Longing for Belonging
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For May 5, 2024:
Longing for Belonging
by Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 1:44-48, 1 John 5:1-6
Maurice Maeterlick was a physician, philosopher, and poet in the early 1800s. He was also an avid beekeeper who not only kept and cared for his bees but spent hours observing them. One of his observations was that the relationship of bees to the swarm was not unlike the relationship of human beings to the air we breathe.
In his essay, “The Life of a Bee,” he observed that just as a human can survive under water for only a brief time before returning to the surface to breathe, a honeybee can survive away from the swarm for only a short time but then must return to the hive, not to do anything in particular, but simply to breathe in the sense of belonging that comes from being with his fellow bees.
A solitary bee, he observed, kept too long away from the swarm, will die as surely as a human being dies if kept beneath the surface of the water for too long. “Therefore,” he wrote. “It is necessarily so that one cannot keep a bee. One can only keep bees.” Plural.
And it is no less true that you cannot keep a Christian; you can only keep Christians. John Wesley put it more succinctly: There is no such thing, he said, as a solitary Christian.
Being a Christian means belonging to the Christian community.
In the News
A few weeks ago, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson managed, after no small amount of wheeling, dealing, bargaining, pleading and begging, to cobble together a bill that would fund what many believe is necessary military aid to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine. It passed in the House with the nearly unanimous consent of the Democrats and a few Republicans.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is widely known as the leader of the extreme right wing of the House Republicans, was furious. Not because what Johnson did was wrong strategically or morally, but because he had actually gone to Democrats and worked with them to get it done. If you want to belong to her club, you must reject all those who don’t.
So far, this year, there have been 12 school shootings with injuries or deaths. 25 people killed or injured in school shootings. Three people have been killed — one child and two adult school employees. 22 people injured.
According to Education Week, there is one thing (other than access to guns) that nearly all school shooters have in common: Students who commit shootings in K-12 schools are more likely to have a long history of rejection and lack a sense of belonging than are mass shooters in college and adult settings.
That’s the conclusion of a new study in the Journal of Social Psychology, which compared the characteristics of 57 shootings on K-12 campuses with 24 college shootings and 77 mass shootings in other places since 2001. The findings come amid a rise in school shootings that coincides with the return to in-person schooling after the Covid pandemic.
“These [shooters], in particular in K-12, are not necessarily loners; they’re failed joiners, so you’re not necessarily having a lot of disciplinary problems,” said Robin Kowalski, a psychology professor at Clemson University, who led the study. “A lot of times, kids who create a lot of the disciplinary problems are kids who were sort of instigators with groups that they’re a part of. Whereas, these [shooters] are ... just kind of along the periphery, so they’re not really creating any issues, because they’re just kind of hiding in the background.”
While the combination of psychological problems and a fascination with guns and violence could be a red flag, Kowalski noted that for K-12 shooters in particular, chronic rejection — including feelings of “not mattering” and “not belonging” — could be an even more common sign that a student could be at risk than a sudden, dramatic rejection like a relationship breakup.
To complete Dr. Brene Brown’s thought: “A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don't function as we were meant to. We break. We fall apart. We numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick.”
In the Scriptures
In this morning’s lesson from the book of Acts it’s just a few months after the first Easter and we find Peter in the city of Caesarea Maritima, the seaport and resort city on the Mediterranean coast about 30 miles southwest of Nazareth. He is there at the invitation of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion who was probably the chief Roman official in the city. We can surmise this because he does not live in the barracks where the soldiers usually lived in an occupied city, but in his own home. He has many friends and relatives in the city and is spoken well of by everyone, Jew and gentile alike.
Cornelius has heard of Peter and has sent for him and asked him to come and share the message of Jesus with his household. Peter has come and he preaches to Cornelius’s gathered friends and relatives, telling them the story of Jesus, and so moving is his sermon that the people feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and they begin speaking in other languages — just as the disciples had done on Pentecost — and singing hymns about the greatness of God.
Peter is shocked that the Holy Spirit is being poured out “even on Gentiles” and he consults with the other disciples: “Can any of you think of any reason why we can’t baptize these folks into the Christian faith?”
Crickets.
So, hearing no objection, he orders them all baptized and they throw a big feast and invite him to stay for a few days, presumably, to tell them more about this Jesus guy.
Now, to you and me this isn’t such a big deal, right? Peter preaches, people respond positively, they are baptized, and on it goes. But to the early church this story was not just significant but scandalous as well!
Gentiles? Even Gentiles? You mean to tell me God loves Gentiles the same as God loves Jews and Jewish Christians? Yes, he does. Even Gentiles.
In the excerpt from the first epistle of John, the author makes the same point twice: Everyone. Did you hear that? EVERYONE who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Everyone. And everyone who loves the parent (Jesus) loves the child (other Christians).
That all sounds well and good and no big deal until we pause and think for a moment about that one word: EVERYONE. For many Christians, that word is a problem. Our natural tendency is to divide and separate people into groups. We accept some and reject others. We welcome some and close the door to others. Our natural tendency is to control the door. Our desire is to be the security guard who stands at the door of the heavenly disco, letting a few in and keeping most out.
But John smashes that notion to smithereens. Everyone. Means. Everyone. It doesn’t mean some. It means all. Everyone who claims to love Jesus must necessarily love his or her fellow Christians. Male. Female. White. Black. Brown. Tan. Red. Big. Small. Young. Old. Rich. Poor. If we call ourselves Christians we are called to love ’em all.
To deny a human being a sense of belonging is just as bad as denying a hungry person food. It’s the same as denying a drowning person air to breathe. As Christians it just isn’t in us to do so. We are a loving, kind, accepting, inclusive people. That is who we are.
In the Sermon
Here are some quotes from Brene Brown about belonging:
Made in 1969 by the Oklahoma Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, this little seven-minute video tells the story of Alfredo, a Mexican boy who was horribly scarred in a housefire that killed his entire family. It is silent except for the guitar music soundtrack and a narration by actor Richard Basehart with only a single line of dialogue. The part of Alfredo is played by Alfredo, himself.
Alfredo lives in the streets, where his terrible scars and disfigurements repulse all who see him. Rejected and denied help and assistance by all whom he approaches, he simply roams about, begging for handouts. Every day he stands outside the gates of the local orphanage where he watches the children play and listens to their laughter. He has not, the narrator tells us, laughed in a long time. Laughter is no longer part of his life.
One day Alfredo has escaped to the countryside outside of town where it is quiet, and he can sit in the cool shade of a tree when he sees the priest who runs the orphanage, out for a walk. In desperation, Alfredo runs to the priest and falls at his feet, clutching his cassock.
Never has the priest ever wanted to take in a child as badly as he wants to accept Alfredo. But, he wonders, will the other children accept him? Or will they reject him and make the orphanage just another source of pain for the poor boy.
The Father decides to put it to the children. He calls them into the courtyard of the orphanage and explains Alfredo’s situation to them. He tells them how horribly scarred Alfredo is and how he is afraid that they will be shocked and repulsed by Alfredo’s looks and reject him.
The children object loudly that they will certainly not reject him. They will receive him with open arms. But you have never seen anything like him, says the priest. Well, there’s nothing but to have you meet him.
The priest retrieves Alfredo from outside the gate of the orphanage and brings him in to stand before the gathered children. He introduces him and there is a long pause as the children behold him and his scars.
Finally, one boy breaks gently, quietly away from the crowd and walks slowly up to Alfredo. He takes him by the hand and, in the only dialogue in the film says, “Eres mi hermano.” You are my brother. He then leads Alfredo into the courtyard to stand with him among the other children.
The closing scene is that of a fiesta at the center of the town. The children of the orphanage are all there watching the fireworks and smiling.
Alfredo is among them. He, too, is smiling… as the credits roll.
Interestingly, while the title of the film is “Baptism” there is no depiction of a literal baptism in the movie. Just this figurative one where Alfredo is given a home, a family to belong to.
“You are accepted,” said the great theologian, Paul Tillich. That is the essence of grace. You are accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know. You are accepted by the people of God, the church, and the individual members of it. You need never be alone again.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Is Blood Thicker Than Water?
by Elena Delhagen
1 John 5:1-6, Acts 10:44-48
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Blood is thicker than water” more than once in your lifetime. A popular maxim, it’s meant to illustrate that relationships within a family (bloodline) are the strongest and most important bonds there can be.
Interestingly, that’s only part of the quote, and the intended meaning of the phrase is actually the opposite of what we take it to be. Commonly accepted to have originated in the Church of England, the full saying goes, “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” which is meant to signify that the relationships we choose for ourselves are stronger than the ones we inherit through family lines.
However you take it to mean, the power of the quote lies in the recognition that, as humans, water and blood connect us all. Our physical bodies depend on both of these substances. We are, after all, approximately 60% water, and without the blood that circulates around our bodies, our systems would fail to function for more than a mere second.
In theological thought, blood is meant to signify our physicality, our flesh, that which makes up the caro of our bodies. Water, on the other hand, is a metaphor for the spiritual side of a human — hearkening back, of course, to the Holy Spirit and our baptisms. This vein of thinking is evident in John’s first epistle to an unknown audience. In it, he reminds the reader that Jesus Christ came not only by blood but also by water — a nod to the full humanity and full divinity of the Messiah. John is no stranger to using the language of water to signify the Spirit’s workings; in his gospel, he recounts Jesus’ claim that, for anyone who believes, “rivers of living water (i.e., the Spirit) will flow from within them” (7:38-39). Additionally, in his crucifixion account, he specifies that blood and water flowed from the side of Christ where he was pierced (19:34).
Throughout history, due to the rise of very early Platonic thought, a sort of dualism began to affect Christianity, giving rise to an ideological separation between body and soul, or spirit. This fed the later heresy of Gnosticism, which infected the church like a disease. Despite the church’s official rejection of Gnosticism in the second and third centuries, in many ways, the damage had been done. Christianity came to think of one’s soul/spirit in terms of higher value and merit than the body, reinforcing the separation between blood and water. One’s body began to be viewed as a prison at worst and a receptacle at best for what was truly important — and that was the spirit.
It’s really no surprise, then, that the church (and humanity as a whole, to be fair) has a history stretching back millennia of spilling others’ blood. When one degrades or devalues something, less care is taken to preserve it. Reaching back to our hunter-gatherer ancestors, scientists have proven that violence was a consistent part of life among these ancient communities. By most historical accounts, there has never been a time period free from war due, in large part, to consistent imperialistic and colonialist occupations, where one group forces rule over another. Even Christianity’s holy scriptures are filled with accounts of violence, destruction, and war — sometimes even at the hands of God! The modern wars and genocides in Palestine, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Congo, Myanmar, Ukraine and more show us how flippant our species can be about the spilling of someone else’s blood.
Yet on the other hand, the church prizes all thing spiritual, thereby revering water. Baptism by water is considered a sacrament in most Christian churches and an ordinance in others. We appoint ourselves the gatekeepers of the holy water, weaponizing baptism and using it to exclude those we have deemed sinful or unworthy — even though Peter himself said nothing shall stand in the Gentiles’ (read: those who are “other” than the dominant group) way of being baptized (Acts 10:47)!
Think about it: how many wells and clean water projects do our churches’ mission teams fundraise for? Are they just as eager to speak truth to power in the political arena, denouncing war and genocide worldwide? Clean, ample water is a human right — but so is the ability to live in peace and safety.
So, where do we go from here? How do we get to a place that sees the significance of blood and water, of body and spirit, of Jesus the man and the Son of God? A big part of it lies in recognizing that true faith is not just about caring whether or not someone “gets into heaven” after they die; rather, it’s making sure their physical, right-here-and-right-now needs are met during their time on earth as well. Christ came as blood and water to redeem the whole of humanity, body and soul, not just one or the other. If we’re preaching from our pulpits only about one side, then it’s an unequal equation. If we’re telling people to come to church so their souls can be saved, but we don’t care enough to make sure they’re clothed, fed, and housed, then it is not the gospel of Christ we are preaching.
Blood may be thicker than water, but also, water may be thicker than blood. May we reach the point where we recognize we’re not fully alive without both.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Acts 10:44-48
An echo from last week
In last week’s lesson from Acts, the Ethiopian Eunuch asked Philip, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
In this week’s reading from Acts, Peter asks, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
Both verses point to a certain inevitability or futility with resisting the work of the Holy Spirit.
It’s telling that the question is first posed by an outsider, a Gentile, a foreigner, then by the consummate insider.
* * *
Acts 10:44-48
Peter keeps his hands dry and clean
In today’s reading from Acts, Peter ordered that the Gentiles who had received the Holy Spirit be baptized. Apparently, he outsourced the task to some of the believers who had accompanied him.
One can only speculate about why he did not perform the act, or perhaps more theologically, why he did not let the act be performed through him.
He may have been reluctant, even after making this pronouncement to have contact with Gentiles. Or he may have wanted to spread his authority to others.
The scene recalls something like its opposite. Matthew 27:24 (NRSV):
So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”
* * *
John 15:9-17
Jesus as Ash Ketchum
The first episode in the Pok anime series is titled “Pok I Choose You!” It aired in Japan, April 1, 1997. Throughout the series, Pok keeps placing a Pokémon into combat. While Ash Ketchum can hardly be considered a Christ figure, he certainly echoed Jesus’ words in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”
* * *
John 15:9-17
Friendship
While some have argued that John 15:16 is an example of predestination, “You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…” the case is weak. It is clear, however, that Jesus’ discussion of friendship is informed by Aristotle’s examination of friendship as found in Nichomachean Ethics.” [The Jewish Annotated New Testament, New York: Oxford University Press, Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors, 2011, p. 187n]
* * *
John 15:9-17
Another perspective
John’s gospel can feel redundant. A lot of what he says to the disciples in chapter 15, for example, he’d already said to them in chapter 13, when he gave them The New Commandment.
For a fresh perspective on these words, I suggest The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2021, p. 198).
In the same way the Father loves me, I have loved you. Never stop walking this road of love. By doing what the Father has told me, I have remained in his love. As you walk in my ways, my love will remain in you. I am saying this so your hearts will be filled with the same joy I have.
To walk the road with me, you must love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater way to show love to friends than to die in their place. You are my friends if you walk in my ways and do what I say. I no longer see you as my servants but as friends. Masters do not share their hearts and plans with their servants, but I have shown you everything I have heard from my Father.
You may think you chose me, but I am the one who chose you. You are my new garden where I will grow a great harvest of my love — the fruit that remains. When you bear this fruit, you represent who I am — my name. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask for. I am telling you this so you will walk the road of love with each other.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:
Acts 10:44-48
Even Those People
“Even the Gentiles” get the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts. In his book Seek, Scott Shigeoka tells about traveling around the country to meet people who are different from himself. In one place, he attends a Trump rally, and meets people whose politics he doesn’t understand.
He met a Trump supporter who “didn’t know anything about conversion therapy, or the man who’d opened up about the exclusion he felt from his girlfriend’s liberal friends. I thought about how my perspective had changed of who a Trump voter was — that they weren’t a stereotype of an illiterate, uneducated, hate-filled person. They were humanitarians. They were parents. They valued similar things as I did: Family, service, and a sense of belonging. My mind was so focused on the state of the world I forgot about my own state of mind. I realized that I had come to the rally with the goal of learning more about Trump voters, but what I gained was much more unexpected: The experience changed me. It expanded my mind, countered my assumptions, and revealed a common humanity among those who seemed different from me. My politics didn’t change — and they didn’t have to — but my attitude toward the people I deemed as “the other” did.”
There are conversion experiences everywhere, waiting for all of us.
* * *
1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17
Belonging
A theme of belonging runs through both the gospel of John and 1 John. Believers belong to one another and Jesus like vine and branches. 1 John notes that loving God and loving one another are the same practice.
Kate Cohen was raised Jewish, and now no longer practices any faith. What she misses most, she says, is belonging some place.
She writes about longing for that sense of home, observing, “What might lure me out of the comforts of my home on cold nights after long days is another home. A house of (non)worship. Where I knew what to do with my coat and where the bathroom was and where they kept the coffee. A house that welcomed everyone — because everyone’s a stranger there the first time — but conferred a special sense of belonging on those of us who chose to keep showing up. For this reason, I once seriously considered joining a synagogue in Albany. I didn’t want spiritual guidance; I just wanted somewhere to rest.” (from We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (and Maybe You Should Too)"
* * *
1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17
Belonging, part two
As we think about where we belong, tracing this theme of belonging in John 15 and 1 John 5, Suleika Jaouad tells about a place that excels at hospitality and helping people know they belong. She shares, “The only domestic violence shelter in an 80-mile radius of Laredo, Casa de Misericordia, was opened in 1998 by Sister Rosemary Welsh to provide comprehensive holistic services and long-term support for women and children — everything from safe haven to medical assistance, legal advocacy, counseling, and education.” The shelter inspired her in many ways, including this: “The staff told me about how, when the women and children arrive, they’ve often been through a horrific ordeal, sometimes having been displaced with very little sleep and very little to eat for days. So rather than launching into intake forms and mounds of paperwork, they start with a meal. I also learned that it’s not uncommon for some of the women to return to the abusive situation, sometimes not just once, but two or three times. However, when they reappear at the shelter, there’s no shaming. Each time they show up, the staff greets them with the simple words, “Welcome home. You’re safe here.” A place to belong is a precious gift.
* * *
1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17
Belonging at Starbucks
In her book research, author Sara Hendren visited a Starbucks near Gallaudet University, which serves students who are deaf. This coffee shop has worked hard to assure students who are deaf that they belong there — and to make their visits stress-free.
At first glance, “this Starbucks appeared to be like every other Starbucks, but for the lightest touches that reverse the norms of the room...The staff signed to one another and greeted me with the polite “Hello” of a short wave, palm against the temple. I wrote my order on one of several tablets with an easy wipe-away surface, plus my name. I paid by card in the same way I always do, lightly gesturing with the cashier in thanks and payment directives…When my order was ready, a screen mounted at the end of the coffee bar announced my name in a list.”
Making people welcome isn’t so hard. She adds, “The Signing Starbucks works by implementing the subtlest possible changes to the technologies of the room — not even particularly high-tech gadgets are needed — and in an instant, all the power dynamics are quickly inverted. It’s what in my field we’d call service design: a combination of elements that includes products and interactions to make a desirable experience, in this case a customer transaction that’s intuitive and frictionless. I needed no extra instructions to be a customer, so you might say the place was nearly universally designed, and yet the storefront operates entirely in a spatial language that relatively few people know and understand. It’s a signing community in the middle of the hearing public square,” (from the book What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World)
This embrace of belonging doesn’t leave anyone out — it adds space for people who would typically be left out.
* * *
John 15:9-17
To Whom Do You Belong?
Our connections can be invisible to other people. The authors of Design for Belonging describe a way of introducing people to each other that reveal where our personal vine and branches have us rooted. “Once in a group, people were invited to declare "who we were standing for in the group as a way to honor our various identities." Folks literally said, "I stand for first-generation college students." "I stand for working parents with young children." "I stand on the shoulders of my enslaved ancestors." And we went round and round the circle until we had exhausted the “stand fors” we wanted to share. By exposing the hidden aspects of our identities and histories, we opened ourselves up to building different connections than we had at first known were available.”
As vine and branches, there’s more to any of us than we see at first.
* * *
John 15:9-17
What the Branches Mean
One place where we experience connection like vines and branches is in our families, for better or worse. Priya Parker tells a story about a family that decided to delve into what that meant for them. She recalls, “George was going to have a family reunion, and I think 80 or 100 members were coming — an extended family reunion. His sister said, “You know, rather than just playing games in the front yard, as we often do, how can we actually meaningfully connect this family? What if we took this model of a Moth night and did it for our family? Give everybody who wants to five minutes to tell a story of what does it mean to be Green?” (That’s his last name.)
They rented out a little hall in the town that they decided to meet in. Eighty members piled in. Everybody — as he told it, from his nephew to a great uncle; who lived all over the country — got five minutes to take the stage in front of family members that they knew very well and family members they hadn’t seen in years, and tell one small story for them [about] what it meant to be a Green.” At the gathering, she says, “here’s a collective kind of almost tribal moment, where a 12-year-old may say, “You know, I was in middle school and such and such happened, and I responded this way, and that’s what it means to be a Green,” and someone halfway across the country smiles and says, “That is what it means to be a Green.”
We have a similar invitation to explore what it means to be part of the family of Jesus.
* * *
John 15:9-17
No Vine, No Branches
We can, of course, refuse Jesus’ invitation to be connected to him and each other. We can break the bonds that connect us. Last year, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that people have a right to be rude at public meetings. “The state’s high court unanimously ruled that towns cannot require residents to act civilly in public meetings. The main plaintiff in the case was 71-year-old Louise Barron of Southborough, MA. Barron sued after her brash behavior got her threatened with removal from a town meeting under rules requiring civility. She was uncivil: In a heated argument, Barron accused the town’s Select Board of spending taxpayer funds “like drunken sailors” and told one member “to stop being a Hitler.” The court opined that local governments should encourage polite discourse but deemed Southborough’s public meeting civility rules a violation of citizens’ constitutional right to criticize public servants.” We can always choose to cut ourselves off from other people.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Acts 10:44-48
Surprise
The question of can anyone withhold water seems very closely tied to the fact that human beings need water to live. It is very beautiful how Jesus blessed the very mundanities of life: Bread, wine, water, eating together, washing, birth, etc. The question of can anyone hold back water is tied inextricably to can anyone deny one another the right to life? It should be an easy one. Yet here it is, Peter acknowledges the full personhood of the Gentiles as revealed by the full gifts of the Holy Spirit. We cannot deny personhood or full rights to the access of food or water. Water is a human right, and something that has always been a serious issue in Israel and Gaza, a historic desert. When the debates and protests come right down to it, the true question is, are we truly treating one another as fully human and giving them the full gifts of personhood? Are we truly loving our neighbor as ourselves?
* * *
1 John 5:1-6
Splashy Appearance
It is amazing that Jesus ties us together not only with blood, but also with water. For water is something that is hard to contain. Water is always able to take the shape of the vessel that it is contained in — it is always ready to splash, spill, drip and otherwise make a mess. It is not a simple or easily contained element. It takes many forms, contained in the very air we breathe, beautiful in the clouds in the sky and the tiny streams to vast oceans of the earth. When God says that we are connected by the drops of water as well as by blood, it indicates a much closer connection — and one that can be more open then what we had before — especially when one thinks of the birth waters of both the world and the womb.
* * *
John 15:9-17
Friend
Jesus says that we are his friends because he picked us. Sometimes that feels special, and sometimes that feels creepy. Jesus, who commands all, says that we can be friends now. However, the point is, we do not have to be friends with Jesus, but Jesus is saying he does not want us to be servants. Jesus does not need servants, he does not need friends, either, but he wants them. During the pandemic, we remembered just how much humanity needs and loves friends, all kinds of friends: Family, close friends, and even tertiary relationships where we simply talk about the weather, or nod passingly to one another. If we are made in the image of God, it makes sense that God and Jesus values relationships. Studies show that we all, Jesus included, need connection. How can we foster more relationships and friendships?
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: O sing a new song to our God who has done marvelous things.
All: God has remembered steadfast love and faithfulness to us.
One: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
All: Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
One: Sing praises to God with the lyre and the sound of melody.
All: God judges the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
OR
One: Hear God calling to everyone to come home.
All: We long to answer God’s call and find rest.
One: God longs to dwell with us as we gather together.
All: We reach out our arms to embrace God’s world.
One: God’s Spirit comes to bring us to unity.
All: We welcome the Spirit who dwells in us all.
Hymns and Songs
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
UMH: 57/58/59
H82: 493
PH: 466
GTG: 610
AAHH: 184
NNBH: 23
NCH: 42
CH: 5
LBW: 559
ELW: 886
W&P: 96
AMEC: 1/2
Renew: 32
All People That on Earth Do Dwell
UMH: 75
H82: 377/378
PH: 220/221
GTG: 385
NNBH: 36
NCH: 7
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELW: 883
W&P: 661
AMEC: 73
STLT: 370
In Christ There Is No East or West
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
GTG: 317/318
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELW: 650
W&P: 600/603
AMEC: 557
Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
UMH: 559
H82: 518
PH: 416/417
GTG: 394
NCH: 400
CH: 275
LBW: 367
ELW: 645
AMEC: 518
Blest Be the Tie That Binds
UMH: 557
PH: 438
GTG: 306
AAHH: 341
NNBH: 298
NCH: 393
CH: 433
LBW: 370
ELW: 656
W&P: 393
AMEC: 522
O God of Every Nation
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
GTG: 756
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELW: 713
W&P: 626
This Is My Song
UMH: 437
GTG: 340
NCH: 591
CH: 722
ELW: 887
STLT: 159
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
GTG: 829
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether
UMH: 632
PH: 504
GTG: 529
NCH: 337
CH: 392
ELW: 470
One Bread, One Body
UMH: 620
GTG: 530
CH: 393
ELW: 496
W&P: 689
Holy Ground
CCB: 5
Sweet, Sweet Spirit
CCB: 7
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The 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 creator of all peoples:
Grant us the grace to welcome all into our family
and to welcome all within our family of faith;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the creator of us all. Open our hearts to all you children whether they are in or out of the structures we have set up. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we exclude others.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have made us all of one blood and yet we constantly look for ways to divide us. We never seem content until we have made it us versus them. It is so difficult for us to use the word ‘we’ unless it is to exclude the ‘them’. We would rather shed blood than to pour out the waters of baptism which make us all one. Forgive us and renew your likeness within us so that we can see your likeness in others. Amen.
One: God continues to call all of creation home. As you answer God’s call and receive divine mercy, share that grace with others.
Prayers of the People
Glory to you O God, Creator of All. You have made all that exists through your Christ and nothing has come into being that was not made in his hands.
(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. You have made us all of one blood and yet we constantly look for ways to divide us. We never seem content until we have made it us versus them. It is so difficult for us to use the word ‘we' unless it is to exclude the ‘them'. We would rather shed blood than to pour out the waters of baptism which make us all one. Forgive us and renew your likeness within us so that we can see your likeness in others.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you reveal yourself through your creation. We thank you for making us in your image and for revealing yourself to us through others. We are in awe of the diversity of your creation. From the tiniest particles to the vastness of galaxies, your beauty is revealed.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We lift into your light and presence those who have been told they are not your children. We hold in our hearts those who have been rejected and despised. We pray for those who do not have the food, shelter, or clothing that they need. We pray for those caught in violence and war.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray 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
Let’s Make Some Noise!
by Chris Keating
Psalm 98
What’s that noise? If you live in the Southeast or Midwest regions of the United States, chances are it’s the sound of a trillion cicadas emerging from their seventeen-year siesta.
For the first time since 1803, two “broods” of cicadas will make their emergence this spring, making the equivalent of a cicada train that if placed end to end, would reach to the moon and back 33 times. These periodical cicadas are different from the species that appear every year. These cicadas have black bodies, clear wings, and bright red eyes, and their emergence will be marked by ear-piercing sounds that reach up to 90 to 100 decibels.
Some might call them annoying, while others find them fascinating. At any rate, this is the first “dual emergence” since Thomas Jefferson was President, offering a timely moment to consider the connections between scripture, creation, and human experience. Psalm 98, beloved as the primary text for Isaac Watt’s Christmas-carol “Joy to the World,” is a bold pronouncement of how God’s presence in the world is celebrated by the joyful noises of sea, rivers, and mountains joining together. (See J. Clinton McCann’s wonderful commentary on Psalm 98 for eco-justice implications.)
Male cicadas are responsible for the noise we often call “the songs of summer.” Groups of males join together in choruses known as congregational songs that are designed to establish territories, deter predators, and attract potential mates. We might not find their songs so joyful, but other cicadas find them enthralling!
Perhaps, like cicadas, we might find new ways of praising God through songs, and shouts of praise. Remind the children that the psalmist praises God because of God’s faithfulness.
Invite the children to wonder about the different ways nature can inspire us to sing to God. Perhaps share a brief video or recording of cicadas. What other songs of nature can we name? Think of the sounds created by roaring waves, rushing rivers, or winds rushing through the trees. Can we imagine how God might lament if creation could no longer sing?
Not everyone enjoys cicadas, but perhaps we can train ourselves to hear their songs in new ways. Soon millions of insects will rise in praise! Can we find new ways to make noise for God?
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 5, 2024 issue.
Copyright 2024 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.
- Longing for Belonging by Dean Feldmeyer — “A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love and be loved and to belong.” — Brene Brown
- Second Thoughts: Is Blood Thicker Than Water? by Elena Delhagen based on 1 John 5:1-6 and Acts 10:44-48.
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen, Mary Austin, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: Let's Make Some Noise! by Chris Keating based on Psalm 98. Nature’s noise-making insects are getting ready for their once-in-a-lifetime appearance this spring.
Longing for Belongingby Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 1:44-48, 1 John 5:1-6
Maurice Maeterlick was a physician, philosopher, and poet in the early 1800s. He was also an avid beekeeper who not only kept and cared for his bees but spent hours observing them. One of his observations was that the relationship of bees to the swarm was not unlike the relationship of human beings to the air we breathe.
In his essay, “The Life of a Bee,” he observed that just as a human can survive under water for only a brief time before returning to the surface to breathe, a honeybee can survive away from the swarm for only a short time but then must return to the hive, not to do anything in particular, but simply to breathe in the sense of belonging that comes from being with his fellow bees.
A solitary bee, he observed, kept too long away from the swarm, will die as surely as a human being dies if kept beneath the surface of the water for too long. “Therefore,” he wrote. “It is necessarily so that one cannot keep a bee. One can only keep bees.” Plural.
And it is no less true that you cannot keep a Christian; you can only keep Christians. John Wesley put it more succinctly: There is no such thing, he said, as a solitary Christian.
Being a Christian means belonging to the Christian community.
In the News
A few weeks ago, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson managed, after no small amount of wheeling, dealing, bargaining, pleading and begging, to cobble together a bill that would fund what many believe is necessary military aid to Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine. It passed in the House with the nearly unanimous consent of the Democrats and a few Republicans.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is widely known as the leader of the extreme right wing of the House Republicans, was furious. Not because what Johnson did was wrong strategically or morally, but because he had actually gone to Democrats and worked with them to get it done. If you want to belong to her club, you must reject all those who don’t.
So far, this year, there have been 12 school shootings with injuries or deaths. 25 people killed or injured in school shootings. Three people have been killed — one child and two adult school employees. 22 people injured.
According to Education Week, there is one thing (other than access to guns) that nearly all school shooters have in common: Students who commit shootings in K-12 schools are more likely to have a long history of rejection and lack a sense of belonging than are mass shooters in college and adult settings.
That’s the conclusion of a new study in the Journal of Social Psychology, which compared the characteristics of 57 shootings on K-12 campuses with 24 college shootings and 77 mass shootings in other places since 2001. The findings come amid a rise in school shootings that coincides with the return to in-person schooling after the Covid pandemic.
“These [shooters], in particular in K-12, are not necessarily loners; they’re failed joiners, so you’re not necessarily having a lot of disciplinary problems,” said Robin Kowalski, a psychology professor at Clemson University, who led the study. “A lot of times, kids who create a lot of the disciplinary problems are kids who were sort of instigators with groups that they’re a part of. Whereas, these [shooters] are ... just kind of along the periphery, so they’re not really creating any issues, because they’re just kind of hiding in the background.”
While the combination of psychological problems and a fascination with guns and violence could be a red flag, Kowalski noted that for K-12 shooters in particular, chronic rejection — including feelings of “not mattering” and “not belonging” — could be an even more common sign that a student could be at risk than a sudden, dramatic rejection like a relationship breakup.
To complete Dr. Brene Brown’s thought: “A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don't function as we were meant to. We break. We fall apart. We numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick.”
In the Scriptures
In this morning’s lesson from the book of Acts it’s just a few months after the first Easter and we find Peter in the city of Caesarea Maritima, the seaport and resort city on the Mediterranean coast about 30 miles southwest of Nazareth. He is there at the invitation of Cornelius, a Roman Centurion who was probably the chief Roman official in the city. We can surmise this because he does not live in the barracks where the soldiers usually lived in an occupied city, but in his own home. He has many friends and relatives in the city and is spoken well of by everyone, Jew and gentile alike.
Cornelius has heard of Peter and has sent for him and asked him to come and share the message of Jesus with his household. Peter has come and he preaches to Cornelius’s gathered friends and relatives, telling them the story of Jesus, and so moving is his sermon that the people feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and they begin speaking in other languages — just as the disciples had done on Pentecost — and singing hymns about the greatness of God.
Peter is shocked that the Holy Spirit is being poured out “even on Gentiles” and he consults with the other disciples: “Can any of you think of any reason why we can’t baptize these folks into the Christian faith?”
Crickets.
So, hearing no objection, he orders them all baptized and they throw a big feast and invite him to stay for a few days, presumably, to tell them more about this Jesus guy.
Now, to you and me this isn’t such a big deal, right? Peter preaches, people respond positively, they are baptized, and on it goes. But to the early church this story was not just significant but scandalous as well!
Gentiles? Even Gentiles? You mean to tell me God loves Gentiles the same as God loves Jews and Jewish Christians? Yes, he does. Even Gentiles.
In the excerpt from the first epistle of John, the author makes the same point twice: Everyone. Did you hear that? EVERYONE who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Everyone. And everyone who loves the parent (Jesus) loves the child (other Christians).
That all sounds well and good and no big deal until we pause and think for a moment about that one word: EVERYONE. For many Christians, that word is a problem. Our natural tendency is to divide and separate people into groups. We accept some and reject others. We welcome some and close the door to others. Our natural tendency is to control the door. Our desire is to be the security guard who stands at the door of the heavenly disco, letting a few in and keeping most out.
But John smashes that notion to smithereens. Everyone. Means. Everyone. It doesn’t mean some. It means all. Everyone who claims to love Jesus must necessarily love his or her fellow Christians. Male. Female. White. Black. Brown. Tan. Red. Big. Small. Young. Old. Rich. Poor. If we call ourselves Christians we are called to love ’em all.
To deny a human being a sense of belonging is just as bad as denying a hungry person food. It’s the same as denying a drowning person air to breathe. As Christians it just isn’t in us to do so. We are a loving, kind, accepting, inclusive people. That is who we are.
In the Sermon
Here are some quotes from Brene Brown about belonging:
- “True belonging and self-worth are not goods; we don’t negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially our own. No one belongs here more than you.”
- “The opposite of belonging is fitting in.”
- “True belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.”
- “When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.”
- “The thing is that we are wired to be a part of something bigger than us so deeply, that sometimes we will take fitting in as a substitute, but actually fitting in is the greatest barrier to belonging because fitting in says, ‘Be like them to be accepted.’ Belonging says, ‘This is who I am. I hope we can make a connection.’”
Made in 1969 by the Oklahoma Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, this little seven-minute video tells the story of Alfredo, a Mexican boy who was horribly scarred in a housefire that killed his entire family. It is silent except for the guitar music soundtrack and a narration by actor Richard Basehart with only a single line of dialogue. The part of Alfredo is played by Alfredo, himself.
Alfredo lives in the streets, where his terrible scars and disfigurements repulse all who see him. Rejected and denied help and assistance by all whom he approaches, he simply roams about, begging for handouts. Every day he stands outside the gates of the local orphanage where he watches the children play and listens to their laughter. He has not, the narrator tells us, laughed in a long time. Laughter is no longer part of his life.
One day Alfredo has escaped to the countryside outside of town where it is quiet, and he can sit in the cool shade of a tree when he sees the priest who runs the orphanage, out for a walk. In desperation, Alfredo runs to the priest and falls at his feet, clutching his cassock.
Never has the priest ever wanted to take in a child as badly as he wants to accept Alfredo. But, he wonders, will the other children accept him? Or will they reject him and make the orphanage just another source of pain for the poor boy.
The Father decides to put it to the children. He calls them into the courtyard of the orphanage and explains Alfredo’s situation to them. He tells them how horribly scarred Alfredo is and how he is afraid that they will be shocked and repulsed by Alfredo’s looks and reject him.
The children object loudly that they will certainly not reject him. They will receive him with open arms. But you have never seen anything like him, says the priest. Well, there’s nothing but to have you meet him.
The priest retrieves Alfredo from outside the gate of the orphanage and brings him in to stand before the gathered children. He introduces him and there is a long pause as the children behold him and his scars.
Finally, one boy breaks gently, quietly away from the crowd and walks slowly up to Alfredo. He takes him by the hand and, in the only dialogue in the film says, “Eres mi hermano.” You are my brother. He then leads Alfredo into the courtyard to stand with him among the other children.
The closing scene is that of a fiesta at the center of the town. The children of the orphanage are all there watching the fireworks and smiling.
Alfredo is among them. He, too, is smiling… as the credits roll.
Interestingly, while the title of the film is “Baptism” there is no depiction of a literal baptism in the movie. Just this figurative one where Alfredo is given a home, a family to belong to.
“You are accepted,” said the great theologian, Paul Tillich. That is the essence of grace. You are accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know. You are accepted by the people of God, the church, and the individual members of it. You need never be alone again.
SECOND THOUGHTSIs Blood Thicker Than Water?
by Elena Delhagen
1 John 5:1-6, Acts 10:44-48
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Blood is thicker than water” more than once in your lifetime. A popular maxim, it’s meant to illustrate that relationships within a family (bloodline) are the strongest and most important bonds there can be.
Interestingly, that’s only part of the quote, and the intended meaning of the phrase is actually the opposite of what we take it to be. Commonly accepted to have originated in the Church of England, the full saying goes, “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb,” which is meant to signify that the relationships we choose for ourselves are stronger than the ones we inherit through family lines.
However you take it to mean, the power of the quote lies in the recognition that, as humans, water and blood connect us all. Our physical bodies depend on both of these substances. We are, after all, approximately 60% water, and without the blood that circulates around our bodies, our systems would fail to function for more than a mere second.
In theological thought, blood is meant to signify our physicality, our flesh, that which makes up the caro of our bodies. Water, on the other hand, is a metaphor for the spiritual side of a human — hearkening back, of course, to the Holy Spirit and our baptisms. This vein of thinking is evident in John’s first epistle to an unknown audience. In it, he reminds the reader that Jesus Christ came not only by blood but also by water — a nod to the full humanity and full divinity of the Messiah. John is no stranger to using the language of water to signify the Spirit’s workings; in his gospel, he recounts Jesus’ claim that, for anyone who believes, “rivers of living water (i.e., the Spirit) will flow from within them” (7:38-39). Additionally, in his crucifixion account, he specifies that blood and water flowed from the side of Christ where he was pierced (19:34).
Throughout history, due to the rise of very early Platonic thought, a sort of dualism began to affect Christianity, giving rise to an ideological separation between body and soul, or spirit. This fed the later heresy of Gnosticism, which infected the church like a disease. Despite the church’s official rejection of Gnosticism in the second and third centuries, in many ways, the damage had been done. Christianity came to think of one’s soul/spirit in terms of higher value and merit than the body, reinforcing the separation between blood and water. One’s body began to be viewed as a prison at worst and a receptacle at best for what was truly important — and that was the spirit.
It’s really no surprise, then, that the church (and humanity as a whole, to be fair) has a history stretching back millennia of spilling others’ blood. When one degrades or devalues something, less care is taken to preserve it. Reaching back to our hunter-gatherer ancestors, scientists have proven that violence was a consistent part of life among these ancient communities. By most historical accounts, there has never been a time period free from war due, in large part, to consistent imperialistic and colonialist occupations, where one group forces rule over another. Even Christianity’s holy scriptures are filled with accounts of violence, destruction, and war — sometimes even at the hands of God! The modern wars and genocides in Palestine, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Congo, Myanmar, Ukraine and more show us how flippant our species can be about the spilling of someone else’s blood.
Yet on the other hand, the church prizes all thing spiritual, thereby revering water. Baptism by water is considered a sacrament in most Christian churches and an ordinance in others. We appoint ourselves the gatekeepers of the holy water, weaponizing baptism and using it to exclude those we have deemed sinful or unworthy — even though Peter himself said nothing shall stand in the Gentiles’ (read: those who are “other” than the dominant group) way of being baptized (Acts 10:47)!
Think about it: how many wells and clean water projects do our churches’ mission teams fundraise for? Are they just as eager to speak truth to power in the political arena, denouncing war and genocide worldwide? Clean, ample water is a human right — but so is the ability to live in peace and safety.
So, where do we go from here? How do we get to a place that sees the significance of blood and water, of body and spirit, of Jesus the man and the Son of God? A big part of it lies in recognizing that true faith is not just about caring whether or not someone “gets into heaven” after they die; rather, it’s making sure their physical, right-here-and-right-now needs are met during their time on earth as well. Christ came as blood and water to redeem the whole of humanity, body and soul, not just one or the other. If we’re preaching from our pulpits only about one side, then it’s an unequal equation. If we’re telling people to come to church so their souls can be saved, but we don’t care enough to make sure they’re clothed, fed, and housed, then it is not the gospel of Christ we are preaching.
Blood may be thicker than water, but also, water may be thicker than blood. May we reach the point where we recognize we’re not fully alive without both.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:Acts 10:44-48
An echo from last week
In last week’s lesson from Acts, the Ethiopian Eunuch asked Philip, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
In this week’s reading from Acts, Peter asks, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
Both verses point to a certain inevitability or futility with resisting the work of the Holy Spirit.
It’s telling that the question is first posed by an outsider, a Gentile, a foreigner, then by the consummate insider.
* * *
Acts 10:44-48
Peter keeps his hands dry and clean
In today’s reading from Acts, Peter ordered that the Gentiles who had received the Holy Spirit be baptized. Apparently, he outsourced the task to some of the believers who had accompanied him.
One can only speculate about why he did not perform the act, or perhaps more theologically, why he did not let the act be performed through him.
He may have been reluctant, even after making this pronouncement to have contact with Gentiles. Or he may have wanted to spread his authority to others.
The scene recalls something like its opposite. Matthew 27:24 (NRSV):
So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”
* * *
John 15:9-17
Jesus as Ash Ketchum
The first episode in the Pok anime series is titled “Pok I Choose You!” It aired in Japan, April 1, 1997. Throughout the series, Pok keeps placing a Pokémon into combat. While Ash Ketchum can hardly be considered a Christ figure, he certainly echoed Jesus’ words in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”
* * *
John 15:9-17
Friendship
While some have argued that John 15:16 is an example of predestination, “You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last…” the case is weak. It is clear, however, that Jesus’ discussion of friendship is informed by Aristotle’s examination of friendship as found in Nichomachean Ethics.” [The Jewish Annotated New Testament, New York: Oxford University Press, Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors, 2011, p. 187n]
* * *
John 15:9-17
Another perspective
John’s gospel can feel redundant. A lot of what he says to the disciples in chapter 15, for example, he’d already said to them in chapter 13, when he gave them The New Commandment.
For a fresh perspective on these words, I suggest The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2021, p. 198).
In the same way the Father loves me, I have loved you. Never stop walking this road of love. By doing what the Father has told me, I have remained in his love. As you walk in my ways, my love will remain in you. I am saying this so your hearts will be filled with the same joy I have.
To walk the road with me, you must love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater way to show love to friends than to die in their place. You are my friends if you walk in my ways and do what I say. I no longer see you as my servants but as friends. Masters do not share their hearts and plans with their servants, but I have shown you everything I have heard from my Father.
You may think you chose me, but I am the one who chose you. You are my new garden where I will grow a great harvest of my love — the fruit that remains. When you bear this fruit, you represent who I am — my name. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask for. I am telling you this so you will walk the road of love with each other.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:Acts 10:44-48
Even Those People
“Even the Gentiles” get the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts. In his book Seek, Scott Shigeoka tells about traveling around the country to meet people who are different from himself. In one place, he attends a Trump rally, and meets people whose politics he doesn’t understand.
He met a Trump supporter who “didn’t know anything about conversion therapy, or the man who’d opened up about the exclusion he felt from his girlfriend’s liberal friends. I thought about how my perspective had changed of who a Trump voter was — that they weren’t a stereotype of an illiterate, uneducated, hate-filled person. They were humanitarians. They were parents. They valued similar things as I did: Family, service, and a sense of belonging. My mind was so focused on the state of the world I forgot about my own state of mind. I realized that I had come to the rally with the goal of learning more about Trump voters, but what I gained was much more unexpected: The experience changed me. It expanded my mind, countered my assumptions, and revealed a common humanity among those who seemed different from me. My politics didn’t change — and they didn’t have to — but my attitude toward the people I deemed as “the other” did.”
There are conversion experiences everywhere, waiting for all of us.
* * *
1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17
Belonging
A theme of belonging runs through both the gospel of John and 1 John. Believers belong to one another and Jesus like vine and branches. 1 John notes that loving God and loving one another are the same practice.
Kate Cohen was raised Jewish, and now no longer practices any faith. What she misses most, she says, is belonging some place.
She writes about longing for that sense of home, observing, “What might lure me out of the comforts of my home on cold nights after long days is another home. A house of (non)worship. Where I knew what to do with my coat and where the bathroom was and where they kept the coffee. A house that welcomed everyone — because everyone’s a stranger there the first time — but conferred a special sense of belonging on those of us who chose to keep showing up. For this reason, I once seriously considered joining a synagogue in Albany. I didn’t want spiritual guidance; I just wanted somewhere to rest.” (from We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (and Maybe You Should Too)"
* * *
1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17
Belonging, part two
As we think about where we belong, tracing this theme of belonging in John 15 and 1 John 5, Suleika Jaouad tells about a place that excels at hospitality and helping people know they belong. She shares, “The only domestic violence shelter in an 80-mile radius of Laredo, Casa de Misericordia, was opened in 1998 by Sister Rosemary Welsh to provide comprehensive holistic services and long-term support for women and children — everything from safe haven to medical assistance, legal advocacy, counseling, and education.” The shelter inspired her in many ways, including this: “The staff told me about how, when the women and children arrive, they’ve often been through a horrific ordeal, sometimes having been displaced with very little sleep and very little to eat for days. So rather than launching into intake forms and mounds of paperwork, they start with a meal. I also learned that it’s not uncommon for some of the women to return to the abusive situation, sometimes not just once, but two or three times. However, when they reappear at the shelter, there’s no shaming. Each time they show up, the staff greets them with the simple words, “Welcome home. You’re safe here.” A place to belong is a precious gift.
* * *
1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17
Belonging at Starbucks
In her book research, author Sara Hendren visited a Starbucks near Gallaudet University, which serves students who are deaf. This coffee shop has worked hard to assure students who are deaf that they belong there — and to make their visits stress-free.
At first glance, “this Starbucks appeared to be like every other Starbucks, but for the lightest touches that reverse the norms of the room...The staff signed to one another and greeted me with the polite “Hello” of a short wave, palm against the temple. I wrote my order on one of several tablets with an easy wipe-away surface, plus my name. I paid by card in the same way I always do, lightly gesturing with the cashier in thanks and payment directives…When my order was ready, a screen mounted at the end of the coffee bar announced my name in a list.”
Making people welcome isn’t so hard. She adds, “The Signing Starbucks works by implementing the subtlest possible changes to the technologies of the room — not even particularly high-tech gadgets are needed — and in an instant, all the power dynamics are quickly inverted. It’s what in my field we’d call service design: a combination of elements that includes products and interactions to make a desirable experience, in this case a customer transaction that’s intuitive and frictionless. I needed no extra instructions to be a customer, so you might say the place was nearly universally designed, and yet the storefront operates entirely in a spatial language that relatively few people know and understand. It’s a signing community in the middle of the hearing public square,” (from the book What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World)
This embrace of belonging doesn’t leave anyone out — it adds space for people who would typically be left out.
* * *
John 15:9-17
To Whom Do You Belong?
Our connections can be invisible to other people. The authors of Design for Belonging describe a way of introducing people to each other that reveal where our personal vine and branches have us rooted. “Once in a group, people were invited to declare "who we were standing for in the group as a way to honor our various identities." Folks literally said, "I stand for first-generation college students." "I stand for working parents with young children." "I stand on the shoulders of my enslaved ancestors." And we went round and round the circle until we had exhausted the “stand fors” we wanted to share. By exposing the hidden aspects of our identities and histories, we opened ourselves up to building different connections than we had at first known were available.”
As vine and branches, there’s more to any of us than we see at first.
* * *
John 15:9-17
What the Branches Mean
One place where we experience connection like vines and branches is in our families, for better or worse. Priya Parker tells a story about a family that decided to delve into what that meant for them. She recalls, “George was going to have a family reunion, and I think 80 or 100 members were coming — an extended family reunion. His sister said, “You know, rather than just playing games in the front yard, as we often do, how can we actually meaningfully connect this family? What if we took this model of a Moth night and did it for our family? Give everybody who wants to five minutes to tell a story of what does it mean to be Green?” (That’s his last name.)
They rented out a little hall in the town that they decided to meet in. Eighty members piled in. Everybody — as he told it, from his nephew to a great uncle; who lived all over the country — got five minutes to take the stage in front of family members that they knew very well and family members they hadn’t seen in years, and tell one small story for them [about] what it meant to be a Green.” At the gathering, she says, “here’s a collective kind of almost tribal moment, where a 12-year-old may say, “You know, I was in middle school and such and such happened, and I responded this way, and that’s what it means to be a Green,” and someone halfway across the country smiles and says, “That is what it means to be a Green.”
We have a similar invitation to explore what it means to be part of the family of Jesus.
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John 15:9-17
No Vine, No Branches
We can, of course, refuse Jesus’ invitation to be connected to him and each other. We can break the bonds that connect us. Last year, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that people have a right to be rude at public meetings. “The state’s high court unanimously ruled that towns cannot require residents to act civilly in public meetings. The main plaintiff in the case was 71-year-old Louise Barron of Southborough, MA. Barron sued after her brash behavior got her threatened with removal from a town meeting under rules requiring civility. She was uncivil: In a heated argument, Barron accused the town’s Select Board of spending taxpayer funds “like drunken sailors” and told one member “to stop being a Hitler.” The court opined that local governments should encourage polite discourse but deemed Southborough’s public meeting civility rules a violation of citizens’ constitutional right to criticize public servants.” We can always choose to cut ourselves off from other people.
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From team member Katy Stenta:Acts 10:44-48
Surprise
The question of can anyone withhold water seems very closely tied to the fact that human beings need water to live. It is very beautiful how Jesus blessed the very mundanities of life: Bread, wine, water, eating together, washing, birth, etc. The question of can anyone hold back water is tied inextricably to can anyone deny one another the right to life? It should be an easy one. Yet here it is, Peter acknowledges the full personhood of the Gentiles as revealed by the full gifts of the Holy Spirit. We cannot deny personhood or full rights to the access of food or water. Water is a human right, and something that has always been a serious issue in Israel and Gaza, a historic desert. When the debates and protests come right down to it, the true question is, are we truly treating one another as fully human and giving them the full gifts of personhood? Are we truly loving our neighbor as ourselves?
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1 John 5:1-6
Splashy Appearance
It is amazing that Jesus ties us together not only with blood, but also with water. For water is something that is hard to contain. Water is always able to take the shape of the vessel that it is contained in — it is always ready to splash, spill, drip and otherwise make a mess. It is not a simple or easily contained element. It takes many forms, contained in the very air we breathe, beautiful in the clouds in the sky and the tiny streams to vast oceans of the earth. When God says that we are connected by the drops of water as well as by blood, it indicates a much closer connection — and one that can be more open then what we had before — especially when one thinks of the birth waters of both the world and the womb.
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John 15:9-17
Friend
Jesus says that we are his friends because he picked us. Sometimes that feels special, and sometimes that feels creepy. Jesus, who commands all, says that we can be friends now. However, the point is, we do not have to be friends with Jesus, but Jesus is saying he does not want us to be servants. Jesus does not need servants, he does not need friends, either, but he wants them. During the pandemic, we remembered just how much humanity needs and loves friends, all kinds of friends: Family, close friends, and even tertiary relationships where we simply talk about the weather, or nod passingly to one another. If we are made in the image of God, it makes sense that God and Jesus values relationships. Studies show that we all, Jesus included, need connection. How can we foster more relationships and friendships?
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: O sing a new song to our God who has done marvelous things.
All: God has remembered steadfast love and faithfulness to us.
One: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
All: Break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
One: Sing praises to God with the lyre and the sound of melody.
All: God judges the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
OR
One: Hear God calling to everyone to come home.
All: We long to answer God’s call and find rest.
One: God longs to dwell with us as we gather together.
All: We reach out our arms to embrace God’s world.
One: God’s Spirit comes to bring us to unity.
All: We welcome the Spirit who dwells in us all.
Hymns and Songs
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
UMH: 57/58/59
H82: 493
PH: 466
GTG: 610
AAHH: 184
NNBH: 23
NCH: 42
CH: 5
LBW: 559
ELW: 886
W&P: 96
AMEC: 1/2
Renew: 32
All People That on Earth Do Dwell
UMH: 75
H82: 377/378
PH: 220/221
GTG: 385
NNBH: 36
NCH: 7
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELW: 883
W&P: 661
AMEC: 73
STLT: 370
In Christ There Is No East or West
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
GTG: 317/318
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELW: 650
W&P: 600/603
AMEC: 557
Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
UMH: 559
H82: 518
PH: 416/417
GTG: 394
NCH: 400
CH: 275
LBW: 367
ELW: 645
AMEC: 518
Blest Be the Tie That Binds
UMH: 557
PH: 438
GTG: 306
AAHH: 341
NNBH: 298
NCH: 393
CH: 433
LBW: 370
ELW: 656
W&P: 393
AMEC: 522
O God of Every Nation
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
GTG: 756
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELW: 713
W&P: 626
This Is My Song
UMH: 437
GTG: 340
NCH: 591
CH: 722
ELW: 887
STLT: 159
My Faith Looks Up to Thee
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
GTG: 829
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELW: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether
UMH: 632
PH: 504
GTG: 529
NCH: 337
CH: 392
ELW: 470
One Bread, One Body
UMH: 620
GTG: 530
CH: 393
ELW: 496
W&P: 689
Holy Ground
CCB: 5
Sweet, Sweet Spirit
CCB: 7
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The 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 creator of all peoples:
Grant us the grace to welcome all into our family
and to welcome all within our family of faith;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the creator of us all. Open our hearts to all you children whether they are in or out of the structures we have set up. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we exclude others.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have made us all of one blood and yet we constantly look for ways to divide us. We never seem content until we have made it us versus them. It is so difficult for us to use the word ‘we’ unless it is to exclude the ‘them’. We would rather shed blood than to pour out the waters of baptism which make us all one. Forgive us and renew your likeness within us so that we can see your likeness in others. Amen.
One: God continues to call all of creation home. As you answer God’s call and receive divine mercy, share that grace with others.
Prayers of the People
Glory to you O God, Creator of All. You have made all that exists through your Christ and nothing has come into being that was not made in his hands.
(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. You have made us all of one blood and yet we constantly look for ways to divide us. We never seem content until we have made it us versus them. It is so difficult for us to use the word ‘we' unless it is to exclude the ‘them'. We would rather shed blood than to pour out the waters of baptism which make us all one. Forgive us and renew your likeness within us so that we can see your likeness in others.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you reveal yourself through your creation. We thank you for making us in your image and for revealing yourself to us through others. We are in awe of the diversity of your creation. From the tiniest particles to the vastness of galaxies, your beauty is revealed.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We lift into your light and presence those who have been told they are not your children. We hold in our hearts those who have been rejected and despised. We pray for those who do not have the food, shelter, or clothing that they need. We pray for those caught in violence and war.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray 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.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONLet’s Make Some Noise!
by Chris Keating
Psalm 98
What’s that noise? If you live in the Southeast or Midwest regions of the United States, chances are it’s the sound of a trillion cicadas emerging from their seventeen-year siesta.
For the first time since 1803, two “broods” of cicadas will make their emergence this spring, making the equivalent of a cicada train that if placed end to end, would reach to the moon and back 33 times. These periodical cicadas are different from the species that appear every year. These cicadas have black bodies, clear wings, and bright red eyes, and their emergence will be marked by ear-piercing sounds that reach up to 90 to 100 decibels.
Some might call them annoying, while others find them fascinating. At any rate, this is the first “dual emergence” since Thomas Jefferson was President, offering a timely moment to consider the connections between scripture, creation, and human experience. Psalm 98, beloved as the primary text for Isaac Watt’s Christmas-carol “Joy to the World,” is a bold pronouncement of how God’s presence in the world is celebrated by the joyful noises of sea, rivers, and mountains joining together. (See J. Clinton McCann’s wonderful commentary on Psalm 98 for eco-justice implications.)
Male cicadas are responsible for the noise we often call “the songs of summer.” Groups of males join together in choruses known as congregational songs that are designed to establish territories, deter predators, and attract potential mates. We might not find their songs so joyful, but other cicadas find them enthralling!
Perhaps, like cicadas, we might find new ways of praising God through songs, and shouts of praise. Remind the children that the psalmist praises God because of God’s faithfulness.
Invite the children to wonder about the different ways nature can inspire us to sing to God. Perhaps share a brief video or recording of cicadas. What other songs of nature can we name? Think of the sounds created by roaring waves, rushing rivers, or winds rushing through the trees. Can we imagine how God might lament if creation could no longer sing?
Not everyone enjoys cicadas, but perhaps we can train ourselves to hear their songs in new ways. Soon millions of insects will rise in praise! Can we find new ways to make noise for God?
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The Immediate Word, May 5, 2024 issue.
Copyright 2024 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.
