The past few weeks we’ve been in the heart of graduation season -- and as one of the chief rites of passage in our society, we’re all familiar with the typical commencement ceremony. Like the worship service, it has a standard format with traditional hymns (“Pomp and Circumstance”) and features a sermon as its centerpiece -- namely, a speech from a prominent political, business, or cultural figure. These addresses usually offer earnest and sometimes humorous advice for newly minted graduates, often focusing on themes of self-fulfillment sprinkled with encouragement to find your passion and “do what you love.” In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Leah Lonsbury explores the idea that this week’s Acts text contains Jesus’ brief version of a commencement speech to his disciples as they “graduate” to becoming his apostles. Like new college graduates, the disciples’ period of study with their mentor has given them valuable preparation for making their way in the world. But rather than using this occasion to encourage the disciples to reflect on their larger goals or seek out what they’re truly meant to do, Jesus tells them to knuckle down and get on with the gritty, unglamorous work of witnessing “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Leah asks us to consider how we might receive this “commencement speech” -- do we have our heads in the clouds, or are we hearing (and acting) on Jesus’ call to go out and do his work in the world?
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on this week’s gospel passage, specifically the final line in which Jesus asks God to “protect [the disciples] in your name that you have given me.” That raises the question of what Jesus is requesting protection for his followers from, but then he answers it by continuing: “so that they may be one, as we are one.” In other words, he’s issuing a plea for Christian unity in the face of all the things that separate us from one another. As Dean observes, that massage bears repeating for not only the church but for our society as well, since technology has enabled us to become essentially a niche society. Rather than finding common cause with one another, we seek to fulfill our own interests by separating ourselves and aligning with others who are just like us -- who share our denominational beliefs or our passions or our economic interests. When we’re busy separating ourselves into innumerable different tribes based on religion, politics, ethnicity, hobbies, and even fan interests, do we really remember and commit ourselves to Jesus’ command to “be one” -- or are we just looking out for “number one”?
Let Us Commence
by Leah Lonsbury
Acts 1:6-14; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
We’ve entered a season of endings and beginnings -- a season that intensely marks, examines, and celebrates what all of life really is when we get down to it: a series of starts and stops, unexpected turns and bumps, transitions and readjustments, pride at accomplishments and grief in our disappointments, and change... lots of change. Perhaps that’s why commencement, in whatever form it takes -- preschool “Step Up Day”; Girl Scout bridging ceremonies; 5th grade, high school, associate program, or university graduations -- has a tendency to stop us, cause us to fly across the country or zigzag across town from party to party, and carry with us a sense of awe for the sacred nature of these turning points.
This awe can serve and influence us in a number of ways, but often it tends to inflate at least the graduate’s sense of self, accomplishment, purpose, and promise -- all good things when received with humility, reason, and perspective. However, humility, reason, and perspective tend to play little part in our pomp and circumstance, and our awe telescopes and morphs into the rebirth of the graduate as full-fledged superhero, ready to revolutionize and save the world... the minute she or he tosses that mortarboard into the air.
The commencement address can be what fastens these young heroes’ capes and encourages them to leap tall buildings in a single bound, ready or not. As the centerpiece of the ceremony, the address is often delivered by a political, cultural, or business figure who is being given their place in the superhero hall of fame -- an honorary degree. Offering lofty, earnest, and inspiring advice, they speak on finding fulfillment, reaching potential, and changing the world.
NPR has compiled an impressive list of over 300 of “The Best Commencement Speeches Ever” dating back to 1774 and coming from a vast array of personalities, all offering their version of the graduate’s manifesto. Anne Lamott makes the list. So do Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell. Al Gore, Bill Cosby, Bono, Cornel West, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Madeleine Albright, Naomi Wolf, Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, and the Dalai Lama have their say, and David Brooks has his three times.
In our passage from Acts this week, Jesus offers his own version of a commencement speech for his disciples. But his encouragement for these “graduates” is less about seeking self-fulfillment and grandiose accomplishments and more about doing the day-to-day job before them. He reminds the disciples that they will find themselves prepared, empowered (by the Holy Spirit), and with a mission. Their task is to stop stargazing (v. 11) in the usual style of commencement celebrations and get to the work of witnessing.
How do we hear Jesus’ commencement address to us as his disciples? The work of the Church is not necessarily glorious and exciting, and it often involves toil and sometimes even suffering, as our text from 1 Peter reminds us. Do we “stand looking up toward heaven” (v. 11)? Do we return to the upper room and devote ourselves to prayer (vv. 13-14)? Or do we get on the dusty road and follow the way of Jesus, following his steps each mundane and miraculous day of our lives?
In the News
In his recent opinion piece for the New York Times, professor and occupational counselor Gordon Marino urges students and anyone else with a vocational question mark hanging over their heads to focus less on finding their “dream job” and more on building “A Life Beyond ‘Do What You Love.’ ” Marino opens his piece by considering if this is a privileged person’s dilemma, and shares about a nervous sophomore who came to his office full of worry about whether he should be a doctor or a professor of philosophy. Before leaving Marino’s office, he also admits that he’d thought about giving standup comedy a whirl. The world is clearly this student’s oyster, at least in his imagination. During this season of elaborate graduation ceremonies and grandiose commencement speeches, it might take more imagination to consider otherwise for some, but it might also be a completely necessary and far more realistic exercise.
Today’s college graduates are more likely to find themselves in low-paying, part-time jobs that don’t require the degree they have taken out big loans to secure. Bryce Covert considers the bleak horizon for recent graduates and job-seekers of all ages in his recent piece for ThinkProgress, and the impact of the sharp uptick in poverty-wage and part-time jobs for those seeking full-time, career-path employment:
The trend carries extra worries for recent graduates, however, who may be struggling to pay off student loans. Total student loan debt is now at $1 trillion, with a record number of Americans holding some of this debt. A record number of people are also defaulting on those loans. The effects of this debt overhang can last well into the future, as those struggling to pay it off are less able to buy a home, have a lower mortgage payment, or save for retirement, and can mean a student who borrows the average $53,000 in debt can expect a lifetime loss of wealth totaling $208,000.
For many, these prospects have always been the norm. Marino writes of this as he considers the weight and worth of his go-to phrase as an occupational counselor. “But is ‘do what you love’ wisdom or malarkey?’ ” he ponders.
Marino points to the work of writer Miya Tokumitsu, who proposes that this way of thinking about work is elitist because it degrades work that is not done out of love, ignores the inherent value of work, and severs the traditional connections between work, talent, and duty.
Marino gives this line of thinking a human dimension when he describes his work with economically challenged kids in Northfield, Minnesota. The theme “do what you love” doesn’t make sense there, he writes:
Many of them are used to delivering papers at 5 a.m., slinging shingles all day, or loading trucks all night. They are accustomed to doing whatever they need to do to help out their families. For them, the notion of doing what you love or find meaningful is not the idea that comes first to mind; nor should it. We put our heads together and consider, “What are you best at doing?” or “What job would most improve your family’s prospects?” Maybe being licensed as a welder or electrician? Maybe the military? Passion and meaning may enter into the mix of our chats with the understanding that they sharpen your focus and make you more successful.
Marino goes on to propose that whatever the state of our finances, families, and job prospects, we all ought to be thinking more like these students in Northfield, which is also the line of thought some of our most respected thinkers, like Immanuel Kant and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Both held that self-fulfillment is not the name of the game, and if we want to demand that it is, then the term needs some reworking.
“Suppose that true self-fulfillment comes in the form of developing into ‘a mature human being,’ ” Marino challenges us. What if we could find our pleasure, our self-fulfillment by using our gifts and talents in “a responsible, other-oriented way?”
Once more from Marino...
The universally recognized paragons of humanity -- the Nelson Mandelas, Dietrich Bonhoeffers, and Martin Luther Kings -- did not organize their lives around self-fulfillment and bucket lists. They, no doubt, found a sense of meaning in their heroic acts of self-sacrifice, but they did not do what they were doing in order to achieve that sense of meaning. They did -- like my father and some of those kids from town -- what they felt they had to do.
Dr. King taught that every life is marked by dimensions of length, breadth, and height. Length refers to self-love, breadth to the community and care of others, and height to the transcendent, to something larger than oneself. Most would agree with Dr. King’s prescription that self-fulfillment requires being able to relate yourself to something higher than the self. Traditionally, that something “higher” was code for God, but whatever the transcendent is, it demands obedience and the willingness to submerge and remold our desires.
This line of reasoning also shows up in a commencement address by Professor Timothy Burke of Swarthmore College, in which he cautions the graduates he addresses about their rush to get out in the world and make change immediately. He coaches them instead on becoming students of the world, tuning in to the systems and workings of their daily lives and those around them. Burke encourages the students to bear witness and tell the truth of what they see around them without flinching or hesitation. He writes that changing the world and making it a better place is less about pursuing high-minded ideals and more about the accumulation of small acts of commitment and kindness in day-to-day life. This kind of bearing witness, telling the truth, and acting in context and commitment requires clear eyes -- those that can and will see the world for what it really is and what we might realistically do in our little corner of it.
From Burke...
Of course I want you to do good, to not just be good but act with good intent in the world. And of course I want you to change the world for the better. But doing good, it seems to me, is frequently not a matter of commitment to causes or fidelity to ideologies. It is usually a matter of small decencies and ordinary kindnesses. It is harder in some ways day in and day out to be a good father, a good friend, a good lover, a good teacher, a good colleague than it is to minister to thousands of lepers or airlift food supplies to a famine-stricken region.
If you look at the people who really have changed the world for the better -- because most injustice is systematic, and really does require systematic attention from organized groups of people fighting for what’s right -- you’ll see that most of them didn’t set out in life with the activist’s version of a “will to power,” determined above all things to change the world for the better. Nelson Mandela just wanted to escape an arranged marriage and live his life the way he wanted to. Gandhi just wanted to be a lawyer. If you want to change the world, just wait. The opportunity will find you at the right time, and when it does, your commitment to change will be organic, a part of your life rather than something outside of it. It will arise from within the conditions of your journey through the world rather than from hubris or fierce neediness.
In the Scriptures
Because Acts holds the only full narrative account of Jesus’ ascension, it can seem magnificent and maybe even a little too much if your church culture isn’t used to marking this day on its liturgical calendar. It does, however, bring a fitting conclusion to Jesus’ powerful ministry by exalting and even (ahem) elevating him. It allows for a visual marker in the mind’s eye. Jesus is lifted up and away (at least as a personal character in the story), and Mikeal C. Parsons writes on WorkingPreacher.org that this “inaugurates the beginning of the church... and the beginning of the worldwide mission.”
This earthly, very human beginning is what Jesus is after as he instructs the disciples in verses 7-8. “Quit trying to master the master plan,” Jesus seems to be telling them, “that’s God’s job. Yours is to get down to work -- the day-to-day work of witnessing to God’s love with the stuff of your lives. You will be given the power to do what you need to do through the Holy Spirit. You know what your job is. You’ve seen me do it -- healing, reconciling, forgiving, and welcoming. Now get busy!”
This is Jesus’ commencement address to the disciples. He knows what we tend to forget, that the word “commencement” means “beginning,” “origination,” or “dawning,” not “self-congratulatory final party.”
The beginning that Jesus is describing for the disciples won’t necessarily lead them to glorious or exciting work. He should know. It’s his work. Jesus did it on the road with dusty feet and without a regular place to lay his head at night. It meant making mud to smear on the eyes of blind “sinners” and hanging around with society’s undesirables -- like Samaritans and “worldly” women -- and it ultimately cost him his life. Our text from 1 Peter points to this. “Fiery ordeals,” struggles, and suffering are all a part of this dusty, daily work. It’s less doctor- or philosophy-professor-dreaming and more slinging shingles and loading trucks. It’s less “What do I love?” and more “Who do I love?”
Jesus is redefining self-fulfillment for the disciples and for us. “Forget your lofty dreams of ruling in some restored kingdom or church office, and focus on building the kin-dom with those others consider the lost and the least,” Jesus is urging them and us.
“Quit stargazing with your eyes on and mind in the clouds, and learn to see the light of heaven in the messiness of your daily lives and those around you,” Jesus says.
Bear witness. Tell the truth. Be brave. Act in love, no matter the risk or cost -- even if it’s tedious and trying, uncomfortable or seemingly unremarkable.
In the Sermon
This week, the preacher might consider...
* how we stargaze or convince ourselves that commencement speeches are the stuff of real life. What do we miss with our eyes on the sky? How do we get caught up in doing church stuff (like “constantly devoting [ourselves] to prayer” in the room upstairs) and miss the opportunity to be Church?
* how we define self-fulfillment and how Jesus defines it. How far apart are our definitions? What stands in between them?
* if we’re doing Jesus’ work if we never experience some kind of “fiery ordeal” or suffering as a result of our attempts to carry out ministry in the world. How do we design our ministry to fulfill our graduation dreams to swoop in and save the world, and avoid the tedious and uncomfortable work of day-to-day witnessing, truth-telling, and small acts in the big love of God?
* how our need to “do what we love” is related to privilege, and what the Bible and our faith traditions tell us about that.
* how we tend to forget the second half of the popular Frederick Buechner quote that reads: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” How do the following, less-known words of Buechner register in our thinking about how we are called to be in the world?
-- “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”
-- “Compassion is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It’s the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.”
SECOND THOUGHTS
That We Might Be One
by Dean Feldmeyer
John 17:1-11
My wife and I are frequent visitors to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina. So are lots of people -- it’s the busiest, most-visited national park in the U.S. And Cade’s Cove, the first settlement of white people in that area, is one of the most frequently visited parts of that busy park.
It’s the place you go when you want to get away from the hustle and bustle and tourist environment of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. If you go on a weekday, especially in the morning, it won’t be very crowded and you can see the area much as it might have been from 1819 to 1937 when people actually lived and worked there.
The park service farms some of the fields to make it look like it did back in the old days. Black bears and white-tailed deer can still be seen frolicking in the woods and fields. There are a couple dozen log homes that you can tour, a working grist mill where they still sell stone-ground cornmeal, and there are three churches.
Wait a minute! Three churches?
Yes, there were and are three churches in Cade’s Cove: a Missionary Baptist Church, a Primitive Baptist Church, and a Methodist Church. At the height of its life there were probably never more than about a hundred people living in that valley, and they still needed three churches to keep everyone satisfied. One cannot help but wonder how well the people of those churches got along and if the life of the community in Cade’s Cove might not have extended beyond 1937 if there was one church instead of three.
We Christians have always had trouble agreeing on what it means to be the church. We spend a lot of time bewailing the fact that so many people have rejected Christianity, but I wonder if at least part of the responsibility for that fact may not be our own.
Why should non-Christians accept us when we can’t bring ourselves to accept each other? How badly, I wonder, have we compromised God’s gospel of love and grace and reconciliation by our unwillingness to extend that good news to people of other churches?
Our rationalizations usually run something like this: But we do love and accept other Christians. Why, any time they want to leave their church and come to ours, we’ll be glad to have them. Any time they want to do what we do the way we do it and believe what we believe the way we believe it, we’ll welcome them with open arms.
Kinda makes you wonder about that prayer that Jesus speaks at the end of this week’s gospel reading. He prays for God to protect his disciples. What does he want them to be protected from?
Is it persecution? No.
Is it heresy? No.
Is it war, or crime, or famine, or drought, or disease? No.
It’s division.
He prays that his followers will not be divided, separated, estranged from each other. He prays that they will be one, just as he is one with God, the Father.
It is unfortunate that, in this, the church has chosen to emulate and imitate the culture instead of offering an alternative. Our culture prizes division, separation, and estrangement more than unity and reconciliation.
One need look no further than Washington, DC to see how true this is. Political parties have no interest in working together. They take pride in being the “anti.” Politicians prefer to define themselves by what they are against rather than what they are for, what they plan to undo rather than what they plan to do. Gridlock, a term that used to be spoken when talking about traffic jams, is now being used to define Congress. “Bipartisan” is a word rarely heard in the land any more.
In sports, the NFL is being sued by former professional football players for using medical treatments that got them quickly back on the field of play but ultimately did permanent damage to their joints, their brains, and other internal organs.
In California, another young man became so hopelessly estranged from his peer group and the culture in general that he decided to take out his frustration and ire on those around him with knife and gun. At this writing, seven are dead and thirteen wounded, and an angry, frustrated father is asking how long it will take until we are so sick of this kind of violence that we will take definitive steps to stop it.
And meanwhile, we have become so paranoid, so distrustful, so afraid of each other that we have chosen to seek our security not in the Lord but in concealed/carry laws and our ability to kill each other faster and more efficiently than our neighbor.
The separation that is ubiquitous in our culture is not always large and obvious, however. It can be as small as a cellphone and as subtle as a video game. How often do we see families sitting at the same table in a restaurant, trying to talk to each other while one or more of them buries their face in a mechanical device? Our homes used to have sidewalks and front porches from which we conversed with our neighbors. Now we huddle in our air-conditioned living rooms or retreat to our backyard decks where we rarely even see our neighbors, and when we do we are hard-pressed to remember their names.
When a culture is as fragmented as ours, the church is called to be a unifying force, a power for cooperation and unity. We are called to be pioneers, to find new ways of overcoming our differences for the greater good.
Metaphors and parables abound:
* Aesop’s fable “The Bundle of Sticks” tells of a father who instructs his sons on how there is strength in unity by inviting them to break a single twig and then to break a whole bundle of twigs.
* The children’s story Swimmy by Leo Lionni beautifully illustrates this same important lesson.
* Everyone knows that cables and ropes are made up of dozens of fine, weak strands of thin string or wire. But did you know that you can use plain old one- or two-ply toilet paper to make a rope strong enough to hold your weight? (Watch it on Youtube.)
Like the bundle of sticks, like the school of fish, like the many strands of string, wire, or toilet paper, the church is called to be the image of strength through unity that inspires the world.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
John 17:1-11
That We All May Be One
One place where people will never agree is the World Cup. Passionate soccer fans will disagree to the end about the merits of their national teams -- and so a vast amount of protection will be required. Brazil, the host country for the 2014 World Cup, is deploying 157,000 soldiers and police officers to provide security for the games, which begin on June 12. In addition, recent demonstrations and strikes have embarrassed the government. “Those protests drew a million people into the street and turned violent at times.... The protesters are angry over the more than $11 billion being spent to host the World Cup in a country with glaring inequality and pressing needs in education, health care, housing, and transport. The security forces will be spread among the 12 host cities and state capitals Vitoria, Aracaju, and Maceio, which will all have base camps for teams playing in the tournament. The military will also work with police to secure the enormous South American country’s 16,800 kilometers (10,400 miles) of borders.” Will that be enough protection for the estimated 3 million Brazilians and 600,000 tourists expected at the World Cup?
*****
John 17:1-11
Protecting the Least
Most corporations protect key executives, offering generous salaries and bonuses to keep them happy and on staff. Paul Levy, CEO of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, chose a different path in 2009 when the recession was in full force. As Kevin Cullen reports for Boston.com, Levy walked around the hospital, looking at how things were going. “He stood at the nurses’ stations, watching the transporters, the people who push the patients around in wheelchairs. He saw them talk to the patients, put them at ease, make them laugh. He saw that the people who push the wheelchairs were practicing medicine.... He watched the people who polish the corridors, who strip the sheets, who empty the trash cans, and he realized that a lot of them are immigrants, many of them had second jobs, most of them were just scraping by.”
When the time came to make some choices, Levy gathered all of the hospital’s employees together. “He looked out into a sea of people and recognized faces: technicians, secretaries, administrators, therapists, nurses, the people who are the heart and soul of any hospital. People who knew that Beth Israel had hired about a quarter of its 8,000 staff over the last six years and that the chances that they could all keep their jobs and benefits in an economy in freefall ranged between slim and none.
“ ‘I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I’d like to get your reaction to it,’ Levy began. ‘I’d like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners -- the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don’t want to put an additional burden on them. Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice,’ he continued. ‘It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits.’
“He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause.... When the applause subsided, he did go on, telling the workers at Beth Israel, the people who make a hospital go, that he wanted their ideas.”
And the ideas came. “The consensus was that the workers don’t want anyone to get laid off and are willing to give up pay and benefits to make sure no one does. A nurse said her floor voted unanimously to forgo a 3 percent raise. A guy in finance who got laid off from his last job at a hospital in Rhode Island suggested working one less day a week. Another nurse said she was willing to give up some vacation and sick time. A respiratory therapist suggested eliminating bonuses.”
Sometimes it seems that if we win, someone else has to lose -- but if we all stand together, we can protect each other.
*****
Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
A Home to Live In
The psalmist promises that “God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity” (v. 6). Sometimes it takes our efforts to cooperate with God.
After her brother moved into the mental health facility that became his home, Robin Emmons saw his health decline on the institutional diet of starches and processed food. The center couldn’t afford healthy, fresh food. To help her brother, Emmons decided to do something to help: “Having just left corporate America after 20 years in the finance sector, Emmons grabbed her shovel and dug up her back yard to grow food for her brother and his fellow residents. His health rapidly improved and the mission for her next job was born: to use food as a vehicle to promote social justice on important issues such as food access in marginalized communities.”
Then she noticed that many other people had the same problem. Lack of funds limited them to convenience stores and fast-food places. “To expand her vision, Emmons launched the nonprofit Sow Much Good to heighten awareness about imbalances in the food system that eliminate the right of people in underserved communities’ access to pure, healthy food via farm stands, workshops, and speaking engagements.... To date, Emmons has grown over 26,000 pounds of fresh produce for underserved communities in Charlotte. She makes her food as affordable as possible and accepts food stamps on all of her products, even seeds and seedlings so customers can grow their own food.”
In the spirit of God, Emmons brought a kind of prosperity to the people around her. “Rain in abundance,” the psalmist prays, and Emmons has been an answer to that prayer for many.
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Acts 1:6-14
Since the Great Schism of 1054, the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church have been formally divided. On his pilgrimage to Jerusalem this past week, Pope Francis met with Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the leader of the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem. In the courtyard outside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where it is believed that Christ was crucified and resurrected, the two pontiffs embraced. Once inside the cathedral they said the Lord’s Prayer together. Pope Francis then bent down and kissed the ring in respect of the Orthodox patriarch.
Application: After witnessing the ascension of Jesus, in a sign of unity all returned to the Upper Room, where they devoted themselves to prayer.
*****
Acts 1:6-14
On Memorial Day weekend, ABC telecast the Indy 500 for the 50th consecutive year. The network considers this a sign of its dedication to excellence. Rich Feinberg, ESPN/ABC’s vice president in charge of motorsports production, said: “When we work the Indy 500 we’re entrusted with it. We’re entrusted with taking this monumental event and bringing it to viewers around the world.”
Application: As the disciples listened to the last words of Jesus before he ascended into heaven, they were entrusted with taking the gospel message to all parts of the world.
*****
Acts 1:6-14
It has been recently announced that Super Bowl LII in 2018 will be held in Minneapolis. The site took precedence over its closest contenders in New Orleans and Indianapolis because in the year the game is to be played, Minneapolis will have a $1 billion new stadium that will seat 72,000 fans.
Application: The simplicity of the Upper Room was enough to launch the Christian church.
*****
Acts 1:6-14
After ten years, owner Michael Jordan of Charlotte’s NBA basketball team was able to get back the franchise’s original name of Hornets and discard a decade of being called the Bobcats. The name change will cost Jordan more than $4 million, but now the Charlotte Coliseum will once again be known as “The Hive.” More importantly, Jordan believes the name Hornets will restore the energy the team once had.
Application: And the disciples were asked why they were still looking up into heaven and not embarking on their call to be witnesses for Jesus.
*****
1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
A century later, the landscape still bears the scars of battle. The trenches that were dug and the craters where bombs exploded during the Battle of Somme, the first major British offensive of World War I, can still be seen. Landscape photographer Michael St. Maur Sheil wanted to record the still-devastated landscape, so he’s assembled an exhibit of 79 photographs, titled “Fields of Battle -- Fields of Peace” that vividly portrays the everlasting scars of war.
Application: We should remember that like a roaring lion, our adversary is always prowling.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by Chris Keating
Call to Worship
(based on Psalm 68)
Leader: Let the righteous be joyful, let God’s people be exceedingly joyful!
People: Sing to God, sing songs of praise to the One who rides upon the clouds!
Leader: God gives hope to those who have no place to live, and provides for all who are in need!
People: Sing to God, sing praise to God’s name!
OR
(based on 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11)
Leader: Cast your cares on God,
People: The spirit of God will strengthen you.
Leader: Remain steadfast in your faith,
People: For the God of all grace will restore, support, and establish you.
Leader: To God be the power for ever and ever, Amen!
Prayer of the Day
Holy God: Your Son Jesus prayed for the disciples, calling them to remain united, and to devote themselves to prayer. By your abundant Spirit restore to us the joy of faith, so that casting our cares on you, we may be led by your glorious presence and sent into the world to declare your wonderful deeds. Amen.
Call to Confession
Sisters and brothers in Christ, God calls us to humble ourselves and to remain steadfast in faith. Let us confess our sin to God and to each other, that we might be restored in glory and faith.
Prayer of Confession
Loving God, help us to cast our cares and worries on you. We confess that our lives often lack the discipline of faith. We stare at the skies, wondering if you are with us or not. We act like rebellious children, wandering and inattentive to your grace. Yet, O God, you call us to remain united in Christ, and you care for us. Strengthen us by your grace, and establish within us the power of your name, for it is for in Christ’s sake we pray, Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
The promise of God is sure: “The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.” Rejoice and be glad, for God’s abundant salvation has come to us in Jesus Christ. To God be the power for ever and ever, Amen!
Prayers of Intercession (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Holy One: you sent the Spirit to bring us power and to comfort us in our struggles. Help us to devote ourselves to prayer, so that we might grow in strength and unity with you and each other. Hear our prayers as we raise them to you now...
Lord, hear our prayer.
(Option: the congregation can join in singing the Taizé song “O Lord, Hear My Prayer” as an intercessory response. If this is used, it can be meaningful to have the musician continue playing the melody softly as the prayer continues.)
Remembering Christ, we offer our prayer for the church, that its witness might be strong and unified. May we be devoted to prayer, offering to you our cares and worries. Unite us in the face of division, that our witness might be strong. Help us to resist evil temptations, and encourage us to be humble before you. Hear our prayers as we raise them to you...
Lord, hear our prayer.
Loving God, your Son’s disciples were sent into the world. We pray for our Earth community, asking you to protect the world against the harms of pollution and contamination. Bring abundant rain to fields that are languishing, and restore goodness to all creation. Hear our prayers as we raise them to you...
Lord, hear our prayer.
Through Christ, you call us to offer to you our cares and worries. We pray for those among us who are ill and struggling with illness in body, mind, and spirit. Remind them of your love, and guard them in their suffering. Protect them in your name. In your goodness, O God, you provide for all who are in need. Hear our prayers as we raise them to you...
Lord, hear our prayer.
Loving God, you are the parent of orphans and the guardian of the lonely. Your authority extends to the entire world. Bring peace to the nations, and shower your abundance on those who are in need. By your encouragement restore and strengthen us so that we may be faithful in our witness. Hear our prayers as we raise them to you...
Lord, hear our prayer.
God of all, give us strength and offer us your power as we dare to pray that prayer Jesus taught us, saying,
Our Father, who art in heaven... (continue with the Lord’s Prayer) ...Amen.
Prayer of Thanksgiving/Dedication of Offering
Ever-giving God, you have raised us to new life in Christ. You rain your abundance on us, filling us with good things and restoring us in hope. Thankful for your love, we place in your hands these gifts, praying that you would use all that we are and all that we have to strengthen our witness to you. Amen.
Hymns
Gathering:
“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”
“The Church’s One Foundation”
“Crown Him With Many Crowns”
“Amen, Siakudumisa”
Proclamation of the Word:
“I’ll Fly Away” (Acts)
“Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending” (Acts)
“All Hail The Power of Jesus’ Name” (Acts)
“Blessed Assurance” (1 Peter)
“If Thou But Trust in God to Guide Thee” (1 Peter)
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” (1 Peter, Psalms)
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (John)
“In Christ There Is No East or West” (John)
“O Jesus, I Have Promised” (John)
Sending:
“Alleluia, Sing to Jesus!”
“Crown Him With Many Crowns”
“How Firm a Foundation”
“Jesus Shall Reign”
Contemporary Songs
“Our God Is an Awesome God”
“Lord, Be Glorified”
“He Is Exalted”
“Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”
Taizé:
“O Lord, Hear My Prayer”
“Holy Spirit, Come to Us”
Children’s Sermon Ideas
Two thoughts come to mind this week:
Don’t Just Stand There
As we ponder the Acts text, we may be able to tap into children’s curiosity by asking “Where is Jesus?” Ascension is certainly a complex theological term -- and one that the children (or their parents) may not immediately grasp. Using a helium-filled balloon, talk about what it means to “rise up.” Ask the kids if they have ever watched a balloon rise into the sky. It’s amazing to watch! Then remind them that the disciples stood there, amazed at what they had seen. But there is more to the story. The angels told them not to just stand there -- they needed to do something! They needed to tell others what they had seen. They are called to be witnesses, men and women who tell others what they have seen. And that is what the church does -- we don’t just stand around, we get busy and tell others about God’s love.
OR
School’s Out!
Depending on local school schedules, this Sunday may coincide with the beginning of summer vacation. It is a fun time for children, who will be excited about summer. Ask them if their teachers gave them any special instructions (like reading, practicing instruments, etc.) for the summer. In John’s gospel, Jesus is giving the disciples special instructions. He is even praying for the disciples. He prays that they would be safe. Using a backpack, take out things that remind us to be safe in the summer (sunscreen, insect repellent, sunglasses, life jacket, a map or GPS that helps us arrive safely on vacation, and so on). All these things are ways of staying safe. Then pass out cards that have a selection from John 17:11 (“Protect them in your name that you have given me”) printed on them and remind the children that God will watch over them this summer.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Protection
John 17:1-11
Objects: an umbrella, some work gloves, a catcher’s mask, a syringe, a life preserver, woodworking goggles
Before Jesus returned to heaven, he prayed to his Father in heaven and asked his Father to protect the disciples and all of his followers. He wanted God the Father to protect the disciples as much as his Father protected him.
Jesus said something like this: “When I was alone and beginning my ministry you gave me these people to assist me in spreading our love and our thoughts everywhere I went. These people are believers; they trust me and will do anything that I ask them to do. Sometimes it has been very dangerous, but we have made it safely to this time when I am coming back. Please protect them from any harm.”
We know about protection, don’t we? (show the items as you talk about them) I have an umbrella that protects me from rain, I have work gloves so that my hands are protected when I am working. If I want to be a catcher in baseball I have a catcher’s mask. I can get a flu shot and be protected against getting really sick. If I am on a boat, I have a life preserver to protect me from drowning if I fall over the side of the boat. I even have goggles to protect my eyes when I am working in my shop or working with someone in their shop. This is protection.
Jesus wanted his disciples to be protected from the devil and all of the evil that is around us in this world. The devil is wicked and very tricky. You need God on your side if you are going to be protected from the devil. When Jesus was around, the devil was very careful with his trickery. But now Jesus was going back to heaven and he wanted his disciples to be protected from the lurking evil of the devil.
I think Jesus still prays for all of his followers and asks God to protect us from the devil. We are afraid of his evil also. The devil can trick us into thinking that we can do things and get away with them. The devil hates God and wishes that he could make us do things that we know we should not do.
Remember that God is protecting you from the devil. He watches the devil night and day. God is with you and offers you his protection. It is better than an umbrella, a shot in the arm, or some goggles. God the Father protects us well.
The Immediate Word, June 1, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 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.
