Looking For Salt In A High-Sodium World
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In the lectionary gospel text for Epiphany 5, Jesus exhorts us to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” In ancient times, those were vitally important elements that were necessary for everyday life. But as team member Mary Austin notes in this installment of The Immediate Word, today’s world is so full of salt and light that we’re oversaturated. So how are we to take Jesus’ words? If we take them literally, we’re just adding something we have more than enough of already. Yet as Mary points out, we definitely need more of the spiritual qualities that Jesus was alluding to in our lives. And where can we find them? Mary suggests that we receive salt and light from sources that many might consider “on the fringes” -- those who are “outsiders” whom we often pay little attention to. Yet it was precisely these people to whom Jesus addressed the blessings of the Beatitudes... ones who are far more likely to transform the world than to protect the status quo. Mary notes that if we are willing to be open to these voices, we can find a great deal of salt and light being communicated that can then inform our own spiritual understandings -- thus helping us in turn to be bearers of God’s salt and light regarding Jesus’ kingdom to our secular world.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on Isaiah’s (and God’s) impatience with the empty fasting of the Israelites -- a practice that had degenerated into empty, meaningless ritual. The prophet suggests that the people are foolish to expect God to be responsive to their petitions when they aren’t willing to take the risk to truly live by God’s precepts. In the same way, Dean notes, we need to examine our motives regarding the nation’s immigration policy. Are we willing to take the risk to live by what God asks of us, or are we opting in our fear for the safety of closed borders? As Dean points out, scripture is an endless chronicle of how dangerous it can be to live in accordance with God’s call. Yet we persist in doing so, confident in the knowledge that we do not do so alone and that God will walk with us no matter how perilous the circumstances.
Looking for Salt in a High-Sodium World
by Mary Austin
Matthew 5:13-20
For us, light is as common as flipping a switch. Our cellphones turn into flashlights if we need them for a nighttime walk or to read the menu in a dim restaurant. We hardly notice the power of light until the rare day when the power is out. Salt is the same; it’s as close as the shaker on the table. We’re so accustomed to salt that now we’re branching out into many varieties: sea salt, kosher salt, pink salt, Himalayan salt, fleur de sel, and even Celtic salt.
If anything, we have too much of both salt and light -- our lives are over-salted and too illuminated. We eat more salt than we should, and take in more light than we need. Doctors and scientists would love for us to have less salt in our diets, and to step away from the illumination in our phones, tablets, and computers.
We have too much of the literal things Jesus was talking about -- and not enough of the spiritual qualities he wanted us to have.
In the Scriptures
In the world of ancient Judaism, salt and light were essential -- and rare.
The Jewish Encyclopedia notes that salt was used as a preservative and a seasoning for food, and that it also had medicinal properties. Newborn babies were rubbed with salt, and it had an important role in religious ritual. It “naturally assumed a great importance in the ritual. Just as salt was absolutely necessary at meals, so it was indispensable at the sacrifice.” Salt also symbolized the covenant between God and humankind. “The expression ‘salt of the covenant’ in Leviticus 2:13 shows that at the time with which the book deals salt was regarded in a symbolic sense.... The importance of salt in daily life and in the ritual explains its symbolic importance in the ceremony of the covenant. Particularly holy and inviolable obligations were designated as ‘salt covenants’ (ib.; Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5). It must be borne in mind that in ancient times, as today among the Arab nomads, a meal taken in company meant temporary association among the members of the company and that a covenant was accompanied by a sacrificial meal. Consequently, as salt was always used on both occasions, it was probably taken as an especially fitting symbol of the eternal duration of such a covenant.” Salt seasoned, symbolized, and added savor.
Light too was hard to come by. Rohrbaugh and Malina say that most homes were lit by olive oil lamps, which gave very little light by modern standards. When it was dark outside, it was dark inside. A one-room house might have one lampstand, and everyone could see it. At night, a bushel over the lampstand put the light out without creating too much smoke in the house.
Speaking here, Jesus tells his listeners that they are salt and light... already. They have the ability to change what they encounter, just as salt and light change whatever they contact. Marginal as they are, they already have within them the ability to change the world around them. He’s speaking to people without much economic security, outside the power structure, and outside the religious establishment. Somehow, he sees in them the ability to be salt and light, creators of transformation.
In the World
If the people listening to Jesus are salt and light, then salt and light come from the outside in. In our world, most of us are more like the religious establishment than like the people listening to Jesus. We aren’t the outsiders who heard themselves blessed, and announced as ingredients of change in the world. We are more like the Pharisees, the priests, and the scribes, guarding what is already in place instead of seeking what is coming next.
It’s hard for us to be salt and light -- agents of change -- when we’re also agents of the established way of thinking. Our salt and light come from people who see what we can’t see. Alicia Crosby reminds us that “We need one another.... We haven’t even begun to see the tyranny and injustice those in power will work to uphold, and it’s gonna take all of us collectively holding up our lights in the darkness that has come to move forward and find our way out. We will need to lean into one another’s resources, know-how, traditions, wisdom, expressions of care, and energies to survive and to be well. Our resistance cannot only be directed toward those who hold power, it must also target the systems, policies, ideologies, and constructed narratives that perpetuate the myths of supremacy and scarcity or anything else that would pull us apart. Never forget that we belong to one another. Always remember that our liberations are intertwined and none of us will get free while others are bound.” People outside the establishment are salt and light for us, when we are stuck in the forms of faith without the edginess Jesus praised.
Our salt and light are alive in service to something that God is doing. Professor and Bible scholar Wil Gafney says that there is “no word for ‘faith’ in biblical Hebrew or Aramaic, which means no one in the Bible, including Jesus, operated with the concept of faith as a religious category -- that is, until the Church invented it and incorporated it into its telling of the Jesus story.... For all intents and purposes, faith as many understand it is wholly a Christian invention, a repurposing of older concepts adapting words already in use in Greek and Hebrew. The Greek word pistis and its older Hebrew antecedent amunah both mean ‘faithfulness’ and not ‘faith.’ They are about what you do, not what you think or believe. Before there was such a thing as faith, there was faithfulness. We are called to be faithful because our God is faithful.” The salt and light that come into our lives lead us toward deeper faithfulness.
In the Sermon
When we read this text, we think Jesus is talking to us. “Go out and be salt and light,” is the traditional interpretation. In the Beatitudes, spoken just before this in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is conferring a blessing, not giving instructions. Speaking to people on the margins of his world, he announces God’s blessings to them. He aligns himself with them, proclaiming that their struggles are also the place of God’s favor.
If we imagine a connection between that teaching and this one, then Jesus is still talking to the poor, the grieving, the meek, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers. They are the salt and light. If we want to be salt and light, we have to take on their qualities, and see the world as they do.
Perhaps in tending the established church, we have lost our salty edge. In thinking about church budgets and leaky roofs, we lose the opportunity to seek God’s light. When we come to church every week, we forget what it’s like to be a guest, unfamiliar with the building, the bulletin, and all the books in the pew rack. When we have power and education and approval, we forget what it’s like to be meek, or poor, or pure in heart. Our peacemaking is spent on tending the established church, and not seeking justice in the wider world.
Just as salt and light were rare in Jesus’ world, in our lives it is often a rarity to be exposed to people with different levels of income and cultural backgrounds. We know plenty of people like ourselves, who reinforce our ideas and allow us to feel comfortable. But salt and light transform the things they touch, and spiritual salt and light will bring us some discomfort as they change us.
The sermon might explore our need for salt and light from other people, and how we listen for other voices in our lives. How do we step out of our comfort zones and seek out salty perspectives? How do we make sure we’re hearing the people who can restore our saltiness, and call us back to the places where Jesus is? The sermon might look at the hard work of listening to people different from ourselves, so that we can receive the gift of salt and light.
Two churches sharing a building in Washington, DC have been in the news recently, as their partnership dissolved. Douglas Memorial Church, a historically black Methodist church, shared space with Table, a church for young, mostly white city dwellers. The relationship ended when the new, mostly white church demanded the traditional 10:00 a.m. Sunday worship time. Other conflicts revolved around church culture. “Coffee preparation proved to be another issue. ‘So if you walk into Douglas and you need to make coffee, you go in and make coffee,’ Lum [pastor of the newer church] said over the summer. ‘But if you’re a member of Douglas and you walk in, first you would greet everyone and go around the room and give everyone a hug, and then you would go make the coffee.’ His own congregants, who he describes as young and ‘type-A,’ would march directly to the kitchen. ‘Going straight to the coffeemaker and not greeting anyone seems to Douglas almost like a racial slap, but I think it’s more of a cultural difference than racial. I have even had to tell members of Douglas, “Look, it’s not racial. They are just as rude to me,” ’ Lum says with a chuckle.” His chuckle reveals a lost opportunity to understand, and make a connection. Each congregation might have learned from the other, if each could have seen members of the other church as salt and light in their lives.
We may long to be the salt and light Jesus describes, and instead we see that we need other people to be our salt and light. It’s no one’s job to educate us, but it is our job to listen and learn. The light-filled, briny people in our lives call us back to places of lively, transformational faith when we find ourselves growing stale. They allow us to hear the words of Jesus in a fresh way. If we see that Jesus isn’t talking to us, we can always hear him and see him and know him through the alive-with-light, salty people he is talking to.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Fake Fasts
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
In the Scriptures
Isaiah is fed up.
He’s fed up with people who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
And even worse, he’s fed up with people who walk the walk, who do the rituals, who go through the motions of their chosen religious faith, but who don’t let any of those ritual practices sink into their hearts and minds. They don’t let the rituals impact their lives.
Take fasting, for instance.
Oh, they fast on the fast days. That is, they refrain from eating and they take great pride in the fact that they do so, but they have missed the whole point of fasting. Their fasts are fakes.
They have forgotten why they fast. The fast is supposed to be a time of reflection and moral self-evaluation, a time of repentance and penance, a time for re-establishing our relationship with God. They do none of that. They have continued being the same selfish, greedy, argumentative, boastful, mean-spirited louts that they were before the fast. In fact, they are fighting and arguing and cheating their workers and making themselves richer while they fast!
Then -- and this is the worst part of all -- they complain because God isn’t fixing everything for them, isn’t hearing their petitions and doing what they want God to do. They point out to Isaiah: “Hey, we fasted. We went without eating. We even put ashes on our heads and put on sackcloth and lay down on the floor to show God how humble and repentant we are. So what’s up with God? Why isn’t God granting our wishes?”
We’ve done what God has told us to do, and, well... God owes us.
Isaiah responds: “Oh, really? God owes you because you went through all the right motions? Don’t make me laugh. When did God tell you to do all that stuff? When did God tell you to fast and put on sackcloth and ashes? That was your idea, not God’s. You did that because you thought that by doing it you could make demands upon the Holy One of Israel. Well, think again.”
Let me tell you about the “fast” that God really wants:
Fight against injustice, release those who are bound, free those who are oppressed, and lift the yoke from those who are heavily burdened. Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; clothe the naked, and for heaven’s sake, take care of your own family.
Stop pointing fingers of blame and fighting with each other, accusing and lying and spreading rumors. Search out the afflicted and the addicted and provide for their needs.
Do that and see if your own fortunes don’t turn around. See if God doesn’t start hearing your prayers and giving you strength and prosperity. Just see if your petitions aren’t taken seriously when you start acting like the true people of God.
In the World
New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
It had been agreed by the governments of France and the United States that the French people would pay for building the statue that would become known as the Statue of Liberty and shipping her to the U.S. The Americans would raise the money to have her reassembled and erected, create an appropriate location, and build a pedestal for her to stand on.
But in 1885, just a year before the work on the statue was to be completed, fundraising in the United States was going poorly. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World started a drive for donations to complete America’s end of the project. It attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar, but it was enough.
As part of that drive, poet Emma Lazarus penned the sonnet above. Once the money was raised, however, the poem was largely forgotten. Then in 1902, the family of Lazarus (who died in 1887) sought to memorialize her work and her dedication to the statue and all that it stood for. To that end, the last five lines of the poem were inscribed on a bronze plaque and placed inside the pedestal upon which the statue stands.
For over a century the poem and the statue in which it now hangs has been a symbol of hope and possibility for the world -- but now, sadly, the lamp beside the golden door has gone out. The door has closed. The tired, the poor, the huddled masses, the wretched human refuse, the homeless, the tempest-tossed are being turned away.
Well, say those who have dimmed the glow of her torch, that was a fine sentiment back in 1886, but things have changed. Those people are potentially dangerous. There are people in the world out there who want to see the United States destroyed. So we have to shut the door to immigrants, to refugees, and especially to Muslims.
In the Sermon
One cannot help but wonder how Isaiah might have responded to their fear and cowardice.
You invoke the name of God when you pledge allegiance to your flag, but you turn away the tired and the poor?
You pride yourselves in the religiosity of your people, but you turn your back upon the huddled, fearful, mistreated masses who yearn to breathe free?
You claim to be the most generous nation on earth, but you make people wait and jump through hoops for a long as three years before you let them wade ashore? And now you want to extend that another four months?
Dangerous? Of course it’s dangerous. What act of charity has ever been without risk? When has generosity ever been absolutely safe? Where has hospitality and empathy ever been easy?
Name one person of faith in the scriptures who didn’t live dangerously, in a constant state of threat, with the possibility of imprisonment or death. Did Abraham take the safe route when he picked up his family to start walking until God told him to stop? Did Moses do the safe thing when he said to Pharaoh “Let my people go?” Was David safe when he stood before Goliath or when he challenged Saul? Did not Esther take her life into her hands and agree to go before the king, saying “If I die, I die”? Did Daniel waver, even when faced with a den of lions?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said: “Our God can save us from your furnace of blazing fire, but even if he doesn’t, oh Nebuchadnezzar, we will not bow down to your image.” Jesus new full well the dangers when he set his face toward Jerusalem. And Paul, well, I’ll let him speak for himself:
Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he forever!) knows that I do not lie. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas set a guard on the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands (2 Corinthians 11:24-33).
Being the People of God is, by definition, a dangerous business -- and it is to that very dangerous business that we are being called. But we are not called to it alone. The promise of God is that an army of saints and martyrs will go with us. We will stand with the legions of righteousness and be named among the throngs of the faithful.
And God, the creator of the universe and master of all that lives, will walk beside us and dry every tear from our eyes.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Many career politicians were sitting within feet of the podium as Donald Trump gave his 16-minute inauguration speech. Trump, the 45th president, is the first person elected to the White House who was not a career politician or an individual with high military rank. This is why he could speak these prophetic words to those who sat close enough to touch him: “A small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.”
Application: Isaiah inspires us to be prophets in our own land.
*****
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
The inauguration of presidents used to take place on March 4, a date of the ratification of the Constitution. The problem, though, was that from the election in November to the inauguration in March, the “lame duck” president had too many months to make executive decisions. An amendment to the Constitution changed the inauguration date to January 20 to limit this power. Franklin Roosevelt, in 1937, was the first president who took the oath of office on January 20.
Application: Isaiah instructs on how we must control our behavior.
*****
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
In 1957 three B-52 bombers flew around the world in the first non-stop flight circumnavigating the globe. The trip took 45 hours. The purpose of the trip was to demonstrate to the Soviet Union that the United States could drop an atomic bomb anywhere in the world.
Application: Isaiah cautions us against demonstrations of hate.
*****
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12); Matthew 5:13-20
NASA has just embarked on a new venture. It is called the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS. It is an experiment to see how long a group of individuals can live together without any contact with the outside world. The purpose is to see if individuals can endure a space trip to and then life on Mars. Four men and two women will live in a dome at the foot of a volcanic mountain in Hawaii for eight months. The dome is 1,200 square feet (the size of a small two-bedroom home). If they venture outside the dome, they will have to wear a space suit. Communication to observers will take 20 minutes, the same as if they were traveling in space.
Application: Our readings ask us just how well can we get along together.
*****
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
In a Ziggy comic, Ziggy is standing in front of the calendar posted on his wall. As he tears off a sheet to see the date, instead of a number he reads a message: “Yet one more of those days.” On the floor are messages from the previous calendar days: “One of those days” and “Another one of those days.” (Note: If your sanctuary has a projection screen, you may want to display this comic.)
Application: If we can discover the joy of the psalmist, then we will no longer have “Yet one more of those days.”
*****
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
Danny Kaye was an American actor, singer, dancer, comedian, and musician. He appeared in 17 movies, for which he was most noted for his physical comedy and singing. In 1954 Kaye was the ambassador-at-large for UNICEF. Kaye died in 1987, at the age of 76, from hepatitis C, which he caught from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. Danny Kaye was always regarded as a good, jovial, and happy person. Kaye once said, “Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it.”
Application: The psalmist wants us to understand the meaning of joy.
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
Rick Hendrick was recently inducted into NASCAR Hall of Fame. The team he owns (Hendrick Motorsports) leads NASCAR with 14 national titles. But on several occasions throughout the years Hendrick almost lost his team. Yet he persevered in the sport that he loved. Regarding his journey from a childhood working in the tobacco fields of Virginia to the Hall of Fame, Hendrick said: “I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life, but I knew what I didn’t want to do, and that was to be a tobacco farmer.”
Application: Jesus said that as Christians we must know what we want to be, and that is to be the salt of the earth and a light unto others.
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
At his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Rick Hendrick credited his parents for his success. Referring to his mom and dad, he said: “They taught me something that really has been the pillar of my life, and that is you need to take care of other people if you want people to take care of you.”
Application: Jesus taught us the importance of being concerned about other people.
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
The Constitution mandates that the incoming president take the oath of office on January 20. In 1957, when Dwight Eisenhower was to be sworn in for his second term, January 20 fell on a Sunday. In respect for the sabbath day, Eisenhower held a private ceremony. On Monday, Eisenhower permitted a public ceremony.
Application: Jesus teaches us the importance of being pious.
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
In a Blondie comic strip, Dagwood is coming home from work and walking through the front door with a happy expression on his face. When Blondie asks why he is so joyful, Dagwood responds, “When someone makes a really dumb move at work now, the boss says they’ve pulled a Bumstead!” Blondie is confused, noting that this really is not a compliment. To this comment Dagwood responds, “Well, no, not in the traditional sense. But it’s the first time I’ve ever had a skill named for me!” (Note: If your sanctuary has a projection screen, you may want to display this comic.)
Application: Jesus cautions us to be aware of how we are perceived by others.
***************
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Super Bowl Sunday in America: Chicken Wings vs. Food Insecurity
Isaiah’s prophetic voice calls Israel to pay attention to the poor, the hungry, and those who are oppressed. Yet on this Sunday there will likely be more platters of chicken wings than offering plates for the hungry -- a reminder that God’s people still wrestle with what it means to honor God by sharing with the homeless poor.
* 1.33 billion chicken wings will be plated this Sunday, which is the second biggest day of food consumption in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
* By comparison, the USDA also reports that nearly 13% of American households were food-insecure at some point in 2015. While millions of pizzas will be delivered on Super Bowl Sunday, about 42 million people will be living in food-insecure households, including 6.4 million children.
* One in six Americans faces serious hunger issues, even as we prepare for one of the nation’s most overindulgent feasting days. Organizations such as Taste of the NFL and Souper Bowl of Caring work to overcome this glaring inequality.
*****
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Hunger in America
Ned Resnikoff, senior editor for Think Progress, describes the reality of hunger’s return to America. Writing for the Atlantic last summer, Resnikoff noted:
In one of the richest countries that has ever existed, about 15 percent of the population faces down bare cupboards and empty refrigerators on a routine basis. That fact alone meets any reasonable definition of the word “crisis,” but it is rarely treated like one. In a lot of states, benign neglect is the most that hungry Americans can expect from their government. What they get instead is usually worse: new restrictions on food-stamp eligibility, in the form of a re-imposition of work requirements, mandatory drug testing, and so on.
Resnikoff’s report notes that food pantries are experiencing an “explosion” of requests for help from a changing base of clients that includes more elderly persons and more families with children. Meanwhile, a reduction of federal food stamp benefits and other federal budget cuts pushes more demands back to states -- where, Resnikoff says, “at least, state-level food-stamp policies range from inadequate to disastrous.”
*****
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
Firm Hearts
Religious leaders from many traditions condemned President Trump’s ban of new Syrian refugees, arguing that the president’s actions do not reflect the teachings of the Bible or American traditions. While the psalmist calls the faithful to be “a light for the upright” as well as “gracious, merciful, and righteous,” several religious leaders criticized Trump’s ban.
Evangelical leader Jenny Yang said that “Christ calls us to care for everyone, regardless of who they are and where they come from.” Yang, the senior vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, an arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, continued by saying: “That has to be a core part of our witness -- not just caring for our own, but caring for others as well.”
Others, like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and most mainline denominations, announced their opposition to the actions.
Author, theologian, and Baptist pastor David Gushee posted a statement that he had made to his suburban Atlanta congregation that read, in part: “Baptists believe in a free church and a free state. But part of the church’s freedom is the freedom to speak to the state in protest when it believes the state is not properly exercising its God-given mandate. Sharp differences in policy preferences among Christians and across political parties are to be expected.”
It is a reminder that “they [the righteous] rise in the darkness as a light for the upright.”
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
Further Thoughts on Being Humble
The life Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount is a life centered in God, oriented around fulfilling God’s commandments by placing the needs of others first. Believers are called to be salt and light, shining in the world and seasoning the world to fulfill righteousness. In many ways this is a continuation of Jesus’ description of humble leadership. It turns out that despite our love affair with brash, bold, and often narcissistic leaders, scientists have shown that the more humble a leader is, the more impact he or she will have.
A study by Duke University indicates that some leaders conceded their opinions are not always right -- and that the intellectually humble were better than more arrogant peers in evaluating controversial statements, and were less likely to fall prey to “fake news.” Another study showed that “intellectually humble” students have a constant desire to learn and grow, are more willing to admit when they are wrong, and are most likely to succeed academically. On the other hand, more arrogant individuals are convinced that they know the right answers and are less likely to apologize or accept responsibility for mistakes.
Perhaps Paul was on to something in 1 Corinthians 2 when he reflected that “none of the rulers of this age understood [God’s wisdom].”
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Praise God! Happy are those who fear God.
People: Happy are those who greatly delight in God’s commandments.
Leader: It is well with those who deal generously.
People: It is well with those who conduct their affairs with justice.
Leader: For the righteous will never be moved.
People: The righteous will be remembered forever.
OR
Leader: Jesus calls us the light of the world.
People: We rejoice to be God’s light in this world.
Leader: But it is God’s light and not our own that we show.
People: In humility we know that only God is light.
Leader: Sometimes we are only the reflection of the reflection of God’s light.
People: However the light comes to us, we will pass it on.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”
found in:
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
“Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
“The Gift of Love”
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
W&P: 397
Renew: 155
“Make Me a Captive, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 421
PH: 378
“Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life”
found in:
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELA: 719
W&P: 591
AMEC: 561
“Trust and Obey”
found in:
UMH: 467
AAHH: 380
NNBH: 322
CH: 556
W&P: 443
AMEC: 377
“Let There Be Light”
found in:
UMH: 440
NNBH: 450
NCH: 589
STLT: 142
“Be Thou My Vision”
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELA: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
“Arise, Shine”
found in:
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
“People Need the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 52
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is light and salt and all that is good: Grant us the grace to be the dispensers of your goodness, never mistaking ourselves for the actual light or salt; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for being the light and salt that makes life more than existence. We ask that by the power of your Spirit you would so enlighten us that we might share in dispensing your goodness throughout creation. Help us never to forget that all good things come from you; they are not our own. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our failure to act as dispensers of God’s grace.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. As your people you have called us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, but we often fail at this. We are afraid sometimes and would rather stay in the cupboard than go out where we are needed. We are afraid that we will be hurt or that we will be used up by this needy world. Forgive us, and remind us that the true light and salt come from you and are never failing. Help us to be true dispensers of your grace, knowing that your grace never ends. Amen.
Leader: God is light and salt and grace eternal. Receive these and spread them throughout God’s creation.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
All praise and worship are yours, O God, because you are the true light which shines forever.
(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. As your people you have called us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, but we often fail at this. We are afraid sometimes and would rather stay in the cupboard than go out where we are needed. We are afraid that we will be hurt or that we will be used up by this needy world. Forgive us, and remind us that the true light and salt come from you and are never failing. Help us to be true dispensers of your grace, knowing that your grace never ends.
We thank you for all your blessings, and especially for those who have been faithful in sharing your light with us. Some of that light we have found in scripture, and some in those who have walked patiently by our side in this world. Most of all we thank you for your Spirit that shines forever in our hearts.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all who walk in darkness. Sometimes we create our own darkness with the poor choices and decisions that we make. Sometimes the darkness descends on us because of the actions and worlds of others. But your light is sufficient for all. As you shine for others, help us to be true reflectors of your light.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Give the children a little sugar in one hand and a little salt in the other. Don’t tell them what it is. Have them taste each one. Which one do they like better? Many will like sugar, but maybe not all. Ask which they want in their ice cream or cereal or mashed potatoes or hamburger. Even if we like sugar better than salt, salt is best when it is needed. We are the salt of the earth. We are the people who share the good news that love is stronger than hate. Sometimes people may not like to hear it, but we need to act as the people of love.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Fakin’ It
by Robin Lostetter
Isaiah 58:1-9a
In today’s reading from Isaiah (a long time ago), God tells the prophet to tell the people that God doesn’t like what they’re doing in worship. And they protested. If it were today, they might have said, “But God, we do all the right things and we say all the right words. Like, I’ve memorized the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed, and I go to church on Sunday.”
But God wasn’t impressed. Isaiah said they were fakin’ their worship. “You say the words, but you don’t live by them. You walk out the door and leave me behind. You just keep on doing the same stuff you always do right after you walk out the door.”
Now, what do you think God might have meant by that? (Here you need to prime the pump! Try one or two of these possibilities, or something else appropriate to your group of kids, to get them to suggest minor “offenses.”) Would we maybe irritate our brother or sister? Or maybe complain if we were asked to take out the trash? Or maybe the next day might we not be so friendly to a lonely kid at school? Do we tell a lie or blame someone else for some mistake we’ve made?
Then the reading goes on... God wants us to do justice, to serve other people, Isaiah tells them. And you know what, that’s actually what worship really is. There’s another word for much of what we do in worship. That word is “liturgy” -- it means the work of the people. And God wants us to worship him through serving others, through actual work, through doing things. So the word “liturgy” can help us remember -- worship is the work of the people.
How could we do that? (Again, you may start with some examples.) We could sing in the choir. We could share our lunch or snack with someone who has forgotten theirs. We could help with chores without being asked. When we’re big enough, we could help someone who doesn’t walk too steadily to cross the street. We could bring food to the food pantry.
I think the prophet Isaiah would like those ideas. They’re not fake! Let’s close with a prayer.
Dear Holy God, we want to worship you in the ways that you desire. Help us to learn how to serve you better. Give us eyes to see opportunities to serve other people and to fight injustice. We don’t want to do fake worship. We want to bring you the real thing! Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 5, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 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.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on Isaiah’s (and God’s) impatience with the empty fasting of the Israelites -- a practice that had degenerated into empty, meaningless ritual. The prophet suggests that the people are foolish to expect God to be responsive to their petitions when they aren’t willing to take the risk to truly live by God’s precepts. In the same way, Dean notes, we need to examine our motives regarding the nation’s immigration policy. Are we willing to take the risk to live by what God asks of us, or are we opting in our fear for the safety of closed borders? As Dean points out, scripture is an endless chronicle of how dangerous it can be to live in accordance with God’s call. Yet we persist in doing so, confident in the knowledge that we do not do so alone and that God will walk with us no matter how perilous the circumstances.
Looking for Salt in a High-Sodium World
by Mary Austin
Matthew 5:13-20
For us, light is as common as flipping a switch. Our cellphones turn into flashlights if we need them for a nighttime walk or to read the menu in a dim restaurant. We hardly notice the power of light until the rare day when the power is out. Salt is the same; it’s as close as the shaker on the table. We’re so accustomed to salt that now we’re branching out into many varieties: sea salt, kosher salt, pink salt, Himalayan salt, fleur de sel, and even Celtic salt.
If anything, we have too much of both salt and light -- our lives are over-salted and too illuminated. We eat more salt than we should, and take in more light than we need. Doctors and scientists would love for us to have less salt in our diets, and to step away from the illumination in our phones, tablets, and computers.
We have too much of the literal things Jesus was talking about -- and not enough of the spiritual qualities he wanted us to have.
In the Scriptures
In the world of ancient Judaism, salt and light were essential -- and rare.
The Jewish Encyclopedia notes that salt was used as a preservative and a seasoning for food, and that it also had medicinal properties. Newborn babies were rubbed with salt, and it had an important role in religious ritual. It “naturally assumed a great importance in the ritual. Just as salt was absolutely necessary at meals, so it was indispensable at the sacrifice.” Salt also symbolized the covenant between God and humankind. “The expression ‘salt of the covenant’ in Leviticus 2:13 shows that at the time with which the book deals salt was regarded in a symbolic sense.... The importance of salt in daily life and in the ritual explains its symbolic importance in the ceremony of the covenant. Particularly holy and inviolable obligations were designated as ‘salt covenants’ (ib.; Numbers 18:19; 2 Chronicles 13:5). It must be borne in mind that in ancient times, as today among the Arab nomads, a meal taken in company meant temporary association among the members of the company and that a covenant was accompanied by a sacrificial meal. Consequently, as salt was always used on both occasions, it was probably taken as an especially fitting symbol of the eternal duration of such a covenant.” Salt seasoned, symbolized, and added savor.
Light too was hard to come by. Rohrbaugh and Malina say that most homes were lit by olive oil lamps, which gave very little light by modern standards. When it was dark outside, it was dark inside. A one-room house might have one lampstand, and everyone could see it. At night, a bushel over the lampstand put the light out without creating too much smoke in the house.
Speaking here, Jesus tells his listeners that they are salt and light... already. They have the ability to change what they encounter, just as salt and light change whatever they contact. Marginal as they are, they already have within them the ability to change the world around them. He’s speaking to people without much economic security, outside the power structure, and outside the religious establishment. Somehow, he sees in them the ability to be salt and light, creators of transformation.
In the World
If the people listening to Jesus are salt and light, then salt and light come from the outside in. In our world, most of us are more like the religious establishment than like the people listening to Jesus. We aren’t the outsiders who heard themselves blessed, and announced as ingredients of change in the world. We are more like the Pharisees, the priests, and the scribes, guarding what is already in place instead of seeking what is coming next.
It’s hard for us to be salt and light -- agents of change -- when we’re also agents of the established way of thinking. Our salt and light come from people who see what we can’t see. Alicia Crosby reminds us that “We need one another.... We haven’t even begun to see the tyranny and injustice those in power will work to uphold, and it’s gonna take all of us collectively holding up our lights in the darkness that has come to move forward and find our way out. We will need to lean into one another’s resources, know-how, traditions, wisdom, expressions of care, and energies to survive and to be well. Our resistance cannot only be directed toward those who hold power, it must also target the systems, policies, ideologies, and constructed narratives that perpetuate the myths of supremacy and scarcity or anything else that would pull us apart. Never forget that we belong to one another. Always remember that our liberations are intertwined and none of us will get free while others are bound.” People outside the establishment are salt and light for us, when we are stuck in the forms of faith without the edginess Jesus praised.
Our salt and light are alive in service to something that God is doing. Professor and Bible scholar Wil Gafney says that there is “no word for ‘faith’ in biblical Hebrew or Aramaic, which means no one in the Bible, including Jesus, operated with the concept of faith as a religious category -- that is, until the Church invented it and incorporated it into its telling of the Jesus story.... For all intents and purposes, faith as many understand it is wholly a Christian invention, a repurposing of older concepts adapting words already in use in Greek and Hebrew. The Greek word pistis and its older Hebrew antecedent amunah both mean ‘faithfulness’ and not ‘faith.’ They are about what you do, not what you think or believe. Before there was such a thing as faith, there was faithfulness. We are called to be faithful because our God is faithful.” The salt and light that come into our lives lead us toward deeper faithfulness.
In the Sermon
When we read this text, we think Jesus is talking to us. “Go out and be salt and light,” is the traditional interpretation. In the Beatitudes, spoken just before this in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is conferring a blessing, not giving instructions. Speaking to people on the margins of his world, he announces God’s blessings to them. He aligns himself with them, proclaiming that their struggles are also the place of God’s favor.
If we imagine a connection between that teaching and this one, then Jesus is still talking to the poor, the grieving, the meek, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers. They are the salt and light. If we want to be salt and light, we have to take on their qualities, and see the world as they do.
Perhaps in tending the established church, we have lost our salty edge. In thinking about church budgets and leaky roofs, we lose the opportunity to seek God’s light. When we come to church every week, we forget what it’s like to be a guest, unfamiliar with the building, the bulletin, and all the books in the pew rack. When we have power and education and approval, we forget what it’s like to be meek, or poor, or pure in heart. Our peacemaking is spent on tending the established church, and not seeking justice in the wider world.
Just as salt and light were rare in Jesus’ world, in our lives it is often a rarity to be exposed to people with different levels of income and cultural backgrounds. We know plenty of people like ourselves, who reinforce our ideas and allow us to feel comfortable. But salt and light transform the things they touch, and spiritual salt and light will bring us some discomfort as they change us.
The sermon might explore our need for salt and light from other people, and how we listen for other voices in our lives. How do we step out of our comfort zones and seek out salty perspectives? How do we make sure we’re hearing the people who can restore our saltiness, and call us back to the places where Jesus is? The sermon might look at the hard work of listening to people different from ourselves, so that we can receive the gift of salt and light.
Two churches sharing a building in Washington, DC have been in the news recently, as their partnership dissolved. Douglas Memorial Church, a historically black Methodist church, shared space with Table, a church for young, mostly white city dwellers. The relationship ended when the new, mostly white church demanded the traditional 10:00 a.m. Sunday worship time. Other conflicts revolved around church culture. “Coffee preparation proved to be another issue. ‘So if you walk into Douglas and you need to make coffee, you go in and make coffee,’ Lum [pastor of the newer church] said over the summer. ‘But if you’re a member of Douglas and you walk in, first you would greet everyone and go around the room and give everyone a hug, and then you would go make the coffee.’ His own congregants, who he describes as young and ‘type-A,’ would march directly to the kitchen. ‘Going straight to the coffeemaker and not greeting anyone seems to Douglas almost like a racial slap, but I think it’s more of a cultural difference than racial. I have even had to tell members of Douglas, “Look, it’s not racial. They are just as rude to me,” ’ Lum says with a chuckle.” His chuckle reveals a lost opportunity to understand, and make a connection. Each congregation might have learned from the other, if each could have seen members of the other church as salt and light in their lives.
We may long to be the salt and light Jesus describes, and instead we see that we need other people to be our salt and light. It’s no one’s job to educate us, but it is our job to listen and learn. The light-filled, briny people in our lives call us back to places of lively, transformational faith when we find ourselves growing stale. They allow us to hear the words of Jesus in a fresh way. If we see that Jesus isn’t talking to us, we can always hear him and see him and know him through the alive-with-light, salty people he is talking to.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Fake Fasts
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
In the Scriptures
Isaiah is fed up.
He’s fed up with people who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
And even worse, he’s fed up with people who walk the walk, who do the rituals, who go through the motions of their chosen religious faith, but who don’t let any of those ritual practices sink into their hearts and minds. They don’t let the rituals impact their lives.
Take fasting, for instance.
Oh, they fast on the fast days. That is, they refrain from eating and they take great pride in the fact that they do so, but they have missed the whole point of fasting. Their fasts are fakes.
They have forgotten why they fast. The fast is supposed to be a time of reflection and moral self-evaluation, a time of repentance and penance, a time for re-establishing our relationship with God. They do none of that. They have continued being the same selfish, greedy, argumentative, boastful, mean-spirited louts that they were before the fast. In fact, they are fighting and arguing and cheating their workers and making themselves richer while they fast!
Then -- and this is the worst part of all -- they complain because God isn’t fixing everything for them, isn’t hearing their petitions and doing what they want God to do. They point out to Isaiah: “Hey, we fasted. We went without eating. We even put ashes on our heads and put on sackcloth and lay down on the floor to show God how humble and repentant we are. So what’s up with God? Why isn’t God granting our wishes?”
We’ve done what God has told us to do, and, well... God owes us.
Isaiah responds: “Oh, really? God owes you because you went through all the right motions? Don’t make me laugh. When did God tell you to do all that stuff? When did God tell you to fast and put on sackcloth and ashes? That was your idea, not God’s. You did that because you thought that by doing it you could make demands upon the Holy One of Israel. Well, think again.”
Let me tell you about the “fast” that God really wants:
Fight against injustice, release those who are bound, free those who are oppressed, and lift the yoke from those who are heavily burdened. Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; clothe the naked, and for heaven’s sake, take care of your own family.
Stop pointing fingers of blame and fighting with each other, accusing and lying and spreading rumors. Search out the afflicted and the addicted and provide for their needs.
Do that and see if your own fortunes don’t turn around. See if God doesn’t start hearing your prayers and giving you strength and prosperity. Just see if your petitions aren’t taken seriously when you start acting like the true people of God.
In the World
New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
It had been agreed by the governments of France and the United States that the French people would pay for building the statue that would become known as the Statue of Liberty and shipping her to the U.S. The Americans would raise the money to have her reassembled and erected, create an appropriate location, and build a pedestal for her to stand on.
But in 1885, just a year before the work on the statue was to be completed, fundraising in the United States was going poorly. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World started a drive for donations to complete America’s end of the project. It attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a dollar, but it was enough.
As part of that drive, poet Emma Lazarus penned the sonnet above. Once the money was raised, however, the poem was largely forgotten. Then in 1902, the family of Lazarus (who died in 1887) sought to memorialize her work and her dedication to the statue and all that it stood for. To that end, the last five lines of the poem were inscribed on a bronze plaque and placed inside the pedestal upon which the statue stands.
For over a century the poem and the statue in which it now hangs has been a symbol of hope and possibility for the world -- but now, sadly, the lamp beside the golden door has gone out. The door has closed. The tired, the poor, the huddled masses, the wretched human refuse, the homeless, the tempest-tossed are being turned away.
Well, say those who have dimmed the glow of her torch, that was a fine sentiment back in 1886, but things have changed. Those people are potentially dangerous. There are people in the world out there who want to see the United States destroyed. So we have to shut the door to immigrants, to refugees, and especially to Muslims.
In the Sermon
One cannot help but wonder how Isaiah might have responded to their fear and cowardice.
You invoke the name of God when you pledge allegiance to your flag, but you turn away the tired and the poor?
You pride yourselves in the religiosity of your people, but you turn your back upon the huddled, fearful, mistreated masses who yearn to breathe free?
You claim to be the most generous nation on earth, but you make people wait and jump through hoops for a long as three years before you let them wade ashore? And now you want to extend that another four months?
Dangerous? Of course it’s dangerous. What act of charity has ever been without risk? When has generosity ever been absolutely safe? Where has hospitality and empathy ever been easy?
Name one person of faith in the scriptures who didn’t live dangerously, in a constant state of threat, with the possibility of imprisonment or death. Did Abraham take the safe route when he picked up his family to start walking until God told him to stop? Did Moses do the safe thing when he said to Pharaoh “Let my people go?” Was David safe when he stood before Goliath or when he challenged Saul? Did not Esther take her life into her hands and agree to go before the king, saying “If I die, I die”? Did Daniel waver, even when faced with a den of lions?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said: “Our God can save us from your furnace of blazing fire, but even if he doesn’t, oh Nebuchadnezzar, we will not bow down to your image.” Jesus new full well the dangers when he set his face toward Jerusalem. And Paul, well, I’ll let him speak for himself:
Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he forever!) knows that I do not lie. In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas set a guard on the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands (2 Corinthians 11:24-33).
Being the People of God is, by definition, a dangerous business -- and it is to that very dangerous business that we are being called. But we are not called to it alone. The promise of God is that an army of saints and martyrs will go with us. We will stand with the legions of righteousness and be named among the throngs of the faithful.
And God, the creator of the universe and master of all that lives, will walk beside us and dry every tear from our eyes.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Many career politicians were sitting within feet of the podium as Donald Trump gave his 16-minute inauguration speech. Trump, the 45th president, is the first person elected to the White House who was not a career politician or an individual with high military rank. This is why he could speak these prophetic words to those who sat close enough to touch him: “A small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.”
Application: Isaiah inspires us to be prophets in our own land.
*****
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
The inauguration of presidents used to take place on March 4, a date of the ratification of the Constitution. The problem, though, was that from the election in November to the inauguration in March, the “lame duck” president had too many months to make executive decisions. An amendment to the Constitution changed the inauguration date to January 20 to limit this power. Franklin Roosevelt, in 1937, was the first president who took the oath of office on January 20.
Application: Isaiah instructs on how we must control our behavior.
*****
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
In 1957 three B-52 bombers flew around the world in the first non-stop flight circumnavigating the globe. The trip took 45 hours. The purpose of the trip was to demonstrate to the Soviet Union that the United States could drop an atomic bomb anywhere in the world.
Application: Isaiah cautions us against demonstrations of hate.
*****
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12); Matthew 5:13-20
NASA has just embarked on a new venture. It is called the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS. It is an experiment to see how long a group of individuals can live together without any contact with the outside world. The purpose is to see if individuals can endure a space trip to and then life on Mars. Four men and two women will live in a dome at the foot of a volcanic mountain in Hawaii for eight months. The dome is 1,200 square feet (the size of a small two-bedroom home). If they venture outside the dome, they will have to wear a space suit. Communication to observers will take 20 minutes, the same as if they were traveling in space.
Application: Our readings ask us just how well can we get along together.
*****
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
In a Ziggy comic, Ziggy is standing in front of the calendar posted on his wall. As he tears off a sheet to see the date, instead of a number he reads a message: “Yet one more of those days.” On the floor are messages from the previous calendar days: “One of those days” and “Another one of those days.” (Note: If your sanctuary has a projection screen, you may want to display this comic.)
Application: If we can discover the joy of the psalmist, then we will no longer have “Yet one more of those days.”
*****
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
Danny Kaye was an American actor, singer, dancer, comedian, and musician. He appeared in 17 movies, for which he was most noted for his physical comedy and singing. In 1954 Kaye was the ambassador-at-large for UNICEF. Kaye died in 1987, at the age of 76, from hepatitis C, which he caught from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. Danny Kaye was always regarded as a good, jovial, and happy person. Kaye once said, “Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it.”
Application: The psalmist wants us to understand the meaning of joy.
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
Rick Hendrick was recently inducted into NASCAR Hall of Fame. The team he owns (Hendrick Motorsports) leads NASCAR with 14 national titles. But on several occasions throughout the years Hendrick almost lost his team. Yet he persevered in the sport that he loved. Regarding his journey from a childhood working in the tobacco fields of Virginia to the Hall of Fame, Hendrick said: “I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life, but I knew what I didn’t want to do, and that was to be a tobacco farmer.”
Application: Jesus said that as Christians we must know what we want to be, and that is to be the salt of the earth and a light unto others.
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
At his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Rick Hendrick credited his parents for his success. Referring to his mom and dad, he said: “They taught me something that really has been the pillar of my life, and that is you need to take care of other people if you want people to take care of you.”
Application: Jesus taught us the importance of being concerned about other people.
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
The Constitution mandates that the incoming president take the oath of office on January 20. In 1957, when Dwight Eisenhower was to be sworn in for his second term, January 20 fell on a Sunday. In respect for the sabbath day, Eisenhower held a private ceremony. On Monday, Eisenhower permitted a public ceremony.
Application: Jesus teaches us the importance of being pious.
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
In a Blondie comic strip, Dagwood is coming home from work and walking through the front door with a happy expression on his face. When Blondie asks why he is so joyful, Dagwood responds, “When someone makes a really dumb move at work now, the boss says they’ve pulled a Bumstead!” Blondie is confused, noting that this really is not a compliment. To this comment Dagwood responds, “Well, no, not in the traditional sense. But it’s the first time I’ve ever had a skill named for me!” (Note: If your sanctuary has a projection screen, you may want to display this comic.)
Application: Jesus cautions us to be aware of how we are perceived by others.
***************
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Super Bowl Sunday in America: Chicken Wings vs. Food Insecurity
Isaiah’s prophetic voice calls Israel to pay attention to the poor, the hungry, and those who are oppressed. Yet on this Sunday there will likely be more platters of chicken wings than offering plates for the hungry -- a reminder that God’s people still wrestle with what it means to honor God by sharing with the homeless poor.
* 1.33 billion chicken wings will be plated this Sunday, which is the second biggest day of food consumption in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
* By comparison, the USDA also reports that nearly 13% of American households were food-insecure at some point in 2015. While millions of pizzas will be delivered on Super Bowl Sunday, about 42 million people will be living in food-insecure households, including 6.4 million children.
* One in six Americans faces serious hunger issues, even as we prepare for one of the nation’s most overindulgent feasting days. Organizations such as Taste of the NFL and Souper Bowl of Caring work to overcome this glaring inequality.
*****
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Hunger in America
Ned Resnikoff, senior editor for Think Progress, describes the reality of hunger’s return to America. Writing for the Atlantic last summer, Resnikoff noted:
In one of the richest countries that has ever existed, about 15 percent of the population faces down bare cupboards and empty refrigerators on a routine basis. That fact alone meets any reasonable definition of the word “crisis,” but it is rarely treated like one. In a lot of states, benign neglect is the most that hungry Americans can expect from their government. What they get instead is usually worse: new restrictions on food-stamp eligibility, in the form of a re-imposition of work requirements, mandatory drug testing, and so on.
Resnikoff’s report notes that food pantries are experiencing an “explosion” of requests for help from a changing base of clients that includes more elderly persons and more families with children. Meanwhile, a reduction of federal food stamp benefits and other federal budget cuts pushes more demands back to states -- where, Resnikoff says, “at least, state-level food-stamp policies range from inadequate to disastrous.”
*****
Psalm 112:1-9 (10)
Firm Hearts
Religious leaders from many traditions condemned President Trump’s ban of new Syrian refugees, arguing that the president’s actions do not reflect the teachings of the Bible or American traditions. While the psalmist calls the faithful to be “a light for the upright” as well as “gracious, merciful, and righteous,” several religious leaders criticized Trump’s ban.
Evangelical leader Jenny Yang said that “Christ calls us to care for everyone, regardless of who they are and where they come from.” Yang, the senior vice president of advocacy and policy at World Relief, an arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, continued by saying: “That has to be a core part of our witness -- not just caring for our own, but caring for others as well.”
Others, like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and most mainline denominations, announced their opposition to the actions.
Author, theologian, and Baptist pastor David Gushee posted a statement that he had made to his suburban Atlanta congregation that read, in part: “Baptists believe in a free church and a free state. But part of the church’s freedom is the freedom to speak to the state in protest when it believes the state is not properly exercising its God-given mandate. Sharp differences in policy preferences among Christians and across political parties are to be expected.”
It is a reminder that “they [the righteous] rise in the darkness as a light for the upright.”
*****
Matthew 5:13-20
Further Thoughts on Being Humble
The life Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount is a life centered in God, oriented around fulfilling God’s commandments by placing the needs of others first. Believers are called to be salt and light, shining in the world and seasoning the world to fulfill righteousness. In many ways this is a continuation of Jesus’ description of humble leadership. It turns out that despite our love affair with brash, bold, and often narcissistic leaders, scientists have shown that the more humble a leader is, the more impact he or she will have.
A study by Duke University indicates that some leaders conceded their opinions are not always right -- and that the intellectually humble were better than more arrogant peers in evaluating controversial statements, and were less likely to fall prey to “fake news.” Another study showed that “intellectually humble” students have a constant desire to learn and grow, are more willing to admit when they are wrong, and are most likely to succeed academically. On the other hand, more arrogant individuals are convinced that they know the right answers and are less likely to apologize or accept responsibility for mistakes.
Perhaps Paul was on to something in 1 Corinthians 2 when he reflected that “none of the rulers of this age understood [God’s wisdom].”
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Praise God! Happy are those who fear God.
People: Happy are those who greatly delight in God’s commandments.
Leader: It is well with those who deal generously.
People: It is well with those who conduct their affairs with justice.
Leader: For the righteous will never be moved.
People: The righteous will be remembered forever.
OR
Leader: Jesus calls us the light of the world.
People: We rejoice to be God’s light in this world.
Leader: But it is God’s light and not our own that we show.
People: In humility we know that only God is light.
Leader: Sometimes we are only the reflection of the reflection of God’s light.
People: However the light comes to us, we will pass it on.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”
found in:
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
“Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
“The Gift of Love”
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
W&P: 397
Renew: 155
“Make Me a Captive, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 421
PH: 378
“Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life”
found in:
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELA: 719
W&P: 591
AMEC: 561
“Trust and Obey”
found in:
UMH: 467
AAHH: 380
NNBH: 322
CH: 556
W&P: 443
AMEC: 377
“Let There Be Light”
found in:
UMH: 440
NNBH: 450
NCH: 589
STLT: 142
“Be Thou My Vision”
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELA: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
“Arise, Shine”
found in:
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
“People Need the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 52
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is light and salt and all that is good: Grant us the grace to be the dispensers of your goodness, never mistaking ourselves for the actual light or salt; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for being the light and salt that makes life more than existence. We ask that by the power of your Spirit you would so enlighten us that we might share in dispensing your goodness throughout creation. Help us never to forget that all good things come from you; they are not our own. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our failure to act as dispensers of God’s grace.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. As your people you have called us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, but we often fail at this. We are afraid sometimes and would rather stay in the cupboard than go out where we are needed. We are afraid that we will be hurt or that we will be used up by this needy world. Forgive us, and remind us that the true light and salt come from you and are never failing. Help us to be true dispensers of your grace, knowing that your grace never ends. Amen.
Leader: God is light and salt and grace eternal. Receive these and spread them throughout God’s creation.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
All praise and worship are yours, O God, because you are the true light which shines forever.
(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. As your people you have called us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, but we often fail at this. We are afraid sometimes and would rather stay in the cupboard than go out where we are needed. We are afraid that we will be hurt or that we will be used up by this needy world. Forgive us, and remind us that the true light and salt come from you and are never failing. Help us to be true dispensers of your grace, knowing that your grace never ends.
We thank you for all your blessings, and especially for those who have been faithful in sharing your light with us. Some of that light we have found in scripture, and some in those who have walked patiently by our side in this world. Most of all we thank you for your Spirit that shines forever in our hearts.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all who walk in darkness. Sometimes we create our own darkness with the poor choices and decisions that we make. Sometimes the darkness descends on us because of the actions and worlds of others. But your light is sufficient for all. As you shine for others, help us to be true reflectors of your light.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Give the children a little sugar in one hand and a little salt in the other. Don’t tell them what it is. Have them taste each one. Which one do they like better? Many will like sugar, but maybe not all. Ask which they want in their ice cream or cereal or mashed potatoes or hamburger. Even if we like sugar better than salt, salt is best when it is needed. We are the salt of the earth. We are the people who share the good news that love is stronger than hate. Sometimes people may not like to hear it, but we need to act as the people of love.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Fakin’ It
by Robin Lostetter
Isaiah 58:1-9a
In today’s reading from Isaiah (a long time ago), God tells the prophet to tell the people that God doesn’t like what they’re doing in worship. And they protested. If it were today, they might have said, “But God, we do all the right things and we say all the right words. Like, I’ve memorized the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed, and I go to church on Sunday.”
But God wasn’t impressed. Isaiah said they were fakin’ their worship. “You say the words, but you don’t live by them. You walk out the door and leave me behind. You just keep on doing the same stuff you always do right after you walk out the door.”
Now, what do you think God might have meant by that? (Here you need to prime the pump! Try one or two of these possibilities, or something else appropriate to your group of kids, to get them to suggest minor “offenses.”) Would we maybe irritate our brother or sister? Or maybe complain if we were asked to take out the trash? Or maybe the next day might we not be so friendly to a lonely kid at school? Do we tell a lie or blame someone else for some mistake we’ve made?
Then the reading goes on... God wants us to do justice, to serve other people, Isaiah tells them. And you know what, that’s actually what worship really is. There’s another word for much of what we do in worship. That word is “liturgy” -- it means the work of the people. And God wants us to worship him through serving others, through actual work, through doing things. So the word “liturgy” can help us remember -- worship is the work of the people.
How could we do that? (Again, you may start with some examples.) We could sing in the choir. We could share our lunch or snack with someone who has forgotten theirs. We could help with chores without being asked. When we’re big enough, we could help someone who doesn’t walk too steadily to cross the street. We could bring food to the food pantry.
I think the prophet Isaiah would like those ideas. They’re not fake! Let’s close with a prayer.
Dear Holy God, we want to worship you in the ways that you desire. Help us to learn how to serve you better. Give us eyes to see opportunities to serve other people and to fight injustice. We don’t want to do fake worship. We want to bring you the real thing! Amen.
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The Immediate Word, February 5, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 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.
