Love Notes To The Powerful
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For February 2, 2025:
Love Notes To The Powerful
by Chris Keating
Luke 4:21-30, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Jesus’ sermon to his hometown crowd provides a reminder of what Rev. William Barbour has called “the terrible joy” of preaching. (Barbour, foreword to How To Preach a Dangerous Sermon by Frank Thomas.)
The words are barely out of Jesus’ mouth when the air turns frigid, and the crowd is hot with anger. Pretty soon they’re ready to deport him right off a cliff.
Something similar happened in Washington, DC, last week. The air was cold and a chill was present during the inauguration of President Donald Trump — though the temperature was only partly to blame. The 14-degree wind chill seemed mild to the frosty air inside the National Cathedral on the day after the inauguration. During an interfaith prayer service, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde addressed the proverbial elephant in the room. In this case, that elephant was the president’s persistent lashing out against immigrants and LGBTQ persons.
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said. Trump later said he didn’t find the service inspiring and went on to suggest Budde owed him an apology. For her part, Budde believes she was attempting to address the entrenched culture of contempt afflicting the nation.
Barbour says that to preach is to have a quarrel with the world, though for Budde that seems to be a lover’s quarrel glazed with truth many cannot accept. It embodies the love imagined by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 as well as the words of Jesus, which the crowd finds both stirring and upsetting. Jesus’ words stir the crowd not because he finds them contemptible, but because he calls them to pursue the challenges of grace and mercy. Paul reminds us that such speech includes the hard truth of being an adult. Unlike political power, it seeks nothing in return.
Budde’s sermon challenged the President and the nation to pursue mercy. She spoke hard words of love to those whom she knew would dismiss her ideas, yet who had also been granted great power. Her sermon remains a reminder of the costly nature of agape love and invites the church to ponder the terrible joys of preaching.
There was a cold chill present in Washington, DC, during last week’s inauguration, though most of that was not caused by meteorological factors. The Arctic weather forced most of President Donald Trump’s inaugural activities indoors, though the temperatures were not as low as the inaugurations of some of his predecessors.
Yet the 14-degree Fahrenheit wind chill was nothing compared to the frosty air inside the National Cathedral on the day after the inauguration. During an interfaith prayer service, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde preached a sermon on unity in service of the common good. She concluded by addressing President Trump and Vice President JD Vance directly, with a call to mercy.
“With a commitment to unity that incorporates diversity and transcends disagreement, and the solid foundations of dignity, honesty, and humility that such unity requires, we can do our part, in our time, to help realize the ideals and the dream of America,” Budde said.
She then added:
Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are transgender children in both Republican and Democrat families who fear for their lives.
In the News
Bishop Budde’s plea for mercy came at the tail end of a sermon preached during an interfaith service of prayer for the nation held at the National Cathedral the day after Trump’s inauguration. The service is a tradition at the Cathedral, which has hosted 10 services over the years in conjunction with the inaugural activities.
It was announced in October that this year’s would not include a preacher selected by the newly elected president but would instead be focused on shared purpose, the well-being of the country, and healing. At the time, the Dean of the Cathedral announced that the plans for the 2025 inauguration had changed.
“This will not be a service for a new administration,” said Dean Randy Hollerith. “Rather, whichever party wins, this will be a service for all Americans, for the well-being of our nation, for our democracy, and the importance of the core values that must undergird our democracy.”
It quickly became known as the “sermon heard ’round the world.” Bishop Budde’s original sermon included three elements she felt are critical to national unity: dignity, honesty, and humility. After hearing the President’s own inauguration speech, Budde decided to add mercy as a fourth point.
Throughout Monday night, Budde said she kept looking for a way to bring into the room those who do not share the President’s vision of unity.
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President,” Budde said. “Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” Included in her concerns were transgender children “in both Republican and Democrat families,” and immigrant laborers. “They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques, and synagogues, gurdwara, and temples,” she continued.
As she faced Trump and Vice President Vance directly, Budde said she was imagining those whose lives could be disrupted the most by the administration’s changes in policies regarding immigration, refugees, and healthcare for transgender persons.
“I wanted to bring them into the room, to help evoke the images of actual people, rather than broad categories or characterizations,” Bishop Budde told The New Yorker. Trump’s face showed little emotion during the 15-minute sermon, turning only briefly to speak with Vance.
Upon returning to the White House, Trump was asked what he thought of the service. “Not too exciting, was it?” he told reporters. He later excoriated the bishop on Truth Social, calling her a “so-called Bishop,” who “brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way.” He characterized the service as “uninspiring,” and her tone as “nasty” and uncompelling. He said the public was due an apology.
Trump branded her a “Radical left hard-line Trump hater.” Georgia congressman Mike Collins took it a step further and suggested Trump should place Budde on a deportation list.
Others denounced the bishop, with some lawmakers calling her a political activist, and evangelical Franklin Graham suggesting the cathedral had been “taken over by gay activists.” Others suggested that this is what happens when women are allowed to preach. One Baptist social media influencer questioned her authority to preach to men and used the bishop as a reason why the Southern Baptist Convention should vote to prohibit any congregation from being in fellowship with a church that allows women to preach.
An Idaho pastor said that Budde’s leadership is an example of a “cancer that unleashes untethered empathy in the church and spills over into society.”
One could almost hear shades of comedian Dana Carvey’s character the Church Lady leaning in to say, “Well, isn’t that special?”
Bishop Budde’s comments came during the last four minutes of her 15-minute sermon. Citing Jesus’ parable of the person who built a house on a rock foundation (Matthew 7:24-29), Budde reminded the congregation that praying for unity during a solemn occasion may be “relatively easy,” though harder to achieve when faced with real differences in the public arena. “But without unity,” she said, “we are building our nation’s house on sand.”
Her sermon, much like Jesus’ own inaugural homily in Luke 4:18-20, was a reminder of the centrality of God’s mercy and peace, a proclamation of good news to all held by oppression’s ever-tightening grasp.
In the Scripture
This week’s lectionary passages describe our response to God’s claim on our lives. The texts from Luke and 1 Corinthians are heard in concert with the call of Jeremiah. These are prophetic words, reminders that all of life is lived before God. “The poetic form of prophetic oracle,” wrote Walter Brueggemann, “is to engage in redescription, reconstrual, and reimagination of human life in the world as lived before a sovereign, attentive God” (Brueggemann, Reverberations of Faith, p. 160). They are an invitation to live faithfully before God.
Such an invitation requires a change in us, as those listening to Jesus’ sermon in the synagogue discover. At first, they are enamored with pride at his words, amazed by the gracious things this son of their village said. They acknowledge the goodness of God’s claim on his life — until they begin wrestling with the implications of his announcement.
They nod their approval, asking each other, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” Luke, however, wants us to recall the identity confirmed upon Jesus during his baptism in 3:22. As God’s beloved, Jesus will not be constrained to small-town Nazareth. He knows he’s headed to the major leagues, empowered by a vision far greater than provincial concern. He links his call to the broad visions of Elijah and Elisha, who demonstrated the breadth of God’s mercy.
That’s when things go bad. The crowd immediately votes to deport him — straight off the nearest cliff. Prophets direct our attention to the outsiders and those on the margins, enlarging the vision of those concerned only with people like themselves. The crowd rises up and attempts to seize control of the situation. But God will not be constrained, and Jesus passes through their anger. He lives to be crucified another day.
1 Corinthians 13, likewise, delivers an unexpected homiletical punch. Having associated these verses with the loveliness of weddings, we may have a hard time hearing them without envisioning flowers and frills. But Paul writes to people who have not allowed love to grow and who have severed the relationships of Christian fellowship. Such hostility and lack of mercy fail to live up to the calling of God. God’s grace has enriched them “in every way” (1 Corinthians 1:4), yet they have allowed quarrels and factions to grow.
Paul tells them that the love of God in Christ calls them to live with graciousness, empathy, mercy, and enduring hope. By denigrating the gifts of others, the Corinthians have elevated their own privilege and status. They have failed to embody the outward, other-affirming love made visible in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. This love, as so many theologians have affirmed, is not an emotion but is instead an action. It dwells in the conviction to live faithfully.
When twinned, the passages from Luke and 1 Corinthians are like an early Valentine’s card to the church. They speak words of loving hope and possibility and are a call to those who believe power and authority are the path to human flourishing. Jesus slips away from the mob, only to one day find his way back to the cross. He speaks in love that brings liberation. His life embodies the love that Paul calls the church to seek — a love that rejoices in truth and makes room for all.
In the Sermon
The immediate fervor over Bishop Budde’s remarks may have calmed a bit by the first Sunday in February. But the circumstances that prompted her call to mercy will certainly continue to be relevant as ICE raids ramp up and executive orders keep getting signed. Vice President JD Vance questioned the motives of the Conference of US Catholic Bishops in criticizing Trump’s immigration policies. In an interview on Face the Nation, Vance wondered if the bishops were more concerned about boosting their bottom line from federal refugee resettlement grants than about acts of charity.
It’s possible that preaching on love on the first Sunday in the month of love would provide an opportunity to consider the church’s calling. Bishop Budde did not speak with a haughty or damning tone. Instead, she stood biblically with prophets whose witness proclaimed truth to evil-saturated power. She also stands with many other Americans who were able to use their proximity to the president as a call to reflection. In 1985, Holocaust survivor, author, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel silenced a crowd in the Roosevelt Room of the White House by imploring then-President Ronald Reagan to cancel a visit to a German cemetery where Nazi officers were buried. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood firm in pushing President Lyndon B. Johnson toward greater action on civil rights. Singer Eartha Kitt ruined her career by speaking out against President Johnson’s stance on Vietnam.
Ah, you say, “truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a pastor in a congregation that leans more red than blue.” It’s not an uncommon or even unrealistic sentiment. Go back and read Jeremiah 1:4-10, and then go and listen to Bishop Budde’s sermon in its entirety. Listen for her calm, yet urgent voice. Consider the shape of your call and the love you have experienced from your church members. 1 Corinthians 13 deserves to be heard outside of weddings, just as Jesus’ confrontation with the hometown crowd invites our reflection. Let these words shape a call to renew your ministry. Allow them to become a pathway to proclaiming words of jubilee hope in a world ravaged by a drought of mercy.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTS
The Costs Of Following Jesus
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 4:21-30, Jeremiah 1:4-10
In the Scripture
Jesus is preaching in his hometown. He’s been working the circuit, visiting other small-town synagogues in the region. He’s been getting a lot of buzz. Nazareth, his home synagogue, the people who watched him grow up, isn’t a tall steeple, by any means, but it’s special. The ladies who fed him saltines when he was in the nursery while his parents were upstairs for Sabbath worship are there. And he’s all grown up. He starts off strong. (That’s where last week’s gospel lesson ended.) Then he turns.
If you’ve ever received anonymous mail from an angry parishioner, you know when the turn comes. Usually, it’s the first sentence of the second paragraph — after
Pastor, when you arrived here, the wife and I were really impressed by a., b., and c. We had high hopes that finally we’d found the young leader who…
you read:
So we were alarmed and disappointed when you d. We are withdrawing from participation and withholding any financial support to the church until you are removed from office, having brought scandal and disgrace….
Jesus’ synagogue reacted the same way: “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’” (Luke 4:22, NRSV)
Then Jesus turned on them, inverting their pride at having raised such a prominent and well-regarded preacher and healer. That’s today’s lection from Luke. To summarize Jesus’ message: “You people think you’re God’s chosen people, but you’re wrong. Listen to these examples of God loving those people, other people.” His people were enraged. They called an emergency meeting of the Session and formed a lynch mob, which he somehow evaded.
Jeremiah’s call includes the expected elements of a call from the Lord in the Hebrew Bible.
Jeremiah is addressed by the Lord.
Jeremiah resists God’s call.
Jeremiah’s objection is overruled.
Jeremiah is reassured of God’s presence.
Jeremiah is touched by the living God.
Finally, Jeremiah is given a task, a commission.
Jeremiah suffered enormously for speaking God’s word. More than any prophet, he expressed to God his feelings of humiliation and abandonment. There is another current example of someone suffering for preaching God’s word.
In the News
Last month, there was the rare moment when a mainline Protestant preacher was in the news, and not for some kind of scandal. Mainliners’ numbers and influence have been waning for decades, but when the Right Reverend Mariann Budde presided at an interfaith prayer service at the National Cathedral the day after the Presidential Inauguration, January 20, 2025, we reappeared in the news cycle.
Some of the best, most memorable advice I ever received about preaching comes from an unpublished essay by David Westerberg. David is a gifted preacher and a wise and trusted colleague, and my seminary roommate:
Preach to the people in front of you. Don’t preach to people who are not there. For example, don’t preach to the President of the United States — unless the president is sitting in the sanctuary.
I was reminded of these words when news of remarks delivered by the Rt. Rev. Budde got media attention. Here is the part people have reacted to with the most passion. The Bishop addressed the President in the front row as she said:
In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. We’re scared now. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.
In the Sermon
There are costs for those who seek to follow Jesus. Speaking truth to power, as Jeremiah and Jesus did in today’s readings, as Gandhi and many Americans did in the Civil Rights era, as Mariann Budde did to President Trump and others on January 21, is perilous. Yet, is asking the most powerful person on earth to be merciful to vulnerable people really that much of a stretch for followers of Jesus?
Speaking truth to power has a long history. The ancient Greek philosophers called it “parresia,” literally “candid speech.” Gandhi was famous for invoking “satyagraha” or “truth-force.” Civil rights leader Bayard Rustin co-authored a pamphlet for the American Friends Service Committee titled Speak Truth to Power: a Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence in 1955. It looks like Christians are deeply divided over loyalty to the gospel and loyalty to the President/state. Here is a chance to speak truth to power. And there will be a cost.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Psalm 71:1-6
A Refuge
The psalmist finds safety in the presence of God, praying, “In you, O Lord, I take refuge…be to me a rock of refuge.”
Esau McCaulley writes in his memoir about finding a refuge in sports, growing up in the American South. He remembers, "Coaches, often more than clergy, served as our counselors and therapists. We would go into their offices and tell them about our girl problems or issues at home that made practice difficult. They knew when we couldn’t afford cleats or when there wasn’t enough food to keep our growing bodies well fed. They carried us kicking and screaming through high school. Sports were a gateway drug to education. If the coach found out that we’d missed an assignment, he’d punish us by giving us extra laps. It was a well-known rule that if you skipped class on game day you might not get to play that evening. We feared our coaches’ wrath more than our teachers’. That’s what those outside our community didn’t understand. We weren’t dumb or incapable. We just needed a reason to believe, and sports were that chance.”
Looking back, he remembers, “Sports did more than inspire us to stay in school; they served as an actual refuge. Practice kept us off the streets and under supervision. For working-class parents, the gap from three-thirty to five-thirty pm — between the end of school and the end of their shifts — is fraught with danger. It’s no coincidence that a significant proportion of juvenile crime happens during those afternoon hours. What better time to break into a home than when you know the owners aren’t present? What better time to settle scores than when you catch someone walking home alone after school? Practice did more than improve our skills; it extended our safety until the evening." (From How Far to the Promised Land)
McCaulley gives us a practical example of the way we find refuge in the world, and in God’s people.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
What Kind of Silence?
When God calls Jeremiah, Jeremiah protests that he doesn’t have anything to say. He silences himself until God gives him the words he needs to say.
Cole Arthur Riley notes that there are different kinds of silence in our spiritual lives. “I have a complicated relationship to silence. For those of us who have known a silence that wasn’t chosen but was demanded or imposed, it can be difficult to think of silence as healing. There are those who would tell you that silence is the only way to encounter the self, that it is the most credible way to encounter God or the divine or a truth. I’m wary of this. I think the truest thing that can be said is that silence can be both a harbor and a threat.”
She continues, “A threat in how it has been weaponized across time as a way to silence the most vulnerable truth-tellers among us. Perhaps you have heard Audre Lorde’s famous words, ‘Your silence will not protect you.’ There's a kind of silencing that has long been instituted by the tyrant, which says keep quiet or else. And a kind of self-silencing practiced by those whose voices have been threatened or disregarded throughout history, which says I cannot afford the cost of speaking.”
God offers a different kind of silence, one filled with sacred words.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
Vulnerable in His Hometown
Author Christine Sine notes that being vulnerable is a vital aspect of how God works, first making the divine self defenseless in a human body.
She explains, “Our Creator always comes to us in ways that open the possibility of attack, abuse, and woundedness. In fact, that is very much the story of God revealed in Jesus Christ. An unexpected and vulnerable Messiah revealing an unexpected and vulnerable God. Why, I wonder, did the immense and magnificent Creator of the universe decide to be manifested in a child born at the margins of the empire, vulnerable not just to the usual scourges of diseases and poverty, but also to the possibility of death, even in his conception because his mother was unwed?”
In Luke, Jesus makes himself vulnerable to the people in his hometown, telling them the truth and risking his safety. Sine says, "It is hard for us to understand a powerful God who comes in such vulnerability, yet in this God we place our hope. Not only is God in the midst of our uncertainty; they are calling us into it. I find this very challenging. It is often in the margins of our lives, including our uncertainty, where we meet Jesus again and again. This is the God whose presence will one day fill our world, bringing renewal and transformation.”(from Celtic Advent: Following an Unfamiliar Path)
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
Encountering Hate
When he preaches to his hometown folks, Jesus encounters a kind of disapproval that spreads quickly in our day, most often online. Author Blair Glaser gives us some advice for when it happens to us. “Though she knew better, memoirist Suzanne Roberts (Animal Bodies; Bad Tourist) bit into the forbidden apple of Goodreads reviews. In a resultant Facebook post, she shared how she dealt with the ‘cesspool of not-so-nice things’ readers had to say: she took one particularly egregious insult and made it into a mug. She now enjoys her morning coffee in a cup labeled ‘Self-righteous Slut.’” Glaser says, “I call that move humor judo: transmuting the negative energy of your opponent by owning their insult and infusing it with humor.”
We don’t hear that Jesus used humor in this situation, although he did practice a lovely spiritual indifference to the opinions of the crowd.
Glaser says, “Hate, once it hits you, can infect you like a virus. It can shut you down, interfere with your sleep, make your body ache, and usurp your thoughts for hours, sometimes days, as you work through imaginary rebuttals to strangers who don’t deserve your time or energy.” Jesus wastes exactly zero time on this, and we can learn from his wisdom here.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
When Hate is Not Available
Jesus has enough spiritual strength not to be overwhelmed by the anger of the crowd after he speaks. He doesn’t become hateful — or even swayed from his work. Activist Ruby Sales remembers the spiritual armor she carried into the Civil Rights movement. She says, “I grew up in the heart of Southern apartheid. And I’m not saying that I didn’t realize that it existed, but our parents were spiritual geniuses who created a world and a language where the notion that I was inadequate or inferior or less than never touched my consciousness. I grew up believing that I was a first-class human being and a first-class person, and our parents were spiritual geniuses who were able to shape a counterculture of black folk religion that raised us from disposability to being essential players in society. And it also taught us something serene about love. ‘I love everybody. I love everybody. I love everybody in my heart.’ And so ‘hate’ was not anything in our vocabulary.” She exemplifies the spiritual strength that Jesus carries into his hometown.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
The Jesus Behind the Mask
When Jesus comes to Nazareth, people expect him to act in a particular way. They have labels for him, like teacher, local boy, carpenter, and perhaps the label of his uncertain parentage. Definitely not the label of messiah. And not the label of truth-teller. They can only see him with the ideas they already have. As Rachel Naomi Remen says, “A label is a mask life wears. We put labels on life all the time. ‘Right,’ ‘wrong,’ ‘success,’ ‘failure...’ Labeling sets up an expectation of life that is often so compelling we can no longer see things as they really are. This expectation often gives us a false sense of familiarity toward something that is really new and unprecedented. We are in relationship with our expectations and not with life itself.” (from Kitchen Table Wisdom)
Jesus is all about breaking out of the familiar to reveal the holy.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Luke 4:21-30
The good news is not owned by one person or one people. Jesus does not preach “Nazareth First.” If we are meant to preach the gospel then we are going to be sent to the immigrant, stranger, the marginal, and the strange. God wants us to have compassion and mercy, as Bishop Buddy said, before some people wanted to throw her off the cliff. The Hebrew word for this is racham. It means tenderness and has roots that mean womb. It carries with it the meaning of the covenantal love between God and God’s people, like a mother loves her chid. It is echoed in Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Psalm 71, for our God knows us from the womb, and loves us tenderly.
This kind of kindred love is what we should practice toward all humanity — and yet we try to differentiate from one another in ways that are silly. Do we not all come from the womb? Are we not all beloved? How can we practice belovedness?
* * *
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Noise
There is a lot of noise these days. An especially loud noise has been sounded about all federal funds being stopped for all grants. This has broad impacts on colleges, research universities, disease centers, loans, WIC, Snap, — any and all programs relating to DEI, the Green New Deal, construction and refurbishment, and more. These are decisions made without love, for they affect so many layers of people. They are made to add to the noise of the world, to add to anxiety, to create chaos.
What is needed are conversations constructed, organized, and put together in love. That is, after all, what is at the heart of community. Church, when done well, has love at its heart. Community, voting, civil rights, and community organizing all have love at the heart of them. Back Girl in Maine discusses how successful actions come when neighbors take care of one another, making sure no one is forgotten. Love is at the heart of successful action, as this study showed that nonviolent actions were most likely to end tyranny as opposed to violent ones. Love is the key to change. Otherwise, it’s all just noise.
* * *
Psalm 71:1-6
If you ever have a day you want to hide under the covers, Psalm 71 is for you. It indicates that it is okay to take time to rest and take sanctuary. It is okay to gather your strength, to lean on God. We don’t have to do it all on our own. In fact, God is with all of us. We are meant to do things together, and to take time to take Sabbath, to rest and to heal before we face the world again. If we are children of God, then we have a right to take solace. God rested, and God is our model.
It reminds me of an old joke where a pastor said that if the devil works seven days a week, then they would, too. The pastor was then gently reminded that the devil was not the model the pastor was supposed to be following. So take heart, rest, heal, lean on God.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Enough?
It is very easy to feel like what we are doing is not enough. What can we do in the midst of what is going on right here and right now? It reminds me of Tolkien’s hobbits, which were the antithesis of war and violence. “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” (Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien.) And so here we are with Jeremiah, doing what we can with the time we have, knowing that we may be too young, too old, or too small like hobbits, but it will be enough.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: In you, O God, we take refuge from shame.
All: In your righteousness deliver us and rescue us.
One: Incline your ear to us and bring us salvation.
All: Be our rock of refuge; our strong fortress.
One: You, O God, are our hope and our trust.
All: On you we have leaned from the moment of our birth.
OR
One: Come and hear what God has to say to us today.
All: We open our ears and our hearts to the voice of God.
One: It may come in a song, a scripture, a sermon, or a face.
All: We anticipate that God will speak and we will listen.
One: As we seek the God who seeks us we will not be disappointed.
All: In joy we come to meet with our God and Savior.
Hymns and Songs
For the Fruits of This Creation
UMH: 97
H82: 424
PH: 553
GTG: 36
NCH: 425
CH: 714
LBW: 563
ELW: 679
W&P: 723
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
GTG: 12
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
GTG: 65
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52/53/65
If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee
UMH: 142
H82: 635
PH: 282
GTG: 816
NCH: 410
LBW: 453
ELW: 769
W&P: 429
Word of God, Come Down on Earth
UMH: 182
H82: 633
ELW: 510
Tú Has Venido a la Orilla (Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore)
UMH: 344
PH: 377
CH: 342
W&P: 347
Here I Am, Lord
UMH: 593
PH: 525
GTG: 69
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELW: 574
W&P: 559
Renew: 149
Lord, You Give the Great Commission
UMH: 584
H82: 528
PH: 429
GTG: 298
CH: 459
ELW: 579
W&P: 592
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
UMH: 382
AAHH: 449
NNBH: 206
CH: 588
W&P: 486
AMEC: 345
Jesus Calls Us
UMH: 398
H82: 549/550
GTG: 720
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171/172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELW: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
You Satisfy the Hungry Heart
UMH: 629
PH: 521
GTG: 523
CH: 429
ELW: 484
W&P: 705
God Is so Good
CCB: 75
I Love You, Lord
CCB: 14
Renew: 36
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 speaks and creation comes into being:
Grant us the wisdom to listen for you to speak again to us
through your word, your Christ, and all creation:
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the one who speaks and all creation comes into being. All that is comes from your Word. Help us to listen for you as you speak through scripture, your Christ, and all creation. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we fail to listen for God speaking to us.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You speak to us continually and yet we fail to listen. You have given us the scriptures which tell of your love relationship with all creation but we would rather hear our thoughts echoed in the texts than hear you speak. You sent your Christ to teach us by his words and by his life what it means to listen to you and to follow the path of life but hear only our own ideas. You made all creation to reflect your glory and teach of you but we see it only as something to use for our greed. Forgive us and renew you Spirit within us that we may truly listen to the call of our Shepherd. Amen.
One: God desires to call all creation home. Listen for God’s voice and share what you hear with others.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God who seeks to be in communion with all creation. We worship you because you are the creator who cares for all you have made. We lift our hearts in praise to you.
(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 speak to us continually and yet we fail to listen. You have given us the scriptures which tell of your love relationship with all creation but we would rather hear our thoughts echoed in the texts than hear you speak. You sent your Christ to teach us by his words and by his life what it means to listen to you and to follow the path of life but hear only our own ideas. You made all creation to reflect your glory and teach of you but we see it only as something to use for our greed. Forgive us and renew you Spirit within us that we may truly listen to the call of our Shepherd.
We give you thanks for your constant presence with us. You come among us and share our lives with us. You know the joys of our hearts and our heartaches. You bless us with your voice that resounds through all that you have made. You speak to us in sacred text and in holy conversations. You speak to us in the depths of our hearts, and we are grateful.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
As we listen to you we hear the cries of your children. There are those we know, those we have heard about, and those who are known only to you. We lift up to your grace those who are sick, those who are dying, and those who mourn. We lift up to you those who are locked in fear and those who are bound by violence. We hold in our hearts those who are hungry, unhoused, and in want. As we lift them up to your gracious love, we ask that you would help us to reach out and be your presence and your voice for them.
(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
Loving Unconditionally
by Dean Feldmeyer
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
You will need: Enough paper hearts to distribute to the children: some red, some yellow, some black, some white, some brown, and other colors representing the different races.
As the children come forward, distribute the paper hearts to them, one to each person.
SAY:
Today we're going to learn a new song, a song that was popular when I was a child. It goes like this:
Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and Yellow, Black and White,
They are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Did you hear that? Jesus loves all children, actually all people. And he loves them no matter what color their skin is. The song says red, yellow, black, and white, but it means, "all colors." Jesus loves everyone. And Jesus wants us to love everyone, too, no matter what color their skin is.
So, let's all sing the song and this time, when we come to the color you're holding, hold it up, okay? Okay, here we go.
Sing through the song, pausing so the children can raise their colors, then keep moving.
The second time, invite the congregation to sing along while the kids raise their colored hearts.
Then repeat:
Jesus loves all people, but especially the little children. And he loves them no matter what color their skin is.
End with a brief prayer, thanking Jesus for his unconditional love and pledging to love others unconditionally.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 2, 2025 issue.
Copyright 2025 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.
- Love Notes To The Powerful by Chris Keating. Jesus' sermon to his hometown crowd provides a reminder of what Rev. William Barbour has called "the terrible joy" of preaching. (Barbour, foreword to How To Preach a Dangerous Sermon by Frank Thomas.)
- Second Thoughts: The Costs Of Following Jesus by Tom Willadsen based on Luke 4:21-30 and Jeremiah 1:4-10.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin and Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children’s sermon: Loving Unconditionally by Dean Feldmeyer based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.
- More to come...
Love Notes To The Powerfulby Chris Keating
Luke 4:21-30, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Jesus’ sermon to his hometown crowd provides a reminder of what Rev. William Barbour has called “the terrible joy” of preaching. (Barbour, foreword to How To Preach a Dangerous Sermon by Frank Thomas.)
The words are barely out of Jesus’ mouth when the air turns frigid, and the crowd is hot with anger. Pretty soon they’re ready to deport him right off a cliff.
Something similar happened in Washington, DC, last week. The air was cold and a chill was present during the inauguration of President Donald Trump — though the temperature was only partly to blame. The 14-degree wind chill seemed mild to the frosty air inside the National Cathedral on the day after the inauguration. During an interfaith prayer service, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde addressed the proverbial elephant in the room. In this case, that elephant was the president’s persistent lashing out against immigrants and LGBTQ persons.
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said. Trump later said he didn’t find the service inspiring and went on to suggest Budde owed him an apology. For her part, Budde believes she was attempting to address the entrenched culture of contempt afflicting the nation.
Barbour says that to preach is to have a quarrel with the world, though for Budde that seems to be a lover’s quarrel glazed with truth many cannot accept. It embodies the love imagined by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 as well as the words of Jesus, which the crowd finds both stirring and upsetting. Jesus’ words stir the crowd not because he finds them contemptible, but because he calls them to pursue the challenges of grace and mercy. Paul reminds us that such speech includes the hard truth of being an adult. Unlike political power, it seeks nothing in return.
Budde’s sermon challenged the President and the nation to pursue mercy. She spoke hard words of love to those whom she knew would dismiss her ideas, yet who had also been granted great power. Her sermon remains a reminder of the costly nature of agape love and invites the church to ponder the terrible joys of preaching.
There was a cold chill present in Washington, DC, during last week’s inauguration, though most of that was not caused by meteorological factors. The Arctic weather forced most of President Donald Trump’s inaugural activities indoors, though the temperatures were not as low as the inaugurations of some of his predecessors.
Yet the 14-degree Fahrenheit wind chill was nothing compared to the frosty air inside the National Cathedral on the day after the inauguration. During an interfaith prayer service, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde preached a sermon on unity in service of the common good. She concluded by addressing President Trump and Vice President JD Vance directly, with a call to mercy.
“With a commitment to unity that incorporates diversity and transcends disagreement, and the solid foundations of dignity, honesty, and humility that such unity requires, we can do our part, in our time, to help realize the ideals and the dream of America,” Budde said.
She then added:
Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are transgender children in both Republican and Democrat families who fear for their lives.
In the News
Bishop Budde’s plea for mercy came at the tail end of a sermon preached during an interfaith service of prayer for the nation held at the National Cathedral the day after Trump’s inauguration. The service is a tradition at the Cathedral, which has hosted 10 services over the years in conjunction with the inaugural activities.
It was announced in October that this year’s would not include a preacher selected by the newly elected president but would instead be focused on shared purpose, the well-being of the country, and healing. At the time, the Dean of the Cathedral announced that the plans for the 2025 inauguration had changed.
“This will not be a service for a new administration,” said Dean Randy Hollerith. “Rather, whichever party wins, this will be a service for all Americans, for the well-being of our nation, for our democracy, and the importance of the core values that must undergird our democracy.”
It quickly became known as the “sermon heard ’round the world.” Bishop Budde’s original sermon included three elements she felt are critical to national unity: dignity, honesty, and humility. After hearing the President’s own inauguration speech, Budde decided to add mercy as a fourth point.
Throughout Monday night, Budde said she kept looking for a way to bring into the room those who do not share the President’s vision of unity.
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President,” Budde said. “Millions have put their trust in you. As you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” Included in her concerns were transgender children “in both Republican and Democrat families,” and immigrant laborers. “They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques, and synagogues, gurdwara, and temples,” she continued.
As she faced Trump and Vice President Vance directly, Budde said she was imagining those whose lives could be disrupted the most by the administration’s changes in policies regarding immigration, refugees, and healthcare for transgender persons.
“I wanted to bring them into the room, to help evoke the images of actual people, rather than broad categories or characterizations,” Bishop Budde told The New Yorker. Trump’s face showed little emotion during the 15-minute sermon, turning only briefly to speak with Vance.
Upon returning to the White House, Trump was asked what he thought of the service. “Not too exciting, was it?” he told reporters. He later excoriated the bishop on Truth Social, calling her a “so-called Bishop,” who “brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way.” He characterized the service as “uninspiring,” and her tone as “nasty” and uncompelling. He said the public was due an apology.
Trump branded her a “Radical left hard-line Trump hater.” Georgia congressman Mike Collins took it a step further and suggested Trump should place Budde on a deportation list.
Others denounced the bishop, with some lawmakers calling her a political activist, and evangelical Franklin Graham suggesting the cathedral had been “taken over by gay activists.” Others suggested that this is what happens when women are allowed to preach. One Baptist social media influencer questioned her authority to preach to men and used the bishop as a reason why the Southern Baptist Convention should vote to prohibit any congregation from being in fellowship with a church that allows women to preach.
An Idaho pastor said that Budde’s leadership is an example of a “cancer that unleashes untethered empathy in the church and spills over into society.”
One could almost hear shades of comedian Dana Carvey’s character the Church Lady leaning in to say, “Well, isn’t that special?”
Bishop Budde’s comments came during the last four minutes of her 15-minute sermon. Citing Jesus’ parable of the person who built a house on a rock foundation (Matthew 7:24-29), Budde reminded the congregation that praying for unity during a solemn occasion may be “relatively easy,” though harder to achieve when faced with real differences in the public arena. “But without unity,” she said, “we are building our nation’s house on sand.”
Her sermon, much like Jesus’ own inaugural homily in Luke 4:18-20, was a reminder of the centrality of God’s mercy and peace, a proclamation of good news to all held by oppression’s ever-tightening grasp.
In the Scripture
This week’s lectionary passages describe our response to God’s claim on our lives. The texts from Luke and 1 Corinthians are heard in concert with the call of Jeremiah. These are prophetic words, reminders that all of life is lived before God. “The poetic form of prophetic oracle,” wrote Walter Brueggemann, “is to engage in redescription, reconstrual, and reimagination of human life in the world as lived before a sovereign, attentive God” (Brueggemann, Reverberations of Faith, p. 160). They are an invitation to live faithfully before God.
Such an invitation requires a change in us, as those listening to Jesus’ sermon in the synagogue discover. At first, they are enamored with pride at his words, amazed by the gracious things this son of their village said. They acknowledge the goodness of God’s claim on his life — until they begin wrestling with the implications of his announcement.
They nod their approval, asking each other, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” Luke, however, wants us to recall the identity confirmed upon Jesus during his baptism in 3:22. As God’s beloved, Jesus will not be constrained to small-town Nazareth. He knows he’s headed to the major leagues, empowered by a vision far greater than provincial concern. He links his call to the broad visions of Elijah and Elisha, who demonstrated the breadth of God’s mercy.
That’s when things go bad. The crowd immediately votes to deport him — straight off the nearest cliff. Prophets direct our attention to the outsiders and those on the margins, enlarging the vision of those concerned only with people like themselves. The crowd rises up and attempts to seize control of the situation. But God will not be constrained, and Jesus passes through their anger. He lives to be crucified another day.
1 Corinthians 13, likewise, delivers an unexpected homiletical punch. Having associated these verses with the loveliness of weddings, we may have a hard time hearing them without envisioning flowers and frills. But Paul writes to people who have not allowed love to grow and who have severed the relationships of Christian fellowship. Such hostility and lack of mercy fail to live up to the calling of God. God’s grace has enriched them “in every way” (1 Corinthians 1:4), yet they have allowed quarrels and factions to grow.
Paul tells them that the love of God in Christ calls them to live with graciousness, empathy, mercy, and enduring hope. By denigrating the gifts of others, the Corinthians have elevated their own privilege and status. They have failed to embody the outward, other-affirming love made visible in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. This love, as so many theologians have affirmed, is not an emotion but is instead an action. It dwells in the conviction to live faithfully.
When twinned, the passages from Luke and 1 Corinthians are like an early Valentine’s card to the church. They speak words of loving hope and possibility and are a call to those who believe power and authority are the path to human flourishing. Jesus slips away from the mob, only to one day find his way back to the cross. He speaks in love that brings liberation. His life embodies the love that Paul calls the church to seek — a love that rejoices in truth and makes room for all.
In the Sermon
The immediate fervor over Bishop Budde’s remarks may have calmed a bit by the first Sunday in February. But the circumstances that prompted her call to mercy will certainly continue to be relevant as ICE raids ramp up and executive orders keep getting signed. Vice President JD Vance questioned the motives of the Conference of US Catholic Bishops in criticizing Trump’s immigration policies. In an interview on Face the Nation, Vance wondered if the bishops were more concerned about boosting their bottom line from federal refugee resettlement grants than about acts of charity.
It’s possible that preaching on love on the first Sunday in the month of love would provide an opportunity to consider the church’s calling. Bishop Budde did not speak with a haughty or damning tone. Instead, she stood biblically with prophets whose witness proclaimed truth to evil-saturated power. She also stands with many other Americans who were able to use their proximity to the president as a call to reflection. In 1985, Holocaust survivor, author, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel silenced a crowd in the Roosevelt Room of the White House by imploring then-President Ronald Reagan to cancel a visit to a German cemetery where Nazi officers were buried. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood firm in pushing President Lyndon B. Johnson toward greater action on civil rights. Singer Eartha Kitt ruined her career by speaking out against President Johnson’s stance on Vietnam.
Ah, you say, “truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a pastor in a congregation that leans more red than blue.” It’s not an uncommon or even unrealistic sentiment. Go back and read Jeremiah 1:4-10, and then go and listen to Bishop Budde’s sermon in its entirety. Listen for her calm, yet urgent voice. Consider the shape of your call and the love you have experienced from your church members. 1 Corinthians 13 deserves to be heard outside of weddings, just as Jesus’ confrontation with the hometown crowd invites our reflection. Let these words shape a call to renew your ministry. Allow them to become a pathway to proclaiming words of jubilee hope in a world ravaged by a drought of mercy.
* * * * *
SECOND THOUGHTSThe Costs Of Following Jesus
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 4:21-30, Jeremiah 1:4-10
In the Scripture
Jesus is preaching in his hometown. He’s been working the circuit, visiting other small-town synagogues in the region. He’s been getting a lot of buzz. Nazareth, his home synagogue, the people who watched him grow up, isn’t a tall steeple, by any means, but it’s special. The ladies who fed him saltines when he was in the nursery while his parents were upstairs for Sabbath worship are there. And he’s all grown up. He starts off strong. (That’s where last week’s gospel lesson ended.) Then he turns.
If you’ve ever received anonymous mail from an angry parishioner, you know when the turn comes. Usually, it’s the first sentence of the second paragraph — after
Pastor, when you arrived here, the wife and I were really impressed by a., b., and c. We had high hopes that finally we’d found the young leader who…
you read:
So we were alarmed and disappointed when you d. We are withdrawing from participation and withholding any financial support to the church until you are removed from office, having brought scandal and disgrace….
Jesus’ synagogue reacted the same way: “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is this not Joseph’s son?’” (Luke 4:22, NRSV)
Then Jesus turned on them, inverting their pride at having raised such a prominent and well-regarded preacher and healer. That’s today’s lection from Luke. To summarize Jesus’ message: “You people think you’re God’s chosen people, but you’re wrong. Listen to these examples of God loving those people, other people.” His people were enraged. They called an emergency meeting of the Session and formed a lynch mob, which he somehow evaded.
Jeremiah’s call includes the expected elements of a call from the Lord in the Hebrew Bible.
Jeremiah is addressed by the Lord.
Jeremiah resists God’s call.
Jeremiah’s objection is overruled.
Jeremiah is reassured of God’s presence.
Jeremiah is touched by the living God.
Finally, Jeremiah is given a task, a commission.
Jeremiah suffered enormously for speaking God’s word. More than any prophet, he expressed to God his feelings of humiliation and abandonment. There is another current example of someone suffering for preaching God’s word.
In the News
Last month, there was the rare moment when a mainline Protestant preacher was in the news, and not for some kind of scandal. Mainliners’ numbers and influence have been waning for decades, but when the Right Reverend Mariann Budde presided at an interfaith prayer service at the National Cathedral the day after the Presidential Inauguration, January 20, 2025, we reappeared in the news cycle.
Some of the best, most memorable advice I ever received about preaching comes from an unpublished essay by David Westerberg. David is a gifted preacher and a wise and trusted colleague, and my seminary roommate:
Preach to the people in front of you. Don’t preach to people who are not there. For example, don’t preach to the President of the United States — unless the president is sitting in the sanctuary.
I was reminded of these words when news of remarks delivered by the Rt. Rev. Budde got media attention. Here is the part people have reacted to with the most passion. The Bishop addressed the President in the front row as she said:
In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. We’re scared now. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.
In the Sermon
There are costs for those who seek to follow Jesus. Speaking truth to power, as Jeremiah and Jesus did in today’s readings, as Gandhi and many Americans did in the Civil Rights era, as Mariann Budde did to President Trump and others on January 21, is perilous. Yet, is asking the most powerful person on earth to be merciful to vulnerable people really that much of a stretch for followers of Jesus?
Speaking truth to power has a long history. The ancient Greek philosophers called it “parresia,” literally “candid speech.” Gandhi was famous for invoking “satyagraha” or “truth-force.” Civil rights leader Bayard Rustin co-authored a pamphlet for the American Friends Service Committee titled Speak Truth to Power: a Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence in 1955. It looks like Christians are deeply divided over loyalty to the gospel and loyalty to the President/state. Here is a chance to speak truth to power. And there will be a cost.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Psalm 71:1-6
A Refuge
The psalmist finds safety in the presence of God, praying, “In you, O Lord, I take refuge…be to me a rock of refuge.”
Esau McCaulley writes in his memoir about finding a refuge in sports, growing up in the American South. He remembers, "Coaches, often more than clergy, served as our counselors and therapists. We would go into their offices and tell them about our girl problems or issues at home that made practice difficult. They knew when we couldn’t afford cleats or when there wasn’t enough food to keep our growing bodies well fed. They carried us kicking and screaming through high school. Sports were a gateway drug to education. If the coach found out that we’d missed an assignment, he’d punish us by giving us extra laps. It was a well-known rule that if you skipped class on game day you might not get to play that evening. We feared our coaches’ wrath more than our teachers’. That’s what those outside our community didn’t understand. We weren’t dumb or incapable. We just needed a reason to believe, and sports were that chance.”
Looking back, he remembers, “Sports did more than inspire us to stay in school; they served as an actual refuge. Practice kept us off the streets and under supervision. For working-class parents, the gap from three-thirty to five-thirty pm — between the end of school and the end of their shifts — is fraught with danger. It’s no coincidence that a significant proportion of juvenile crime happens during those afternoon hours. What better time to break into a home than when you know the owners aren’t present? What better time to settle scores than when you catch someone walking home alone after school? Practice did more than improve our skills; it extended our safety until the evening." (From How Far to the Promised Land)
McCaulley gives us a practical example of the way we find refuge in the world, and in God’s people.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
What Kind of Silence?
When God calls Jeremiah, Jeremiah protests that he doesn’t have anything to say. He silences himself until God gives him the words he needs to say.
Cole Arthur Riley notes that there are different kinds of silence in our spiritual lives. “I have a complicated relationship to silence. For those of us who have known a silence that wasn’t chosen but was demanded or imposed, it can be difficult to think of silence as healing. There are those who would tell you that silence is the only way to encounter the self, that it is the most credible way to encounter God or the divine or a truth. I’m wary of this. I think the truest thing that can be said is that silence can be both a harbor and a threat.”
She continues, “A threat in how it has been weaponized across time as a way to silence the most vulnerable truth-tellers among us. Perhaps you have heard Audre Lorde’s famous words, ‘Your silence will not protect you.’ There's a kind of silencing that has long been instituted by the tyrant, which says keep quiet or else. And a kind of self-silencing practiced by those whose voices have been threatened or disregarded throughout history, which says I cannot afford the cost of speaking.”
God offers a different kind of silence, one filled with sacred words.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
Vulnerable in His Hometown
Author Christine Sine notes that being vulnerable is a vital aspect of how God works, first making the divine self defenseless in a human body.
She explains, “Our Creator always comes to us in ways that open the possibility of attack, abuse, and woundedness. In fact, that is very much the story of God revealed in Jesus Christ. An unexpected and vulnerable Messiah revealing an unexpected and vulnerable God. Why, I wonder, did the immense and magnificent Creator of the universe decide to be manifested in a child born at the margins of the empire, vulnerable not just to the usual scourges of diseases and poverty, but also to the possibility of death, even in his conception because his mother was unwed?”
In Luke, Jesus makes himself vulnerable to the people in his hometown, telling them the truth and risking his safety. Sine says, "It is hard for us to understand a powerful God who comes in such vulnerability, yet in this God we place our hope. Not only is God in the midst of our uncertainty; they are calling us into it. I find this very challenging. It is often in the margins of our lives, including our uncertainty, where we meet Jesus again and again. This is the God whose presence will one day fill our world, bringing renewal and transformation.”(from Celtic Advent: Following an Unfamiliar Path)
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
Encountering Hate
When he preaches to his hometown folks, Jesus encounters a kind of disapproval that spreads quickly in our day, most often online. Author Blair Glaser gives us some advice for when it happens to us. “Though she knew better, memoirist Suzanne Roberts (Animal Bodies; Bad Tourist) bit into the forbidden apple of Goodreads reviews. In a resultant Facebook post, she shared how she dealt with the ‘cesspool of not-so-nice things’ readers had to say: she took one particularly egregious insult and made it into a mug. She now enjoys her morning coffee in a cup labeled ‘Self-righteous Slut.’” Glaser says, “I call that move humor judo: transmuting the negative energy of your opponent by owning their insult and infusing it with humor.”
We don’t hear that Jesus used humor in this situation, although he did practice a lovely spiritual indifference to the opinions of the crowd.
Glaser says, “Hate, once it hits you, can infect you like a virus. It can shut you down, interfere with your sleep, make your body ache, and usurp your thoughts for hours, sometimes days, as you work through imaginary rebuttals to strangers who don’t deserve your time or energy.” Jesus wastes exactly zero time on this, and we can learn from his wisdom here.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
When Hate is Not Available
Jesus has enough spiritual strength not to be overwhelmed by the anger of the crowd after he speaks. He doesn’t become hateful — or even swayed from his work. Activist Ruby Sales remembers the spiritual armor she carried into the Civil Rights movement. She says, “I grew up in the heart of Southern apartheid. And I’m not saying that I didn’t realize that it existed, but our parents were spiritual geniuses who created a world and a language where the notion that I was inadequate or inferior or less than never touched my consciousness. I grew up believing that I was a first-class human being and a first-class person, and our parents were spiritual geniuses who were able to shape a counterculture of black folk religion that raised us from disposability to being essential players in society. And it also taught us something serene about love. ‘I love everybody. I love everybody. I love everybody in my heart.’ And so ‘hate’ was not anything in our vocabulary.” She exemplifies the spiritual strength that Jesus carries into his hometown.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
The Jesus Behind the Mask
When Jesus comes to Nazareth, people expect him to act in a particular way. They have labels for him, like teacher, local boy, carpenter, and perhaps the label of his uncertain parentage. Definitely not the label of messiah. And not the label of truth-teller. They can only see him with the ideas they already have. As Rachel Naomi Remen says, “A label is a mask life wears. We put labels on life all the time. ‘Right,’ ‘wrong,’ ‘success,’ ‘failure...’ Labeling sets up an expectation of life that is often so compelling we can no longer see things as they really are. This expectation often gives us a false sense of familiarity toward something that is really new and unprecedented. We are in relationship with our expectations and not with life itself.” (from Kitchen Table Wisdom)
Jesus is all about breaking out of the familiar to reveal the holy.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:Luke 4:21-30
The good news is not owned by one person or one people. Jesus does not preach “Nazareth First.” If we are meant to preach the gospel then we are going to be sent to the immigrant, stranger, the marginal, and the strange. God wants us to have compassion and mercy, as Bishop Buddy said, before some people wanted to throw her off the cliff. The Hebrew word for this is racham. It means tenderness and has roots that mean womb. It carries with it the meaning of the covenantal love between God and God’s people, like a mother loves her chid. It is echoed in Jeremiah 1:4-10 and Psalm 71, for our God knows us from the womb, and loves us tenderly.
This kind of kindred love is what we should practice toward all humanity — and yet we try to differentiate from one another in ways that are silly. Do we not all come from the womb? Are we not all beloved? How can we practice belovedness?
* * *
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Noise
There is a lot of noise these days. An especially loud noise has been sounded about all federal funds being stopped for all grants. This has broad impacts on colleges, research universities, disease centers, loans, WIC, Snap, — any and all programs relating to DEI, the Green New Deal, construction and refurbishment, and more. These are decisions made without love, for they affect so many layers of people. They are made to add to the noise of the world, to add to anxiety, to create chaos.
What is needed are conversations constructed, organized, and put together in love. That is, after all, what is at the heart of community. Church, when done well, has love at its heart. Community, voting, civil rights, and community organizing all have love at the heart of them. Back Girl in Maine discusses how successful actions come when neighbors take care of one another, making sure no one is forgotten. Love is at the heart of successful action, as this study showed that nonviolent actions were most likely to end tyranny as opposed to violent ones. Love is the key to change. Otherwise, it’s all just noise.
* * *
Psalm 71:1-6
If you ever have a day you want to hide under the covers, Psalm 71 is for you. It indicates that it is okay to take time to rest and take sanctuary. It is okay to gather your strength, to lean on God. We don’t have to do it all on our own. In fact, God is with all of us. We are meant to do things together, and to take time to take Sabbath, to rest and to heal before we face the world again. If we are children of God, then we have a right to take solace. God rested, and God is our model.
It reminds me of an old joke where a pastor said that if the devil works seven days a week, then they would, too. The pastor was then gently reminded that the devil was not the model the pastor was supposed to be following. So take heart, rest, heal, lean on God.
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Jeremiah 1:4-10
Enough?
It is very easy to feel like what we are doing is not enough. What can we do in the midst of what is going on right here and right now? It reminds me of Tolkien’s hobbits, which were the antithesis of war and violence. “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” (Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien.) And so here we are with Jeremiah, doing what we can with the time we have, knowing that we may be too young, too old, or too small like hobbits, but it will be enough.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: In you, O God, we take refuge from shame.
All: In your righteousness deliver us and rescue us.
One: Incline your ear to us and bring us salvation.
All: Be our rock of refuge; our strong fortress.
One: You, O God, are our hope and our trust.
All: On you we have leaned from the moment of our birth.
OR
One: Come and hear what God has to say to us today.
All: We open our ears and our hearts to the voice of God.
One: It may come in a song, a scripture, a sermon, or a face.
All: We anticipate that God will speak and we will listen.
One: As we seek the God who seeks us we will not be disappointed.
All: In joy we come to meet with our God and Savior.
Hymns and Songs
For the Fruits of This Creation
UMH: 97
H82: 424
PH: 553
GTG: 36
NCH: 425
CH: 714
LBW: 563
ELW: 679
W&P: 723
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
GTG: 12
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
GTG: 65
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52/53/65
If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee
UMH: 142
H82: 635
PH: 282
GTG: 816
NCH: 410
LBW: 453
ELW: 769
W&P: 429
Word of God, Come Down on Earth
UMH: 182
H82: 633
ELW: 510
Tú Has Venido a la Orilla (Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore)
UMH: 344
PH: 377
CH: 342
W&P: 347
Here I Am, Lord
UMH: 593
PH: 525
GTG: 69
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELW: 574
W&P: 559
Renew: 149
Lord, You Give the Great Commission
UMH: 584
H82: 528
PH: 429
GTG: 298
CH: 459
ELW: 579
W&P: 592
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
UMH: 382
AAHH: 449
NNBH: 206
CH: 588
W&P: 486
AMEC: 345
Jesus Calls Us
UMH: 398
H82: 549/550
GTG: 720
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171/172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELW: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
You Satisfy the Hungry Heart
UMH: 629
PH: 521
GTG: 523
CH: 429
ELW: 484
W&P: 705
God Is so Good
CCB: 75
I Love You, Lord
CCB: 14
Renew: 36
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 speaks and creation comes into being:
Grant us the wisdom to listen for you to speak again to us
through your word, your Christ, and all creation:
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are the one who speaks and all creation comes into being. All that is comes from your Word. Help us to listen for you as you speak through scripture, your Christ, and all creation. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we fail to listen for God speaking to us.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You speak to us continually and yet we fail to listen. You have given us the scriptures which tell of your love relationship with all creation but we would rather hear our thoughts echoed in the texts than hear you speak. You sent your Christ to teach us by his words and by his life what it means to listen to you and to follow the path of life but hear only our own ideas. You made all creation to reflect your glory and teach of you but we see it only as something to use for our greed. Forgive us and renew you Spirit within us that we may truly listen to the call of our Shepherd. Amen.
One: God desires to call all creation home. Listen for God’s voice and share what you hear with others.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God who seeks to be in communion with all creation. We worship you because you are the creator who cares for all you have made. We lift our hearts in praise to you.
(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 speak to us continually and yet we fail to listen. You have given us the scriptures which tell of your love relationship with all creation but we would rather hear our thoughts echoed in the texts than hear you speak. You sent your Christ to teach us by his words and by his life what it means to listen to you and to follow the path of life but hear only our own ideas. You made all creation to reflect your glory and teach of you but we see it only as something to use for our greed. Forgive us and renew you Spirit within us that we may truly listen to the call of our Shepherd.
We give you thanks for your constant presence with us. You come among us and share our lives with us. You know the joys of our hearts and our heartaches. You bless us with your voice that resounds through all that you have made. You speak to us in sacred text and in holy conversations. You speak to us in the depths of our hearts, and we are grateful.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
As we listen to you we hear the cries of your children. There are those we know, those we have heard about, and those who are known only to you. We lift up to your grace those who are sick, those who are dying, and those who mourn. We lift up to you those who are locked in fear and those who are bound by violence. We hold in our hearts those who are hungry, unhoused, and in want. As we lift them up to your gracious love, we ask that you would help us to reach out and be your presence and your voice for them.
(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 SERMONLoving Unconditionally
by Dean Feldmeyer
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
You will need: Enough paper hearts to distribute to the children: some red, some yellow, some black, some white, some brown, and other colors representing the different races.
As the children come forward, distribute the paper hearts to them, one to each person.
SAY:
Today we're going to learn a new song, a song that was popular when I was a child. It goes like this:
Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and Yellow, Black and White,
They are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Did you hear that? Jesus loves all children, actually all people. And he loves them no matter what color their skin is. The song says red, yellow, black, and white, but it means, "all colors." Jesus loves everyone. And Jesus wants us to love everyone, too, no matter what color their skin is.
So, let's all sing the song and this time, when we come to the color you're holding, hold it up, okay? Okay, here we go.
Sing through the song, pausing so the children can raise their colors, then keep moving.
The second time, invite the congregation to sing along while the kids raise their colored hearts.
Then repeat:
Jesus loves all people, but especially the little children. And he loves them no matter what color their skin is.
End with a brief prayer, thanking Jesus for his unconditional love and pledging to love others unconditionally.
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The Immediate Word, February 2, 2025 issue.
Copyright 2025 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.
