Paul opens this week’s epistle text with a sentence that ought to be a motto for our freedom-loving society: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial.” While that certainly applies to the advance of science and technology -- with its myriad benefits often balanced by questions about whether we have adequately pondered the ethical and practical implications of new discoveries -- Paul’s real concern is whether the Corinthian Christians have adequately considered the effects their behavior has on both themselves (the body) and the members of Christ (the Body). He pointedly questions them about whether their actions serve to “glorify God in your body.”
In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Leah Lonsbury suggests that Paul’s perspective is one that is also very timely regarding the deep divisions in our contemporary world -- political, cultural, and religious. Those fault lines were exposed yet again last week with the deadly attack on the offices of the controversial French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. While justified by Islamic extremists as a response to the publication’s perceived slandering of the prophet Muhammed, many Muslims around the world condemned the attack. Yet Charlie Hebdo has a history of mocking all religions, with one commentator observing that their work “was both courageous and often vile.” Leah explores Paul’s ideas in the context of Charlie Hebdo’s penchant for indulging in a freedom of expression that is not necessarily available to Muslims in France, and asks us to think about our relation to the world as parts of the Body of Christ. Given the chasms in our society, how often do we pause to consider whether our actions and beliefs -- no matter how deeply held -- are truly beneficial for all?
Team member Mary Austin provides some additional thoughts on the First Samuel passage and the theme of listening -- a crucial quality to have if we are to be open to the voice of God calling us, whether we hear it ourselves or experience it in others. If they hadn’t been open to hearing it, Samuel, Philip, and Nathanael might well have been oblivious and missed the voice calling them to their new identities. Mary cites several examples in the news of a notable lack of listening, and she suggests that if we can’t listen to one another we’re unlikely to hear God as well... and thus to respond to God in ways that miss the mark of his intention for our lives, or to not respond altogether.
Je Suis une Partie du Corps (I Am a Part of the Body)
by Leah Lonsbury
1 Corinthians 6:12-20; Psalm 139; John 1:43-51
Last week Stephane Charbonnier (known as “Charb”), the publishing director of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, died while living out his eerily prescient words: “I am not afraid of retaliation. I have no kids, no wife, no car, no credit. It perhaps sounds a bit pompous, but I prefer to die standing than living on my knees.”
Charb was murdered by Muslim extremists during an editorial meeting at the paper’s headquarters. Eleven of his Charlie Hebdo colleagues, including four cartoonists, a Muslim police officer providing security, and the paper’s secretary died with him.
In response, thousands of people jammed French public squares holding signs and chanting support for the slain and for freedom of speech. People across the world changed their Facebook profile pictures to say Je suis Charlie (“I am Charlie”). Cartoonists of all stripes drew pencils, pens, and paintbrushes as weapons defeating terrorists, and Andy Marlette of the Pensacola News Journal wrote:
It’s 2015, for Allah’s sake. Isn’t it time for cartoonists to wise up, bow down, and face the fatwa?
I pray to the gods of cartooning that we do not. For the sake of our freedom, we must hold one commandment sacred: Thou shalt not apologize for opinions....
But even in the very real face of this violence -- and under the continued threat of it -- the question facing all journalists, thinkers, and artists is this: Shall the pen be mightier than radical Islam’s blood-soaked sword?
I say, cartoonists, take care and take caution. But arm thyself. Take your weapon in hand, and wield it well....
And may every cartoonist’s pen from here to Mecca be emblazoned with a time-tested, American inscription: “This machine kills fascists.”
How do we read Paul’s words to the Corinthians in light of the past week’s news from France? How do we interpret “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not beneficial” after this loss of life? How do we see ourselves as parts of a whole, members of Christ in a world divided by weapons, ideas, words, and even cartoons?
In the News
Andy Marlette pulls out the “f word” -- fascists -- in his piece. His invoking of “This machine kills fascists” is a reference to American musical icon Woody Guthrie, who painted that phrase on his guitar in a fit of protesting passion and who fought hardliner ideologies that created social and economic inequality and injustice. Authoritarian extremists who could not make room for the other to live and even thrive triggered use of the “f word” by Guthrie. Marlette uses it against those who would threaten free speech, especially Muslim extremists. In fact, by using words and phrases like “for Allah’s sake,” “face the fatwa,” “radical Islam’s blood-soaked sword,” and “from here to Mecca,” Marlette (intentionally or not) sets Islam up as the enemy of freedom of expression in the reader’s mind and feeds a growing anti-Muslim climate at home and in Charlie Hebdo’s France. His piece is a call to battle, to arm oneself as necessary, and to know who you’re working against to protect your own inalienable (as you understand them) rights.
Intentionally or not, Marlette polarizes the conversation -- sending readers closer to the poles and further from each other. Who, then, is the authoritarian extremist in this case? Who is flirting with the “f word”??
Andy Marlette’s kind of polarizing free speech is legal in the United States. So were the pornographic images of the prophet Muhammad that Charlie Hebdo printed in France.
It is not legal, however, for Muslim women to cover their faces with a veil in France, and Muslim headscarves are not permitted in French schools or civic gatherings. These are only some of the outward signs of how speech and expression are not truly free in France, writes Emily Greenhouse, a French citizen who has also seen the ugly, less celebrated, and persistent xenophobia present in French culture that complicates #JeSuisCharlie and the call for the protection of freedom, whatever the costs may be.
France may have given us the Statue of Liberty, writes Greenhouse, but it’s no Ellis Island. It may have helped invent the melting pot, she continues, but it never quite melted itself:
France also has Europe’s largest Muslim population. In many ways it is this group that has become the country’s broadly scapegoated minority. Children and grandchildren of immigrants from North Africa -- the Maghreb -- who were born in France and are French citizens often find it difficult to get a decent job. President Sarkozy famously smeared those who live in the suburbs, and complained that there were too many immigrants, when what he meant were Arab French people. Unemployment is at nearly 30 percent in some of Paris’s suburbs. In and out of the workplace, certain Muslim practices have been deemed impossible to assimilate....
Young French Muslims, often treated as un-French, feel alienated and powerless. That alienation -- and the video-game power conferred by an AK-47 -- might help explain why almost 1,000 French citizens last year alone decided to join jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, joining at least 1,000 more. For some young people, the ideology of ISIS and related groups has become an irresistible fantasy of power.
Greenhouse also points out that even the French Republic hallmark -- freedom of speech -- is complicated. Twitter has started censoring hate speech against Jews. Flying Nazi flags has been deemed illegal, and mayors in many cities have banned shows by the French comic Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, whose material is filled with anti-Semitic tropes. It doesn’t go unnoticed that M’bala M’bala’s comedy that insults Jews is illegal, but Charlie Hebdo’s that offends Muslims is not.
Time magazine outlined the history of Charlie Hebdo this week, highlighting how French culture’s insistence on free speech often runs parallel to its permission-giving around anti-Muslim sentiments, words, and actions. Here’s a brief summary of Time’s timeline of Charlie Hebdo...
2006: Charlie Hebdo republishes controversial cartoons of the prophet Muhammad first printed by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. This prompts protests from Muslims around the world. Even then-president Jacques Chirac is given pause by Charlie’s choices and issues a statements saying, “Anything that can hurt the convictions of someone else, in particular religious convictions, should be avoided. Freedom of expression should be exercised in a spirit of responsibility.”
2007: Two French Muslim organizations sue Charlie Hebdo for reprinting the Danish cartoons. A French court throws out the case, saying that the magazine’s decision to publish the cartoons did not incite religious hatred.
2011: Backlash over Charlie Hebdo’s continuing provocative critique of Islam continues. After the magazine announces its intention to have the prophet Muhammad as the “editor in chief” of its next issue, its offices are firebombed and destroyed.
2012: Charlie Hebdo publishes more provocative caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, and the French government announces it will temporarily close French embassies, consulates, cultural centers, and schools in more than a dozen Muslim countries for safety reasons. Despite condemnation from various groups, the staff at Charlie defends their decisions. “The aim is to laugh,” Charlie Hebdo journalist Laurent Léger said at the time. “We want to laugh at the extremists -- every extremist. They can be Muslim, Jewish, Catholic. Everyone can be religious, but extremist thoughts and acts we cannot accept.”
Here are a few definitions of “extremism” found in a quick web search...
1.) belief in and support for ideas that are very far from what most people consider correct or reasonable
-- the quality or state of being extreme
-- advocacy of extreme measures or views
2.) a person who goes to extremes, especially in political matters
-- a supporter or advocate of extreme doctrines or practices
3.) (government, politics, and diplomacy) a person who favors or resorts to immoderate, uncompromising, or fanatical methods or behavior, especially in being politically radical
-- (psychology) of, relating to, or characterized by immoderate or excessive actions, opinions, etc.
Couldn’t the choices, views, doctrines, and practices of Charlie Hebdo be deemed extreme? So why are some extremist thoughts and acts acceptable and some are not?
Emily Greenhouse writes that the answer lies in a person’s status as “traditional” or “Other”:
The traditional French person -- Français de souche, they call it -- sees you, and it’s that view that sticks. Whatever hallmark of national fidelity you display, whether or not you, like the two brothers suspected of the killing, were born in the heart of Paris, you can’t take it off. Even if you are a French citizen, to a Français de souche, you may still be the Other.
Jordan Weissmann of Slate answers by saying we need to hold the words “heroic” and “racist” in tension as we consider the legacy of Charlie Hebdo. Weissmann writes that the staff of Charlie need to remembered as martyrs for free speech, but that memory needs complicating...
But their work featuring Mohammedcould be sophomoric and racist. Not all of it; a cover image of the prophet about to be beheaded by a witless ISIS thug was trenchant commentary on how little Islamic radicalism has to do with the religion itself. But often, the cartoonists simply rendered Islam’s founder as a hook-nosed wretch straight out of Edward Said’s nightmares, seemingly for no purpose beyond antagonizing Muslims who, rightly or wrongly, believe that depicting Mohammed at all is blasphemous.
This, in a country where Muslims are a poor and harassed minority, maligned by a growing nationalist movement that has used liberal values like secularism and free speech to cloak garden-variety xenophobia. France is the place, remember, where the concept of free expression has failed to stop politicians from banning headscarves and burqas. Charlie Hebdo may claim to be a satirical, equal-opportunity offender. But there’s good reason critics have compared it to “a white power mag.” As Jacob Canfield wrote in an eloquent post at the Hooded Utilitarian, “White men punching down is not a recipe for good satire.”...
So what should we do? We have to condemn obvious racism as loudly as we defend the right to engage in it. We have to point out when an “edgy” cartoon is just a crappy Islamophobic jab. We shouldn’t pretend that every magazine cover with a picture of Mohammed is a second coming of The Satanic Verses. Making those distinctions isn’t going to placate the sorts of militants who are already apt to tote a machine gun into a magazine office. But it is a way to show good faith to the rest of a marginalized community, to show that free speech isn’t just about mocking their religion.
Or perhaps more simply, we have to hold the tension wisely and with a generous amount of attention paid to how what we do, say, and draw affects those outside our immediate circles. Freedom must have a considered purpose or aim. It cannot be both tactic and end, or we risk our own descent into extremism and a destruction of the society we wish to uphold and set free. Or to put it in simpler terms, we approach our freedom with the kind of warning that Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) of Jurassic Park issues when he says, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
In the Scriptures
Those words could be a well be a motto for modern civilization as we consider how to move forward together in the wake of this tragedy in Paris. So could French President Hollande’s remarks in a recent address:
I ask you to remain united -- it’s our best weapon. It shows we are determined to fight against anything that can divide us. Several leaders have let me know that they will be here for the big gathering that is taking place on Sunday. I will be with them, and I hope all the French people will stand on Sunday, to defend the values of democracy, freedom, pluralism, which we are so attached to, and Europe represents, which will come out even stronger.
President Hollande’s remarks work if the pieces that keep balance, create peace and opportunity for all, and avoid destructive extremism are held in tension. Unity and plurality must accompany democracy and freedom.
Paul’s version sounds like this: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12).
Balance.
Tension.
Unity.
Purpose.
As Paul addresses the Corinthians in this week’s passage, all his teaching is aimed at creating the Body, a oneness that is established in belonging to Christ. Food choices should not divide. Neither should sexual exploits. Freedom in all things through Christ is freedom with a purpose, writes Paul. Now that we are one with Christ and share in his life, all the choices we make in our freedom have an orientation.
Valerie Nicolet-Anderson of workingpreacher.org writes of this: “For Paul, freedom is always oriented freedom; and for the Christ believers, this freedom depends on their lord, Christ. Through their baptism, the Christ believers now belong to Christ. For them the question is no longer what is permitted or not, or what is legal or not. Rather, they have to orient their freedom in order to embody their new life in Christ.”
Pointing to a parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 10:23, Nicolet-Anderson explores the purpose of that oriented freedom: “Paul writes, ‘All things are permitted, but not all things are beneficial; all things are permitted, but not all things edify.’ The verse that follows invites Paul’s addressee to seek first the good of the ‘other,’ instead of their own good. In this broader appropriation of the saying, Paul reorients the Corinthians on what really matters: the good of the community.”
Paul’s words from our reading from Corinthians this week give us at least two reasons to pause as we consider the Charlie Hebdo shooting and its repercussions for our international community. First, how might his thought that “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial” (v. 12) color the ways we approach public dialogue or conversations with diverse individuals? Do we care about nurturing a conversation, relationship, and understanding, or do we just want to impose our opinion and perhaps establish its power or dominance? If we understand ourselves as “members of Christ,” a part of a sacred whole, how does that shape how we speak, write, and even draw?
Secondly, whom do we allow to be a member of our Body, or our human family, or a part of our whole? How do the things we speak, write, and draw, and the laws we make decide who is in and who is out, who may have freedom of speech, or even who may dress as they please? How do these decisions measure up against Paul’s standards for community life in the Body? How do they orient us? How do they protect or detract from the good of the community?
As we orient ourselves in our freedom, how carefully are we listening for the voice and guidance of God, who Psalm 139 tells us knows us better than we know ourselves? Perhaps a check on that listening for the divine could be our gospel passage’s invitation to a lived and experiential faith. If we have questions about how to orient our freedom and whether or not our choices, words, and actions will be beneficial to the whole of which we are now a part, we can “come and see” through the discerning eyes of faith, the reactions and wisdom of the community that walks with us, and the divine inner compass that directs us when we seek to share in the life of Christ.
In the Sermon
This week the preacher might consider...
* how our living as individuals and a society stops at all, in our race to figure out if we can, to consider whether we should. What are the repercussions of leaving out that essential should consideration? Some avenues for that exploration could be found in many of the innovations presented at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, the race to get delivery drones in the sky, the move the connect drones to our smartphones and replace selfies with “dronies,” or the ethical and moral implications of medical technology allowing one woman to “rehome” six unused frozen embryos.
* how we stay oriented in our freedom. What does it require of us? What kinds of tools or checks do we have in place or need?
* what we do with our freedom in Christ. For what have we been freed? What does that look like on the ground in our everyday lives? If we aren’t living out our freedom towards the good of the Body, are we participating in Jesus’ “come and see” faith?
* how easy it is to make Je suis Charlie our Facebook image, and how much harder it is keep an eye on the tensions that make that hashtag complicated and require more than a quick click on social media from us. What should our hashtag be? Can we work that out in Twitter’s 140-character limit?
* what cartoons on Charlie Hebdo’s cover might cause us to react differently. What caricature would incite us to a different kind of protest? How can we attempt to step into the shoes of a marginalized people’s experience and see how freedom looks different from their vantage point? What might that view inspire us to change about the ways we orient our freedom and live it out? What would that view require of us as people of one Body, parts of a whole?
SECOND THOUGHTS
It’s Complicated
by Mary Austin
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
We know what we think. In our contentious world, we already know what the other person thinks too. But what we really long for is someone who can listen.
We want our police officers to listen long enough to assess someone’s story, and not to rely on their first impulse. We want our doctors to listen well enough to understand our symptoms, and they turn out to be terrible listeners. We want our public officials to be able to listen to all kinds of people, but sometimes they, like we, fall short.
Listening creates the space where something happens -- community, connection, change, or even a respite from the constant war of words around us.
Doctors, it turns out, struggle to ask patients the right questions and take time to hear the answers. A recent piece in the New York Times reported that “a review of reports by the Joint Commission, a nonprofit that provides accreditation to health care organizations, found that communication failure (rather than a provider’s lack of technical skill) was at the root of over 70 percent of serious adverse health outcomes in hospitals.” Listening, it turns out, trumps medical knowledge for improving the patient’s health. How much more time could make a difference? A study showed that “on average, physicians wait just 18 seconds before interrupting patients’ narratives of their symptoms.” A little more time can make a big difference.
In New York, it seems that no one is listening right now. The New York Times has chronicled the deteriorating relationship between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s police officers, which started with the mayor’s remarks after the verdict in the Michael Brown shooting case. Neither side, for the moment, is able to hear the other. The mayor spoke about his experience as the parent of a mixed-race child, and police officers felt blamed. The shooting deaths of two on-duty police officers escalated the rage. Even the mayor’s wife, Chirlane McCray, became part of the firestorm of complaints when it appeared that she wore blue jeans to the funeral of one of the murdered police officers. (She did not; it was, as the New York Times fashion writer explained, “a degradé pant suit,” where the coloring of the pants made them look like faded blue jeans.) For two weeks, police officers have had a dramatic work slowdown, which the union insists is not a coordinated effort. They’re writing a fraction of the tickets they did during the same week a year ago. In an editorial the Times advised: “Mr. de Blasio, who has been cautious since the shootings, found his voice on Monday, saying for the first time that the police officers’ protests of turning their backs at the slain officers’ funerals had been disrespectful to the families of the dead. He was right, but he needs to do more. He should appeal directly to the public and say plainly that the police are trying to extort him and the city he leads.” In other words, if the city’s police officers won’t listen to him, the mayor should talk to the public.
In Atlanta, Mayor Kasim Reed has fired the head of the fire department for distributing copies of his book to some of the 750 firefighters under his command. The fire chief, Kevin Cochran, authored a Christian self-help book which reportedly denounces homosexuality, and is framing the issue as one of religious freedom. The mayor sees it as poor judgment from someone charged with supervising employees in a diverse city. The “religious freedom” argument is playing well in the conservative South, renewing calls for legislation to protect “religious freedom.” Such legislation has been opposed by the business community in Atlanta, which finds that “religious freedom” often looks like old-fashioned discrimination.
And former senator and possible presidential candidate Rick Santorum staked his claim to conservative Republican voters in a speech where he labeled his opponents as “bomb-throwers.” Their lack of experience, he contends, gives them little to do but throw political bombs, a point he made by throwing a bomb of his own with his comments.
Listening is in short supply in our world.
Samuel’s story calls us back to the spiritual work of listening. The story involves several layers of listening, all connected together. Samuel hears God’s voice, but doesn’t understand what’s happening until he first listens to Eli. Eli helps him know how to listen for God, and gives him a response to offer to God. After God speaks, Samuel is evidently afraid -- he lies awake until morning, perhaps wondering what to tell Eli. Reluctant to share what God has said, Samuel is set free by Eli’s ability to listen to whatever God has said. Eli assures him that it’s safe to tell him. As the years go on, and as Samuel grows from boy into prophet, God helps the people listen to him and lets “none of his words fall to the ground.” Eli’s listening makes room for Samuel to both listen and learn; listening is contagious.
God has a difficult thing to say to Samuel, and in turn to Eli. It promises to make the ears of all who hear it “tingle.” And yet Eli is ready to hear God’s word, unpleasant as it is. He makes room for Samuel to tell him everything that God said. The story reminds us that, just as conversation is an interplay between people, even the gift of listening is passed back and forth. In the space where someone listens, things begin to change.
On this weekend, when we remember the life and witness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the skill of listening to each other through all of our differences feels all the more important. Listening comes at the root of any real change -- in ourselves, or in the wider world. Luke Powery observes that “Dr. King reveals what the prophet Samuel affirms: prayerful listening leads to prophetic proclaiming. King believed ‘that activism prefaced by prayer can be most effective.’ In other words, personal spirituality grounds social transformation. The roots of social and civic engagement are listening skills. Before speaking into situations of injustice in the world, silence is required with an open ear to the One who loves the world. God speaks, but do we listen?”
Listening conveys respect. Listening allows us to learn. Listening creates the ground for change. Dr. Nirmal Joshi tells a story about the power of listening: “A passionate diabetes specialist told me how she sat down with a patient to understand why he was not using his diabetes medications regularly, despite numerous hospital admissions for complications. ‘I can’t continue to do this anymore,’ he told her, on the verge of tears. ‘I’ve just given up.’ She placed a hand on his shoulder and just sat with him. After a pause, she said: ‘You have a heart that still beats, and legs you can still walk on -- many of my patients don’t have that privilege.’ Five years later, recalling this episode, her patient credits her with inspiring him to take better care of himself. The entire encounter,” he adds, “took less than five minutes.”
Listening to each other and listening for God are deeply connected. The same skills apply to both, and the same holiness enters in. Listening is time, plus attention, plus the suspension of judgment. If we can learn to listen to each other, we will grow all the better at listening for God too.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Did You Say Something?
Guys, it’s time to start listening.
A study confirms to be true what many have long suspected: men have short attention spans, except when talking to their buds.
Men tend to tune out their partner’s conversations in about six minutes -- especially if the conversation is about one of their wife’s coworkers. Yet change the topic to sports, and most men will willingly engage in 15 minutes of conversation with one of their friends.
This could indeed make the ears of many tingle.
*****
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Listening to the Cries in Nigeria
On a more serious note, a Catholic archbishop in Nigeria has accused the West of ignoring the threats of the murderous Boko Haram terrorist organization. While much of the world was focused on attacks in Paris, large numbers of civilians in Nigeria -- perhaps as many as 2,000 -- were slaughtered “like insects,” according to witnesses. Horrifying details are still emerging, including reports of young girls being employed as suicide bombers.
Cardinal Ignatius Kaigama called the world to pay closer attention to the massacres in Nigeria, including the deaths of 23 persons who were killed by three female bombers, one of whom was reportedly only 10 years old. “It is a monumental tragedy,” said Kaigama. “It has saddened all of Nigeria. But... we seem to be helpless. Because if we could stop Boko Haram, we would have done it right away. But they continue to attack, and kill and capture territories... with such impunity,” he said.
BBC reporter Will Ross indicated that the world seems to be slow in listening to Nigeria’s cries:
But the [Nigerian] military faces a mountainous task trying to protect civilians from the bombers and gunmen who are spread over a large area of the northeast, and although officials don’t like to hear it they have often been overpowered and failed to protect civilians. The world is slowly waking up to express shock at the latest violence, but beyond condemnation and limited help with training it seems there is little or no appetite to become more deeply involved in this conflict.
*****
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Speak, Lord, for Your Servant Listens
When do you hear God speaking? Mother Teresa was once interviewed about prayer. “When you pray,” the interviewer asked, “what do you say to God?”
She replied, “I don’t talk, I simply listen.”
The interviewer wondered if she had somehow misunderstood the question. “Then what is it that God says to you when you pray?” he asked.
According to David Brown, she replied, “He doesn’t talk. He also simply listens.”
Brown relates that there was a long silence, with the interviewer seeming a bit confused and not knowing what to ask next.
Finally Mother Teresa broke the silence by saying, “If you can’t understand the meaning of what I’ve just said, I’m sorry, but there’s no way I can explain it any better.”
*****
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Not All Things Are Helpful
While upholding the rights of free speech and condemning the militants who conducted the Charlie Hedbo attack, some New York Times op-ed readers also cautioned that when it comes to writing about religion, restraint and respect can go a long way in creating civil community:
“Freedom of speech is not speaking whatever you like and it’s not about provoking a community -- religiously or politically,” Faruk Ahmed wrote from Australia. “Respecting beliefs of all communities only can prevent such tragedy.”
Others from opposite sides of the world agreed. “Even though I am a firm believer in speech and press freedoms, there comes a point where basic human decency requires that we don’t walk around saying rude, hurtful things about another person’s belief system,” Karen wrote from New Jersey.
*****
John 1:43-51
Can Anything Good Come From...?
Jesus surprised Nathanael’s perception that nothing good could come out of Nazareth. Yet Nathanael was curious enough about Jesus to test his assumptions. It turns out that such willingness to be surprised may be key to making advances in science or even self-improvement. One high school science teacher invited his students to keep track of their “moments of surprise” throughout a school quarter. He had his students reflect on their experience of being surprised by asking: “Why was this surprising?” and “What does that tell me about myself?”
The biggest learning for the students seemed to be allowing their preconceived assumptions to become challenged. Seventy percent said that surprises came because they came to a particular situation with fixed assumptions. “I learned that all of my surprises occurred because I came to the situation with assumptions fixed into my mind,” one student wrote. “I am wrong more often than I think,” another wrote. “Of course I don’t feel wrong. I just realize it after it.”
It’s hard to admit that your assumptions are wrong. It is a reminder, says Julia Galef in Slate, of Isaac Asimov’s famous remark: “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny...’ ”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Hayao Miyazaki received an honorary Oscar this past November for his work as an animator on 11 films. In this age of digital productions, he said: “I think I am very lucky because I’ve been able to participate in the last era when we can make films with paper, pencils, and film.”
Application: As can be seen in the life of Samuel, we can never lose the importance of receiving the message.
*****
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Last year’s Super Bowl had 112.2 million television viewers -- and such a large audience, the vast majority of whom also watch the commercials, means that NBC (the broadcaster of this year’s game) will be charging $4.5 million for a 30-second ad spot... or $150,000 a second. With three commercials, Anheuser-Busch will be purchasing the most screen time again this year. The beer company’s three ads will focus on those in their 20s who have never drunk Budweiser (their signature product). The famous Clydesdales and a puppy will again be featured, trying to recapture the warmth and nostalgia of last year’s “Puppy Love” ad with a follow-up spot titled “Lost Dog.” According Brian Perkins, the vice-president of Budweiser, their desire is for the new advertisement to again “tell the true meaning of friendship.”
Application: The message that came to Samuel cost nothing, yet far exceeded the power of any Budweiser commercial.
*****
John 1:43-51
Twice a week the New York Times has a “Corner Office” article featuring an interview with an executive of a prominent company regarding his/her leadership style. Recently Maynard Webb, the chairman of Yahoo, talked about the importance of having his employees work as a team. Webb said, “You have to get voted onto the team every day as an employee, and you have to be the employer of choice every day.”
Application: Jesus was clearly building a team.
*****
John 1:43-51
In many states, the highest paid public employee is a state university head football coach. In fact, college football is becoming so financially lucrative that many NFL coaches are leaving to become college coaches. College coaching is often considered more difficult with the demands of recruiting and nurturing young athletes. Yet the salaries often exceed $5 million, not counting benefits.
Application: As a recruiter, Jesus offered only the satisfaction that comes from dedicated service to a worthy cause.
***************
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
The invitation to “come and see” as it appears in John 1:43-51 is more about experiencing than it is about observing. Observation alone can rarely be trusted.
John 1:43-51
Eyewitness Testimony
In 1984 Kirk Bloodsworth was convicted of the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl, and he was sentenced to the gas chamber -- an outcome that rested largely on the testimony of five eyewitnesses. After Bloodsworth served nine years in prison, DNA testing proved him to be innocent.
Such devastating mistakes by eyewitnesses are not rare, according to a report by the Innocence Project, an organization affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University that uses DNA testing to exonerate those wrongfully convicted of crimes. Since the 1990s, when DNA testing was first introduced, Innocence Project researchers have reported that 73 percent of the 239 convictions overturned through DNA testing were based on eyewitness testimony. One-third of these overturned cases rested on the testimony of two or more mistaken eyewitnesses.
*****
John 1:43-51
Eyewitness Testimony 2.0
Geoffrey Loftus is a University of Washington perception and cognition psychology professor who often testifies as an expert witness in trials involving eyewitness testimony. He warns juries that distance blurs perception: “At 10 feet, you might not be able to see individual eyelashes on a person’s face. At 200 feet, you would not even be able to see a person’s eyes. At 500 feet, you could see the person’s head but just one big blur. There is equivalence between size and blurriness -- by making something smaller you lose fine details.”
Gary Wells, a member of a 1999 U.S. Department of Justice panel that published the first-ever national guidelines on gathering eyewitness testimony, says: “Like trace evidence, eyewitness evidence can be contaminated, lost, destroyed, or otherwise made to produce results that can lead to an incorrect reconstruction of the crime.”
*****
John 1:43-51
I Wasn’t Paying Attention
The phenomenon is called “inattentional blindness.” Simply put, it means that in many cases we do not see what we do not expect to see.
The most famous example of this is the gorilla in the basketball game experiment. In this test, people were shown a video of a three-on-three basketball game and asked to count how many times the team dressed in white passed the ball. As the game progresses, a woman dressed in a gorilla suit walks through the game, looks about, comes up to the camera, thumps her chest, and walks out of the scene. Yet about half of the viewers reported that they didn’t see the gorilla.
The experiment has now been replicated in hundreds of settings around the world, and the outcome never varies -- about half the viewers don’t see the gorilla. When they are told to watch for the gorilla, they see it... but then they miss other major events like the curtain in the background changing color.
Daniel Simons, who devised the experiment, has even taken it to a more serious level.
In 1995 a police officer was convicted of perjury when he said that while chasing a suspect he ran past several other officers beating a suspect and didn’t see them. The jury didn’t believe this could be possible -- but Simons proved that it was not only possible, but likely.
He asked people to jog behind another jogger and count how many times the jogger touched his hat. As they ran they passed a staged fistfight in which two men appeared to be beating a third. Even in broad daylight, over 40 percent of the subjects missed seeing the fight. At night, 65 percent missed it.
*****
John 1:43-51
Vision Is More Than Seeing
Visual acuity has to do with more than just sight, according to Thomas Politzer, the former president of the Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association. “Vision is the process of deriving meaning from what is seen,” he says. “It is a complex, learned, and developed set of functions that involve a multitude of skills. Research estimates that 80 to 85 percent of our perception, learning, cognition, and activities are mediated through vision.” He concludes, “The ultimate purpose of the visual process is to arrive at an appropriate motor and/or cognitive response.”
In her book Visual Language for Designers, Connie Malamed adds that our perceptions are built in two ways. “Bottom-up” perception is built upon external stimuli: what we see and what our mind records from what we see. “Top-down” perception is based on memory and expectation: what we have experienced before and what we expect to experience. So, the factual accuracy of any particular perception can change upon whether it was built from the top down or from the bottom up.
*****
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
Good Listening
Research shows that the average person listens with only 25 percent efficiency -- meaning there’s a lot we’re letting go in one ear and out the other. But as listening expert Paul Sacco, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, explains, there are just a few simple habits that set the real good listeners apart from the rest.
They’re present.
Being mindful in conversations is a hallmark characteristic of a good listener, Sacco notes. When you’re fully aware in the moment, you’re more likely to retain what you’re hearing and respond with more authenticity.
They're empathetic.
Part of effective listening is the effort to empathize with the person you’re speaking with. Whether or not you’re able to fully relate, your compassion won’t go unnoticed.
They realize their shortcomings.
It may be a strange way of thinking about it, but accepting yourself is key to being a good listener overall, Sacco says. In other words, we can’t pick up on everything everyone is saying all the time -- and that’s okay.
They have an open mind.
Great listeners know that every conversation they have isn’t going to resolve a larger issue -- but it puts them one step closer to understanding the people they communicate with on a daily basis.
They’re emotionally intelligent.
Emotional intelligence, or the awareness of our emotions and the emotions of those around us, can help enhance any interaction -- especially when it comes to listening.
They pose significant questions.
Part of active listening isn’t just lending your ear, but asking appropriate follow-up questions to draw out more information.
They’re not on the defensive.
Effective listeners don’t block out negative criticism. Instead, they listen and develop an understanding of what the person is trying to convey before responding.
They’re okay with being uncomfortable.
In addition to not playing defense, Sacco also advises embracing every emotion during your conversations -- even feelings of discomfort or anger.
They’re good leaders.
Research has shown that there’s a direct correlation between strong leadership and strong listening skills -- and it really comes as no surprise.
*****
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
And the Deaf Will Hear
As recently as the early 1990s, if you were born deaf nobody would know for years. Parents were left to realize that something was amiss when their toddlers were not learning to talk or communicate at a normal pace. A diagnosis that late meant many deaf children never fully developed the ability to use language.
Audiologist Marion Downs could not bring herself to believe that this was as it should be. She spent decades try to convince parents and male audiologists that “there is a critical period for language development that occurs between 12 and 24 months” of age. She insisted that if we wait until a child is 3 or 4 years old to test them for hearing deficits, they will miss this important period in their development. Children who were not identified with hearing problems until late in their development often left high school with a “third to fourth grade reading level that severely limited their ability to live independently, even though the vast portion of them had normal or above normal intelligence.”
Downs started screening newborns in the 1960s, but could not convince the establishment to do so until 1993 when the National Institute of Health made a consensus recommendation for universal newborn hearing screening. Today, thanks to her work, 97 percent of American babies are screened for hearing impairments before they leave the hospital.
Marion Downs died in November of 2014. She was 100 years old.
*****
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)
A Song Misheard
Misheard song lyrics are the cause of much merriment and sometimes a small bit of embarrassment. You know, like when a song comes on the radio and you’re singing along to it with your friends -- and just when the Temptations say “It was just my imagination, running away with me,” you say “It was just my magic ninja, running away with me.” Suddenly everyone stops singing and begins laughing and pointing.
Well, take heart -- that phenomenon is so common that it has a name. Mangled song lyrics are called “mondegreens.” The term was coined by writer Sylvia Wright, whose mother used to recite a poem with the lines: “Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands, / Oh, where hae ye been? / They hae slain the Earl o’Moray, / And Lady Mondegreen.” It wasn’t until she was an adult that Wright learned the last line, correctly read, was: “And laid him on the green.”
Some other favorite mondegreens:
My daughter thought that the Temptations “just my imagination” was “just my magic ninja.” And she thought Aretha Franklin was saying “you make me feel like a man and a woman,” when the actual phrase was “a natural woman.”
We’ve all heard about the child mangling the Christmas carol from “round yon virgin, mother and child” to “round John Virgin smothered a child.” And all those hippies who for years thought Jimi Hendrix was saying “excuse me while I kiss this guy,” when the actual words were “excuse me while I kiss the sky” (not that it makes any sense).
What are some of your favorite mondegreens?
*****
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
You May, But Please Don’t
Panera Bread has joined Starbucks, Target, Chipotle, Sonic, and Jack-in-the-Box in the middle ground of the gun debate, asking their clientele to please not bring guns onto the premises, though not banning guns outright. “Panera respects the rights of gun owners, but asks our customers to help preserve the environment we are working to create for our guests and associates,” a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail statement to Fortune.
As for retailers and restaurants, many struggling with uneven sales numbers, it’s easy to see why they don’t want to be seen as antagonistic to any part of their clientele. A gun dealer from Terre Haute, Indiana, has found some enthusiastic support for his “no guns, no money” campaign to get gun owners to refuse to shop at or patronize establishments that enforce an outright ban on guns on their premises. So they are asking nicely, but they aren’t demanding or posting signs or enforcing their request as they would their requirement that shoes and shirts be worn and pets be left outside.
So as it stands now, you can bring your guns into these establishments... but they wish you wouldn’t.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O God, you have searched us and known us.
People: You know when we sit down and when we rise up.
Leader: You discern our thoughts from far away.
People: You are acquainted with all our ways.
Leader: You hem us in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon us.
People: Such knowledge is too wonderful for us; it is so high that we cannot attain it.
OR
Leader: God calls us to come and be in communion with the Divine.
People: We humbly come at God’s call to us.
Leader: God calls us to be in communion with one another.
People: With love we will assemble as the Body of Christ.
Leader: God calls us to be in communion with all peoples.
People: With care and grace we will embrace the stranger and the enemy.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“All People That on Earth Do Dwell”
found in:
UMH: 75
H82: 377, 378
PH: 220, 221
NNBH: 36
NCH: 4
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELA: 883
W&P: 661
AMEC: 73
STLT: 370
“From All That Dwell Below the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 101
H82: 380
PH: 229
NCH: 27
CH: 49
LBW: 550
AMEC: 69
STLT: 381
“Help Us Accept Each Other”
found in:
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
W&P: 596
AMEC: 558
“Jesus, United by Thy Grace”
found in:
UMH: 561
“Blest Be the Tie That Binds”
found in:
UMH: 557
PH: 438
AAHH: 341
NNBH: 298
NCH: 393
CH: 433
LBW: 370
ELA: 656
W&P: 393
AMEC: 522
“Where Charity and Love Prevail”
found in:
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 359
“Lord, Speak to Me”
found in:
UMH: 463
PH: 426
NCH: 531
ELA: 676
W&P: 593
“This Is My Song”
UMH: 437
NCH: 591
CH: 722
ELA: 887
STLT: 159
“Unity”
found in:
CCB: 59
“People Need the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 52
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who created us to be in community: Grant us the grace to live with others in mind so that our freedom does not enslave them; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, who calls us to enter into communion with yourself. We hear your call to freedom along with your plea that we care for one another as you care for us. Help us to be so filled with your Spirit that our freedom will not become a means of ensnaring others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our failure to think of the welfare of others when we make our choices in life.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are focused too much on our own wants, and too little on the needs of others. We are always concerned about our rights and our freedom, without considering how they impact those around us. Call us back to the way of Jesus, and fill us with your Spirit that we may live in both freedom and care for others. Amen.
Leader: God is always seeking to bring us into the fold. Know that God’s love is always ours. Live in God’s freedom as you care and tend those around you.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise you, O God, for you call us into community with yourself and with all creation. In you we celebrate our unity.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are focused too much on our own wants, and too little on the needs of others. We are always concerned about our rights and our freedom, without considering how they impact those around us. Call us back to the way of Jesus, and fill us with your Spirit that we may live in both freedom and care for others.
We thank you for the freedom you give us and for the love and care you call us to exercise with others. We thank you for those who have cared for us and looked out for us in our weakness.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your creation, and especially for those in need this day. We pray for those who struggle with addiction and with tender consciences. Help us to create a caring atmosphere around us that allows others to experience your love when they are with us.
(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.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Ask the children if they had a friend who couldn’t eat ice cream: Would they go over to their house while eating an ice cream cone, or would they finish it first? What would they think if they couldn’t eat ice cream but their friend came over eating a cone? Talk about how Jesus calls us to care for each other, even when it might mean we have to not do something we otherwise could.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
The Jesus Team
John 1:43-51
Object: stickers with the image of a cross
When I was driving to church today I saw many other cars with people in them going to church -- at least I think they were going to church. Most of the cars I saw had two or more people, and they were dressed up like they were going to church. Most all of them looked happy. I also saw some people out in their yards or doing other things and who were not going to church. I kind of felt sorry for those people. Someday I would like to stop and talk to them and invite them to church with me. A couple of weeks ago I invited some friends to come to church, and they did.
When Jesus began his ministry, he wanted to start a team. He chose people to serve on his team who believed in God and wanted to learn. First he chose Andrew and then James and John. Andrew invited Peter to meet Jesus, and we all know what kind of a disciple Peter was. On another day Jesus was going to Galilee and he found Philip, who was from the same town as Peter and Andrew were from. In our story today it was Philip who invited a man named Nathanael to meet Jesus. One person invited another person, and soon they had a team of 12 men.
I would like to invite you to be a member of our church team. I have something for you to wear if you would like to join. (hold up a sticker) This sticker means that you are a member of [name of your church] team. It works the same way that Jesus worked. You find a friend, tell them about Jesus, and ask them to come to church with you on Sunday. It is also an invitation to learn a lot about Jesus in Sunday school. It also means that you can be baptized so that your sin is forgiven and you are promised a place in heaven. A lot of things go with being a follower of Jesus.
How many of you would like to wear this sticker and be a part of Jesus’ team? (let the children answer) Terrific! How many of you can talk to someone this week and invite them to come and be part of the team? (let them answer) I will save some stickers, and next week if you bring someone new we will give them a sticker. Invite your friends, bring them to Sunday school and church, and be part of the Jesus team.
I will wear my sticker and stop and invite one of those people I saw outside today. And if I can’t get him to come, maybe I can invite another family. We have plenty of love to share with many people.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, January 18, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 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.
