The Kids and the Geezers Shall Graze Together
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
For November 17, 2019:
The Kids and the Geezers Shall Graze Together
by Chris Keating
Isaiah 65:17-25
Baby Boomers, relax. The kids have got this. They’re ambitious, smart, and just like the millions of us born between 1946 and 1964, they are contending with the world handed to them by their elders. They’re making their way the best they can. Besides, you may need them to set up your Ring doorbell.
It’s going to be OK, Boomer.
Millennials and their younger cousins in Generation Z may also want to tone down their generational rhetoric. While it’s true that Boomers have largely tried to bend the culture to suit their needs, it’s also true that their knees bother them, and their hips are giving them fits. They may not understand the point of getting inked, but gently remind them they once went months without visiting a barbershop.
“OK, Boomer” has deepened the trenches of generational warfare. Boomers, who rarely need any reason to sling shade on Millennials (roughly those born 1981-96), resent the sardonic eye rolls. Yet Millennials and Gen Zers (1996-to present) are weary of being cast aside as device-hugging snowflakes. Fueled by a TikTok video gone viral, the OK, Boomer moment is now a full-blown cultural movement complete with merch, memes, and momentum.
Something new is afoot. But that should not be surprising, either, especially for people of faith from all generations. We’ve long heard the prophets’ declarations of the new things God is about to do. It’s a promise of hope delivered by Third Isaiah as exiles begin to imagine God’s presence in a dawning age. It’s a promise of healing of past injuries and hope for a renewed future imagines God’s peace-filled reign.
As Isaiah describes it, that reign will be marked by abundance and centered around a banquet where wolves and lambs shall eat together, and even Boomers and Millennials will share a toast.
In other words, it really is going to be okay — even if the Boomers spoiled the economy, and your daughter’s dream job is to become a YouTube influencer.
In the News
If you’re not familiar with the power of TikTok — a social media platform produced by a Chinese tech company that features user-created videos — then there’s probably not much else to say except, “OK, Boomer.” It began as a sort of inside joke among Millennials and Gen Zer’s — reverberating across the internet after a video of middle-aged man ranting about the so-called fragile narcissism of Millennials. While Boomers were still trying to update the iPhones, Millennials and Gen Zer’s latched on to the phrase and launched the inevitable meme-to-merch cycle.
But the phrase seems to have more staying power than a fleeting fad. What first appeared to be nothing more than a churlish affront has suddenly become a defining moment in the always-evolving realm of generational conflict. It’s moved quickly from a rapid-response retort from youth frustrated by Boomers’ seeming ineptitude with technology to a wholesale rejection of the older generation’s political and cultural leadership.
Leaders among younger generations are learning the phrase packs a punch. Note what happened in New Zealand last week when a 25-year old member of Parliament was speaking in favor of a bill addressing climate change. After a heckler derided her, Green Party MP Chloe Swarbrick never missed a beat in responding, “OK, Boomer.” Her response silenced the room, but got the world talking.
"It's kind of an unintentionally crowd-sourced explanation of frustration summarized in one symbolic, swift sentence," Swarbrick said. "I think I can probably claim the first MP across the world [to use 'OK boomer'] so we'll go with that, mate. New Zealand's world-leading in multiple ways today."
Ironically, the generation who once prided themselves on not trusting anyone over 30 now find themselves targeted as the centers of power. Boomers are likely to send another member of their generation to the White House in 2020, resulting in a Baby Boomer being asked to fix programs their generation broke.
The “honey do” list is long, and growing: Social security, climate change, healthcare, national debt — and a deeply divided political climate. Youth who are frustrated by what they perceive as Boomers’ failures are using the phrase as a safety valve to release built up frustration. In other words, the kids have started talking back.
“The older generations grew up with a certain mind-set, and we have a different perspective,” said Shannon O’Connor, a 19-year old who designed an “OK Boomer” hoodie that has sold more than $10,000 in orders. Speaking to The New York Times, O’Connor said, “A lot of them don’t believe in climate change or don’t believe people can get jobs with dyed hair, and a lot of them are stubborn in that view. Teenagers just respond, ‘Ok, boomer.’ It’s like, we’ll prove you wrong, we’re still going to be successful because the world is changing.”
Meanwhile, a few members of Generation X — that slice of the population between the Boomers and Millennials — believe it’s time for one of their cohorts to lead the nation. Some point to theories advanced by generational theorists William Strauss and Neil Howe who posit that American history repeats itself in four cycles: crisis, high, awakening, and unravelling. (Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak offers a handy review of Strauss and Howe.)
In a nutshell, Strauss and Howe’s theory would suggest that Generation X came of age during the awakening and unravelling periods overseen by Boomers. Historically speaking, when the United States has rebuilt itself following an unravelling period, the country has relied on fixers like George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Of course, not every Boomer is a fan of this strain of thought. One radio host compared it to a racial slur. But John Kelly, a senior researcher for Dictionary.com, says that the term is more than an ageist invective. White males ought to be more judicious in equivocating terms to racist slurs.
“We're using (OK Boomer) in an ironic, often humorous, though sometimes malicious way as a catchall or stand-in for a set of attitudes,” said Kelly, noting that the phrase may or may not refer to actual members of the Baby Boom generation. “A ‘boomer’ [in this case] is an older, angry white male who is shaking his fist at the sky while not being able to take an insult. They have close-minded opinions, are resistant to change — whether it’s new technology or gender inclusivity — and are generally out of touch with how their behaviors affect other people.”
Put simply: younger generations are tired of bearing the mantles of blame and shame. They are weary of being dismissed or silenced.
In an interview with NBC News, author Caitlin Fisher says her generation often feels as “though the deck is stacked against us.”
“Millennials have faced extraordinary levels of student loan debt only to be told that they need to take unpaid internships or cobble together a living wage with part time work, [and] when we dare to complain, the boomers tell us that in their day, they put in their time and we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps,” she says.
In response, Boomers are crying foul. They point to their generations’ successes in civil rights, gender parity, and Boomer-led technological innovations which paved the way for more recent innovations. “Yes, we have a long way to go,” said CNN commentator Paul Callan, “but maybe if your generation moves out of the basement of mom and dad's house and gets to work on some new technological solutions we will solve our current global warming challenge.”
That leaves little meat on the bone for inter-generational negotiations, however. Columnist Leonard Pitts put it this way:
It strikes me as funny that some in my generation, which defined itself by an insolent rejection of the old, are traumatized by a younger generation's insolent rejection of us. Am I the only one who remembers when the hippies warned, "Don't trust anyone over 30?" Does no one else recall when Pete Townshend sneered, "Hope I die before I get old"? Then how dare any of us clutch our pearls over a little intergenerational sniping?
In any case, a faithful reading of Isaiah might prompt a gradual tuning down of the generational epithets. The prophet seems especially attuned to the vulnerabilities of both young and old, and leads all of God’s people toward an artful vision of inclusive hope. Generations learning to manage personal and cultural change might do well to pay attention.
In the Scripture
Pay close attention to the context from which Third Isaiah (chapter 55-66) arises, and notice its similarities to Strauss and Howe’s generational theories. The unravelling of Jerusalem has ended, and the first wave of exiles are returning to pick through the ruins. There’s not much left, as Jack Lundbom notes in his “Feasting on the Word” exegesis. The threads of Jerusalem’s institutions are worn bare, Lundbom says. The exiles are faced with rebuilding the city, the temple, and the kingdom. “A mood of pessimism pervades the oracles,” he continues. “dealing as they do with the down to earth problems of wickedness, bloodshed, miscarriage of justice, syncretic worship, fasting while oppression continues, profaning the Sabbath, and leaders who are blind, greedy, and perpetually drunk on wine.”
It’s not hard imagining that Yahweh plans on hitting the reset button where “the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.” Newness requires a top to bottom societal change. The powerful hope envisioned by the prophet will require the ending of injustice and the pursuit of righteousness and peace. Creation will be transformed into something new.
At the center of this attention is a focus on vulnerable groups of persons whose lives are over before they have begun. For Isaiah, this includes babies who died young, and elderly who fail to reach 100. Yahweh promises a restoration of life abundant. Creation will be restored to an Eden-like peacefulness, complete with vegetarian lions and lambs who feel safe around predatory wolves. God’s joy will be fulfilled in a community where are all cherished, and where hope is shared “for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord.”
In the Sermon
Isaiah’s descriptive prophesy offers a richness of images and themes for the preacher to consider. The prophet encourages a broad-spectrum conversation of what abundance and joyful might look like in an intergenerational community. Within this conversation, all generations are invited to consider what abundance might look like according to God’s covenant standards. It could invite playful considerations of images and themes: what it would actually look like for the Boomer-ish “Wolf of Wall Street” to sing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” with Millennial favorite Buzz Lightyear. Could the Millennial’s Lion King eat straw — and not avocado toast — and could peace be imagined?
It’s a strain of thought that might prove especially helpful on the cusp of family Thanksgiving celebrations. It’s a turbulent time for families stretched by generational angst or political difference. A pastorally-sensitive reflection might help individuals dreading the annual family sit-down.
One caveat: be wary of constructing a sermon on generational interaction that does not seek faithful input (and perhaps even participation) by members of other generations. A Boomer preaching about how Millennials should shape up will not help the cause. Instead, what would it look like for our pulpits to be shared with voices of all ages of God’s people?
The hopefulness imagined by Isaiah could prove fruitful for homiletical reflection. In an “OK Boomer” world, snark generates mistrust. But so do lectures about how to “adult.” Both generations could benefit from understanding that the arc of God’s imagination bends toward a re-imagining of what abundance means. It’s not just about getting a house in the burbs or a flat in the city — it’s about building houses where people will live under the shadow of the tree of life. Isaiah promises that the old things will soon be gone. It will be okay, Boomer. You may be a geezer, but God will make sure your life won’t be in vain.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Let Things End!
by Mary Austin
Luke 21:5-19
What happens when things never end? Presidential campaigns seem to begin the day after the last election. Wedding toasts have turned into retrospective speeches, and there are even more people making speeches and keeping us from eating the cake and going home. The season for Christmas decorations now starts even before Halloween. The Boys of Summer are still playing baseball even as people are wearing winter coats to the game. In fact, every sport has a season that’s way too long. If you crave sports in June, you can watch hockey, baseball or basketball, and football is just a month away. Meetings drift vaguely from topic to topic as people look at their screens for solace. We need endings!
One writer says that we live in the age of “the sequel to the sequel. Also the prequel, the reboot, the reunion, the revival, the remake, the spinoff and the stand-alone franchise-adjacent film. Canceled television shows are reinstated. Killed-off characters are resuscitated. Movies do not begin and end so much as they loiter onscreen. And social media is built for infinite scrolling. Nothing ends anymore, and it’s driving me insane.” Culture critic Amanda Hess adds, “Didn’t endings used to mean something? They imbued everything that came before them with significance, and then they gave us the space to reflect on it all. More than that: They made us feel alive. The story ended, but we did not.”
In contrast to our mushy inability to let things end, Jesus is clear about the end that is coming for the temple in Jerusalem. He shocks his friends when he describes a temple building in rubble. They can’t quite imagine Jerusalem without temple’s bulky presence, its rituals and the flood of people in and out each day. It’s inconceivable that one day it won’t be there.
We have the same lack of imagination about the things in our lives. We never know how an ending or a beginning will work out, and so we hold tightly to what we know. My husband likes to needle our friends when they lament the end of print media, answering machines, wall phones, bookstores, brick and mortar stores and anything else that pops to mind. When their laments hit an aggrieved tone of “the world will never be the same,” he asks questions like, “How many horses and buggies have you driven lately?”
Some endings are welcome, including the President’s promise to get the nation out of “endless wars.” On Veteran's Day, a group of veterans called for the U.S. to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. “These veterans, who served in Afghanistan or were part of the support apparatus for the Afghan war, say the United States should withdraw all troops from Afghanistan. Their harrowing stories from the battlefield shed light on what they see as an unwinnable conflict in a foreign land. There is, these veterans say, no point in continuing an 18-year war whose outcome will be the same no matter how many more American troops are killed.” One commented that he didn’t want his child to die in war he fought in fifteen years earlier. In the comments section, one reader wrote, “I have sent my two sons to war a total of 7 tours. Now, my grandson is slated to go to the war in Afghanistan in March, 2020. I beg all members of Congress, and the president, to please end this madness of endless war. At 68, my heart cannot take any more of this heartache. Please, I beg all of you in power, no more war: leave my grandson here to defend this country at home.”
Drawing near to his death, Jesus is pondering endings. His own death seems just as inconceivable to his friends as the end of the temple, but it’s coming. His followers will need to re-root themselves very soon, finding their anchor not in his presence, and not in the temple, but in their own connection with God. The two endings will be parallel for the followers of Jesus. When Luke recalls these words of Jesus and writes them down the faith of Jesus’ followers has already shifted. The Jewish believers in Jesus are separating from their more traditional Jewish cousins, and their faith is taking a different direction.
The end of the temple shifts the center of Jewish faith out to synagogues, and the end of Jesus’ physical presence shifts this new kind of faith, based on his life and teaching, out into the world. Endings bring beginnings, and yet our uncertainty about change keeps us longing for the familiar.
We look at black and white films of white, Christian people trying to keep African-American children out of newly desegregated schools in the 1960’s, and marvel at their fervor. A way of life was ending, and they couldn’t see the greater justice and equality ahead. The same happens with hate crimes against Muslims, the LGBTQ community, and immigrants. When we can’t see the greater good ahead, we hold to the past tightly.
But we pay a price when we don’t let anything end. Amanda Hess laments the lack of clarity when things just drift on. “Ends have been ending for some time now. Twitter’s unhalting feed was presaged by 24-hour cable news. “Star Wars” debuted with a threat of epic installments. And plenty of television shows — like “Doctor Who” and “General Hospital” — were built to last. But our cultural landscape was not always quite so infinite. Lists of the top-grossing films of the last few decades chart the steady erosion of the end: In the 1980s, six of the top 20 grossing films in the United States were sequels. So far this decade, 17 of the top 20 films are. And on television, producers are pioneering a new frontier of shamelessness, shaking ever more content out of dormant properties.”
Jesus gives the disciples a look forward, and none of what he tells them sounds good. And yet he calls them to faithfulness, not lament for the past. “By your endurance you will gain your souls,” he promises. Endurance keeps us going when we can’t see what’s ahead. Endurance allows us to hold on in trust, when the endings are painful. Endurance can partner with lament, letting us move forward.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Isaiah 65:17-25
The “Kids These Days” Effect
Researcher John Protzko, a psychological scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, calls it the “kids these days effect.”
He points out that adults have been complaining about “ the kids these days” for about 2600 years, probably longer, but he couldn’t verify the quotes from before 500 BCE. And the complaints have been basically the same for 2.6 millennia: they don’t listen to their elders, they don’t want to work, they are disrespectful, on and on it goes.
Most of this carping and complaining, however, is fueled more by feelings than by any empirical data and there is precious little empirical data on the subject because most of those who do the data collecting are of an age that just assumes that the accusations are true.
Actual research, however, the kind done by Dr. Protzko, shows that most of these accusations by the elders toward their juniors are based not on fact but on faulty memories.
“There is a psychological or mental trick that happens that makes it appear to each generation that the subsequent generations are objectively in decline, even though they’re not,” says Protzko, whose research appears in the journal Science Advances. “And because it’s built into the way the mind works, each generation experiences it over and over again.”
Across three specific traits — respect for authority, intelligence, and enjoyment of reading — researchers asked participants how high they believe the children of today would rate when compared to the participants themselves as kids.
Across the board, it was clear that the higher the participants ranked themselves on those traits, the more likely they were to denigrate the kids based on those same traits. If you’re smart you tend to think kids, today, aren’t. If you are a prodigious reader you assume that kids, today, don’t read. If you, yourself, respect authority, you imagine that kids, today, have no respect for authority.
Not only that, we tend to take our standing in these areas and project them backward to when we were kids. If we like to read now, we assume we liked to read when we were kids and we assume that all kids in our generation liked to read. Same with respecting authority, working hard, intelligence, and so on.
We take our attitudes, today, project them backwards on everyone in our youth, and then use them as a ruler for measuring kids today. And when we do that, we always come up with an inflated view of ourselves and a deflated view of kids, today, who actually are, when measured by objective tests, better than ever.
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25
Really Dad? The Good Ol’ Days?
When our two kids were teenagers, we decided, one winter, that every Sunday afternoon we would watch a couple of movies that my wife and I had loved as kids, movies that we really wanted to share with them. We’d pop some popcorn, they could invite guests if the wanted and we’d all hunker down with a fire in the fireplace and a movie in the VCR.
We watched about 30 old movies together that winter and I have to commend my kids on their patience and kindness because, to be brutally honest, many of those movies we remembered as “really great” were, well, awful.
Oh, a couple stood up, of course: During “Casablanca,” (1942) one of the ten greatest movies of all time, my son turned and looked at me and asked, “Is there a single line in this movie that isn’t famous?” My daughter loved the campy silliness of “The Harvey Girls” (1946). Carey Grant’s last two films, “Father Goose” and “Walk Don’t Run,” remain as hilarious, today, as when they came out in 1964 and 1966 respectively. And “The Great Escape” (1963) is still the ultimate WWII escape film with suspense that stands up to any contemporary movie.
Other “classics” that we insisted they watch, however, weren’t so great. I still don’t know what made us think they were good in the first place. “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” (1963) was plotless and boring. “The Battle of the Bulge” (1965) had great music but would have us believe that Henry Fonda, James MacArthur, and Telly Savalas won the battle pretty much by themselves. “The Alamo,” (1960) yes, the one with John Wayne, was 90% talk and 10% action. Same with “The Magnificent Seven (1960).” Even “Dr. No,” (1962) the first James Bond movie was painfully slow moving with plot devices that even the most gullible person’s suspended disbelief could not overlook.
In short, of the movies we remembered as great, a few were great, a whole bunch were just okay, and several were down right awful.
When it comes to our memories of the movies we watched and loved, the good old days weren’t always so good.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
Castles in the Sand
My wife, Jean, and I always wanted to go to Florida for Spring Break when we were in college but we couldn’t afford it. The first year after we were married, however, I was in graduate school, earning a few dollars as a Teaching Assistant, and she was working as a Registered Nurse and we managed to scrape together a few dollars to make the trip.
By that time, however, we were old enough that the craziness of Daytona and other college student gathering spots didn’t really appeal to us so we went to Tampa/ St. Pete, which was, at that time, considered a family spot even during Spring Break.
We spent most of our time just lying on the beach and taking it easy until, one day, I got bored with that and decided to build a sand castle. This would not be a normal sand castle, however. It would be the biggest one on St. Pete’s Beach.
I set about my task with grand enthusiasm and before long a couple of children were watching me work so I invited them to join me. A little later a few more kids came along and I invited them to join us as well. And some more and some more until I had a veritable army of kids from toddlers to middle schoolers helping me build my sand castle.
We worked all day on that thing and it was a thing of beauty, until, in the late afternoon, I realized that the tide was coming in and our sand castle was in jeopardy. We worked hard to try to route the water around the wall but our efforts were in vain. Eventually the waves came up and began to wash our work away.
The kids watched sadly and, wanting to raise their spirits a little, I just let out a war whoop and jumped right in the middle of that castle and started dancing around, helping the tide destroy it. Instantly, they joined in the destruction, laughing and screaming with me.
We all ended our dance of destruction by collapsing in the sand and rolling around and then going into the surf to wash the sand off our bodies and, as it was starting to get dark, heading back to our hotels.
The next day, Jean and I returned to our spot, under our umbrella on the beach at about noon. I dug out my paperback novel and was reading and relaxing when Jean cleared her throat and said, “Uh, Dean.”
I looked up, and there were the kids, not all of them, but most. They were ready to start on another sand castle and wanted to know if I’d help them.
Of course, I did. One does not lightly turn away those who are not put off by the transience of castles in the sand.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
The Transient Beauty of the Cherry Blossoms
In today’s Luke passage, Jesus’ observes that the Jerusalem Temple, for all its beauty and the strength inherent in its architecture, is, like most things around us, a transient human creation that will one day be little more than dust.
At first glance, that seems a sad, negative, depressing take on life, but it’s true and the transience that is at the heart of human existence also makes our lives sweeter and our living more urgent, observes Taylor Bond writing on the topic of “Mono-no-aware” in the blog for the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University.
He offers this example: “What comes most easily to mind is the beauty of the cherry blossom; the flower blooms intensely, yet only for a short period of time each year. As the flowers die and the petals fall, cherry blossoms line the streets like a layer of soft, pink snow, and are most beautiful when captured between the precipice of life and death. That is precisely the unique appeal of the cherry blossoms; their aesthetic focuses on the unavoidable transience of the material world that exists. According to this view, the fragility and inherent brevity of an instance of awe, such as the blooming of the cherry blossoms, only aids in heightening the event’s stunning, albeit melancholic nature. Because it only lasts for such a short period, it is undoubtedly appreciated more.”
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
Embracing Transience
Jesus, looking upon the temple, reminds us that all life, even the great temple, is transient in nature. It is here and then it is not. Everything, even life itself, has a life span. So what are we to do? A writer going simply by the initials, K.J., writing in the Stanford University blog “Poetic Thinking,” offers the following:
“And so, we are left with a question. In a world where every hope and dream and love is destined for ash: how should we live? What’s the point in doing anything at all?
“Contemporary thinker Jason Silva…sees two options. According to him, we can either accept the Buddhist creed of detachment — so that the inevitable loss hurts less — or we can fight a brave but impossible war against the current of time — we can strive [to] immortalize what we care most deeply about.
“However, I’m not sure our options are so limited. We often confuse two different concepts: duration and significance. In the notes for Ecclesiastes, Robert Alter says that ‘all human triumphs are temporary and therefore illusory’…But I disagree: meaning does not necessarily depend on lifespan.
“On the contrary, sometimes brevity, rather than longevity, is, in fact a requirement for importance—necessary to combat the monotony of regularity. If we see something all the time, we no longer recognize how incredible it is.
“Imagine, for example, what it would be like if the moon rose only once a year—how we would marvel at it!
“In this sense, then, transience bestows upon us a gift: it makes us appreciate what we have all the more, because one day we know that it will be gone.
“Perhaps impermanence is as much a liberator as a scourge. Even the most unbearable torment is ephemeral, eventually washed away by the flow of eternity.”
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25
The Not-So-Good Ol’ Days
A 2017 editorial in the Eastern Arizona Courier, pondering the topic of the “Good Old Days,” concludes with these thoughts:”
“And that leads us to Civil War memorials. We’ve talked about this issue before — how many of the memorials weren’t created just after the war but were erected during the dying days of Jim Crow, when Southern Democrats were bristling at federal mandates to desegregate. The statues to American traitors (and let’s face it — that’s exactly what the Confederacy was) served as a reminder to blacks that not everyone — even 100 years later — was all that happy about the end to slavery, and that racism — including institutional racism — is alive and well.
See what we mean about good being subjective?
Instead of trying to recapture “the good old days” that were, in all likelihood, not very good for a significant number of people, let’s focus on making this the good new days. You know, where everyone has the same opportunity to have a good life.”
* * * * * *
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Isaiah 65:17-25
“What’s New?”
Linda Ronstadt was the top female singer in popular music when she released “What’s New” in 1983. The album was a collection of pop standards Ronstadt recorded, directed by Nelson Riddle who also penned the arrangements. While the album did not have a Top 40 pop hit, it rose as high as #3 on the album chart. It sold more than 3 million copies, thus achieving Triple Platinum status. The irony, of course, is that all the songs on What’s New were oldies, real oldies. Ronstadt’s versions were not efforts to modernize these standards, they conveyed a loving appreciation for “The Great American Songbook.”
What’s New exposed a whole new generation to what was in fact, pretty old. While the album’s success may have been due to a new generation of listeners exposed to these standards, sales research found that its primary audience was people who were around when the songs were originally popular who appreciated Ronstadt’s craft and musicianship. Alas, their children did not discover something so old it was new; they continued to listen to Quiet Riot and Michael Jackson. What was old stayed old.
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25
What’s “brand new?”
We know that “brand new” is somehow different from and superior to “new,” but how? No one ever says something is “brand old,” so what gives?
While it sounds like a modern, marketing term, its origin is much older, going back to when livestock were branded to show ownership.
Something brand new is completely new, an entirely new brand of something, rather than an existing product sold in a different size or packaging, or a product that is “new and improved.” Something that is brand new visibly, conspicuously new.
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25
What’s “brand, spanking new?
This term also has an interesting origin. It was first used around 1860. Back then “spanking” also meant something like “impressively large; ”spanking” is an intensifier. In this case it has nothing to do with swatting someone on the backside. It would make sense that a new born who was spanked by the doctor who delivered her might be called “brand, spanking new,” but that’s not the case.
Spanking’s origin may be from a collision of “spick and span” after “brand” to further intensify the newness of whatever was being described.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
Jesus’ foretelling of the destruction of the temple echoes with some of the prophecies of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 7:4, the prophet screams that the people should not put their trust “deceptive words,” chanting “The temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord.” Perhaps a better translation of “deceptive words,” would be “The Big Lie.” The Israelites believed that as long as the temple stood, they were secure in God’s favor and protection. The temple was their giant stone insurance policy. Jeremiah was unpopular when he identified that concept and denied that the existence of the temple made them safe. Yes, it was a beautiful, impressive building, but the prophet said they need to give up their Edifice Complex and care for the poor and vulnerable.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
“Jesus, could you be a little more specific?”
The disciples asked Jesus for a sign for when the destruction of the temple was imminent. He tells them that they will be wars and insurrections, earthquakes, famines and plagues, “dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.” Doesn’t that sound like a prediction that is always being fulfilled? He “prepares” them to defend themselves in the coming persecution of His followers by telling them not to prepare! He tells them that they will be persecuted by their friends and family. We can applaud His honesty, and marvel at His lack of a savvy marketing campaign.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
It appears that word of idleness among the Thessalonians has reached Paul. It was in Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians that he addressed the question of the eternal fate of those who died in the faith while waiting—as we all have been for nearly 2,000 years—for Jesus to return. It may have been that they believed the Lord’s return was coming so soon it did not make sense to plan ahead.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have one of the lowest levels of education among religious groups in the United States.
“Witness leadership also discourages higher education because they believe it's a waste of time. Jehovah's Witnesses have been predicting the end of the world since the religion's founding at the end of the 19th century. By their rationale, time in college would be better spent out on the streets, converting persons to become Witnesses.”
They also have very low rates of saving for retirement. Maybe they don’t buy green bananas. The end is coming so soon and the stakes are so high, their mission to prepare for the return of Jesus is essential. Getting word out is more important than anything else. Their lives reflect their worldview. Witnesses walk the walk.
* * * * * *
From team member Ron Love
Malachi 4:1
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
Since January 17, 2015 she has only been known as “Emily Doe.” In the courtroom on June 2, 2016 she was known as Chanel Miller. That was the day she read her statement to the judge on being raped by Brock Turner, a freshman at Sanford University, and left half-naked beside a dumpster on campus. Her statement to Judge Aaron Persky began, regarding her assailant, “You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me.” The 12-page letter was published on the internet by BuzzFeed and instantly went viral. In a book published in September 2019, tilted Know My Name, she revealed the entire story of her ordeal, including Turner’s six-month prison sentence. The judge felt a lengthy prison sentence would cause a “severe impact” on Turner’s young life.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 3:7
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us
Renee Zellweger played the actress Judy Garland in the movie Judy, which premiered on August 30, 2019. In preparing for the role Zellweger studied Garland’s body language, listened to audio recordings and worked with a voice coach. Fitted with prostheses and wigs, Zellweger also sang all of Garland’s musical numbers in the film. Zellweger said the reason she went to such great lengths to prepare for the role of portraying Judy Garland is because, “There’s a different responsibility that comes with playing somebody’s life. You want to do it justice, be respectful.”
* * *
Malachi 4:1
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
Felicity Huffman, the actress who is best known for her role as Lynette Scavo on Desperate Housewives, which ran for eight seasons from 2004 to 2012, admitted her guilt as a part of the college admissions scandal that involved 50 other parents, coaches, exam proctors and admission counsellors. The parents paid these individuals to falsify reports so their children could be admitted to prestigious colleges. Huffman, who is married to actor William Macy, who was involved but whose guilt could not be proven, paid $15,000 to admissions counsellor Rick Singer to have her daughter Sophia’s SAT scores altered. Sophia was diagnosed with learning disabilities at the age of eight. Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison, a year of supervised release, a $30,000 fine and 250 hour of community service. In a letter she read before the Boston judge, on September 13, 2019, before her sentencing, Huffman said when she was taking Sophia to the testing center in December 2017, “I kept saying to myself, ‘Turn around, turn around, turn around.’ To my eternal shame I didn’t.” Huffman went on to read, “I talked myself into believing that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair shot.”
* * *
Luke 21:5-6
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
In 1844 a group of 50,000 followers expected the immediate return of Jesus. So strongly did they hold these beliefs, that many sold their possessions and others let their fields lie fallow. When Jesus did not return the aftermath was called the Great Disappointment. Some, sadly, even committed suicide. In May of that year, the remaining followers organized themselves into a church. They called themselves Adventists for they expected the immediate return — advent — of Jesus.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 3:11
For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.
Susan Jacoby wrote an editorial for The New York Times, in which she pointed out the falsehood of the television series Mad Men. Jacoby may be best known for her book The Age of American Unreason, which was a New York Times best seller. She is an atheist and a secularist. The show, which aired for fourteen seasons with 92 episodes, covers the time period from March 1960 to November 1970. In the show the men of Madison Avenue have enough money to spend lavishly on their wives and mistresses. That may be the case for the shows characters, but it was not true for Jacoby’s father and most men in the United States. With wives still unable to secure meaningful work, most men were the primary providers for their families. There was no fallback plan if they could not bring home enough money to provide for the necessities. It diffidently was not the advertising business on Madison Avenues. Instead of lavish clothes, Jacoby remembers lying in bed and listening to her father’s car tires going over the salt laden driveway in Lansing as he began his workday.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship: (based on Isaiah 12)
Leader: Surely God is our salvation.
People: We will trust, and will not be afraid.
Leader: God is our strength and our might.
People: God has become our salvation.
Leader: With joy we draw water from the wells of salvation.
People: Give thanks to God and exalt the holy name of God.
OR
(Based on Psalm 98)
Leader: O sing to God a new song who has done marvelous things.
People: God’s right hand and holy arm have gotten the victory.
Leader: Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth.
People: Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Leader: God will judge the world with righteousness.
People: God will judge the peoples with equity.
OR
Leader: Let us praise our God who has always been with us.
People: We sings praises to the faithful God who always was.
Leader: Let us rejoice in the God who is with us today.
People: Praise be to our God who is with us now.
Leader: Let us trust in the God who waits for us in our tomorrows.
People: In you, O God, we entrust our future.
Hymns and Songs:
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
The God of Abraham Praise
UMH: 116
H82: 401
NCH: 24
CH: 24
LBW: 544
ELW: 831
W&P: 16
Renew: 51
We Gather Together
UMH: 131
H82: 433
PH: 559
NNBH: 326
NCH: 421
CH: 276
ELW: 449
W&P: 81
AMEC: 576
STLT: 349
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELW: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
Stand By Me
UMH: 512
NNBH: 318
CH: 629
W&P: 495
AMEC: 420
O God of Every Nation
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELW: 713
W&P: 626
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
God Is So Good
CCB: 75
Great Is the Lord
CCB: 65
Renew: 22
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
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
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is with us now as the great I Am:
Grant us the faith to trust in your constant presence
as we journey away from the past to your new future;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are always present in the eternal now. You walk with us in the present as we leave the past and journey into the future where you await us. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our clinging to the past as we fear the future.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We look into the future with such trepidation because we forget that you are with us now and will be there to greet us in the future. We look back with longing on the ‘flesh pots’ of Egypt forgetting that the good old days were not always as great as we remember. Forgive us our lack of faith and renew us with your Spirit that we may move into the future you have in store for us where your Reign is fully known. Amen.
Leader: God is always in our now. As God has been with us so God is with us now and will be in the future. Let go of your fear and embrace God’s new future.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God, because you are the One who is always making everything new. We glorify you for your abiding presence.
(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 look into the future with such trepidation because we forget that you are with us now and will be there to greet us in the future. We look back with longing on the ‘flesh pots' of Egypt forgetting that the good old days were not always as great as we remember. Forgive us our lack of faith and renew us with your Spirit that we may move into the future you have in store for us where your Reign is fully known.
We give you thanks for your loving presence in all the ups and downs of our lives. We thank you that you are with us in despair and in joy. We thank you for those who share your presence with us through their loving kindness and grace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our needs and we remember those who find it difficult to believe that you or anyone else are with them in their now.
(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 Our Father 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
Did you ever have to move from one house to another? It is hard to give up a place we know for someplace we don’t know as much about. But we can never really learn about the new place until we leave the old one behind. The best part to remember is that no matter where we go, God is with us.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Staying In the Game
by Bethany Peerbolte
Luke 21:5-19
In these verses Jesus tells his disciples that before the kingdom of God is ready there will be signs of it’s coming. These signs can sound very scary to young children. Wars and earthquakes are a reality we think children are naïve to, but they pick up on more than we know. Since adults think children do not know about these world happenings, we often forget to talk about them. Children then must interpret half understood gossip at school and muffled news reports they hear from across the room on their own. If they come to church and hear that these are the signs of the end of time we can only guess at the damage.
There is a world where children feel safe and understand that wars and earthquakes are just part of the plan — video games. In most games these scary events are simplified to advance a plot line, and that is essentially what Jesus is saying in Luke. There will be tests, there will be hard levels, but if you can remain calm and patient, sticking to the goal, we will win this whole thing.
In your message say something like:
How many of you have ever played a video game? In a video game, or an app game, each level gets harder and harder. That’s because the more you play the better you get. The creators want you to be challenged because the challenge makes the game fun. Often we have to play levels multiple times before we pass them. Some games has a character called a boss. The boss is a really hard character to beat. In the boss level there are lots of things happening that are meant to distract us and throw us off of the goal. If a level or a boss is really hard we can get frustrated. We may want to quite all together and doubt we have the skills to win.
Our Bible lesson today is kind of like a sneak peek into a boss level. Jesus tells the disciples that before he can return and bring Heaven to earth there are some signs we can look for. He says people will pretend to be him and they will say “the time is now” but they won’t be telling the truth. Jesus says there will also be wars and earthquakes and some pretty frightening things happening. All these things might make us scared, and we might forget what Jesus taught us. We might forget that God promised to always protect us and that we have the skills to win!
Jesus reassures the disciples that if they remain calm and focused on God these scary things happening around us won’t become a problem. We will be so safe that not a hair on our head will be harmed. That is amazing protection from God. SO the next time you feel scared I want you to remember that God is protecting you.
I think we should pray thanking God for keeping us safe.
Powerful God, We know life will have hard days, but we also know you are with us. When we feel scared, keep us safe. Thank you in Jesus name, Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 17, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 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.
- The Kids and the Geezers Shall Graze Together by Chris Keating — God’s promise of hope speaks to all generations, inviting a new community where young and old shall dwell in abundance.
- Second Thoughts: Let Things End! by Mary Austin — An ending can be a gift, but we rarely see it that way.
- Sermon illustrations by Dean Feldmeyer, Tom Willadsen, and Ron Love.
- Worship resources by George Reed focusing on letting go of the past to embrace the future/now.
- Children’s sermon: Staying In the Game by Bethany Peerbolte — Like video games, Jesus (in Luke) essentially says there will be tests, there will be hard levels, but if you can remain calm and patient, sticking to the goal, you can win the game.
The Kids and the Geezers Shall Graze Togetherby Chris Keating
Isaiah 65:17-25
Baby Boomers, relax. The kids have got this. They’re ambitious, smart, and just like the millions of us born between 1946 and 1964, they are contending with the world handed to them by their elders. They’re making their way the best they can. Besides, you may need them to set up your Ring doorbell.
It’s going to be OK, Boomer.
Millennials and their younger cousins in Generation Z may also want to tone down their generational rhetoric. While it’s true that Boomers have largely tried to bend the culture to suit their needs, it’s also true that their knees bother them, and their hips are giving them fits. They may not understand the point of getting inked, but gently remind them they once went months without visiting a barbershop.
“OK, Boomer” has deepened the trenches of generational warfare. Boomers, who rarely need any reason to sling shade on Millennials (roughly those born 1981-96), resent the sardonic eye rolls. Yet Millennials and Gen Zers (1996-to present) are weary of being cast aside as device-hugging snowflakes. Fueled by a TikTok video gone viral, the OK, Boomer moment is now a full-blown cultural movement complete with merch, memes, and momentum.
Something new is afoot. But that should not be surprising, either, especially for people of faith from all generations. We’ve long heard the prophets’ declarations of the new things God is about to do. It’s a promise of hope delivered by Third Isaiah as exiles begin to imagine God’s presence in a dawning age. It’s a promise of healing of past injuries and hope for a renewed future imagines God’s peace-filled reign.
As Isaiah describes it, that reign will be marked by abundance and centered around a banquet where wolves and lambs shall eat together, and even Boomers and Millennials will share a toast.
In other words, it really is going to be okay — even if the Boomers spoiled the economy, and your daughter’s dream job is to become a YouTube influencer.
In the News
If you’re not familiar with the power of TikTok — a social media platform produced by a Chinese tech company that features user-created videos — then there’s probably not much else to say except, “OK, Boomer.” It began as a sort of inside joke among Millennials and Gen Zer’s — reverberating across the internet after a video of middle-aged man ranting about the so-called fragile narcissism of Millennials. While Boomers were still trying to update the iPhones, Millennials and Gen Zer’s latched on to the phrase and launched the inevitable meme-to-merch cycle.
But the phrase seems to have more staying power than a fleeting fad. What first appeared to be nothing more than a churlish affront has suddenly become a defining moment in the always-evolving realm of generational conflict. It’s moved quickly from a rapid-response retort from youth frustrated by Boomers’ seeming ineptitude with technology to a wholesale rejection of the older generation’s political and cultural leadership.
Leaders among younger generations are learning the phrase packs a punch. Note what happened in New Zealand last week when a 25-year old member of Parliament was speaking in favor of a bill addressing climate change. After a heckler derided her, Green Party MP Chloe Swarbrick never missed a beat in responding, “OK, Boomer.” Her response silenced the room, but got the world talking.
"It's kind of an unintentionally crowd-sourced explanation of frustration summarized in one symbolic, swift sentence," Swarbrick said. "I think I can probably claim the first MP across the world [to use 'OK boomer'] so we'll go with that, mate. New Zealand's world-leading in multiple ways today."
Ironically, the generation who once prided themselves on not trusting anyone over 30 now find themselves targeted as the centers of power. Boomers are likely to send another member of their generation to the White House in 2020, resulting in a Baby Boomer being asked to fix programs their generation broke.
The “honey do” list is long, and growing: Social security, climate change, healthcare, national debt — and a deeply divided political climate. Youth who are frustrated by what they perceive as Boomers’ failures are using the phrase as a safety valve to release built up frustration. In other words, the kids have started talking back.
“The older generations grew up with a certain mind-set, and we have a different perspective,” said Shannon O’Connor, a 19-year old who designed an “OK Boomer” hoodie that has sold more than $10,000 in orders. Speaking to The New York Times, O’Connor said, “A lot of them don’t believe in climate change or don’t believe people can get jobs with dyed hair, and a lot of them are stubborn in that view. Teenagers just respond, ‘Ok, boomer.’ It’s like, we’ll prove you wrong, we’re still going to be successful because the world is changing.”
Meanwhile, a few members of Generation X — that slice of the population between the Boomers and Millennials — believe it’s time for one of their cohorts to lead the nation. Some point to theories advanced by generational theorists William Strauss and Neil Howe who posit that American history repeats itself in four cycles: crisis, high, awakening, and unravelling. (Washington Post columnist Petula Dvorak offers a handy review of Strauss and Howe.)
In a nutshell, Strauss and Howe’s theory would suggest that Generation X came of age during the awakening and unravelling periods overseen by Boomers. Historically speaking, when the United States has rebuilt itself following an unravelling period, the country has relied on fixers like George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Of course, not every Boomer is a fan of this strain of thought. One radio host compared it to a racial slur. But John Kelly, a senior researcher for Dictionary.com, says that the term is more than an ageist invective. White males ought to be more judicious in equivocating terms to racist slurs.
“We're using (OK Boomer) in an ironic, often humorous, though sometimes malicious way as a catchall or stand-in for a set of attitudes,” said Kelly, noting that the phrase may or may not refer to actual members of the Baby Boom generation. “A ‘boomer’ [in this case] is an older, angry white male who is shaking his fist at the sky while not being able to take an insult. They have close-minded opinions, are resistant to change — whether it’s new technology or gender inclusivity — and are generally out of touch with how their behaviors affect other people.”
Put simply: younger generations are tired of bearing the mantles of blame and shame. They are weary of being dismissed or silenced.
In an interview with NBC News, author Caitlin Fisher says her generation often feels as “though the deck is stacked against us.”
“Millennials have faced extraordinary levels of student loan debt only to be told that they need to take unpaid internships or cobble together a living wage with part time work, [and] when we dare to complain, the boomers tell us that in their day, they put in their time and we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps,” she says.
In response, Boomers are crying foul. They point to their generations’ successes in civil rights, gender parity, and Boomer-led technological innovations which paved the way for more recent innovations. “Yes, we have a long way to go,” said CNN commentator Paul Callan, “but maybe if your generation moves out of the basement of mom and dad's house and gets to work on some new technological solutions we will solve our current global warming challenge.”
That leaves little meat on the bone for inter-generational negotiations, however. Columnist Leonard Pitts put it this way:
It strikes me as funny that some in my generation, which defined itself by an insolent rejection of the old, are traumatized by a younger generation's insolent rejection of us. Am I the only one who remembers when the hippies warned, "Don't trust anyone over 30?" Does no one else recall when Pete Townshend sneered, "Hope I die before I get old"? Then how dare any of us clutch our pearls over a little intergenerational sniping?
In any case, a faithful reading of Isaiah might prompt a gradual tuning down of the generational epithets. The prophet seems especially attuned to the vulnerabilities of both young and old, and leads all of God’s people toward an artful vision of inclusive hope. Generations learning to manage personal and cultural change might do well to pay attention.
In the Scripture
Pay close attention to the context from which Third Isaiah (chapter 55-66) arises, and notice its similarities to Strauss and Howe’s generational theories. The unravelling of Jerusalem has ended, and the first wave of exiles are returning to pick through the ruins. There’s not much left, as Jack Lundbom notes in his “Feasting on the Word” exegesis. The threads of Jerusalem’s institutions are worn bare, Lundbom says. The exiles are faced with rebuilding the city, the temple, and the kingdom. “A mood of pessimism pervades the oracles,” he continues. “dealing as they do with the down to earth problems of wickedness, bloodshed, miscarriage of justice, syncretic worship, fasting while oppression continues, profaning the Sabbath, and leaders who are blind, greedy, and perpetually drunk on wine.”
It’s not hard imagining that Yahweh plans on hitting the reset button where “the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.” Newness requires a top to bottom societal change. The powerful hope envisioned by the prophet will require the ending of injustice and the pursuit of righteousness and peace. Creation will be transformed into something new.
At the center of this attention is a focus on vulnerable groups of persons whose lives are over before they have begun. For Isaiah, this includes babies who died young, and elderly who fail to reach 100. Yahweh promises a restoration of life abundant. Creation will be restored to an Eden-like peacefulness, complete with vegetarian lions and lambs who feel safe around predatory wolves. God’s joy will be fulfilled in a community where are all cherished, and where hope is shared “for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord.”
In the Sermon
Isaiah’s descriptive prophesy offers a richness of images and themes for the preacher to consider. The prophet encourages a broad-spectrum conversation of what abundance and joyful might look like in an intergenerational community. Within this conversation, all generations are invited to consider what abundance might look like according to God’s covenant standards. It could invite playful considerations of images and themes: what it would actually look like for the Boomer-ish “Wolf of Wall Street” to sing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” with Millennial favorite Buzz Lightyear. Could the Millennial’s Lion King eat straw — and not avocado toast — and could peace be imagined?
It’s a strain of thought that might prove especially helpful on the cusp of family Thanksgiving celebrations. It’s a turbulent time for families stretched by generational angst or political difference. A pastorally-sensitive reflection might help individuals dreading the annual family sit-down.
One caveat: be wary of constructing a sermon on generational interaction that does not seek faithful input (and perhaps even participation) by members of other generations. A Boomer preaching about how Millennials should shape up will not help the cause. Instead, what would it look like for our pulpits to be shared with voices of all ages of God’s people?
The hopefulness imagined by Isaiah could prove fruitful for homiletical reflection. In an “OK Boomer” world, snark generates mistrust. But so do lectures about how to “adult.” Both generations could benefit from understanding that the arc of God’s imagination bends toward a re-imagining of what abundance means. It’s not just about getting a house in the burbs or a flat in the city — it’s about building houses where people will live under the shadow of the tree of life. Isaiah promises that the old things will soon be gone. It will be okay, Boomer. You may be a geezer, but God will make sure your life won’t be in vain.
SECOND THOUGHTSLet Things End!
by Mary Austin
Luke 21:5-19
What happens when things never end? Presidential campaigns seem to begin the day after the last election. Wedding toasts have turned into retrospective speeches, and there are even more people making speeches and keeping us from eating the cake and going home. The season for Christmas decorations now starts even before Halloween. The Boys of Summer are still playing baseball even as people are wearing winter coats to the game. In fact, every sport has a season that’s way too long. If you crave sports in June, you can watch hockey, baseball or basketball, and football is just a month away. Meetings drift vaguely from topic to topic as people look at their screens for solace. We need endings!
One writer says that we live in the age of “the sequel to the sequel. Also the prequel, the reboot, the reunion, the revival, the remake, the spinoff and the stand-alone franchise-adjacent film. Canceled television shows are reinstated. Killed-off characters are resuscitated. Movies do not begin and end so much as they loiter onscreen. And social media is built for infinite scrolling. Nothing ends anymore, and it’s driving me insane.” Culture critic Amanda Hess adds, “Didn’t endings used to mean something? They imbued everything that came before them with significance, and then they gave us the space to reflect on it all. More than that: They made us feel alive. The story ended, but we did not.”
In contrast to our mushy inability to let things end, Jesus is clear about the end that is coming for the temple in Jerusalem. He shocks his friends when he describes a temple building in rubble. They can’t quite imagine Jerusalem without temple’s bulky presence, its rituals and the flood of people in and out each day. It’s inconceivable that one day it won’t be there.
We have the same lack of imagination about the things in our lives. We never know how an ending or a beginning will work out, and so we hold tightly to what we know. My husband likes to needle our friends when they lament the end of print media, answering machines, wall phones, bookstores, brick and mortar stores and anything else that pops to mind. When their laments hit an aggrieved tone of “the world will never be the same,” he asks questions like, “How many horses and buggies have you driven lately?”
Some endings are welcome, including the President’s promise to get the nation out of “endless wars.” On Veteran's Day, a group of veterans called for the U.S. to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. “These veterans, who served in Afghanistan or were part of the support apparatus for the Afghan war, say the United States should withdraw all troops from Afghanistan. Their harrowing stories from the battlefield shed light on what they see as an unwinnable conflict in a foreign land. There is, these veterans say, no point in continuing an 18-year war whose outcome will be the same no matter how many more American troops are killed.” One commented that he didn’t want his child to die in war he fought in fifteen years earlier. In the comments section, one reader wrote, “I have sent my two sons to war a total of 7 tours. Now, my grandson is slated to go to the war in Afghanistan in March, 2020. I beg all members of Congress, and the president, to please end this madness of endless war. At 68, my heart cannot take any more of this heartache. Please, I beg all of you in power, no more war: leave my grandson here to defend this country at home.”
Drawing near to his death, Jesus is pondering endings. His own death seems just as inconceivable to his friends as the end of the temple, but it’s coming. His followers will need to re-root themselves very soon, finding their anchor not in his presence, and not in the temple, but in their own connection with God. The two endings will be parallel for the followers of Jesus. When Luke recalls these words of Jesus and writes them down the faith of Jesus’ followers has already shifted. The Jewish believers in Jesus are separating from their more traditional Jewish cousins, and their faith is taking a different direction.
The end of the temple shifts the center of Jewish faith out to synagogues, and the end of Jesus’ physical presence shifts this new kind of faith, based on his life and teaching, out into the world. Endings bring beginnings, and yet our uncertainty about change keeps us longing for the familiar.
We look at black and white films of white, Christian people trying to keep African-American children out of newly desegregated schools in the 1960’s, and marvel at their fervor. A way of life was ending, and they couldn’t see the greater justice and equality ahead. The same happens with hate crimes against Muslims, the LGBTQ community, and immigrants. When we can’t see the greater good ahead, we hold to the past tightly.
But we pay a price when we don’t let anything end. Amanda Hess laments the lack of clarity when things just drift on. “Ends have been ending for some time now. Twitter’s unhalting feed was presaged by 24-hour cable news. “Star Wars” debuted with a threat of epic installments. And plenty of television shows — like “Doctor Who” and “General Hospital” — were built to last. But our cultural landscape was not always quite so infinite. Lists of the top-grossing films of the last few decades chart the steady erosion of the end: In the 1980s, six of the top 20 grossing films in the United States were sequels. So far this decade, 17 of the top 20 films are. And on television, producers are pioneering a new frontier of shamelessness, shaking ever more content out of dormant properties.”
Jesus gives the disciples a look forward, and none of what he tells them sounds good. And yet he calls them to faithfulness, not lament for the past. “By your endurance you will gain your souls,” he promises. Endurance keeps us going when we can’t see what’s ahead. Endurance allows us to hold on in trust, when the endings are painful. Endurance can partner with lament, letting us move forward.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:Isaiah 65:17-25
The “Kids These Days” Effect
Researcher John Protzko, a psychological scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, calls it the “kids these days effect.”
He points out that adults have been complaining about “ the kids these days” for about 2600 years, probably longer, but he couldn’t verify the quotes from before 500 BCE. And the complaints have been basically the same for 2.6 millennia: they don’t listen to their elders, they don’t want to work, they are disrespectful, on and on it goes.
Most of this carping and complaining, however, is fueled more by feelings than by any empirical data and there is precious little empirical data on the subject because most of those who do the data collecting are of an age that just assumes that the accusations are true.
Actual research, however, the kind done by Dr. Protzko, shows that most of these accusations by the elders toward their juniors are based not on fact but on faulty memories.
“There is a psychological or mental trick that happens that makes it appear to each generation that the subsequent generations are objectively in decline, even though they’re not,” says Protzko, whose research appears in the journal Science Advances. “And because it’s built into the way the mind works, each generation experiences it over and over again.”
Across three specific traits — respect for authority, intelligence, and enjoyment of reading — researchers asked participants how high they believe the children of today would rate when compared to the participants themselves as kids.
Across the board, it was clear that the higher the participants ranked themselves on those traits, the more likely they were to denigrate the kids based on those same traits. If you’re smart you tend to think kids, today, aren’t. If you are a prodigious reader you assume that kids, today, don’t read. If you, yourself, respect authority, you imagine that kids, today, have no respect for authority.
Not only that, we tend to take our standing in these areas and project them backward to when we were kids. If we like to read now, we assume we liked to read when we were kids and we assume that all kids in our generation liked to read. Same with respecting authority, working hard, intelligence, and so on.
We take our attitudes, today, project them backwards on everyone in our youth, and then use them as a ruler for measuring kids today. And when we do that, we always come up with an inflated view of ourselves and a deflated view of kids, today, who actually are, when measured by objective tests, better than ever.
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25
Really Dad? The Good Ol’ Days?
When our two kids were teenagers, we decided, one winter, that every Sunday afternoon we would watch a couple of movies that my wife and I had loved as kids, movies that we really wanted to share with them. We’d pop some popcorn, they could invite guests if the wanted and we’d all hunker down with a fire in the fireplace and a movie in the VCR.
We watched about 30 old movies together that winter and I have to commend my kids on their patience and kindness because, to be brutally honest, many of those movies we remembered as “really great” were, well, awful.
Oh, a couple stood up, of course: During “Casablanca,” (1942) one of the ten greatest movies of all time, my son turned and looked at me and asked, “Is there a single line in this movie that isn’t famous?” My daughter loved the campy silliness of “The Harvey Girls” (1946). Carey Grant’s last two films, “Father Goose” and “Walk Don’t Run,” remain as hilarious, today, as when they came out in 1964 and 1966 respectively. And “The Great Escape” (1963) is still the ultimate WWII escape film with suspense that stands up to any contemporary movie.
Other “classics” that we insisted they watch, however, weren’t so great. I still don’t know what made us think they were good in the first place. “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” (1963) was plotless and boring. “The Battle of the Bulge” (1965) had great music but would have us believe that Henry Fonda, James MacArthur, and Telly Savalas won the battle pretty much by themselves. “The Alamo,” (1960) yes, the one with John Wayne, was 90% talk and 10% action. Same with “The Magnificent Seven (1960).” Even “Dr. No,” (1962) the first James Bond movie was painfully slow moving with plot devices that even the most gullible person’s suspended disbelief could not overlook.
In short, of the movies we remembered as great, a few were great, a whole bunch were just okay, and several were down right awful.
When it comes to our memories of the movies we watched and loved, the good old days weren’t always so good.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
Castles in the Sand
My wife, Jean, and I always wanted to go to Florida for Spring Break when we were in college but we couldn’t afford it. The first year after we were married, however, I was in graduate school, earning a few dollars as a Teaching Assistant, and she was working as a Registered Nurse and we managed to scrape together a few dollars to make the trip.
By that time, however, we were old enough that the craziness of Daytona and other college student gathering spots didn’t really appeal to us so we went to Tampa/ St. Pete, which was, at that time, considered a family spot even during Spring Break.
We spent most of our time just lying on the beach and taking it easy until, one day, I got bored with that and decided to build a sand castle. This would not be a normal sand castle, however. It would be the biggest one on St. Pete’s Beach.
I set about my task with grand enthusiasm and before long a couple of children were watching me work so I invited them to join me. A little later a few more kids came along and I invited them to join us as well. And some more and some more until I had a veritable army of kids from toddlers to middle schoolers helping me build my sand castle.
We worked all day on that thing and it was a thing of beauty, until, in the late afternoon, I realized that the tide was coming in and our sand castle was in jeopardy. We worked hard to try to route the water around the wall but our efforts were in vain. Eventually the waves came up and began to wash our work away.
The kids watched sadly and, wanting to raise their spirits a little, I just let out a war whoop and jumped right in the middle of that castle and started dancing around, helping the tide destroy it. Instantly, they joined in the destruction, laughing and screaming with me.
We all ended our dance of destruction by collapsing in the sand and rolling around and then going into the surf to wash the sand off our bodies and, as it was starting to get dark, heading back to our hotels.
The next day, Jean and I returned to our spot, under our umbrella on the beach at about noon. I dug out my paperback novel and was reading and relaxing when Jean cleared her throat and said, “Uh, Dean.”
I looked up, and there were the kids, not all of them, but most. They were ready to start on another sand castle and wanted to know if I’d help them.
Of course, I did. One does not lightly turn away those who are not put off by the transience of castles in the sand.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
The Transient Beauty of the Cherry Blossoms
In today’s Luke passage, Jesus’ observes that the Jerusalem Temple, for all its beauty and the strength inherent in its architecture, is, like most things around us, a transient human creation that will one day be little more than dust.
At first glance, that seems a sad, negative, depressing take on life, but it’s true and the transience that is at the heart of human existence also makes our lives sweeter and our living more urgent, observes Taylor Bond writing on the topic of “Mono-no-aware” in the blog for the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University.
He offers this example: “What comes most easily to mind is the beauty of the cherry blossom; the flower blooms intensely, yet only for a short period of time each year. As the flowers die and the petals fall, cherry blossoms line the streets like a layer of soft, pink snow, and are most beautiful when captured between the precipice of life and death. That is precisely the unique appeal of the cherry blossoms; their aesthetic focuses on the unavoidable transience of the material world that exists. According to this view, the fragility and inherent brevity of an instance of awe, such as the blooming of the cherry blossoms, only aids in heightening the event’s stunning, albeit melancholic nature. Because it only lasts for such a short period, it is undoubtedly appreciated more.”
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
Embracing Transience
Jesus, looking upon the temple, reminds us that all life, even the great temple, is transient in nature. It is here and then it is not. Everything, even life itself, has a life span. So what are we to do? A writer going simply by the initials, K.J., writing in the Stanford University blog “Poetic Thinking,” offers the following:
“And so, we are left with a question. In a world where every hope and dream and love is destined for ash: how should we live? What’s the point in doing anything at all?
“Contemporary thinker Jason Silva…sees two options. According to him, we can either accept the Buddhist creed of detachment — so that the inevitable loss hurts less — or we can fight a brave but impossible war against the current of time — we can strive [to] immortalize what we care most deeply about.
“However, I’m not sure our options are so limited. We often confuse two different concepts: duration and significance. In the notes for Ecclesiastes, Robert Alter says that ‘all human triumphs are temporary and therefore illusory’…But I disagree: meaning does not necessarily depend on lifespan.
“On the contrary, sometimes brevity, rather than longevity, is, in fact a requirement for importance—necessary to combat the monotony of regularity. If we see something all the time, we no longer recognize how incredible it is.
“Imagine, for example, what it would be like if the moon rose only once a year—how we would marvel at it!
“In this sense, then, transience bestows upon us a gift: it makes us appreciate what we have all the more, because one day we know that it will be gone.
“Perhaps impermanence is as much a liberator as a scourge. Even the most unbearable torment is ephemeral, eventually washed away by the flow of eternity.”
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25
The Not-So-Good Ol’ Days
A 2017 editorial in the Eastern Arizona Courier, pondering the topic of the “Good Old Days,” concludes with these thoughts:”
“And that leads us to Civil War memorials. We’ve talked about this issue before — how many of the memorials weren’t created just after the war but were erected during the dying days of Jim Crow, when Southern Democrats were bristling at federal mandates to desegregate. The statues to American traitors (and let’s face it — that’s exactly what the Confederacy was) served as a reminder to blacks that not everyone — even 100 years later — was all that happy about the end to slavery, and that racism — including institutional racism — is alive and well.
See what we mean about good being subjective?
Instead of trying to recapture “the good old days” that were, in all likelihood, not very good for a significant number of people, let’s focus on making this the good new days. You know, where everyone has the same opportunity to have a good life.”
* * * * * *
From team member Tom Willadsen:Isaiah 65:17-25
“What’s New?”
Linda Ronstadt was the top female singer in popular music when she released “What’s New” in 1983. The album was a collection of pop standards Ronstadt recorded, directed by Nelson Riddle who also penned the arrangements. While the album did not have a Top 40 pop hit, it rose as high as #3 on the album chart. It sold more than 3 million copies, thus achieving Triple Platinum status. The irony, of course, is that all the songs on What’s New were oldies, real oldies. Ronstadt’s versions were not efforts to modernize these standards, they conveyed a loving appreciation for “The Great American Songbook.”
What’s New exposed a whole new generation to what was in fact, pretty old. While the album’s success may have been due to a new generation of listeners exposed to these standards, sales research found that its primary audience was people who were around when the songs were originally popular who appreciated Ronstadt’s craft and musicianship. Alas, their children did not discover something so old it was new; they continued to listen to Quiet Riot and Michael Jackson. What was old stayed old.
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25
What’s “brand new?”
We know that “brand new” is somehow different from and superior to “new,” but how? No one ever says something is “brand old,” so what gives?
While it sounds like a modern, marketing term, its origin is much older, going back to when livestock were branded to show ownership.
Something brand new is completely new, an entirely new brand of something, rather than an existing product sold in a different size or packaging, or a product that is “new and improved.” Something that is brand new visibly, conspicuously new.
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25
What’s “brand, spanking new?
This term also has an interesting origin. It was first used around 1860. Back then “spanking” also meant something like “impressively large; ”spanking” is an intensifier. In this case it has nothing to do with swatting someone on the backside. It would make sense that a new born who was spanked by the doctor who delivered her might be called “brand, spanking new,” but that’s not the case.
Spanking’s origin may be from a collision of “spick and span” after “brand” to further intensify the newness of whatever was being described.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
Jesus’ foretelling of the destruction of the temple echoes with some of the prophecies of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 7:4, the prophet screams that the people should not put their trust “deceptive words,” chanting “The temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord.” Perhaps a better translation of “deceptive words,” would be “The Big Lie.” The Israelites believed that as long as the temple stood, they were secure in God’s favor and protection. The temple was their giant stone insurance policy. Jeremiah was unpopular when he identified that concept and denied that the existence of the temple made them safe. Yes, it was a beautiful, impressive building, but the prophet said they need to give up their Edifice Complex and care for the poor and vulnerable.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
“Jesus, could you be a little more specific?”
The disciples asked Jesus for a sign for when the destruction of the temple was imminent. He tells them that they will be wars and insurrections, earthquakes, famines and plagues, “dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.” Doesn’t that sound like a prediction that is always being fulfilled? He “prepares” them to defend themselves in the coming persecution of His followers by telling them not to prepare! He tells them that they will be persecuted by their friends and family. We can applaud His honesty, and marvel at His lack of a savvy marketing campaign.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
It appears that word of idleness among the Thessalonians has reached Paul. It was in Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians that he addressed the question of the eternal fate of those who died in the faith while waiting—as we all have been for nearly 2,000 years—for Jesus to return. It may have been that they believed the Lord’s return was coming so soon it did not make sense to plan ahead.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have one of the lowest levels of education among religious groups in the United States.
“Witness leadership also discourages higher education because they believe it's a waste of time. Jehovah's Witnesses have been predicting the end of the world since the religion's founding at the end of the 19th century. By their rationale, time in college would be better spent out on the streets, converting persons to become Witnesses.”
They also have very low rates of saving for retirement. Maybe they don’t buy green bananas. The end is coming so soon and the stakes are so high, their mission to prepare for the return of Jesus is essential. Getting word out is more important than anything else. Their lives reflect their worldview. Witnesses walk the walk.
* * * * * *
From team member Ron LoveMalachi 4:1
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
Since January 17, 2015 she has only been known as “Emily Doe.” In the courtroom on June 2, 2016 she was known as Chanel Miller. That was the day she read her statement to the judge on being raped by Brock Turner, a freshman at Sanford University, and left half-naked beside a dumpster on campus. Her statement to Judge Aaron Persky began, regarding her assailant, “You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me.” The 12-page letter was published on the internet by BuzzFeed and instantly went viral. In a book published in September 2019, tilted Know My Name, she revealed the entire story of her ordeal, including Turner’s six-month prison sentence. The judge felt a lengthy prison sentence would cause a “severe impact” on Turner’s young life.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 3:7
For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us
Renee Zellweger played the actress Judy Garland in the movie Judy, which premiered on August 30, 2019. In preparing for the role Zellweger studied Garland’s body language, listened to audio recordings and worked with a voice coach. Fitted with prostheses and wigs, Zellweger also sang all of Garland’s musical numbers in the film. Zellweger said the reason she went to such great lengths to prepare for the role of portraying Judy Garland is because, “There’s a different responsibility that comes with playing somebody’s life. You want to do it justice, be respectful.”
* * *
Malachi 4:1
See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
Felicity Huffman, the actress who is best known for her role as Lynette Scavo on Desperate Housewives, which ran for eight seasons from 2004 to 2012, admitted her guilt as a part of the college admissions scandal that involved 50 other parents, coaches, exam proctors and admission counsellors. The parents paid these individuals to falsify reports so their children could be admitted to prestigious colleges. Huffman, who is married to actor William Macy, who was involved but whose guilt could not be proven, paid $15,000 to admissions counsellor Rick Singer to have her daughter Sophia’s SAT scores altered. Sophia was diagnosed with learning disabilities at the age of eight. Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison, a year of supervised release, a $30,000 fine and 250 hour of community service. In a letter she read before the Boston judge, on September 13, 2019, before her sentencing, Huffman said when she was taking Sophia to the testing center in December 2017, “I kept saying to myself, ‘Turn around, turn around, turn around.’ To my eternal shame I didn’t.” Huffman went on to read, “I talked myself into believing that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair shot.”
* * *
Luke 21:5-6
When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”
In 1844 a group of 50,000 followers expected the immediate return of Jesus. So strongly did they hold these beliefs, that many sold their possessions and others let their fields lie fallow. When Jesus did not return the aftermath was called the Great Disappointment. Some, sadly, even committed suicide. In May of that year, the remaining followers organized themselves into a church. They called themselves Adventists for they expected the immediate return — advent — of Jesus.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 3:11
For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.
Susan Jacoby wrote an editorial for The New York Times, in which she pointed out the falsehood of the television series Mad Men. Jacoby may be best known for her book The Age of American Unreason, which was a New York Times best seller. She is an atheist and a secularist. The show, which aired for fourteen seasons with 92 episodes, covers the time period from March 1960 to November 1970. In the show the men of Madison Avenue have enough money to spend lavishly on their wives and mistresses. That may be the case for the shows characters, but it was not true for Jacoby’s father and most men in the United States. With wives still unable to secure meaningful work, most men were the primary providers for their families. There was no fallback plan if they could not bring home enough money to provide for the necessities. It diffidently was not the advertising business on Madison Avenues. Instead of lavish clothes, Jacoby remembers lying in bed and listening to her father’s car tires going over the salt laden driveway in Lansing as he began his workday.
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship: (based on Isaiah 12)
Leader: Surely God is our salvation.
People: We will trust, and will not be afraid.
Leader: God is our strength and our might.
People: God has become our salvation.
Leader: With joy we draw water from the wells of salvation.
People: Give thanks to God and exalt the holy name of God.
OR
(Based on Psalm 98)
Leader: O sing to God a new song who has done marvelous things.
People: God’s right hand and holy arm have gotten the victory.
Leader: Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth.
People: Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Leader: God will judge the world with righteousness.
People: God will judge the peoples with equity.
OR
Leader: Let us praise our God who has always been with us.
People: We sings praises to the faithful God who always was.
Leader: Let us rejoice in the God who is with us today.
People: Praise be to our God who is with us now.
Leader: Let us trust in the God who waits for us in our tomorrows.
People: In you, O God, we entrust our future.
Hymns and Songs:
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
The God of Abraham Praise
UMH: 116
H82: 401
NCH: 24
CH: 24
LBW: 544
ELW: 831
W&P: 16
Renew: 51
We Gather Together
UMH: 131
H82: 433
PH: 559
NNBH: 326
NCH: 421
CH: 276
ELW: 449
W&P: 81
AMEC: 576
STLT: 349
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELW: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
Stand By Me
UMH: 512
NNBH: 318
CH: 629
W&P: 495
AMEC: 420
O God of Every Nation
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELW: 713
W&P: 626
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
God Is So Good
CCB: 75
Great Is the Lord
CCB: 65
Renew: 22
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
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
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is with us now as the great I Am:
Grant us the faith to trust in your constant presence
as we journey away from the past to your new future;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are always present in the eternal now. You walk with us in the present as we leave the past and journey into the future where you await us. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our clinging to the past as we fear the future.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We look into the future with such trepidation because we forget that you are with us now and will be there to greet us in the future. We look back with longing on the ‘flesh pots’ of Egypt forgetting that the good old days were not always as great as we remember. Forgive us our lack of faith and renew us with your Spirit that we may move into the future you have in store for us where your Reign is fully known. Amen.
Leader: God is always in our now. As God has been with us so God is with us now and will be in the future. Let go of your fear and embrace God’s new future.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God, because you are the One who is always making everything new. We glorify you for your abiding presence.
(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 look into the future with such trepidation because we forget that you are with us now and will be there to greet us in the future. We look back with longing on the ‘flesh pots' of Egypt forgetting that the good old days were not always as great as we remember. Forgive us our lack of faith and renew us with your Spirit that we may move into the future you have in store for us where your Reign is fully known.
We give you thanks for your loving presence in all the ups and downs of our lives. We thank you that you are with us in despair and in joy. We thank you for those who share your presence with us through their loving kindness and grace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our needs and we remember those who find it difficult to believe that you or anyone else are with them in their now.
(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 Our Father 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
Did you ever have to move from one house to another? It is hard to give up a place we know for someplace we don’t know as much about. But we can never really learn about the new place until we leave the old one behind. The best part to remember is that no matter where we go, God is with us.
CHILDREN'S SERMONStaying In the Game
by Bethany Peerbolte
Luke 21:5-19
In these verses Jesus tells his disciples that before the kingdom of God is ready there will be signs of it’s coming. These signs can sound very scary to young children. Wars and earthquakes are a reality we think children are naïve to, but they pick up on more than we know. Since adults think children do not know about these world happenings, we often forget to talk about them. Children then must interpret half understood gossip at school and muffled news reports they hear from across the room on their own. If they come to church and hear that these are the signs of the end of time we can only guess at the damage.
There is a world where children feel safe and understand that wars and earthquakes are just part of the plan — video games. In most games these scary events are simplified to advance a plot line, and that is essentially what Jesus is saying in Luke. There will be tests, there will be hard levels, but if you can remain calm and patient, sticking to the goal, we will win this whole thing.
In your message say something like:
How many of you have ever played a video game? In a video game, or an app game, each level gets harder and harder. That’s because the more you play the better you get. The creators want you to be challenged because the challenge makes the game fun. Often we have to play levels multiple times before we pass them. Some games has a character called a boss. The boss is a really hard character to beat. In the boss level there are lots of things happening that are meant to distract us and throw us off of the goal. If a level or a boss is really hard we can get frustrated. We may want to quite all together and doubt we have the skills to win.
Our Bible lesson today is kind of like a sneak peek into a boss level. Jesus tells the disciples that before he can return and bring Heaven to earth there are some signs we can look for. He says people will pretend to be him and they will say “the time is now” but they won’t be telling the truth. Jesus says there will also be wars and earthquakes and some pretty frightening things happening. All these things might make us scared, and we might forget what Jesus taught us. We might forget that God promised to always protect us and that we have the skills to win!
Jesus reassures the disciples that if they remain calm and focused on God these scary things happening around us won’t become a problem. We will be so safe that not a hair on our head will be harmed. That is amazing protection from God. SO the next time you feel scared I want you to remember that God is protecting you.
I think we should pray thanking God for keeping us safe.
Powerful God, We know life will have hard days, but we also know you are with us. When we feel scared, keep us safe. Thank you in Jesus name, Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 17, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 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.
