Naaman and Other Strangers
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For July 7, 2019:
Naaman and other strangers
by Chris Keating
2 Kings 5:1-14, Galatians 6:1-16
Surrounded by the symbols and perks of military success, Naaman strides into the pages of scripture. The sounds of ruffles and flourishes can almost be heard as the great commander assumes control of this narrative from Israel’s history in 2 Kings 5:1-14. He’s a great and powerful man, a military hero held in such high honor that the Deuteronomistic historian reminds readers that Yahweh had given him victory over Israel.
Naaman seizes control of the story from the very beginning. It’s just too bad his skin is not as spotless as his war record.
Two features dominate Naaman’s story: his status as a foreigner, and his leprosy. From the outset we understand that as great and powerful as he may be, Naaman stands outside the covenant community. He is both a stranger and a leper. He may be great and powerful, but as far as the historian is concerned, Naaman has no standing in Israel.
It’s a story of contradictions, filled with more twists and turns than a mountain highway. He’s powerful yet is powerless against his disease. He’s a foreigner yet held in esteem by Yahweh. He’s feared by the king of Israel but also wholly dependent on the help of an unnamed slave girl.
Naaman’s story is a reminder of what’s at stake when neighbors take risks to honor God by bearing each other’s burdens.
In a small town near St. Louis, Missouri, last week, a police officer was shot and killed as he responded to a call about a man trying to pass a bad check. Minutes after encountering the suspect at a convenience store, the police officer was killed. Witnesses said the shooter fled the store, located in a predominantly African American neighborhood.
It’s a tiny town where relationships between the police and the black community have often been uneasy. It’s just five miles from Ferguson, Missouri, where racial tensions boiled over following the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown. This section of north St. Louis is a place filled with contradictions, poverty, crime and distrust. It’s a neighborhood long divided by racial profiling and race-based policing policies.
But it is also the place where a black young woman held the hand of that dying white police officer last Sunday. She stayed with the officer, using his radio to call for help, bearing his burden to fulfill the law of Christ. It’s a place of contradictions not unlike the banks of the River Jordan, where a dripping wet Naaman, a foreigner and a leper, was moved to declare, “I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”
In the News
Bonette Kymbrelle Meeks and Michael Langsdorf had about as much in common as Naaman and Elisha. Meeks, 26, was born in St. Louis but raised in North Carolina. He has a long record of drug convictions, has been in and out of prison, and is unemployed. His father says his son is quiet and often withdrawn.
Langsdorf, 40, on the other hand, was a veteran police officer, former firefighter, twice divorced father of two who was recently engaged to be married again. Fellow police officers remembered him as the type of cop who had an uncanny knack for getting people to talk to police, including suspects.
Last Sunday (June 23), Langsdorf, who was white, was shot after encountering Meeks, who is black, in the parking lot of a minimarket. Strangers to each other, their lives were forever joined by a moment of desperate violence.
Their shared story is different from other stories of violence, including the legions of accounts of unarmed black persons killed by police. Those are the narratives of race-based policing, of profiling and targeting persons of color. Those stories are far too common, which is why the response of the clerks inside the market where Langsdorf was killed may seem surprising.
The tragedy that forever united Officer Langsdorf and Bonette Meeks reflects many of the racial, economic, and social contradictions present in the St. Louis region — even, perhaps, in the United States. Meeks had failed high school but had earned his GED was struggling to get his life back on track. Langsdorf wasn’t immune from struggles, either, but in recent weeks had seen life get better. He had been suspended from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for falsifying overtime records.
Three months ago, he began working again as a police officer, this time for the smaller North County Cooperative Department. Life was looking up: his son graduated from high school, he was engaged, and his beloved St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup.
It was supposed to be a summer of hopeful change for Langsdorf.
Meanwhile, the metropolitan St. Louis region continued to wrestle with its own set of confusing and complex contradictions. For example, even as the Blues were battling for the Stanley Cup, the city mourned the deaths of four different children killed over the course of five days. People flooded the streets to celebrate the Blues while flooding from the Mississippi and other rivers has overwhelmed rural communities.
The contradictions continued that Sunday afternoon as Meeks and another suspect stopped at a neighborhood market in Wellston, a small town just outside the St. Louis city limits. Clerks noted the two were acting strange, mumbling and not talking coherently. Not long afterward, police received a call about someone trying to pass a bad check inside the store. Around 4:30, Officer Langsdorf responded, encountering Meeks in the parking lot. As Langsdorf led Meeks back into the store, the two became embroiled in a scuffle.
Store video shows that seconds later, Meeks took out a gun and began hitting Langsdorf on the head. As the police officer lost control over the suspect, Meeks stood up and shot him once at the back of the neck. Police authorities later called the shooting an “execution.”
When police arrested him, Meeks was still holding the gun used to shoot Langsdorf.
Wellston is one of the poorest cities in Missouri. It’s located just about five miles from the Ferguson, Missouri, neighborhood where Michael Brown was shot by police in 2014, and is surrounded by a cluster of poverty and crime. Like many urban neighborhoods, Wellston has not reaped many benefits from the country’s 121-month record setting economic boom.
Lots and lots of contradictions.
The town has also had a history of questionable policing tactics that left many residents living in fear. After Ferguson, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into the Ferguson Police Department’s policing tactics. The Department of Justice report revealed strong racial biases in Ferguson, and noted that the department had often focused on pursuing revenue at the expense of public safety. Leaders in Wellston and other cities knew the same was true for their towns.
In response, Wellston and its neighbors dissolved their police departments and formed a five-city cooperative department focused on community policing and relationships. The department’s community-centered focus has resulted in better relationships, lower crime, and improved sense of community.
Some of the fruits of that work became evident as Officer Langsdorf was dying.
Inside the store, Lucretia Johnson and another clerk were selling soul food. When Johnson heard gun fire, she and another clerk raced to Langsdorf’s side. She held his hand, and offered assurance. Using his walkie-talkie, one of the clerks told dispatchers that Langsdorf had been shot. “You’ve got an officer down,” she said. She turned her attention back to Langsdorf, holding his hand and saying, “Please stay with me.”
The clerks returned to work the next day, their eyes swollen from tears. They told reporters they knew Langsdorf, and would often joke with him and other officers “like they’re our uncle.”
It’s another contradiction, a reversal of what we’ve come to expect. The stranger becomes the neighbor, the outsider is healed, the unknown becomes the beloved.
In the Scripture
Like many of scripture’s most memorable characters, Naaman is an outsider. Outsiders fill in the blanks of the Bible, illustrating what God seems to mean by loving the neighbor: Ruth was a Moabite, Hagar an Egyptian, the decent guy was a Samaritan, Cornelius was Roman, and so on. We should not be surprised that Naaman is a Syrian.
But Naaman is not just any foreigner; he is a powerful general to whom Yahweh had given victory. This could be an indication of Israel’s understanding of the Lord’s sovereignty, or a recognition that somehow God’s covenant promise will be extended beyond the boundaries of Israel. In either case, the point is made: Naaman is a person of immense power and privilege.
Yet he is also powerless. The dynamics of power are at play in this story. His strength as a commander has no value in fighting leprosy. Moreover, Naaman must rely on the powerless slave girl to find a cure for his condition.
Naaman, however, is a slow learner. When he packs up his battalion of soldiers and heads to Israel, he still believes his power and position will bring him healing. He’s earned this privilege, after all. His power move works on the King of Israel, who trembles at the thought of what this could mean. But Naaman has less success with Elisha, who remains unimpressed by the military commander’s show of strength.
But if Elisha is unimpressed, then Naaman is even less impressed by the prescription. “Go, was in the Jordan seven times,” Elisha has said. Rinse, and repeat. It’s not exactly what Naaman had in mind. “The rivers back home are lush, swift and flowing; and this guy wants me to go and bathe in this podunk mudhole?” Naaman has yet to learn the reality of how God’s power works.
It isn’t until another powerless servant approaches the great commander that he is able to gain some perspective. The results are immediate and amazing. Naaman’s scratchy spots are gone, and he’s beginning to understand the meaning of these astonishing reversals of expectation, power, and acceptance.
While the lectionary ends the reading at verse 14, it’s wise to pay attention to the extended context. Verses 15-19 recount Naaman’s conversion, as well as his desire to offer Elisha a gift. Elisha demurs, but Naaman persists. After Elisha’s final refusal, Naaman asks that the prophet give him two mule loads of earth as a type of souvenir to be used in sacrificial worship. In the final section of the story, Elisha’s servant Gehazi becomes consumed with greed. He runs after the Aramean general, flagging him down to tell him that Elisha has changed his mind. “Can you spare two talents of silver and some clothes?” Gehazi asks.
When Elisha discovers what Gehazi has done, he isn’t thrilled. Nor is he impressed by Gehazi’s deception. He calls him on the carpet, and immediately reverses the circumstances of Gehazi’s life by imposing leprosy on him. It’s another stunning contradiction, and a reminder of how God challenges our expectations by humbling those who are powerful, greedy, and opposed to the notions that grace can be given to the outsider.
In the Sermon
The power of contradictions and irony in Naaman’s story draw us into the plot. A narrative sermon would guide the listener into the surprising awareness that sometimes not only are things not what they seem, but neither are people. People can surprise us. They can challenge us to see in new ways, and to live with new purpose.
Help the congregation see the surprising way those who are powerless hold so much power. Elisha’s power is a pittance compared to the resources of General Naaman. The king confesses he is powerless in the face of leprosy. The waters of the Jordan are grey wash water compared to the rushing rapids of the Abana and Pharpar. The mighty general is nothing without the guidance of powerless servants. And so it goes: the surprising power of God is at work challenging the systems most of us take for granted.
Each of these contradictions leads to a surprising encounter with God who leads us beyond our parochial boundaries. Naaman discovers that the power centers he has been building with might and armaments are nothing compared to the gracious, mysterious, and other-seeking love of God.
It’s that power which gave two women in a rundown convenience store the courage to reach across the so-called “black and blue” boundary, cradling the head of a dying police officers. It’s that power that encourages wise and humble police chiefs to see the relatively powerless in their communities as persons of power and agents of hope. It’s a power that often contradicts all that we have learned about power.
“Stay with me,” the women in the store pleaded, which sounds strikingly close to a shouted prayer or a pleading affirmation of faith. “Stay with me,” the women said, revealing their understanding of the gifts of the stranger. Officers Langsdorf wasn’t from the town of Wellston, but he embodied a new understanding of what it means to be a neighbor.
This week, reflect on his story as you share the narrative of hope in the often contradiction-filled account of the healing of Naaman, powerful general, and powerless sufferer.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Take Me to the River
by Tom Willadsen
2 Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
In the News
Rivers are a source of healing but also perilous as this week’s news from the southern border of the United States shows us horrifying images of families dying in their effort to get across the river.
For preachers of a certain age, perhaps the Talking Heads’ first Top 40 hit “Take Me to the River” is flowing through your mind now.
You might want to play this recording of “Wade in the Water,” by The Howard University Chamber Choir. Play it if you want to get the hair on the backs of their necks to stand straight out.
By now you have probably seen the photograph of the father and daughter who drowned trying to enter the US; it accompanied a story about four bodies that were found in the Rio Grande, near McAllen, Texas, on Sunday, June 23. The four were a young mother with two infants and a toddler. At this point, their nationalities have not been established. “The four bodies were found by Border Patrol agents across the river from Reynosa, Mexico, in an area on the United States side of the border that is heavily traveled by Central American families.” (New York Times, 6/25/19)
“It was unclear what went wrong for the woman and children whose bodies were found: whether they had gotten lost in the brush in the heat, whether they were already ill when they crossed the river, whether they were abandoned by smugglers or other migrants.” (Ibid.)
The border crossing between McAllen, Texas, USA, and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, is one of the busiest border crossings on earth. The contrast between the two nations is stark. More than 20 years ago I led a youth workcamp from my church in Minnesota to Puentes de Cristo (Bridges of Christ), a ministry of the PCUSA & the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico. (The two denominations have since severed ties and Puentes de Cristo is no more.) Each night we slept in a church on the American side and crossed the border to work in various missions before returning to the US at the end of the day. The Third World literally begins on the other side of the Rio Grande. Some of the teens suffered something like culture shock crossing between the two nations.
Rivers have a way of indicating strict barriers. And water has unique power to restore and cleanse, as well as to destroy. So, here is a flood of examples of water’s potential to create and destroy. I’m taking these chronologically:
In the Beginning…
In the beginning the spirit of God hovered over the watery chaos.
When God was grieved at having made humankind, God sent water to blot out and destroy almost all of Creation.
The remnant on the ark, Noah and the seven other survivors — and all those animals — was kept safe in a pitch-lined vessel. The ark’s sole purpose was to protect human and animal life for a new start. All Noah’s ark had to do was float.
When the Hebrews became so numerous that their Egyptian masters feared their power to destroy Egypt from within, Pharaoh decreed that all boys born to the Hebrews be tossed into the Nile. Moses’ mother put him in a pitch-lined vessel, one that had no steering mechanism — his pitch-lined basket’s sole purpose was to protect him from Pharaoh.
(The Hebrew word for Noah’s ark and Moses’ basket is the same: תיבת נח)
Things got worse for the Hebrews. They passed through the Sea of Reeds (not a river, but still an example of water’s power) and fled slavery. This was sort of good news/bad news situation: the Hebrews were on their way to the Promised Land, but Pharaoh’s army and horses drowned.
One of the things that made slavery look pretty good while the Hebrews wandered was they used to have water to drink back in Egypt. Had Moses brought them out to the wilderness so they could die from thirst? They grumbled; God provided. They wandered some more.
Finally, they crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land. They left a heap of stones at the place where they crossed to remind them of the moment they went from being nomads to being a people with land, a nation.
2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman is a powerful guy up in Syria. He suffers from leprosy. Leprosy is a whole lot more than athlete’s foot or some other skin disease. Leprosy is profoundly disfiguring. There were specific rules about how lepers were to behave because leprosy is highly contagious. Lepers were shunned and kept from taking part in society; they were cut off. Lepers suffered physically and socially.
The summer I did CPE I was assigned to the dermatology unit, among others. If someone is hospitalized with a skin condition it is always a shocking thing to see. I washed my hands a lot. All the patients were alert and lonely. Their skin condition did not affect their minds at all, but very few people wanted to visit because their appearance was so ghastly. We had great conversations, though I sat farther away from their beds than I did with my other patients.
So Naaman, the needy foreigner, hears about a wonder-cure and King Aram sends him off to be healed with lots and lots of swag. So much that the king of the Israelites (who is not named in today’s lection) is afraid that Aram is looking for a pretext to go to war with him. Cooler heads prevail. Naaman doesn’t use his power to get healed, but humbly follows the instructions that came from Elisha. Naaman’s flesh was restored; he was made clean. The climax of the story, however, comes in v. 15 — just beyond today’s reading—
Then he and all his company returned to the man of God; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.” (2 Kings 5:15)
More than being cured of leprosy, Naaman was restored to society and the high place he occupied — all thanks to the God that Elisha worked for.
Elsewhere in the Bible
There are many passages in the psalms that show water’s power. Here are two:
Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me. (Psalm 69:1-2)
[You see this one a lot on the desks of church secretaries for some reason.]
And
Your way was through the sea,
your path, through the mighty waters;
yet your footprints were unseen. (Psalm 77:19, an echo of the Exodus)
The most quoted verse from the book of the prophet Amos is
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (5:24)
This verse gets at water’s power to both destroy (injustice) and restore (bring righteousness).
In History (Remember, I said I was going chronological!)
Julius Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon in January of 49 BCE. At the time he was the Roman governor of Gaul, serving in the army of the Roman Republic. He debated whether to cross the Rubicon, the river separating Gaul from Italy. His crossing the river was an act of rebellion. He won the war and the nation formerly known as the Republic of Rome became the Roman Empire. Today “crossing the Rubicon” is a metaphor for taking an action that cannot be turned from. This river crossing had a profound effect on world history.
In the New Testament
The final important river-related event was Jesus’ baptism. He was baptized out at the Jordan. The same river that the Hebrews crossed when they became Israelites. Mark’s gospel says the sky was “torn apart” when Jesus rose from the water of the River Jordan.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Jesus sends out teams of missionaries with instructions to “cure the sick…” and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 10:9) They have fantastic success! Through Christ they have done amazing things; they have demonstrated God’s power.
Jesus instructed the pairs to travel light and to depend on the hospitality of the people they meet. He prepared them for rejection as well.
In the News
As shocking as the photograph of bodies floating in the Rio Grande is, stories of the treatment of unaccompanied minors in US custody that emerged last week are even worse.
“In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention, I have never heard of this level of inhumanity,” said Holly Cooper, who co-directs University of California, Davis’ Immigration Law Clinic and represents detained youth.
The arrival of thousands of families and children at the border each month has not only strained resources but thrust Border Patrol agents into the role of caregivers, especially for the many migrant youth who are coming without parents.
‘I’m a child, too’
But children at the facility in Clint, Texas, which sits amid the desert scrubland about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of El Paso, say they have had to pick up some of the duties in watching over the younger kids.
A 14-year-old girl from Guatemala said she had been holding two little girls in her lap.
“I need comfort, too. I am bigger than they are, but I am a child, too,” she said.
In response to this humanitarian crisis, the House and Senate are working to authorize additional funding to care for people in the custody of Customs and Border Patrol.
The current resources can handle 4,000 people and today are having to care for 15,000.
Like the Jordan, and the Rubicon, the Rio Grande is a symbol of profound change.
Who are the pairs of people now travelling empty-handed in a dangerous world?
Who are the ones who can offer, or refuse, hospitality to the strangers crossing water — or washing up — on our shores?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
MacKenzie Bezos, 49, recently divorced the world’s wealthiest man, Jeff Bezos, 55. All that is really known about the cause of the divorce is Jeff started dating television host Lauren Sanchez, 49. Since MacKenzie and Jeff were married before he became Amazon’s CEO, there was no prenuptial agreement. In the divorce settlement MacKenzie received $37 billion, leaving Jeff with a net worth of $146 billion. After the divorce, MacKenzie signed the Giving Pledge which was started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. The Giving Pledge, established in 2010, is a pledge that billionaires will donate half their wealth to worthy causes. MacKenzie said, “I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Dr. Greg Hudnall, the high school principal in Provo, Utah, on a chilly winter evening in 1999, sat in his car weeping. He just identified another suicide victim for the police. A 14-year-old boy from his school who had just taken his life with a handgun. After throwing up, he once again collapsed into the front seat of his car. As he sat there, he realized he had lost track of how many funerals he attended of students who had taken their own lives. As he sat there in the wintery night he said, “I told myself, ‘I’m done. I can’t take any more of this.’ That’s when I vowed that I’d do everything I could to prevent it from ever happening again.” He made good on his pledge when in 2005 he created the first network of teen monitors. Realizing that students who intend to take their own life may tell a friend, but not an adult, a peer group needed to be established. The teen monitors are be trained classmates, receiving 80 hours of training, to be aware of suspicious signs of a troubled youth, and report that youth to adult authorities. The teen monitors are not counselors, but in the words of Hudnall “these kids become the eyes and the ears of their school.” The teen monitors have become known as Hope Squads. Hope Squads are becoming a part of high schools across the nation. Hope Squad members are chosen by a simple procedure. Each year students at participating schools are asked to name three peers they would turn to if they were struggling emotionally. From that list, several dozen students are picked to become squad members. In 2017 tips from Hope Squad members resulted in 300 teens being hospitalized and another 2,500 receiving help through counselling. Dr. Hudnall said, “It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes an entire community to save one.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Jennifer Garner, 47, is an actress who has stared in a number of television programs and movies. The first television role for which she received recognition was for her performance as a CIA officer Sydney Bristow in the ABC spy-action thriller Alias, which aired from 2001 to 2006. Her first major movie role was having the leading performance in the romantic comedy 13 Going on 30, which was released in 2004. Garner has recently teamed up with Walmart for their new campaign, which started on June 12, to encourage people to perform acts of kindness and then share those acts of kindness on social media using the hashtag #SparkKindness.” Garner highlights some of those stories on her own personal social media platform. Garner said, “Everyone knows that acts of kindness make us stronger and creates a true sense of community.” She went on to say, “Kindness is contagious, truly. I can’t wait to see what happens.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Gabriele “Gabe” Grunewald was an elite distance runner, who died of complications of cancer on June 11 at the age of 32. She was on the running team at the University of Minnesota, when in her senior year she was diagnosed with the rare and incurable cancer adenoid cystic carcinoma. She continued to be a distance runner, turning pro after college. Even with multiple surgeries and countless chemotherapy treatments, Grunewald continued to compete. In 2014 she narrowly missed a place on the Olympic team for the 3,000-meter distance event. During her battle with cancer she chronicled her journey on Instagram. Grunewald inspired thousands to be “Brave Like Gabe.” Grunewald said she continued to run because “[Running] has truly been my refuge; when everything else seems to be going wrong and the outcomes are far beyond my control, I can find perspective and hope on the run.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Gretchen Carlson is a television news anchor who is best known for her reporting for Fox & Friends. She is now known for her primetime show The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson. On July 6, 2016, Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. The lawsuit received widespread media coverage, and as a result a number of other women came forward with accusations about Ailes. Facing overwhelming public criticism, Ailes resigned on July 21, 2016. Carlson said, “It wasn’t until I filed a lawsuit that I realized we were dealing with an epidemic.” She established the Gretchen Carlson Gift of Courage Fund to give financial support to women’s advocacy groups. Carlson realized that in her role as a national news correspondent that, “I wanted to help women who never had their voices heard.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
DeAndre Washington, 26, is a running back for the Oakland Raiders. Off the field he is an advocate against the “senseless killings” of gun violence. His involvement came with the death of Taiesha Watkins. Washington said, “Taiesha Watkins wasn’t my blood sister, but we grew up in the same house together. She was my best friend.” When Watkins was visiting New Orleans, she was in a crowd of people when someone started shooting. She was killed in the cross fire. June 7 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. On that day everyone is supposed to wear orange. Prior to this year’s event Washington said, “On June 7 I’ll be oranged out. I want to honor Taiesha’s memory and bring awareness to this issue.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Just after 4 p.m. on Friday, May 31, a disgruntled employee, DeWayne Cradock, returned to the Virginia Beach Municipal Center. With two .45-caliber handguns, he indiscriminately began shooting. When it was over twelve people were dead and several more wounded. Cradock was killed in a shootout with the police. The media often shows the pictures of those who were killed, with a short bio for each victim. One should take the time to study and pray over each picture. Each of those twelve individuals pictured had families and hobbies, hopes and dreams. Governor Ralph Northam may have of said it best, “They each leave a hole in their family and their neighborhood. This is the worst kind of tragedy.”
* * *
Isaiah 66:10
“Rejoice with Jerusalem”
Christina Applegate, 47, is an actress who started her career when she was teenager, playing the role of Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married…with Children, that aired from 1987 to 1997. She then went on to have a number of roles in a variety of television shows and movies. In a recent interview she was asked if she had any superstitions. In response she said, “When someone is driving me on the freeway, I have to say, ‘Precious Cargo.’ It started when my daughter and I were in the car and my husband [Martyn LeNoble] would be driving. I would say it, and he would say, ‘Yes. I know.’”
* * *
Isaiah 66:10
“Rejoice with Jerusalem”
Floyd Martin, 61, has just retired after delivering mail in Marietta, Georgia, for the past 35 years. He went about his route with a smile, kind words, lollipops for the children and treats for the neighborhood dogs. On May 22, in honor of his retirement, more than 300 residents decorated their mailboxes and surprised him with a block party. The community also raised enough money to send him on a trip to Hawaii, which Martin said, “has always been a dream of mine.”
* * *
Isaiah 66:10
“Rejoice with Jerusalem”
In the comic strip Frank & Ernest, those two motley characters are sitting behind a building next to a garbage dumpster. Frank says to his pal Ernest, “I spent years looking for the key to success — and then I found out it’s a combination lock.”
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:
Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
Wisdom from the Elders
Writing to the Galatian churches, Paul says, “let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.” A group of Japanese Americans who lived in internment camps as children recently took that word to heart, and protested at the gates of Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where there are plans to house migrant children. “We are here today to protest the repetition of history,” said camp survivor Satsuki Ina, age 75, who was one of the former internees and their descendants there.
Met by uniformed military police, the protesters, some in their 80s, were told they did not have permission to congregate and might face arrest. “You need to move right now!” one of the officers shouted. “What don’t you understand? It’s English: Get out.” But the survivors, carrying thousands of origami cranes as a symbol of solidarity, refused to leave until police from adjacent Lawton, Oklahoma, arrived and let them speak. They then moved to a park where a crowd of about 200 was waiting.”
The article notes: “Ft. Sill has a particularly dark history, which Seattle-based historian Tom Ikeda recounted at Saturday’s gathering. Founded in 1869, the post has hosted a relocation camp for Native Americans, a boarding school for Native children separated from their families, and an internment camp for 700 Japanese American men in 1942. Saturday’s crowd included former students from the boarding school and descendants of Ft. Sill detainees.”
“Paul Tomita and other internment camp survivors brought camp ID cards and other photos of themselves from when they were detained as children. Tomita, 80, of Bellevue, Washington, was sent to a camp in Idaho when he was 3, and his family lived in a dusty tent there for about a year. He said Saturday that when he sees photographs of detained migrant children, he recognizes a sense of despair. “It’s our responsibility to help,” he said. “This is a time we can all bear one another’s burdens, and work for the good of all, and this group of people has particular experience in this kind of treatment.”
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2 Kings 5:1-14 and Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
A Lamb at the Border
“I am sending you out like lambs,” Jesus says to his followers, as he sends them out to work in the world. There are plenty of wolves in the form of partisan disagreements and human misery at the US-Mexico border, but acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma felt called to bring the healing power of music to the border this year. Playing the music of Bach, as part of his Bach Project to unite cultures around this 300 year old music, Ma played in the cities of Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. “Ma played the opening notes of Johann Sebastian Bach's Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello in a park next to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, one of the crossings that connect the U.S. and Mexican cities… The project has taken Ma all over the world.” Ma, an immigrant himself, said, “As you all know, as you did and do and will do, in culture, we build bridges, not walls… I've lived my life at the borders. Between cultures. Between disciplines. Between musics. Between generations.”
One person listening was Mateo Bailey, age 16, who lives in San Antonio. For him, Ma's performance had special significance "because this event is on the border. And I'm half-Mexican as well as half-American ... and for him to connect cello with what's happening in the world is like, it's a cultural bridge that was just built, and it's amazing."
The Bach Project started in 2018, when “Ma set out on a two-year journey to perform Bach's six suites for solo cello in 36 locations around the world. He believes the music has an ability to connect cultures and humanity from all walks of life. He said that this is what motivated him to launch the project.” Healing comes in unexpected ways.
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Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
Bearing One Another’s Debt Burden
One idea, with distinctly Christian roots, which emerged from Occupy Wall Street, was the jubilee practice of purchasing collectible debt, and paying it for people who couldn’t pay. Often, at the start, it was old medical debts; now student loans have become included. Two women in New York exemplify this practice, bearing the burden of long-held debt for people whose accounts have ben handed over to collection agencies. In 2018, “Judith Jones and Carolyn Kenyon, both of Ithaca, New York, heard about R.I.P. Medical Debt, which purchases bundles of past-due medical bills and forgives them to help those in need. So the women decided to start a fund-raising campaign of their own to assist people with medical debt in New York. Over the summer months, the women raised $12,500 and sent it to the debt-forgiveness charity, which then purchased a portfolio of $1.5 million of medical debts on their behalf, for about half a penny on the dollar.”
The two women solicited donations, wanting to do something to relieve stress for the people burdened with the debt, even while knowing this was a short-term fix to a bigger problem. It has become increasingly easy for regular citizens to purchase bundles of past-due medical bills and forgive them because of the efforts of the debt-relief charity, [RIP Medical Debt] which was founded in 2014 by two former debt collection industry executives, Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton. After realizing the crushing impact medical debts were having on millions of Americans, the men decided to flip their mind-set. They began purchasing portfolios of old debts to clear them as a public service, rather than try to hound the debtors. “I like doing this much more than I liked doing collecting,” Mr. Antico said. (The fine print: accountants and tax professionals say there may tax liabilities and implications for someone’s credit score.)
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Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
Bearing Burdens Long Distance
When author Jane Jackson had an unexpected brain bleed, she lost all memory of “The Incident,” as her family calls it, and struggled to regain her language skills. She remembers, “On June 2, 2006, my husband Blyden’s 70th birthday, I had a life altering experience. After arriving home from an exhausting day at work, I was suddenly unable to speak or move my arm. I just wanted to lie down and sleep, which would have been the worst possible thing for me to do. Blyden, a former Emergency Medical Technician, immediately recognized that I might be having a stroke of some kind because of my inability to speak and the pupil of one of my eyes being dilated. He and our daughter, Gail, rushed me to the Bayonne, New Jersey Medical Center, near where we live. The doctors discovered that a blood vessel in my brain had bled. I received immediate and expert care. Blyden quite literally saved my life, as my doctor informed me the next day. In the aftermath I worked to overcome fear…As I worked at recovering my verbal skills, I was comforted by familiar music, readings, and practices such as keeping a journal. My short term memory and speech patterns were affected, so that I, who had edited a medical dictionary and published a resource book for nurses and had always been good with words, found myself with an inability to handle everyday sentences, mixing up words and frequently repeating the same questions.”
Her daughter, Gail, lived nearby, but her soon Aaron was on the west coast. As a way of healing, Jane and Aaron started writing poems together, long distance. They would email each poem back and forth, taking turns adding to it, until one of them declared it finished. They had done this when Aaron was a young child, and now resumed the shared activity, as Jane developed her skill with words again.
Jane says, “This first poem took several days to be completed because I couldn’t work at the computer for long without getting a fuzzy feeling from just looking at the letters, a feeling somewhere between dizziness and nausea…It was an exhausting process at first but well worth the effort as I saw our poems take shape. I tried to type in an e-mail back to Aaron the very first response that the line he had just sent me brought to mind. This helped to sharpen my thinking skills as well as my use of language. As a writer I know the value of rewriting, often over and over, but the immediacy of the call and response that made up our joint writing seemed to me to need no rewrites as each line was a gift and a step on the path to full recovery.”
There are so many ways to follow Paul’s instruction to “Bear one another’s burdens,” and this family found an interesting and creative way to do it.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Let us extol our God who has drawn us up.
People: You, O God, have restored us to life.
Leader: Sing praises to God, you faithful ones.
People: We give thanks to God’s holy name.
Leader: God has turned our mourning into dancing.
People: God has clothed us with joy.
OR
Leader: Let us praise the God who created us all.
People: Glory to you, O God, our creator and parent.
Leader: We were all created out of the same dust.
People: We were all given life by God’s breath.
Leader: Rejoice in the unity of all God’s children.
People: We will embrace all our neighbors as God’s beloved.
Hymns and Songs:
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
UMH: 121
H82: 469/470
PH: 298
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELW: 587/588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded
UMH: 132
H82: 665
NCH: 408
CH: 88
ELW: 757
Shall We Gather at the River
UMH: 723
NCH: 597
CH: 701
ELW: 423
W&P: 522
AMEC: 486
I Come with Joy
UMH: 617
H82: 304
PH: 507
NCH: 349
CH: 420
ELW: 482
W&P: 706
Renew: 195
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELW: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
God of Grace and God of Glory
UMH: 577
H82: 594/595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELW: 705
W&P: 569
AMEC: 62
STLT: 115
Renew: 301
This Is My Song
UMH: 437
NCH: 591
CH: 722
ELW: 887
STLT: 159
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
Live in Charity
CCB: 71
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who created us as one human family:
Grant us the grace to embrace our neighbors
even and especially when they are strangers;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship you, O God, because you created us as one human family. You took us from the dust of the earth and breathed into us your own Spirit. Help us to live into this reality as we care for our neighbors and the stranger who is our neighbor. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our self-centeredness that pushes those away whom we have labeled as strangers.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as sisters and brothers, as family, and yet we constantly find barriers to keep others away from us. We look for differences to justify our not helping others instead of seeing the similarities. Open our hearts and so fill us with your love that we are compelled to share that love with others. Amen.
Leader: God welcomes all the children of the earth into the holy family, even the selfish ones. Receive God’s love and grace and share it with others.
Prayers of the People
Holy and great are you, O God, who created all humanity to be your beloved children. In your loving wisdom you created us as one family.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as sisters and brothers, as family, and yet we constantly find barriers to keep others away from us. We look for differences to justify our not helping others instead of seeing the similarities. Open our hearts and so fill us with your love that we are compelled to share that love with others.
We give you thanks for the great love with which you embrace all your children. We thank you for those who have shared that love with us. We thank you for Jesus who taught us how to be great by being lowly.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who feel unloved and alone. We pray for those who are treated poorly by those who label them strangers.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Show the children pictures of rivers. Try to find some that show the river providing power, recreation, irrigation, and waterways for shipping. Rivers are very good things that God has given to us on this earth. There are lots of stories in the Bible that talk about rivers. In today’s lesson, God uses a river for healing a man.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Traveling Light
by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Theme: Jesus calls those who follow him to take a detached posture toward things.
You will need: A Bible, a toothbrush, a small suitcase or overnight bag. Lots of other stuff, some funny, some silly, some serious to put in the suitcase that will make it heavy. (See items in lesson below.)
Say:
Well, I’m all packed up and ready to leave on vacation. I’ve just got this one problem.
(Drop suitcase so it lands heavily on the floor.)
My suitcase is too heavy. I’m not going to make it very far if I have to carry a suitcase this heavy, right? So I thought I’d get you folks to help me decide what I should take and what I should leave behind, okay?
(Sit and open suitcase.)
In today’s gospel lesson Jesus tells his disciples that they should travel light. That is, they should not take with them anything they don’t need. And that’s what I want to do. I want to travel light. I want to take only the stuff I need. The problem is, sometimes I can’t tell the difference in what I need (I mean, really need, you know) and what I just like or want but don’t really need. Like this:
(Remove Barbie Doll or some such from suitcase.)
What do you think? Do I need this? Or do I just want it? I think I just want it. I don’t really need it. So I’m going to put it in the “Leave at home” pile. Okay, what else do I have in here?
(Removed rubber chicken or some such.)
I guess I don’t really need this. I do love it, though. Okay, I don’t need it. Leave at home pile.
(Continue bringing out other stuff — a horseshoe, a brick, an old pair of bluejeans, one old shoe, a teddy bear, until the “Leave at home” pile gets pretty big.)
(When all of the “Leave at home” stuff is out of the suitcase bring out, in order, these things: (1) a Bible or a small New Testament, (2) a toothbrush, (3) a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, (4) a favorite book. As you bring each one out, comment on why these things really are necessary. They are necessary for our moral health, for our physical health, and for our mental health.)
You know, Jesus doesn’t ask us to not own or like things. He just asks us not to get too attached to things. He asks us to stay “detached” from things so our heart always belongs not to the things we own but to Jesus. So, I think that would be the other thing I’ll take along with me on vacation. I’ll take the word, “detached.” That is, separated — separated from things that I don’t need so I can be attached to Jesus.
Whataya think? Sound good?
Yeah, I think so, too.
Close with a prayer thanking God for things and for the wisdom to know the difference between the things that we own and the things that can, if we aren’t careful, own us.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 7, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Naaman and Other Strangers by Chris Keating — Despite being a foreign leper, Naaman experiences the healing of God as promised through the words of a powerless slave.
- Second Thoughts: Take Me to the River by Tom Willadsen — Rivers have a way of indicating strict barriers. And water has unique power to restore and cleanse, as well as to destroy.
- Sermon illustrations by Ron Love and Mary Austin.
- Worship resources by George Reed. Rivers for cleansing but also dangerous; neighbors who are strangers.
- Children’s sermon: Traveling Light by Dean Feldmeyer — Jesus calls those who follow him to take a detached posture toward things.
Naaman and other strangersby Chris Keating
2 Kings 5:1-14, Galatians 6:1-16
Surrounded by the symbols and perks of military success, Naaman strides into the pages of scripture. The sounds of ruffles and flourishes can almost be heard as the great commander assumes control of this narrative from Israel’s history in 2 Kings 5:1-14. He’s a great and powerful man, a military hero held in such high honor that the Deuteronomistic historian reminds readers that Yahweh had given him victory over Israel.
Naaman seizes control of the story from the very beginning. It’s just too bad his skin is not as spotless as his war record.
Two features dominate Naaman’s story: his status as a foreigner, and his leprosy. From the outset we understand that as great and powerful as he may be, Naaman stands outside the covenant community. He is both a stranger and a leper. He may be great and powerful, but as far as the historian is concerned, Naaman has no standing in Israel.
It’s a story of contradictions, filled with more twists and turns than a mountain highway. He’s powerful yet is powerless against his disease. He’s a foreigner yet held in esteem by Yahweh. He’s feared by the king of Israel but also wholly dependent on the help of an unnamed slave girl.
Naaman’s story is a reminder of what’s at stake when neighbors take risks to honor God by bearing each other’s burdens.
In a small town near St. Louis, Missouri, last week, a police officer was shot and killed as he responded to a call about a man trying to pass a bad check. Minutes after encountering the suspect at a convenience store, the police officer was killed. Witnesses said the shooter fled the store, located in a predominantly African American neighborhood.
It’s a tiny town where relationships between the police and the black community have often been uneasy. It’s just five miles from Ferguson, Missouri, where racial tensions boiled over following the 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown. This section of north St. Louis is a place filled with contradictions, poverty, crime and distrust. It’s a neighborhood long divided by racial profiling and race-based policing policies.
But it is also the place where a black young woman held the hand of that dying white police officer last Sunday. She stayed with the officer, using his radio to call for help, bearing his burden to fulfill the law of Christ. It’s a place of contradictions not unlike the banks of the River Jordan, where a dripping wet Naaman, a foreigner and a leper, was moved to declare, “I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”
In the News
Bonette Kymbrelle Meeks and Michael Langsdorf had about as much in common as Naaman and Elisha. Meeks, 26, was born in St. Louis but raised in North Carolina. He has a long record of drug convictions, has been in and out of prison, and is unemployed. His father says his son is quiet and often withdrawn.
Langsdorf, 40, on the other hand, was a veteran police officer, former firefighter, twice divorced father of two who was recently engaged to be married again. Fellow police officers remembered him as the type of cop who had an uncanny knack for getting people to talk to police, including suspects.
Last Sunday (June 23), Langsdorf, who was white, was shot after encountering Meeks, who is black, in the parking lot of a minimarket. Strangers to each other, their lives were forever joined by a moment of desperate violence.
Their shared story is different from other stories of violence, including the legions of accounts of unarmed black persons killed by police. Those are the narratives of race-based policing, of profiling and targeting persons of color. Those stories are far too common, which is why the response of the clerks inside the market where Langsdorf was killed may seem surprising.
The tragedy that forever united Officer Langsdorf and Bonette Meeks reflects many of the racial, economic, and social contradictions present in the St. Louis region — even, perhaps, in the United States. Meeks had failed high school but had earned his GED was struggling to get his life back on track. Langsdorf wasn’t immune from struggles, either, but in recent weeks had seen life get better. He had been suspended from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for falsifying overtime records.
Three months ago, he began working again as a police officer, this time for the smaller North County Cooperative Department. Life was looking up: his son graduated from high school, he was engaged, and his beloved St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup.
It was supposed to be a summer of hopeful change for Langsdorf.
Meanwhile, the metropolitan St. Louis region continued to wrestle with its own set of confusing and complex contradictions. For example, even as the Blues were battling for the Stanley Cup, the city mourned the deaths of four different children killed over the course of five days. People flooded the streets to celebrate the Blues while flooding from the Mississippi and other rivers has overwhelmed rural communities.
The contradictions continued that Sunday afternoon as Meeks and another suspect stopped at a neighborhood market in Wellston, a small town just outside the St. Louis city limits. Clerks noted the two were acting strange, mumbling and not talking coherently. Not long afterward, police received a call about someone trying to pass a bad check inside the store. Around 4:30, Officer Langsdorf responded, encountering Meeks in the parking lot. As Langsdorf led Meeks back into the store, the two became embroiled in a scuffle.
Store video shows that seconds later, Meeks took out a gun and began hitting Langsdorf on the head. As the police officer lost control over the suspect, Meeks stood up and shot him once at the back of the neck. Police authorities later called the shooting an “execution.”
When police arrested him, Meeks was still holding the gun used to shoot Langsdorf.
Wellston is one of the poorest cities in Missouri. It’s located just about five miles from the Ferguson, Missouri, neighborhood where Michael Brown was shot by police in 2014, and is surrounded by a cluster of poverty and crime. Like many urban neighborhoods, Wellston has not reaped many benefits from the country’s 121-month record setting economic boom.
Lots and lots of contradictions.
The town has also had a history of questionable policing tactics that left many residents living in fear. After Ferguson, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into the Ferguson Police Department’s policing tactics. The Department of Justice report revealed strong racial biases in Ferguson, and noted that the department had often focused on pursuing revenue at the expense of public safety. Leaders in Wellston and other cities knew the same was true for their towns.
In response, Wellston and its neighbors dissolved their police departments and formed a five-city cooperative department focused on community policing and relationships. The department’s community-centered focus has resulted in better relationships, lower crime, and improved sense of community.
Some of the fruits of that work became evident as Officer Langsdorf was dying.
Inside the store, Lucretia Johnson and another clerk were selling soul food. When Johnson heard gun fire, she and another clerk raced to Langsdorf’s side. She held his hand, and offered assurance. Using his walkie-talkie, one of the clerks told dispatchers that Langsdorf had been shot. “You’ve got an officer down,” she said. She turned her attention back to Langsdorf, holding his hand and saying, “Please stay with me.”
The clerks returned to work the next day, their eyes swollen from tears. They told reporters they knew Langsdorf, and would often joke with him and other officers “like they’re our uncle.”
It’s another contradiction, a reversal of what we’ve come to expect. The stranger becomes the neighbor, the outsider is healed, the unknown becomes the beloved.
In the Scripture
Like many of scripture’s most memorable characters, Naaman is an outsider. Outsiders fill in the blanks of the Bible, illustrating what God seems to mean by loving the neighbor: Ruth was a Moabite, Hagar an Egyptian, the decent guy was a Samaritan, Cornelius was Roman, and so on. We should not be surprised that Naaman is a Syrian.
But Naaman is not just any foreigner; he is a powerful general to whom Yahweh had given victory. This could be an indication of Israel’s understanding of the Lord’s sovereignty, or a recognition that somehow God’s covenant promise will be extended beyond the boundaries of Israel. In either case, the point is made: Naaman is a person of immense power and privilege.
Yet he is also powerless. The dynamics of power are at play in this story. His strength as a commander has no value in fighting leprosy. Moreover, Naaman must rely on the powerless slave girl to find a cure for his condition.
Naaman, however, is a slow learner. When he packs up his battalion of soldiers and heads to Israel, he still believes his power and position will bring him healing. He’s earned this privilege, after all. His power move works on the King of Israel, who trembles at the thought of what this could mean. But Naaman has less success with Elisha, who remains unimpressed by the military commander’s show of strength.
But if Elisha is unimpressed, then Naaman is even less impressed by the prescription. “Go, was in the Jordan seven times,” Elisha has said. Rinse, and repeat. It’s not exactly what Naaman had in mind. “The rivers back home are lush, swift and flowing; and this guy wants me to go and bathe in this podunk mudhole?” Naaman has yet to learn the reality of how God’s power works.
It isn’t until another powerless servant approaches the great commander that he is able to gain some perspective. The results are immediate and amazing. Naaman’s scratchy spots are gone, and he’s beginning to understand the meaning of these astonishing reversals of expectation, power, and acceptance.
While the lectionary ends the reading at verse 14, it’s wise to pay attention to the extended context. Verses 15-19 recount Naaman’s conversion, as well as his desire to offer Elisha a gift. Elisha demurs, but Naaman persists. After Elisha’s final refusal, Naaman asks that the prophet give him two mule loads of earth as a type of souvenir to be used in sacrificial worship. In the final section of the story, Elisha’s servant Gehazi becomes consumed with greed. He runs after the Aramean general, flagging him down to tell him that Elisha has changed his mind. “Can you spare two talents of silver and some clothes?” Gehazi asks.
When Elisha discovers what Gehazi has done, he isn’t thrilled. Nor is he impressed by Gehazi’s deception. He calls him on the carpet, and immediately reverses the circumstances of Gehazi’s life by imposing leprosy on him. It’s another stunning contradiction, and a reminder of how God challenges our expectations by humbling those who are powerful, greedy, and opposed to the notions that grace can be given to the outsider.
In the Sermon
The power of contradictions and irony in Naaman’s story draw us into the plot. A narrative sermon would guide the listener into the surprising awareness that sometimes not only are things not what they seem, but neither are people. People can surprise us. They can challenge us to see in new ways, and to live with new purpose.
Help the congregation see the surprising way those who are powerless hold so much power. Elisha’s power is a pittance compared to the resources of General Naaman. The king confesses he is powerless in the face of leprosy. The waters of the Jordan are grey wash water compared to the rushing rapids of the Abana and Pharpar. The mighty general is nothing without the guidance of powerless servants. And so it goes: the surprising power of God is at work challenging the systems most of us take for granted.
Each of these contradictions leads to a surprising encounter with God who leads us beyond our parochial boundaries. Naaman discovers that the power centers he has been building with might and armaments are nothing compared to the gracious, mysterious, and other-seeking love of God.
It’s that power which gave two women in a rundown convenience store the courage to reach across the so-called “black and blue” boundary, cradling the head of a dying police officers. It’s that power that encourages wise and humble police chiefs to see the relatively powerless in their communities as persons of power and agents of hope. It’s a power that often contradicts all that we have learned about power.
“Stay with me,” the women in the store pleaded, which sounds strikingly close to a shouted prayer or a pleading affirmation of faith. “Stay with me,” the women said, revealing their understanding of the gifts of the stranger. Officers Langsdorf wasn’t from the town of Wellston, but he embodied a new understanding of what it means to be a neighbor.
This week, reflect on his story as you share the narrative of hope in the often contradiction-filled account of the healing of Naaman, powerful general, and powerless sufferer.
SECOND THOUGHTSTake Me to the River
by Tom Willadsen
2 Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
In the News
Rivers are a source of healing but also perilous as this week’s news from the southern border of the United States shows us horrifying images of families dying in their effort to get across the river.
For preachers of a certain age, perhaps the Talking Heads’ first Top 40 hit “Take Me to the River” is flowing through your mind now.
You might want to play this recording of “Wade in the Water,” by The Howard University Chamber Choir. Play it if you want to get the hair on the backs of their necks to stand straight out.
By now you have probably seen the photograph of the father and daughter who drowned trying to enter the US; it accompanied a story about four bodies that were found in the Rio Grande, near McAllen, Texas, on Sunday, June 23. The four were a young mother with two infants and a toddler. At this point, their nationalities have not been established. “The four bodies were found by Border Patrol agents across the river from Reynosa, Mexico, in an area on the United States side of the border that is heavily traveled by Central American families.” (New York Times, 6/25/19)
“It was unclear what went wrong for the woman and children whose bodies were found: whether they had gotten lost in the brush in the heat, whether they were already ill when they crossed the river, whether they were abandoned by smugglers or other migrants.” (Ibid.)
The border crossing between McAllen, Texas, USA, and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, is one of the busiest border crossings on earth. The contrast between the two nations is stark. More than 20 years ago I led a youth workcamp from my church in Minnesota to Puentes de Cristo (Bridges of Christ), a ministry of the PCUSA & the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico. (The two denominations have since severed ties and Puentes de Cristo is no more.) Each night we slept in a church on the American side and crossed the border to work in various missions before returning to the US at the end of the day. The Third World literally begins on the other side of the Rio Grande. Some of the teens suffered something like culture shock crossing between the two nations.
Rivers have a way of indicating strict barriers. And water has unique power to restore and cleanse, as well as to destroy. So, here is a flood of examples of water’s potential to create and destroy. I’m taking these chronologically:
In the Beginning…
In the beginning the spirit of God hovered over the watery chaos.
When God was grieved at having made humankind, God sent water to blot out and destroy almost all of Creation.
The remnant on the ark, Noah and the seven other survivors — and all those animals — was kept safe in a pitch-lined vessel. The ark’s sole purpose was to protect human and animal life for a new start. All Noah’s ark had to do was float.
When the Hebrews became so numerous that their Egyptian masters feared their power to destroy Egypt from within, Pharaoh decreed that all boys born to the Hebrews be tossed into the Nile. Moses’ mother put him in a pitch-lined vessel, one that had no steering mechanism — his pitch-lined basket’s sole purpose was to protect him from Pharaoh.
(The Hebrew word for Noah’s ark and Moses’ basket is the same: תיבת נח)
Things got worse for the Hebrews. They passed through the Sea of Reeds (not a river, but still an example of water’s power) and fled slavery. This was sort of good news/bad news situation: the Hebrews were on their way to the Promised Land, but Pharaoh’s army and horses drowned.
One of the things that made slavery look pretty good while the Hebrews wandered was they used to have water to drink back in Egypt. Had Moses brought them out to the wilderness so they could die from thirst? They grumbled; God provided. They wandered some more.
Finally, they crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land. They left a heap of stones at the place where they crossed to remind them of the moment they went from being nomads to being a people with land, a nation.
2 Kings 5:1-14
Naaman is a powerful guy up in Syria. He suffers from leprosy. Leprosy is a whole lot more than athlete’s foot or some other skin disease. Leprosy is profoundly disfiguring. There were specific rules about how lepers were to behave because leprosy is highly contagious. Lepers were shunned and kept from taking part in society; they were cut off. Lepers suffered physically and socially.
The summer I did CPE I was assigned to the dermatology unit, among others. If someone is hospitalized with a skin condition it is always a shocking thing to see. I washed my hands a lot. All the patients were alert and lonely. Their skin condition did not affect their minds at all, but very few people wanted to visit because their appearance was so ghastly. We had great conversations, though I sat farther away from their beds than I did with my other patients.
So Naaman, the needy foreigner, hears about a wonder-cure and King Aram sends him off to be healed with lots and lots of swag. So much that the king of the Israelites (who is not named in today’s lection) is afraid that Aram is looking for a pretext to go to war with him. Cooler heads prevail. Naaman doesn’t use his power to get healed, but humbly follows the instructions that came from Elisha. Naaman’s flesh was restored; he was made clean. The climax of the story, however, comes in v. 15 — just beyond today’s reading—
Then he and all his company returned to the man of God; he came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.” (2 Kings 5:15)
More than being cured of leprosy, Naaman was restored to society and the high place he occupied — all thanks to the God that Elisha worked for.
Elsewhere in the Bible
There are many passages in the psalms that show water’s power. Here are two:
Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me. (Psalm 69:1-2)
[You see this one a lot on the desks of church secretaries for some reason.]
And
Your way was through the sea,
your path, through the mighty waters;
yet your footprints were unseen. (Psalm 77:19, an echo of the Exodus)
The most quoted verse from the book of the prophet Amos is
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (5:24)
This verse gets at water’s power to both destroy (injustice) and restore (bring righteousness).
In History (Remember, I said I was going chronological!)
Julius Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon in January of 49 BCE. At the time he was the Roman governor of Gaul, serving in the army of the Roman Republic. He debated whether to cross the Rubicon, the river separating Gaul from Italy. His crossing the river was an act of rebellion. He won the war and the nation formerly known as the Republic of Rome became the Roman Empire. Today “crossing the Rubicon” is a metaphor for taking an action that cannot be turned from. This river crossing had a profound effect on world history.
In the New Testament
The final important river-related event was Jesus’ baptism. He was baptized out at the Jordan. The same river that the Hebrews crossed when they became Israelites. Mark’s gospel says the sky was “torn apart” when Jesus rose from the water of the River Jordan.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Jesus sends out teams of missionaries with instructions to “cure the sick…” and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 10:9) They have fantastic success! Through Christ they have done amazing things; they have demonstrated God’s power.
Jesus instructed the pairs to travel light and to depend on the hospitality of the people they meet. He prepared them for rejection as well.
In the News
As shocking as the photograph of bodies floating in the Rio Grande is, stories of the treatment of unaccompanied minors in US custody that emerged last week are even worse.
“In my 22 years of doing visits with children in detention, I have never heard of this level of inhumanity,” said Holly Cooper, who co-directs University of California, Davis’ Immigration Law Clinic and represents detained youth.
The arrival of thousands of families and children at the border each month has not only strained resources but thrust Border Patrol agents into the role of caregivers, especially for the many migrant youth who are coming without parents.
‘I’m a child, too’
But children at the facility in Clint, Texas, which sits amid the desert scrubland about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of El Paso, say they have had to pick up some of the duties in watching over the younger kids.
A 14-year-old girl from Guatemala said she had been holding two little girls in her lap.
“I need comfort, too. I am bigger than they are, but I am a child, too,” she said.
In response to this humanitarian crisis, the House and Senate are working to authorize additional funding to care for people in the custody of Customs and Border Patrol.
The current resources can handle 4,000 people and today are having to care for 15,000.
Like the Jordan, and the Rubicon, the Rio Grande is a symbol of profound change.
Who are the pairs of people now travelling empty-handed in a dangerous world?
Who are the ones who can offer, or refuse, hospitality to the strangers crossing water — or washing up — on our shores?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
MacKenzie Bezos, 49, recently divorced the world’s wealthiest man, Jeff Bezos, 55. All that is really known about the cause of the divorce is Jeff started dating television host Lauren Sanchez, 49. Since MacKenzie and Jeff were married before he became Amazon’s CEO, there was no prenuptial agreement. In the divorce settlement MacKenzie received $37 billion, leaving Jeff with a net worth of $146 billion. After the divorce, MacKenzie signed the Giving Pledge which was started by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates. The Giving Pledge, established in 2010, is a pledge that billionaires will donate half their wealth to worthy causes. MacKenzie said, “I have a disproportionate amount of money to share. My approach to philanthropy will continue to be thoughtful. It will take time and effort and care. But I won’t wait. And I will keep at it until the safe is empty.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Dr. Greg Hudnall, the high school principal in Provo, Utah, on a chilly winter evening in 1999, sat in his car weeping. He just identified another suicide victim for the police. A 14-year-old boy from his school who had just taken his life with a handgun. After throwing up, he once again collapsed into the front seat of his car. As he sat there, he realized he had lost track of how many funerals he attended of students who had taken their own lives. As he sat there in the wintery night he said, “I told myself, ‘I’m done. I can’t take any more of this.’ That’s when I vowed that I’d do everything I could to prevent it from ever happening again.” He made good on his pledge when in 2005 he created the first network of teen monitors. Realizing that students who intend to take their own life may tell a friend, but not an adult, a peer group needed to be established. The teen monitors are be trained classmates, receiving 80 hours of training, to be aware of suspicious signs of a troubled youth, and report that youth to adult authorities. The teen monitors are not counselors, but in the words of Hudnall “these kids become the eyes and the ears of their school.” The teen monitors have become known as Hope Squads. Hope Squads are becoming a part of high schools across the nation. Hope Squad members are chosen by a simple procedure. Each year students at participating schools are asked to name three peers they would turn to if they were struggling emotionally. From that list, several dozen students are picked to become squad members. In 2017 tips from Hope Squad members resulted in 300 teens being hospitalized and another 2,500 receiving help through counselling. Dr. Hudnall said, “It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes an entire community to save one.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Jennifer Garner, 47, is an actress who has stared in a number of television programs and movies. The first television role for which she received recognition was for her performance as a CIA officer Sydney Bristow in the ABC spy-action thriller Alias, which aired from 2001 to 2006. Her first major movie role was having the leading performance in the romantic comedy 13 Going on 30, which was released in 2004. Garner has recently teamed up with Walmart for their new campaign, which started on June 12, to encourage people to perform acts of kindness and then share those acts of kindness on social media using the hashtag #SparkKindness.” Garner highlights some of those stories on her own personal social media platform. Garner said, “Everyone knows that acts of kindness make us stronger and creates a true sense of community.” She went on to say, “Kindness is contagious, truly. I can’t wait to see what happens.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Gabriele “Gabe” Grunewald was an elite distance runner, who died of complications of cancer on June 11 at the age of 32. She was on the running team at the University of Minnesota, when in her senior year she was diagnosed with the rare and incurable cancer adenoid cystic carcinoma. She continued to be a distance runner, turning pro after college. Even with multiple surgeries and countless chemotherapy treatments, Grunewald continued to compete. In 2014 she narrowly missed a place on the Olympic team for the 3,000-meter distance event. During her battle with cancer she chronicled her journey on Instagram. Grunewald inspired thousands to be “Brave Like Gabe.” Grunewald said she continued to run because “[Running] has truly been my refuge; when everything else seems to be going wrong and the outcomes are far beyond my control, I can find perspective and hope on the run.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Gretchen Carlson is a television news anchor who is best known for her reporting for Fox & Friends. She is now known for her primetime show The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson. On July 6, 2016, Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. The lawsuit received widespread media coverage, and as a result a number of other women came forward with accusations about Ailes. Facing overwhelming public criticism, Ailes resigned on July 21, 2016. Carlson said, “It wasn’t until I filed a lawsuit that I realized we were dealing with an epidemic.” She established the Gretchen Carlson Gift of Courage Fund to give financial support to women’s advocacy groups. Carlson realized that in her role as a national news correspondent that, “I wanted to help women who never had their voices heard.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
DeAndre Washington, 26, is a running back for the Oakland Raiders. Off the field he is an advocate against the “senseless killings” of gun violence. His involvement came with the death of Taiesha Watkins. Washington said, “Taiesha Watkins wasn’t my blood sister, but we grew up in the same house together. She was my best friend.” When Watkins was visiting New Orleans, she was in a crowd of people when someone started shooting. She was killed in the cross fire. June 7 is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. On that day everyone is supposed to wear orange. Prior to this year’s event Washington said, “On June 7 I’ll be oranged out. I want to honor Taiesha’s memory and bring awareness to this issue.”
* * *
Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Just after 4 p.m. on Friday, May 31, a disgruntled employee, DeWayne Cradock, returned to the Virginia Beach Municipal Center. With two .45-caliber handguns, he indiscriminately began shooting. When it was over twelve people were dead and several more wounded. Cradock was killed in a shootout with the police. The media often shows the pictures of those who were killed, with a short bio for each victim. One should take the time to study and pray over each picture. Each of those twelve individuals pictured had families and hobbies, hopes and dreams. Governor Ralph Northam may have of said it best, “They each leave a hole in their family and their neighborhood. This is the worst kind of tragedy.”
* * *
Isaiah 66:10
“Rejoice with Jerusalem”
Christina Applegate, 47, is an actress who started her career when she was teenager, playing the role of Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married…with Children, that aired from 1987 to 1997. She then went on to have a number of roles in a variety of television shows and movies. In a recent interview she was asked if she had any superstitions. In response she said, “When someone is driving me on the freeway, I have to say, ‘Precious Cargo.’ It started when my daughter and I were in the car and my husband [Martyn LeNoble] would be driving. I would say it, and he would say, ‘Yes. I know.’”
* * *
Isaiah 66:10
“Rejoice with Jerusalem”
Floyd Martin, 61, has just retired after delivering mail in Marietta, Georgia, for the past 35 years. He went about his route with a smile, kind words, lollipops for the children and treats for the neighborhood dogs. On May 22, in honor of his retirement, more than 300 residents decorated their mailboxes and surprised him with a block party. The community also raised enough money to send him on a trip to Hawaii, which Martin said, “has always been a dream of mine.”
* * *
Isaiah 66:10
“Rejoice with Jerusalem”
In the comic strip Frank & Ernest, those two motley characters are sitting behind a building next to a garbage dumpster. Frank says to his pal Ernest, “I spent years looking for the key to success — and then I found out it’s a combination lock.”
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
Wisdom from the Elders
Writing to the Galatian churches, Paul says, “let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.” A group of Japanese Americans who lived in internment camps as children recently took that word to heart, and protested at the gates of Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where there are plans to house migrant children. “We are here today to protest the repetition of history,” said camp survivor Satsuki Ina, age 75, who was one of the former internees and their descendants there.
Met by uniformed military police, the protesters, some in their 80s, were told they did not have permission to congregate and might face arrest. “You need to move right now!” one of the officers shouted. “What don’t you understand? It’s English: Get out.” But the survivors, carrying thousands of origami cranes as a symbol of solidarity, refused to leave until police from adjacent Lawton, Oklahoma, arrived and let them speak. They then moved to a park where a crowd of about 200 was waiting.”
The article notes: “Ft. Sill has a particularly dark history, which Seattle-based historian Tom Ikeda recounted at Saturday’s gathering. Founded in 1869, the post has hosted a relocation camp for Native Americans, a boarding school for Native children separated from their families, and an internment camp for 700 Japanese American men in 1942. Saturday’s crowd included former students from the boarding school and descendants of Ft. Sill detainees.”
“Paul Tomita and other internment camp survivors brought camp ID cards and other photos of themselves from when they were detained as children. Tomita, 80, of Bellevue, Washington, was sent to a camp in Idaho when he was 3, and his family lived in a dusty tent there for about a year. He said Saturday that when he sees photographs of detained migrant children, he recognizes a sense of despair. “It’s our responsibility to help,” he said. “This is a time we can all bear one another’s burdens, and work for the good of all, and this group of people has particular experience in this kind of treatment.”
* * *
2 Kings 5:1-14 and Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
A Lamb at the Border
“I am sending you out like lambs,” Jesus says to his followers, as he sends them out to work in the world. There are plenty of wolves in the form of partisan disagreements and human misery at the US-Mexico border, but acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma felt called to bring the healing power of music to the border this year. Playing the music of Bach, as part of his Bach Project to unite cultures around this 300 year old music, Ma played in the cities of Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. “Ma played the opening notes of Johann Sebastian Bach's Suite No. 1 for Unaccompanied Cello in a park next to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, one of the crossings that connect the U.S. and Mexican cities… The project has taken Ma all over the world.” Ma, an immigrant himself, said, “As you all know, as you did and do and will do, in culture, we build bridges, not walls… I've lived my life at the borders. Between cultures. Between disciplines. Between musics. Between generations.”
One person listening was Mateo Bailey, age 16, who lives in San Antonio. For him, Ma's performance had special significance "because this event is on the border. And I'm half-Mexican as well as half-American ... and for him to connect cello with what's happening in the world is like, it's a cultural bridge that was just built, and it's amazing."
The Bach Project started in 2018, when “Ma set out on a two-year journey to perform Bach's six suites for solo cello in 36 locations around the world. He believes the music has an ability to connect cultures and humanity from all walks of life. He said that this is what motivated him to launch the project.” Healing comes in unexpected ways.
* * *
Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
Bearing One Another’s Debt Burden
One idea, with distinctly Christian roots, which emerged from Occupy Wall Street, was the jubilee practice of purchasing collectible debt, and paying it for people who couldn’t pay. Often, at the start, it was old medical debts; now student loans have become included. Two women in New York exemplify this practice, bearing the burden of long-held debt for people whose accounts have ben handed over to collection agencies. In 2018, “Judith Jones and Carolyn Kenyon, both of Ithaca, New York, heard about R.I.P. Medical Debt, which purchases bundles of past-due medical bills and forgives them to help those in need. So the women decided to start a fund-raising campaign of their own to assist people with medical debt in New York. Over the summer months, the women raised $12,500 and sent it to the debt-forgiveness charity, which then purchased a portfolio of $1.5 million of medical debts on their behalf, for about half a penny on the dollar.”
The two women solicited donations, wanting to do something to relieve stress for the people burdened with the debt, even while knowing this was a short-term fix to a bigger problem. It has become increasingly easy for regular citizens to purchase bundles of past-due medical bills and forgive them because of the efforts of the debt-relief charity, [RIP Medical Debt] which was founded in 2014 by two former debt collection industry executives, Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton. After realizing the crushing impact medical debts were having on millions of Americans, the men decided to flip their mind-set. They began purchasing portfolios of old debts to clear them as a public service, rather than try to hound the debtors. “I like doing this much more than I liked doing collecting,” Mr. Antico said. (The fine print: accountants and tax professionals say there may tax liabilities and implications for someone’s credit score.)
* * *
Galatians 6:(1-6) 7-16
Bearing Burdens Long Distance
When author Jane Jackson had an unexpected brain bleed, she lost all memory of “The Incident,” as her family calls it, and struggled to regain her language skills. She remembers, “On June 2, 2006, my husband Blyden’s 70th birthday, I had a life altering experience. After arriving home from an exhausting day at work, I was suddenly unable to speak or move my arm. I just wanted to lie down and sleep, which would have been the worst possible thing for me to do. Blyden, a former Emergency Medical Technician, immediately recognized that I might be having a stroke of some kind because of my inability to speak and the pupil of one of my eyes being dilated. He and our daughter, Gail, rushed me to the Bayonne, New Jersey Medical Center, near where we live. The doctors discovered that a blood vessel in my brain had bled. I received immediate and expert care. Blyden quite literally saved my life, as my doctor informed me the next day. In the aftermath I worked to overcome fear…As I worked at recovering my verbal skills, I was comforted by familiar music, readings, and practices such as keeping a journal. My short term memory and speech patterns were affected, so that I, who had edited a medical dictionary and published a resource book for nurses and had always been good with words, found myself with an inability to handle everyday sentences, mixing up words and frequently repeating the same questions.”
Her daughter, Gail, lived nearby, but her soon Aaron was on the west coast. As a way of healing, Jane and Aaron started writing poems together, long distance. They would email each poem back and forth, taking turns adding to it, until one of them declared it finished. They had done this when Aaron was a young child, and now resumed the shared activity, as Jane developed her skill with words again.
Jane says, “This first poem took several days to be completed because I couldn’t work at the computer for long without getting a fuzzy feeling from just looking at the letters, a feeling somewhere between dizziness and nausea…It was an exhausting process at first but well worth the effort as I saw our poems take shape. I tried to type in an e-mail back to Aaron the very first response that the line he had just sent me brought to mind. This helped to sharpen my thinking skills as well as my use of language. As a writer I know the value of rewriting, often over and over, but the immediacy of the call and response that made up our joint writing seemed to me to need no rewrites as each line was a gift and a step on the path to full recovery.”
There are so many ways to follow Paul’s instruction to “Bear one another’s burdens,” and this family found an interesting and creative way to do it.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Let us extol our God who has drawn us up.
People: You, O God, have restored us to life.
Leader: Sing praises to God, you faithful ones.
People: We give thanks to God’s holy name.
Leader: God has turned our mourning into dancing.
People: God has clothed us with joy.
OR
Leader: Let us praise the God who created us all.
People: Glory to you, O God, our creator and parent.
Leader: We were all created out of the same dust.
People: We were all given life by God’s breath.
Leader: Rejoice in the unity of all God’s children.
People: We will embrace all our neighbors as God’s beloved.
Hymns and Songs:
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
UMH: 121
H82: 469/470
PH: 298
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELW: 587/588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded
UMH: 132
H82: 665
NCH: 408
CH: 88
ELW: 757
Shall We Gather at the River
UMH: 723
NCH: 597
CH: 701
ELW: 423
W&P: 522
AMEC: 486
I Come with Joy
UMH: 617
H82: 304
PH: 507
NCH: 349
CH: 420
ELW: 482
W&P: 706
Renew: 195
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELW: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
God of Grace and God of Glory
UMH: 577
H82: 594/595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELW: 705
W&P: 569
AMEC: 62
STLT: 115
Renew: 301
This Is My Song
UMH: 437
NCH: 591
CH: 722
ELW: 887
STLT: 159
We Are His Hands
CCB: 85
Live in Charity
CCB: 71
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who created us as one human family:
Grant us the grace to embrace our neighbors
even and especially when they are strangers;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship you, O God, because you created us as one human family. You took us from the dust of the earth and breathed into us your own Spirit. Help us to live into this reality as we care for our neighbors and the stranger who is our neighbor. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our self-centeredness that pushes those away whom we have labeled as strangers.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as sisters and brothers, as family, and yet we constantly find barriers to keep others away from us. We look for differences to justify our not helping others instead of seeing the similarities. Open our hearts and so fill us with your love that we are compelled to share that love with others. Amen.
Leader: God welcomes all the children of the earth into the holy family, even the selfish ones. Receive God’s love and grace and share it with others.
Prayers of the People
Holy and great are you, O God, who created all humanity to be your beloved children. In your loving wisdom you created us as one family.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us as sisters and brothers, as family, and yet we constantly find barriers to keep others away from us. We look for differences to justify our not helping others instead of seeing the similarities. Open our hearts and so fill us with your love that we are compelled to share that love with others.
We give you thanks for the great love with which you embrace all your children. We thank you for those who have shared that love with us. We thank you for Jesus who taught us how to be great by being lowly.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who feel unloved and alone. We pray for those who are treated poorly by those who label them strangers.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Show the children pictures of rivers. Try to find some that show the river providing power, recreation, irrigation, and waterways for shipping. Rivers are very good things that God has given to us on this earth. There are lots of stories in the Bible that talk about rivers. In today’s lesson, God uses a river for healing a man.
CHILDREN'S SERMONTraveling Light
by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Theme: Jesus calls those who follow him to take a detached posture toward things.
You will need: A Bible, a toothbrush, a small suitcase or overnight bag. Lots of other stuff, some funny, some silly, some serious to put in the suitcase that will make it heavy. (See items in lesson below.)
Say:
Well, I’m all packed up and ready to leave on vacation. I’ve just got this one problem.
(Drop suitcase so it lands heavily on the floor.)
My suitcase is too heavy. I’m not going to make it very far if I have to carry a suitcase this heavy, right? So I thought I’d get you folks to help me decide what I should take and what I should leave behind, okay?
(Sit and open suitcase.)
In today’s gospel lesson Jesus tells his disciples that they should travel light. That is, they should not take with them anything they don’t need. And that’s what I want to do. I want to travel light. I want to take only the stuff I need. The problem is, sometimes I can’t tell the difference in what I need (I mean, really need, you know) and what I just like or want but don’t really need. Like this:
(Remove Barbie Doll or some such from suitcase.)
What do you think? Do I need this? Or do I just want it? I think I just want it. I don’t really need it. So I’m going to put it in the “Leave at home” pile. Okay, what else do I have in here?
(Removed rubber chicken or some such.)
I guess I don’t really need this. I do love it, though. Okay, I don’t need it. Leave at home pile.
(Continue bringing out other stuff — a horseshoe, a brick, an old pair of bluejeans, one old shoe, a teddy bear, until the “Leave at home” pile gets pretty big.)
(When all of the “Leave at home” stuff is out of the suitcase bring out, in order, these things: (1) a Bible or a small New Testament, (2) a toothbrush, (3) a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, (4) a favorite book. As you bring each one out, comment on why these things really are necessary. They are necessary for our moral health, for our physical health, and for our mental health.)
You know, Jesus doesn’t ask us to not own or like things. He just asks us not to get too attached to things. He asks us to stay “detached” from things so our heart always belongs not to the things we own but to Jesus. So, I think that would be the other thing I’ll take along with me on vacation. I’ll take the word, “detached.” That is, separated — separated from things that I don’t need so I can be attached to Jesus.
Whataya think? Sound good?
Yeah, I think so, too.
Close with a prayer thanking God for things and for the wisdom to know the difference between the things that we own and the things that can, if we aren’t careful, own us.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 7, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
