Phoning In Our Faith?
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For February 9, 2020:
Phoning In Our Faith?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 58:1-9a
Tonight is the Academy Awards presentation and, as I prepare my popcorn and throw another cushion on my easy chair, I’m reminded of what it takes to create a truly memorable acting performance. And what it takes to create one that is memorable solely for what it lacks.
Most actors, today, practice what is referred to as The Stanislavski Method of acting, often referred to as “Method Acting,” which requires a certain amount of persona, emotionall investment, even risk-taking, from the actor if the performance is to be believable. Anything less and the performer is staying detached, refusing to invest or take a risk, simply going through the motions, phoning it in.
I studied “The Method” as we theater types liked to call it, when I was in college. Perhaps that’s why I was so disappointed in the most recent film iteration of the Dr. Dolittle story. My grandchildren loved it, of course. Talking animals saying silly things; what could be better? I, on the other hand, found the human performances all uninspired. Famous, highly paid actors whom I looked forward to seeing, were, it seemed to me, just phoning it in: Saying their lines, collecting their check, and going home. Not acting, so much, as reciting. Even when they were hamming it up, “chewing up the scenery” as the saying goes, they didn’t seem to care much about the characters or the story.
Isaiah reminds us, in this morning’s reading, that, if we are not diligent in our religious life, we can fall into doing this with our faith. God, he says, wants us to do more than go through the religious rituals, the motions of repentance. The Lord wants us to make a personal, emotional investment in our confession when, often, we’d rather just phone it in.
In the News
“Hit your mark, say your lines, collect your check.” Attributed to Anthony Hopkins when asked about the secret to good acting.
Every year we complain about the Academy Awards program. It’s too white and too male. It’s too conservative and traditional. It’s too quick to reward mediocrity and ignore innovation. And, of course, it’s too long.
And we watch it anyway.
Last year a total of 65.245+ million in 225 countries (29.6 million of them, Americans) tuned in to watch what has been called Hollywood’s great night of self-congratulations. But it’s a little more complicated than that.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has just over 7,000 members representing “17 branches of film.” (In 1927, when the Academy was founded, there were 293 members representing five branches.)
Nominees for the different categories are selected by the members of that particular branch. Actors nominate actors, writers nominate writers, etc. The ones who ended up actually being nominated are selected through a fairly complicated process of winnowing the hundreds of nominees down to the appropriate number.
Winning is actually a simpler process than getting nominated. Once nominees are established, all 7,000+ members of the academy vote in every category. The one with the most votes (a plurality, not a majority) wins. If there are five nominees for a particular prize, for instance, it would be possible to win in that category with only 21% of the votes. If there are only two nominees, you would need 51% to win. If there are ten nominees, as is the case with the Best Picture prize, it is possible to win with only 11% of the votes.
So, now we know who the voters are and how the voting works. What we don’t know and probably never will know is why some nominees win and others don’t. Why, we ask, did they vote for him? How could they possibly have voted for her? And, my personal favorite: They voted for what? I never even heard of that movie!
After best picture (only Hollywood people call a movie a “picture” or “film,” have you noticed? The rest of us call it a “movie.” Hollywood. Whataya gonna do, right?) Anyway, after best picture and, recently, best director, the most popular Oscars, the ones most of us actually care about, are the nominees for best actor and actress and best actor/actress in a supporting role.
Which brings us to today’s topic: The Golden Raspberries Awards or “Razzies.”
Every year, as Hollywood is celebrating its own and offering awards for best this and best that, another group, the Golden Raspberry Foundation, is celebrating Hollywood’s worst. Nominees for the worst film, worst director, worst performance by an actor in a lead role, etc. will be announced on February 8, the day before the Oscars. The winners will be announced at a time, in a place, and on a network to be announced. Yes, they will televised, or at least that’s the plan. Las Vegas bookmakers are predicting that “Cats” will win in virtually all categories. “Dr. Dolittle” will, alas, have to wait until 2021.
What vexes us so about some Oscar nominations and makes some performances Razzie worthy is a phenomenon called, in the profession: “Phoning it in.”
Most actors, today, are taught a kind of acting that we now know as the Stanislavski Method which was first developed around the turn of the 20th century by Russian actor, director, and teacher Constantin Stanislavski who also founded the Moscow Art Theatre.
Method acting involves some complicated training but, basically, actors are taught to explore what emotions their character is experiencing and then to reach back into their own experience to find the same or similar emotions and bring them to the surface and re-experience them as they portray the character. Instead of becoming the character, they allow the character to become them. (If that sounds too complicated to understand, imagine what an actor goes through, trying to actually do it.)
Sometimes actors, for whatever reasons, fail to do the work required for a method performance. Perhaps they are being lazy or they feel that they aren’t getting paid enough to go through all of that soul searching. Or, perhaps, it makes them feel too vulnerable or they’ll have to reveal, in the character, something private or painful about themselves.
At any rate, the audience, having seen so many method performances by now, can almost always tell when an actor is keeping a safe distance from the character and phoning the performance in, as it were. The actor is going through the motions but there’s nothing real there. The performance has no heart or soul. It’s just lines on a page.
Tonight we shall see how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences feels about the acting they saw last year. Will they reward an actor who took risks and became vulnerable in order to deliver an authentic, believable character to the screen? Or will they reward an actor for wearing heavy makeup? Or being themselves? Or phoning it in?
Other notable performances that critics agree were “phoned in.”
John Wayne in “Genghis Khan”
George Clooney in “Batman and Robin”
Bruce Willis in “Cop Out”
Natalie Portman in “Thor: The Dark World”
Marlon Brando in “The Island of Doctor Moreau”
Helen Mirren in “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”
Laura Linney in “Congo”
In the Scriptures
In about 538 BCE, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia and gave the Jews who had been exiled there for nearly 50 years, since 586 BCE, permission to return to Palestine.
It is estimated that about 20% of the Jews in Babylon actually returned with that first wave. Most of those who chose to remain had, over the course of 50 years, assimilated comfortably into Babylonian society. They had gotten jobs, intermarried, made friends, built houses, and even prayed for the success of Babylon as Jeremiah had instructed them to do. (Jeremiah 29:7)
Many of those who returned were carried home on fantasies of the Jerusalem of old but, when they arrived, they found the city in ruins, burned and razed to the ground with weeds growing where the temple once stood and trees growing where streets once ran.
Almost immediately, they began to argue about what should be the first order of business for returning exiles such as themselves. Should they concentrate on building homes and planting crops or should they first reconstruct the wall of the city so they would be safe? Or should they rebuild the temple first to declare their devotion to the God who brought them home and then worry about walls, homes, and crops?
History shows that homes and crops won the day and, for eighteen years, that’s where the returnees concentrated their creativity and resources. Then, in about 520 BCE, under the leadership of Zerubbabel and at the urging of Haggai and Zechariah, construction on the temple was begun and completed, five years later in 515 BCE. It was not until 465 BCE, some 73 years after they returned to the Promised Land, that the new emperor of Persia, Atraxerxes, appointed Nehemiah governor of Judea with orders to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Without a wall, Jerusalem was vulnerable and the Israelites were forced to negotiate with their neighbors to avoid conflict. Now, some of Israel’s neighbors feared that, if the wall was built, Israel would become too strong so they threatened to attack if attempts were made to rebuild it. Nehemiah, however, concocted a plan whereby each family in Jerusalem would construct that part of the wall which would stand directly in front of their house. Also, the workers were instructed to work with one hand while they carried a sword with the other. The wall, which was 4,018 meters (2.5 miles), in length with an average height of 12 meters and an average thickness of 2.5 meters, with 34 watchtowers and seven main gates and two minor gates, was completed in an astonishing 52 days.
It is easy to see how, with so much time, energy, creativity and other resources going into building houses, walls, and the temple, as well as defending themselves from threatening neighbors and putting food on their own tables, there was little time left for what we would call “going to church.”
Isaiah of Jerusalem who had returned with the first wave of exiles noticed that the temple worship services were amounting to little more than empty ritual: Say the words, sing the songs, stand up, kneel, stand up, say “Amen,” and get out. Go home and get back to the real work of rebuilding the city and the country.
The prophet found this practice to be particularly vexatious when it applied to the days of repentance.
On days when the people were supposed to be leaving off normal work and concentrating, instead, upon their own sinfulness and their need for repentance or changes in their behavior, they were going quickly through the motions but not really doing what God asked of them. Theirs was a repentance of ritual but not of the heart.
They went to the temple in the morning but, in the afternoon, they resumed their sinful lives and practices as though they had slept through the services. They prayed in the morning and exploited their workers in the afternoon. They put on sack cloth and ashes in the morning but insulted and fought with their neighbor in the afternoon. They kneeled and took communion on Sunday and lived by “profit at all costs” and forget everyone else, on Monday.
Loud prayers, sack cloth, and ashes are not what God requires, says the prophet. They are little more than empty rituals. No, the true acts of repentance are when we do not oppress those less fortunate than ourselves, when we feed the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless, when we clothe the naked and take care of our own families as well and not instead of.
This is the kind of repentance that actually gives us the results that we are hoping for when we ignore it. If we do these genuine acts of repentance we become a beacon, a light to the nations. People take notice and say, “There go the people of God. Look how they love one another.”
In the Sermon
It’s scary.
Every recent poll and survey tells us that young people are rejecting the church in greater and greater numbers. Asked what religion they claim as their own and they answer: “None.”
And, asked why this is the case, they answer that one of their reasons is the hypocrisy they see in the church and the Christians who populate it.
Christians, they say, preach a gospel of love but they practice discrimination, elitism, exclusion and even hate. They go piously to church on Sunday morning but they cheat their neighbors and look judgmentally down their noses at others who are not like them. They say they are loving and inclusive but they exclude, by acts of commission and omission, people of color, women, and LGBTQ people from their leadership.
We provide worship services that don’t meet their needs or answer their questions. We say we want them to come to our churches but the reason, when we are honest, is that we have much we want them to do for us. We want them to show up but we aren’t willing to move the time or the location of the worship service to accommodate them. We want them to be part of our fellowship but, first, we want them to be us.
If we truly want young people to return to the church — and, let’s face it, it may be too late for many if not most of them — we are going to have to change. In Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek, the word they use for change is “repent.”
We are going to have to repent of how we think, act, and in some cases, believe. And our repentance must be more than the ‘phoned in’ kind. It must be repentance of the heart. It must be “Method Repentance.” The changes we make must be not just thought about and talked about but enacted and supported.
As it is so with any worthwhile hard work, these changes will be the kind into which we have made a serious investment, they will embody the kind of repentance that leaves us drained and exhausted but also renewed and reinvigorated.
If this is the kind of repentance we practice, and practice resolutely, then, Isaiah promises us, “The Lord will guide us continuously, and satisfy our needs in parched places, and make our bones strong. We shall be like watered gardens, like springs of water, whose waters never fail. Our ancient ruins will be rebuilt; we will raise up foundations for many generations, and we will be remembered as those who rebuilt and restored that which was torn down and destroyed.” (Isaiah 58: 10-12; paraphrase)
Amen.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Hiding In Darkness
by Chris Keating
Matthew 5:13-20
Light, as Jesus indicates, is meant to shine. It brings healing, empowers hope and scatters the clouds of lies. God’s always-creating power brings light, and with it the end of deception.
Indeed, as the Washington Post’s motto declares, “democracy dies in darkness.” While not everything depends on light for life, it is essential for matters of truth-telling and human survival. It’s no wonder Jesus called the disciples to be lights shining in a darkened world.
But a shining light can be disruptive or disorienting. When light floods the darkness, we avert our eyes, struggling to let our pupils adjust to the change. Sometimes our inclination is to remain in the darkness — something Jesus no doubt understood in his warnings to the disciples.
When fans of basketball legend Kobe Bryant began processing his death on January 26, there were many who preferred to see only the rosy hues of the light of his celebrity. The complexities of his life were blunted by the tragedy surrounding his death as well as the deaths of his daughter and other passengers. Emotional tributes were offered by athletes, fans, celebrities and more. Reporters rightly called him one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Bryant’s stature in culture loomed larger than his towering 6’ 6” frame. In retirement, his fame spanned the breadth of “entire internet,” including a multimedia empire, children’s books, and an Oscar-award winning movie, “Dear Basketball.”
But the brilliance of his accomplishments cannot hide the credible accusations that Bryant had sexually assaulted a woman years ago. The 2003 rape allegations by a Colorado hotel worker were mentioned by some reporters, including Washington Post political reporter Felicia Sonmez. Within hours, Sonmez had received threats on her life. Social media influencers and media pundits used vulgar language to condemn what they called her “insensitivity.” “You @washingtonpost reporters really can’t help yourselves, can you?” tweeted Donald J. Trump, Jr.
Eventually, her editors suspended her for possibly violating the newspaper’s social media policy. Keep in mind that Sonmez’ tweet referred to an old article that had been written by someone else, and that her post was not an attempt to castigate Bryant. (Her suspension was later rescinded.) It is always tempting to let the light of truth become obscured by gauzy filters that are aimed at eliminating negative perceptions of the dead.
Journalist Will Leitch commented that “one thing we don’t seem ready for, at least not yet, is an actual accounting of the complicated public figure Kobe Bryant was.” Others point out that “hagiography is a tempting impulse whenever a beloved figure dies.” Journalists in particular are guided by ethical standards that demand accuracy, fairness, and courage in gathering and reporting information. At the same time, they are called to minimize harm by treating people with respect.
Sonmez made it clear that she was not attempting to add to the grief shared by Bryant’s family or the public. She refrained from any commentary on the article because she said, “I didn’t think that was my place.” She spoke with salt and light.
That impulse to only highlight the positive features of Bryant’s life could be a source of secondary trauma to the victim of the assault. Berated by media and beset by Bryant’s attorneys, the woman declined to testify. Bryant would later acknowledge that the woman did not believe their encounter was consensual. Some have said the media have all but “erased” the woman from view.
The ancients advised that we should never speak ill of the dead, which seems to be the rule enforced by most mourners attending North American funerals. Hang around a funeral home long enough, and you become convinced that only good people die. Whether out of courtesy or hesitancy to step out on the thin ice of grief, we generally demur from what one minister used to call “the full picture” of the deceased’s life. As one man once said to me following a funeral of a rather bitter and recalcitrant church member, “Well, you certainly made that nasty old so and so sound pretty good.”
It’s a dilemma. One wants to be respectful and compassionate; but covering up the totality of a person’s life does little to promote healing. A wise pastor proceeds cautiously, but faithfully. Experts say that the two most common forms of hagiography — the practice of only speaking positively of the dead — are enshrinement or bedevilment. Enshrinement focuses only on celebrity’s positive accomplishments. Bedevilment involves negating their humanity. Neither facilitate healing.
According to psychologist Ashley Mielke, the tendency to either enshrine or bedevil create conflicts that inhibit grief. Enshrining a person doesn’t allow for grief to be processed. Bedeviling them maintains an idealized version of who they were. Uncertain of how to deal with these conflicted feelings of grief, we end up ignoring the full picture of the person’s life. “We haven’t really been taught to honor someone in the accuracy of how they lived,” she says.
Jesus calls us to be salt and light in the world. Salt is coarse and sharp. It heightens the senses, preserves food and stimulates thirst. Light creates new possibilities and offers hope. Jesus reminds the disciples that their presence in the world is to be both challenging and healing. He demands that his followers surpass the considerable standards of piety established by the Pharisees — a high bar, indeed. Those called by Jesus are expected to act differently in their demonstrations of faithfulness. We are flavor that brings a new edge to God’s creation, and the light that reflects the rays of God’s gracious mercy.
Reflections of God’s light into the cold world bring warmth and promises of healing. We carry the light into the world, fulfilling the righteousness demanded of loving God and the neighbor.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Feeding the Hungry
Speaking for God, Isaiah reminds the people that “if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.” Carolyn North started with the idea of feeding a person or two, and her sacrifices and service have grown dramatically since that time. It started, she says, “about 30 years ago, right after Thanksgiving, I stopped by a neighbor’s house. There was the turkey carcass sitting right there on the table, with about a pound or two of meat on it. She looked at it and said, “I am sick of this thing.”
Then she picked it up and threw it into the garbage. I almost reached out to catch it, but I didn’t. After that, I went home and tried to figure out with my husband, if every house had a turkey that had another, say, two pounds of meat on it, and if everybody threw it into their garbage, how much meat would that equal? How much meat would be wasted in my own neighborhood? The number was astronomical. Then we figured it out for the city, and the number was even more astronomical. I thought, “This is ridiculous. We should not be wasting this. So what is an alternative?” Living in an urban area, some of us have more than we need and others of us have considerably less than we need. How do we balance or even that out?” It seemed like a no-brainer. I figured there must be other people like me who would be willing to take an hour out of their week to bring this surplus food to a free food program. I asked some of my friends, and everybody said of course they’d be willing to do that.”
They started with an organizing party, and “everyone was enthusiastic and relieved, even, to have something to do.” They had resources they didn’t know they had. “So this person had a friend who worked for that bakery, and that person had a friend who worked in a restaurant. So already, in the first week, we already had about six runs that we could make. I contacted one particular food kitchen, everyone volunteered to be the runner, and we just started.” The program continues in this same form. Carolyn North says, “All we are doing now, really, is what we were doing then. It required no big administration. No big fundraising. No trucks. No refrigerators. It’s just people going to the restaurant or bakery, piling the food in their car, and driving it right over to a food kitchen. That’s the whole, big complicated — or uncomplicated — deal. Now it’s 30 years later, and we’re still doing it.”
Carolyn North says her work is not charity. Echoing the spirit of Isaiah, she says, “Well, my feeling is that we are all one organism. All beings and all life and all existence are connected. In an organism, there’s this constant interplay of contraction and expansion — of sending and receiving. And we are just doing that. The notion that I am doing you a great favor out of the “goodness of my heart” is really not very good for me. And it’s simply not true. I think what we’re doing is natural. We live in a culture where we are told to compete with one another. We’re told that if I win, you lose. On the basic, physical level of reality, it’s not true that we are separate. And it’s not true that we are being virtuous in giving what we can to each other. It’s a reciprocal blessing.” Share your bread with the hungry, Isaiah says, and this is a powerful way to do it.
* * *
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
A Call to Serve
The prophet Isaiah announces (again) that God wants the people of God to live with compassion, tending to each other instead of making meaningless sacrifices. He asks, speaking for God, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” Many people retiring from paid work are taking up that very challenge. Set free from the time spent working, they are choosing to use their time to serve.
“Some people, like Gary Maxworthy, are leading the way. As an idealistic young man, Maxworthy wanted to heed JFK’s call to service, but he already had a family to support. Instead of joining the Peace Corps, he launched a career in the food-distribution business, where he worked for more than 30 years. As Maxworthy approached 60, his wife’s passing sent him into a period of soul-searching. He thought a lot about his old Peace Corps dream and the prospect of returning to it. In the end, he chose a more manageable domestic option, VISTA, part of the AmeriCorps national service program. VISTA placed Maxworthy at the San Francisco Food Bank, where he discovered that — like food banks throughout the state of California — it was primarily giving out canned and processed food. It was all they could reliably deliver without food spoiling. Maxworthy knew that California farmers were discarding tons of blemished but wholesome fruits and vegetables that were not up to supermarket standards. He launched Farm to Family, a program that in 2010 distributed more than 100 million pounds of fresh food to needy families in California. Without question Maxworthy would have done a lot of good as a 22-year-old Peace Corps volunteer. But would he have been able to do something comparable to developing a system to distribute 100 million pounds of food to hungry people every year? Never before have so many people, like Maxworthy, had so much life experience and the time and the capacity to do something significant with it. That’s the gift of longevity, the great potential payoff from all the progress we’ve made in extending lives.”
* * *
Matthew 5:13-20
Letting Your Light Shine
“In the same way, let your light shine before others,” Jesus says, and the process of getting our light to shine in the world cam be a slow one. Steve Jobs tells a story full of ups and downs about that. He says, “I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down — that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.” Without getting fired, he says, none of that would have happened.
Letting our light shine is a complicated process of growth toward who God made us to be.
* * *
Matthew 5:13-20
Being Salt and Light in 2020
Formed after the 2016 election, the group called Better Angels is working to improve the climate for conversations among people who disagree deeply. When it was first formed, “The group comprised of 11 people who’d supported Hillary Clinton for president and 10 who’d supported Donald Trump. After the contentious election, there was a question lurking under the surface: “Could we as a country avoid a civic divorce? Could we build a more perfect union?” says David Lapp. That meeting marked the beginning of what would become a national movement called Better Angels, that Lapp and two colleagues formed to create friendly spaces for potentially unfriendly conversations.” No one is trying to change anyone’s mind, but the group is hoping to add some light to the bitterness dividing the nation. They started with a bus tour in 2017, visting “15 communities between Waynesville, Ohio, and Philadelphia, convening a similar mix of people in what they called “Red/Blue Workshops.” A fall tour followed, from Washington, D.C., to Nashville, Tennessee. Along the way, Better Angels has trained 130 volunteers to moderate future workshops.”
Drawing its name from a speech by Abraham Lincoln, the group believes that “everyone has the potential to act in a more civil manner — is what drives the group and its outreach to everyone from die-hard Trump supporters to left-wing progressive activists…Ray Warrick is a Tea Party organizer, who describes himself as a strict conservative: “Republicans, by and large, aren’t conservative enough for me.” He has participated in several workshops in the Warren County, Ohio, chapter, where he says the discussions are civil and work to break down barriers. “I’ve often felt, you don’t hate people who you know, and I’ve had liberal friends for years,” Warrick says.” On the other side of the divide is “Rob Weidenfeld, a self-described pro-life Democrat who credits Better Angels for opening his eyes to how he was behaving, especially online. He and one of the Republicans in the Warren County group formed a pact of sorts to check each other on Facebook, giving likes to constructive posts or frowns to divisive ones. “If you actually spend time with these people and talk to them, you realize they’re actually not that different from you,” Weidenfeld says.”
More salt, more light — we all need both, and this group is spreading them around the country.
* * * * * *
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 58:8
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Psalm 112:4
They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.
Matthew 5: 14-16
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
- - -
Though Billy Graham is deceased, newspapers still print a daily devotional in his name. However, there is a footnote that now reads, “This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.” In the daily devotional for December 11, 2019, the devotional discussed the battle of the gods between the worshipers of Baal and Elijah’s worship of the Christian God. The 450 prophets of Baal could not get their god to consume with fire the offering placed before him. But Elijah, even dousing the offering with water, was able to get his God — our God — to consume the offering. The devotional then read, “This is the great question for humanity. How long will it take to decide between two choices? We must choose whether to follow the devil’s clever promises or God’s sure word. There are two masters; we must all choose which master we will serve.”
* * *
A report that was published in December 2019 stated that the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church is causing priests a tremendous amount of stress in their ministry. Thomas Plante, a psychology professor at California’s Santa Clara University, who has screened or treated hundreds of Catholic clerics, considers burnout has been a perennial problem for clergy of many faiths. He now sees a new form of it as the sex abuse crisis persists and many parishioners lose trust in Catholic leadership. Plante said, “You’re just trying to be a good priest and now everyone thinks you’re a sex offender. If you walk in a park with your collar on, people think you’re on the lookout for children.... Some have been spat upon.”
* * *
In a report that was published in December 2019, it stated that more Americans are dying at home rather than in a hospital. From 2003 through 2017, the number of deaths that occurred in hospitals fell from 40% to 30%, and in nursing homes from 24% to 21%. The lead author of the report, Dr. Haider Warraich of the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, said, “I have met many patients who just want to spend one day at home, around their dog, in their bed, able to eat home food.”
* * *
On Pope Francis 83rd birthday, December 17, 2019, he issued new rules to make it easier to prosecute priests who abuse children. The biggest notice was new restrictions on Catholic hierarchy employing “pontifical secrecy.” This rule has been used to protect pedophile priests, silence victims and prevent police from investigating crimes. Part of this rule reads, “Business of the Roman Curia at the service of the universal Church is officially covered by ordinary secrecy, the moral obligation of which is to be gauged in accordance with the instructions given by a superior or the nature and importance of the question. But some matters of major importance require a particular secrecy, called "pontifical secrecy", and must be observed as a grave obligation.” In a new law, Francis decreed that information in abuse cases must be protected by church leaders to ensure its “security, integrity and confidentiality.” But he said the rule of “pontifical secrecy” no longer applied to abuse-related accusations, trials and decisions under the Catholic Church’s canon law.
* * *
There’s a poignant scene in the movie Driving Miss Daisy that ought to stir everyone’s conscience. Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy) and her black chauffeur Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) are driving to Mobile to celebrate the 90th birthday of Miss Daisy’s uncle. Along the way they innocently park their car on a beautiful lawn next to a serene lake. There they sit in quiet conversation, sharing a box lunch. Two Alabama state troopers arrive and interrupt this peaceful scene, questioning Colburn’s right to drive an automobile. Only when Miss Daisy is able to establish the fact that she is a woman of prominence and wealth do the patrolmen cease their harassment. Upset, Miss Daisy and Colburn leave their lunches half eaten and depart. Watching the car travel down the highway, one trooper says to his partner, “an old nigger and an old Jew woman taken off down the road together. Now ain’t that a sorry sight.”
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WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Happy are those who greatly delight in God’s commandments.
People: The generation of the upright will be blessed.
Leader: They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright.
People: They are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
Leader: For the righteous will never be moved.
People: Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid.
OR
Leader: The light of God shines upon us today.
People: Praise to God who is our light and truth.
Leader: The light shines that we may see the truth.
People: Let the light of God open our eyes.
Leader: Follow God’s light into new life.
People: We will see and we will follow.
Hymns and Songs:
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
O Word of God Incarnate
UMH: 598
PH: 327
NNBH: 296
NCH: 315
CH: 322
LBW: 231
ELW: 514
W&P: 670
Renew: 97
This Little Light of Mine
UMH: 585
AAHH: 549
NNBH: 511
NCH: 524/525
ELW: 677
STLT: 118
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
It’s Me, It’s Me, O Lord (Standing in the Need of Prayer)
UMH: 352
NNBH: 496
CH: 579
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
UMH: 358
H82: 652/653
PH: 345
NCH: 502
CH: 594
LBW: 506
W&P: 470
AMEC: 344
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
UMH: 382
AAHH: 449
NNBH: 206
CH: 588
W&P: 486
AMEC: 345
Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive
UMH: 390
H82: 674
PH: 347
LBW: 307
ELW: 605
W&P: 382
Renew: 184
Jesus Calls Us
UMH: 398
H82: 549/550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171/172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELW: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
Renew: 145
Arise, Shine
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
Shine, Jesus, Shine
CCB: 81
Renew: 247
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 truth and light:
Grant us the courage to allow your light to shine in our lives
so that we may what is good and what needs corrected
and then to truly repent and make changes in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are light and you are truth. You shed your light on us so that we can see the goodness of your image in us and so that we can grow into your likeness. Help us to walk in your light as we share that light with others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the insincerity of our repentance.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the light and we have refused to see the truth. We gladly shine the light on others problems and sins but we fail to see our own. Even when we admit our sins we seldom change our ways. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we may truly walk in your light and be disciples of your Christ. Amen.
Leader: God is light and God is love. God desires us to know both. Receive God’s grace and share it with all you meet this week.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God, our light, our way, and our truth. In you there is no darkness so that all may be revealed.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the light and we have refused to see the truth. We gladly shine the light on others problems and sins but we fail to see our own. Even when we admit our sins we seldom change our ways. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we may truly walk in your light and be disciples of your Christ.
We give you thanks for the light in our lives: the light of the sun and stars, the light of fire, and the light of human making. We thank you for the light that shines in our hearts and minds, as well. We thank you for those who have been bright spots in our lives helping us find our way.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who struggle in the darkness of depression and anxiety. We pray for those who struggle in the darkness of poverty and want. We pray for those who in the darkness of their lives have lost their way.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Show the children your flashlight. (Take the batteries out beforehand.) Tell that how good it is and how helpful it is to have it. Turn it on for them. Well, it isn’t much good as a flashlight if it doesn’t have any light in it. Jesus talked about light and salt. Salt isn’t any good if it isn’t salty and light isn’t any good if it doesn’t shine. Jesus wants us to be lights that help others see the love God has for us all.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
You Are the Salt of the Earth
by Tom Willadsen
Matthew 5:13-16
Have a box of table salt, some salt used to melt ice — if you live where you need it in the winter — maybe some coarser salt and/or some salt used in water softeners.
From the list of props suggested you’ll see that the focus of today’s children’s time is Jesus’ pronouncement that “you are the salt of the earth.” Here are some thoughts about salt you might want to share as the kids come forward:
Two things are needed to make food taste good: salt and appetite. —Danish proverb
The word “salary” comes from the word “salt;” to be “worth one’s salt” is to earn one’s pay.
Anytime I hear people say the Bible should be interpreted literally I point to “You are the salt of the earth.” Clearly Jesus indicates that the people he is addressing are minerals in the ground. Wait, that’s a figure of speech? I see. Perhaps there are other passages in the Bible that would be absurd if they were read literally. Now that we’ve opened that door, let’s discuss what it means that we always interpret scripture with some nuance and flexibility. I take the Bible too seriously to take it literally.
Okay, now the kids have gathered up front. Ask them if they know what salt is. Ask if they can think of different ways we use salt. Find out if they know where salt comes from. The salt Jesus was talking about was dug out of the ground; sometimes we use salt that comes from ocean water that has evaporated. They will certainly know that we use salt to season food. They may know that we put salt on pavement to make it less slippery. Salt acts in two ways to make pavement less slippery: it has the chemical effect of melting ice, by lowering the freezing point of water — though it doesn't work when the air temperature is below 15 degrees Farenheit — it is also gritty, so it helps tires and shoes to grip the ground better.
Salt also is a source of sodium. Most Americans eat more sodium than we need, but sodium is essential for proper brain functioning.
Salt is really important. And a small amount of salt has a big impact; in that way salt is like yeast.
In Jesus’ time the most important use of salt was preserving food. They did not have refrigerators as we do. If they did not eat meat right after killing the animal they would need to smoke and/or salt it, or it would go bad and be inedible.
Ask “What do you think Jesus meant when he told his followers ‘You are the salt of the earth?’” Sometimes we praise people, calling them “the salt of the earth.” We mean that they are dependable, reliable, responsible and honest. People who are “salt of the earth types” are not flashy. They’re often overlooked. Modest. What would society be like if we did not have people who are the salt of the earth? What would life be life if we did not have salt?
Ask “Would salt be any good if it stopped being salty?” If it wouldn’t make food taste good, if it wouldn’t preserve food in a desert climate, if it wouldn’t melt ice, if it didn’t provide sodium to make our brains function properly — what good would it be? Of all the uses we have for salt, the only one that it could still be used for would be to provide traction on icy pavement. Which is exactly what Jesus said salt without its saltiness would be good for — being trampled underfoot.
(There is slim chance that some of your worshipers will recognize the phrase “trampled underfoot” as the title to a Led Zeppelin song that is really a collection of metaphors comparing cars and women. I suggest if you point this out you do it following worship over a cup of coffee.)
You could close with this prayer: Loving God, we thank you for small gifts that have big impact. Help us to see how you express your love to all people in common, ordinary things. Give us salt in ourselves. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 9, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
- Phoning In Our Faith? by Dean Feldmeyer — God wants us to make a personal, emotional investment in our confession when, often, we’d rather just phone it in.
- Second Thoughts: Hiding In Darkness by Chris Keating — Called to be salt and light, the church reveals the healing love and promises of God.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin and Ron Love.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on real vs ‘phoned in’ repentance; shining the light even when we would rather not see what is there.
- Children’s sermon: You Are the Salt of the Earth by Tom Willadsen — What would society be like if we did not have people who are the salt of the earth? What would life be life if we did not have salt?
- More to come soon...
Phoning In Our Faith?by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 58:1-9a
Tonight is the Academy Awards presentation and, as I prepare my popcorn and throw another cushion on my easy chair, I’m reminded of what it takes to create a truly memorable acting performance. And what it takes to create one that is memorable solely for what it lacks.
Most actors, today, practice what is referred to as The Stanislavski Method of acting, often referred to as “Method Acting,” which requires a certain amount of persona, emotionall investment, even risk-taking, from the actor if the performance is to be believable. Anything less and the performer is staying detached, refusing to invest or take a risk, simply going through the motions, phoning it in.
I studied “The Method” as we theater types liked to call it, when I was in college. Perhaps that’s why I was so disappointed in the most recent film iteration of the Dr. Dolittle story. My grandchildren loved it, of course. Talking animals saying silly things; what could be better? I, on the other hand, found the human performances all uninspired. Famous, highly paid actors whom I looked forward to seeing, were, it seemed to me, just phoning it in: Saying their lines, collecting their check, and going home. Not acting, so much, as reciting. Even when they were hamming it up, “chewing up the scenery” as the saying goes, they didn’t seem to care much about the characters or the story.
Isaiah reminds us, in this morning’s reading, that, if we are not diligent in our religious life, we can fall into doing this with our faith. God, he says, wants us to do more than go through the religious rituals, the motions of repentance. The Lord wants us to make a personal, emotional investment in our confession when, often, we’d rather just phone it in.
In the News
“Hit your mark, say your lines, collect your check.” Attributed to Anthony Hopkins when asked about the secret to good acting.
Every year we complain about the Academy Awards program. It’s too white and too male. It’s too conservative and traditional. It’s too quick to reward mediocrity and ignore innovation. And, of course, it’s too long.
And we watch it anyway.
Last year a total of 65.245+ million in 225 countries (29.6 million of them, Americans) tuned in to watch what has been called Hollywood’s great night of self-congratulations. But it’s a little more complicated than that.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has just over 7,000 members representing “17 branches of film.” (In 1927, when the Academy was founded, there were 293 members representing five branches.)
Nominees for the different categories are selected by the members of that particular branch. Actors nominate actors, writers nominate writers, etc. The ones who ended up actually being nominated are selected through a fairly complicated process of winnowing the hundreds of nominees down to the appropriate number.
Winning is actually a simpler process than getting nominated. Once nominees are established, all 7,000+ members of the academy vote in every category. The one with the most votes (a plurality, not a majority) wins. If there are five nominees for a particular prize, for instance, it would be possible to win in that category with only 21% of the votes. If there are only two nominees, you would need 51% to win. If there are ten nominees, as is the case with the Best Picture prize, it is possible to win with only 11% of the votes.
So, now we know who the voters are and how the voting works. What we don’t know and probably never will know is why some nominees win and others don’t. Why, we ask, did they vote for him? How could they possibly have voted for her? And, my personal favorite: They voted for what? I never even heard of that movie!
After best picture (only Hollywood people call a movie a “picture” or “film,” have you noticed? The rest of us call it a “movie.” Hollywood. Whataya gonna do, right?) Anyway, after best picture and, recently, best director, the most popular Oscars, the ones most of us actually care about, are the nominees for best actor and actress and best actor/actress in a supporting role.
Which brings us to today’s topic: The Golden Raspberries Awards or “Razzies.”
Every year, as Hollywood is celebrating its own and offering awards for best this and best that, another group, the Golden Raspberry Foundation, is celebrating Hollywood’s worst. Nominees for the worst film, worst director, worst performance by an actor in a lead role, etc. will be announced on February 8, the day before the Oscars. The winners will be announced at a time, in a place, and on a network to be announced. Yes, they will televised, or at least that’s the plan. Las Vegas bookmakers are predicting that “Cats” will win in virtually all categories. “Dr. Dolittle” will, alas, have to wait until 2021.
What vexes us so about some Oscar nominations and makes some performances Razzie worthy is a phenomenon called, in the profession: “Phoning it in.”
Most actors, today, are taught a kind of acting that we now know as the Stanislavski Method which was first developed around the turn of the 20th century by Russian actor, director, and teacher Constantin Stanislavski who also founded the Moscow Art Theatre.
Method acting involves some complicated training but, basically, actors are taught to explore what emotions their character is experiencing and then to reach back into their own experience to find the same or similar emotions and bring them to the surface and re-experience them as they portray the character. Instead of becoming the character, they allow the character to become them. (If that sounds too complicated to understand, imagine what an actor goes through, trying to actually do it.)
Sometimes actors, for whatever reasons, fail to do the work required for a method performance. Perhaps they are being lazy or they feel that they aren’t getting paid enough to go through all of that soul searching. Or, perhaps, it makes them feel too vulnerable or they’ll have to reveal, in the character, something private or painful about themselves.
At any rate, the audience, having seen so many method performances by now, can almost always tell when an actor is keeping a safe distance from the character and phoning the performance in, as it were. The actor is going through the motions but there’s nothing real there. The performance has no heart or soul. It’s just lines on a page.
Tonight we shall see how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences feels about the acting they saw last year. Will they reward an actor who took risks and became vulnerable in order to deliver an authentic, believable character to the screen? Or will they reward an actor for wearing heavy makeup? Or being themselves? Or phoning it in?
Other notable performances that critics agree were “phoned in.”
John Wayne in “Genghis Khan”
George Clooney in “Batman and Robin”
Bruce Willis in “Cop Out”
Natalie Portman in “Thor: The Dark World”
Marlon Brando in “The Island of Doctor Moreau”
Helen Mirren in “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”
Laura Linney in “Congo”
In the Scriptures
In about 538 BCE, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylonia and gave the Jews who had been exiled there for nearly 50 years, since 586 BCE, permission to return to Palestine.
It is estimated that about 20% of the Jews in Babylon actually returned with that first wave. Most of those who chose to remain had, over the course of 50 years, assimilated comfortably into Babylonian society. They had gotten jobs, intermarried, made friends, built houses, and even prayed for the success of Babylon as Jeremiah had instructed them to do. (Jeremiah 29:7)
Many of those who returned were carried home on fantasies of the Jerusalem of old but, when they arrived, they found the city in ruins, burned and razed to the ground with weeds growing where the temple once stood and trees growing where streets once ran.
Almost immediately, they began to argue about what should be the first order of business for returning exiles such as themselves. Should they concentrate on building homes and planting crops or should they first reconstruct the wall of the city so they would be safe? Or should they rebuild the temple first to declare their devotion to the God who brought them home and then worry about walls, homes, and crops?
History shows that homes and crops won the day and, for eighteen years, that’s where the returnees concentrated their creativity and resources. Then, in about 520 BCE, under the leadership of Zerubbabel and at the urging of Haggai and Zechariah, construction on the temple was begun and completed, five years later in 515 BCE. It was not until 465 BCE, some 73 years after they returned to the Promised Land, that the new emperor of Persia, Atraxerxes, appointed Nehemiah governor of Judea with orders to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Without a wall, Jerusalem was vulnerable and the Israelites were forced to negotiate with their neighbors to avoid conflict. Now, some of Israel’s neighbors feared that, if the wall was built, Israel would become too strong so they threatened to attack if attempts were made to rebuild it. Nehemiah, however, concocted a plan whereby each family in Jerusalem would construct that part of the wall which would stand directly in front of their house. Also, the workers were instructed to work with one hand while they carried a sword with the other. The wall, which was 4,018 meters (2.5 miles), in length with an average height of 12 meters and an average thickness of 2.5 meters, with 34 watchtowers and seven main gates and two minor gates, was completed in an astonishing 52 days.
It is easy to see how, with so much time, energy, creativity and other resources going into building houses, walls, and the temple, as well as defending themselves from threatening neighbors and putting food on their own tables, there was little time left for what we would call “going to church.”
Isaiah of Jerusalem who had returned with the first wave of exiles noticed that the temple worship services were amounting to little more than empty ritual: Say the words, sing the songs, stand up, kneel, stand up, say “Amen,” and get out. Go home and get back to the real work of rebuilding the city and the country.
The prophet found this practice to be particularly vexatious when it applied to the days of repentance.
On days when the people were supposed to be leaving off normal work and concentrating, instead, upon their own sinfulness and their need for repentance or changes in their behavior, they were going quickly through the motions but not really doing what God asked of them. Theirs was a repentance of ritual but not of the heart.
They went to the temple in the morning but, in the afternoon, they resumed their sinful lives and practices as though they had slept through the services. They prayed in the morning and exploited their workers in the afternoon. They put on sack cloth and ashes in the morning but insulted and fought with their neighbor in the afternoon. They kneeled and took communion on Sunday and lived by “profit at all costs” and forget everyone else, on Monday.
Loud prayers, sack cloth, and ashes are not what God requires, says the prophet. They are little more than empty rituals. No, the true acts of repentance are when we do not oppress those less fortunate than ourselves, when we feed the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless, when we clothe the naked and take care of our own families as well and not instead of.
This is the kind of repentance that actually gives us the results that we are hoping for when we ignore it. If we do these genuine acts of repentance we become a beacon, a light to the nations. People take notice and say, “There go the people of God. Look how they love one another.”
In the Sermon
It’s scary.
Every recent poll and survey tells us that young people are rejecting the church in greater and greater numbers. Asked what religion they claim as their own and they answer: “None.”
And, asked why this is the case, they answer that one of their reasons is the hypocrisy they see in the church and the Christians who populate it.
Christians, they say, preach a gospel of love but they practice discrimination, elitism, exclusion and even hate. They go piously to church on Sunday morning but they cheat their neighbors and look judgmentally down their noses at others who are not like them. They say they are loving and inclusive but they exclude, by acts of commission and omission, people of color, women, and LGBTQ people from their leadership.
We provide worship services that don’t meet their needs or answer their questions. We say we want them to come to our churches but the reason, when we are honest, is that we have much we want them to do for us. We want them to show up but we aren’t willing to move the time or the location of the worship service to accommodate them. We want them to be part of our fellowship but, first, we want them to be us.
If we truly want young people to return to the church — and, let’s face it, it may be too late for many if not most of them — we are going to have to change. In Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek, the word they use for change is “repent.”
We are going to have to repent of how we think, act, and in some cases, believe. And our repentance must be more than the ‘phoned in’ kind. It must be repentance of the heart. It must be “Method Repentance.” The changes we make must be not just thought about and talked about but enacted and supported.
As it is so with any worthwhile hard work, these changes will be the kind into which we have made a serious investment, they will embody the kind of repentance that leaves us drained and exhausted but also renewed and reinvigorated.
If this is the kind of repentance we practice, and practice resolutely, then, Isaiah promises us, “The Lord will guide us continuously, and satisfy our needs in parched places, and make our bones strong. We shall be like watered gardens, like springs of water, whose waters never fail. Our ancient ruins will be rebuilt; we will raise up foundations for many generations, and we will be remembered as those who rebuilt and restored that which was torn down and destroyed.” (Isaiah 58: 10-12; paraphrase)
Amen.
SECOND THOUGHTSHiding In Darkness
by Chris Keating
Matthew 5:13-20
Light, as Jesus indicates, is meant to shine. It brings healing, empowers hope and scatters the clouds of lies. God’s always-creating power brings light, and with it the end of deception.
Indeed, as the Washington Post’s motto declares, “democracy dies in darkness.” While not everything depends on light for life, it is essential for matters of truth-telling and human survival. It’s no wonder Jesus called the disciples to be lights shining in a darkened world.
But a shining light can be disruptive or disorienting. When light floods the darkness, we avert our eyes, struggling to let our pupils adjust to the change. Sometimes our inclination is to remain in the darkness — something Jesus no doubt understood in his warnings to the disciples.
When fans of basketball legend Kobe Bryant began processing his death on January 26, there were many who preferred to see only the rosy hues of the light of his celebrity. The complexities of his life were blunted by the tragedy surrounding his death as well as the deaths of his daughter and other passengers. Emotional tributes were offered by athletes, fans, celebrities and more. Reporters rightly called him one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Bryant’s stature in culture loomed larger than his towering 6’ 6” frame. In retirement, his fame spanned the breadth of “entire internet,” including a multimedia empire, children’s books, and an Oscar-award winning movie, “Dear Basketball.”
But the brilliance of his accomplishments cannot hide the credible accusations that Bryant had sexually assaulted a woman years ago. The 2003 rape allegations by a Colorado hotel worker were mentioned by some reporters, including Washington Post political reporter Felicia Sonmez. Within hours, Sonmez had received threats on her life. Social media influencers and media pundits used vulgar language to condemn what they called her “insensitivity.” “You @washingtonpost reporters really can’t help yourselves, can you?” tweeted Donald J. Trump, Jr.
Eventually, her editors suspended her for possibly violating the newspaper’s social media policy. Keep in mind that Sonmez’ tweet referred to an old article that had been written by someone else, and that her post was not an attempt to castigate Bryant. (Her suspension was later rescinded.) It is always tempting to let the light of truth become obscured by gauzy filters that are aimed at eliminating negative perceptions of the dead.
Journalist Will Leitch commented that “one thing we don’t seem ready for, at least not yet, is an actual accounting of the complicated public figure Kobe Bryant was.” Others point out that “hagiography is a tempting impulse whenever a beloved figure dies.” Journalists in particular are guided by ethical standards that demand accuracy, fairness, and courage in gathering and reporting information. At the same time, they are called to minimize harm by treating people with respect.
Sonmez made it clear that she was not attempting to add to the grief shared by Bryant’s family or the public. She refrained from any commentary on the article because she said, “I didn’t think that was my place.” She spoke with salt and light.
That impulse to only highlight the positive features of Bryant’s life could be a source of secondary trauma to the victim of the assault. Berated by media and beset by Bryant’s attorneys, the woman declined to testify. Bryant would later acknowledge that the woman did not believe their encounter was consensual. Some have said the media have all but “erased” the woman from view.
The ancients advised that we should never speak ill of the dead, which seems to be the rule enforced by most mourners attending North American funerals. Hang around a funeral home long enough, and you become convinced that only good people die. Whether out of courtesy or hesitancy to step out on the thin ice of grief, we generally demur from what one minister used to call “the full picture” of the deceased’s life. As one man once said to me following a funeral of a rather bitter and recalcitrant church member, “Well, you certainly made that nasty old so and so sound pretty good.”
It’s a dilemma. One wants to be respectful and compassionate; but covering up the totality of a person’s life does little to promote healing. A wise pastor proceeds cautiously, but faithfully. Experts say that the two most common forms of hagiography — the practice of only speaking positively of the dead — are enshrinement or bedevilment. Enshrinement focuses only on celebrity’s positive accomplishments. Bedevilment involves negating their humanity. Neither facilitate healing.
According to psychologist Ashley Mielke, the tendency to either enshrine or bedevil create conflicts that inhibit grief. Enshrining a person doesn’t allow for grief to be processed. Bedeviling them maintains an idealized version of who they were. Uncertain of how to deal with these conflicted feelings of grief, we end up ignoring the full picture of the person’s life. “We haven’t really been taught to honor someone in the accuracy of how they lived,” she says.
Jesus calls us to be salt and light in the world. Salt is coarse and sharp. It heightens the senses, preserves food and stimulates thirst. Light creates new possibilities and offers hope. Jesus reminds the disciples that their presence in the world is to be both challenging and healing. He demands that his followers surpass the considerable standards of piety established by the Pharisees — a high bar, indeed. Those called by Jesus are expected to act differently in their demonstrations of faithfulness. We are flavor that brings a new edge to God’s creation, and the light that reflects the rays of God’s gracious mercy.
Reflections of God’s light into the cold world bring warmth and promises of healing. We carry the light into the world, fulfilling the righteousness demanded of loving God and the neighbor.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
Feeding the Hungry
Speaking for God, Isaiah reminds the people that “if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness.” Carolyn North started with the idea of feeding a person or two, and her sacrifices and service have grown dramatically since that time. It started, she says, “about 30 years ago, right after Thanksgiving, I stopped by a neighbor’s house. There was the turkey carcass sitting right there on the table, with about a pound or two of meat on it. She looked at it and said, “I am sick of this thing.”
Then she picked it up and threw it into the garbage. I almost reached out to catch it, but I didn’t. After that, I went home and tried to figure out with my husband, if every house had a turkey that had another, say, two pounds of meat on it, and if everybody threw it into their garbage, how much meat would that equal? How much meat would be wasted in my own neighborhood? The number was astronomical. Then we figured it out for the city, and the number was even more astronomical. I thought, “This is ridiculous. We should not be wasting this. So what is an alternative?” Living in an urban area, some of us have more than we need and others of us have considerably less than we need. How do we balance or even that out?” It seemed like a no-brainer. I figured there must be other people like me who would be willing to take an hour out of their week to bring this surplus food to a free food program. I asked some of my friends, and everybody said of course they’d be willing to do that.”
They started with an organizing party, and “everyone was enthusiastic and relieved, even, to have something to do.” They had resources they didn’t know they had. “So this person had a friend who worked for that bakery, and that person had a friend who worked in a restaurant. So already, in the first week, we already had about six runs that we could make. I contacted one particular food kitchen, everyone volunteered to be the runner, and we just started.” The program continues in this same form. Carolyn North says, “All we are doing now, really, is what we were doing then. It required no big administration. No big fundraising. No trucks. No refrigerators. It’s just people going to the restaurant or bakery, piling the food in their car, and driving it right over to a food kitchen. That’s the whole, big complicated — or uncomplicated — deal. Now it’s 30 years later, and we’re still doing it.”
Carolyn North says her work is not charity. Echoing the spirit of Isaiah, she says, “Well, my feeling is that we are all one organism. All beings and all life and all existence are connected. In an organism, there’s this constant interplay of contraction and expansion — of sending and receiving. And we are just doing that. The notion that I am doing you a great favor out of the “goodness of my heart” is really not very good for me. And it’s simply not true. I think what we’re doing is natural. We live in a culture where we are told to compete with one another. We’re told that if I win, you lose. On the basic, physical level of reality, it’s not true that we are separate. And it’s not true that we are being virtuous in giving what we can to each other. It’s a reciprocal blessing.” Share your bread with the hungry, Isaiah says, and this is a powerful way to do it.
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Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)
A Call to Serve
The prophet Isaiah announces (again) that God wants the people of God to live with compassion, tending to each other instead of making meaningless sacrifices. He asks, speaking for God, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” Many people retiring from paid work are taking up that very challenge. Set free from the time spent working, they are choosing to use their time to serve.
“Some people, like Gary Maxworthy, are leading the way. As an idealistic young man, Maxworthy wanted to heed JFK’s call to service, but he already had a family to support. Instead of joining the Peace Corps, he launched a career in the food-distribution business, where he worked for more than 30 years. As Maxworthy approached 60, his wife’s passing sent him into a period of soul-searching. He thought a lot about his old Peace Corps dream and the prospect of returning to it. In the end, he chose a more manageable domestic option, VISTA, part of the AmeriCorps national service program. VISTA placed Maxworthy at the San Francisco Food Bank, where he discovered that — like food banks throughout the state of California — it was primarily giving out canned and processed food. It was all they could reliably deliver without food spoiling. Maxworthy knew that California farmers were discarding tons of blemished but wholesome fruits and vegetables that were not up to supermarket standards. He launched Farm to Family, a program that in 2010 distributed more than 100 million pounds of fresh food to needy families in California. Without question Maxworthy would have done a lot of good as a 22-year-old Peace Corps volunteer. But would he have been able to do something comparable to developing a system to distribute 100 million pounds of food to hungry people every year? Never before have so many people, like Maxworthy, had so much life experience and the time and the capacity to do something significant with it. That’s the gift of longevity, the great potential payoff from all the progress we’ve made in extending lives.”
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Matthew 5:13-20
Letting Your Light Shine
“In the same way, let your light shine before others,” Jesus says, and the process of getting our light to shine in the world cam be a slow one. Steve Jobs tells a story full of ups and downs about that. He says, “I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down — that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.” Without getting fired, he says, none of that would have happened.
Letting our light shine is a complicated process of growth toward who God made us to be.
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Matthew 5:13-20
Being Salt and Light in 2020
Formed after the 2016 election, the group called Better Angels is working to improve the climate for conversations among people who disagree deeply. When it was first formed, “The group comprised of 11 people who’d supported Hillary Clinton for president and 10 who’d supported Donald Trump. After the contentious election, there was a question lurking under the surface: “Could we as a country avoid a civic divorce? Could we build a more perfect union?” says David Lapp. That meeting marked the beginning of what would become a national movement called Better Angels, that Lapp and two colleagues formed to create friendly spaces for potentially unfriendly conversations.” No one is trying to change anyone’s mind, but the group is hoping to add some light to the bitterness dividing the nation. They started with a bus tour in 2017, visting “15 communities between Waynesville, Ohio, and Philadelphia, convening a similar mix of people in what they called “Red/Blue Workshops.” A fall tour followed, from Washington, D.C., to Nashville, Tennessee. Along the way, Better Angels has trained 130 volunteers to moderate future workshops.”
Drawing its name from a speech by Abraham Lincoln, the group believes that “everyone has the potential to act in a more civil manner — is what drives the group and its outreach to everyone from die-hard Trump supporters to left-wing progressive activists…Ray Warrick is a Tea Party organizer, who describes himself as a strict conservative: “Republicans, by and large, aren’t conservative enough for me.” He has participated in several workshops in the Warren County, Ohio, chapter, where he says the discussions are civil and work to break down barriers. “I’ve often felt, you don’t hate people who you know, and I’ve had liberal friends for years,” Warrick says.” On the other side of the divide is “Rob Weidenfeld, a self-described pro-life Democrat who credits Better Angels for opening his eyes to how he was behaving, especially online. He and one of the Republicans in the Warren County group formed a pact of sorts to check each other on Facebook, giving likes to constructive posts or frowns to divisive ones. “If you actually spend time with these people and talk to them, you realize they’re actually not that different from you,” Weidenfeld says.”
More salt, more light — we all need both, and this group is spreading them around the country.
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From team member Ron Love:Isaiah 58:8
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Psalm 112:4
They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.
Matthew 5: 14-16
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
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Though Billy Graham is deceased, newspapers still print a daily devotional in his name. However, there is a footnote that now reads, “This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.” In the daily devotional for December 11, 2019, the devotional discussed the battle of the gods between the worshipers of Baal and Elijah’s worship of the Christian God. The 450 prophets of Baal could not get their god to consume with fire the offering placed before him. But Elijah, even dousing the offering with water, was able to get his God — our God — to consume the offering. The devotional then read, “This is the great question for humanity. How long will it take to decide between two choices? We must choose whether to follow the devil’s clever promises or God’s sure word. There are two masters; we must all choose which master we will serve.”
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A report that was published in December 2019 stated that the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church is causing priests a tremendous amount of stress in their ministry. Thomas Plante, a psychology professor at California’s Santa Clara University, who has screened or treated hundreds of Catholic clerics, considers burnout has been a perennial problem for clergy of many faiths. He now sees a new form of it as the sex abuse crisis persists and many parishioners lose trust in Catholic leadership. Plante said, “You’re just trying to be a good priest and now everyone thinks you’re a sex offender. If you walk in a park with your collar on, people think you’re on the lookout for children.... Some have been spat upon.”
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In a report that was published in December 2019, it stated that more Americans are dying at home rather than in a hospital. From 2003 through 2017, the number of deaths that occurred in hospitals fell from 40% to 30%, and in nursing homes from 24% to 21%. The lead author of the report, Dr. Haider Warraich of the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, said, “I have met many patients who just want to spend one day at home, around their dog, in their bed, able to eat home food.”
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On Pope Francis 83rd birthday, December 17, 2019, he issued new rules to make it easier to prosecute priests who abuse children. The biggest notice was new restrictions on Catholic hierarchy employing “pontifical secrecy.” This rule has been used to protect pedophile priests, silence victims and prevent police from investigating crimes. Part of this rule reads, “Business of the Roman Curia at the service of the universal Church is officially covered by ordinary secrecy, the moral obligation of which is to be gauged in accordance with the instructions given by a superior or the nature and importance of the question. But some matters of major importance require a particular secrecy, called "pontifical secrecy", and must be observed as a grave obligation.” In a new law, Francis decreed that information in abuse cases must be protected by church leaders to ensure its “security, integrity and confidentiality.” But he said the rule of “pontifical secrecy” no longer applied to abuse-related accusations, trials and decisions under the Catholic Church’s canon law.
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There’s a poignant scene in the movie Driving Miss Daisy that ought to stir everyone’s conscience. Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy) and her black chauffeur Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) are driving to Mobile to celebrate the 90th birthday of Miss Daisy’s uncle. Along the way they innocently park their car on a beautiful lawn next to a serene lake. There they sit in quiet conversation, sharing a box lunch. Two Alabama state troopers arrive and interrupt this peaceful scene, questioning Colburn’s right to drive an automobile. Only when Miss Daisy is able to establish the fact that she is a woman of prominence and wealth do the patrolmen cease their harassment. Upset, Miss Daisy and Colburn leave their lunches half eaten and depart. Watching the car travel down the highway, one trooper says to his partner, “an old nigger and an old Jew woman taken off down the road together. Now ain’t that a sorry sight.”
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Happy are those who greatly delight in God’s commandments.
People: The generation of the upright will be blessed.
Leader: They rise in the darkness as a light for the upright.
People: They are gracious, merciful, and righteous.
Leader: For the righteous will never be moved.
People: Their hearts are steady, they will not be afraid.
OR
Leader: The light of God shines upon us today.
People: Praise to God who is our light and truth.
Leader: The light shines that we may see the truth.
People: Let the light of God open our eyes.
Leader: Follow God’s light into new life.
People: We will see and we will follow.
Hymns and Songs:
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELW: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
O Word of God Incarnate
UMH: 598
PH: 327
NNBH: 296
NCH: 315
CH: 322
LBW: 231
ELW: 514
W&P: 670
Renew: 97
This Little Light of Mine
UMH: 585
AAHH: 549
NNBH: 511
NCH: 524/525
ELW: 677
STLT: 118
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
It’s Me, It’s Me, O Lord (Standing in the Need of Prayer)
UMH: 352
NNBH: 496
CH: 579
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
UMH: 358
H82: 652/653
PH: 345
NCH: 502
CH: 594
LBW: 506
W&P: 470
AMEC: 344
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
UMH: 382
AAHH: 449
NNBH: 206
CH: 588
W&P: 486
AMEC: 345
Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive
UMH: 390
H82: 674
PH: 347
LBW: 307
ELW: 605
W&P: 382
Renew: 184
Jesus Calls Us
UMH: 398
H82: 549/550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171/172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELW: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
Lord, I Want to Be a Christian
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
Renew: 145
Arise, Shine
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
Shine, Jesus, Shine
CCB: 81
Renew: 247
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 truth and light:
Grant us the courage to allow your light to shine in our lives
so that we may what is good and what needs corrected
and then to truly repent and make changes in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are light and you are truth. You shed your light on us so that we can see the goodness of your image in us and so that we can grow into your likeness. Help us to walk in your light as we share that light with others. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the insincerity of our repentance.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the light and we have refused to see the truth. We gladly shine the light on others problems and sins but we fail to see our own. Even when we admit our sins we seldom change our ways. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we may truly walk in your light and be disciples of your Christ. Amen.
Leader: God is light and God is love. God desires us to know both. Receive God’s grace and share it with all you meet this week.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O God, our light, our way, and our truth. In you there is no darkness so that all may be revealed.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the light and we have refused to see the truth. We gladly shine the light on others problems and sins but we fail to see our own. Even when we admit our sins we seldom change our ways. Forgive us and renew us in your Spirit that we may truly walk in your light and be disciples of your Christ.
We give you thanks for the light in our lives: the light of the sun and stars, the light of fire, and the light of human making. We thank you for the light that shines in our hearts and minds, as well. We thank you for those who have been bright spots in our lives helping us find our way.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who struggle in the darkness of depression and anxiety. We pray for those who struggle in the darkness of poverty and want. We pray for those who in the darkness of their lives have lost their way.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Show the children your flashlight. (Take the batteries out beforehand.) Tell that how good it is and how helpful it is to have it. Turn it on for them. Well, it isn’t much good as a flashlight if it doesn’t have any light in it. Jesus talked about light and salt. Salt isn’t any good if it isn’t salty and light isn’t any good if it doesn’t shine. Jesus wants us to be lights that help others see the love God has for us all.
CHILDREN'S SERMONYou Are the Salt of the Earth
by Tom Willadsen
Matthew 5:13-16
Have a box of table salt, some salt used to melt ice — if you live where you need it in the winter — maybe some coarser salt and/or some salt used in water softeners.
From the list of props suggested you’ll see that the focus of today’s children’s time is Jesus’ pronouncement that “you are the salt of the earth.” Here are some thoughts about salt you might want to share as the kids come forward:
Two things are needed to make food taste good: salt and appetite. —Danish proverb
The word “salary” comes from the word “salt;” to be “worth one’s salt” is to earn one’s pay.
Anytime I hear people say the Bible should be interpreted literally I point to “You are the salt of the earth.” Clearly Jesus indicates that the people he is addressing are minerals in the ground. Wait, that’s a figure of speech? I see. Perhaps there are other passages in the Bible that would be absurd if they were read literally. Now that we’ve opened that door, let’s discuss what it means that we always interpret scripture with some nuance and flexibility. I take the Bible too seriously to take it literally.
Okay, now the kids have gathered up front. Ask them if they know what salt is. Ask if they can think of different ways we use salt. Find out if they know where salt comes from. The salt Jesus was talking about was dug out of the ground; sometimes we use salt that comes from ocean water that has evaporated. They will certainly know that we use salt to season food. They may know that we put salt on pavement to make it less slippery. Salt acts in two ways to make pavement less slippery: it has the chemical effect of melting ice, by lowering the freezing point of water — though it doesn't work when the air temperature is below 15 degrees Farenheit — it is also gritty, so it helps tires and shoes to grip the ground better.
Salt also is a source of sodium. Most Americans eat more sodium than we need, but sodium is essential for proper brain functioning.
Salt is really important. And a small amount of salt has a big impact; in that way salt is like yeast.
In Jesus’ time the most important use of salt was preserving food. They did not have refrigerators as we do. If they did not eat meat right after killing the animal they would need to smoke and/or salt it, or it would go bad and be inedible.
Ask “What do you think Jesus meant when he told his followers ‘You are the salt of the earth?’” Sometimes we praise people, calling them “the salt of the earth.” We mean that they are dependable, reliable, responsible and honest. People who are “salt of the earth types” are not flashy. They’re often overlooked. Modest. What would society be like if we did not have people who are the salt of the earth? What would life be life if we did not have salt?
Ask “Would salt be any good if it stopped being salty?” If it wouldn’t make food taste good, if it wouldn’t preserve food in a desert climate, if it wouldn’t melt ice, if it didn’t provide sodium to make our brains function properly — what good would it be? Of all the uses we have for salt, the only one that it could still be used for would be to provide traction on icy pavement. Which is exactly what Jesus said salt without its saltiness would be good for — being trampled underfoot.
(There is slim chance that some of your worshipers will recognize the phrase “trampled underfoot” as the title to a Led Zeppelin song that is really a collection of metaphors comparing cars and women. I suggest if you point this out you do it following worship over a cup of coffee.)
You could close with this prayer: Loving God, we thank you for small gifts that have big impact. Help us to see how you express your love to all people in common, ordinary things. Give us salt in ourselves. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, February 9, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
