "If Mr. Sutton prevails, expect his case to become a talking point for critics of civil lawsuits and a late-night punch line. What they should be saying is that companies that sell food to the public have an undeniable responsibility to ensure their products are safe. That's no joke."
Being involved in the cause of justice is no joke. And it is not easy, for it requires perseverance and the stamina to tackle the establishment. But if one remains faithful to the cause, justice will often prevail. Jesus, using the phrase "you will always have the poor among you," realizes that the cause for social justice is unceasing.
* * *
In a recent piece titled "Tressel Doesn't Duck Issue of Gays in Sports", Dan Wetzel examines Jim Tressel, the head football coach at Ohio State University, who is a devout Christian renowned for both his conservative attire ("Senator Sweater Vest") and conservative philosophy on the football field that emphasizes defense and the running game. But despite his button-down reputation, Tressel is the first coach of a major college team to grant an interview with a homosexual-oriented publication. Because of his willingness to do this, Wetzel considers him a "progressive pioneer."
In describing why he agreed to the interview with Outlook Columbus, Tressel wrote: "We strive to teach and model appreciation for everybody.... If we appreciate each other, then we have a chance for something great." When he was asked why a homosexual would be welcomed on his team, he offered several reasons, one of which was the necessity for diversity: "Every part of our team is important and every role has value -- no job is too small and no person is irrelevant -- that's a great lesson that transcends into society. When I think of the diversity we've had on our team the past few years, it goes way beyond just a racial, sexual, or ethnic mix." He then went on to mention that he has players of different religions, different socioeconomic backgrounds, and some who are even parents. Tressel said that the importance of accepting homosexual players, as with all diverse groups, is that "the greatest achievement we can have as coaches is that a young man leaves us with a concept of who he is, what he wants from life, and what he can share with others -- someone who is 'comfortable in his own skin,' and that identity can go in a number of directions."
Wetzel pointed out that there are more than 10,000 men playing college football -- and not a single one of them has publically confessed to being gay. The reason for this is the recrimination he would receive from fellow players, coaches, and fans. Acknowledging what Tressel, who has won five consecutive Big Ten titles, has done to move football toward a policy of openness, Wetzel wrote that while "sports is decades behind society, and football may be even decades behind that, it did just take a small step in the proper direction thanks to a coach who might be the most conservative in the game."
Each of us can be a "progressive pioneer" for social justice when we begin by taking "a small step in the proper direction."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: When God restored us, we were like those who dream.
People: Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Leader: God has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
People: Restore our fortunes, O God, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
Leader: May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
People: Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
OR
Leader: Come to God and find your true home.
People: We have tried to come home and we have gotten lost.
Leader: The world has changed. God has opened new paths.
People: We like the old way with which we are comfortable.
Leader: But the old comfortable ways don't work for those you need to lead to God.
People: We will take the new ways so that we can lead all God's children home.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Marching to Zion"
found in:
UMH: 733
"Come, We That Love the Lord"
found in:
UMH: 732
H82: 392
AAHH: 590
NNBH: 36
NCH: 379, 380
CH: 707
"Come Sunday"
found in:
UMH: 728
"Arise, Shine Out, Your Light Has Come"
found in:
UMH: 725
PH: 411
Renew: 123
"Happy the Home When God Is There"
found in:
UMH: 445
"We Utter Our Cry"
found in:
UMH: 439
"Let There Be Peace on Earth"
found in:
UMH: 431
CH: 677
"Pues Si Vivimos" ("When We Are Living")
found in:
UMH: 356
PH: 400
CH: 536
"Sanctuary"
found in:
CCB: 87
Renew: 185
"Your Loving Kindness Is Better Than Life"
found in:
CCB: 26
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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God in whom we live and move and have our being: Grant us the wisdom and courage to come home to you; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship the One in whom we live and move and have our being. We ask for the power and guidance of the Spirit to help us understand where we are and how we need to go in order to reach home. We pray for the courage to receive new directions. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways we cling to old ways that do not work when God is offering us new life.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Though we are your children and talk about coming to your house for worship, our lives betray our lostness and we seek other places than your presence to fill our lives with meaning. We look to wealth, power, and status, but we also use good things to mask our need for you as we try to substitute family and friends and good deeds. Help us to understand that it is only in you that we can be the best family member, the best friend, and do the truly good deeds. Amen.
Leader: God is always seeking for children to return home. Receive the power of God's Spirit as you return to God and begin to shine with the light of God within you.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and adore you, the Ground of our Being and the Depth of our Lives. From your breath, your Spirit, your Life, we were created. We belong to you and in you.
(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. Though we are your children and talk about coming to your house for worship, our lives betray our lostness and we seek other places than your presence to fill our lives with meaning. We look to wealth, power, and status, but we also use good things to mask our need for you as we try to substitute family and friends and good deeds. Help us to understand that it is only in you that we can be the best family member, the best friend, and do the truly good deeds.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have called us to yourself. You have sent us prophets and seers, psalmist and apostles. Most of all, you have sent us Jesus to show us what it means to live in you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those in need, and especially for those who are striving to find their home. As you call them to yourself, so fill us with your Spirit that we may be beacons that help them find their way to you.
(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
maps, flashlights, globes, atlases, compasses -- things that help show the way home -- maybe even a Bible
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about taking a trip, and using a map to get where you need to go and to get home. Even though we know where home is, we often need a map because we don't know the way. If you have a trip lined out on a map (you can always produce one on an internet map site), show it to the children. Then tell them that the Bible and the church and God's Spirit are ways God helps us to get home to God.
CHILDREN'S SERMON Change
Isaiah 43:19
Good morning, boys and girls! Do you notice anything different this morning? Has anything been changed? (Children respond that you are standing in a different place.) Put on your thinking caps and think with me this morning. What kind of things do we change? (Allow children to respond. Prompt them if necessary.) We change our socks. We change our clothes. We change our sheets. We change a baby's diaper. We change our minds. It is not difficult to change any of these things.
But sometimes things change and we don't have any control over them. A friend moves away. Your favorite cartoon does not come on television anymore. You grow a year older and have to move to a new Sunday school class and leave behind the teacher you love. These kinds of changes can be hard to handle at first, but they are not necessarily bad.
If your friend moved away you would be sad, but it might give you the chance to make new friends. If your favorite cartoon stopped coming on television, maybe you would choose to read a story or draw a picture. When you move to a new Sunday school class you will miss your old teacher, but you will have the chance to meet, learn from, and love a new teacher.
Just think how things would be if nothing ever changed. You would always be the same age. You would wear the same clothes, eat the same food, watch the same television show over and over, and play the same game. Life would get boring, wouldn't it? Change may be difficult, but it keeps life fresh and exciting.
God knows that it is hard for us to deal with change, but God is with us to help us see that change can be a good thing. God can help us find something good about change, even when it is difficult.
This week ask God to help you make the best of difficult changes in your life.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 21, 2010, issue.
Copyright 2010 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.
Team member Robin Lostetter offers some additional thoughts on the gospel text about Mary anointing Jesus with expensive perfume. Judas excoriates Mary for her extravagance, noting that the nard could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Although John inserts some parenthetical comments questioning Judas' motives, Robin notes that it's striking how Jesus' observation that "you always have the poor with you" offers a counterbalance to his usual emphasis on social justice. But if Jesus suggests that focusing only on the needs of the poor is missing the bigger picture, his use of the word "always" also implies that this is an ongoing concern -- which might come as news to controversial talk show host Glenn Beck, who has created something of a firestorm with recent comments suggesting that his listeners should avoid churches who use the words "social justice" or "economic justice" on their websites because he thinks they are code words for "socialism". Using "blindness" as a metaphor, Robin discusses how Judas and Glenn Beck each personify a lack of understanding of the thrust of Jesus' message.
Going Home
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126
In this fifth week of Lent, Deutero-Isaiah speaks words of promise and comfort to the Hebrew people who are held captive by the Chaldeans, worn down by the years of life in the ghetto by the rivers of Babylon. God, he assures them, is not enslaved to the past; God is about to do a new thing.
The Lord who made a dry road through the Red Sea will now make a highway through the desert. God will bring water to the dry land, a river through the wilderness, and even the animals who dwell there will bow down and worship God for the great things God is about to do.
The people are going home.
In Psalm 126, however, the people who have only just returned to their homeland have discovered it in ruins. Their celebration has been cut short and they realize that life will not go on as it did before. Even as God has done a new thing to bring them here, they will have to do some new things if they hope to stay and survive.
THE WORLD
Refugees -- they have become part of the twenty-first-century landscape, an inescapable reality of post-modern life on planet earth. Rarely does a day go by when our television news programs don't bring us word of some new horror, some new disaster, some new plague or war or drought or famine or storm. And out of the clouds of chaos and misery come the people marching in a long parade of despair and hopelessness, seeking refuge -- seeking shelter, a crumb of bread, a moment of safety, and perhaps a small grain of mercy.
We saw them in our newspapers and on TV fleeing Hurricane Katrina, stranded on bridges, waving from rooftops, warehoused in the Superdome in insufferable heat and humidity. We saw them filling the motels north of the impact area, hoping and praying that they would have something to go home to. We saw them running from Hurricane Ike in Texas, clogging the highways, learning the lesson of Hurricane Katrina and fleeing before the wrath of the storm.
In recent weeks we have seen them fleeing the cities and villages of Haiti and Chile, running to the open country, holding each other, singing and praying as the aftershocks rattled the earth and shifted the boundaries they thought were fixed.
In Somalia, Palestine, and Iraq we have watched as they fled the brutality of terrorism and the sightless horror of war.
We have met them in our cities and on our farms, the refugees who have fled north out of Latin America in order to escape the grinding and desperate poverty that makes them hopeless victims if they stay in their countries and criminals if they enter ours.
We see them so often in news footage that we have nearly become numb to their plight. There they are again, walking along the road. This one has a bundle perched atop her head. That one holds the hand of a frightened and confused child. Another walks beside a cart quietly urging an ox or a donkey just a few more steps. This one is bandaged with rags, and that one runs through the desert at night to avoid capture. These are black, those are brown; some speak Spanish, some Arabic, and some converse in languages we have never heard before.
They spend their days and nights in refugee centers sleeping on cots, or in tent cities sleeping in tents or under blue plastic tarps spread to keep the sun and rain off their heads. They line up at the Red Cross or Red Crescent tent for a cup of broth, a loaf of bread, a sack of rice. The hospitals turn away all but the worst and most treatable cases. When help finally arrives their hunger and desperation drives them to a frenzy. Riots break out in the food lines. Clean water becomes as dear as gold; penicillin is platinum; grains of rice are diamonds.
Desperate, shocked, miserable, they take stock of their situation, and once they realize they are whole, they have survived, they are safe and relatively unhurt, their desire is for one thing: to go home.
The need that drives them to survive just one more day is the need to return to their homes, to see if there is anything left, to salvage some memory of their past, some crumb of hope that life really will go on even after this horrible devastation.
And it will. Life will go on, but it will never be the same.
Desperate times and desperate circumstances demand new things. Houses can't be built as they were. Evacuation can't be handled as it was. Refugees can't be treated the way they were treated. Something new, something better must be done so we will be better prepared the next time. Peace must be obtained, truces must be agreed upon.
Something new is required.
Or maybe the refugees you see are the ones who aren't fleeing from one country to another. Maybe they are the ones who are fleeing from private, more mundane threats and more personal demons.
They are fleeing alcoholism or addiction, seeking a life free of substances that degrade and imprison. They are fleeing abusive relationships, hoping for a safe and normal life. They are fleeing the ongoing consequences of their own bad choices, looking for a second chance, an opportunity to start over and build a new life for themselves.
Or maybe they are just fleeing mistakes and failures, searching for someone who will, if for only a moment, believe in them again.
THE WORD
The Children of Israel understood perfectly the meaning if the word "refugee."
Their ancestors had fled Egypt after generations of enslavement. They had united their tribes into a nation. They had established a homeland for themselves and built a country.
Then, in 586 BCE it had all come crumbling down. King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon invaded the country of Judah, razed the city of Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, blinded and imprisoned the king, and murdered his children. All of the leaders of the country, the intelligentsia, the politicians, the teachers, were put in chains with their families and taken back to Babylon to live in a ghetto near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Seventy years later some of the Hebrews had intermarried with the Chaldeans, the upper class of Babylon, and made lives for themselves in Babylon. Others, like the prophet Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, had gone to work in the government and become successful, even powerful.
Others had continued to live in the Hebrew ghetto and had made lives for themselves, albeit temporary lives. Their desire was to go home -- not just to their geographical home in Judah but back to the lives they had lived before the invasion. They wanted to go back to the Holy City, back to the temple, back to the reign of the aristocracy and their privileged, powerful lives.
Finally the prophet Isaiah -- sometimes referred to as Deutero- or Second Isaiah to differentiate him from the Isaiah who preached before the fall of Jerusalem -- brings some words of hope and assurance to the people who are waiting to go home.
First, in verses 16-17 he reminds them of the first time God led their ancestors out of captivity, through the desert and the Red Sea, how he made a dry road through the sea and crushed the army of Pharaoh as they chased the Hebrews.
Then he tells them to forget about that. "Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old." Neither the things from long ago nor those from the recent past have any bearing on what is yet to come. God is not tied to the past. The God who freed the Children of Israel from their suffering in Egypt will now do a new thing.
Where before God created a dry road through the sea, now God will create a road in the wilderness, a river in the desert. Those who long to go home will have their wish. God will let them return.
Only it's not that simple, is it?
Seventy years have passed, and as the author of Psalm 126 points out, things aren't as they were. There is much anxiety about what the pilgrims will find when they return. And when they finally come over the Mount of Olives and look upon what was once their capital city, they weep bitter tears.
The city has been destroyed, the temple burned to the ground. All around them is devastation and destruction. And no sooner do they reach the ruins of their once great city then they begin arguing about what the first order of business shall be: What shall they rebuild first, the wall or the temple? Or should they worry about planting crops and let the city go for now?
The Psalmist prays the prayer that is weighing heavily on everyone's hearts. He asks God to help in the restoration of not just the city and the temple, but of their former way of life.
Isaiah, however, has already laid the groundwork for this return. The former things are to be forgotten, the things of old are not to be remembered. This is a time for new things.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
In his novel You Can't Go Home Again, Thomas Wolfe tells the story of novelist George Webber, who writes a critically acclaimed story set in his hometown. But the people who live back where George grew up aren't happy about all of the secrets George has revealed. When he goes back home, expecting to be congratulated on his success, George is met with anger and resentment.
Eventually he comes to realize that he "can't go home again." He has changed, even if his hometown hasn't. Change is not just necessary, it is inevitable. The home you left will not be the home you return to. The you that returns will not be the you that left.
In the finale of the novel George says, "You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time -- back home to the escapes of Time and Memory."
The temptation with these passages may be to ground them too securely in history. We cannot ignore the historic settings from which they sprung, but neither can we forget to apply them to our contemporary lives.
The flight of the refugee is a historic story and a contemporary one, but it is also a private one. We are all refugees, fleeing the imprisonment of guilt, fear, resentment, and a thousand other chains and shackles.
The Lord of History promises freedom from imprisonment. A road has been built through the wilderness. A river flows in the desert. A new light dawns, the past is consigned to history, and the future has been declared open. God has declared a new thing.
A new thing is exactly what will be needed, because things have changed. The old city is gone. A new city will have to be built.
And this new city, this new Jerusalem, will require not just a new wall and a new temple, but a new people as well.
ANOTHER VIEW
Double Blind
by Robin Lostetter
John 12:1-8
"Charity is no substitute for justice withheld." -- St. Augustine
Let me begin with a major disclaimer -- I am very active in the world of "disability theology," the inclusion of those who live with a disability, and generally developing disability awareness. So I find it rather treacherous to speak of blindness metaphorically. Let us then, right up front, note that one definition of "blind" is to be "unable or unwilling to perceive or understand," and that is the sense in which I am using the term... with emphasis on the unwilling. Someone who lives with the physical reality of sight impairment is not likely to have sought out the condition willingly -- nor, let me hasten to add, has s/he necessarily sought out pity! The folk who live with limited sight are as varied in attitude and circumstance as any two of God's children. What is usually asked of us is that we take the time to learn what accommodations are needed and that we be equal companions on the Way.
When speaking of one who is metaphorically "blind," there's usually an unwillingness or a lack of self-knowledge involved. Such is the difficulty with the English language. And so, with apologies to my friends who live in a sensory world that I cannot imagine, and with a warning to those who may choose to use this metaphor, let's proceed.
The two figures I want to compare in their "blindness" are Judas Iscariot and Glenn Beck. Let's start with Judas.
Personally, I'm rather convinced that Judas' criticism of Mary of Bethany in verse 5 stems from selfish motives. I'm among those who think John's heavy-handed hint shows that Judas' true motive is that he's dreaming dollar signs. (Were there "denarius signs" in those days?) This seems consistent with his selling Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver, and lends emotion to his rationalizing critique.
In that context, I hear Jesus' response in verse 7 to "leave her alone" as tinged with anger. Jesus, being who he is, with the kind of knowledge he possesses (whether from omniscience or from being a very perceptive human being), knows whatever unspoken agenda might lie behind Judas' words. And Jesus (through John's lens) focuses instead on Mary's understanding of his coming passion. In the custom of the time for anointing the dead, Mary anoints Jesus' feet, not his head. She "gets it," and John (through Jesus' words) wants us to know that.
Yet we have Judas' words to deal with, despite any psychological analysis of his motive. His words resonate with us: "Why was this [you fill in the blank] not sold for a year's wages, and the money given to the poor?" This is the argument that always erupts in church councils when stock is received from an estate, or money is raised for a pipe organ (yes, I was a church organist!), or someone purchases a rich tapestry for the sanctuary in memory of Aunt Jane. "We should liquidate the endowment fund and give the money to Living Waters International, or the Heifer Project, or Bread for the World." Think of what $100,000 or $300,000 could do!
Yet, if we take this passage at face value, Jesus offers a counterbalance to his usual emphasis on social justice. Are we missing the bigger picture? The all-knowing Jesus would also remind us that until every human being lives with kingdom values, the issues of poverty and hunger will never disappear. Luke 6:20-21 tells us: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled." The solution to hunger and poverty is in God's future, and the solution is not likely to come through human hands alone. But the Good News of the Kingdom or Reign of God centers on the ministry, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus -- and proclaiming that includes acts such as pouring the expensive nard on Jesus' feet. It includes proclamation through the beauty of architecture and stained glass and music. It includes worshiping God both through the adoration of Jesus and the pursuit of social justice. This may be tough to understand when we're confronted with the pervasive pain, poverty, hunger, oppression, and injustice in the world. But think a moment on how important our Holy Week traditions are to us -- how they have motivated us since childhood; have inspired artists, poets, and musicians; and how they lead us to the agony and ecstasy of religious experience. Think also of Jesus' practice as a first-century Jew, attending synagogue "as was his custom," observing feast days, and learning Torah. These practices contributed to who he was -- he used scripture to turn away Satan in the wilderness, and he taught (justice) with authority in the synagogue.
The 300 denarii, like the church endowment, would be gone in a moment -- in one simple gesture of compassion. And then, without the vision (or capital) to sustain further ministry, that gesture would end up being a drop in the bucket without a continuing living source.
This brings me to our second vision-impaired (in contrast to sight-impaired) subject: Glenn Beck. It pains me to say there may be a grain of truth in his rantings. But like Judas, even if his words bear some truth, I don't believe his motive is pure. Therefore I don't believe that such truth is more than a smokescreen for the quest for fame, notoriety, and plain old money. He really doesn't seem that far from Judas in that respect. His response to the inchoate frustration of many Americans bespeaks an agenda of self-aggrandizement and hunger for celebrity, rather than a measured critique of the Church in America. He demeans (or is ignorant of) the partnership among hands-on ministry, revelatory liturgy, and good theology in drawing people to Christ. Our "millennial generation" is not alone in finding God through serving God's children. I've observed youth "come to Christ" through mission trips to heal the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. But I've also seen adults (including myself) have their faith deepened as they make connections with the faithful whom they serve.
Nevertheless, I am dragging myself kicking and screaming as I say there is a grain of truth in Beck's outrageous statements. No, "social justice" and "economic justice" are not code words for socialism or Nazism. No, the churches that practice social justice ministries are not necessarily perverting scripture. And it is counterintuitive to anyone who values the community aspect of faith communities that abandoning one makes us better Christians and ethicists.
Yet, any secular charitable organization can pursue social justice. But, just as in the case of Jesus' response to Judas, Glenn Beck makes the point that churches, or all faith communities, are not solely organized for the purpose of social justice. Without strong beliefs, spiritual awareness, faith practices, and so on, we would not be the "Church," even if we sold our nard for 300 denarii.
It seems to me that Jesus is calling for some sort of balance in his response to Judas. It's a balance that many of us struggle with. The majority of Americans live in comfortable climate-controlled homes with adequate space, sufficient food, transportation, the satisfaction of employment, and leisure activities. We hear the call of John the Baptist to give away our second warm coat, we hear Jesus' invitation to "leave everything and follow me." And since these extreme measures are not attractive to us, sometimes our response is simply breast-beating (whether through despair or copping out). Even in a passage from Isaiah that pointedly calls for justice (Isaiah 58:3-7), we read in verses 3b and 5a (bold text):
"Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Seeking social justice is more than a pious posture or the empty words of either of our blind subjects; it is more than "woe is me" and spiraling into cynicism at the overwhelming presence of social injustice; it is more than an ideological stance. And it may not be best served by selling the nard or giving away the whole endowment in one piece. Seeking social justice is seeing Christ in everyone we meet and ministering to their needs, just as Mary of Bethany ministered to Jesus with what she had accumulated for that purpose. It involves (sorry, Glenn Beck) confronting the causes of hunger and poverty as well as giving money and food. It is about using our God-given reasoning -- not as a rationalization for greed, but rather as we seek how best to be stewards of God's gifts to us as we both proclaim and act out the Good News.
Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."
ILLUSTRATIONS
When my church and parsonage burned to the ground, the congregation mourned the loss of the building and the traditions the century-old wooden structure housed. Yet, they would not allow nostalgia to keep them from moving forward into the next century. By purchasing a parsonage elsewhere in town, they had the unique opportunity to expand their church facilities onto two lots. In planning for the new building it was decided, by nearly a unanimous vote, that the sanctuary would be octagonal in shape. The semi-circle seating would promote fellowship among the worshipers. This seating would keep the furthest pew 30 feet from the pulpit, promoting an intimacy with the pastor. Plans moved swiftly until an unexpected interruption exploded onto the scene. The people in the community were inflexibly opposed to an octagon building on Main Street, for it would be far too modern for this small rural Pennsylvania community. Undaunted, the congregation redrew their plans. With creative ingenuity they built a square building that contained within it an octagonal sanctuary.
Isaiah, in our reading for this Sunday, spoke of returning home. In so doing he stated, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!" When we step into the future we relish the opportunity to do that which is new, such as a contemporary-styled sanctuary. But there are still those who cannot relinquish the past -- thus a square building on Main Street. As one rural Pennsylvania congregation realized, doing that which is new cannot always escape the parochial shadow of the past.
-- Ron Love
* * *
Estamene Lamour is typical of many of the Haitians who were transported to the United States for medical treatment for themselves or family members after the recent earthquake. While being thankful to the Americans for helping her daughter, she said, "I am not staying here. I want to go back home to my family."
* * *
By the rivers of Babylon --
there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our harps.
For there our captors asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?
-- from Psalm 137
* * *
Although they were separated during Hurricane Katrina when she evacuated and he continued his work as a police officer, David Duplantier and his wife Melissa Eugene are determined to continue living in New Orleans. It is their home, they say, and they'll live in New Orleans "until it completely falls apart, if that ever happens."
* * *
Family Systems Theory (or Bowen Theory) calls folks to return home but in a different way. People are encouraged to return to their family of origins not to re-enter those relationships but to discover the roots of their emotional responses within their family systems. This new way of looking at family relationships has helped folks break the old patterns and establish new, healthier ones.
* * *
Although written around the story of the Magi visiting Jesus, the James Taylor song "Home by Another Way" has some wonderful lines about going home by another route:
"Home is where they want you now.
You can, more or less, assume that you'll be welcomed in the end."
* * *
Thornton Wilder's famous play Our Town tells the story of Emily Webb, a young woman who dies in childbirth in the small, turn-of-the century town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. As the play ends, Emily's ghost is allowed one last look back at her hometown before moving on to the afterlife. It's time for her to go on, she knows, but Emily lingers -- turning around to look one last time. "Wait!" she says to the Stage Manager (that character who seems to know how everything works), "one more look. Good-bye, good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover's Corners... Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking... And Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths... And sleeping and waking up. Oh earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you."
Emily turns then to the Stage Manager. She asks him through her tears, "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"
"No," answers the Stage Manager. "The saints and poets maybe -- they do some."
By that definition, Mary of Bethany surely was a saint. Maybe something of a poet too -- for what she did with that vial of perfume was a poetic act of subversion, if ever there was one. Mary made Judas so furious -- and Jesus so glad!
* * *
Think of those artisans who spent lifetimes crafting the great cathedrals of Europe. Surely one could design a more functional structure than a Gothic cathedral! Those soaring stone arches, hoisted so high at such tremendous risk to workers' life and limb -- they could have easily been replaced with simpler, more prosaic designs. And those stone-carvers -- the ones who discovered gargoyles hiding in blocks of marble, then liberated them with their chisels -- they placed some of them so high up that no one but the pigeons could ever see them. Surely those sculptors could have directed their energies more productively. The same could be said for the woodcarvers who decorated even the underside of the choir benches: what a waste of talent!
* * *
Dorothy Day has been called an American saint. She took her Christian faith right into the most dreadful slums of New York City -- establishing there the first Catholic Worker House, a place of radical Christian discipleship. That house became a place of hospitality for the down-and-out -- for men Dorothy Day later described as "grey men, the color of lifeless trees and bushes and winter soil, who had in them as yet none of the green of hope, the rising sap of faith." Not long after, the Catholic Worker House began welcoming women and children as well.
One day a wealthy socialite pulled up to the house in a big car. She received the obligatory tour of the mission from Dorothy herself. When she was about to leave, the woman impulsively pulled a diamond ring off her finger and handed it to Dorothy.
The staff was ecstatic when they heard about this act of generosity. The ring, they realized, could be sold for a princely sum: enough money to take some pressure off the budget, at least for a while.
A day or two later, one of them noticed the diamond ring on the finger of a homeless woman who was leaving the mission. Immediately they confronted Dorothy. Why in heaven's name would she just give away a valuable piece of jewelry like that?
Dorothy told them, "That woman was admiring the ring -- she thought it was so beautiful. So I gave it to her. Do you think God made diamonds just for the rich?"
* * *
A recent New York Times editorial titled "A Nonfrivolous Suit" discussed how late-night talk show hosts have enjoyed lampooning the woman who sued McDonald's because she was scalded by hot coffee. But what the comedians have not included in their monologues is the fact that the 79-year-old woman who filed that suit was hospitalized for her burns. The late-night jokes are again surfacing, this time against one Frank Sutton. Sutton bit into a McDonald's hot fried-chicken sandwich and scalding grease flew all over his face, leaving him with blistered lips. It has been seven months since the incident and his burns have not yet healed. At the time of the incident he was told by an employee that the grease explodes like that if the chicken has not been properly drained. He sued, but the trial court ruled that Sutton bore the blame for failing to exercise reasonable care when biting into his sandwich. He continued to seek compensation for his injuries. Last month the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Virginia, reinstated the case. The Court of Appeals ruled that the restaurant violated Virginia's food safety laws, as diners do not expect a "fried-chicken sandwich to contain a hot pocket of grease."
The editorial concluded by noting: "If Mr. Sutton prevails, expect his case to become a talking point for critics of civil lawsuits and a late-night punch line. What they should be saying is that companies that sell food to the public have an undeniable responsibility to ensure their products are safe. That's no joke."
Being involved in the cause of justice is no joke. And it is not easy, for it requires perseverance and the stamina to tackle the establishment. But if one remains faithful to the cause, justice will often prevail. Jesus, using the phrase "you will always have the poor among you," realizes that the cause for social justice is unceasing.
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In a recent piece titled "Tressel Doesn't Duck Issue of Gays in Sports", Dan Wetzel examines Jim Tressel, the head football coach at Ohio State University, who is a devout Christian renowned for both his conservative attire ("Senator Sweater Vest") and conservative philosophy on the football field that emphasizes defense and the running game. But despite his button-down reputation, Tressel is the first coach of a major college team to grant an interview with a homosexual-oriented publication. Because of his willingness to do this, Wetzel considers him a "progressive pioneer."
In describing why he agreed to the interview with Outlook Columbus, Tressel wrote: "We strive to teach and model appreciation for everybody.... If we appreciate each other, then we have a chance for something great." When he was asked why a homosexual would be welcomed on his team, he offered several reasons, one of which was the necessity for diversity: "Every part of our team is important and every role has value -- no job is too small and no person is irrelevant -- that's a great lesson that transcends into society. When I think of the diversity we've had on our team the past few years, it goes way beyond just a racial, sexual, or ethnic mix." He then went on to mention that he has players of different religions, different socioeconomic backgrounds, and some who are even parents. Tressel said that the importance of accepting homosexual players, as with all diverse groups, is that "the greatest achievement we can have as coaches is that a young man leaves us with a concept of who he is, what he wants from life, and what he can share with others -- someone who is 'comfortable in his own skin,' and that identity can go in a number of directions."
Wetzel pointed out that there are more than 10,000 men playing college football -- and not a single one of them has publically confessed to being gay. The reason for this is the recrimination he would receive from fellow players, coaches, and fans. Acknowledging what Tressel, who has won five consecutive Big Ten titles, has done to move football toward a policy of openness, Wetzel wrote that while "sports is decades behind society, and football may be even decades behind that, it did just take a small step in the proper direction thanks to a coach who might be the most conservative in the game."
Each of us can be a "progressive pioneer" for social justice when we begin by taking "a small step in the proper direction."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: When God restored us, we were like those who dream.
People: Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Leader: God has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
People: Restore our fortunes, O God, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
Leader: May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
People: Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.
OR
Leader: Come to God and find your true home.
People: We have tried to come home and we have gotten lost.
Leader: The world has changed. God has opened new paths.
People: We like the old way with which we are comfortable.
Leader: But the old comfortable ways don't work for those you need to lead to God.
People: We will take the new ways so that we can lead all God's children home.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Marching to Zion"
found in:
UMH: 733
"Come, We That Love the Lord"
found in:
UMH: 732
H82: 392
AAHH: 590
NNBH: 36
NCH: 379, 380
CH: 707
"Come Sunday"
found in:
UMH: 728
"Arise, Shine Out, Your Light Has Come"
found in:
UMH: 725
PH: 411
Renew: 123
"Happy the Home When God Is There"
found in:
UMH: 445
"We Utter Our Cry"
found in:
UMH: 439
"Let There Be Peace on Earth"
found in:
UMH: 431
CH: 677
"Pues Si Vivimos" ("When We Are Living")
found in:
UMH: 356
PH: 400
CH: 536
"Sanctuary"
found in:
CCB: 87
Renew: 185
"Your Loving Kindness Is Better Than Life"
found in:
CCB: 26
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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God in whom we live and move and have our being: Grant us the wisdom and courage to come home to you; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship the One in whom we live and move and have our being. We ask for the power and guidance of the Spirit to help us understand where we are and how we need to go in order to reach home. We pray for the courage to receive new directions. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways we cling to old ways that do not work when God is offering us new life.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. Though we are your children and talk about coming to your house for worship, our lives betray our lostness and we seek other places than your presence to fill our lives with meaning. We look to wealth, power, and status, but we also use good things to mask our need for you as we try to substitute family and friends and good deeds. Help us to understand that it is only in you that we can be the best family member, the best friend, and do the truly good deeds. Amen.
Leader: God is always seeking for children to return home. Receive the power of God's Spirit as you return to God and begin to shine with the light of God within you.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and adore you, the Ground of our Being and the Depth of our Lives. From your breath, your Spirit, your Life, we were created. We belong to you and in you.
(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. Though we are your children and talk about coming to your house for worship, our lives betray our lostness and we seek other places than your presence to fill our lives with meaning. We look to wealth, power, and status, but we also use good things to mask our need for you as we try to substitute family and friends and good deeds. Help us to understand that it is only in you that we can be the best family member, the best friend, and do the truly good deeds.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have called us to yourself. You have sent us prophets and seers, psalmist and apostles. Most of all, you have sent us Jesus to show us what it means to live in you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those in need, and especially for those who are striving to find their home. As you call them to yourself, so fill us with your Spirit that we may be beacons that help them find their way to you.
(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
maps, flashlights, globes, atlases, compasses -- things that help show the way home -- maybe even a Bible
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about taking a trip, and using a map to get where you need to go and to get home. Even though we know where home is, we often need a map because we don't know the way. If you have a trip lined out on a map (you can always produce one on an internet map site), show it to the children. Then tell them that the Bible and the church and God's Spirit are ways God helps us to get home to God.
CHILDREN'S SERMON Change
Isaiah 43:19
Good morning, boys and girls! Do you notice anything different this morning? Has anything been changed? (Children respond that you are standing in a different place.) Put on your thinking caps and think with me this morning. What kind of things do we change? (Allow children to respond. Prompt them if necessary.) We change our socks. We change our clothes. We change our sheets. We change a baby's diaper. We change our minds. It is not difficult to change any of these things.
But sometimes things change and we don't have any control over them. A friend moves away. Your favorite cartoon does not come on television anymore. You grow a year older and have to move to a new Sunday school class and leave behind the teacher you love. These kinds of changes can be hard to handle at first, but they are not necessarily bad.
If your friend moved away you would be sad, but it might give you the chance to make new friends. If your favorite cartoon stopped coming on television, maybe you would choose to read a story or draw a picture. When you move to a new Sunday school class you will miss your old teacher, but you will have the chance to meet, learn from, and love a new teacher.
Just think how things would be if nothing ever changed. You would always be the same age. You would wear the same clothes, eat the same food, watch the same television show over and over, and play the same game. Life would get boring, wouldn't it? Change may be difficult, but it keeps life fresh and exciting.
God knows that it is hard for us to deal with change, but God is with us to help us see that change can be a good thing. God can help us find something good about change, even when it is difficult.
This week ask God to help you make the best of difficult changes in your life.
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The Immediate Word, March 21, 2010, issue.
Copyright 2010 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.
