Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition
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(This installment contains material for All Saints Day and Proper 26 | Ordinary Time 31 | Pentecost 23.)
In the lectionary gospel text for Proper 26, Jesus once again finds himself in the middle of a discussion about who (or what) is “number one.” Instead of arbitrating who is first among the disciples, this time he responds to a query about what is the greatest commandment with a twofold answer. He begins by focusing on love of God, quoting the Sh’ma verbatim (“Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one”) and spelling out the depth of that commitment (“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength”). But then he extends that same love to other people, succinctly noting that “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He underlines this by concluding, “There is no other commandment greater than these.” The primacy of love for God seems self-evident; but loving our neighbors -- those pesky people who irritate, anger, and threaten us -- is often a much more difficult proposition. Yet as religious historian Karen Armstrong has observed, love for our neighbors is a common thread in religious practice throughout the world: “All faiths insist that compassion is the test of true spirituality.... Further, they all insist that you cannot confine your benevolence to your own group; you must have concern for everybody -- even your enemies.” But as team member Dean Feldmeyer points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, the modern American mindset is often more defined by fear of our neighbors than love for them -- and this is especially evident in our attitude toward guns. In our zealousness to protect ourselves, our families, and our property from those who would victimize us, Dean suggests, we’re demonstrating a lack of trust in our neighbors -- as opposed to the stance of love which Jesus says is a primary commandment.
Team member Robin Lostetter shares some additional thoughts on the All Saints Sunday readings, specifically the implications of the words Jesus uses as he raises Lazarus from the tomb: “Unbind him and let him go.” Robin notes that this is significant because it indicates that the power to release us from death is not only literal, but figurative too: Jesus also releases us from other forms of “death” in our lives that keep us bound, such as addiction, disability, imprisonment, and many more. When we demonstrate love of God and of our neighbors by assisting them in being freed from those shackles, Robin says that makes the vision articulated in the Revelation passage become a living reality: “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.... See, I am making all things new.” As Robin points out, the All Saints message is not just about those who have passed on from this earthly life to the Church Universal -- Jesus’ power to release us from death is something that is an ongoing reality in our everyday lives.
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
by Dean Feldmeyer
Mark 12:28-34
A few weeks ago I saw a bumper sticker on the back of a pickup truck that had the prefix “PRO” printed in triple-size letters. Next to that word in smaller letters were three words stacked atop each other:
God
Guns
Life
It seemed an odd trio to me. How does a person who claims to value God and life fit guns into the formula? Oh, I suppose it’s possible that the driver uses his guns solely for target shooting or to kill varmints or to slay deer in order to put meat on his family’s table... but I doubt it.
According to 2013 study by the Pew Research Center, 48 percent of gun owners say that their main reason for having a gun is for protection. That’s up from 26 percent in 1999. And 79 percent say that owning a gun makes them feel safer.
So let’s be honest. Half to three-quarters of the people who own guns have them, at least partially, for the purpose of killing someone should the need arise. It’s not that they want to kill someone. It’s not that they would feel good about it. It’s just that they want to be prepared to.
Yet I can’t help but wonder how they feel about Jesus saying that the second most important commandment that God has given to us is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” How exactly can you love your neighbor and prepare to kill your neighbor at the same time?
In the News
Gun violence against human beings has become an accepted part of what it means to live in modern-day America -- and it’s been much in the news of late. But then, when hasn’t that been the case in America? Just in the last ten days to two weeks:
Item: In Albuquerque, New Mexico, last week, two drivers got into a shouting match after cutting each other off in freeway traffic. Tony Torrez, 32, became so outraged that he pulled out a gun and fired shots into the other vehicle, a pickup truck.
Sitting in the back seat of that truck were 4-year-old Lilly Garcia and her 7-year-old brother. Lilly was shot in the head and died at the scene. Torrez was arrested after a massive manhunt and confessed to the shooting.
Item: In Detroit, 25-year-old semi-pro football player Deante Smith entered the City of God church during the worship service, accused the pastor of having an affair with his wife and getting her pregnant, and according to witnesses threatened the pastor with a brick.
The 36-year-old pastor, whose name has not been released, pulled out a gun and shot Smith five times in the chest, killing him.
Item: In Cincinnati, 21-year-old Matthew Hayden, for reasons he has refused to divulge, walked up to his two sisters who were sitting in a car with a male friend and calmly fired multiple shots at the car and at the teens who were in it, all while his mother screamed and pleaded with him from the front porch of their house.
Sarah Hayden, 16, and Elizabeth Hayden, 17, were killed. Their 17-year-old male friend was shot ten times but survived and is currently in intensive care. Angela Hayden, their mother, who was homeschooling the girls, called 911. When police arrived, Matthew surrendered quietly.
Item: In Chicago, 25-year-old Michael Santiago bought a handgun for protection. While he was at work and his wife was at the store buying milk for their infant daughter, they left their two boys, ages 6 and 3, in the care of their grandfather.
Apparently Santiago had shown the gun to his 6-year-old son, and then wrapped it in some pajama pants and put it on top of the refrigerator. The boy (whose name was withheld) climbed up and got the gun down to show to his little brother. He pulled the trigger and the gun fired, killing 3-year-old Eian.
Michael Santiago was charged with felony child endangerment causing death, and bond was set at $75,000 at his first court appearance Sunday, Oct. 18.
Item: In Atlanta, police say a mother shot her own son in their apartment. They were called to the 500 block of University Avenue and found 4-year-old Jamari Todd shot in the back. “Initially it was a mystery,” said Atlanta Police Major Adam Lee III. “The only person that was there was the victim, and he’s only four years old and he’s fighting for his life right now.”
When police initially questioned his mother, Patricia Todd, they said there was something that was just not right. She had no explanation of what happened inside her apartment around 10:15 a.m. Investigators found no bullet holes in the apartment to indicate the child was hit by a stray bullet. Eventually they found a handgun hidden in the apartment. They don’t know if the shooting was accidental or intentional. Now she’s charged with aggravated assault, cruelty to children, and tampering with evidence.
Do a web search of the phrase “child shoots” and you will discover hundreds of stories from 2015 of children shooting and wounding or killing people, or stories of other family members shooting each other or their friends with guns that were (presumably) purchased for protection.
Cases of pastors committing adultery and then shooting the offended husband of their paramour, in church, are a lot less common -- but this one example does bring us to our biblical text for the day.
In the Scriptures
Today’s story from Mark is a straightforward account of a Q&A encounter between Jesus and a scribe. The scribe, an expert in the law, comes to Jesus and asks him which of the commandments is the most important. The scribe asks this not because he doesn’t know and needs the information -- he knows full well what the answer should be.
He is testing Jesus. He has noted that Jesus is pretty good at answering theological questions, pretty quick on his feet -- and this is a pop quiz to see if this itinerant teacher/healer should be taken seriously.
Of course, Jesus gets an A+ on the test.
The highest and most important commandment is the Sh’ma: “Hear O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is one. And you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Everyone knows that!
Oh, and the second most important commandment follows from the first and is so important that it can’t really be separated from the first. It is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
This seven-word sentence is, in essence, a truncated version of the Golden Rule (of which we shall speak further in a few minutes).
The point, here, is to be clear about what it is precisely that Jesus has said. So the scribe paraphrases it back to Jesus: “You are right, teacher. You have truly said...” etc.
Jesus then gives the scribe something of a back-handed compliment: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Not far. You’re not there yet, but you’re not far. You know the right answer -- but there is often a wide gap between knowing and doing. If you want to live in the kingdom, you have to be willing to bridge that gap and start actually living out of the commandments and not just memorizing them.
It’s not enough to have them written on a sign in your yard. They need to be written on your heart as well.
In the Pulpit
Gun violence in America is an epidemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 400,000 Americans died by firearms in America between 2001 and 2013. That’s about 33,000 per year, and it’s about 1,000 for every one person killed by terrorist attacks inside our borders.
Since 1968, more Americans have been killed by gun violence than have died in all of America’s wars combined. Gun violence now kills more young Americans each year than automobile accidents.
Two children under the age of 14 are killed by accidental shootings every week. About two-thirds of these unintended deaths -- 65 percent -- take place in a home or vehicle that belongs to the victim’s family, most often with guns that were legally owned but not secured. Another 19 percent happen in the home of a relative or friend of the victim. More than two-thirds of these tragedies could be avoided if gun owners stored their guns responsibly and prevented children from accessing them. All of them could have been prevented if there was no gun in the house.
If two children were being killed by a murderer each week, we would insist that law enforcement agencies find the perpetrator. If 33,000 Americans were killed in a single year by a foreign power, we would be at war.
Look at the panic that shook our nation when two persons died from Ebola in 2014. Can you imagine what our response would have been if the number had been 33,000? And why are we doing nothing about that?
The American debate about guns usually pits extremists from both sides of the debate against one another.
On one side are those who believe that the only acceptable gun control is a total ban on handguns and assault-style weapons. Others would simply repeal the Second Amendment to the Constitution and ban all privately-owned guns.
On the other side are those who insist that America is in a state of criminal chaos where only the armed and ruthless can survive and that our only hope is to be constantly armed and prepared to kill each other.
In the forgotten middle of the argument are thousands of Americans -- many of them gun owners and one of whom was the late President Ronald Reagan -- who believe that there should be reasonable, responsible restrictions on who should be allowed to own guns and what kind and how many guns they should be allowed to own. This point of view is supported by studies indicating that states with stricter gun laws generally have less gun violence than those with few restrictions.
Many of these people are also not gun owners. They would not own a gun, nor would they allow one in their home, because they believe that -- as Christians who take the words of our Lord seriously -- we simply cannot love our neighbor and arm ourselves to kill our neighbor at the same time.
They believe that the Golden Rule as it is spoken in the second clause of the Great Commandment makes the paradox of gun ownership and love of neighbor untenable.
The Golden Rule is not just a nice, pithy axiom for Christians. It is the second most important law that guides our behavior. It is the foundation of our relationships with other human beings. It is written into our religious, theological DNA -- and interestingly, it is one of the most certain proofs that this moral DNA is the same which has given rise to nearly every religion and every moral philosophy in human history.
Author and religious historian Karen Armstrong puts it this way: “All faiths insist that compassion is the test of true spirituality and that it brings us into relation with the transcendence we call God, Brahman, Nirvana, or Dao. Each has formulated its own version of what is sometimes called the Golden Rule, ‘Do not treat others as you would not like them to treat you,’ or in its positive form, ‘Always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself.’ Further, they all insist that you cannot confine your benevolence to your own group; you must have concern for everybody -- even your enemies.”
The Golden Rule (also known as the Law of Reciprocity) is specifically articulated in one form or another in nearly every religion, many of which can be found at the website of the Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance.1
This is admittedly an explosive and dangerous issue to broach from the pulpit -- but today’s gospel lesson makes it a hard one to ignore. But is it not possible to suggest that the Church of Jesus Christ is called to act as a pioneer and a leader in the moral journey of humanity -- and to do so we might want to consider, before we arm ourselves in preparation for killing our neighbors, that we at least stop for a moment and heed the counsel of Jesus Christ and the Golden Rule?
If I am going to arm myself against the possibility that I will one day be required to kill my neighbor, do I also want them to arm themselves to this same end? Is that the country, the neighborhood in which I want to live?
I think that the Golden Rule and the words of our Lord place those questions before us and demand that we answer them.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Unbind Them
by Robin Lostetter
Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44
In the News
Death is in the news. In fact, in general death is the news across the nation and in the world.
A living death from imprisonment. It’s not only the imprisoned, but their children who suffer. From the Associated Press: “Child Trends, a research organization, released a report Tuesday estimating that 5 million U.S. children have had at least one parent imprisoned -- about one in every 14 children under 18. For black children, the rate was one in nine, the report said.... Experts who study these children, or work with them, say parental incarceration is distinguished from other childhood woes by a mix of shame, stigma, and trauma. Research indicates that many of the children face increased risk of problems with behavior, academics, self-esteem, and substance abuse -- in some cases resulting in criminality passed from one generation to the next.”
A living death and actual death from drug addiction. In Buffalo, New York, U.S. Attorney William Hochul announced the implementation of a program designed to involve the community in fighting the deadly epidemic of illegal drugs. He observed: “[T]he message simply is not getting through, it’s not enough. It’s estimated that the amount of overdoses we have this year will be double what we had last year. It’s simply no longer acceptable for us to deny that we have this crisis right here in our midst. We need to do something about it.”
Life in trauma, surrounded by death. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, “one of the events in the Week of Non-Violence sponsored by Black Women for Positive Change, the ‘Youth Talk We Listen’ forum at the Community College of Allegheny County was meant to let Pittsburgh police chief Cameron McLay hear from the youth on ways to reduce community violence. [A] student referencing what McLay earlier called ‘trauma-informed communities’ said, ‘We’ve been in trauma since we were born.’ ”
In the Scriptures
All Saints Day and its appointed lections call us to remember those faithful who have died. But we are also called to Christian hope for the living -- especially those living in trauma and “living death.” The promise in Revelation is that “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away,” and “See, I am making all things new.”
For those imprisoned, whether by prison bars or by addiction or poverty or violence or whatever else life has thrown at them, these are words of comfort. They recall Jesus’ reading from the prophet Isaiah early in his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
However, the last verse in the gospel reading for All Saints Day brings home Jesus’ command that we participate in this release: “Unbind him and let him go” (John 11:44). In all the articles linked above and more, communities are coming together to try to make an impact on social ills and the pain they cause in individuals’ lives.
In the Sermon
Rather than focus entirely on those who have entered the Church Triumphant, perhaps the sermon might lead the congregation’s vision toward emulating not only the named saints and the saints of their own community, but also Jesus in his ministry of unbinding folk. And in the words of a former pastor of mine, not unbinding them from, but unbinding them for.
Each person has been gifted by God in some way, and releasing them from their bonds -- whether they be economic, addictive, religious, ideological, environmental, or whatever -- is a way in which we can join in Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming release to the captives. In so doing, we may be partners in bringing a glimpse of that new world where death and mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
You see, in Revelation 21:3 we read that God’s home is among humans, and in the gospels we have read that the Kingdom, or Reign, or Kin-dom of God is near -- near enough that we can enter it now by living Kingdom ways. When we help to reveal God’s presence through ministries that seek to relieve oppression in all its forms, whether one-on-one or in community efforts, we may be bearers of God’s Kingdom to those who have been bound, unable to use or express their gifts. We are under the same command as Mary and Martha and the crowd around Lazarus: to unbind these folk and let them go -- let them go to reveal God’s glory and to live full lives.
Now that sounds easy, and it’s not. No one person can solve issues of addiction, gun violence, poverty, and an imbalance in U.S. incarceration. But one person can impact one person at a time, tapping into services such as New Hope Oklahoma for children of imprisoned parents; or the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) for those dealing with mental illness; or Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Al-Anon for those impacted by addictions. And one can link arms with others when communities band together as they have in Milwaukee, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and elsewhere. In fact, one individual is all it takes to start a community group to seek solutions in their neighborhood, to minimize trauma and death among the living, to unbind those who are feeling entombed in their own homes and families.
What if your sermon was able to unbind the congregation -- or one congregant -- to step up to that challenging command?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 25:6-9
Dreaming of a Safer World
In a violent world, it may be hard imagining a place or time when God will wipe away the tears of all people. Despite the realities of more than 33,000 gun-related deaths in the United States each year, University of Pennsylvania chaplain Charles Howard dares to dream of a day when firearms no longer pose lethal threats. Howard describes this dream as a vision of a safer world in a recent Huffington Post essay:
I saw myself sitting at a large wooden desk writing. On that desk was a literal block which stretched to each end of the room and up to the ceiling. This block was translucent and light shone through it. In the vision I found myself standing up and tapping on the block and then suddenly falling through it to the world on the other side. I saw a family walking, so I began to walk around as well. I was aware that the place wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t heaven, but it was a cleaner, safer, and more peaceful world on that side. I kept walking, and soon after turning around a corner I looked up at a billboard that caught my eyes. On it were the words “Gun-Free World.”
Acknowledging that such a world will not bring an end to violence, Howard nonetheless believes that faith can propel humans toward new ways of living: “We too can move to a different world even while still living in this one. Let’s help to build the Kingdom of God, the Beloved Community, the Peaceable Kingdom. It’s just over there. And it’s not as far as you may think.”
*****
John 11:32-44
Jesus Wept
Long remembered by Sunday school students anxious to prove they could memorize scripture, the brief scene of Jesus weeping at his friend’s tomb offers a reminder of God’s incarnational love and dwelling with human beings. On All Saints Sunday, it may be appropriate to consider how God weeps -- and to consider the nature of our own tears.
Some years ago photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher began to ponder whether the tears that welled up in her eyes while chopping onions were different than the tears shed in grief. “One day I wondered if my tears of grief would look any different from my tears of happiness,” Fisher writes. “And I set out to explore them up close.” Using an optical microscope, Fisher photographed 100 images of tears. Her project is called The Topography of Tears.
The results are stunning images that demonstrate that basal tears (produced to lubricate our eyes) are drastically different than the tears that occur while chopping onions. Jesus’ tears of anguish would have looked vastly different than the tears which rolled down his cheek laughing at the antics of his disciples or while gazing at the beauty of an autumn sunset. As one writer notes, “Like a drop of ocean water, each tiny tear drop carries a microcosm of human experience.”
*****
Ruth 1:1-18
Extraordinary Love and Modern Caregiving
Ruth’s extraordinary commitment to her widowed mother-in-law -- “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you!” -- mirrors the extraordinary commitments millions of caregivers make every day in helping elderly relatives and loved ones. Like Ruth, caregivers make covenants of love often expressed in demanding tasks of daily living.
Studies show that millennials are often more willing to engage in caregiving than previous generations. About 9.5 million adults between the ages of 18 and 34 provide caregiving for older family members. Typically they are about 27 years old, working 35 hours a week, and earning less than the national median income. While older caregivers are most likely to be women, younger adult caregivers are equally likely to be male or female.
Meanwhile, another study reveals that a small but vulnerable group of all dementia patients receive no caregiving assistance, and about 40 percent of those patients lived alone. Caregivers who live with dementia patients provide an average of nearly 36 hours of assistance a week.
*****
Mark 12:28-34
Loving God and Neighbors
Arson burned their church, but the members of New Life Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri remain strong. Members of the church worshiped outside last week after fire rendered their building uninhabitable. The church -- one of seven predominantly African-American churches targeted by arson in recent weeks -- gathered on borrowed chairs under tents provided by the Red Cross. The church’s pastor and members were moved by the tangible expressions of love provided by their community:
“The community is really responding in a tremendous way; it’s just overwhelming,” said Pastor David Triggs. “Sometimes you’re just at a loss for words with how much people care when you think they don’t. We come here every Sunday and we preach and we minister and we have food pantries, and you just wonder if people are getting it, and I think we’ve been able to connect with the community.”
Earlier, some pastors reported that local and national response to the series of fires has been disappointing. “People should be standing up and saying, ‘Hey, I’m with you,’ ” Rev. Rodrick Burton, the pastor of one targeted church, told the Washington Post. “I’ve been surprised at the apathetic response. To me, it’s very telling, very disappointing.”
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From team member Ron Love:
Mark 12:28-34
Jesus outlined for us the two most important commandments that we are to follow: loving God and loving our neighbor. But we should not confuse God’s law with secular law. This was made clear recently when Dallin Oaks, a high-ranking apostle in the Mormon church and former Utah supreme court justice, denounced the actions of Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who has made headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the United States supreme court ruling. Though Oaks said that government employees can profess their faith in the “public square,” he maintains that “when acting as public officials, they are not free to apply personal convictions.”
Application: We need to have an informed understanding on how we apply the law of God.
*****
Mark 12:28-34
The scribe who approached Jesus wanted to learn and understand the teachings of Judaism and how Jesus was able to place them in a new perspective. Jesus did this by first outlining the two great commandments. In videos posted prior to her network’s airing of the new seven-part documentary series titled Belief, Oprah Winfrey shared about her own faith. Winfrey said that as a young girl she learned Bible verses even before she learned nursery rhymes. She said, “I grew up with the stories of Elijah and Elisha and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire.”
Application: We are to search out and learn our faith.
*****
Mark 12:28-34
On Oct. 22, 1987, a copy of Gutenberg’s original Bible was sold for $5.39 million -- one of the largest sums ever paid for a printed book. Ironically, Gutenberg himself never profited from the invention of his movable type printing press -- it was seized for debts.
Application: With the teaching of the two great commandments, we learn the value of God’s word.
*****
Mark 12:28-34
On October 22, 1939, C.S. Lewis preached a sermon at Oxford’s University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. At this time the people of England were well aware of the militaristic actions of Hitler and Germany. In the sermon Lewis asked: “How can we study Latin, geography, algebra in a time like this? Aren’t we just fiddling while Rome burns?” Of course, he was referring Emperor Nero, who did fiddle while Rome was burning in the year 64. Lewis then assured the students that it was worthwhile and even essential to continue academic studies in the face of World War II.
Application: As the scribe comes to Jesus, we are made aware of the importance of study and learning the scriptures.
*****
Hebrews 9:11-14
Rev. Hong Hee is a megachurch pastor in Singapore whose City Harvest Church has 15 weekend worship services and a membership of more than 17,000. In addition, his church has 50 affiliate congregations with a membership of 27,000. Recently he was convicted of fraud for using $36 million of church funds to promote the singing career of his wife Ho Yeow Sun, who also happens to be the church’s executive director.
Application: It would appear that Hong Hee has not purified his mind of dead works, as Hebrews says will happen when we come to know Jesus as high priest.
*****
Hebrews 9:11-14
Lucas Leonard, 19, was beaten to death and his brother Christopher, 17, was severely beaten for wanting to leave the Word of Life Church in New Hartford, New York. Police have dismissed the church leaders’ accusations that the boys were molesting girls and practicing witchcraft. While Lucas was restrained and being punched, kicked, and beaten with a rubber hose, Christopher was placed in another part of the building with earmuffs and headphones so he could not hear his brother’s screams. When it came his turn for questioning, he knew that his brother was not well when he saw Lucas doubled over and lying on the floor. Their parents have been charged with manslaughter, and four other church leaders have been charged with assault.
Application: Individuals may claim to believe in Jesus but never have a purified conscience.
*****
Hebrews 9:11-14
Oprah Winfrey has said that her favorite Bible verse is Acts 17:28, which reads “In God I live and move and have my being.” She notes that she believes the reason she is so successful is that when she was 4 years old she understood the meaning of that verse -- and that “without spiritual consciousness, without spiritual values, and ultimately without spiritual love” she wouldn’t be who she is today.
Application: Winfrey was able to purify her mind and worship the living God.
*****
Hebrews 9:11-14
Billy Graham has just published a book titled Where I Am: Heaven, Eternity, and Our Life Beyond. Graham -- who will turn 97 on Nov. 7 -- is ill and knows that death is near, so he is anticipating the joy of heaven. Graham envisions entering heaven to be a homecoming, similar to the celebration we experience when our children come to visit. He writes: “So why do we prefer lingering here? Because we are not only earthbound in body; we are earthbound in our thinking.”
Application: If we worship the living God, we will not be earthbound in our thinking.
*****
Ruth 1:1-18
Oprah Winfrey’s OWN channel is showing a new seven-part documentary series titled Belief. The programs explore humankind’s ongoing search to connect with something greater than ourselves by examining different religions throughout the world, looking for common threads of spiritual practice and challenging viewers to ask themselves “What do you believe?” Evangelist Franklin Graham has denounced the program, however, declaring in a Facebook post that “there are not many paths to God or eternal life with Him,” and going on to write that there is only one path to God and that is through Jesus Christ. Graham wrote: “One way, one Savior, no exceptions.”
Application: Ruth knew when she traveled with Naomi that there were many paths to God.
*****
Ruth 1:1-18
On Oct. 23, 1930, Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek converted to Christianity. He did so, he asserts, because of the influence of his mother.
Application: We know from the story of Ruth that our faith can influence others.
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From the Immediate Word archives:
Mark 12:28-34
Bearing with One Another -- More Compassion
Researcher C. Daryl Cameron believes that we can grow in our ability to “bear with one another in love,” learning to increase our capacity for compassion. Cameron says that it’s easier for us to feel compassion for one person than for many: “When faced with many victims, people feel less compassion than they would have if they had just seen one victim. Precisely when compassion is needed most, it is felt the least.” It turns out that we worry about becoming overwhelmed. “We find that when there are more suffering victims, people think they will feel more compassion. Given this expectation, people may become concerned about the financial and emotional costs of intense compassion. Compassion for many victims can be seen as an expensive proposition -- one that will not make much of a difference. People may also become worried about being overwhelmed or burned out by compassion for many sufferers. For these reasons, people may actively and strategically turn off their compassion.”
If we can turn off compassion, we can also turn it on. Cameron suggests two things: making helping easy (like texting a number that gives $10 to help right away), and working on staying mindful. As he says, “Mind-training techniques may be better suited to increase people’s ability (rather than motivation) to experience compassion. There are many meditation traditions that encourage people to cultivate compassion toward self, family, friends, enemies, and strangers. Compassion cultivation techniques have been shown to increase positive emotions and social support, reduce negative distress at human suffering, and reduce people’s fears of feeling compassion for others. Such training programs may prevent the collapse of compassion, by letting people overcome fears of fatigue and accept their own compassion.”
Like lifting weights for physical strength, we can also increase the strength of our care for each other.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: The earth is God’s and all that is in it.
People: The world, and those who live in it;
Leader: Who shall ascend the hill of God?
People: And who shall stand in God’s holy place?
Leader: Those who have clean hands and pure hearts.
People: They will receive blessing from our God.
OR
Leader: The God of love calls us to worship.
People: We bring praises to our God of compassion.
Leader: God calls us to love one another.
People: We dedicate ourselves to caring for our sisters and brothers.
Leader: God calls us to love everyone, even our enemies.
People: With God’s help, we will care for every human created by the love of God.
OR
Leader: The God of life calls us to worship.
People: We bring praises to our God of life and wholeness.
Leader: God calls us to release us from all that binds us to death.
People: We seek to know the freedom God offers us.
Leader: God calls us to bring freedom, wholeness, and life to all creation.
People: We are God’s people. We will seek a life of wholeness for all.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“For All the Saints”
found in:
UMH: 711
H82: 287
PH: 526
AAHH: 339
NNBH: 301
NCH: 299
CH: 637
LBW: 174
ELA: 422
W&P: 529
AMEC: 476
STLT: 103
“The Gift of Love”
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
W&P: 397
Renew: 155
“Now Thank We All Our God”
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396, 397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533, 534
ELA: 839, 840
W&P: 14
AMEC: 573
STLT: 32
“Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart”
found in:
UMH: 160, 161
H82: 556, 557
PH: 145, 146
AAHH: 537
NNBH: 7
NCH: 55, 71
CH: 15
LBW: 553
ELA: 873, 874
W&P: 113
AMEC: 8
“Lord, I Want to Be a Christian”
found in:
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
Renew: 145
“Seek Ye First”
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
CCB: 76
“Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life”
found in:
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELA: 719
W&P: 591
AMEC: 561
“Jesu, Jesu”
found in:
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELA: 708
W&P: 273
CCB: 66
Renew: 289
“Walk with Me”
found in:
CCB: 88
“Shine, Jesus, Shine”
found in:
CCB: 81
Renew: 247
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is love: Grant us the courage to share that love with others, regarding their needs as highly as we regard our own; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God of love, and ask that you would teach us once again the message of Jesus. Help us to live in love for you and for others all the days of our lives. Help us not only to name the saints but to live as saints ourselves. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our short-sighted and selfish ways of looking at the world.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been people more concerned about short-term security than about what our actions mean for humanity in the long-term. We have trusted in guns, ignoring Jesus’ clear call to love. We have sought riches of the earth and ignored the poverty of our souls. Good God, forgive us. Call us back to being followers of Jesus of Nazareth, that we might truly know life and wholeness. Amen.
Leader: The God of compassion and wholeness loves us and forgives us. May the Spirit of God dwell richly in us all.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise you and glorify your name, O God of compassion, life, and wholeness. All creation is filled with your glory and your love.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been people more concerned about short-term security than about what our actions mean for humanity in the long-term. We have trusted in guns, ignoring Jesus’ clear call to love. We have sought riches of the earth and ignored the poverty of our souls. Good God, forgive us. Call us back to being followers of Jesus of Nazareth, that we might truly know life and wholeness.
We thank you for all the blessings which you have bestowed upon us in your infinite love and wisdom. We thank you for those who have shared the faith with the world and with us. [We thank you for the witness and love shared with us through these who have entered into your glory this past year: (read list of the recently deceased)] Most of all we thank you for Jesus, who leads us into the abundant life.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for one another in our needs. We pray that you would awaken your compassion within us, that we might reach out to others in your name and love.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Litany for All Saints Day
Leader: Let us give thanks to God for all the saints.
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For the martyrs who gave their lives in testimony,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For the teachers and preachers who shared the good news,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For those who suffered oppression for their faith,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For those who quietly taught the children about Jesus,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For those who shared the faith with each of us,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For all the saints, named and unnamed by the Church,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Children’s Sermon Starter
If you have stained-glass windows with characters from scripture depicted in them, you can talk to the children about how saints are people who let light shine through them. The folks in the windows do that literally -- but we call it “letting God’s love shine” in the kind deeds we do to others. (This can work for All Saints or by referring to the Mark passage for Proper 26.)
CHILDREN’S SERMON
All Saints Sunday
by Mary Austin
Prepare ahead of time:
* Print out some pictures of well-known saints. Try to get pictures with halos, with the saints looking dramatic or formal. Here are some suggestions for images you might use: St. Michael; St. Anthony; St. Mary; St. Clare; St. Augustine; St. Francis. There are lots of others. Choose your favorites.
* Then find pictures of some of the members of your congregation who died in the past year, if possible. If not, cut out pictures of ordinary people.
On Sunday:
Invite the kids to come up. Explain that this is All Saints Sunday, when the church celebrates God’s saints. Show the pictures, and ask them “Does this look like a saint?”; “How about this?”; and so on through the pictures. Ask them how you can tell if someone is a saint.
Explain that this Sunday celebrates all of God’s saints. A saint is not just someone famous who lived long ago, but is also a word we use for anyone who is a follower of God. The early church called all believers “saints.”
Explain that people are saints not because they are extra holy or special. It’s not because they can play soccer, or do math, or bake, or play chess, or do something better than anyone else. People are considered saints because they have faith in God. The most ordinary people are saints, just like the people with the halos.
On this day, we especially remember the people who died in the last year. We don’t see them anymore, but we remember their influence on our lives. (If the kids know some of the people who died, you can talk about them here: “We remember Mrs. Jones, and how she always collected the mittens at Christmas. And Mr. Brown, who made the hot chocolate for the Christmas caroling.”)
None of them were perfect. But they believed in God and lived their faith. Let’s do the same! Even when we don’t feel like it, we are saints too because of our faith. Even though we may not look like it, all of us are saints.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 1, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 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.
1 Bahá’í Faith: “Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not.” “Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.” -- Baha’u’llah
Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” -- Udana-Varga 5:18
Christianity: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” -- Matthew 7:12, King James Version
Confucianism: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.” -- Analects 15:23
Ancient Egyptian: “Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do.” -- The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, pp. 109-110 (translated by R.B. Parkinson). The original dates to c. 1800 BC and may be the earliest version of the Epic of Reciprocity ever written.
Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.” -- Mahabharata 5:1517
Islam: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” -- number 13 of Imam Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths
Jainism: “A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated.” -- Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.” -- Talmud, Shabbat 31a
In the lectionary gospel text for Proper 26, Jesus once again finds himself in the middle of a discussion about who (or what) is “number one.” Instead of arbitrating who is first among the disciples, this time he responds to a query about what is the greatest commandment with a twofold answer. He begins by focusing on love of God, quoting the Sh’ma verbatim (“Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one”) and spelling out the depth of that commitment (“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength”). But then he extends that same love to other people, succinctly noting that “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He underlines this by concluding, “There is no other commandment greater than these.” The primacy of love for God seems self-evident; but loving our neighbors -- those pesky people who irritate, anger, and threaten us -- is often a much more difficult proposition. Yet as religious historian Karen Armstrong has observed, love for our neighbors is a common thread in religious practice throughout the world: “All faiths insist that compassion is the test of true spirituality.... Further, they all insist that you cannot confine your benevolence to your own group; you must have concern for everybody -- even your enemies.” But as team member Dean Feldmeyer points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, the modern American mindset is often more defined by fear of our neighbors than love for them -- and this is especially evident in our attitude toward guns. In our zealousness to protect ourselves, our families, and our property from those who would victimize us, Dean suggests, we’re demonstrating a lack of trust in our neighbors -- as opposed to the stance of love which Jesus says is a primary commandment.
Team member Robin Lostetter shares some additional thoughts on the All Saints Sunday readings, specifically the implications of the words Jesus uses as he raises Lazarus from the tomb: “Unbind him and let him go.” Robin notes that this is significant because it indicates that the power to release us from death is not only literal, but figurative too: Jesus also releases us from other forms of “death” in our lives that keep us bound, such as addiction, disability, imprisonment, and many more. When we demonstrate love of God and of our neighbors by assisting them in being freed from those shackles, Robin says that makes the vision articulated in the Revelation passage become a living reality: “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.... See, I am making all things new.” As Robin points out, the All Saints message is not just about those who have passed on from this earthly life to the Church Universal -- Jesus’ power to release us from death is something that is an ongoing reality in our everyday lives.
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
by Dean Feldmeyer
Mark 12:28-34
A few weeks ago I saw a bumper sticker on the back of a pickup truck that had the prefix “PRO” printed in triple-size letters. Next to that word in smaller letters were three words stacked atop each other:
God
Guns
Life
It seemed an odd trio to me. How does a person who claims to value God and life fit guns into the formula? Oh, I suppose it’s possible that the driver uses his guns solely for target shooting or to kill varmints or to slay deer in order to put meat on his family’s table... but I doubt it.
According to 2013 study by the Pew Research Center, 48 percent of gun owners say that their main reason for having a gun is for protection. That’s up from 26 percent in 1999. And 79 percent say that owning a gun makes them feel safer.
So let’s be honest. Half to three-quarters of the people who own guns have them, at least partially, for the purpose of killing someone should the need arise. It’s not that they want to kill someone. It’s not that they would feel good about it. It’s just that they want to be prepared to.
Yet I can’t help but wonder how they feel about Jesus saying that the second most important commandment that God has given to us is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” How exactly can you love your neighbor and prepare to kill your neighbor at the same time?
In the News
Gun violence against human beings has become an accepted part of what it means to live in modern-day America -- and it’s been much in the news of late. But then, when hasn’t that been the case in America? Just in the last ten days to two weeks:
Item: In Albuquerque, New Mexico, last week, two drivers got into a shouting match after cutting each other off in freeway traffic. Tony Torrez, 32, became so outraged that he pulled out a gun and fired shots into the other vehicle, a pickup truck.
Sitting in the back seat of that truck were 4-year-old Lilly Garcia and her 7-year-old brother. Lilly was shot in the head and died at the scene. Torrez was arrested after a massive manhunt and confessed to the shooting.
Item: In Detroit, 25-year-old semi-pro football player Deante Smith entered the City of God church during the worship service, accused the pastor of having an affair with his wife and getting her pregnant, and according to witnesses threatened the pastor with a brick.
The 36-year-old pastor, whose name has not been released, pulled out a gun and shot Smith five times in the chest, killing him.
Item: In Cincinnati, 21-year-old Matthew Hayden, for reasons he has refused to divulge, walked up to his two sisters who were sitting in a car with a male friend and calmly fired multiple shots at the car and at the teens who were in it, all while his mother screamed and pleaded with him from the front porch of their house.
Sarah Hayden, 16, and Elizabeth Hayden, 17, were killed. Their 17-year-old male friend was shot ten times but survived and is currently in intensive care. Angela Hayden, their mother, who was homeschooling the girls, called 911. When police arrived, Matthew surrendered quietly.
Item: In Chicago, 25-year-old Michael Santiago bought a handgun for protection. While he was at work and his wife was at the store buying milk for their infant daughter, they left their two boys, ages 6 and 3, in the care of their grandfather.
Apparently Santiago had shown the gun to his 6-year-old son, and then wrapped it in some pajama pants and put it on top of the refrigerator. The boy (whose name was withheld) climbed up and got the gun down to show to his little brother. He pulled the trigger and the gun fired, killing 3-year-old Eian.
Michael Santiago was charged with felony child endangerment causing death, and bond was set at $75,000 at his first court appearance Sunday, Oct. 18.
Item: In Atlanta, police say a mother shot her own son in their apartment. They were called to the 500 block of University Avenue and found 4-year-old Jamari Todd shot in the back. “Initially it was a mystery,” said Atlanta Police Major Adam Lee III. “The only person that was there was the victim, and he’s only four years old and he’s fighting for his life right now.”
When police initially questioned his mother, Patricia Todd, they said there was something that was just not right. She had no explanation of what happened inside her apartment around 10:15 a.m. Investigators found no bullet holes in the apartment to indicate the child was hit by a stray bullet. Eventually they found a handgun hidden in the apartment. They don’t know if the shooting was accidental or intentional. Now she’s charged with aggravated assault, cruelty to children, and tampering with evidence.
Do a web search of the phrase “child shoots” and you will discover hundreds of stories from 2015 of children shooting and wounding or killing people, or stories of other family members shooting each other or their friends with guns that were (presumably) purchased for protection.
Cases of pastors committing adultery and then shooting the offended husband of their paramour, in church, are a lot less common -- but this one example does bring us to our biblical text for the day.
In the Scriptures
Today’s story from Mark is a straightforward account of a Q&A encounter between Jesus and a scribe. The scribe, an expert in the law, comes to Jesus and asks him which of the commandments is the most important. The scribe asks this not because he doesn’t know and needs the information -- he knows full well what the answer should be.
He is testing Jesus. He has noted that Jesus is pretty good at answering theological questions, pretty quick on his feet -- and this is a pop quiz to see if this itinerant teacher/healer should be taken seriously.
Of course, Jesus gets an A+ on the test.
The highest and most important commandment is the Sh’ma: “Hear O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is one. And you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Everyone knows that!
Oh, and the second most important commandment follows from the first and is so important that it can’t really be separated from the first. It is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
This seven-word sentence is, in essence, a truncated version of the Golden Rule (of which we shall speak further in a few minutes).
The point, here, is to be clear about what it is precisely that Jesus has said. So the scribe paraphrases it back to Jesus: “You are right, teacher. You have truly said...” etc.
Jesus then gives the scribe something of a back-handed compliment: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Not far. You’re not there yet, but you’re not far. You know the right answer -- but there is often a wide gap between knowing and doing. If you want to live in the kingdom, you have to be willing to bridge that gap and start actually living out of the commandments and not just memorizing them.
It’s not enough to have them written on a sign in your yard. They need to be written on your heart as well.
In the Pulpit
Gun violence in America is an epidemic.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 400,000 Americans died by firearms in America between 2001 and 2013. That’s about 33,000 per year, and it’s about 1,000 for every one person killed by terrorist attacks inside our borders.
Since 1968, more Americans have been killed by gun violence than have died in all of America’s wars combined. Gun violence now kills more young Americans each year than automobile accidents.
Two children under the age of 14 are killed by accidental shootings every week. About two-thirds of these unintended deaths -- 65 percent -- take place in a home or vehicle that belongs to the victim’s family, most often with guns that were legally owned but not secured. Another 19 percent happen in the home of a relative or friend of the victim. More than two-thirds of these tragedies could be avoided if gun owners stored their guns responsibly and prevented children from accessing them. All of them could have been prevented if there was no gun in the house.
If two children were being killed by a murderer each week, we would insist that law enforcement agencies find the perpetrator. If 33,000 Americans were killed in a single year by a foreign power, we would be at war.
Look at the panic that shook our nation when two persons died from Ebola in 2014. Can you imagine what our response would have been if the number had been 33,000? And why are we doing nothing about that?
The American debate about guns usually pits extremists from both sides of the debate against one another.
On one side are those who believe that the only acceptable gun control is a total ban on handguns and assault-style weapons. Others would simply repeal the Second Amendment to the Constitution and ban all privately-owned guns.
On the other side are those who insist that America is in a state of criminal chaos where only the armed and ruthless can survive and that our only hope is to be constantly armed and prepared to kill each other.
In the forgotten middle of the argument are thousands of Americans -- many of them gun owners and one of whom was the late President Ronald Reagan -- who believe that there should be reasonable, responsible restrictions on who should be allowed to own guns and what kind and how many guns they should be allowed to own. This point of view is supported by studies indicating that states with stricter gun laws generally have less gun violence than those with few restrictions.
Many of these people are also not gun owners. They would not own a gun, nor would they allow one in their home, because they believe that -- as Christians who take the words of our Lord seriously -- we simply cannot love our neighbor and arm ourselves to kill our neighbor at the same time.
They believe that the Golden Rule as it is spoken in the second clause of the Great Commandment makes the paradox of gun ownership and love of neighbor untenable.
The Golden Rule is not just a nice, pithy axiom for Christians. It is the second most important law that guides our behavior. It is the foundation of our relationships with other human beings. It is written into our religious, theological DNA -- and interestingly, it is one of the most certain proofs that this moral DNA is the same which has given rise to nearly every religion and every moral philosophy in human history.
Author and religious historian Karen Armstrong puts it this way: “All faiths insist that compassion is the test of true spirituality and that it brings us into relation with the transcendence we call God, Brahman, Nirvana, or Dao. Each has formulated its own version of what is sometimes called the Golden Rule, ‘Do not treat others as you would not like them to treat you,’ or in its positive form, ‘Always treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself.’ Further, they all insist that you cannot confine your benevolence to your own group; you must have concern for everybody -- even your enemies.”
The Golden Rule (also known as the Law of Reciprocity) is specifically articulated in one form or another in nearly every religion, many of which can be found at the website of the Ontario Consultants for Religious Tolerance.1
This is admittedly an explosive and dangerous issue to broach from the pulpit -- but today’s gospel lesson makes it a hard one to ignore. But is it not possible to suggest that the Church of Jesus Christ is called to act as a pioneer and a leader in the moral journey of humanity -- and to do so we might want to consider, before we arm ourselves in preparation for killing our neighbors, that we at least stop for a moment and heed the counsel of Jesus Christ and the Golden Rule?
If I am going to arm myself against the possibility that I will one day be required to kill my neighbor, do I also want them to arm themselves to this same end? Is that the country, the neighborhood in which I want to live?
I think that the Golden Rule and the words of our Lord place those questions before us and demand that we answer them.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Unbind Them
by Robin Lostetter
Revelation 21:1-6a; John 11:32-44
In the News
Death is in the news. In fact, in general death is the news across the nation and in the world.
A living death from imprisonment. It’s not only the imprisoned, but their children who suffer. From the Associated Press: “Child Trends, a research organization, released a report Tuesday estimating that 5 million U.S. children have had at least one parent imprisoned -- about one in every 14 children under 18. For black children, the rate was one in nine, the report said.... Experts who study these children, or work with them, say parental incarceration is distinguished from other childhood woes by a mix of shame, stigma, and trauma. Research indicates that many of the children face increased risk of problems with behavior, academics, self-esteem, and substance abuse -- in some cases resulting in criminality passed from one generation to the next.”
A living death and actual death from drug addiction. In Buffalo, New York, U.S. Attorney William Hochul announced the implementation of a program designed to involve the community in fighting the deadly epidemic of illegal drugs. He observed: “[T]he message simply is not getting through, it’s not enough. It’s estimated that the amount of overdoses we have this year will be double what we had last year. It’s simply no longer acceptable for us to deny that we have this crisis right here in our midst. We need to do something about it.”
Life in trauma, surrounded by death. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, “one of the events in the Week of Non-Violence sponsored by Black Women for Positive Change, the ‘Youth Talk We Listen’ forum at the Community College of Allegheny County was meant to let Pittsburgh police chief Cameron McLay hear from the youth on ways to reduce community violence. [A] student referencing what McLay earlier called ‘trauma-informed communities’ said, ‘We’ve been in trauma since we were born.’ ”
In the Scriptures
All Saints Day and its appointed lections call us to remember those faithful who have died. But we are also called to Christian hope for the living -- especially those living in trauma and “living death.” The promise in Revelation is that “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away,” and “See, I am making all things new.”
For those imprisoned, whether by prison bars or by addiction or poverty or violence or whatever else life has thrown at them, these are words of comfort. They recall Jesus’ reading from the prophet Isaiah early in his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
However, the last verse in the gospel reading for All Saints Day brings home Jesus’ command that we participate in this release: “Unbind him and let him go” (John 11:44). In all the articles linked above and more, communities are coming together to try to make an impact on social ills and the pain they cause in individuals’ lives.
In the Sermon
Rather than focus entirely on those who have entered the Church Triumphant, perhaps the sermon might lead the congregation’s vision toward emulating not only the named saints and the saints of their own community, but also Jesus in his ministry of unbinding folk. And in the words of a former pastor of mine, not unbinding them from, but unbinding them for.
Each person has been gifted by God in some way, and releasing them from their bonds -- whether they be economic, addictive, religious, ideological, environmental, or whatever -- is a way in which we can join in Jesus’ ministry of proclaiming release to the captives. In so doing, we may be partners in bringing a glimpse of that new world where death and mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
You see, in Revelation 21:3 we read that God’s home is among humans, and in the gospels we have read that the Kingdom, or Reign, or Kin-dom of God is near -- near enough that we can enter it now by living Kingdom ways. When we help to reveal God’s presence through ministries that seek to relieve oppression in all its forms, whether one-on-one or in community efforts, we may be bearers of God’s Kingdom to those who have been bound, unable to use or express their gifts. We are under the same command as Mary and Martha and the crowd around Lazarus: to unbind these folk and let them go -- let them go to reveal God’s glory and to live full lives.
Now that sounds easy, and it’s not. No one person can solve issues of addiction, gun violence, poverty, and an imbalance in U.S. incarceration. But one person can impact one person at a time, tapping into services such as New Hope Oklahoma for children of imprisoned parents; or the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) for those dealing with mental illness; or Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Al-Anon for those impacted by addictions. And one can link arms with others when communities band together as they have in Milwaukee, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and elsewhere. In fact, one individual is all it takes to start a community group to seek solutions in their neighborhood, to minimize trauma and death among the living, to unbind those who are feeling entombed in their own homes and families.
What if your sermon was able to unbind the congregation -- or one congregant -- to step up to that challenging command?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 25:6-9
Dreaming of a Safer World
In a violent world, it may be hard imagining a place or time when God will wipe away the tears of all people. Despite the realities of more than 33,000 gun-related deaths in the United States each year, University of Pennsylvania chaplain Charles Howard dares to dream of a day when firearms no longer pose lethal threats. Howard describes this dream as a vision of a safer world in a recent Huffington Post essay:
I saw myself sitting at a large wooden desk writing. On that desk was a literal block which stretched to each end of the room and up to the ceiling. This block was translucent and light shone through it. In the vision I found myself standing up and tapping on the block and then suddenly falling through it to the world on the other side. I saw a family walking, so I began to walk around as well. I was aware that the place wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t heaven, but it was a cleaner, safer, and more peaceful world on that side. I kept walking, and soon after turning around a corner I looked up at a billboard that caught my eyes. On it were the words “Gun-Free World.”
Acknowledging that such a world will not bring an end to violence, Howard nonetheless believes that faith can propel humans toward new ways of living: “We too can move to a different world even while still living in this one. Let’s help to build the Kingdom of God, the Beloved Community, the Peaceable Kingdom. It’s just over there. And it’s not as far as you may think.”
*****
John 11:32-44
Jesus Wept
Long remembered by Sunday school students anxious to prove they could memorize scripture, the brief scene of Jesus weeping at his friend’s tomb offers a reminder of God’s incarnational love and dwelling with human beings. On All Saints Sunday, it may be appropriate to consider how God weeps -- and to consider the nature of our own tears.
Some years ago photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher began to ponder whether the tears that welled up in her eyes while chopping onions were different than the tears shed in grief. “One day I wondered if my tears of grief would look any different from my tears of happiness,” Fisher writes. “And I set out to explore them up close.” Using an optical microscope, Fisher photographed 100 images of tears. Her project is called The Topography of Tears.
The results are stunning images that demonstrate that basal tears (produced to lubricate our eyes) are drastically different than the tears that occur while chopping onions. Jesus’ tears of anguish would have looked vastly different than the tears which rolled down his cheek laughing at the antics of his disciples or while gazing at the beauty of an autumn sunset. As one writer notes, “Like a drop of ocean water, each tiny tear drop carries a microcosm of human experience.”
*****
Ruth 1:1-18
Extraordinary Love and Modern Caregiving
Ruth’s extraordinary commitment to her widowed mother-in-law -- “Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you!” -- mirrors the extraordinary commitments millions of caregivers make every day in helping elderly relatives and loved ones. Like Ruth, caregivers make covenants of love often expressed in demanding tasks of daily living.
Studies show that millennials are often more willing to engage in caregiving than previous generations. About 9.5 million adults between the ages of 18 and 34 provide caregiving for older family members. Typically they are about 27 years old, working 35 hours a week, and earning less than the national median income. While older caregivers are most likely to be women, younger adult caregivers are equally likely to be male or female.
Meanwhile, another study reveals that a small but vulnerable group of all dementia patients receive no caregiving assistance, and about 40 percent of those patients lived alone. Caregivers who live with dementia patients provide an average of nearly 36 hours of assistance a week.
*****
Mark 12:28-34
Loving God and Neighbors
Arson burned their church, but the members of New Life Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri remain strong. Members of the church worshiped outside last week after fire rendered their building uninhabitable. The church -- one of seven predominantly African-American churches targeted by arson in recent weeks -- gathered on borrowed chairs under tents provided by the Red Cross. The church’s pastor and members were moved by the tangible expressions of love provided by their community:
“The community is really responding in a tremendous way; it’s just overwhelming,” said Pastor David Triggs. “Sometimes you’re just at a loss for words with how much people care when you think they don’t. We come here every Sunday and we preach and we minister and we have food pantries, and you just wonder if people are getting it, and I think we’ve been able to connect with the community.”
Earlier, some pastors reported that local and national response to the series of fires has been disappointing. “People should be standing up and saying, ‘Hey, I’m with you,’ ” Rev. Rodrick Burton, the pastor of one targeted church, told the Washington Post. “I’ve been surprised at the apathetic response. To me, it’s very telling, very disappointing.”
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From team member Ron Love:
Mark 12:28-34
Jesus outlined for us the two most important commandments that we are to follow: loving God and loving our neighbor. But we should not confuse God’s law with secular law. This was made clear recently when Dallin Oaks, a high-ranking apostle in the Mormon church and former Utah supreme court justice, denounced the actions of Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who has made headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples after the United States supreme court ruling. Though Oaks said that government employees can profess their faith in the “public square,” he maintains that “when acting as public officials, they are not free to apply personal convictions.”
Application: We need to have an informed understanding on how we apply the law of God.
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Mark 12:28-34
The scribe who approached Jesus wanted to learn and understand the teachings of Judaism and how Jesus was able to place them in a new perspective. Jesus did this by first outlining the two great commandments. In videos posted prior to her network’s airing of the new seven-part documentary series titled Belief, Oprah Winfrey shared about her own faith. Winfrey said that as a young girl she learned Bible verses even before she learned nursery rhymes. She said, “I grew up with the stories of Elijah and Elisha and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fire.”
Application: We are to search out and learn our faith.
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Mark 12:28-34
On Oct. 22, 1987, a copy of Gutenberg’s original Bible was sold for $5.39 million -- one of the largest sums ever paid for a printed book. Ironically, Gutenberg himself never profited from the invention of his movable type printing press -- it was seized for debts.
Application: With the teaching of the two great commandments, we learn the value of God’s word.
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Mark 12:28-34
On October 22, 1939, C.S. Lewis preached a sermon at Oxford’s University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. At this time the people of England were well aware of the militaristic actions of Hitler and Germany. In the sermon Lewis asked: “How can we study Latin, geography, algebra in a time like this? Aren’t we just fiddling while Rome burns?” Of course, he was referring Emperor Nero, who did fiddle while Rome was burning in the year 64. Lewis then assured the students that it was worthwhile and even essential to continue academic studies in the face of World War II.
Application: As the scribe comes to Jesus, we are made aware of the importance of study and learning the scriptures.
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Hebrews 9:11-14
Rev. Hong Hee is a megachurch pastor in Singapore whose City Harvest Church has 15 weekend worship services and a membership of more than 17,000. In addition, his church has 50 affiliate congregations with a membership of 27,000. Recently he was convicted of fraud for using $36 million of church funds to promote the singing career of his wife Ho Yeow Sun, who also happens to be the church’s executive director.
Application: It would appear that Hong Hee has not purified his mind of dead works, as Hebrews says will happen when we come to know Jesus as high priest.
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Hebrews 9:11-14
Lucas Leonard, 19, was beaten to death and his brother Christopher, 17, was severely beaten for wanting to leave the Word of Life Church in New Hartford, New York. Police have dismissed the church leaders’ accusations that the boys were molesting girls and practicing witchcraft. While Lucas was restrained and being punched, kicked, and beaten with a rubber hose, Christopher was placed in another part of the building with earmuffs and headphones so he could not hear his brother’s screams. When it came his turn for questioning, he knew that his brother was not well when he saw Lucas doubled over and lying on the floor. Their parents have been charged with manslaughter, and four other church leaders have been charged with assault.
Application: Individuals may claim to believe in Jesus but never have a purified conscience.
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Hebrews 9:11-14
Oprah Winfrey has said that her favorite Bible verse is Acts 17:28, which reads “In God I live and move and have my being.” She notes that she believes the reason she is so successful is that when she was 4 years old she understood the meaning of that verse -- and that “without spiritual consciousness, without spiritual values, and ultimately without spiritual love” she wouldn’t be who she is today.
Application: Winfrey was able to purify her mind and worship the living God.
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Hebrews 9:11-14
Billy Graham has just published a book titled Where I Am: Heaven, Eternity, and Our Life Beyond. Graham -- who will turn 97 on Nov. 7 -- is ill and knows that death is near, so he is anticipating the joy of heaven. Graham envisions entering heaven to be a homecoming, similar to the celebration we experience when our children come to visit. He writes: “So why do we prefer lingering here? Because we are not only earthbound in body; we are earthbound in our thinking.”
Application: If we worship the living God, we will not be earthbound in our thinking.
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Ruth 1:1-18
Oprah Winfrey’s OWN channel is showing a new seven-part documentary series titled Belief. The programs explore humankind’s ongoing search to connect with something greater than ourselves by examining different religions throughout the world, looking for common threads of spiritual practice and challenging viewers to ask themselves “What do you believe?” Evangelist Franklin Graham has denounced the program, however, declaring in a Facebook post that “there are not many paths to God or eternal life with Him,” and going on to write that there is only one path to God and that is through Jesus Christ. Graham wrote: “One way, one Savior, no exceptions.”
Application: Ruth knew when she traveled with Naomi that there were many paths to God.
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Ruth 1:1-18
On Oct. 23, 1930, Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek converted to Christianity. He did so, he asserts, because of the influence of his mother.
Application: We know from the story of Ruth that our faith can influence others.
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From the Immediate Word archives:
Mark 12:28-34
Bearing with One Another -- More Compassion
Researcher C. Daryl Cameron believes that we can grow in our ability to “bear with one another in love,” learning to increase our capacity for compassion. Cameron says that it’s easier for us to feel compassion for one person than for many: “When faced with many victims, people feel less compassion than they would have if they had just seen one victim. Precisely when compassion is needed most, it is felt the least.” It turns out that we worry about becoming overwhelmed. “We find that when there are more suffering victims, people think they will feel more compassion. Given this expectation, people may become concerned about the financial and emotional costs of intense compassion. Compassion for many victims can be seen as an expensive proposition -- one that will not make much of a difference. People may also become worried about being overwhelmed or burned out by compassion for many sufferers. For these reasons, people may actively and strategically turn off their compassion.”
If we can turn off compassion, we can also turn it on. Cameron suggests two things: making helping easy (like texting a number that gives $10 to help right away), and working on staying mindful. As he says, “Mind-training techniques may be better suited to increase people’s ability (rather than motivation) to experience compassion. There are many meditation traditions that encourage people to cultivate compassion toward self, family, friends, enemies, and strangers. Compassion cultivation techniques have been shown to increase positive emotions and social support, reduce negative distress at human suffering, and reduce people’s fears of feeling compassion for others. Such training programs may prevent the collapse of compassion, by letting people overcome fears of fatigue and accept their own compassion.”
Like lifting weights for physical strength, we can also increase the strength of our care for each other.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: The earth is God’s and all that is in it.
People: The world, and those who live in it;
Leader: Who shall ascend the hill of God?
People: And who shall stand in God’s holy place?
Leader: Those who have clean hands and pure hearts.
People: They will receive blessing from our God.
OR
Leader: The God of love calls us to worship.
People: We bring praises to our God of compassion.
Leader: God calls us to love one another.
People: We dedicate ourselves to caring for our sisters and brothers.
Leader: God calls us to love everyone, even our enemies.
People: With God’s help, we will care for every human created by the love of God.
OR
Leader: The God of life calls us to worship.
People: We bring praises to our God of life and wholeness.
Leader: God calls us to release us from all that binds us to death.
People: We seek to know the freedom God offers us.
Leader: God calls us to bring freedom, wholeness, and life to all creation.
People: We are God’s people. We will seek a life of wholeness for all.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“For All the Saints”
found in:
UMH: 711
H82: 287
PH: 526
AAHH: 339
NNBH: 301
NCH: 299
CH: 637
LBW: 174
ELA: 422
W&P: 529
AMEC: 476
STLT: 103
“The Gift of Love”
found in:
UMH: 408
AAHH: 522
CH: 526
W&P: 397
Renew: 155
“Now Thank We All Our God”
found in:
UMH: 102
H82: 396, 397
PH: 555
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533, 534
ELA: 839, 840
W&P: 14
AMEC: 573
STLT: 32
“Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart”
found in:
UMH: 160, 161
H82: 556, 557
PH: 145, 146
AAHH: 537
NNBH: 7
NCH: 55, 71
CH: 15
LBW: 553
ELA: 873, 874
W&P: 113
AMEC: 8
“Lord, I Want to Be a Christian”
found in:
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 589
W&P: 457
AMEC: 282
Renew: 145
“Seek Ye First”
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
CCB: 76
“Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life”
found in:
UMH: 427
H82: 609
PH: 408
NCH: 543
CH: 665
LBW: 429
ELA: 719
W&P: 591
AMEC: 561
“Jesu, Jesu”
found in:
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELA: 708
W&P: 273
CCB: 66
Renew: 289
“Walk with Me”
found in:
CCB: 88
“Shine, Jesus, Shine”
found in:
CCB: 81
Renew: 247
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is love: Grant us the courage to share that love with others, regarding their needs as highly as we regard our own; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God of love, and ask that you would teach us once again the message of Jesus. Help us to live in love for you and for others all the days of our lives. Help us not only to name the saints but to live as saints ourselves. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our short-sighted and selfish ways of looking at the world.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been people more concerned about short-term security than about what our actions mean for humanity in the long-term. We have trusted in guns, ignoring Jesus’ clear call to love. We have sought riches of the earth and ignored the poverty of our souls. Good God, forgive us. Call us back to being followers of Jesus of Nazareth, that we might truly know life and wholeness. Amen.
Leader: The God of compassion and wholeness loves us and forgives us. May the Spirit of God dwell richly in us all.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise you and glorify your name, O God of compassion, life, and wholeness. All creation is filled with your glory and your love.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have been people more concerned about short-term security than about what our actions mean for humanity in the long-term. We have trusted in guns, ignoring Jesus’ clear call to love. We have sought riches of the earth and ignored the poverty of our souls. Good God, forgive us. Call us back to being followers of Jesus of Nazareth, that we might truly know life and wholeness.
We thank you for all the blessings which you have bestowed upon us in your infinite love and wisdom. We thank you for those who have shared the faith with the world and with us. [We thank you for the witness and love shared with us through these who have entered into your glory this past year: (read list of the recently deceased)] Most of all we thank you for Jesus, who leads us into the abundant life.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for one another in our needs. We pray that you would awaken your compassion within us, that we might reach out to others in your name and love.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Litany for All Saints Day
Leader: Let us give thanks to God for all the saints.
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For the martyrs who gave their lives in testimony,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For the teachers and preachers who shared the good news,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For those who suffered oppression for their faith,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For those who quietly taught the children about Jesus,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For those who shared the faith with each of us,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: For all the saints, named and unnamed by the Church,
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Children’s Sermon Starter
If you have stained-glass windows with characters from scripture depicted in them, you can talk to the children about how saints are people who let light shine through them. The folks in the windows do that literally -- but we call it “letting God’s love shine” in the kind deeds we do to others. (This can work for All Saints or by referring to the Mark passage for Proper 26.)
CHILDREN’S SERMON
All Saints Sunday
by Mary Austin
Prepare ahead of time:
* Print out some pictures of well-known saints. Try to get pictures with halos, with the saints looking dramatic or formal. Here are some suggestions for images you might use: St. Michael; St. Anthony; St. Mary; St. Clare; St. Augustine; St. Francis. There are lots of others. Choose your favorites.
* Then find pictures of some of the members of your congregation who died in the past year, if possible. If not, cut out pictures of ordinary people.
On Sunday:
Invite the kids to come up. Explain that this is All Saints Sunday, when the church celebrates God’s saints. Show the pictures, and ask them “Does this look like a saint?”; “How about this?”; and so on through the pictures. Ask them how you can tell if someone is a saint.
Explain that this Sunday celebrates all of God’s saints. A saint is not just someone famous who lived long ago, but is also a word we use for anyone who is a follower of God. The early church called all believers “saints.”
Explain that people are saints not because they are extra holy or special. It’s not because they can play soccer, or do math, or bake, or play chess, or do something better than anyone else. People are considered saints because they have faith in God. The most ordinary people are saints, just like the people with the halos.
On this day, we especially remember the people who died in the last year. We don’t see them anymore, but we remember their influence on our lives. (If the kids know some of the people who died, you can talk about them here: “We remember Mrs. Jones, and how she always collected the mittens at Christmas. And Mr. Brown, who made the hot chocolate for the Christmas caroling.”)
None of them were perfect. But they believed in God and lived their faith. Let’s do the same! Even when we don’t feel like it, we are saints too because of our faith. Even though we may not look like it, all of us are saints.
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The Immediate Word, November 1, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 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.
1 Bahá’í Faith: “Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which thou doest not.” “Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.” -- Baha’u’llah
Buddhism: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” -- Udana-Varga 5:18
Christianity: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” -- Matthew 7:12, King James Version
Confucianism: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.” -- Analects 15:23
Ancient Egyptian: “Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do.” -- The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, pp. 109-110 (translated by R.B. Parkinson). The original dates to c. 1800 BC and may be the earliest version of the Epic of Reciprocity ever written.
Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.” -- Mahabharata 5:1517
Islam: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” -- number 13 of Imam Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths
Jainism: “A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated.” -- Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man. This is the law: all the rest is commentary.” -- Talmud, Shabbat 31a
