Hero Time
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
Athletes and sports in general are always hot topics in American culture -- and even more so during the Olympics. But we sometimes neglect that fact that athleticism is prominent in the New Testament letters as well. Paul speaks of athletes pummeling the body before a race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27), and, in the Second Reading for this Sunday, Hebrews speaks of running the race with perseverance.
In the lead article for this issue of The Immediate Word, team member George Murphy reflects on sports heroes and Olympians of our time and on the heroes of faith in the impressive list of Hebrews 11. He reminds us that biblical heroes often had feet of clay, even as they did impressive things for their people and their faith. Genuine faith is always directed to Jesus, the "pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).
Other team members offer their own take on the lectionary readings for the day, Julia Strope provides worship resources and CSS Publishing provides a children's sermon titled Staying Focused.
HERO TIME
Hebrews 11:29--12:2
By George Murphy
The Olympic Moment
Two out in the bottom of the ninth. "It's hero time," Charlie Brown would tell himself before taking a mighty swing at the ball -- and missing. Many of us, with our abortive attempts to be heroes, can sympathize both with his dreams and his frustrations. But in the next weeks, with the Athens Olympics, we'll have plenty of chances to be heroes vicariously. With a little luck there will be men or women who don't just win particular events but emerge as new sports heroes, the latest faces on Wheaties boxes, like Mary Lou Retton or Mark Spitz. They will be embodiments of the Olympic slogan, citius, altius, fortius -- "faster, higher, stronger."
This big sports event now happens every other year, since the summer and winter Olympics are staggered. And as the 2004 Olympics come on stage, the lectionary gives us, for the second week, part of the great chapter from the letter to the Hebrews about the faith and the heroes of the Old Testament. A preacher might easily connect the beginning of our athletic spectacular with the Second Lesson for this coming Sunday, Hebrews 11:29--12:2. Here some of the superstars of the Old Testament, such as Gideon, Samson, and David, are set before us. You can't get much more muscular than that.
The Olympic connection is a good tie-in with current events. For that matter, there's plenty of fascination with sports and athletic heroes even without the Olympic stage. In baseball the pennant races are starting on the home stretch, and the exhibition season for professional football has already begun. But we'll need to be careful. Hebrews is not just speaking about "action heroes" in our modern sense but about heroes of faith. And our reading will conclude with one whose heroism wasn't displayed in outrunning or outfighting opponents but in the fact that he "endured the cross, disregarding its shame."
The "Epistle" to the Hebrews
Hebrews is not really a letter, though its closing verses indicate that it was "mailed" to the community that it was addressed to. In his Anchor Bible Commentary (To the Hebrews [Doubleday, 1972]), George Wesley Buchanan characterized it as "a homiletical midrash based on Psalm 110" (p. xix). (One of the book's many references to this psalm comes at the very end of our text, where Jesus is said to have "taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God" [12:2].) It may be helpful to remember, when you're working to prepare a sermon on Hebrews, that your text is already part of a sermon.
But of course it's a sermon of a quite different type from what we're used to, expressed in the thought forms of first-century Judaism. The argument is sometimes hard to follow, but there is one clear purpose. The author (and we have no idea who it was -- Luther's guess of Apollos is as good as any) was encouraging a community of Jewish Christians to persevere, to "keep the faith" in the face of temptations to false teachings, of persecutions, and of general indifference, and there are repeated warnings against losing faith and falling away from Christ.
For the writer to the Hebrews, the possibility that Christians would apostatize was especially serious because he apparently believed (as 6:4-6; 10:26-27; and perhaps 12:17 suggest) that a return to Christianity once one had left the faith was ruled out. While it might be possible to understand those verses in another way, it's clear that the thought of this writer is quite different from that of large numbers of people today who think that there are many different paths to God. It is Christ, not angelic beings (chs. 1 and 2), the Law of Moses (ch. 3), or any other religion that offers assurance of forgiveness and life.
Our eleventh chapter is preceded by one of those sections in which the addressees of the sermon are called to "hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering" (10:23) and warned against continuing in sin. Then we come to the lengthy praise of faith and of the saints of the past who displayed it.
Chapter 11 begins with the statement that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." It is not the same as scientific or historical knowledge, but it also isn't a matter of believing things that are known to be preposterous. The faith that is spoken of here is eschatological, as we see in the later example of Abraham, who "looked forward to the city that has foundations" (v. 10). Even though faith cannot be proved by observations at present, it is not beyond verification, for it will be vindicated in God's future. Wolfhart Pannenberg is one modern theologian who has argued for the eschatological verification of biblical faith.
The Text
The heroes of faith in the first part of chapter 11, and especially Abraham and Moses, are well known to most Christians. Saint Paul used Abraham as the supreme example of faith. The people who are mentioned in this Sunday's text aren't quite as familiar, and some of them seem to be rather odd heroes. There is Rahab, the prostitute who hid the spies that Joshua had sent into Jericho. Gideon was a great military leader but then set up an image which led Israel into idolatry (Judges 8:27). And while Samson sounds like a hero in the Olympic mold -- he probably could have gotten a gold in weightlifting -- he doesn't seem to have been terribly religious. His reputation as a champion of Israel was apparently a result of his personal quarrels with the Philistines rather than any special piety.
This should remind us that being a person of faith doesn't guarantee that one will be a good example of morality or even of theological orthodoxy. There are plenty of illustrations of David's faith, but his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband aren't among them. And faith can even drive a person to actions that we would condemn if they happened today. When people hear the name of Samuel in our text, they may think of that nice Sunday school story about him hearing the voice of God as a young boy. But there's also the story of him hacking a prisoner of war to pieces (1 Samuel 15:32-33) that sounds like something we might expect to see on a video from Islamic terrorists.
Being a person of faith doesn't mean that in this world we have perfect righteousness. We are, as Luther put it, "at the same time justified and sinner," and the righteousness that we have before God is that which we are given in Christ. This is to say, it is eschatological, in accord with the eschatological character of faith. In the kingdom of heaven we will not meet Rahab as a prostitute or David as a murderer.
Some of the people referred to here are also rather obscure. The average churchgoer probably won't recognize the names of Barak or Jephthah, and the text goes on to allude to people who aren't even named. Commentaries will help in figuring out the references: Daniel, e.g., is obviously in mind as one who "shut the mouths of lions." Some of the allusions get into the Apocrypha (e.g., the stories of the martyrs in 2 Maccabees 6 and 7) and even beyond. (The reference to those who "were sawn in two" no doubt has in mind the death of the prophet in The Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah.)
That means that Hebrews 11 does more than just give us some isolated examples of the superheroes of faith. The whole history of God's people is a history of faith shown on large scales and small. That's why it's the history of God's people -- salvation history if you will. The story of God's people is a story of sinners who also -- because of faith -- are saints.
(In the traditions of Western Christianity we're not accustomed to refer to figures of the Old Testament as "saints," but there's no good reason for that. It's different in the Eastern Church. You're likely to come across Orthodox churches named "St. Elias" or something of that sort.)
The lectionary is certainly correct in continuing the reading past the end of chapter 11 to take in the example of Christ in 12:2. There are, of course, many ways to speak about Christ and his work (some of which we find earlier in Hebrews), but in this context he must be seen as the supreme pattern of faith, the one who continued to trust in his Father even in his abandonment to the cross. It is interesting that even though Hebrews emphasizes the sacrifice of Christ, this is its only use of "cross" or a related word.
In Christian thought, the passion has sometimes been pictured in heroic terms. The Anglo-Saxon poem "The Dream of the Rood" describes it as something like a wrestling match:
The young hero, God Himself, threw off his garments,
Determined and brave. Proud in the sight of men He mounted
The meanest gallows, to make men's souls eternally free.
-- Poems from the Old English, trans. Burton Raffel, 2d ed. (Univ. of Nebraska, 1964), p. 40
We can see it that way now. But the cross of Christ as a historical event was the least heroic death that one could imagine. It was a deliberately humiliating form of execution intended to display the weakness of the one who hung on the cross (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:4).
Preaching on the Text
In this Olympic season -- and if we're interested in sports, at about any time of the year -- we're likely to hear professions of faith. Just yesterday I heard a young man who had won a gold medal in the X Games express his thanks, first of all, to "the Lord Jesus Christ." We may become rather cynical about such statements but, lacking any evidence to the contrary, I think we should take people who make them at their word. In any case, such expressions are at a higher level theologically than the positive thinking "I think I can, I think I can" forms of faith that we sometimes hear from celebrities.
The Hebrews text gives preachers an opportunity to talk about what genuine faith is. It is not confidence in one's own abilities but in God, and specifically in the God made known in Christ. It is a faith that is active and, as Hebrews emphasizes, that actively perseveres. We are able to persevere through difficult times because of a faith that looks ahead toward God's future. That does not mean just looking toward the end of the particular race we're running or even far ahead to the end of the world. We are told, at the end and climax of our text, that we should be "looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith," because he is the one in whom God's ultimate purpose for the world and for our lives is revealed.
The less than perfect character of some of the heroes of the faith who are mentioned in our reading provides some contact with our lives and with those we preach to. The point there is not so much to say, "Gideon and Samson had feet of clay so it's all right for you to have feet of clay too." It's rather that, like it or not, we and our hearers do have feet of clay, and that that doesn't make us second class saints in comparison with those biblical heroes.
We don't want to discredit the saints mentioned in Hebrews by calling attention to their defects, but we should talk about them realistically. The biblical period is not some kind of golden age in which people had a qualitatively better faith than they do today. The 2004 Olympics in Greece, the country where the ancient Olympics were held and where the modern games were begun in 1896, have stimulated an interest in a similar realistic assessment of those ancient contests. The cover story in the August 9 issue of U.S. News and World Report is one place where some of the facts can be found. It turns out that politicizing of the games, performance enhancing drugs, and professionalism in the games today don't indicate that our Olympics were less pure than the ancient ones. Tony Perrottet is quoted (from his new book The Naked Olympics) as writing, "All the vices of our modern games were present at their birth."
A preacher might also make use of the relative obscurity of some of the figures in the text. The Olympians who get all the glory are of course usually those that win medals. But there are also those who train, who persevere, but don't even come close to winning. Some may remember the English skier "Eddie the Eagle" or the Jamaican bobsled team immortalized in the 1993 film "Cool Running." But some Olympians won't even achieve that level of fame.
The August 8 issue of the Sunday magazine Parade has an article by David Wallechinsky titled, "Why I'll Cheer for Laos" (on p. 8). We don't usually think of Laotians as contenders for Olympic medals, and for good reason. Laos is a very poor country and its athletes (there will be three in Athens) have quite limited facilities and opportunities for training. Only one Laotian Olympian has ever finished anything but last in his or her event.
But they persevere. And that isn't a bad analogy for the lives of many Christians who will not even achieve the level of recognition of the more obscure figures of the Old Testament. We're reminded again of the saying that the Lord calls us to be faithful, not successful. Or perhaps put it another way: The kind of success our faith brings about may not be recognizable by the world -- or by ourselves, short of the parousia.
The supreme example of that is again Christ, who seemed to end his life as a complete failure. But we don't want to picture him as a kind of loveable but inept Charlie Brown trying to steal home but getting thrown out by a mile. It wasn't as if Jesus was trying to lead a military revolt against the Roman occupation but didn't succeed. The goal that he looked to was well beyond that.
One of the heroes of the faith that I keep in mind is St. Ansgar, a ninth-century archbishop of Hamburg. He conducted missions to Denmark and Sweden without much success. Just a few weeks after I was ordained I got a note from a friend in the ministry. "I just noticed that today [3 February] is the commemoration of St. Ansgar," he said. "He was pretty much a failure. And he's a saint, and I just thought that you should remember that." I have.
Team Comments
Carter Shelley responds: George, your background material, biblical insights, and nuances are excellent. Below I have a few comments to share as your comments inspired them and then a few additional ones as they pertain to spiritual and sports heroes.
As a Southern raised in an environment in which sports are almost a religion and religion often includes sports, I'd like to know more about the origins of a sound body and a sound mind being hallmarks of a sound soul. Several organizations come to mind, for example, the Young Men's Christian Association begun in the nineteenth century at the YMCA and the more recent Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In the early days of my ministry, I was occasionally asked to pray at high school football and basketball games. I appreciated being included but found my failure to pray for victory rather than for safety meant I was not often asked a second time.
One of the contributions Hebrews makes to the New Testament and our own appreciation of the faith of our fathers and mothers is the book's review of the salvation history and the trials, tribulations, and victories faced by God's faithful people. In order to understand who we are and what it has cost to get to this point, we need to recognize that we are indeed linked to a of a cloud of witnesses and are part of a long and time-honored religious tradition.
Several thoughts occur to me in response to particular points you've made. One clear distinction between modern Olympic medal aspirants and early Christians is the fact that no twenty-first century athlete really wants posthumous vindication or recognition. They want it now, preferably in terms of product endorsements, not promises of eternal life.
As the resident feminist it's important for me to also point out that
* Samson seemed to be ruled more by his libido than by either faith or good sense and would not have been in the hands of the Philistines in the first place had he been less lulled into complacency by love.
* Barak wasn't willing to lead the troops into battle unless the prophet Deborah accompanied him, which she did.
* Jephthah's inability to trust that the spirit of the Lord was sufficient to give Jephthah victory in battle led to his foolish vow which cost him a daughter and his daughter her life.
Thus, while one can admire the heroic accomplishments of each of these warriors, I, for one, am heartened that God does not turn away from them when their faith slips and backslides, and am hopeful that God will be equally lenient toward the early Christians addressed in Hebrews and to present-day Christians like myself. That's not to say I discount the seriousness of the faults the author of Hebrews addresses, but it is to say that divine correction's primary purpose is to allow room for repentance and return, which is the primary intention of Hebrews.
It's also important for me as a Calvinist to point out to you, our stalwart Lutheran, that Hebrews preaches sanctification as a necessary duty and result of justification and grace.
To anyone who is new to preaching from Hebrews I recommend Fred Craddock's excellent commentary on this book in The New Interpreter's Bible commentary series. A New Testament scholar and homiletics professor at Emory Divinity School prior to his retirement, Dr. Craddock has a knack for mixing academic knowledge with straightforward insights and prose. His discussion of the authorship of Hebrews offered light onto the crucial challenges Christianity faced as its first generation of followers died and were replaced by the second generation. In its concerns with staying true to Jesus Christ and surviving without its initial leaders, Hebrews resembles the kind of crises many of our mainline American churches face now that the full sanctuaries and eager volunteers of the 1950s and 1960s are memory, not reality. Both social stigma and physical persecutions may have contributed to these earlier Christians' inclination to desert their Savior and their faith. But the ongoing leakage of membership experienced in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries due to wider acceptance of secular Christianity also poses a crisis for American Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and so on. By "secular Christianity" I mean those Americans who identify themselves as Christians but make no attempts to join a church, study the Bible, establish a regular prayer or worship relationship with God or offer service, mission, or witness in Christ's name. The author of Hebrews writes with a strong disciplinary voice full of consequences for those who are faltering in their faith. We find such sternness largely ineffective and are uncertain how, as pastors trained in traditional seminaries for traditional parish ministry, we are to meet these current challenges.
Without losing the gravity and power of Hebrews 11:29--12:2, the preacher can have fun this week with comparisons made between the spiritual and personal tenacity of Christians with the emotional and physical tenacity of Olympian aspirants. Both are urged to work toward a higher goal. Both are asked to sacrifice much in the effort. Both are promised great rewards if they succeed. But it is in the nature of those anticipated awards that the comparison breaks down. Salvation, abundant life now and in the future, spiritual solace in the present, a sense of community, and love and care for one another are prizes for the early Christians. Money, fame, and self-validation are the anticipated rewards that go to gold-medal winners in Athens this summer. In support of the latter groups' more material ambitions, I offer the results of the PBS two-part series on "The Real Olympics," which aired August 3 and 4. Scholars clearly established the primary aim of those ancient Greek competitors to have been fame, glory, and wealth. In interviewing twentieth and twenty-first century victors, similar results were provided by those asked why and for whom they had sacrificed so much and worked so hard to prove their athletic power. "I did it for me," "I did it for the fame," "I did it for myself" -- such were the almost universal responses of medal winners, whether they'd won in the 1920s, 30s, 50s, or in 2000.
It is instructive and fun to compare the training methods, personal characteristics, and ultimate goals of twenty-first century athletes with those urged upon the early Christians by the author of Hebrews. The similarities are noteworthy, as are the differences. One way to reinforce the ideas made in the biblical text and one's sermon would be to offer this comparison as a bulletin insert.
CATEGORY
OLYMPIAN CHRISTIAN Initial Goal gold medal salvation Method to Achieve Goal Discipline diet, exercise, etc. hold fast to faith Hard work physical rigors
spiritual, emotional Self-denial/sacrifice many pleasures ostracism, persecution Isolation from others who are not athletes not Christian Community of like-minded souls gym, pool, etc. church Coaching skill enhancement commitment enhance Nourishment diet, sometimes drugs Hebrews: full Christology Clean living physical moral, ethical No pain, no gain physical physical, psychological Characteristics Required to Achieve Goal
Single-mindedness Michael Phelps Jesus to cross Passion emotional spiritual Self-confident
in self in Christ Focused on the gold medal on Christ Risk-taker because it's worth it to win
for eternal life Tenacity in face of obstacles in face of obstacles Autonomy trust self trust Christ Determination
keep at it keep at it Ability to believe while others do not in self
in Christ Ultimate Goal Victory gold medal life in Christ self-validation
self-denial Wealth
abundant life I did it for me
I did it for my Lord recognized champion cloud of witnesses Love of self love for others Fame relinquish self
Roger Lovette responds:
At least three of this week's texts deal with judgment. In Isaiah 5:1-7 Judah is asked to pass judgment on herself much as Nathan had nudged David to pass judgment on his own deeds. It appears to me that when we talk about judgment in the church we are always talking about somebody else: them. Usually never us. The litmus test is found in verse 7: Yahweh expects justice -- which someone has said is faithful application of God's will to daily living and righteousness -- making sure the relationship between God and persons is spiritually and morally acceptable.
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19 is a prayer for deliverance from one's enemies. Verses 8-11 are as beautiful words as we will find in the Bible of God's love for his people -- how we took the vine and treasured it and kept it and planted it. The hope here is that the vine though broken and weak is not dead. The prayer is for restoration for all the lost and foolish things we (corporately and individually) have been engaged in.
Luke 12:49-56 continues this theme of judgment. We don't find any stronger words in the Bible when Jesus says he came to bring fire -- he came with a sword -- it reminds me of the "terrible swift sword" mentioned in "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Elton Trueblood's book, The Incendiary Fellowship (New York: Harper and Row, 1967) might be helpful here. Dr. Trueblood says the metaphor of fire is so strong that it is frightening. He encourages us to take another look at this often skipped-over term. He baptized with water and with fire. He reminds us that when Blaise Pascal needed language to express his life-changing conversion in November 1654 he wrote in large letters, in a secret document he stitched into his clothing, the word FIRE. John Wesley wrote of his own experience: "My heart was strangely warmed." And he reminds us that Nels Ferre used the anonymous words:
Come as the fire and burn,
Come as the wind and cleanse,
Come as a light and reveal.
Convict, convert, consecrate,
Until we are wholly thine.
Dr. Trueblood recalls the words of the seventeenth-century Quaker and ship captain, Robert Fowler. He wrote in the log of his ship, the Woodhouse, "They gathered sticks, and kindled a fire, and left it burning." He was referring to the evangelistic efforts of the passengers of his vessel who, when they interrupted their voyage for a while on the south coast of England, gave their time to speak the fire which was raging in their own lives.
One wonders how the term "fire" fits into the categories of our faith and the faith of those who come on Sunday.
Dr. Trueblood composed a hymn that might be used on this Sunday. It is set to the Welsh tune "Hyfrydol."
Thou, whose purpose is to kindle;
Now ignite us with Thy fire;
While the earth awaits Thy burning
With Thy passion us inspire.
Overcome our sinful calmness,
Rouse us with redemptive shame;
Baptize with Thy fiery Spirit,
Crown our lives with tongues of flame.
Thou, who, in Thy holy Gospel,
Wills that man (all) should truly live:
Make us sense our share of failure,
Our tranquility forgive.
Teach us courage as we struggle
In all liberating strife;
Lift the smallness of our vision,
By Thine own abundant life.
Thou, who still a sword delivers,
Rather than a placid peace;
With Thy sharpened word disturb us,
From complacency, release!
Safe us now from satisfaction,
When we privately are free,
Yet are undisturbed in spirit,
By our brother's [sic] misery.
Related Illustrations and Resources
From Carter Shelley:
Books that offer guides to remaining faithful when life is hard or offer inspirational faith models are Paul Bunyan's classic A Pilgrim's Progress, and Conversions, edited by Hugh T. Kerr and John M. Mulder (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983).
* * *
An example of the sacredness of sports to the American fan is beautifully illustrated by the following paragraph in an August 9, 2004, article on famed football player Joe Namath written by Mark Kriegel for Sports Illustrated. The complete article requires ten pages of ink, but this one paragraph makes the point:
"This is the Super Bowl, the game he [Namath] made, that highest Sabbath in the American religion, the annual consecration of corporate culture, an event that celebrates 30-second spots as sagas and bookmakers as theologians. The Super Bowl evokes a star-spangled yin and yang, all those equal but opposing forces that create prime-time culture: Coke and Pepsi, Miller and Bud, McDonald's and Burger King, Disney and Fox, Bloods and Crips, AFC and NFC. Only two things you can do here at the Super Bowl: you're buying or you're selling."
* * *
From Roger Lovette:
Perseverance, persistence, and faithfulness are the themes the writer deals with in Hebrews 11:29--12:2. Even in the most difficult times the readers were encouraged to run the race with faithfulness.
Novelist Chaim Potok used to say: "I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist, I am a persistantist."
* * *
Winston Churchill said that the secret of success was in these six words: "Never ... never ... never ... never give up." These words helped him through the days of World War II. When he gave his last graduation speech, he simply stood up and said three times: "Never quit." And then he sat down.
Worship Resources
By Julia Strope
HYMN SUGGESTIONS
"God Of The Sparrow" (tune: Roeder)
"Psalm 96: O Sing A New Song," Hal Hopson. Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal 1990, 217
"I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me"
"There's A Spirit In The Air" (Lauds)
CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Isaiah 5:1-8)
Leader: Since Old Testament times, prophets and preachers have commented on the ethics and morals of their cultures. With familiar images they decried the ways people neglected to honor God. Sometimes they were subtle in their judgments; sometimes they were vituperative. If Isaiah were in America today -- or in Israel -- what image might he use to remind us that the Holy One holds us accountable for our attitudes and behaviors?
People: Instead of a vineyard, twenty-first century Isaiah might say that technology that enhances communication would be corrupted by "viruses."
Leader: Perhaps Isaiah would comment that air travel that allows us to go quickly from one city to another would decimate thousands.
People: Perhaps Isaiah would tell us to look at our medicines and see how they bankrupt us or pollute our waters.
Leader: Perhaps he'd say that the hurtful aspects of our times are divine judgments, calling us to a more just and equitable society.
People: Could it be that God is challenging our aggression toward the earth and the peoples who do the hot and hard labor?
Leader: Isaiah in another century was not very encouraging. He told those people, though they thought themselves clever, they were doomed.
People: Are we individually and nationally being called to account for our ways?
Leader: We must each answer that question for ourselves as we explore mystery, justice, beauty, and peace.
PRAYER OF ADORATION
Leader: God of the ages, we thank you for the wonders of creation; how grateful we are that your imagination is endless! In this hour, create in us. Manifest your love for the world through us. With words and silence, with songs and prayers we open ourselves to you. Amen.
COMMUNITY CONFESSION (unison; based on Hebrews 11:29--12:2)
Source of life,
We want the kind of faith that walks us through high waters and desert wanderings.
We want the kind of relationship with you that renews life after times of loss.
We want to experience living as a satisfying adventure.
Ease our doubts about your creating presence; remove the prejudices that block your love in us; save us from cynicism.
Alert us, moment by day, to the good around us and to the wisdom available to us. Amen.
PERSONAL CONFESSION (silent)
WORD OF GRACE (based on Hebrews 12:1-3)
Leader: Scriptures say that we can be rid of the sins that strangle us and inhibit our faith. Jesus the Christ shows us how to live so that God's domain can come to earth. Jesus shows us the way of life. We are a free people. Hallelujah.
CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE
"Come Sing, O Church In Joy!" (tune: Darwall's 148th; stanza 2 available in The Presbyterian Hymnal 1990, 430)
Long years have come and gone
And still God reigns supreme.
Empowering us to catch the vision
Dream the dream!
In bold accord, come celebrate the journey
Now and praise the Lord!
AN AFFIRMATION (unison; based on Luke 12:49-52)
Created in Divine Image, we yearn to be close to God.
Placed on the Earth, we think and do things that separate us from God.
Scriptures provide us alternative ways to view the world and challenge us to practice forgiveness, kindness, mercy, and hospitality.
Jesus left the world promising peace; yet his teachings, death, and new life continue to burn in our minds, demanding interpretation that sometimes divides nations and families.
Jesus suggests that we can choose to do what is right and pleasing to God.
We are not alone with our yearnings or with our explorations of God's domain. We have one another for companionship on the journey we call life.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
God of Jesus and Mary,
Every now and then we wish the world were less complex like we imagine it was in the first century. Roads and stores, phones and sports seem so complicated, so confusing, so demanding. Renew our faith in the possibility of all things being new -- and helpful.
God of Isaiah and Miriam,
Every now and then when we listen to politicians, we understand the Bible stories better. Grapevines get trampled, grapes are sour, sheep need shepherds, potters need fresh clay, singers need new lyrics. Open our eyes to truth; stretch our hands to minister to children and the aging; kindle a flame in us to build a new reign of holy endeavors.
God of Lydia and Paul,
Every now and then when our hands are busy cooking and weaving, planting and washing dishes, we are grateful for the gifts from the previous generation, from our aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers, elders and deacons. It is said that seven generations yet unborn are affected by the decision we make. Help us be wise and protective of the land and waters, air and fire. May our grandchildren have reason to be thankful for our care of the planet's forests, wetlands, and animal kingdom.
God of Tabitha and Peter,
Every now and then when our joints ache and our bladders leak and our muscles hurt we are grateful that you are our maker and mender. Sustain us through surgeries, tests, and wounds. And when the loss seems more than we can bear, lift us beyond the pain. Heal us and remove our fears.
God for us,
Then and now, our prayer is for peace: Peace in our homes, peace in our country, peace in the global village. Where and when psyches are at war, reveal new options. Where and when tribes control and retaliate, reveal alternative ways. Where and when the human mind designs terror, stop the insanity and reveal, again, your love for humankind and all Creation. Comfort the men and women whose lives have been shattered by war's maiming and dying. Let peace pervade us all. Amen.
OFFERTORY STATEMENT
We have confessed our sins and received God's forgiveness. We have heard God's Word interpreted. Now we say yes and no to what we have heard. Isaiah said, "Here I am; use me." We can speak and act out our response to God.
DOXOLOGY (Old Hundredth, inclusive)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above, ye heavenly hosts,
Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING (based on Hebrews 12:1-2)
So many people have joined you in eternity. We thank you for the witness they have provided for us in words, in this building, in service here and around the world. Thank you for our monies, our time, and our talents. Use us. Amen.
BENEDICTION
Leader: Our service here is ended.
Your service continues in your homes and communities.
Continue to think about God.
Continue to experience Christ in yourself and in others.
Continue to listen to the Spirit's guidance.
Love what you do and be at peace. Amen.
A Children's Sermon
Staying focused Text: Based on Hebrews 11:29--12:2
Object: a 2 x 4 board Good morning! I brought this board with me today to see how many of you have good balance. I'm going to lay it down here and I want each of you to walk on it from one end to the other. (lay down the board and let each of them walk from one end to the other)
Okay, you all did that well. Now, let's pretend that, instead of laying here on the floor, this board is going from one cliff to another. It's two or three hundred feet straight down below the board and there are alligators and man-eating sharks in the water below. Do you think it would still be easy to walk down the board? (let them answer)
No, it would be a lot harder, and I doubt that many of us would even try it. But, let's suppose it is very important that you do cross the board. Let's say you are being chased by cannibals and if they catch you, you'll wind up in their stew pot tonight. What could you do to make it easier to cross over the board? (let them answer)
Well, we certainly wouldn't want to look down because then we would surely get rattled and fall down to the alligators and sharks. The best thing we could do is pick out something on the far side and keep our eyes on it as we cross over. By staying focused on the object on the other side, we could walk to safety.
The Bible tells us that we need to do that in life. Life is full of temptations and all kinds of dangerous pitfalls. The Bible says we should keep our eyes on Jesus as we live our lives. If we do that, we will be able to overcome temptations and dangers of all kinds. We need to stay focused on Jesus no matter what we face in this life. If we do that, we can cross over any kind of bad thing that faces us.
As you return to your seats, I want you to walk the board again, and I am going to stand at the other end. Think of the board as your life and pretend that I am Jesus. Walk the board, keeping your eyes on me, and see how it helps you walk safely over. Before you go, however, let's pray.
Dearest Jesus: Thank you for always being there in front of us
(Written by Robert R. Roberts, from CSS Plus!, August 1998)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, August 22, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2004 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
In the lead article for this issue of The Immediate Word, team member George Murphy reflects on sports heroes and Olympians of our time and on the heroes of faith in the impressive list of Hebrews 11. He reminds us that biblical heroes often had feet of clay, even as they did impressive things for their people and their faith. Genuine faith is always directed to Jesus, the "pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).
Other team members offer their own take on the lectionary readings for the day, Julia Strope provides worship resources and CSS Publishing provides a children's sermon titled Staying Focused.
HERO TIME
Hebrews 11:29--12:2
By George Murphy
The Olympic Moment
Two out in the bottom of the ninth. "It's hero time," Charlie Brown would tell himself before taking a mighty swing at the ball -- and missing. Many of us, with our abortive attempts to be heroes, can sympathize both with his dreams and his frustrations. But in the next weeks, with the Athens Olympics, we'll have plenty of chances to be heroes vicariously. With a little luck there will be men or women who don't just win particular events but emerge as new sports heroes, the latest faces on Wheaties boxes, like Mary Lou Retton or Mark Spitz. They will be embodiments of the Olympic slogan, citius, altius, fortius -- "faster, higher, stronger."
This big sports event now happens every other year, since the summer and winter Olympics are staggered. And as the 2004 Olympics come on stage, the lectionary gives us, for the second week, part of the great chapter from the letter to the Hebrews about the faith and the heroes of the Old Testament. A preacher might easily connect the beginning of our athletic spectacular with the Second Lesson for this coming Sunday, Hebrews 11:29--12:2. Here some of the superstars of the Old Testament, such as Gideon, Samson, and David, are set before us. You can't get much more muscular than that.
The Olympic connection is a good tie-in with current events. For that matter, there's plenty of fascination with sports and athletic heroes even without the Olympic stage. In baseball the pennant races are starting on the home stretch, and the exhibition season for professional football has already begun. But we'll need to be careful. Hebrews is not just speaking about "action heroes" in our modern sense but about heroes of faith. And our reading will conclude with one whose heroism wasn't displayed in outrunning or outfighting opponents but in the fact that he "endured the cross, disregarding its shame."
The "Epistle" to the Hebrews
Hebrews is not really a letter, though its closing verses indicate that it was "mailed" to the community that it was addressed to. In his Anchor Bible Commentary (To the Hebrews [Doubleday, 1972]), George Wesley Buchanan characterized it as "a homiletical midrash based on Psalm 110" (p. xix). (One of the book's many references to this psalm comes at the very end of our text, where Jesus is said to have "taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God" [12:2].) It may be helpful to remember, when you're working to prepare a sermon on Hebrews, that your text is already part of a sermon.
But of course it's a sermon of a quite different type from what we're used to, expressed in the thought forms of first-century Judaism. The argument is sometimes hard to follow, but there is one clear purpose. The author (and we have no idea who it was -- Luther's guess of Apollos is as good as any) was encouraging a community of Jewish Christians to persevere, to "keep the faith" in the face of temptations to false teachings, of persecutions, and of general indifference, and there are repeated warnings against losing faith and falling away from Christ.
For the writer to the Hebrews, the possibility that Christians would apostatize was especially serious because he apparently believed (as 6:4-6; 10:26-27; and perhaps 12:17 suggest) that a return to Christianity once one had left the faith was ruled out. While it might be possible to understand those verses in another way, it's clear that the thought of this writer is quite different from that of large numbers of people today who think that there are many different paths to God. It is Christ, not angelic beings (chs. 1 and 2), the Law of Moses (ch. 3), or any other religion that offers assurance of forgiveness and life.
Our eleventh chapter is preceded by one of those sections in which the addressees of the sermon are called to "hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering" (10:23) and warned against continuing in sin. Then we come to the lengthy praise of faith and of the saints of the past who displayed it.
Chapter 11 begins with the statement that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." It is not the same as scientific or historical knowledge, but it also isn't a matter of believing things that are known to be preposterous. The faith that is spoken of here is eschatological, as we see in the later example of Abraham, who "looked forward to the city that has foundations" (v. 10). Even though faith cannot be proved by observations at present, it is not beyond verification, for it will be vindicated in God's future. Wolfhart Pannenberg is one modern theologian who has argued for the eschatological verification of biblical faith.
The Text
The heroes of faith in the first part of chapter 11, and especially Abraham and Moses, are well known to most Christians. Saint Paul used Abraham as the supreme example of faith. The people who are mentioned in this Sunday's text aren't quite as familiar, and some of them seem to be rather odd heroes. There is Rahab, the prostitute who hid the spies that Joshua had sent into Jericho. Gideon was a great military leader but then set up an image which led Israel into idolatry (Judges 8:27). And while Samson sounds like a hero in the Olympic mold -- he probably could have gotten a gold in weightlifting -- he doesn't seem to have been terribly religious. His reputation as a champion of Israel was apparently a result of his personal quarrels with the Philistines rather than any special piety.
This should remind us that being a person of faith doesn't guarantee that one will be a good example of morality or even of theological orthodoxy. There are plenty of illustrations of David's faith, but his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband aren't among them. And faith can even drive a person to actions that we would condemn if they happened today. When people hear the name of Samuel in our text, they may think of that nice Sunday school story about him hearing the voice of God as a young boy. But there's also the story of him hacking a prisoner of war to pieces (1 Samuel 15:32-33) that sounds like something we might expect to see on a video from Islamic terrorists.
Being a person of faith doesn't mean that in this world we have perfect righteousness. We are, as Luther put it, "at the same time justified and sinner," and the righteousness that we have before God is that which we are given in Christ. This is to say, it is eschatological, in accord with the eschatological character of faith. In the kingdom of heaven we will not meet Rahab as a prostitute or David as a murderer.
Some of the people referred to here are also rather obscure. The average churchgoer probably won't recognize the names of Barak or Jephthah, and the text goes on to allude to people who aren't even named. Commentaries will help in figuring out the references: Daniel, e.g., is obviously in mind as one who "shut the mouths of lions." Some of the allusions get into the Apocrypha (e.g., the stories of the martyrs in 2 Maccabees 6 and 7) and even beyond. (The reference to those who "were sawn in two" no doubt has in mind the death of the prophet in The Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah.)
That means that Hebrews 11 does more than just give us some isolated examples of the superheroes of faith. The whole history of God's people is a history of faith shown on large scales and small. That's why it's the history of God's people -- salvation history if you will. The story of God's people is a story of sinners who also -- because of faith -- are saints.
(In the traditions of Western Christianity we're not accustomed to refer to figures of the Old Testament as "saints," but there's no good reason for that. It's different in the Eastern Church. You're likely to come across Orthodox churches named "St. Elias" or something of that sort.)
The lectionary is certainly correct in continuing the reading past the end of chapter 11 to take in the example of Christ in 12:2. There are, of course, many ways to speak about Christ and his work (some of which we find earlier in Hebrews), but in this context he must be seen as the supreme pattern of faith, the one who continued to trust in his Father even in his abandonment to the cross. It is interesting that even though Hebrews emphasizes the sacrifice of Christ, this is its only use of "cross" or a related word.
In Christian thought, the passion has sometimes been pictured in heroic terms. The Anglo-Saxon poem "The Dream of the Rood" describes it as something like a wrestling match:
The young hero, God Himself, threw off his garments,
Determined and brave. Proud in the sight of men He mounted
The meanest gallows, to make men's souls eternally free.
-- Poems from the Old English, trans. Burton Raffel, 2d ed. (Univ. of Nebraska, 1964), p. 40
We can see it that way now. But the cross of Christ as a historical event was the least heroic death that one could imagine. It was a deliberately humiliating form of execution intended to display the weakness of the one who hung on the cross (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:4).
Preaching on the Text
In this Olympic season -- and if we're interested in sports, at about any time of the year -- we're likely to hear professions of faith. Just yesterday I heard a young man who had won a gold medal in the X Games express his thanks, first of all, to "the Lord Jesus Christ." We may become rather cynical about such statements but, lacking any evidence to the contrary, I think we should take people who make them at their word. In any case, such expressions are at a higher level theologically than the positive thinking "I think I can, I think I can" forms of faith that we sometimes hear from celebrities.
The Hebrews text gives preachers an opportunity to talk about what genuine faith is. It is not confidence in one's own abilities but in God, and specifically in the God made known in Christ. It is a faith that is active and, as Hebrews emphasizes, that actively perseveres. We are able to persevere through difficult times because of a faith that looks ahead toward God's future. That does not mean just looking toward the end of the particular race we're running or even far ahead to the end of the world. We are told, at the end and climax of our text, that we should be "looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith," because he is the one in whom God's ultimate purpose for the world and for our lives is revealed.
The less than perfect character of some of the heroes of the faith who are mentioned in our reading provides some contact with our lives and with those we preach to. The point there is not so much to say, "Gideon and Samson had feet of clay so it's all right for you to have feet of clay too." It's rather that, like it or not, we and our hearers do have feet of clay, and that that doesn't make us second class saints in comparison with those biblical heroes.
We don't want to discredit the saints mentioned in Hebrews by calling attention to their defects, but we should talk about them realistically. The biblical period is not some kind of golden age in which people had a qualitatively better faith than they do today. The 2004 Olympics in Greece, the country where the ancient Olympics were held and where the modern games were begun in 1896, have stimulated an interest in a similar realistic assessment of those ancient contests. The cover story in the August 9 issue of U.S. News and World Report is one place where some of the facts can be found. It turns out that politicizing of the games, performance enhancing drugs, and professionalism in the games today don't indicate that our Olympics were less pure than the ancient ones. Tony Perrottet is quoted (from his new book The Naked Olympics) as writing, "All the vices of our modern games were present at their birth."
A preacher might also make use of the relative obscurity of some of the figures in the text. The Olympians who get all the glory are of course usually those that win medals. But there are also those who train, who persevere, but don't even come close to winning. Some may remember the English skier "Eddie the Eagle" or the Jamaican bobsled team immortalized in the 1993 film "Cool Running." But some Olympians won't even achieve that level of fame.
The August 8 issue of the Sunday magazine Parade has an article by David Wallechinsky titled, "Why I'll Cheer for Laos" (on p. 8). We don't usually think of Laotians as contenders for Olympic medals, and for good reason. Laos is a very poor country and its athletes (there will be three in Athens) have quite limited facilities and opportunities for training. Only one Laotian Olympian has ever finished anything but last in his or her event.
But they persevere. And that isn't a bad analogy for the lives of many Christians who will not even achieve the level of recognition of the more obscure figures of the Old Testament. We're reminded again of the saying that the Lord calls us to be faithful, not successful. Or perhaps put it another way: The kind of success our faith brings about may not be recognizable by the world -- or by ourselves, short of the parousia.
The supreme example of that is again Christ, who seemed to end his life as a complete failure. But we don't want to picture him as a kind of loveable but inept Charlie Brown trying to steal home but getting thrown out by a mile. It wasn't as if Jesus was trying to lead a military revolt against the Roman occupation but didn't succeed. The goal that he looked to was well beyond that.
One of the heroes of the faith that I keep in mind is St. Ansgar, a ninth-century archbishop of Hamburg. He conducted missions to Denmark and Sweden without much success. Just a few weeks after I was ordained I got a note from a friend in the ministry. "I just noticed that today [3 February] is the commemoration of St. Ansgar," he said. "He was pretty much a failure. And he's a saint, and I just thought that you should remember that." I have.
Team Comments
Carter Shelley responds: George, your background material, biblical insights, and nuances are excellent. Below I have a few comments to share as your comments inspired them and then a few additional ones as they pertain to spiritual and sports heroes.
As a Southern raised in an environment in which sports are almost a religion and religion often includes sports, I'd like to know more about the origins of a sound body and a sound mind being hallmarks of a sound soul. Several organizations come to mind, for example, the Young Men's Christian Association begun in the nineteenth century at the YMCA and the more recent Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In the early days of my ministry, I was occasionally asked to pray at high school football and basketball games. I appreciated being included but found my failure to pray for victory rather than for safety meant I was not often asked a second time.
One of the contributions Hebrews makes to the New Testament and our own appreciation of the faith of our fathers and mothers is the book's review of the salvation history and the trials, tribulations, and victories faced by God's faithful people. In order to understand who we are and what it has cost to get to this point, we need to recognize that we are indeed linked to a of a cloud of witnesses and are part of a long and time-honored religious tradition.
Several thoughts occur to me in response to particular points you've made. One clear distinction between modern Olympic medal aspirants and early Christians is the fact that no twenty-first century athlete really wants posthumous vindication or recognition. They want it now, preferably in terms of product endorsements, not promises of eternal life.
As the resident feminist it's important for me to also point out that
* Samson seemed to be ruled more by his libido than by either faith or good sense and would not have been in the hands of the Philistines in the first place had he been less lulled into complacency by love.
* Barak wasn't willing to lead the troops into battle unless the prophet Deborah accompanied him, which she did.
* Jephthah's inability to trust that the spirit of the Lord was sufficient to give Jephthah victory in battle led to his foolish vow which cost him a daughter and his daughter her life.
Thus, while one can admire the heroic accomplishments of each of these warriors, I, for one, am heartened that God does not turn away from them when their faith slips and backslides, and am hopeful that God will be equally lenient toward the early Christians addressed in Hebrews and to present-day Christians like myself. That's not to say I discount the seriousness of the faults the author of Hebrews addresses, but it is to say that divine correction's primary purpose is to allow room for repentance and return, which is the primary intention of Hebrews.
It's also important for me as a Calvinist to point out to you, our stalwart Lutheran, that Hebrews preaches sanctification as a necessary duty and result of justification and grace.
To anyone who is new to preaching from Hebrews I recommend Fred Craddock's excellent commentary on this book in The New Interpreter's Bible commentary series. A New Testament scholar and homiletics professor at Emory Divinity School prior to his retirement, Dr. Craddock has a knack for mixing academic knowledge with straightforward insights and prose. His discussion of the authorship of Hebrews offered light onto the crucial challenges Christianity faced as its first generation of followers died and were replaced by the second generation. In its concerns with staying true to Jesus Christ and surviving without its initial leaders, Hebrews resembles the kind of crises many of our mainline American churches face now that the full sanctuaries and eager volunteers of the 1950s and 1960s are memory, not reality. Both social stigma and physical persecutions may have contributed to these earlier Christians' inclination to desert their Savior and their faith. But the ongoing leakage of membership experienced in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries due to wider acceptance of secular Christianity also poses a crisis for American Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and so on. By "secular Christianity" I mean those Americans who identify themselves as Christians but make no attempts to join a church, study the Bible, establish a regular prayer or worship relationship with God or offer service, mission, or witness in Christ's name. The author of Hebrews writes with a strong disciplinary voice full of consequences for those who are faltering in their faith. We find such sternness largely ineffective and are uncertain how, as pastors trained in traditional seminaries for traditional parish ministry, we are to meet these current challenges.
Without losing the gravity and power of Hebrews 11:29--12:2, the preacher can have fun this week with comparisons made between the spiritual and personal tenacity of Christians with the emotional and physical tenacity of Olympian aspirants. Both are urged to work toward a higher goal. Both are asked to sacrifice much in the effort. Both are promised great rewards if they succeed. But it is in the nature of those anticipated awards that the comparison breaks down. Salvation, abundant life now and in the future, spiritual solace in the present, a sense of community, and love and care for one another are prizes for the early Christians. Money, fame, and self-validation are the anticipated rewards that go to gold-medal winners in Athens this summer. In support of the latter groups' more material ambitions, I offer the results of the PBS two-part series on "The Real Olympics," which aired August 3 and 4. Scholars clearly established the primary aim of those ancient Greek competitors to have been fame, glory, and wealth. In interviewing twentieth and twenty-first century victors, similar results were provided by those asked why and for whom they had sacrificed so much and worked so hard to prove their athletic power. "I did it for me," "I did it for the fame," "I did it for myself" -- such were the almost universal responses of medal winners, whether they'd won in the 1920s, 30s, 50s, or in 2000.
It is instructive and fun to compare the training methods, personal characteristics, and ultimate goals of twenty-first century athletes with those urged upon the early Christians by the author of Hebrews. The similarities are noteworthy, as are the differences. One way to reinforce the ideas made in the biblical text and one's sermon would be to offer this comparison as a bulletin insert.
CATEGORY
OLYMPIAN CHRISTIAN Initial Goal gold medal salvation Method to Achieve Goal Discipline diet, exercise, etc. hold fast to faith Hard work physical rigors
spiritual, emotional Self-denial/sacrifice many pleasures ostracism, persecution Isolation from others who are not athletes not Christian Community of like-minded souls gym, pool, etc. church Coaching skill enhancement commitment enhance Nourishment diet, sometimes drugs Hebrews: full Christology Clean living physical moral, ethical No pain, no gain physical physical, psychological Characteristics Required to Achieve Goal
Single-mindedness Michael Phelps Jesus to cross Passion emotional spiritual Self-confident
in self in Christ Focused on the gold medal on Christ Risk-taker because it's worth it to win
for eternal life Tenacity in face of obstacles in face of obstacles Autonomy trust self trust Christ Determination
keep at it keep at it Ability to believe while others do not in self
in Christ Ultimate Goal Victory gold medal life in Christ self-validation
self-denial Wealth
abundant life I did it for me
I did it for my Lord recognized champion cloud of witnesses Love of self love for others Fame relinquish self
Roger Lovette responds:
At least three of this week's texts deal with judgment. In Isaiah 5:1-7 Judah is asked to pass judgment on herself much as Nathan had nudged David to pass judgment on his own deeds. It appears to me that when we talk about judgment in the church we are always talking about somebody else: them. Usually never us. The litmus test is found in verse 7: Yahweh expects justice -- which someone has said is faithful application of God's will to daily living and righteousness -- making sure the relationship between God and persons is spiritually and morally acceptable.
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19 is a prayer for deliverance from one's enemies. Verses 8-11 are as beautiful words as we will find in the Bible of God's love for his people -- how we took the vine and treasured it and kept it and planted it. The hope here is that the vine though broken and weak is not dead. The prayer is for restoration for all the lost and foolish things we (corporately and individually) have been engaged in.
Luke 12:49-56 continues this theme of judgment. We don't find any stronger words in the Bible when Jesus says he came to bring fire -- he came with a sword -- it reminds me of the "terrible swift sword" mentioned in "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Elton Trueblood's book, The Incendiary Fellowship (New York: Harper and Row, 1967) might be helpful here. Dr. Trueblood says the metaphor of fire is so strong that it is frightening. He encourages us to take another look at this often skipped-over term. He baptized with water and with fire. He reminds us that when Blaise Pascal needed language to express his life-changing conversion in November 1654 he wrote in large letters, in a secret document he stitched into his clothing, the word FIRE. John Wesley wrote of his own experience: "My heart was strangely warmed." And he reminds us that Nels Ferre used the anonymous words:
Come as the fire and burn,
Come as the wind and cleanse,
Come as a light and reveal.
Convict, convert, consecrate,
Until we are wholly thine.
Dr. Trueblood recalls the words of the seventeenth-century Quaker and ship captain, Robert Fowler. He wrote in the log of his ship, the Woodhouse, "They gathered sticks, and kindled a fire, and left it burning." He was referring to the evangelistic efforts of the passengers of his vessel who, when they interrupted their voyage for a while on the south coast of England, gave their time to speak the fire which was raging in their own lives.
One wonders how the term "fire" fits into the categories of our faith and the faith of those who come on Sunday.
Dr. Trueblood composed a hymn that might be used on this Sunday. It is set to the Welsh tune "Hyfrydol."
Thou, whose purpose is to kindle;
Now ignite us with Thy fire;
While the earth awaits Thy burning
With Thy passion us inspire.
Overcome our sinful calmness,
Rouse us with redemptive shame;
Baptize with Thy fiery Spirit,
Crown our lives with tongues of flame.
Thou, who, in Thy holy Gospel,
Wills that man (all) should truly live:
Make us sense our share of failure,
Our tranquility forgive.
Teach us courage as we struggle
In all liberating strife;
Lift the smallness of our vision,
By Thine own abundant life.
Thou, who still a sword delivers,
Rather than a placid peace;
With Thy sharpened word disturb us,
From complacency, release!
Safe us now from satisfaction,
When we privately are free,
Yet are undisturbed in spirit,
By our brother's [sic] misery.
Related Illustrations and Resources
From Carter Shelley:
Books that offer guides to remaining faithful when life is hard or offer inspirational faith models are Paul Bunyan's classic A Pilgrim's Progress, and Conversions, edited by Hugh T. Kerr and John M. Mulder (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983).
* * *
An example of the sacredness of sports to the American fan is beautifully illustrated by the following paragraph in an August 9, 2004, article on famed football player Joe Namath written by Mark Kriegel for Sports Illustrated. The complete article requires ten pages of ink, but this one paragraph makes the point:
"This is the Super Bowl, the game he [Namath] made, that highest Sabbath in the American religion, the annual consecration of corporate culture, an event that celebrates 30-second spots as sagas and bookmakers as theologians. The Super Bowl evokes a star-spangled yin and yang, all those equal but opposing forces that create prime-time culture: Coke and Pepsi, Miller and Bud, McDonald's and Burger King, Disney and Fox, Bloods and Crips, AFC and NFC. Only two things you can do here at the Super Bowl: you're buying or you're selling."
* * *
From Roger Lovette:
Perseverance, persistence, and faithfulness are the themes the writer deals with in Hebrews 11:29--12:2. Even in the most difficult times the readers were encouraged to run the race with faithfulness.
Novelist Chaim Potok used to say: "I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist, I am a persistantist."
* * *
Winston Churchill said that the secret of success was in these six words: "Never ... never ... never ... never give up." These words helped him through the days of World War II. When he gave his last graduation speech, he simply stood up and said three times: "Never quit." And then he sat down.
Worship Resources
By Julia Strope
HYMN SUGGESTIONS
"God Of The Sparrow" (tune: Roeder)
"Psalm 96: O Sing A New Song," Hal Hopson. Available in The Presbyterian Hymnal 1990, 217
"I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me"
"There's A Spirit In The Air" (Lauds)
CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Isaiah 5:1-8)
Leader: Since Old Testament times, prophets and preachers have commented on the ethics and morals of their cultures. With familiar images they decried the ways people neglected to honor God. Sometimes they were subtle in their judgments; sometimes they were vituperative. If Isaiah were in America today -- or in Israel -- what image might he use to remind us that the Holy One holds us accountable for our attitudes and behaviors?
People: Instead of a vineyard, twenty-first century Isaiah might say that technology that enhances communication would be corrupted by "viruses."
Leader: Perhaps Isaiah would comment that air travel that allows us to go quickly from one city to another would decimate thousands.
People: Perhaps Isaiah would tell us to look at our medicines and see how they bankrupt us or pollute our waters.
Leader: Perhaps he'd say that the hurtful aspects of our times are divine judgments, calling us to a more just and equitable society.
People: Could it be that God is challenging our aggression toward the earth and the peoples who do the hot and hard labor?
Leader: Isaiah in another century was not very encouraging. He told those people, though they thought themselves clever, they were doomed.
People: Are we individually and nationally being called to account for our ways?
Leader: We must each answer that question for ourselves as we explore mystery, justice, beauty, and peace.
PRAYER OF ADORATION
Leader: God of the ages, we thank you for the wonders of creation; how grateful we are that your imagination is endless! In this hour, create in us. Manifest your love for the world through us. With words and silence, with songs and prayers we open ourselves to you. Amen.
COMMUNITY CONFESSION (unison; based on Hebrews 11:29--12:2)
Source of life,
We want the kind of faith that walks us through high waters and desert wanderings.
We want the kind of relationship with you that renews life after times of loss.
We want to experience living as a satisfying adventure.
Ease our doubts about your creating presence; remove the prejudices that block your love in us; save us from cynicism.
Alert us, moment by day, to the good around us and to the wisdom available to us. Amen.
PERSONAL CONFESSION (silent)
WORD OF GRACE (based on Hebrews 12:1-3)
Leader: Scriptures say that we can be rid of the sins that strangle us and inhibit our faith. Jesus the Christ shows us how to live so that God's domain can come to earth. Jesus shows us the way of life. We are a free people. Hallelujah.
CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE
"Come Sing, O Church In Joy!" (tune: Darwall's 148th; stanza 2 available in The Presbyterian Hymnal 1990, 430)
Long years have come and gone
And still God reigns supreme.
Empowering us to catch the vision
Dream the dream!
In bold accord, come celebrate the journey
Now and praise the Lord!
AN AFFIRMATION (unison; based on Luke 12:49-52)
Created in Divine Image, we yearn to be close to God.
Placed on the Earth, we think and do things that separate us from God.
Scriptures provide us alternative ways to view the world and challenge us to practice forgiveness, kindness, mercy, and hospitality.
Jesus left the world promising peace; yet his teachings, death, and new life continue to burn in our minds, demanding interpretation that sometimes divides nations and families.
Jesus suggests that we can choose to do what is right and pleasing to God.
We are not alone with our yearnings or with our explorations of God's domain. We have one another for companionship on the journey we call life.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
God of Jesus and Mary,
Every now and then we wish the world were less complex like we imagine it was in the first century. Roads and stores, phones and sports seem so complicated, so confusing, so demanding. Renew our faith in the possibility of all things being new -- and helpful.
God of Isaiah and Miriam,
Every now and then when we listen to politicians, we understand the Bible stories better. Grapevines get trampled, grapes are sour, sheep need shepherds, potters need fresh clay, singers need new lyrics. Open our eyes to truth; stretch our hands to minister to children and the aging; kindle a flame in us to build a new reign of holy endeavors.
God of Lydia and Paul,
Every now and then when our hands are busy cooking and weaving, planting and washing dishes, we are grateful for the gifts from the previous generation, from our aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers, elders and deacons. It is said that seven generations yet unborn are affected by the decision we make. Help us be wise and protective of the land and waters, air and fire. May our grandchildren have reason to be thankful for our care of the planet's forests, wetlands, and animal kingdom.
God of Tabitha and Peter,
Every now and then when our joints ache and our bladders leak and our muscles hurt we are grateful that you are our maker and mender. Sustain us through surgeries, tests, and wounds. And when the loss seems more than we can bear, lift us beyond the pain. Heal us and remove our fears.
God for us,
Then and now, our prayer is for peace: Peace in our homes, peace in our country, peace in the global village. Where and when psyches are at war, reveal new options. Where and when tribes control and retaliate, reveal alternative ways. Where and when the human mind designs terror, stop the insanity and reveal, again, your love for humankind and all Creation. Comfort the men and women whose lives have been shattered by war's maiming and dying. Let peace pervade us all. Amen.
OFFERTORY STATEMENT
We have confessed our sins and received God's forgiveness. We have heard God's Word interpreted. Now we say yes and no to what we have heard. Isaiah said, "Here I am; use me." We can speak and act out our response to God.
DOXOLOGY (Old Hundredth, inclusive)
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above, ye heavenly hosts,
Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING (based on Hebrews 12:1-2)
So many people have joined you in eternity. We thank you for the witness they have provided for us in words, in this building, in service here and around the world. Thank you for our monies, our time, and our talents. Use us. Amen.
BENEDICTION
Leader: Our service here is ended.
Your service continues in your homes and communities.
Continue to think about God.
Continue to experience Christ in yourself and in others.
Continue to listen to the Spirit's guidance.
Love what you do and be at peace. Amen.
A Children's Sermon
Staying focused Text: Based on Hebrews 11:29--12:2
Object: a 2 x 4 board Good morning! I brought this board with me today to see how many of you have good balance. I'm going to lay it down here and I want each of you to walk on it from one end to the other. (lay down the board and let each of them walk from one end to the other)
Okay, you all did that well. Now, let's pretend that, instead of laying here on the floor, this board is going from one cliff to another. It's two or three hundred feet straight down below the board and there are alligators and man-eating sharks in the water below. Do you think it would still be easy to walk down the board? (let them answer)
No, it would be a lot harder, and I doubt that many of us would even try it. But, let's suppose it is very important that you do cross the board. Let's say you are being chased by cannibals and if they catch you, you'll wind up in their stew pot tonight. What could you do to make it easier to cross over the board? (let them answer)
Well, we certainly wouldn't want to look down because then we would surely get rattled and fall down to the alligators and sharks. The best thing we could do is pick out something on the far side and keep our eyes on it as we cross over. By staying focused on the object on the other side, we could walk to safety.
The Bible tells us that we need to do that in life. Life is full of temptations and all kinds of dangerous pitfalls. The Bible says we should keep our eyes on Jesus as we live our lives. If we do that, we will be able to overcome temptations and dangers of all kinds. We need to stay focused on Jesus no matter what we face in this life. If we do that, we can cross over any kind of bad thing that faces us.
As you return to your seats, I want you to walk the board again, and I am going to stand at the other end. Think of the board as your life and pretend that I am Jesus. Walk the board, keeping your eyes on me, and see how it helps you walk safely over. Before you go, however, let's pray.
Dearest Jesus: Thank you for always being there in front of us
(Written by Robert R. Roberts, from CSS Plus!, August 1998)
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The Immediate Word, August 22, 2004, issue.
Copyright 2004 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
