Secrets And Lies
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We all have secrets -- things that we would rather keep hidden from others... sometimes even those closest to us. Often we want to conceal behavior that we’re ashamed of or think would reflect poorly on us; but it’s also a tool that we use when scheming to gain an advantage with others. That’s certainly the case with Laban and the various deceptions he practices with Jacob. But as Jesus points out in this week’s lectionary gospel text, hidden things are also often portents of wonderful and powerful things far beyond our imagining. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Mary Austin discusses the theme of hidden things in this week’s readings -- and notes the scheming of hidden legislation in Washington among those seeking to replace Obamacare; even after several failed attempts to pass legislation, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is continuing to craft bills and keep his legislative strategy secret as long as possible... leaving senators every bit as much in the dark as Jacob in his wedding tent regarding what they will be voting on.
Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the gospel passage and the amazing, transformative power of hidden things and relationships. Of course, nature is full of striking examples: while Jesus cites the mustard seed, Chris points to the “corpse flower” and its large bloom and equally strong smell. But human relationships can also provide seeds for unexpected growth -- and Chris lifts up the remarkable bond between aging jazz legend Clark Terry and a young, blind jazz pianist. As their relationship develops, each feeds needs in the other... and illustrates the surprising and serendipitous gifts that we can find in the most unexpected places.
Secrets and Lies
by Mary Austin
Genesis 29:15-28; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
When Republican senators initially planned their version of a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a small group of them met in secret to draft the bill. Members of both political parties expressed concern about the lack of information as the legislation was drafted. Theoretically any of the 52 Republican senators could have had a voice in assembling the bill, but most found themselves all but invisible as it was written.
No one likes to be on the outside of a big secret. The hidden deliberations were a strategy chosen by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but perhaps one that backfired. “McConnell’s decision to keep the details tightly under wraps... was intentional and aimed at winning over his colleagues out of the public spotlight, but the secretive process has infuriated Democrats -- and aggravated plenty of Republicans, too.”
The Senate’s secret bill eventually became public, and senators had varying reactions to its substance -- and to the sting of being left out of the process. Similarly, the family connections between Jacob, Leah, Rachel, and Laban are also layered with secrecy and deception. Some people in the story are hidden and almost invisible, while others are at the forefront. The stories Jesus tells also revolve around hidden objects that, when found, reveal something about the realm of God.
In the News
Utah Senator Mike Lee believed that he was part of the group of senators assigned to draft the new bill, but he complained in June that even he didn’t know what was in the bill. He said: “Even though we thought we were going to be in charge of writing a bill within this working group, it’s not being written by us. It’s apparently being written by a small handful of staffers for members of the Republican leadership in the Senate. So if you’re frustrated by the lack of transparency in this process, I share your frustration. I share it wholeheartedly.” Even people on the inside of the secret group of bill-writers were left out of the secret until the final product was finished. Arizona Senator John McCain said, with some sharpness, that he hadn’t seen the bill either, adding: “No, nor have I met any American that has. I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it.”
Once it was revealed the bill didn’t garner enough votes to pass the Senate, and so Senator McConnell offered a plan to just repeal the ACA and replace it later. Three Republican senators -- all women -- stepped up to say they would not vote to repeal the ACA (“Obamacare”) without a replacement. “Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) was the first to say that she wouldn’t support the repeal effort because of the threats it poses to people’s coverage. She was followed by fellow Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. ‘I did not come to Washington to hurt people,’ Capito said in a statement.” Out of the room and out of sight during the bill-writing process, the three women made themselves known with this decision.
Predictably, the three senators faced attacks focused on their gender instead of the issue. “All three women are also being targeted on Twitter, where they’ve been called ‘feminazis’ and ‘RINOs’ (for Republicans in Name Only), and derided for their looks, their hair, and even their voices.” Being visible comes with a price.
In the Scriptures
Invisible people are at the center of the story of Jacob’s marriage too. The drama revolves around Rachel and Leah, and their servants Zilpah and Bilhah, but the women’s dreams and desires go unheard in the story. We learn that Jacob loves Rachel, but no one bothers to mention whether Rachel loves Jacob too. Leah is sent in for the wedding night with Jacob in Rachel’s place, but we never hear if she’s willing -- or even consulted. After seven years of work the tables turn and tricky Jacob is fooled by his father-in-law, ending up with the bride he doesn’t want. Finally the men agree that Jacob can have both sisters as his wives. Jacob eventually sleeps with their serving women too, and his twelve sons and one daughter have four different baby mamas. The hopes, fears, and passions of the women are hidden from the narrative, and the conversation is between the men.
When God tells Jacob to return home (Genesis 31) Jacob talks with Rachel and Leah, and then their voices are heard. They tell Jacob they’re willing to go with him: “Then Rachel and Leah answered him, ‘Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has been using up the money given for us. All the property that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.’ ” They’re tired of being treated like property and having their inheritance used up by Laban. Now their voices are heard, no longer hidden.
Rachel finally speaks up when she, Leah, Jacob, and their whole household flee from Laban, and she carries off the household gods as a final act of revenge on her father. Laban searches everyone’s tent looking for the figures, and never realizes that Rachel is hiding them (Genesis 31). Sitting on the saddle that hides them, she says to her father: “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” The invisible woman uses her power in a unique way, and her father finally has to listen to her voice. The hidden way of women is too much for Laban, who goes home empty-handed -- tricked by the people he has deceived and manipulated in the past.
Similarly, in the series of parables Jesus is telling hidden things become revealed. Signs of the kingdom of God are hidden at first -- leaven in flour, a mustard seed in the ground, a pearl in the field. Leaven was like our sourdough starter, a moist lump of fermenting yeast and flour, ready to be mixed with flour to help bread rise. It reveals itself as the bread rises and bakes. The mustard seed also reveals itself as the plant grows. In contrast, the person who finds the pearl in the field plays an active role in finding and securing the treasure. It doesn’t reveal itself -- he has to make sacrifices to hold onto it.
In the Sermon
The sermon might look at the people who are hidden in our communities. It could look at people who are hidden in the community at large -- in a prosperous area, perhaps it’s the poor, or the homeless, or people who moved from another country, or LGBTQ people who are afraid to make their stories known. Or we might look at the people who are missing from church. People with special needs often stay home because they don’t feel welcome, or because they’ve been told they’re not quiet enough or they don’t fit in. Single people may feel unwelcome at churches full of happy families, or people struggling with infertility might stay home because it’s painful to see babies and young children. Whose stories are hidden in the family of God?
Or the sermon might explore how the church hides from certain issues in our society. For a variety of reasons (people with differing views, we don’t want the controversy, we think it won’t do any good, we don’t know what to say), the church is quiet on current issues. We hide in plain sight, keeping quiet. The sermon could explore why and how we do that, and whether there might be a way to tell our story, using the power we do have.
Or the sermon might look at how God’s story develops in ways both visible and invisible. God is at work through people who speak up and people who are seldom heard, through the lives of the bold and the silent.
The sermon might explore how hidden things are made visible, in the light of God’s truth. Keeping secrets takes a lot of energy, and when the secrets end we have more room in our lives for peace and strength. What if we gave up trying to be perfect in church, and laid out the truth about our struggling kids, our addictions, the loss of a job, the pain of divorce, or anything else we believe we need to hide? What if we let our veiled selves be known? The writer Glennon Doyle Melton says: “I’ve never made a friend by bragging about my strengths, but I’ve made countless by sharing my weakness and my emptiness.”
May the silent be given a voice, by God’s grace. May the hidden become revealed, by God’s power. May we all find our place in the unfolding of God’s story, by God’s design.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Hidden Things
by Chris Keating
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
While it’s not the smallest of all the seeds, the rare Amorphophallus titanium tuber packs a potent punch when it finally decides to bloom. The bulb can grow up to 10 or 15 feet, though it takes at least three to five years for a bloom to appear.
But when it blooms, you’d better get in line quick and then stand back. More commonly known as the corpse flower, the mighty Sumatran native heats up to approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit before releasing its namesake stench -- described by some as resembling the smell of 100 dead elephants. Its scent of rotting meat attracts dung beetles and other pollinators who flock to the plant like seventh-grade boys to a belching contest.
Corpse flowers also attract huge crowds to botanical gardens across the country each year, including the Des Moines Botanical Garden in Iowa this week, and earlier this summer at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, which stayed open past midnight to accommodate the smelly flower’s fans. One thinks of Mr. Wilson’s flower from Dennis the Menace.
Aside from its stench, what is truly remarkable about Amorphophallus titanium is the gargantuan bloom that arises from its relatively modest beginning as a tuber the size of a small lime. It’s nearly the botanical equivalent to the “Little Engine That Could,” the pint-sized hero of children’s literature that chugged its way up the mountain despite seemingly impossible odds. Get close to the plant -- before it blooms -- and see if you can hear it whistle “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can.”
The marked contrast between small and large, of course, is at the heart of Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13. Contrary to Jesus’ statement, however, mustard seeds are neither the smallest seeds nor the largest trees in nature. But like the smelly Sumatran lily, the tiny mustard seed does manage to overcome all sorts of odds in achieving remarkable growth.
The seed grows and keeps growing until it is so large that birds take refuge in its branches, building nests and providing for their young. Such is the kingdom of God, says Jesus. The images soak into the imagination of the listening disciples, who later will tell Jesus that they have understood everything he has said.
Amy-Jill Levine notes in her work Short Stories by Jesus that what makes this parable provocative is not the rather banal comparison of small to great but instead the surprising manner in which the seed’s growth prevails. At work here, she notes, is the reminder that “it is the ability of God’s creatures -- feathered or flesh -- to survive, to make do with whatever is available” (p. 181). The seed flourishes in its own good time.
These parables again find Jesus taking familiar images -- mustard seeds and leaven, merchants and fishing folks -- as reminders of the reign of God that is now emerging. Astonishing growth, not unlike the hideous smelling corpse flower, happens in surprising and sometimes nearly undetectable ways.
Something along those lines happened to me in high school band. Lured by our teacher’s promise of extra credit, a friend and I had our parents drive us across town to a music store where some guy was holding a free clinic. The “guy” was the late jazz legend Clark Terry, whose discography includes more than 1,000 recordings. Terry, who had been the first African-American to play in NBC’s Tonight Show orchestra, was a natural teacher who managed to squeeze in as many of these clinics as he could in between performances.
It was a rare opportunity, and while my relationship with trumpet playing was fleeting at best, the lesson with Terry has remained with me. His wisdom was leaven, a priceless treasure, a hidden surprise. All of that came back to me not long ago as I watched the outstanding documentary Keep On Keepin’ On, which offers a rare glimpse into Terry’s latter years. His health failing, the nonagenarian musician continued to find ways of influencing young students. In his last years of life, Terry -- whom Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis both considered to be the finest trumpet player around -- formed an unlikely friendship with Justin Kauflin, a young pianist in his 20s.
Terry’s knowledge of jazz was encyclopedic. He got his start with Count Basie, before moving to Duke Ellington’s orchestra. His first student was a skinny 12-year-old boy named Quincy Jones. The film poetically unites Jones with Kauflin -- the first and the last. But the real hidden treasure of this film is the bond between Terry and his young protégé. Kauflin is blind, and enters Terry’s life as the elder musician’s eyesight has begun failing. This is more than a mentor/student relationship. Both impart to each other surprising and unexpected gifts.
Despite all odds, Terry’s optimism and desire to teach become seeds that grow in Kauflin’s life. In time Kauflin becomes a teacher of sorts as well, tending to his ailing mentor’s spirit. Keep On Keepin’ On is a film about surprises and hidden gifts, and growth that occurs in unexpected ways.
As Levine says, even the smallest actions have enormous potential. It’s the point Matthew has been hammering home in these parables. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount declared that the kingdom would emerge not among the empirical elites, but among the meek and wounded. His parables reinforce that message, which is exactly what our congregations need to hear this summer.
We are spellbound by myths of bigger and better. We love to hear about the amassing of great wealth and we are greedy for success. On the other hand, however, towering stacks of global problems and never-ending streams of data inundate us even as worship attendance dwindles. It can feel overwhelming, as though the empires of the world are quashing out the good growth of human possibility. How can something as small as the church make a difference?
How can an elderly musician change the life of a 20-year-old boy? How can a tiny seed create condos for cardinals?
Perhaps by first retelling the narratives of God’s emerging kingdom. The tiny seeds will fall on eager ears. While we may presume that the colossal problems of the world require equally audacious responses, God’s actions emerge in a mysterious, almost inchoate manner: a net full of fish, magically leavened dough, a treasure hidden in a field, and a mustard seed that does exactly what it is supposed to do -- grow, and grow, and grow.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Genesis 29:15-28
In a Blondie comic strip, Dagwood is comfortably seated in his chair watching television when Blondie comes in from a shopping trip at the mall with her best friend Tootsie. Blondie expresses that the shopping trip was “a huge disappointment,” saying: “We didn’t think it was even possible to have such a terrible experience at the mall. So we vowed to go back tomorrow to make sure today was just a fluke!” As she walks away, wallet in hand, Dagwood is left sitting with a startled look on his face.
Application: Discipleship requires discernment and commitment.
*****
Genesis 29:15-28
Roger Federer has just set a record by winning his eighth Wimbledon tennis championship in the men’s singles. He was also the first man in 41 years to win Wimbledon without ceding a set. His last Wimbledon win was in 2012. Since then health problems kept him from playing his best, though Federer continued to persevere until his 2017 win. Federer said all of his tennis heroes walked on the Wimbledon courts, so his victory there is very special. He said: “To make history here at Wimbledon really means a lot to me just because of all that, really. It’s that simple.”
Application: Our call to discipleship should be one that calls us to walk among the greats who have served the Lord.
*****
Genesis 29:15-28
Imprisoned for all of the seven years after he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, Liu Xiaobo has died in a Chinese prison. During those years he refused to renounce his pursuit of human rights in China. Liu was arrested for being a part of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests for human rights. In a document circulated in 2008, Liu said: “What I demanded of myself was this: Whether as a person or as a writer, I would lead a life of honesty, responsibility, and dignity.”
Application: What is called for are individuals with commitment.
*****
1 Kings 3:5-12
Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has just been released from prison. Though Hastert was accused of child molestation when he was the wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois from 1965 to 1981, the statute of limitations had passed for conviction on that offense. But he was sent to prison for paying hush money to a child whom he molested. Hastert served as Speaker from 1999 to 2007, and during those years he was third in the line of succession to be President of the United States.
Application: We are to be cautious about who we choose to be our leaders.
*****
1 Kings 3:5-12
Republicans have vowed to replace Obamacare with their own health care policy -- but even though they control both houses of Congress and the White House, they have been unable to pass new legislation. After the third failed attempt in the Senate to pass a Republican health care plan, President Trump said: “Let Obamacare fail.” Trump said of Obamacare: “We’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it. I can tell you that the Republicans are not going to own it. We’ll let Obamacare fail.”
Application: Those in leadership do own it, as they are responsible for the well-being of the people they serve. This is why leaders need wisdom.
*****
1 Kings 3:5-12
Republicans have vowed to replace Obamacare with their own health care policy -- but even though they control both houses of Congress and the White House, they have been unable to pass new legislation. After the third failed attempt in the Senate, there are serious questions about whether the Republicans will be able to produce a plan without compromises with the Democrats. Republican Senator Shelley Capito of West Virginia, who voted against the Republican plan that would cause 30 million people to lose health coverage, said: “I did not come to Washington to hurt people.”
Application: Those in leadership need the wisdom to help -- not hurt -- people.
*****
Psalm 128; Psalm 119:129-136
Perry Noble, the worship leader of NewSpring Church, the largest church in South Carolina with multiple campuses, caused a theological stir with his Christmas Eve sermon in 2014. He proclaimed that the Ten Commandments were not commandments but only “promises,” since the word for “commandments” is not in the Hebrew lexicon. Having this epiphany, he wrote a revolutionary sermon in ten minutes transforming “you shalt not” to “you are free.” Reputable theologians challenged the irrefutable pastor regarding his exegesis. Though the Hebrew word used in the Torah can mean “promises,” it can also be interpreted as “declarations.” It would seem “Thou shall not” is hardly a promise but most certainly a declaration, which is a commandment. Noble later confessed that there is a Hebrew word for “commandment,” but stood by his sermon that Moses on Mt. Sinai was given ten promises. Noble has since been forced out of the ministry for alcoholism and mistreatment of staff members.
Application: We must keep the decrees of our Lord.
*****
Psalm 119:129-136
As Iraqi soldiers complete their takeover of the city of Mosul, they have rounded up hundreds of suspected ISIS fighters. The important word here is “suspected,” as most taken into captivity are innocent civilians. The captives have been placed in makeshift prisons. In one prison there is a room without electricity or ventilation in temperatures that exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The room is so cramped that the captives have sat shoulder-to-shoulder for over six months. Unable to stand or lie down, their legs have swollen, and in the heat they have developed skin diseases.
Application: All religions have decrees that are to be followed regarding the humane treatment of individuals.
*****
Romans 8:26-39
In 1727 the Moravian community in Saxony was engulfed in dissension. Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf realized that only a revival would restore harmony. On May 12, a celebration was held and the Holy Spirit descended upon the adherents. Relishing in the blessing, the communicants desired for the revival to continue. On August 27, a group of 24 men and 24 women gathered to spend one hour in prayer, scheduled so someone was praying every hour of the day. Soon others joined what became known as the “hourly intercession.” This prayer vigil lasted uninterrupted for 100 years.
Application: We need to be receptive to the Holy Spirit.
*****
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
In a Peanuts comic there are three panels of Snoopy atop his dog house -- night, morning, and afternoon -- in which he is fidgeting. Snoopy then says: “If you think about something at three o’clock in the morning and then again at noon the next day, you get different answers.”
Application: It is sometimes difficult to understand the message of the parables and then apply them to our lives.
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Hide and Seek Treasure
Forrest Fenn wants you to have all of his money when he dies.
When Fenn was only nine years old, he found an arrowhead near his home in Texas -- an arrowhead that would shape the rest of his life. Fenn fell in love with ancient artifacts. After becoming a pilot in the air force in the 1960s, Fenn regularly flew his plane to Pompeii to look for artifacts, of which he found plenty.
In the 1980s Fenn was diagnosed with kidney cancer and told he would have only a few years to live. Faced with the reality of his own mortality, Fenn decided to hide his most beloved artifacts and give everyone the clues to find his treasure, which he estimates to hold $1-3 million worth of gold, jewelry, and other valuable artifacts. To date, no one of the thousands who have tried has been able to find them but, who knows? Maybe you will be the one. Just do a Google search of Forrest Fenn’s name to get the clues.
*****
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Legend or Treasure?
The Superstition Mountains, in Arizona east of Phoenix, are aptly named. Even from a distance they look kind of creepy, and the echoes and shadows within magnify the effect the closer you get to them.
Now add to that the story of the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, and you’ve got a real story to tell your grandkids.
According to treasure hunter Wayne Tuttle: “It goes back to Jacob Waltz, an immigrant who settled in Arizona during the Gold Rush days of the 1800s, becoming one of the first residents of the township called Phoenix. The story goes that Waltz met someone named Peralta who was looking for someone to return to his so-called family mine with him. Waltz and his partner, Jacob Weisner, went to the mine, where Peralta offered them a deal, giving them temporary deeds to the mine. Waltz and his partner returned, mining gold ore, and Waltz left to get more supplies. When he returned, his partner Weisner was dead.”
Waltz took as much ore as he could carry, covered everything up, and returned to Phoenix. There he drew a map which came to be called the Peralta Tesora Mappa, depicted numerous drawings, “x” symbols, arrows, and a giant heart.
According to the History channel, “Thousands have tried and failed to decode the series of cryptic clues said to lead to the fortune, leaving a trail of bodies and blood for anyone who has gotten too close to the truth.”
The reported mine was dubbed Lost Dutchman around 1892 after Waltz died, and to this day, anyone who researches or tries to find the gold (valued at approximately $200 million, if the legends are true) is generally referred to as a Dutch hunter.
It’s impossible to know exactly how many people have died hunting for the lost mine, but there have been enough deaths to give life to a “Dutchman’s Curse” legend. Most historians put the number in the dozens, with the most recent in 2012. With dangers ranging from extreme heat, falls, accidents, flash floods, poisonous snakes, and scorpion stings to rifle bullets (from rival gold hunters), the Lost Dutchman’s Mine is still considered to be one of the most dangerous treasure hunts in the world -- but every year people enter the Superstition Mountains to try their luck.
*****
Romans 8:26-39
Separation at Birth
Almost 70 years after they were born, twins George Skrzynecky and Lucian Poznanski shared their first hug.
The brothers were born in Germany in 1946 after their Polish mother, Elizabeth, was freed from a forced labor camp at the end of World War II. Shortly after their birth, the boys’ mother became ill and could no longer care for her new children. The twins were taken to Poland, where they were adopted separately. From that moment George and Lucian started their different lives, unaware of the other’s existence, struggling with the feeling that someone was missing in their lives.
Lucian spent his entire life in Poland, and didn’t even know he was adopted until he was drafted for the army. At age 17, George discovered paperwork proving he was adopted and that he had a twin brother. In the 1960s George asked the Red Cross for help in finding his long-lost twin, but they were unable to unearth any information. The secret caused a rift in George’s adoptive family, and he moved to California to start his own life.
While George always held out hope he would find his brother, it was Lucian who brought the twins together. In 2015 Lucian received information about his biological mother and learned for the first time that he had a twin. Lucian took this information to the Red Cross Restoring Family Links Program, and they were able to find the other brother.
After 68 years of waiting, George and Lucian were finally reunited in Poland. Their lives together started with a tearful hug and a visit to Warsaw’s Uprising Museum.
*****
Romans 8:26-39
Dog Travels 11 Miles Back Home
In 2015, the Memphis Commercial Appeal ran a story about a dog that spent two days walking 11 miles to return to the woman who rescued him from a shelter just days before.
Rachel Kauffman, a vet tech, saw a photo of Hank online and decided to adopt him for a few days, after which he would be moved to a longer-term foster care home, and Hank and Rachel became fast friends.
“When you get a new dog, they imprint pretty quickly. He would follow me around a lot, watch what I was doing,” Kauffman told the newspaper. “I knew we had a good bond, but at that point, I couldn’t predict he would do what he did.”
Hank was transferred to another foster home after just six days with Kauffman, but when his caretaker there left for the day, however, Hank unlocked the door and took off. By early Tuesday evening, two days after busting out, Hank had traveled 11 miles in a meandering path back to Kauffman’s house.
“He traveled 11 miles to get back to me,” said Kauffman. “I can’t fathom how he traveled that far across town that fast to get back to me.”
Dogs, no surprise, are very big on scent, and that can take them a very long way.
“An 11-mile distance is actually not terribly long for a dog,” says Bonnie Beaver, the executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and a professor at Texas A&M University. “If the dog had walked both from and back to his home he’d be following his own scent trail.” In this case, the dog was instead probably following an equally compelling smell: that of its owner, a type of navigation that is entirely possible over long distances as long as the wind is right.
Dogs extend their scent range by moving among overlapping circles of familiar scent -- much the way cellphone coverage relies on interconnected footprints from different cell towers. A dog that wanders out of its own immediate range might pick up the scent of, say, a familiar dog in the next circle. That might point it to a circle that contains a familiar person or tree or restaurant trash can, and so on.
*****
Genesis 29:15-28
Con Men and Their Cons
Scam artists, con men, gangsters, racketeers -- there are a lot of people out there trying to get your money. Of course, a lot of these people aren’t out there targeting the average American, as they tend to set their sights on the rich and famous, or the enormously wealthy, in an effort to maximize the effectiveness of their game.
And they’ve been doing it for centuries.
Throughout history, con men have wreaked havoc on many a family. Men like Gregor MacGregor and Victor Lustig come to mind, for pulling off rather astounding schemes that included, in Lustig’s case, selling the Eiffel Tower (twice!). MacGregor, a Scot born in the late 1700s, put together an international scam that included inventing an entirely false country in what is now modern-day Honduras, and convincing “investors” to hand over capital to exploit the natural resources found in “Poyais,” the fake nation which he just happened to be the prince of. That earned him the title of “the king of con-men” from The Economist. Some other famous flim-flam artists:
* Lou Pearlman, the man who created the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync, was also the perpetrator of a $300 million Ponzi scheme, one of the biggest in American history. As a side gig to his music business, Pearlman also ran an investment scheme that that essentially saw him taking investors’ money, promising to invest it at a high return, and then simply spending it on himself. He’s currently in prison.
* Charles Ponzi is so famous that he has a con-game named after him. Ponzi came up with a way to turn a profit by manipulating international reply coupon systems, which at the time had him buying postage stamps in one country and selling them for profit in another. This worked, but then he found investors to swindle. Ponzi took their money, promised high returns, then made it magically disappear into his own pocket. Eventually he was arrested after defrauding investors of roughly $20 million ($220 million adjusted) and destroying six banks.
* Frank Abagnale was the subject of the movie Catch Me If You Can. He forged checks and defrauded banks among a handful of other crimes before eventually pulling a 180 and becoming an FBI consultant. Today he runs his own consulting company that specializes in thwarting financial fraud ? just like what he perpetrated for many years.
*****
Genesis 29:15-28
The King of the Con Artists
No discussion of lying, duplicity, and con artistry would be complete without at least mentioning the name of Bernie Madoff -- the perpetrator of the largest scam in American history.
Madoff’s name was, and continues to be, in the news a few years after his Ponzi scheme blew up in his face. He famously swindled many of America’s rich and famous, convincing them to put money in his investment fund. Over the years Madoff took in a reported $65 billion, before finally confessing to the whole thing in 2009 after he was turned in by his sons (who were also his victims). That earned him a 150-year prison sentence, and sadly forced one family member to commit suicide in shame.
Madoff’s victims included such Hollywood luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, Uma Thurman, Larry King, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of Dreamworks. But the saddest stories come from the regular folks he swindled, most of whom were elderly and many of whom lost their entire life’s savings.
Cornell University’s Scott Yonker, co-author of a recent study on the wide-ranging impact of the Madoff scam, “used court documents to identify the names and addresses of more than 10,000 victims, who were concentrated in the Northeast, parts of California, and around Miami. The team also compared that information with the assets managed by nearly 4,000 investment advisers and deposits in 97,000 branches of banks in 20,600 zip codes.”
Madoff’s massive fraud has also shaken trust in the entire investment industry and the American economy. After hearing of the scam, Americans liquidated over $363 billion in investments, nearly 20 times the $17 billion in restitution the courts ordered Madoff to pay his investors. “The withdrawals were so hefty in some areas that some investment firms ended up shutting their doors and going out of business.”
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O give thanks to God, call on God’s name.
People: Make known God’s deeds among the peoples.
Leader: Sing to God, sing praises to our God.
People: Tell of all God’s wonderful works.
Leader: Glory in God’s holy name.
People: Let the hearts of those who seek God rejoice.
OR
Leader: God comes into our meeting, let us rejoice!
People: Praise be to our God, who comes to us here.
Leader: Not only here but in all our lives God is with us.
People: We rejoice in the ever-present Spirit of our God.
Leader: In ways large and small, God is at work in creation.
People: Let us join in God’s work in all we do and say.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“For the Beauty of the Earth”
found in:
UMH: 92
H82: 416
PH: 473
NNBH: 8
NCH: 28
CH: 56
LBW: 561
ELA: 879
W&P: 40
AMEC: 578
STLT: 21
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”
found in:
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
“I Sing the Almighty Power of God”
found in:
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
“Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
“Open My Eyes, That I May See”
found in:
UMH: 454
PH: 324
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
“Be Thou My Vision”
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELA: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
“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
“Hymn of Promise”
found in:
UMH: 707
NCH: 433
CH: 638
W&P: 515
“Open Our Eyes, Lord”
found in:
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
“For the Gift of Creation”
found in:
CCB: 67
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian 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 comes to us in the mysterious and mundane: Open our eyes that we may see you at work around us even when it is in little and unexpected ways; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are ever coming to us in ways both mysterious and common. Help us to see your work around us, even when it is enclosed in small and extraordinary ways. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, especially our presumption that we know how you will work in all situations.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown time and again that you do the unexpected. You choose the least likely persons to be your messengers and you come to the world in human flesh. Yet we insist that we can read the scriptures and know precisely what you are about and how you will act. We are truly foolish children. Help us to understand that we know your ways far less than our toddlers understand the ways of their parents. Open our eyes to the wonders of the mundane as you come to redeem your creation. Amen.
Leader: God is our loving parent and knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows our foolishness, and is quick to forgive and grant wisdom whenever we ask for it. Receive God’s grace and wisdom, and see the wonders of God at work in our world.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Praise and glory to you, O God, who not only created all that is but works within creation to bring about its salvation.
(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 time and again that you do the unexpected. You choose the least likely persons to be your messengers and you come to the world in human flesh. Yet we insist that we can read the scriptures and know precisely what you are about and how you will act. We are truly foolish children. Help us to understand that we know your ways far less than our toddlers understand the ways of their parents. Open our eyes to the wonders of the mundane as you come to redeem your creation.
We thank you for all the ways you are at work within and among us to bring about healing and wholeness for all creation. We thank you that you do not spurn the small and insignificant but use all for the redemption of the world.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all of us, as we are in need of your healing presence. We are a broken creation. We have failed to heed your teachings and your ways, and we are paying the price of that. Help us to open ourselves to your presence and to become your presence for others.
(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.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about how small things can become big things: little seeds become trees; little babies become big adults. Maybe you have some pictures of where a small plant has grown up in the crevice of a rock and split the rock in two. Maybe you have an illustration from your own life where someone did or said something to you that wasn’t a big thing but it made a big difference in your life. Or use the example of Helen Keller and the incredible difference it made in her life when she finally understood the connection between Ms. Sullivan’s finger talk and the idea of water. God is always ready to use little things to make a big difference. Any little kindness we do or say might make a big difference to someone else.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Stories about the Kingdom (Realm) of God
by Beth Herrinton-Hodge
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Supplies: mustard seed, small amount of dry yeast, a pearl, a fishing net
(Gather the children and welcome them.)
Jesus tells many stories in the gospels. He uses stories to help people understand ideas and things and places that are hard to understand. In today’s scripture reading from Matthew, Jesus tells five short stories about the Kingdom of God -- or the Realm of God. They are stories to help us understand what heaven is like.
What do you think of when you hear the words “Kingdom of God” or “heaven”? What pictures come to mind? What do you think heaven might be like? (Give the children a chance to respond.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed (show the mustard seed). This is a very small seed that grows into a huge bush -- almost as big as a tree! It’s so big that birds come and make nests in it.
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like yeast -- which is an ingredient used to make bread rise (show the sample of yeast). When you’re baking bread, you mix the yeast with water until it bubbles, then you mix it into the bread dough until it’s all mixed through. Then the dough begins to rise -- right before your eyes!
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. Someone sold everything they owned so they could buy the field. Then the treasure belonged to them.
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a jeweler who had every kind of jewelry, but he found one pearl (show the pearl) that was so beautiful and so valuable that he sold everything so he could buy the special pearl.
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a fishing net that is thrown into the sea (show the fishing net). When the net is full of fish, you pull it in -- putting the good fish into baskets and throwing out the bad fish.
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus told these five stories to help people understand what the Kingdom of God is like. What new things did you learn about heaven from these stories?
(You may summarize the five stories, or let different children offer their responses:
* The Kingdom of God is huge! Bigger than we could ever imagine. There’s space in God’s kingdom for everyone.
* The Kingdom of God is mixed in with plain, ordinary dough -- it makes something wonderful.
* The Kingdom of God is a beautiful, valuable, special thing -- it’s worth giving up everything for heaven.
* The Kingdom of God is for the ones God chooses to bring in -- the good people, God’s people, because it’s God’s Kingdom!)
In each of these stories, Jesus uses examples of small objects or hidden things to help people understand the Kingdom of God... something very big and beautiful and wonderful. I like it when I find stories like this. They help me to know more about heaven -- a wonderful place God has for each of us!
Let’s say a prayer of thanks to God: Thank you, God, for making a special place where we can be with you -- a big, wonderful, beautiful, valuable place: the Kingdom of God. Thank you, too, for stories like these that help us know more about you and your gifts to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 30, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 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.
Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the gospel passage and the amazing, transformative power of hidden things and relationships. Of course, nature is full of striking examples: while Jesus cites the mustard seed, Chris points to the “corpse flower” and its large bloom and equally strong smell. But human relationships can also provide seeds for unexpected growth -- and Chris lifts up the remarkable bond between aging jazz legend Clark Terry and a young, blind jazz pianist. As their relationship develops, each feeds needs in the other... and illustrates the surprising and serendipitous gifts that we can find in the most unexpected places.
Secrets and Lies
by Mary Austin
Genesis 29:15-28; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
When Republican senators initially planned their version of a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a small group of them met in secret to draft the bill. Members of both political parties expressed concern about the lack of information as the legislation was drafted. Theoretically any of the 52 Republican senators could have had a voice in assembling the bill, but most found themselves all but invisible as it was written.
No one likes to be on the outside of a big secret. The hidden deliberations were a strategy chosen by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but perhaps one that backfired. “McConnell’s decision to keep the details tightly under wraps... was intentional and aimed at winning over his colleagues out of the public spotlight, but the secretive process has infuriated Democrats -- and aggravated plenty of Republicans, too.”
The Senate’s secret bill eventually became public, and senators had varying reactions to its substance -- and to the sting of being left out of the process. Similarly, the family connections between Jacob, Leah, Rachel, and Laban are also layered with secrecy and deception. Some people in the story are hidden and almost invisible, while others are at the forefront. The stories Jesus tells also revolve around hidden objects that, when found, reveal something about the realm of God.
In the News
Utah Senator Mike Lee believed that he was part of the group of senators assigned to draft the new bill, but he complained in June that even he didn’t know what was in the bill. He said: “Even though we thought we were going to be in charge of writing a bill within this working group, it’s not being written by us. It’s apparently being written by a small handful of staffers for members of the Republican leadership in the Senate. So if you’re frustrated by the lack of transparency in this process, I share your frustration. I share it wholeheartedly.” Even people on the inside of the secret group of bill-writers were left out of the secret until the final product was finished. Arizona Senator John McCain said, with some sharpness, that he hadn’t seen the bill either, adding: “No, nor have I met any American that has. I’m sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it.”
Once it was revealed the bill didn’t garner enough votes to pass the Senate, and so Senator McConnell offered a plan to just repeal the ACA and replace it later. Three Republican senators -- all women -- stepped up to say they would not vote to repeal the ACA (“Obamacare”) without a replacement. “Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) was the first to say that she wouldn’t support the repeal effort because of the threats it poses to people’s coverage. She was followed by fellow Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. ‘I did not come to Washington to hurt people,’ Capito said in a statement.” Out of the room and out of sight during the bill-writing process, the three women made themselves known with this decision.
Predictably, the three senators faced attacks focused on their gender instead of the issue. “All three women are also being targeted on Twitter, where they’ve been called ‘feminazis’ and ‘RINOs’ (for Republicans in Name Only), and derided for their looks, their hair, and even their voices.” Being visible comes with a price.
In the Scriptures
Invisible people are at the center of the story of Jacob’s marriage too. The drama revolves around Rachel and Leah, and their servants Zilpah and Bilhah, but the women’s dreams and desires go unheard in the story. We learn that Jacob loves Rachel, but no one bothers to mention whether Rachel loves Jacob too. Leah is sent in for the wedding night with Jacob in Rachel’s place, but we never hear if she’s willing -- or even consulted. After seven years of work the tables turn and tricky Jacob is fooled by his father-in-law, ending up with the bride he doesn’t want. Finally the men agree that Jacob can have both sisters as his wives. Jacob eventually sleeps with their serving women too, and his twelve sons and one daughter have four different baby mamas. The hopes, fears, and passions of the women are hidden from the narrative, and the conversation is between the men.
When God tells Jacob to return home (Genesis 31) Jacob talks with Rachel and Leah, and then their voices are heard. They tell Jacob they’re willing to go with him: “Then Rachel and Leah answered him, ‘Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has been using up the money given for us. All the property that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.’ ” They’re tired of being treated like property and having their inheritance used up by Laban. Now their voices are heard, no longer hidden.
Rachel finally speaks up when she, Leah, Jacob, and their whole household flee from Laban, and she carries off the household gods as a final act of revenge on her father. Laban searches everyone’s tent looking for the figures, and never realizes that Rachel is hiding them (Genesis 31). Sitting on the saddle that hides them, she says to her father: “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for the way of women is upon me.” The invisible woman uses her power in a unique way, and her father finally has to listen to her voice. The hidden way of women is too much for Laban, who goes home empty-handed -- tricked by the people he has deceived and manipulated in the past.
Similarly, in the series of parables Jesus is telling hidden things become revealed. Signs of the kingdom of God are hidden at first -- leaven in flour, a mustard seed in the ground, a pearl in the field. Leaven was like our sourdough starter, a moist lump of fermenting yeast and flour, ready to be mixed with flour to help bread rise. It reveals itself as the bread rises and bakes. The mustard seed also reveals itself as the plant grows. In contrast, the person who finds the pearl in the field plays an active role in finding and securing the treasure. It doesn’t reveal itself -- he has to make sacrifices to hold onto it.
In the Sermon
The sermon might look at the people who are hidden in our communities. It could look at people who are hidden in the community at large -- in a prosperous area, perhaps it’s the poor, or the homeless, or people who moved from another country, or LGBTQ people who are afraid to make their stories known. Or we might look at the people who are missing from church. People with special needs often stay home because they don’t feel welcome, or because they’ve been told they’re not quiet enough or they don’t fit in. Single people may feel unwelcome at churches full of happy families, or people struggling with infertility might stay home because it’s painful to see babies and young children. Whose stories are hidden in the family of God?
Or the sermon might explore how the church hides from certain issues in our society. For a variety of reasons (people with differing views, we don’t want the controversy, we think it won’t do any good, we don’t know what to say), the church is quiet on current issues. We hide in plain sight, keeping quiet. The sermon could explore why and how we do that, and whether there might be a way to tell our story, using the power we do have.
Or the sermon might look at how God’s story develops in ways both visible and invisible. God is at work through people who speak up and people who are seldom heard, through the lives of the bold and the silent.
The sermon might explore how hidden things are made visible, in the light of God’s truth. Keeping secrets takes a lot of energy, and when the secrets end we have more room in our lives for peace and strength. What if we gave up trying to be perfect in church, and laid out the truth about our struggling kids, our addictions, the loss of a job, the pain of divorce, or anything else we believe we need to hide? What if we let our veiled selves be known? The writer Glennon Doyle Melton says: “I’ve never made a friend by bragging about my strengths, but I’ve made countless by sharing my weakness and my emptiness.”
May the silent be given a voice, by God’s grace. May the hidden become revealed, by God’s power. May we all find our place in the unfolding of God’s story, by God’s design.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Hidden Things
by Chris Keating
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
While it’s not the smallest of all the seeds, the rare Amorphophallus titanium tuber packs a potent punch when it finally decides to bloom. The bulb can grow up to 10 or 15 feet, though it takes at least three to five years for a bloom to appear.
But when it blooms, you’d better get in line quick and then stand back. More commonly known as the corpse flower, the mighty Sumatran native heats up to approximately 100 degrees Fahrenheit before releasing its namesake stench -- described by some as resembling the smell of 100 dead elephants. Its scent of rotting meat attracts dung beetles and other pollinators who flock to the plant like seventh-grade boys to a belching contest.
Corpse flowers also attract huge crowds to botanical gardens across the country each year, including the Des Moines Botanical Garden in Iowa this week, and earlier this summer at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, which stayed open past midnight to accommodate the smelly flower’s fans. One thinks of Mr. Wilson’s flower from Dennis the Menace.
Aside from its stench, what is truly remarkable about Amorphophallus titanium is the gargantuan bloom that arises from its relatively modest beginning as a tuber the size of a small lime. It’s nearly the botanical equivalent to the “Little Engine That Could,” the pint-sized hero of children’s literature that chugged its way up the mountain despite seemingly impossible odds. Get close to the plant -- before it blooms -- and see if you can hear it whistle “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can.”
The marked contrast between small and large, of course, is at the heart of Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13. Contrary to Jesus’ statement, however, mustard seeds are neither the smallest seeds nor the largest trees in nature. But like the smelly Sumatran lily, the tiny mustard seed does manage to overcome all sorts of odds in achieving remarkable growth.
The seed grows and keeps growing until it is so large that birds take refuge in its branches, building nests and providing for their young. Such is the kingdom of God, says Jesus. The images soak into the imagination of the listening disciples, who later will tell Jesus that they have understood everything he has said.
Amy-Jill Levine notes in her work Short Stories by Jesus that what makes this parable provocative is not the rather banal comparison of small to great but instead the surprising manner in which the seed’s growth prevails. At work here, she notes, is the reminder that “it is the ability of God’s creatures -- feathered or flesh -- to survive, to make do with whatever is available” (p. 181). The seed flourishes in its own good time.
These parables again find Jesus taking familiar images -- mustard seeds and leaven, merchants and fishing folks -- as reminders of the reign of God that is now emerging. Astonishing growth, not unlike the hideous smelling corpse flower, happens in surprising and sometimes nearly undetectable ways.
Something along those lines happened to me in high school band. Lured by our teacher’s promise of extra credit, a friend and I had our parents drive us across town to a music store where some guy was holding a free clinic. The “guy” was the late jazz legend Clark Terry, whose discography includes more than 1,000 recordings. Terry, who had been the first African-American to play in NBC’s Tonight Show orchestra, was a natural teacher who managed to squeeze in as many of these clinics as he could in between performances.
It was a rare opportunity, and while my relationship with trumpet playing was fleeting at best, the lesson with Terry has remained with me. His wisdom was leaven, a priceless treasure, a hidden surprise. All of that came back to me not long ago as I watched the outstanding documentary Keep On Keepin’ On, which offers a rare glimpse into Terry’s latter years. His health failing, the nonagenarian musician continued to find ways of influencing young students. In his last years of life, Terry -- whom Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis both considered to be the finest trumpet player around -- formed an unlikely friendship with Justin Kauflin, a young pianist in his 20s.
Terry’s knowledge of jazz was encyclopedic. He got his start with Count Basie, before moving to Duke Ellington’s orchestra. His first student was a skinny 12-year-old boy named Quincy Jones. The film poetically unites Jones with Kauflin -- the first and the last. But the real hidden treasure of this film is the bond between Terry and his young protégé. Kauflin is blind, and enters Terry’s life as the elder musician’s eyesight has begun failing. This is more than a mentor/student relationship. Both impart to each other surprising and unexpected gifts.
Despite all odds, Terry’s optimism and desire to teach become seeds that grow in Kauflin’s life. In time Kauflin becomes a teacher of sorts as well, tending to his ailing mentor’s spirit. Keep On Keepin’ On is a film about surprises and hidden gifts, and growth that occurs in unexpected ways.
As Levine says, even the smallest actions have enormous potential. It’s the point Matthew has been hammering home in these parables. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount declared that the kingdom would emerge not among the empirical elites, but among the meek and wounded. His parables reinforce that message, which is exactly what our congregations need to hear this summer.
We are spellbound by myths of bigger and better. We love to hear about the amassing of great wealth and we are greedy for success. On the other hand, however, towering stacks of global problems and never-ending streams of data inundate us even as worship attendance dwindles. It can feel overwhelming, as though the empires of the world are quashing out the good growth of human possibility. How can something as small as the church make a difference?
How can an elderly musician change the life of a 20-year-old boy? How can a tiny seed create condos for cardinals?
Perhaps by first retelling the narratives of God’s emerging kingdom. The tiny seeds will fall on eager ears. While we may presume that the colossal problems of the world require equally audacious responses, God’s actions emerge in a mysterious, almost inchoate manner: a net full of fish, magically leavened dough, a treasure hidden in a field, and a mustard seed that does exactly what it is supposed to do -- grow, and grow, and grow.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Genesis 29:15-28
In a Blondie comic strip, Dagwood is comfortably seated in his chair watching television when Blondie comes in from a shopping trip at the mall with her best friend Tootsie. Blondie expresses that the shopping trip was “a huge disappointment,” saying: “We didn’t think it was even possible to have such a terrible experience at the mall. So we vowed to go back tomorrow to make sure today was just a fluke!” As she walks away, wallet in hand, Dagwood is left sitting with a startled look on his face.
Application: Discipleship requires discernment and commitment.
*****
Genesis 29:15-28
Roger Federer has just set a record by winning his eighth Wimbledon tennis championship in the men’s singles. He was also the first man in 41 years to win Wimbledon without ceding a set. His last Wimbledon win was in 2012. Since then health problems kept him from playing his best, though Federer continued to persevere until his 2017 win. Federer said all of his tennis heroes walked on the Wimbledon courts, so his victory there is very special. He said: “To make history here at Wimbledon really means a lot to me just because of all that, really. It’s that simple.”
Application: Our call to discipleship should be one that calls us to walk among the greats who have served the Lord.
*****
Genesis 29:15-28
Imprisoned for all of the seven years after he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, Liu Xiaobo has died in a Chinese prison. During those years he refused to renounce his pursuit of human rights in China. Liu was arrested for being a part of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests for human rights. In a document circulated in 2008, Liu said: “What I demanded of myself was this: Whether as a person or as a writer, I would lead a life of honesty, responsibility, and dignity.”
Application: What is called for are individuals with commitment.
*****
1 Kings 3:5-12
Dennis Hastert, the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has just been released from prison. Though Hastert was accused of child molestation when he was the wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois from 1965 to 1981, the statute of limitations had passed for conviction on that offense. But he was sent to prison for paying hush money to a child whom he molested. Hastert served as Speaker from 1999 to 2007, and during those years he was third in the line of succession to be President of the United States.
Application: We are to be cautious about who we choose to be our leaders.
*****
1 Kings 3:5-12
Republicans have vowed to replace Obamacare with their own health care policy -- but even though they control both houses of Congress and the White House, they have been unable to pass new legislation. After the third failed attempt in the Senate to pass a Republican health care plan, President Trump said: “Let Obamacare fail.” Trump said of Obamacare: “We’re not going to own it. I’m not going to own it. I can tell you that the Republicans are not going to own it. We’ll let Obamacare fail.”
Application: Those in leadership do own it, as they are responsible for the well-being of the people they serve. This is why leaders need wisdom.
*****
1 Kings 3:5-12
Republicans have vowed to replace Obamacare with their own health care policy -- but even though they control both houses of Congress and the White House, they have been unable to pass new legislation. After the third failed attempt in the Senate, there are serious questions about whether the Republicans will be able to produce a plan without compromises with the Democrats. Republican Senator Shelley Capito of West Virginia, who voted against the Republican plan that would cause 30 million people to lose health coverage, said: “I did not come to Washington to hurt people.”
Application: Those in leadership need the wisdom to help -- not hurt -- people.
*****
Psalm 128; Psalm 119:129-136
Perry Noble, the worship leader of NewSpring Church, the largest church in South Carolina with multiple campuses, caused a theological stir with his Christmas Eve sermon in 2014. He proclaimed that the Ten Commandments were not commandments but only “promises,” since the word for “commandments” is not in the Hebrew lexicon. Having this epiphany, he wrote a revolutionary sermon in ten minutes transforming “you shalt not” to “you are free.” Reputable theologians challenged the irrefutable pastor regarding his exegesis. Though the Hebrew word used in the Torah can mean “promises,” it can also be interpreted as “declarations.” It would seem “Thou shall not” is hardly a promise but most certainly a declaration, which is a commandment. Noble later confessed that there is a Hebrew word for “commandment,” but stood by his sermon that Moses on Mt. Sinai was given ten promises. Noble has since been forced out of the ministry for alcoholism and mistreatment of staff members.
Application: We must keep the decrees of our Lord.
*****
Psalm 119:129-136
As Iraqi soldiers complete their takeover of the city of Mosul, they have rounded up hundreds of suspected ISIS fighters. The important word here is “suspected,” as most taken into captivity are innocent civilians. The captives have been placed in makeshift prisons. In one prison there is a room without electricity or ventilation in temperatures that exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The room is so cramped that the captives have sat shoulder-to-shoulder for over six months. Unable to stand or lie down, their legs have swollen, and in the heat they have developed skin diseases.
Application: All religions have decrees that are to be followed regarding the humane treatment of individuals.
*****
Romans 8:26-39
In 1727 the Moravian community in Saxony was engulfed in dissension. Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf realized that only a revival would restore harmony. On May 12, a celebration was held and the Holy Spirit descended upon the adherents. Relishing in the blessing, the communicants desired for the revival to continue. On August 27, a group of 24 men and 24 women gathered to spend one hour in prayer, scheduled so someone was praying every hour of the day. Soon others joined what became known as the “hourly intercession.” This prayer vigil lasted uninterrupted for 100 years.
Application: We need to be receptive to the Holy Spirit.
*****
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
In a Peanuts comic there are three panels of Snoopy atop his dog house -- night, morning, and afternoon -- in which he is fidgeting. Snoopy then says: “If you think about something at three o’clock in the morning and then again at noon the next day, you get different answers.”
Application: It is sometimes difficult to understand the message of the parables and then apply them to our lives.
***************
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Hide and Seek Treasure
Forrest Fenn wants you to have all of his money when he dies.
When Fenn was only nine years old, he found an arrowhead near his home in Texas -- an arrowhead that would shape the rest of his life. Fenn fell in love with ancient artifacts. After becoming a pilot in the air force in the 1960s, Fenn regularly flew his plane to Pompeii to look for artifacts, of which he found plenty.
In the 1980s Fenn was diagnosed with kidney cancer and told he would have only a few years to live. Faced with the reality of his own mortality, Fenn decided to hide his most beloved artifacts and give everyone the clues to find his treasure, which he estimates to hold $1-3 million worth of gold, jewelry, and other valuable artifacts. To date, no one of the thousands who have tried has been able to find them but, who knows? Maybe you will be the one. Just do a Google search of Forrest Fenn’s name to get the clues.
*****
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Legend or Treasure?
The Superstition Mountains, in Arizona east of Phoenix, are aptly named. Even from a distance they look kind of creepy, and the echoes and shadows within magnify the effect the closer you get to them.
Now add to that the story of the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine, and you’ve got a real story to tell your grandkids.
According to treasure hunter Wayne Tuttle: “It goes back to Jacob Waltz, an immigrant who settled in Arizona during the Gold Rush days of the 1800s, becoming one of the first residents of the township called Phoenix. The story goes that Waltz met someone named Peralta who was looking for someone to return to his so-called family mine with him. Waltz and his partner, Jacob Weisner, went to the mine, where Peralta offered them a deal, giving them temporary deeds to the mine. Waltz and his partner returned, mining gold ore, and Waltz left to get more supplies. When he returned, his partner Weisner was dead.”
Waltz took as much ore as he could carry, covered everything up, and returned to Phoenix. There he drew a map which came to be called the Peralta Tesora Mappa, depicted numerous drawings, “x” symbols, arrows, and a giant heart.
According to the History channel, “Thousands have tried and failed to decode the series of cryptic clues said to lead to the fortune, leaving a trail of bodies and blood for anyone who has gotten too close to the truth.”
The reported mine was dubbed Lost Dutchman around 1892 after Waltz died, and to this day, anyone who researches or tries to find the gold (valued at approximately $200 million, if the legends are true) is generally referred to as a Dutch hunter.
It’s impossible to know exactly how many people have died hunting for the lost mine, but there have been enough deaths to give life to a “Dutchman’s Curse” legend. Most historians put the number in the dozens, with the most recent in 2012. With dangers ranging from extreme heat, falls, accidents, flash floods, poisonous snakes, and scorpion stings to rifle bullets (from rival gold hunters), the Lost Dutchman’s Mine is still considered to be one of the most dangerous treasure hunts in the world -- but every year people enter the Superstition Mountains to try their luck.
*****
Romans 8:26-39
Separation at Birth
Almost 70 years after they were born, twins George Skrzynecky and Lucian Poznanski shared their first hug.
The brothers were born in Germany in 1946 after their Polish mother, Elizabeth, was freed from a forced labor camp at the end of World War II. Shortly after their birth, the boys’ mother became ill and could no longer care for her new children. The twins were taken to Poland, where they were adopted separately. From that moment George and Lucian started their different lives, unaware of the other’s existence, struggling with the feeling that someone was missing in their lives.
Lucian spent his entire life in Poland, and didn’t even know he was adopted until he was drafted for the army. At age 17, George discovered paperwork proving he was adopted and that he had a twin brother. In the 1960s George asked the Red Cross for help in finding his long-lost twin, but they were unable to unearth any information. The secret caused a rift in George’s adoptive family, and he moved to California to start his own life.
While George always held out hope he would find his brother, it was Lucian who brought the twins together. In 2015 Lucian received information about his biological mother and learned for the first time that he had a twin. Lucian took this information to the Red Cross Restoring Family Links Program, and they were able to find the other brother.
After 68 years of waiting, George and Lucian were finally reunited in Poland. Their lives together started with a tearful hug and a visit to Warsaw’s Uprising Museum.
*****
Romans 8:26-39
Dog Travels 11 Miles Back Home
In 2015, the Memphis Commercial Appeal ran a story about a dog that spent two days walking 11 miles to return to the woman who rescued him from a shelter just days before.
Rachel Kauffman, a vet tech, saw a photo of Hank online and decided to adopt him for a few days, after which he would be moved to a longer-term foster care home, and Hank and Rachel became fast friends.
“When you get a new dog, they imprint pretty quickly. He would follow me around a lot, watch what I was doing,” Kauffman told the newspaper. “I knew we had a good bond, but at that point, I couldn’t predict he would do what he did.”
Hank was transferred to another foster home after just six days with Kauffman, but when his caretaker there left for the day, however, Hank unlocked the door and took off. By early Tuesday evening, two days after busting out, Hank had traveled 11 miles in a meandering path back to Kauffman’s house.
“He traveled 11 miles to get back to me,” said Kauffman. “I can’t fathom how he traveled that far across town that fast to get back to me.”
Dogs, no surprise, are very big on scent, and that can take them a very long way.
“An 11-mile distance is actually not terribly long for a dog,” says Bonnie Beaver, the executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and a professor at Texas A&M University. “If the dog had walked both from and back to his home he’d be following his own scent trail.” In this case, the dog was instead probably following an equally compelling smell: that of its owner, a type of navigation that is entirely possible over long distances as long as the wind is right.
Dogs extend their scent range by moving among overlapping circles of familiar scent -- much the way cellphone coverage relies on interconnected footprints from different cell towers. A dog that wanders out of its own immediate range might pick up the scent of, say, a familiar dog in the next circle. That might point it to a circle that contains a familiar person or tree or restaurant trash can, and so on.
*****
Genesis 29:15-28
Con Men and Their Cons
Scam artists, con men, gangsters, racketeers -- there are a lot of people out there trying to get your money. Of course, a lot of these people aren’t out there targeting the average American, as they tend to set their sights on the rich and famous, or the enormously wealthy, in an effort to maximize the effectiveness of their game.
And they’ve been doing it for centuries.
Throughout history, con men have wreaked havoc on many a family. Men like Gregor MacGregor and Victor Lustig come to mind, for pulling off rather astounding schemes that included, in Lustig’s case, selling the Eiffel Tower (twice!). MacGregor, a Scot born in the late 1700s, put together an international scam that included inventing an entirely false country in what is now modern-day Honduras, and convincing “investors” to hand over capital to exploit the natural resources found in “Poyais,” the fake nation which he just happened to be the prince of. That earned him the title of “the king of con-men” from The Economist. Some other famous flim-flam artists:
* Lou Pearlman, the man who created the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync, was also the perpetrator of a $300 million Ponzi scheme, one of the biggest in American history. As a side gig to his music business, Pearlman also ran an investment scheme that that essentially saw him taking investors’ money, promising to invest it at a high return, and then simply spending it on himself. He’s currently in prison.
* Charles Ponzi is so famous that he has a con-game named after him. Ponzi came up with a way to turn a profit by manipulating international reply coupon systems, which at the time had him buying postage stamps in one country and selling them for profit in another. This worked, but then he found investors to swindle. Ponzi took their money, promised high returns, then made it magically disappear into his own pocket. Eventually he was arrested after defrauding investors of roughly $20 million ($220 million adjusted) and destroying six banks.
* Frank Abagnale was the subject of the movie Catch Me If You Can. He forged checks and defrauded banks among a handful of other crimes before eventually pulling a 180 and becoming an FBI consultant. Today he runs his own consulting company that specializes in thwarting financial fraud ? just like what he perpetrated for many years.
*****
Genesis 29:15-28
The King of the Con Artists
No discussion of lying, duplicity, and con artistry would be complete without at least mentioning the name of Bernie Madoff -- the perpetrator of the largest scam in American history.
Madoff’s name was, and continues to be, in the news a few years after his Ponzi scheme blew up in his face. He famously swindled many of America’s rich and famous, convincing them to put money in his investment fund. Over the years Madoff took in a reported $65 billion, before finally confessing to the whole thing in 2009 after he was turned in by his sons (who were also his victims). That earned him a 150-year prison sentence, and sadly forced one family member to commit suicide in shame.
Madoff’s victims included such Hollywood luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Kevin Bacon, Uma Thurman, Larry King, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of Dreamworks. But the saddest stories come from the regular folks he swindled, most of whom were elderly and many of whom lost their entire life’s savings.
Cornell University’s Scott Yonker, co-author of a recent study on the wide-ranging impact of the Madoff scam, “used court documents to identify the names and addresses of more than 10,000 victims, who were concentrated in the Northeast, parts of California, and around Miami. The team also compared that information with the assets managed by nearly 4,000 investment advisers and deposits in 97,000 branches of banks in 20,600 zip codes.”
Madoff’s massive fraud has also shaken trust in the entire investment industry and the American economy. After hearing of the scam, Americans liquidated over $363 billion in investments, nearly 20 times the $17 billion in restitution the courts ordered Madoff to pay his investors. “The withdrawals were so hefty in some areas that some investment firms ended up shutting their doors and going out of business.”
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O give thanks to God, call on God’s name.
People: Make known God’s deeds among the peoples.
Leader: Sing to God, sing praises to our God.
People: Tell of all God’s wonderful works.
Leader: Glory in God’s holy name.
People: Let the hearts of those who seek God rejoice.
OR
Leader: God comes into our meeting, let us rejoice!
People: Praise be to our God, who comes to us here.
Leader: Not only here but in all our lives God is with us.
People: We rejoice in the ever-present Spirit of our God.
Leader: In ways large and small, God is at work in creation.
People: Let us join in God’s work in all we do and say.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“For the Beauty of the Earth”
found in:
UMH: 92
H82: 416
PH: 473
NNBH: 8
NCH: 28
CH: 56
LBW: 561
ELA: 879
W&P: 40
AMEC: 578
STLT: 21
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”
found in:
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
“I Sing the Almighty Power of God”
found in:
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
“Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 6, 7
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
“Open My Eyes, That I May See”
found in:
UMH: 454
PH: 324
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
“Be Thou My Vision”
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELA: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
“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
“Hymn of Promise”
found in:
UMH: 707
NCH: 433
CH: 638
W&P: 515
“Open Our Eyes, Lord”
found in:
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
“For the Gift of Creation”
found in:
CCB: 67
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian 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 comes to us in the mysterious and mundane: Open our eyes that we may see you at work around us even when it is in little and unexpected ways; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are ever coming to us in ways both mysterious and common. Help us to see your work around us, even when it is enclosed in small and extraordinary ways. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, especially our presumption that we know how you will work in all situations.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown time and again that you do the unexpected. You choose the least likely persons to be your messengers and you come to the world in human flesh. Yet we insist that we can read the scriptures and know precisely what you are about and how you will act. We are truly foolish children. Help us to understand that we know your ways far less than our toddlers understand the ways of their parents. Open our eyes to the wonders of the mundane as you come to redeem your creation. Amen.
Leader: God is our loving parent and knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows our foolishness, and is quick to forgive and grant wisdom whenever we ask for it. Receive God’s grace and wisdom, and see the wonders of God at work in our world.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Praise and glory to you, O God, who not only created all that is but works within creation to bring about its salvation.
(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 time and again that you do the unexpected. You choose the least likely persons to be your messengers and you come to the world in human flesh. Yet we insist that we can read the scriptures and know precisely what you are about and how you will act. We are truly foolish children. Help us to understand that we know your ways far less than our toddlers understand the ways of their parents. Open our eyes to the wonders of the mundane as you come to redeem your creation.
We thank you for all the ways you are at work within and among us to bring about healing and wholeness for all creation. We thank you that you do not spurn the small and insignificant but use all for the redemption of the world.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all of us, as we are in need of your healing presence. We are a broken creation. We have failed to heed your teachings and your ways, and we are paying the price of that. Help us to open ourselves to your presence and to become your presence for others.
(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.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about how small things can become big things: little seeds become trees; little babies become big adults. Maybe you have some pictures of where a small plant has grown up in the crevice of a rock and split the rock in two. Maybe you have an illustration from your own life where someone did or said something to you that wasn’t a big thing but it made a big difference in your life. Or use the example of Helen Keller and the incredible difference it made in her life when she finally understood the connection between Ms. Sullivan’s finger talk and the idea of water. God is always ready to use little things to make a big difference. Any little kindness we do or say might make a big difference to someone else.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Stories about the Kingdom (Realm) of God
by Beth Herrinton-Hodge
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Supplies: mustard seed, small amount of dry yeast, a pearl, a fishing net
(Gather the children and welcome them.)
Jesus tells many stories in the gospels. He uses stories to help people understand ideas and things and places that are hard to understand. In today’s scripture reading from Matthew, Jesus tells five short stories about the Kingdom of God -- or the Realm of God. They are stories to help us understand what heaven is like.
What do you think of when you hear the words “Kingdom of God” or “heaven”? What pictures come to mind? What do you think heaven might be like? (Give the children a chance to respond.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed (show the mustard seed). This is a very small seed that grows into a huge bush -- almost as big as a tree! It’s so big that birds come and make nests in it.
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like yeast -- which is an ingredient used to make bread rise (show the sample of yeast). When you’re baking bread, you mix the yeast with water until it bubbles, then you mix it into the bread dough until it’s all mixed through. Then the dough begins to rise -- right before your eyes!
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. Someone sold everything they owned so they could buy the field. Then the treasure belonged to them.
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a jeweler who had every kind of jewelry, but he found one pearl (show the pearl) that was so beautiful and so valuable that he sold everything so he could buy the special pearl.
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a fishing net that is thrown into the sea (show the fishing net). When the net is full of fish, you pull it in -- putting the good fish into baskets and throwing out the bad fish.
What does this tell you about the “Kingdom of God”? (After the children respond, offer your response.)
Jesus told these five stories to help people understand what the Kingdom of God is like. What new things did you learn about heaven from these stories?
(You may summarize the five stories, or let different children offer their responses:
* The Kingdom of God is huge! Bigger than we could ever imagine. There’s space in God’s kingdom for everyone.
* The Kingdom of God is mixed in with plain, ordinary dough -- it makes something wonderful.
* The Kingdom of God is a beautiful, valuable, special thing -- it’s worth giving up everything for heaven.
* The Kingdom of God is for the ones God chooses to bring in -- the good people, God’s people, because it’s God’s Kingdom!)
In each of these stories, Jesus uses examples of small objects or hidden things to help people understand the Kingdom of God... something very big and beautiful and wonderful. I like it when I find stories like this. They help me to know more about heaven -- a wonderful place God has for each of us!
Let’s say a prayer of thanks to God: Thank you, God, for making a special place where we can be with you -- a big, wonderful, beautiful, valuable place: the Kingdom of God. Thank you, too, for stories like these that help us know more about you and your gifts to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 30, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 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.
