Nevertheless, He Resisted
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
For October 20, 2019:
Nevertheless, He Resisted
Chris Keating
Luke 18:1-8
Nothing was more satisfying to Donald Zarda than achieving a good landing after parachuting out of an airplane. Nothing, that is, except justice.
Zarda was passionate about a few things in life: family, friends, and accumulating stray cats. But he was over the moon in love with skydiving. He was so in love with skydiving that less than a day after meeting his future husband, Zarda insisted they go skydiving together. Believing that a person you’ve just met will keep you safe as you leap from the interior of a perfectly good airplane is as good a definition of trust as can be found.
Nevertheless, Zarda lost his job because he was gay. As he prepared for a tandem jump with a female client in 2010, Zarda half-joked that she should not worry about being strapped closely to a man. “I’m gay,” he told her. After the jump his employer fired him. Like millions of LGBTQ persons around the nation, Zarda had little recourse.
Terrified that he would never work as an instructor again, Zarda turned his passion to seeking justice. As his brother explained, “he knew he couldn’t stand idly by and accept something so blatantly unfair.”
Much like the widow in Jesus’ parable, Zarda was relentless in seeking justice. This week, five years after his death, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Zarda’s case. His attorneys argued that the 1964 civil rights law should apply to LGBTQ persons in protecting employees from discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Such protection is unavailable in most states.
It’s been a long battle, and the outcome is uncertain. The Supreme Court seems divided, and it is unclear whether five justices will vote in favor of either Zarda or Gerald Bostock, a defendant in another case who was also fired for being gay.
Jesus’ parable reminds us that justice is often a winding, twisting pathway. The widow pushed her way through the court docket, never letting the disreputable judge forget her name. Nevertheless, he resisted. He refused to grant her petition. Yet she did not give up, modelling faithfulness in prayer and witness for generations to come.
In the News
Don Zarda believed in pushing limits. Zarda was a restless nomad. Raised in Missouri, he lived in Texas and New York while also travelling the world pursuing skydiving and extreme sports. His attorney, Gregory Antolllino, describes Zarda as a “skydiving aeronaut,” an “adrenaline-fueled parachutist who fearlessly faced death.” In life, Zarda pushed against the laws of gravity. In death, his estate is pushing against laws of discrimination.
He persisted, and rarely lost heart.
A day after Zarda was fired for sharing what his employer termed “escapades” he contacted Antollino’s Manhattan office. A client was taken aback by Zarda’s frank approach to his sexuality — he told her not to be worried about diving tandem with him because he was gay. Word got back to his employer that he acted inappropriately, which resulted in his immediate termination. It seemed the client may not have appreciated Zarda’s rather upfront style.
“His perspective (of the world,)” Antollino notes, “was bigger than Texas.” Antollino writes that it was Zarda’s persistently bold manner that empowered clients to face the unnerving anxiety of diving. After losing his job, Zarda brought a similar persistence to his lawsuit. After his unexpected death, there was little doubt that the lawsuit would continue.
“I hesitate to begin this story,” Antollino says, “because I don’t know how it will end. But I have been waiting so long for this moment — my greatest, biggest leap.” He notes that standing before the court may feel as frightening as skydiving. Yet Zarda’s conviction impels family members to persist.
“There was no question that we were going to pursue the case,” said Zarda’s sister, Melissa. She and Moore continued the fight as Zarda’s co-executors.
It’s been a long slog, as is often the case in Supreme Court cases. Plaintiffs and their attorneys face rounds of lower court arguments, setbacks, and countless challenges. As the saying goes, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine. It’s something Aimee Stephens understands as well.
Stephens, 58, is a plaintiff in another employment discrimination case under the court’s consideration. Stephens is transgendered and worked as a funeral director/embalmer until 2013. After years of hiding her gender identity, Stephens wrestled with coming out. She considered suicide, but then decided to tell her boss that she was tired of “living a lie.” She wrote a letter to her employer and then met with him to say she would begin dressing as a female.
“This is not going to work out,” he told her, and immediately sacked her.
Her case has made its way through the lower courts, and was argued before the justices on October 8. It was a day she had long awaited, albeit with many different feelings.
“I can’t say I’m worried or nervous, but it’s been a long time coming,” said Stephens, “I only hope the justices will listen to reason and look at what the lower courts have said.” She notes that she has no regrets — that it was either write a letter “or not be here anymore.”
Like Zarda, Stephens case argues that the 1964 Civil Rights Acts prohibits discrimination against gay, lesbxian, bisexual or transgender persons. An investigation of Stephens’ case by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) concluded that her rights had been violated. The funeral home asserted the right to terminate her because of religious beliefs. A judge agreed with the funeral home — while acknowledging that the company had indeed violated the Civil Rights Act. The judge concluded that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act granted the funeral home immunity from liability.
Conservative Christians argue that the religious freedom of employers is the essential issue, a question raised by Chief Justice John Roberts during oral arguments. Numerous evangelical groups have weighed in on the matter, asking the court to balance the civil rights of LGBTQ persons with the religious freedom of institutions. Others couch their concerns in terms of judicial overreach.
The court’s decision on the cases will have wide-ranging impact. Over 11.3 million Americans identify as either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. “It’s like asking whether the population of the state of Ohio is protected by federal employment discrimination laws,” writes Washington, D.C. Solicitor General Loren AliKhan.
Only 21 states plus the District of Columbia expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
It’s also the first case involving gay rights since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. During arguments, justices seemed divided. Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch described the case as “real close.”
“Assume for the moment that I’m with you on textual evidence,” Gorsuch told Stephens’ attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union. He warned, however, of a “massive social upheaval” if the court were to rule in favor of LGBTQ persons, and wondered whether or not the courts should be adding contemporary meaning to an old law, calling that the responsibility of Congress.
The House of Representatives passed the Equality Act in May amending the Civil Rights act to include sexual orientation. Yet the legislation is stalled in the Senate and is unlikely to move forward.
The wheels of legislation may not spin any faster than the gears of justice. What is clear, however, is that Aimee Stephens or the family and friends of Don Zarda and other plaintiffs will not go away. The increased acceptance of LGBTQ persons across the nation is another factor. The plaintiffs know the court’s conservative majority is a significant issue as well.
Whatever happens, Zarda’s husband Bill Moore believes his late spouse’s persistent activism will be palpable as the court renders its decision next year. He recalled that on the day Zarda died, a glass windowpane shattered in their New York City home. Moore wondered if a wayward baseball or perhaps a rock had shattered the glass. But there wasn’t a rock or ball inside the living room.
Moore realized that the glass had shattered about the same time as Zarda’s accident in Switzerland. “I will always think that it was him in some way,” Moore said, perhaps a reminder about the need to pray always and to not lose heart.
In the Scripture
Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:1-5 provides a nuanced continuation of the eschatological themes raised in chapter 17. Jesus warns that disciples must remain fleet-footed in their expectation of the coming kingdom, nimbly navigating obstacles and difficulties, and always remembering that “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed.” His language is terse: life “as it was in the days of Noah” will not be easy. At times “those who try to make their life secure will lose it.”
Floating around the churning seas of crisis is not a time to lose heart. Instead, Jesus entreats them to remain persistent in their fervor, praying often to not lose heart. His instructions are plain: do not become discouraged. Another rendering of losing heart would be “without giving up,” (See Luke Timothy Johnson, “Luke,” Sacra Pagina Series, Vol. 3, p.269.) In moments of discouragement, the disciples are called to remember what it means to persevere in prayer.
Jesus illustrates his point with the pithy and somewhat humorous parable. The story is nearly a Keystone Cops comedy or slapstick Punch and Judy sketch. Imagine a powerful, burly, corrupt judge. He’s a bruiser with bulging biceps, and a menacing stare. He fears no one, not even God.
He gets what he wants, and when he wants it. He’s without an equal.
But things are not always as they seem. Indeed, the expected power dynamics are inverted by this persistent widow whose daily haranguing of the judge is nonstop. She bends his ear while he sips his coffee at Starbucks, pleads her case when he’s at home in his study, and sets up camp in his courtroom. She makes her case over and over, repeating the facts ad nauseum. There’s no escaping her persistent slightly whining tone. In fact, things have become so bad that the judge is worried she might slug him with her mighty right arm.
Luke pokes fun at the expected power dynamics: the “powerful” judge is overruled by the “weak” and “vulnerable” widow. Things clearly are not what they seem. There’s little doubt that the judge has been worn into the ground by her nagging and cries for justice. She really wouldn’t pop him one in the face, would she?
Well…
“Listen to what the unjust says,” Jesus advises. The guy is despicable and more corrupt than a judge on the take. He doesn’t care about what anyone thinks, but somehow even His Dishonor understands that there’s only one way to make this lady disappear. It’s not the path of least resistance; it’s the path of self-preservation. The judge becomes the perfect foil to prove Jesus’ point. “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones?” Jesus argues. Pray, and do not lose heart. Stay focused on what really matters. Never, never, never give up.
It’s more than a Winston Churchill quote. Sandwiched in these eight verses is a theological notion of prayer that is deeper and more potent than merely raising our “joys and concerns” each Sunday. The prayer Jesus suggests is a life-long commitment to asking, seeking, knocking. The cycle continues, perpetually repeating — perhaps even to the point of anger. The woman models an “in your face” sort of discipleship that dares to get emotional. She is livid that justice has been denied or overlooked, and she will not give up her pursuit.
She pushes forward, and he resists. He’s under no compulsion to grant her plea, though he wisely determines this lady is not going to get out of his face unless he relents. He resists, but nevertheless she continues. Just as we begin to laugh, however, Jesus tosses in another zinger to kindle our thoughts. There’s not necessarily a happy ending to this tail, but rather this demanding invitation: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
In the Sermon
While prayer is the essential practice named in this passage, the parable is far more than a do-it-yourself spirituality project. More than a how-to lesson, Jesus encourages the disciples toward a life of bold persistence in faith. The undercoating of Jesus’ message is instruction on persistence. He guides the disciples toward a bold faith that shall withstand gale force storms of disappointment.
The sermon might delve into the ways disciples today wrestle with disappointment: generations denied advancement due to systemic poverty; high school students wrestling with the anxieties of facing disappointment unprepared; families scraping against the injustices of racism, hatred and bigotry; and others struggling in their confusion about a world that looks much different than they expected.
But beyond mere disappointments are the deeper injustices that threaten us and cause us to lose heart. For Aimee Stephens, that disappointment was losing a job because she did not want to lose her life. For Don Zarda, that disappointment was being told you couldn’t do the job you love because of the person you love. For millions of Americans, it is wondering if — when — they will be fired not because of incompetence but only because they are gay. These are the injustices that cause God’s people to lose heart.
Luke reminds us that disciples are called to be witnesses of all we have seen and heard. God does not abandon God’s people, and so Jesus calls us to persist. It is in those moments and in those places that the Son of Man will find faith on earth.
SECOND THOUGHTS
The Unjust Judge, Persistence, Living = Changing
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 18:1-8, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:8, Jeremiah 31:27-34, Psalm 119:97-104
Parables can be difficult to preach. They make their points indirectly; it’s usually not wise to take them literally. I’ve found prefacing them with “Try thinking about things this way…”
Parables invite the reader/hearer to walk around in a story. Identifying with different characters leads to a completely different conclusion. Jesus rarely makes his intended “take aways” explicit.
Today’s parable is the first in a series of parables whose audience is not precisely clear from the text. The two parables that immediately follow today’s “The Pharisee and the Tax Collector,” Luke 18:9-14, and “The Rich Ruler,” Luke 18:15-25, are clearly targeted to audiences of higher social and economic status than the disciples. The former parable is addressed to “some who trusted in themselves that they are righteous.” The Pharisees are likely Jesus’ intended audience for this one; though they hardly had a monopoly on sanctimony.
If today’s lesson is addressed to the disciples, it comes at a time when Jesus was preparing them for the sudden, dramatic arrival of “the days of the Son of Man.”
In the parable that follows, the hypothetical judge in this hypothetical city was not a believer in God, nor did he care much for what people thought of him. He was powerful, apparently aloof from the concerns of those whose cases he decided. It seems the hypothetical society where the hypothetical judge held court gave judges huge discretion over whom to “grant justice to.”
This is an odd and troubling phrase. The widow, presumably poor and vulnerable, was at the mercy, literally, of someone who had the power to grant and withhold justice. The parable never makes clear what grievance had sparked the widow into seeking justice, nor does it indicate the fate that befell her opponent when the judge finally permitted the woman to “get justice.”
The parable indicates that the persistence, the haranguing, the nagging finally wore down the judge and just to get some peace and quiet he snapped his fingers, granted the woman’s request and his nudge went away.
What would American justice look like if those who yelled the loudest and longest got what they wanted?
What would American justice look like if those who had the most skilled attorneys prevailed?
What would American justice look like if there were no right to appeal?
What would American justice look like if the right to appeal were finite, limited?
What is justice anyway?
Who in the United States today cries out for justice?
With the start of the Supreme Court session this month, questions of justice — and during this term, uniquely divisive questions of justice — are getting a lot of attention. (See this week’s main article for deeper insights.)
Persistence
There is no question that today’s parable addresses justice, but its truer theme, in my opinion, is persistence.
A cursory reading of the parable appears to make the Lord the unjust judge. But is a god indifferent to pleas for justice, a god who acts justly merely to avoid being nagged, the God we worship and serve?
Is this parable a kind of tutorial in how to what one wants through prayer? A few weeks ago Jesus told us that a tiny bit of faith can move mountains, now he’s telling us to keep at prayer, wear the granter of prayer requests down and you’ll get what you want. As though persistence is the coin that will make the cosmic vending machine work. Nag long enough, pray-er, and God will grant you your desired result.
The last three verses are difficult to interpret:
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
The fact is, Jesus is telling this parable precisely because the Lord is not granting justice, the Lord has long delayed establishing justice. The cry goes up “How long?”
The final portion of v. 8: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” appears to challenge the hearers to be faithful and persistent in prayer so that they will be found that way when the Son of Man appears, that dramatic, world-changing day described in the passage just before this parable. It recalls a bumper sticker I saw once, “Jesus is coming; look busy.”
Living documents
Today’s lesson from Jeremiah says the days are surely coming when it will not be necessary to teach the Law, to which today’s psalm refers in such glowing terms. The Law will be hard wired, original equipment, written on the hearts of the children of the house of Judah and those of the house of Israel. Until then, however, these words need to be passed on to generations that follow. And this is the tricky part: God is alive. To be alive is to change. The unchanging words in scripture are being applied in societies and situations that those who heard and interpreted them originally could not have imagined. That means these words always require interpretation. Always.
The same can be said for the United States Constitution. It’s clearly articulated principles have always been applied in particular historic and societal contexts. And interpretations have changed over time.
In one sense this is terrific news for lawyers, judges and preachers. There will always be work for us to do, interpretations will always be required of us…that is until the word of Jeremiah is fulfilled.
Living God
If God is able to respond to a prayer, that means God is capable of changing. The Calvinist in me affirms that God Almighty can choose to act, or not act, with complete freedom. There are some believers who contend that God is eternal and unchanging; I contend there’s some nuance and “wiggle room” in that characterization.
In the same way a parent loves a newborn differently from an 18 year old, the constant, unchanging love the Lord showers on creation takes different forms in different situations. Scripture even says God can change God’s mind!
In Genesis when the Lord was determined to destroy Sodom, Abraham negotiated with the Lord to spare the city if there were ten righteous people
In Exodus 32, God was all set to wipe out the Israelites about the golden calf, but repented from that fierce wrath at Moses’ urging.
In 2 Samuel 12, David fasted and prayed for the unnamed child he had with Bathsheba to live, reasoning, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and the child may live.’” His servants were puzzled and troubled that he ceased acts of mourning and repentance as soon as the child died. While there was life, there was hope for David.
My favorite example comes from Jonah 3:9. The King of Nineveh, we don’t know his name either, says, “Who knows? God may relent and change his mind…” about destroying the city to which Jonah had gone to preach.
“Hey people, this ashes and sackcloth sounds nuts, I know, but it’s worth a shot, don’t you think?”
So yes, there is scriptural basis for the belief that God changes. Persistence in prayer, the refusal to give up hope, is a virtue. It’s easy to get discouraged, to lose heart, to grow weary seeking justice.
A quick side note on prayer: Some colleagues pointed out to me recently how important the prepositions can be, grammatically, when we lead worship. Asking the congregation, “What should we pray for?” brings a dramatically different response from “What should we pray about?” The former tends to make prayer the cosmic vending machine; the latter an engagement as children of God in this place and time.
Does justice change?
As I indicated earlier, the reader does not know the nature of the injustice the widow has experienced. Her persistence won her justice. What would be just for a widow in first century Palestine? Would it be the same as justice in Mississippi in 1955 or Nebraska in 2019?
While Jesus said “the poor will always be with you,” I believe it would be a faithful interpretation to say that there will also always be people who are marginalized by society. As groups work tenaciously for justice, other marginalized groups also emerge. Majority people are getting more attuned to listen to the voices of peoples long silenced. The establishment of justice may never be achieved, but the struggle must never be abandoned. Abraham Lincoln said, “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” We need to extend mercy, extend grace in the midst of the struggle for justice — even extending grace to ourselves, when we get discouraged.
See, now is the acceptable time! Justice cannot wait, as William Gladstone said, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” He echoed William Penn’s thinking: “To delay Justice is Injustice”
Now is the time to pray! Now is the time to work to dismantle injustice. As the Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon wrote, “Charity is our response to the chronic condition of poverty. Justice is the protocol for eliminating oppression. We treat poverty as chronic because we’ve given up on justice.”
Concluding thoughts
The most obvious “take away” from today’s gospel lesson is to never give up hope. Pray. Pray without ceasing. Keep at it, so when the Son of Man comes he will find faith on earth. Let’s let 2 Timothy have the last word: “Be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Jeremiah 31:28
to build and plant
George Washington, though he may have had a dour look because of his false teeth, was a man who enjoyed life. Washington enjoyed gambling, horse racing, fox hunts, card playing, dice games, billiards, and dancing. In fact, so many people came to his home in Mount Vernon for recreation that some referred to it as a “well-resorted” tavern. Yet, life was more than fun and games as Washington was the commander of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States.
* * *
Genesis 32:24
wrestled
During the meeting of the Continental Congress, George Washington was the only attendee to wear a military uniform. He was also the only one in the chamber that had combat leadership experience during the French and Indian War. One duty of the Congress was to select a commander for the newly formed Continental Army that was to battle the British and secure America’s independence. To the delegates, Washington became the obvious choice for that position. Upon receiving his commission, Washington said, “I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.”
* * *
Jeremiah 31:33
I will put the law within them
Perhaps Phillips Brooks has given us one of the best definitions of preaching when he wrote that preaching is, “Truth Through Personality.” Brooks served the Boston Trinity Episcopal Church for 26 years, starting his pastorate in 1869. Brooks may be best known to us as the author of the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” The problem we have today is that we love to follow the Phillips Brooks who wrote the hymn, sitting safely in our sanctuary singing, “O little town of Bethlehem; How still we see thee lie; Above thy deep and dreamless; sleep; The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth; The everlasting Light; The hopes and fears of all the years; Are met in thee tonight.”
Yet, our real calling is to take the message of Bethlehem out of the sanctuary and into the streets where we share the truth of Jesus through our personality, our sincerity. We are to tell the story of Bethlehem, the story of the new Adam.
* * *
Genesis 32:24
wrestled
In a desperate need to have a battlefield victory against the British, Washington crossed the Delaware River at night to attack the Hessians, mercenary soldiers fighting on behalf of the British. The attack upon the Hessians at Trenton must begin at sunrise on the day after Christmas, as the soldiers would be inebriated and disorganized from their holiday celebration. Knowing this, Washington, from his horse, kept commanding and encouraging his troops to, “Press on, boys, press on.”
* * *
Jeremiah 31:33
I will put the law within them
In 1776 when John Adams, who became the second President of the United States, was away from home because of the war, he wrote his wife Abigail a letter on how to educate their children in his absence. In that letter he wrote, “Cultivate their minds, inspire their little Hearts.”
* * * * * *
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Persistence #1
She Persisted in The Law
Roxanne Conlin was in her second year of law school when she became pregnant.
It was 1966 in Des Moines, and she was 20 years old, putting herself through school with the help of a scholarship and income from her clerical work at a law firm. Her friends and colleagues had told her that studying to become a lawyer while expecting a child would be impossible. Conlin thought they were wrong.
But she was fired from her clerk job after becoming visibly pregnant. “We’re not running a maternity ward here,” she says they told her.
And three days before the school year began, Conlin, then seven months pregnant, was told by the dean’s office at Drake University’s law school that her scholarships would not be renewed.
The secretary that gave her the news told her it was because she was pregnant and “probably would not become a lawyer,” Conlin says.
Roxanne Conlin eventually made it to graduate school with the help of a loan and her wedding ring, which she hocked to a pawnshop to pay her tuition at the time. She went on to enjoy a career that has spanned more than five decades and includes time as an assistant attorney general in Iowa and one of the first two women to ever be a U.S. attorney.
* * *
Persistence #2
Writers, Artists, Entertainers & a Journalist
Irving Stone’s biographical novel of the life of Vincent Van Gogh was rejected by 17 publishers, one of which said “the public isn’t interested in Van Gogh.” To date, it has sold over 25 million copies.
The first book by Theodor Geisel was rejected by twenty-seven publishers before it was finally accepted by Vanguard Press under the pen name Dr. Seuss. The book was The Cat in the Hat.
Peter Benchley submitted his first novel to eleven publishers all of whom rejected it, one with the comment, “No one wants to read about a big fish.” The twelfth publisher accepted it. The book was Jaws.
John Kennedy Toole’s first novel was rejected by so many publishers that he became despondent and committed suicide. After his death, his mother continued to send the manuscript to publishers and the first one she sent it to, a small university publishing house, accepted it. The following year, the novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Jack Cranfield and his co-author Mark Victor Hansen pitched the original Chicken Soup for the Soul to over 130 different publishers, but none of them were interested. Said one, one “wants to read 100 inspirational stories.” Even their literary agent dropped them. Eventually, their book was picked up by a small publisher in Florida. Now there are over 250 Chicken Soup for the Soul Books and over 500 million copies sold worldwide.
Mozart’s opera, “The Magic Flute,” was dismissed by the king as having, “too many notes.”
Fred Astaire was described by a talent agent as, “A balding, skinny actor. Can dance a little.”
Chester Carlson’s invention, xerography, was rejected as worthless by Kodak, so he started his own company which became Xerox.
Young people probably won’t recognize the name Walter Cronkite, but in the 60’s and 70’ the CBS Evening News anchor was considered the most trusted man in America. He began working for $1 a day in 1933 for Kansas City radio station, KTUT, from which he was fired because, they said, he had “no talent.”
* * *
Persistence #3
A Castle in Ohio
Loveland, Ohio, is nestled up to the Little Miami River, just a stone’s throw from Cincinnati. If you ever visit there you’ll want to see Château Laroche. But, when you ask for directions, don’t call it that. The residents of Loveland have always known it as, simply, the Loveland Castle.
It’s a smallish castle, a copy of a historical European castle, built by Boy Scout troop leader, World War I veteran, and medievalist Harry D. Andrews. Starting in 1920, he built the castle on promotional plots of land that were obtained by paying for one-year subscriptions to The Cincinnati Enquirer. Andrews named his castle after a military hospital in the Chateau La Roche in southwest France where he was stationed during the First World War. Its name means "Rock Castle" in French.
For over fifty years, Andrews worked on his castle project. He pulled stones from the nearby Little Miami River, and when that supply was exhausted, molded bricks with cement and quart milk cartons.
When Andrews died in 1981, he willed the castle to his Boy Scout troop the Knights of the Golden Trail. The Castle has been extensively upgraded and renovated in the years since Andrews' death and has been mostly completed by the KOGT.
The East tower now houses a short video presentation on Andrews' quest to finish his dream. The walls of the upstairs chapel feature many stones brought back by Andrews in his world travels and others sent to him from foreign locations by his friends and followers. Recently completed are an expansion to the outside gardens and a greenhouse.
Tales persist that Harry’s ghost still wanders the halls of Château Laroche making sure that the Knights of the Golden Trail are keeping the place in good repair.
* * *
Persistence #4
The Donkey in the Well (as told by Darren Poke)
Once upon a time, there was a donkey.
It was a stupid, stubborn old donkey and even the farmer who owned it didn’t like him.
The farmer owned a large property and one day he heard in the distance the loud, distinctive “eye-ore, eye-ore” of the donkey. He wondered what the stupid donkey had done now, so he looked all over his property until at last he found the animal at the bottom of an old abandoned well.
Exasperated, the farmer rang his neighbours and asked them each to bring a shovel. He’d had enough of the stupid donkey, so he had decided to bury it in the well.
All of his friends came over and together they started to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey protested loudly, braying with all of his might, but after about 10 minutes, he stopped.
The farmers kept shoveling.
After a while, someone decided to have a look into the well to see what had happened to the donkey. What he saw astonished him.
Instead of being buried, the donkey would dodge the incoming dirt, standing on the ever-increasing mound.
Now the mission changed and the farmers went from trying to bury the donkey to trying to save him, shoveling more and more dirt into the abandoned well until he jumped out of the top victorious.
Upon his release, the farmers all dropped their shovels and applauded the old stubborn beast with a newfound admiration.
There are times in life when it seems as though we are that donkey. Trapped and feeling as though life is trying to bury us. Don’t go under, but continue to find a way to overcome your challenges one at a time until you too emerge victorious.
* * *
Persistence #5
Not Java Jive
Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks went to over 242 banks looking for his original loan. 242!
Not only was he desperately trying to secure a loan, his wife was pregnant with their first child. After a year of rejections, he was able to secure the $400,000 needed from a doctor and two other individual investors.
Today, the brand employs over 137,000 people around the world.
Starbucks Stats (via Business Insider):
16,850 Starbucks locations in 40 countries
As of 2010, Starbucks employed 137,000 people — twice the population of Greenland
Starbucks has added two new stores per day since 1987
Howard Schultz is worth nearly 3 billion dollars and Starbucks is considered one of the best places to work in the United States.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin
Jeremiah 31:27-34
A New Thing: Apple Pie
In Jeremiah’s proclamation, God promises that “I will watch over them to build and to plant.” The exiles will be built up in new ways, in God’s tender care. High school student Grace Williams has experienced that in her own family, as she ponders whether they are assimilating too much into American culture, and losing their heritage.
She says, “It’s 1:47 a.m. Thanksgiving smells fill the kitchen. The sweet aroma of sugar-covered apples and buttery dough swirls into my nostrils. Fragrant orange and rosemary permeate the room and every corner smells like a stroll past the open door of a French bakery. My eleven-year-old eyes water, red with drowsiness, and refocus on the oven timer counting down. Behind me, my mom and aunt chat to no end, fueled by the seemingly self-replenishable coffee pot stashed in the corner. Their hands work fast, mashing potatoes, crumbling cornbread, and covering finished dishes in a thin layer of plastic wrap. The most my tired body can do is sit slouched on the backless wooden footstool. I bask in the heat escaping under the oven door.”
The apple pie of the season is “more than its flaky crust and soft-fruit center. This American food symbolized a rite of passage, my Iraqi family’s ticket to assimilation. Some argue that by adopting American customs like the apple pie, we lose our culture. I would argue that while American culture influences what my family eats and celebrates, it doesn’t define our character. In my family, we eat Iraqi dishes like mesta and tahini, but we also eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. This doesn’t mean we favor one culture over the other; instead, we create a beautiful blend of the two, adapting traditions to make them our own.”
Her mother’s family came to the United States in 1976, encountering an unfriendly America. “Here, my family was thrust into a completely unknown world: they didn’t speak the language, they didn’t dress normally, and dinners like riza maraka seemed strange in comparison to the Pop Tarts and Oreos lining grocery store shelves.” But now, “our Thanksgiving spread accurately represents our blend of cultures. White and olive-toned hands alike hold plates piled high with mashed potatoes, turkey, and dolma. Everyone will come. Whether they be family, or “cousins” I’ve never met before, the more crowded the table, the better. As they lounge on plastic-covered sofas, I’ll make my apple pie for a house full of loud immigrants…We will play concan on the blanketed floor and I’ll try to understand my Toto, who, after forty years, still speaks broken English. I’ll listen to my elders as they tell stories about growing up in Unionville, Michigan, a predominately white town where they always felt like outsiders, stories of racism that I have the privilege not to experience… Our Thanksgiving food is more than just sustenance, it is a physical representation of my family ’s blended and ever-changing culture, even after 40 years in the United States. No matter how the food on our plates changes, it will always symbolize our sense of family — immediate and extended—and our unbreakable bond.”
A new generation finds hope in new ways, just as Jeremiah envisioned centuries ago.
* * *
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Building Up Those in Exile
As Jeremiah speaks hope to the refugees in Babylon, offering God’s word of promise, so the modern-day NGO Refugee Support provides help in innovative ways. They have seen assistance given badly, and without dignity, and were determined to do it better. “Refugee Support co-founders Paul Hutchings and John Sloan met in 2015 in Calais’ notorious Jungle camp. They were both drawn to help alleviate the suffering of the thousands of migrants and refugees living in deplorable conditions…“The idea of aid with dignity came from our experiences in Calais,” says Hutchings. “We distributed food from the back of a van staffed by a team of six to eight volunteers who would try and maintain a queue and give out one item per person. Without this system there was usually a fight, and even with it, there was frequently pushing and shoving. There was no choice, it was not fair, and the vulnerable missed out.”
Now they distribute food from a brightly colored, hope-filled space. “Staffed by a rotating team of volunteers and one permanent coordinator, the shop is set in an airplane hangar just inside the camp, a former military site on the outskirts of the lakeside town of Ioannina. The brightly decorated space also includes two rooms styled as boutiques to distribute donated clothing, and a classroom for language lessons. Out front, there’s an area for children’s activities, a small cafe, and a growing community garden. With its vibrant colors and welcoming atmosphere, the hangar stands in stark contrast to the rest of the barren, sprawling camp, where residents live in cramped Isobox containers—rectangular metal and plastic cabins with basic facilities. Every week, volunteers distribute tokens to each cabin based on the number of adults and children living there; those tokens can then be used to obtain food from the shop. The NGO also provides diapers to families and sanitary pads to women.”
This way of serving people in exile evokes Jeremiah’s hopeful view of the future. “The setup of the stores also provides an informal way for the NGO to consult with its “customers” about their needs. Refugee Support relates to residents of the camp as customers rather than beneficiaries, and that is an important distinction. “Food and clothing are important for residents’ welfare, but these items are also a vehicle for us to offer things that are just as important — a place where you are treated with respect as an individual,” says Hutchings. As a model, aid with dignity is surprisingly cost-effective. “It takes longer to do but for a volunteer organization like us there is no additional financial cost,” he says. “It actually saves money. There is next to no waste, because people can choose exactly what they want.” By having residents only take what they want and need, it reduces people throwing away food items that they don’t like but took only because they were never given an option.”
Jeremiah’s word about the future turns our mind to the modern-day exiles among us, and prompts us to wonder how the world speaks hope to them.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
Persistence in Action
Watch out for the grandmothers! They understand the power of persistence, as Second Timothy urges. The letter tells us “be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable,” and a group of grandmothers has taken that to heart. Each day immigration authorities release people from custody with very little food or clothing. And so, every morning, “Bonita Amaro and her sister Yolanda Sanchez arrive at the Greyhound bus station in Sacramento to greet asylum-seekers passing through on their way to sponsors’ homes across the country. The two women come armed with care kits containing basic necessities, as well as blankets, toys, and fresh, warm foods, such as the burritos and sandwiches that Sanchez prepares. “They have so much dignity, so much gratitude. We get hugs, ‘Dios te bendiga, God bless you,’” Amaro says of the asylum-seekers. “In that moment, we are not Republican or Democrat. Not religious. We don’t talk politics with them. We’re just humanitarians.”
These tías, abuelas, and other advocates call themselves the Overground Railroad. And just as sisters Amaro and Sanchez are doing in Sacramento, each day dozens of them show up at Greyhound bus stations in far-flung connecting cities where asylum-seekers, released from detention, are making their way across the country to sponsors’ homes. With grandmotherly gentleness, often speaking in a familiar language, these volunteers are waiting.
Overground Railroad, a reference to Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad, is an offshoot project of Grannies Respond/Abuelas Responden, which emerged this summer when a caravan of grandmother activists journeyed from New York to the southern U.S. border to bring comfort to asylum-seekers there — and attention to their plight.” The idea for ongoing support grew from that trip.
At first, they weren’t sure how to find the people who needed the help. “Volunteers who help the families at Greyhound stations at the start their journeys often hand them brown envelopes that outline their itineraries. But Amaro says she seldom sees those envelopes. Rather, she, Yolanda, and the other volunteers look for those travelers wearing a bewildered look, a tip from a Latina janitor who works at the Greyhound station. “She told us, ‘You’ll know them. People from here walk in confidently, they look up at the schedule or get on their phones. The asylum-seekers will come in and stop at the door. They don’t know where to go or what to do.’” An ankle bracelet might be visible, Amaro says, but “they never, ever have luggage.”
Mostly, she says, they are “relieved and grateful to know that people are welcoming them.” More often than not, they are hungry. “They have no money and have not eaten in days,” she says. What little they have, they share among each other—no longer strangers after all that time together. “We show them on a map where they’ve been and where they’re going. … They have no idea.” As the weather has turned cold, they’ve been bringing extra blankets and jackets donated by the people in the community. And always, something for the children, Amaro says. “They all like Etch a Sketch. So we always make sure we have Etch a Sketches and Beanie Babies. And coloring books.”
The grandmas are a model of persistence, doing this work week after week, proclaiming a message of compassion.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
Persistence Leads to Change
2 Timothy says, “proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.” Walter Murray learned the power of a single moment of persistence, as Wayne Muller tells it, from his friend Marcus. In an unfavorable moment during the Civil Rights movement, Marcus displayed a spirit-filled persistence. Walter Murray remembers:
"One day we were beginning a civil rights march through Birmingham, Alabama. It was at the height of the conflict between civil rights workers and the Birmingham police. We prepared ourselves relentlessly, cultivating the discipline we would need to be strong enough to march — nonviolently — through the city.
"Bull Connor (the commissioner of public safety) had readied his men and dogs for a confrontation with the marchers. I took my place in line. Close by was my friend Marcus, an enormous football player. He must have been 6’4”, 275 pounds. Kathy, his girlfriend— who looked small enough to fit under his arm — marched between us, so we could keep her safe.
"We started to march. As we walked, crowds of people came from everywhere. They started to shout at us, throw things at us, generally abuse and harass us. Still, we stayed in line, and kept marching.
The crowds got bigger, and they got mean — real fast. We were terrified of getting hurt, even killed. But we were committed to doing this. Without violence. No matter what happened.
Then — all at once — the police and the dogs were ordered to attack. Big men in uniforms with Billy clubs were swinging everywhere around us. One of the police, I still remember his face, so ugly with hate, looked to be coming right at me. Marcus tried to block him.
"But that policeman was so full of fear and anger all mixed up, he just swung and screamed and kept coming at us, wild and flailing with his club, like a rabid dog. One sharp swing somehow managed to get through us, and landed square on poor Kathy’s head. The sound of that crack turned my stomach. She just fell, her whole body crumpled like an old suit of clothes right there on the ground. Her head was bleeding.
Marcus, trained all his life as a defensive tackle, watched his girlfriend collapse, a pile of flesh and bone at his feet. Then, he turned so fast and looked straight at this cop, I just knew he was going to do to that cop the only thing he ever knew to do: smash him into the pavement so he never got up again.
"But then, he stopped. And his eyes just looked and looked. He just stared right into the soul of that policeman, who just stood there, paralyzed, confused, not sure what was going to happen to him. But Marcus just looked at him, and it felt like forever.
"Then, this massive young warrior of a man, trained all his life to protect those he loved, took his muscled arms and reached out — and then reached down. He picked Kathy up, held her bleeding head — like you would hold a baby. With Kathy in his arms, Marcus and I just kept on walking."
Walter said “I was so humbled. The power of that presence, that deep moral courage. In that moment I had to find in myself that same, firm inner ground. We had all taken the same vow, a vow that could not be broken: To find in ourselves that place on which we would, at all costs, no matter how painful or dangerous, always stand firm.
“But that was who we had to be; we knew we had to refuse any other way. We had to renounce violence. Of any kind. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be any different — or any better — than they were.
“It was,” he concluded, “our only hope for change.” Persistence leads us into remarkable places.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Oh, how we love your law, O God!
People: It is our meditation all day long.
Leader: How sweet are your words to our taste.
People: They are sweeter than honey to us!
Leader: Through your precepts we get understanding.
People: Therefore we hate every false way.
OR
Leader: The God of justice and mercy calls us today.
People: We come to worship the God of all good.
Leader: God welcomes our worship but also calls us to work.
People: In God’s name we will join the struggle for justice.
Leader: Take heart knowing God is with us in this work.
People: In the power of God’s Spirit, we will persevere.
Hymns and Songs:
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELW: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52/53/65
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
UMH: 133
AAHH: 371
NNBH: 262
NCH: 471
CH: 560
ELW: 774
W&P: 496
AMEC: 525
Stand By Me
UMH: 512
NNBH: 318
CH: 629
W&P: 495
AMEC: 420
Out of the Depths I Cry to You
UMH: 515
H82: 666
PH: 240
NCH: 483
CH: 510
LBW: 295
ELW: 600
Lift Every Voice and Sing
UMH: 519
H82: 599
PH: 563
AAHH: 540
NNBH: 457
CH: 631
LBW: 562
ELW: 841
W&P: 729
AMEC: 571
STLT: 149
We Shall Overcome
UMH: 533
AAHH: 542
NNBH: 501
NCH: 570
CH: 630
W&P: 512
STLT: 169
Be Still, My Soul
UMH: 534
AAHH: 135
NNBH: 263
NCH: 488
CH: 566
W&P: 451
AMEC: 426
Shine, Jesus, Shine
CCB: 81
Renew: 247
Learning to Lean
CCB: 74
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 is just and good:
Grant us the faith to trust in your justice and mercy
that we may work with you to bring these to all your children;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise and worship you, O God, because you are just and good. Open our hearts to your mercy and justice so that we may be you instruments to bring these gifts to all your children. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we fail to work for justice or give up the work too easily.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We see injustice all around us but we seldom get involved if it doesn’t directly involve us. When we do take up the cause of justice we are easily distracted and discouraged. We give up and desert those in need. Help us to hear you calling us back to our work of bringing your reign to all creation. Forgive us our failures and embolden us with your Spirit. Amen.
Leader: God’s Spirit is always available to us when we seek justice for others. Receive God’s blessings and share in God’s work to bring justice to all.
Prayers of the People
All glory, laud and honor are yours by right, O God, because you are the fount of justice and mercy and all good. You are the light that cannot be overcome by darkness.
(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. We see injustice all around us but we seldom get involved if it doesn't directly involve us. When we do take up the cause of justice we are easily distracted and discouraged. We give up and desert those in need. Help us to hear you calling us back to our work of bringing your reign to all creation. Forgive us our failures and embolden us with your Spirit.
We thank you for all the blessings we have received. We thank you for those who have worked for justice and peace so that we can enjoy the fruits of their labor. We thank you for opportunities we have to be your voice on behalf of others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children who suffer from injustice and violence. We pray for those who work with them to ease their suffering and right the wrong.
(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
This could be a good time to talk with the children about bullying. It is a form of injustice as power is used to harm. Talk about how we can stand with those who are bullied.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Which way next? Check the Bible
by Bethany Peerbolte
There are a lot of references to walking in the way (Psalm 119) and the law (Jeremiah 31: 27-34) and directions from the Bible (2 Timothy 3:14--4:5) this week. Kids are often more familiar with the narratives in the Bible than they are about the instruction the Bible is giving. This lesson will plant the seed that the Bible as a book of helpful directions to live a happy life.
For this lesson you will need to find/buy a blank notebook. Sketchbooks work best because they do not have lined paper. In the blank book you will write the following instructions on different pages. The instructions do not need to be in any order.
Stand up
Wave to the Pastor
Raise an arm
Jump once
Turn around
Smile at your neighbor
Stand on one leg
Sit down
In you lesson say something like:
I have a special instruction book with me today. Inside there are directions for us to follow. Shall we see what it says? (open the book you made with the different instructions one page at a time allowing the kids to do each task. If you have young ones make sure to read the directions for them. End with “sit down.”)
That was fun! This book had some silly directions in it, but I have another book that has directions that are very useful to us. So useful in fact that people have been following its directions for thousands of years! (bring out a Bible)
A Bible! We all know this book. We read from it every week, and just like my first book it has directions. But these directions aren’t silly, they help us live a happier life. It helps us know who we are supposed to help and who we should love. It tells us what love looks like and how to love others. There are all kinds of helpful directions in here to help us live a life that makes God smile.
Some people even say the Bible is like a roadmap. Have any of you ever been on a hike? Or been the navigator on a car trip? When we want to stay on a path or road there are usually signs to help us find our way. There might just be arrows that point the way, or there might be big words that say, “Disney World turn right.” We want to pay attention to those signs so we get to where we want and do not get lost.
The Bible keeps us on God’s path. Reading the Bible helps us know when and where to turn. If we see someone in need the Bible says, “Turn here and help.” If we are feeling left out and lonely the Bible says, “Go to church, they will love you.” If we are feeling afraid the Bible says, “Look Out, God is always with you.”
The Bible is our map to life. Sometimes it might tell us something we do not want to hear. We might read something and realize we were not very loving to someone and need to go say we are sorry. Even then the Bible helps make saying sorry easier because we know when we ask for forgiveness God is always ready to forgive. I want each of you to go home today and find a Bible (you can also tell them where they can get a Bible to take home from the church). I want you to put that Bible somewhere you will see it so you always know where it is when you need some direction.
Pray: Guiding God, thank you for being with us. We are growing into better Christians. Help us read the Bible to find out how to live a happier life. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 20, 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.
- Nevertheless, He Resisted by Chris Keating — In a world where justice delayed is justice denied, Jesus urges persistence, reminds the disciples of God’s unending mercy and grace.
- Second Thoughts: The Unjust Judge, Persistence, Living = Changing by Tom Willadsen — Now is the time to pray! Now is the time to work to dismantle injustice.
- Sermon illustrations by Ron Love, Dean Feldmeyer and Mary Austin.
- Worship resources by George Reed focusing the struggle for justice; can a broken system still bring justice?
- Children’s sermon: Which Way Next? Check the Bible by Bethany Peerbolte — The Bible keeps us on God’s path. Reading the Bible helps us know when and where to turn.
Nevertheless, He ResistedChris Keating
Luke 18:1-8
Nothing was more satisfying to Donald Zarda than achieving a good landing after parachuting out of an airplane. Nothing, that is, except justice.
Zarda was passionate about a few things in life: family, friends, and accumulating stray cats. But he was over the moon in love with skydiving. He was so in love with skydiving that less than a day after meeting his future husband, Zarda insisted they go skydiving together. Believing that a person you’ve just met will keep you safe as you leap from the interior of a perfectly good airplane is as good a definition of trust as can be found.
Nevertheless, Zarda lost his job because he was gay. As he prepared for a tandem jump with a female client in 2010, Zarda half-joked that she should not worry about being strapped closely to a man. “I’m gay,” he told her. After the jump his employer fired him. Like millions of LGBTQ persons around the nation, Zarda had little recourse.
Terrified that he would never work as an instructor again, Zarda turned his passion to seeking justice. As his brother explained, “he knew he couldn’t stand idly by and accept something so blatantly unfair.”
Much like the widow in Jesus’ parable, Zarda was relentless in seeking justice. This week, five years after his death, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Zarda’s case. His attorneys argued that the 1964 civil rights law should apply to LGBTQ persons in protecting employees from discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Such protection is unavailable in most states.
It’s been a long battle, and the outcome is uncertain. The Supreme Court seems divided, and it is unclear whether five justices will vote in favor of either Zarda or Gerald Bostock, a defendant in another case who was also fired for being gay.
Jesus’ parable reminds us that justice is often a winding, twisting pathway. The widow pushed her way through the court docket, never letting the disreputable judge forget her name. Nevertheless, he resisted. He refused to grant her petition. Yet she did not give up, modelling faithfulness in prayer and witness for generations to come.
In the News
Don Zarda believed in pushing limits. Zarda was a restless nomad. Raised in Missouri, he lived in Texas and New York while also travelling the world pursuing skydiving and extreme sports. His attorney, Gregory Antolllino, describes Zarda as a “skydiving aeronaut,” an “adrenaline-fueled parachutist who fearlessly faced death.” In life, Zarda pushed against the laws of gravity. In death, his estate is pushing against laws of discrimination.
He persisted, and rarely lost heart.
A day after Zarda was fired for sharing what his employer termed “escapades” he contacted Antollino’s Manhattan office. A client was taken aback by Zarda’s frank approach to his sexuality — he told her not to be worried about diving tandem with him because he was gay. Word got back to his employer that he acted inappropriately, which resulted in his immediate termination. It seemed the client may not have appreciated Zarda’s rather upfront style.
“His perspective (of the world,)” Antollino notes, “was bigger than Texas.” Antollino writes that it was Zarda’s persistently bold manner that empowered clients to face the unnerving anxiety of diving. After losing his job, Zarda brought a similar persistence to his lawsuit. After his unexpected death, there was little doubt that the lawsuit would continue.
“I hesitate to begin this story,” Antollino says, “because I don’t know how it will end. But I have been waiting so long for this moment — my greatest, biggest leap.” He notes that standing before the court may feel as frightening as skydiving. Yet Zarda’s conviction impels family members to persist.
“There was no question that we were going to pursue the case,” said Zarda’s sister, Melissa. She and Moore continued the fight as Zarda’s co-executors.
It’s been a long slog, as is often the case in Supreme Court cases. Plaintiffs and their attorneys face rounds of lower court arguments, setbacks, and countless challenges. As the saying goes, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine. It’s something Aimee Stephens understands as well.
Stephens, 58, is a plaintiff in another employment discrimination case under the court’s consideration. Stephens is transgendered and worked as a funeral director/embalmer until 2013. After years of hiding her gender identity, Stephens wrestled with coming out. She considered suicide, but then decided to tell her boss that she was tired of “living a lie.” She wrote a letter to her employer and then met with him to say she would begin dressing as a female.
“This is not going to work out,” he told her, and immediately sacked her.
Her case has made its way through the lower courts, and was argued before the justices on October 8. It was a day she had long awaited, albeit with many different feelings.
“I can’t say I’m worried or nervous, but it’s been a long time coming,” said Stephens, “I only hope the justices will listen to reason and look at what the lower courts have said.” She notes that she has no regrets — that it was either write a letter “or not be here anymore.”
Like Zarda, Stephens case argues that the 1964 Civil Rights Acts prohibits discrimination against gay, lesbxian, bisexual or transgender persons. An investigation of Stephens’ case by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) concluded that her rights had been violated. The funeral home asserted the right to terminate her because of religious beliefs. A judge agreed with the funeral home — while acknowledging that the company had indeed violated the Civil Rights Act. The judge concluded that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act granted the funeral home immunity from liability.
Conservative Christians argue that the religious freedom of employers is the essential issue, a question raised by Chief Justice John Roberts during oral arguments. Numerous evangelical groups have weighed in on the matter, asking the court to balance the civil rights of LGBTQ persons with the religious freedom of institutions. Others couch their concerns in terms of judicial overreach.
The court’s decision on the cases will have wide-ranging impact. Over 11.3 million Americans identify as either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. “It’s like asking whether the population of the state of Ohio is protected by federal employment discrimination laws,” writes Washington, D.C. Solicitor General Loren AliKhan.
Only 21 states plus the District of Columbia expressly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
It’s also the first case involving gay rights since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. During arguments, justices seemed divided. Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch described the case as “real close.”
“Assume for the moment that I’m with you on textual evidence,” Gorsuch told Stephens’ attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union. He warned, however, of a “massive social upheaval” if the court were to rule in favor of LGBTQ persons, and wondered whether or not the courts should be adding contemporary meaning to an old law, calling that the responsibility of Congress.
The House of Representatives passed the Equality Act in May amending the Civil Rights act to include sexual orientation. Yet the legislation is stalled in the Senate and is unlikely to move forward.
The wheels of legislation may not spin any faster than the gears of justice. What is clear, however, is that Aimee Stephens or the family and friends of Don Zarda and other plaintiffs will not go away. The increased acceptance of LGBTQ persons across the nation is another factor. The plaintiffs know the court’s conservative majority is a significant issue as well.
Whatever happens, Zarda’s husband Bill Moore believes his late spouse’s persistent activism will be palpable as the court renders its decision next year. He recalled that on the day Zarda died, a glass windowpane shattered in their New York City home. Moore wondered if a wayward baseball or perhaps a rock had shattered the glass. But there wasn’t a rock or ball inside the living room.
Moore realized that the glass had shattered about the same time as Zarda’s accident in Switzerland. “I will always think that it was him in some way,” Moore said, perhaps a reminder about the need to pray always and to not lose heart.
In the Scripture
Jesus’ parable in Luke 18:1-5 provides a nuanced continuation of the eschatological themes raised in chapter 17. Jesus warns that disciples must remain fleet-footed in their expectation of the coming kingdom, nimbly navigating obstacles and difficulties, and always remembering that “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed.” His language is terse: life “as it was in the days of Noah” will not be easy. At times “those who try to make their life secure will lose it.”
Floating around the churning seas of crisis is not a time to lose heart. Instead, Jesus entreats them to remain persistent in their fervor, praying often to not lose heart. His instructions are plain: do not become discouraged. Another rendering of losing heart would be “without giving up,” (See Luke Timothy Johnson, “Luke,” Sacra Pagina Series, Vol. 3, p.269.) In moments of discouragement, the disciples are called to remember what it means to persevere in prayer.
Jesus illustrates his point with the pithy and somewhat humorous parable. The story is nearly a Keystone Cops comedy or slapstick Punch and Judy sketch. Imagine a powerful, burly, corrupt judge. He’s a bruiser with bulging biceps, and a menacing stare. He fears no one, not even God.
He gets what he wants, and when he wants it. He’s without an equal.
But things are not always as they seem. Indeed, the expected power dynamics are inverted by this persistent widow whose daily haranguing of the judge is nonstop. She bends his ear while he sips his coffee at Starbucks, pleads her case when he’s at home in his study, and sets up camp in his courtroom. She makes her case over and over, repeating the facts ad nauseum. There’s no escaping her persistent slightly whining tone. In fact, things have become so bad that the judge is worried she might slug him with her mighty right arm.
Luke pokes fun at the expected power dynamics: the “powerful” judge is overruled by the “weak” and “vulnerable” widow. Things clearly are not what they seem. There’s little doubt that the judge has been worn into the ground by her nagging and cries for justice. She really wouldn’t pop him one in the face, would she?
Well…
“Listen to what the unjust says,” Jesus advises. The guy is despicable and more corrupt than a judge on the take. He doesn’t care about what anyone thinks, but somehow even His Dishonor understands that there’s only one way to make this lady disappear. It’s not the path of least resistance; it’s the path of self-preservation. The judge becomes the perfect foil to prove Jesus’ point. “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones?” Jesus argues. Pray, and do not lose heart. Stay focused on what really matters. Never, never, never give up.
It’s more than a Winston Churchill quote. Sandwiched in these eight verses is a theological notion of prayer that is deeper and more potent than merely raising our “joys and concerns” each Sunday. The prayer Jesus suggests is a life-long commitment to asking, seeking, knocking. The cycle continues, perpetually repeating — perhaps even to the point of anger. The woman models an “in your face” sort of discipleship that dares to get emotional. She is livid that justice has been denied or overlooked, and she will not give up her pursuit.
She pushes forward, and he resists. He’s under no compulsion to grant her plea, though he wisely determines this lady is not going to get out of his face unless he relents. He resists, but nevertheless she continues. Just as we begin to laugh, however, Jesus tosses in another zinger to kindle our thoughts. There’s not necessarily a happy ending to this tail, but rather this demanding invitation: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
In the Sermon
While prayer is the essential practice named in this passage, the parable is far more than a do-it-yourself spirituality project. More than a how-to lesson, Jesus encourages the disciples toward a life of bold persistence in faith. The undercoating of Jesus’ message is instruction on persistence. He guides the disciples toward a bold faith that shall withstand gale force storms of disappointment.
The sermon might delve into the ways disciples today wrestle with disappointment: generations denied advancement due to systemic poverty; high school students wrestling with the anxieties of facing disappointment unprepared; families scraping against the injustices of racism, hatred and bigotry; and others struggling in their confusion about a world that looks much different than they expected.
But beyond mere disappointments are the deeper injustices that threaten us and cause us to lose heart. For Aimee Stephens, that disappointment was losing a job because she did not want to lose her life. For Don Zarda, that disappointment was being told you couldn’t do the job you love because of the person you love. For millions of Americans, it is wondering if — when — they will be fired not because of incompetence but only because they are gay. These are the injustices that cause God’s people to lose heart.
Luke reminds us that disciples are called to be witnesses of all we have seen and heard. God does not abandon God’s people, and so Jesus calls us to persist. It is in those moments and in those places that the Son of Man will find faith on earth.
SECOND THOUGHTSThe Unjust Judge, Persistence, Living = Changing
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 18:1-8, 2 Timothy 3:14-4:8, Jeremiah 31:27-34, Psalm 119:97-104
Parables can be difficult to preach. They make their points indirectly; it’s usually not wise to take them literally. I’ve found prefacing them with “Try thinking about things this way…”
Parables invite the reader/hearer to walk around in a story. Identifying with different characters leads to a completely different conclusion. Jesus rarely makes his intended “take aways” explicit.
Today’s parable is the first in a series of parables whose audience is not precisely clear from the text. The two parables that immediately follow today’s “The Pharisee and the Tax Collector,” Luke 18:9-14, and “The Rich Ruler,” Luke 18:15-25, are clearly targeted to audiences of higher social and economic status than the disciples. The former parable is addressed to “some who trusted in themselves that they are righteous.” The Pharisees are likely Jesus’ intended audience for this one; though they hardly had a monopoly on sanctimony.
If today’s lesson is addressed to the disciples, it comes at a time when Jesus was preparing them for the sudden, dramatic arrival of “the days of the Son of Man.”
In the parable that follows, the hypothetical judge in this hypothetical city was not a believer in God, nor did he care much for what people thought of him. He was powerful, apparently aloof from the concerns of those whose cases he decided. It seems the hypothetical society where the hypothetical judge held court gave judges huge discretion over whom to “grant justice to.”
This is an odd and troubling phrase. The widow, presumably poor and vulnerable, was at the mercy, literally, of someone who had the power to grant and withhold justice. The parable never makes clear what grievance had sparked the widow into seeking justice, nor does it indicate the fate that befell her opponent when the judge finally permitted the woman to “get justice.”
The parable indicates that the persistence, the haranguing, the nagging finally wore down the judge and just to get some peace and quiet he snapped his fingers, granted the woman’s request and his nudge went away.
What would American justice look like if those who yelled the loudest and longest got what they wanted?
What would American justice look like if those who had the most skilled attorneys prevailed?
What would American justice look like if there were no right to appeal?
What would American justice look like if the right to appeal were finite, limited?
What is justice anyway?
Who in the United States today cries out for justice?
With the start of the Supreme Court session this month, questions of justice — and during this term, uniquely divisive questions of justice — are getting a lot of attention. (See this week’s main article for deeper insights.)
Persistence
There is no question that today’s parable addresses justice, but its truer theme, in my opinion, is persistence.
A cursory reading of the parable appears to make the Lord the unjust judge. But is a god indifferent to pleas for justice, a god who acts justly merely to avoid being nagged, the God we worship and serve?
Is this parable a kind of tutorial in how to what one wants through prayer? A few weeks ago Jesus told us that a tiny bit of faith can move mountains, now he’s telling us to keep at prayer, wear the granter of prayer requests down and you’ll get what you want. As though persistence is the coin that will make the cosmic vending machine work. Nag long enough, pray-er, and God will grant you your desired result.
The last three verses are difficult to interpret:
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
The fact is, Jesus is telling this parable precisely because the Lord is not granting justice, the Lord has long delayed establishing justice. The cry goes up “How long?”
The final portion of v. 8: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” appears to challenge the hearers to be faithful and persistent in prayer so that they will be found that way when the Son of Man appears, that dramatic, world-changing day described in the passage just before this parable. It recalls a bumper sticker I saw once, “Jesus is coming; look busy.”
Living documents
Today’s lesson from Jeremiah says the days are surely coming when it will not be necessary to teach the Law, to which today’s psalm refers in such glowing terms. The Law will be hard wired, original equipment, written on the hearts of the children of the house of Judah and those of the house of Israel. Until then, however, these words need to be passed on to generations that follow. And this is the tricky part: God is alive. To be alive is to change. The unchanging words in scripture are being applied in societies and situations that those who heard and interpreted them originally could not have imagined. That means these words always require interpretation. Always.
The same can be said for the United States Constitution. It’s clearly articulated principles have always been applied in particular historic and societal contexts. And interpretations have changed over time.
In one sense this is terrific news for lawyers, judges and preachers. There will always be work for us to do, interpretations will always be required of us…that is until the word of Jeremiah is fulfilled.
Living God
If God is able to respond to a prayer, that means God is capable of changing. The Calvinist in me affirms that God Almighty can choose to act, or not act, with complete freedom. There are some believers who contend that God is eternal and unchanging; I contend there’s some nuance and “wiggle room” in that characterization.
In the same way a parent loves a newborn differently from an 18 year old, the constant, unchanging love the Lord showers on creation takes different forms in different situations. Scripture even says God can change God’s mind!
In Genesis when the Lord was determined to destroy Sodom, Abraham negotiated with the Lord to spare the city if there were ten righteous people
In Exodus 32, God was all set to wipe out the Israelites about the golden calf, but repented from that fierce wrath at Moses’ urging.
In 2 Samuel 12, David fasted and prayed for the unnamed child he had with Bathsheba to live, reasoning, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and the child may live.’” His servants were puzzled and troubled that he ceased acts of mourning and repentance as soon as the child died. While there was life, there was hope for David.
My favorite example comes from Jonah 3:9. The King of Nineveh, we don’t know his name either, says, “Who knows? God may relent and change his mind…” about destroying the city to which Jonah had gone to preach.
“Hey people, this ashes and sackcloth sounds nuts, I know, but it’s worth a shot, don’t you think?”
So yes, there is scriptural basis for the belief that God changes. Persistence in prayer, the refusal to give up hope, is a virtue. It’s easy to get discouraged, to lose heart, to grow weary seeking justice.
A quick side note on prayer: Some colleagues pointed out to me recently how important the prepositions can be, grammatically, when we lead worship. Asking the congregation, “What should we pray for?” brings a dramatically different response from “What should we pray about?” The former tends to make prayer the cosmic vending machine; the latter an engagement as children of God in this place and time.
Does justice change?
As I indicated earlier, the reader does not know the nature of the injustice the widow has experienced. Her persistence won her justice. What would be just for a widow in first century Palestine? Would it be the same as justice in Mississippi in 1955 or Nebraska in 2019?
While Jesus said “the poor will always be with you,” I believe it would be a faithful interpretation to say that there will also always be people who are marginalized by society. As groups work tenaciously for justice, other marginalized groups also emerge. Majority people are getting more attuned to listen to the voices of peoples long silenced. The establishment of justice may never be achieved, but the struggle must never be abandoned. Abraham Lincoln said, “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.” We need to extend mercy, extend grace in the midst of the struggle for justice — even extending grace to ourselves, when we get discouraged.
See, now is the acceptable time! Justice cannot wait, as William Gladstone said, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” He echoed William Penn’s thinking: “To delay Justice is Injustice”
Now is the time to pray! Now is the time to work to dismantle injustice. As the Rev. Dr. Traci Blackmon wrote, “Charity is our response to the chronic condition of poverty. Justice is the protocol for eliminating oppression. We treat poverty as chronic because we’ve given up on justice.”
Concluding thoughts
The most obvious “take away” from today’s gospel lesson is to never give up hope. Pray. Pray without ceasing. Keep at it, so when the Son of Man comes he will find faith on earth. Let’s let 2 Timothy have the last word: “Be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Jeremiah 31:28
to build and plant
George Washington, though he may have had a dour look because of his false teeth, was a man who enjoyed life. Washington enjoyed gambling, horse racing, fox hunts, card playing, dice games, billiards, and dancing. In fact, so many people came to his home in Mount Vernon for recreation that some referred to it as a “well-resorted” tavern. Yet, life was more than fun and games as Washington was the commander of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States.
* * *
Genesis 32:24
wrestled
During the meeting of the Continental Congress, George Washington was the only attendee to wear a military uniform. He was also the only one in the chamber that had combat leadership experience during the French and Indian War. One duty of the Congress was to select a commander for the newly formed Continental Army that was to battle the British and secure America’s independence. To the delegates, Washington became the obvious choice for that position. Upon receiving his commission, Washington said, “I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.”
* * *
Jeremiah 31:33
I will put the law within them
Perhaps Phillips Brooks has given us one of the best definitions of preaching when he wrote that preaching is, “Truth Through Personality.” Brooks served the Boston Trinity Episcopal Church for 26 years, starting his pastorate in 1869. Brooks may be best known to us as the author of the Christmas carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” The problem we have today is that we love to follow the Phillips Brooks who wrote the hymn, sitting safely in our sanctuary singing, “O little town of Bethlehem; How still we see thee lie; Above thy deep and dreamless; sleep; The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth; The everlasting Light; The hopes and fears of all the years; Are met in thee tonight.”
Yet, our real calling is to take the message of Bethlehem out of the sanctuary and into the streets where we share the truth of Jesus through our personality, our sincerity. We are to tell the story of Bethlehem, the story of the new Adam.
* * *
Genesis 32:24
wrestled
In a desperate need to have a battlefield victory against the British, Washington crossed the Delaware River at night to attack the Hessians, mercenary soldiers fighting on behalf of the British. The attack upon the Hessians at Trenton must begin at sunrise on the day after Christmas, as the soldiers would be inebriated and disorganized from their holiday celebration. Knowing this, Washington, from his horse, kept commanding and encouraging his troops to, “Press on, boys, press on.”
* * *
Jeremiah 31:33
I will put the law within them
In 1776 when John Adams, who became the second President of the United States, was away from home because of the war, he wrote his wife Abigail a letter on how to educate their children in his absence. In that letter he wrote, “Cultivate their minds, inspire their little Hearts.”
* * * * * *
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:Persistence #1
She Persisted in The Law
Roxanne Conlin was in her second year of law school when she became pregnant.
It was 1966 in Des Moines, and she was 20 years old, putting herself through school with the help of a scholarship and income from her clerical work at a law firm. Her friends and colleagues had told her that studying to become a lawyer while expecting a child would be impossible. Conlin thought they were wrong.
But she was fired from her clerk job after becoming visibly pregnant. “We’re not running a maternity ward here,” she says they told her.
And three days before the school year began, Conlin, then seven months pregnant, was told by the dean’s office at Drake University’s law school that her scholarships would not be renewed.
The secretary that gave her the news told her it was because she was pregnant and “probably would not become a lawyer,” Conlin says.
Roxanne Conlin eventually made it to graduate school with the help of a loan and her wedding ring, which she hocked to a pawnshop to pay her tuition at the time. She went on to enjoy a career that has spanned more than five decades and includes time as an assistant attorney general in Iowa and one of the first two women to ever be a U.S. attorney.
* * *
Persistence #2
Writers, Artists, Entertainers & a Journalist
Irving Stone’s biographical novel of the life of Vincent Van Gogh was rejected by 17 publishers, one of which said “the public isn’t interested in Van Gogh.” To date, it has sold over 25 million copies.
The first book by Theodor Geisel was rejected by twenty-seven publishers before it was finally accepted by Vanguard Press under the pen name Dr. Seuss. The book was The Cat in the Hat.
Peter Benchley submitted his first novel to eleven publishers all of whom rejected it, one with the comment, “No one wants to read about a big fish.” The twelfth publisher accepted it. The book was Jaws.
John Kennedy Toole’s first novel was rejected by so many publishers that he became despondent and committed suicide. After his death, his mother continued to send the manuscript to publishers and the first one she sent it to, a small university publishing house, accepted it. The following year, the novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
Jack Cranfield and his co-author Mark Victor Hansen pitched the original Chicken Soup for the Soul to over 130 different publishers, but none of them were interested. Said one, one “wants to read 100 inspirational stories.” Even their literary agent dropped them. Eventually, their book was picked up by a small publisher in Florida. Now there are over 250 Chicken Soup for the Soul Books and over 500 million copies sold worldwide.
Mozart’s opera, “The Magic Flute,” was dismissed by the king as having, “too many notes.”
Fred Astaire was described by a talent agent as, “A balding, skinny actor. Can dance a little.”
Chester Carlson’s invention, xerography, was rejected as worthless by Kodak, so he started his own company which became Xerox.
Young people probably won’t recognize the name Walter Cronkite, but in the 60’s and 70’ the CBS Evening News anchor was considered the most trusted man in America. He began working for $1 a day in 1933 for Kansas City radio station, KTUT, from which he was fired because, they said, he had “no talent.”
* * *
Persistence #3
A Castle in Ohio
Loveland, Ohio, is nestled up to the Little Miami River, just a stone’s throw from Cincinnati. If you ever visit there you’ll want to see Château Laroche. But, when you ask for directions, don’t call it that. The residents of Loveland have always known it as, simply, the Loveland Castle.
It’s a smallish castle, a copy of a historical European castle, built by Boy Scout troop leader, World War I veteran, and medievalist Harry D. Andrews. Starting in 1920, he built the castle on promotional plots of land that were obtained by paying for one-year subscriptions to The Cincinnati Enquirer. Andrews named his castle after a military hospital in the Chateau La Roche in southwest France where he was stationed during the First World War. Its name means "Rock Castle" in French.
For over fifty years, Andrews worked on his castle project. He pulled stones from the nearby Little Miami River, and when that supply was exhausted, molded bricks with cement and quart milk cartons.
When Andrews died in 1981, he willed the castle to his Boy Scout troop the Knights of the Golden Trail. The Castle has been extensively upgraded and renovated in the years since Andrews' death and has been mostly completed by the KOGT.
The East tower now houses a short video presentation on Andrews' quest to finish his dream. The walls of the upstairs chapel feature many stones brought back by Andrews in his world travels and others sent to him from foreign locations by his friends and followers. Recently completed are an expansion to the outside gardens and a greenhouse.
Tales persist that Harry’s ghost still wanders the halls of Château Laroche making sure that the Knights of the Golden Trail are keeping the place in good repair.
* * *
Persistence #4
The Donkey in the Well (as told by Darren Poke)
Once upon a time, there was a donkey.
It was a stupid, stubborn old donkey and even the farmer who owned it didn’t like him.
The farmer owned a large property and one day he heard in the distance the loud, distinctive “eye-ore, eye-ore” of the donkey. He wondered what the stupid donkey had done now, so he looked all over his property until at last he found the animal at the bottom of an old abandoned well.
Exasperated, the farmer rang his neighbours and asked them each to bring a shovel. He’d had enough of the stupid donkey, so he had decided to bury it in the well.
All of his friends came over and together they started to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey protested loudly, braying with all of his might, but after about 10 minutes, he stopped.
The farmers kept shoveling.
After a while, someone decided to have a look into the well to see what had happened to the donkey. What he saw astonished him.
Instead of being buried, the donkey would dodge the incoming dirt, standing on the ever-increasing mound.
Now the mission changed and the farmers went from trying to bury the donkey to trying to save him, shoveling more and more dirt into the abandoned well until he jumped out of the top victorious.
Upon his release, the farmers all dropped their shovels and applauded the old stubborn beast with a newfound admiration.
There are times in life when it seems as though we are that donkey. Trapped and feeling as though life is trying to bury us. Don’t go under, but continue to find a way to overcome your challenges one at a time until you too emerge victorious.
* * *
Persistence #5
Not Java Jive
Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks went to over 242 banks looking for his original loan. 242!
Not only was he desperately trying to secure a loan, his wife was pregnant with their first child. After a year of rejections, he was able to secure the $400,000 needed from a doctor and two other individual investors.
Today, the brand employs over 137,000 people around the world.
Starbucks Stats (via Business Insider):
16,850 Starbucks locations in 40 countries
As of 2010, Starbucks employed 137,000 people — twice the population of Greenland
Starbucks has added two new stores per day since 1987
Howard Schultz is worth nearly 3 billion dollars and Starbucks is considered one of the best places to work in the United States.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary AustinJeremiah 31:27-34
A New Thing: Apple Pie
In Jeremiah’s proclamation, God promises that “I will watch over them to build and to plant.” The exiles will be built up in new ways, in God’s tender care. High school student Grace Williams has experienced that in her own family, as she ponders whether they are assimilating too much into American culture, and losing their heritage.
She says, “It’s 1:47 a.m. Thanksgiving smells fill the kitchen. The sweet aroma of sugar-covered apples and buttery dough swirls into my nostrils. Fragrant orange and rosemary permeate the room and every corner smells like a stroll past the open door of a French bakery. My eleven-year-old eyes water, red with drowsiness, and refocus on the oven timer counting down. Behind me, my mom and aunt chat to no end, fueled by the seemingly self-replenishable coffee pot stashed in the corner. Their hands work fast, mashing potatoes, crumbling cornbread, and covering finished dishes in a thin layer of plastic wrap. The most my tired body can do is sit slouched on the backless wooden footstool. I bask in the heat escaping under the oven door.”
The apple pie of the season is “more than its flaky crust and soft-fruit center. This American food symbolized a rite of passage, my Iraqi family’s ticket to assimilation. Some argue that by adopting American customs like the apple pie, we lose our culture. I would argue that while American culture influences what my family eats and celebrates, it doesn’t define our character. In my family, we eat Iraqi dishes like mesta and tahini, but we also eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. This doesn’t mean we favor one culture over the other; instead, we create a beautiful blend of the two, adapting traditions to make them our own.”
Her mother’s family came to the United States in 1976, encountering an unfriendly America. “Here, my family was thrust into a completely unknown world: they didn’t speak the language, they didn’t dress normally, and dinners like riza maraka seemed strange in comparison to the Pop Tarts and Oreos lining grocery store shelves.” But now, “our Thanksgiving spread accurately represents our blend of cultures. White and olive-toned hands alike hold plates piled high with mashed potatoes, turkey, and dolma. Everyone will come. Whether they be family, or “cousins” I’ve never met before, the more crowded the table, the better. As they lounge on plastic-covered sofas, I’ll make my apple pie for a house full of loud immigrants…We will play concan on the blanketed floor and I’ll try to understand my Toto, who, after forty years, still speaks broken English. I’ll listen to my elders as they tell stories about growing up in Unionville, Michigan, a predominately white town where they always felt like outsiders, stories of racism that I have the privilege not to experience… Our Thanksgiving food is more than just sustenance, it is a physical representation of my family ’s blended and ever-changing culture, even after 40 years in the United States. No matter how the food on our plates changes, it will always symbolize our sense of family — immediate and extended—and our unbreakable bond.”
A new generation finds hope in new ways, just as Jeremiah envisioned centuries ago.
* * *
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Building Up Those in Exile
As Jeremiah speaks hope to the refugees in Babylon, offering God’s word of promise, so the modern-day NGO Refugee Support provides help in innovative ways. They have seen assistance given badly, and without dignity, and were determined to do it better. “Refugee Support co-founders Paul Hutchings and John Sloan met in 2015 in Calais’ notorious Jungle camp. They were both drawn to help alleviate the suffering of the thousands of migrants and refugees living in deplorable conditions…“The idea of aid with dignity came from our experiences in Calais,” says Hutchings. “We distributed food from the back of a van staffed by a team of six to eight volunteers who would try and maintain a queue and give out one item per person. Without this system there was usually a fight, and even with it, there was frequently pushing and shoving. There was no choice, it was not fair, and the vulnerable missed out.”
Now they distribute food from a brightly colored, hope-filled space. “Staffed by a rotating team of volunteers and one permanent coordinator, the shop is set in an airplane hangar just inside the camp, a former military site on the outskirts of the lakeside town of Ioannina. The brightly decorated space also includes two rooms styled as boutiques to distribute donated clothing, and a classroom for language lessons. Out front, there’s an area for children’s activities, a small cafe, and a growing community garden. With its vibrant colors and welcoming atmosphere, the hangar stands in stark contrast to the rest of the barren, sprawling camp, where residents live in cramped Isobox containers—rectangular metal and plastic cabins with basic facilities. Every week, volunteers distribute tokens to each cabin based on the number of adults and children living there; those tokens can then be used to obtain food from the shop. The NGO also provides diapers to families and sanitary pads to women.”
This way of serving people in exile evokes Jeremiah’s hopeful view of the future. “The setup of the stores also provides an informal way for the NGO to consult with its “customers” about their needs. Refugee Support relates to residents of the camp as customers rather than beneficiaries, and that is an important distinction. “Food and clothing are important for residents’ welfare, but these items are also a vehicle for us to offer things that are just as important — a place where you are treated with respect as an individual,” says Hutchings. As a model, aid with dignity is surprisingly cost-effective. “It takes longer to do but for a volunteer organization like us there is no additional financial cost,” he says. “It actually saves money. There is next to no waste, because people can choose exactly what they want.” By having residents only take what they want and need, it reduces people throwing away food items that they don’t like but took only because they were never given an option.”
Jeremiah’s word about the future turns our mind to the modern-day exiles among us, and prompts us to wonder how the world speaks hope to them.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
Persistence in Action
Watch out for the grandmothers! They understand the power of persistence, as Second Timothy urges. The letter tells us “be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable,” and a group of grandmothers has taken that to heart. Each day immigration authorities release people from custody with very little food or clothing. And so, every morning, “Bonita Amaro and her sister Yolanda Sanchez arrive at the Greyhound bus station in Sacramento to greet asylum-seekers passing through on their way to sponsors’ homes across the country. The two women come armed with care kits containing basic necessities, as well as blankets, toys, and fresh, warm foods, such as the burritos and sandwiches that Sanchez prepares. “They have so much dignity, so much gratitude. We get hugs, ‘Dios te bendiga, God bless you,’” Amaro says of the asylum-seekers. “In that moment, we are not Republican or Democrat. Not religious. We don’t talk politics with them. We’re just humanitarians.”
These tías, abuelas, and other advocates call themselves the Overground Railroad. And just as sisters Amaro and Sanchez are doing in Sacramento, each day dozens of them show up at Greyhound bus stations in far-flung connecting cities where asylum-seekers, released from detention, are making their way across the country to sponsors’ homes. With grandmotherly gentleness, often speaking in a familiar language, these volunteers are waiting.
Overground Railroad, a reference to Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad, is an offshoot project of Grannies Respond/Abuelas Responden, which emerged this summer when a caravan of grandmother activists journeyed from New York to the southern U.S. border to bring comfort to asylum-seekers there — and attention to their plight.” The idea for ongoing support grew from that trip.
At first, they weren’t sure how to find the people who needed the help. “Volunteers who help the families at Greyhound stations at the start their journeys often hand them brown envelopes that outline their itineraries. But Amaro says she seldom sees those envelopes. Rather, she, Yolanda, and the other volunteers look for those travelers wearing a bewildered look, a tip from a Latina janitor who works at the Greyhound station. “She told us, ‘You’ll know them. People from here walk in confidently, they look up at the schedule or get on their phones. The asylum-seekers will come in and stop at the door. They don’t know where to go or what to do.’” An ankle bracelet might be visible, Amaro says, but “they never, ever have luggage.”
Mostly, she says, they are “relieved and grateful to know that people are welcoming them.” More often than not, they are hungry. “They have no money and have not eaten in days,” she says. What little they have, they share among each other—no longer strangers after all that time together. “We show them on a map where they’ve been and where they’re going. … They have no idea.” As the weather has turned cold, they’ve been bringing extra blankets and jackets donated by the people in the community. And always, something for the children, Amaro says. “They all like Etch a Sketch. So we always make sure we have Etch a Sketches and Beanie Babies. And coloring books.”
The grandmas are a model of persistence, doing this work week after week, proclaiming a message of compassion.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
Persistence Leads to Change
2 Timothy says, “proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.” Walter Murray learned the power of a single moment of persistence, as Wayne Muller tells it, from his friend Marcus. In an unfavorable moment during the Civil Rights movement, Marcus displayed a spirit-filled persistence. Walter Murray remembers:
"One day we were beginning a civil rights march through Birmingham, Alabama. It was at the height of the conflict between civil rights workers and the Birmingham police. We prepared ourselves relentlessly, cultivating the discipline we would need to be strong enough to march — nonviolently — through the city.
"Bull Connor (the commissioner of public safety) had readied his men and dogs for a confrontation with the marchers. I took my place in line. Close by was my friend Marcus, an enormous football player. He must have been 6’4”, 275 pounds. Kathy, his girlfriend— who looked small enough to fit under his arm — marched between us, so we could keep her safe.
"We started to march. As we walked, crowds of people came from everywhere. They started to shout at us, throw things at us, generally abuse and harass us. Still, we stayed in line, and kept marching.
The crowds got bigger, and they got mean — real fast. We were terrified of getting hurt, even killed. But we were committed to doing this. Without violence. No matter what happened.
Then — all at once — the police and the dogs were ordered to attack. Big men in uniforms with Billy clubs were swinging everywhere around us. One of the police, I still remember his face, so ugly with hate, looked to be coming right at me. Marcus tried to block him.
"But that policeman was so full of fear and anger all mixed up, he just swung and screamed and kept coming at us, wild and flailing with his club, like a rabid dog. One sharp swing somehow managed to get through us, and landed square on poor Kathy’s head. The sound of that crack turned my stomach. She just fell, her whole body crumpled like an old suit of clothes right there on the ground. Her head was bleeding.
Marcus, trained all his life as a defensive tackle, watched his girlfriend collapse, a pile of flesh and bone at his feet. Then, he turned so fast and looked straight at this cop, I just knew he was going to do to that cop the only thing he ever knew to do: smash him into the pavement so he never got up again.
"But then, he stopped. And his eyes just looked and looked. He just stared right into the soul of that policeman, who just stood there, paralyzed, confused, not sure what was going to happen to him. But Marcus just looked at him, and it felt like forever.
"Then, this massive young warrior of a man, trained all his life to protect those he loved, took his muscled arms and reached out — and then reached down. He picked Kathy up, held her bleeding head — like you would hold a baby. With Kathy in his arms, Marcus and I just kept on walking."
Walter said “I was so humbled. The power of that presence, that deep moral courage. In that moment I had to find in myself that same, firm inner ground. We had all taken the same vow, a vow that could not be broken: To find in ourselves that place on which we would, at all costs, no matter how painful or dangerous, always stand firm.
“But that was who we had to be; we knew we had to refuse any other way. We had to renounce violence. Of any kind. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be any different — or any better — than they were.
“It was,” he concluded, “our only hope for change.” Persistence leads us into remarkable places.
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Oh, how we love your law, O God!
People: It is our meditation all day long.
Leader: How sweet are your words to our taste.
People: They are sweeter than honey to us!
Leader: Through your precepts we get understanding.
People: Therefore we hate every false way.
OR
Leader: The God of justice and mercy calls us today.
People: We come to worship the God of all good.
Leader: God welcomes our worship but also calls us to work.
People: In God’s name we will join the struggle for justice.
Leader: Take heart knowing God is with us in this work.
People: In the power of God’s Spirit, we will persevere.
Hymns and Songs:
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELW: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52/53/65
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
UMH: 133
AAHH: 371
NNBH: 262
NCH: 471
CH: 560
ELW: 774
W&P: 496
AMEC: 525
Stand By Me
UMH: 512
NNBH: 318
CH: 629
W&P: 495
AMEC: 420
Out of the Depths I Cry to You
UMH: 515
H82: 666
PH: 240
NCH: 483
CH: 510
LBW: 295
ELW: 600
Lift Every Voice and Sing
UMH: 519
H82: 599
PH: 563
AAHH: 540
NNBH: 457
CH: 631
LBW: 562
ELW: 841
W&P: 729
AMEC: 571
STLT: 149
We Shall Overcome
UMH: 533
AAHH: 542
NNBH: 501
NCH: 570
CH: 630
W&P: 512
STLT: 169
Be Still, My Soul
UMH: 534
AAHH: 135
NNBH: 263
NCH: 488
CH: 566
W&P: 451
AMEC: 426
Shine, Jesus, Shine
CCB: 81
Renew: 247
Learning to Lean
CCB: 74
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 is just and good:
Grant us the faith to trust in your justice and mercy
that we may work with you to bring these to all your children;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise and worship you, O God, because you are just and good. Open our hearts to your mercy and justice so that we may be you instruments to bring these gifts to all your children. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways in which we fail to work for justice or give up the work too easily.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We see injustice all around us but we seldom get involved if it doesn’t directly involve us. When we do take up the cause of justice we are easily distracted and discouraged. We give up and desert those in need. Help us to hear you calling us back to our work of bringing your reign to all creation. Forgive us our failures and embolden us with your Spirit. Amen.
Leader: God’s Spirit is always available to us when we seek justice for others. Receive God’s blessings and share in God’s work to bring justice to all.
Prayers of the People
All glory, laud and honor are yours by right, O God, because you are the fount of justice and mercy and all good. You are the light that cannot be overcome by darkness.
(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. We see injustice all around us but we seldom get involved if it doesn't directly involve us. When we do take up the cause of justice we are easily distracted and discouraged. We give up and desert those in need. Help us to hear you calling us back to our work of bringing your reign to all creation. Forgive us our failures and embolden us with your Spirit.
We thank you for all the blessings we have received. We thank you for those who have worked for justice and peace so that we can enjoy the fruits of their labor. We thank you for opportunities we have to be your voice on behalf of others.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children who suffer from injustice and violence. We pray for those who work with them to ease their suffering and right the wrong.
(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
This could be a good time to talk with the children about bullying. It is a form of injustice as power is used to harm. Talk about how we can stand with those who are bullied.
CHILDREN'S SERMONWhich way next? Check the Bible
by Bethany Peerbolte
There are a lot of references to walking in the way (Psalm 119) and the law (Jeremiah 31: 27-34) and directions from the Bible (2 Timothy 3:14--4:5) this week. Kids are often more familiar with the narratives in the Bible than they are about the instruction the Bible is giving. This lesson will plant the seed that the Bible as a book of helpful directions to live a happy life.
For this lesson you will need to find/buy a blank notebook. Sketchbooks work best because they do not have lined paper. In the blank book you will write the following instructions on different pages. The instructions do not need to be in any order.
Stand up
Wave to the Pastor
Raise an arm
Jump once
Turn around
Smile at your neighbor
Stand on one leg
Sit down
In you lesson say something like:
I have a special instruction book with me today. Inside there are directions for us to follow. Shall we see what it says? (open the book you made with the different instructions one page at a time allowing the kids to do each task. If you have young ones make sure to read the directions for them. End with “sit down.”)
That was fun! This book had some silly directions in it, but I have another book that has directions that are very useful to us. So useful in fact that people have been following its directions for thousands of years! (bring out a Bible)
A Bible! We all know this book. We read from it every week, and just like my first book it has directions. But these directions aren’t silly, they help us live a happier life. It helps us know who we are supposed to help and who we should love. It tells us what love looks like and how to love others. There are all kinds of helpful directions in here to help us live a life that makes God smile.
Some people even say the Bible is like a roadmap. Have any of you ever been on a hike? Or been the navigator on a car trip? When we want to stay on a path or road there are usually signs to help us find our way. There might just be arrows that point the way, or there might be big words that say, “Disney World turn right.” We want to pay attention to those signs so we get to where we want and do not get lost.
The Bible keeps us on God’s path. Reading the Bible helps us know when and where to turn. If we see someone in need the Bible says, “Turn here and help.” If we are feeling left out and lonely the Bible says, “Go to church, they will love you.” If we are feeling afraid the Bible says, “Look Out, God is always with you.”
The Bible is our map to life. Sometimes it might tell us something we do not want to hear. We might read something and realize we were not very loving to someone and need to go say we are sorry. Even then the Bible helps make saying sorry easier because we know when we ask for forgiveness God is always ready to forgive. I want each of you to go home today and find a Bible (you can also tell them where they can get a Bible to take home from the church). I want you to put that Bible somewhere you will see it so you always know where it is when you need some direction.
Pray: Guiding God, thank you for being with us. We are growing into better Christians. Help us read the Bible to find out how to live a happier life. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 20, 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.
