She Says / Cross-Contamination
Children's sermon
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Preaching
Sermon
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It’s almost as if there’s been a nuclear chain reaction -- in the wake of serious allegations of sexual assault against movie magnate Harvey Weinstein and Alabama senatorial candidate Roy Moore, and spurred on by the #metoo movement on social media, charges of sexual-related misconduct have been made against a laundry list of powerful and prominent men. The flood of allegations has led to some serious soul-searching about the dynamics of the boundaries of professional relationships between men and women, as well as the way those in positions of power too often take advantage of the less powerful. Though justice delayed is preferable to justice denied, it’s all still a reminder of how far we are from the peaceable kingdom whose coming we are called to prepare for during Advent. In this installment of The Immediate Word, we’re featuring two viewpoints on this issue as reflected in the lectionary texts for the first Sunday of Advent, with team members Dean Feldmeyer and Mary Austin offering a set of “his” and “hers” meditations. While Mary notes the sheer number of women who have been victimized by predatory behavior and ponders how we can all learn to do better, Dean points out that all men -- not just those who are the perpetrators -- suffer and are contaminated by the sinful actions of the relative few... and thus all men need to stand up and denounce those actions in order to be reconciled with women.
She Says
by Mary Austin
Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37
Each day brings news of another prominent man accused of using his position to prey on the young women (or in the case of Kevin Spacey, the young men) around him. Starting with former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, the list of men accused of harassment, unwanted contact, and rape grows by the day. It would be easier, a friend half-joked the other day, to list the men who haven’t been accused. The long list includes tech leaders, politicians, members of the media, entertainers, and Hollywood power players.
The accusations, resignations, firings, and apologies are part of a national conversation about workplace safety, consent, predators, and power. It comes as Advent begins, making us stop and look at the difference between our world and the kind of world Jesus spoke about. Thinking about Christ’s coming heightens the contrast between the state of our world and Jesus’ compelling vision where the beaten down are lifted up, and oppressors come to justice.
The hashtag #metoo has revealed how many women have been harassed or assaulted. It’s so common that I forgot to be startled when people started telling their stories.
“Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down,” the prophet Isaiah cries out to God, full of despair at the world he sees around him. We make the same cry to God, wondering how to wrestle truth, healing, and redemption out of this pattern of behavior.
In the News
All of these accusations have led us into a national conversation where men and women have dramatically different experiences to talk about. I understand perfectly the dilemma of young women who go along with uncomfortable experiences because they need the job, the reference, or the business connection. “Do you mind if I do this?” men have asked me in work situations, and I lied. “Of course not,” I said, even though I did mind, and they were making me uncomfortable. Partly I did it because I needed the job... but also because part of me didn’t believe the world could work any other way. I’m indebted to the brave, visionary women who finally said “no more” and told their truth.
Stephen Marche writes that after all of these accusations “men have become, quite literally, unbelievable.” For any particular man, he says, there’s no relationship between his behavior and his politics -- liberal or conservative, his stated beliefs about women -- conservative or feminist, his age or experience. “Through sheer bulk,” he writes, “the string of revelations about men from Roger Ailes to Harvey Weinstein to Louis C.K. to Al Franken and, this week, to Charlie Rose and John Lasseter, have forced men to confront what they hate to think about most: the nature of men in general. This time the accusations aren’t against some freak geography teacher, some frat running amok in a Southern college town. They’re against men of all different varieties, in different industries, with different sensibilities, bound together, solely, by the grotesquerie of their sexuality.” I think it’s more nuanced than that. After a short time, women know who the safe men are and who’s dangerous to be around. We have not always been diligent about protecting each other. The most chilling part of the Harvey Weinstein story, for me, was the accounts of women who came to meet with him and thought, “Oh good, there’s another woman here.” Then the other woman would leave, and she would be alone with Weinstein. This story is more about power and impunity than about sex.
In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, Christine Emba suggests that we have defined sex too narrowly as an issue of consent. We assume, she says, that “the ability to pursue and satisfy our sexual desires -- whether by hitting on that co-worker even if we’re at a professional lunch, or by pursuing a sexual encounter even when reciprocity is unclear -- is paramount. At best, our sexual freedom should be circumscribed only by the boundary of consent. Any other obstacle is not to be borne.” But there are other important values to consider. She adds: “But the idea that pursuing one’s sexual imperatives should take precedence over workplace rules, lines of power, or even just appropriate social behavior is what allows predators to justify sexual harassment and assault. And it encourages the not-predators to value their desires above those of others.”
Emba calls us back to other values, saying that “now could be the time to reintroduce virtues such as prudence, temperance, respect, and even love. We might pursue the theory that sex possibly has a deeper significance than just recreation and that ‘consent’ -- that thin and gameable boundary -- might not be the only moral sensibility we need to respect.” In other words, to see women (and men) as full human beings.
In the Scriptures
As Advent begins, the scriptures call us forward into that better world that Jesus offers. Paul writes to the church in Corinth that we have “been enriched” in Christ -- we are not the same people we once were. He adds that Jesus will “strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless.” For people of faith, more of the spirit of Christ in us will guide us through this time when the old rules -- thankfully -- seem to be ending. The Spirit of Christ in us, and attending to that spirit in others, can take us far in every human relationship.
Each man who apologizes for past bad behavior says something along the lines of “I didn’t know I was doing something wrong.” If he had stopped to consider the spirit and uniqueness of the woman in front of him, instead of seeing her as a backdrop for his self-absorbed story, he would have known. In thinking about himself, he missed the spirit of the women on the other side of the desk or the conference table.
The prophet Isaiah pleads with God, asking God: “Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever.” This scripture raises, for me, the question of what to do about men who aren’t predatory but have been clueless -- the men in the vast middle ground where they have operated by the old rules, or given a pass to other men, and who now want to do better. They have said insensitive things, or not helped women they could have helped, or perceived a romantic interest from a woman who was just being professionally cordial. How do we make room for men to learn to do better?
In the Sermon
The sermon might look at how we all move toward the kind of world Jesus had in mind. How do we move ourselves toward a world of greater respect, truth-telling, and protection for the weaker members of a community?
The sermon might examine how we learn to do better. Over the years, I have learned so much more about how to think and speak about the LGBTQ+ community, about African-Americans, the Latino community, native people, people who are poor, and people who have disabilities. I’m ashamed of some of the ideas I once had, and things I’ve thought (and hopefully didn’t say out loud, but I can’t be sure). Men can learn from women in the same way, and we all have a lot to learn about each other. We can grow in our ability to create community as we listen and learn. We are the clay, as Isaiah reminds us, and God is the potter, continuing to shape us into something better when we’re willing.
Or the sermon might explore how hard it is to be a true community, with all of our differences. There’s a level of watchfulness as we take care of each other’s sensibilities. We can’t just say and do whatever we want -- we set aside some of our freedom to care for each other, and our different experiences.
A really brave sermon might explore the church’s complicity in this. The Twitter hashtag #metoo quickly gave way to #ChurchToo, and women started to tell their stories about abuse, assault, and harassment at church. One woman commented, “Telling a sexual abuse survivor to ‘Just Forgive’ is emotional and spiritual abuse. #ChurchToo.” Another woman said: “A trend I am noticing with #churchtoo: abusers are often charismatic, adored by a community, and in leadership positions. This is what keeps folks silent. It’s kept me silent too.” As one woman posted: “Growing up in purity culture, I was taught that men were ‘visual creatures’ that couldn’t help feeling aroused at the sight of slightly revealed ankles or knees, and that all men were imagining me naked 24/7. The entire system shamed women for even existing. #ChurchToo.”
Whether we preach about this issue this week or not, we can take the advice of one tweet which said: “Christians, scroll through the #churchtoo hashtag. Weep with your brothers and sisters who have been hurt in what *should* be the safest place on earth. Then, do better and demand better.” The church can do better. So can the workplace, the media, the military, and Congress. So can we all, in telling out stories and hearing others, and in imagining a world where we should be startled and outraged by this kind of abuse, instead of resigned. Thanks be to God for the modern-day prophets who call us all into a better world.
Cross-Contamination
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Cross-contamination is defined, technically, as the process by which bacteria or other microorganisms are unintentionally transferred from one substance or object to another, with harmful effect.
Example: You put the turkey on the counter, and whatever harmful bacteria, etc. that’s on the turkey gets transferred to the counter. Then you wipe off the counter with a sponge, and the contamination is transferred to the sponge. Then you wipe off another counter with the same sponge, and the contamination is transferred to that counter. All of the items are contaminated by touching each other. They are cross-contaminated.
Moral cross-contamination is the process by which moral failings of one person are transferred to another person because the second person holds certain similarities or characteristics in common with the first person.
Example: Dave is a bully who enjoys using sexual jokes and innuendo and even unwelcome physical contact to intimidate the women with whom he works. Bob is Dave’s friend and does not express disapproval with Dave’s treatment of women. Ryan doesn’t even know Dave. Under moral cross-contamination, both Bob and Ryan will be assumed by Dave’s victims to be just like Dave because they are men.
Simply put, cross-contamination is contamination by contact. A clean or uninfected thing becomes infected by touching or being touched by something that is contaminated.
In the News
“Through sheer bulk, the string of revelations about men from Bill Cosby to Roger Ailes to Harvey Weinstein to Louis C.K. to Al Franken and, this week, to Charlie Rose and John Lasseter, have forced men to confront what they hate to think about most: the nature of men in general. This time the accusations aren’t against some freak geography teacher, some frat running amok in a Southern college town. They’re against men of all different varieties, in different industries, with different sensibilities, bound together, solely, by the grotesquerie of their sexuality.”
That paragraph, written by Stephen Marche in last Sunday’s New York Times, is perhaps a perfect example of moral cross-contamination.
Note that he doesn’t say “some men” or “a few men” or even “most men.” He uses the word “men,” unadorned and by itself -- and he even says that the acts of these few men are symptomatic of “the nature of men in general” who are “bound together, solely, by the grotesquerie of their sexuality.” The accusations are against men of “all different varieties.” All.
He goes on: “After weeks of continuously unfolding abuse scandals, men have become, quite literally, unbelievable.” That is, men in general, all men, are unbelievable simply by virtue of being men.
Arguments to the contrary could be and are cogently made in the comments section following the article, but whether or not the writer is correct, his assertions alone -- arriving as they do in so venerable a vehicle as the New York Times -- are evidence that moral cross-contamination is a real and serious issue. Men, if we do not address it, our opportunities will be restricted, our potential will be limited, our possibilities truncated, and our hopes and dreams likely dashed. Women will fear us, avoid us, evade us, and shun us simply because we have been contaminated by our gender.
Not that they don’t already have ample reason for doing so.
While most of us are not guilty of treating women in the despicable ways that have been reported of the various prominent men referenced above, rarely have any of us taken any risks or braved any backlash that might come from standing vocally, uncompromisingly, and undeniably against such behavior.
Generally, our response to sexual abuse of women by men, other men, men we know (but not us), is to roll our eyes and shake our heads and frown. We may even discuss it among ourselves:
“What a jerk!”
“I know, right?”
But then we shrug our shoulders. “What are ya gonna do?” And that’s where it ends.
And all the while, our silence becomes a kind of unspoken assent.
Max Fisher and Amanda Taub talk about that silent assent this way in their “Interpreter” newsletter, published in the New York Times:
These [small, seemingly inconsequential] moments, we are learning, matter. They tell men, in a thousand small ways, that they can cross little lines. They tell women that they are expected to “be cool.” They communicate that it’s solely the victim’s responsibility to speak up, that we expect the powerless to take on the powerful on their own. And then somehow, we are surprised when the little transgressions become big ones, when women feel compelled to stay silent, when men in our midst turn out to be predators who operated openly for years.
We like to tell ourselves that as long as we aren’t perpetrators ourselves, we’re merely bystanders. But if you read the stories closely, you will see that the offenders get away with it for so long and so many times over with the help, however unwitting, of the bystanders. Of us.
This realization is troubling and has been met with understandable resistance. We do not want to believe we might be complicit in crimes that we consider abhorrent. But the sort of sexual harassment and assault we see in the news -- sustained, repeated behavior -- takes a village. Our small choices matter. Unless we change them, the stories will keep coming.
Women are not the only victims of sexual abuse. Every time a man hurts or humiliates a woman with sexual talk or acts, we are all contaminated by his behavior. She will become more cautious, more careful about working with or even being around men -- and the fact that most of us don’t do that kind of thing won’t make any difference. The opportunity for those rich and wonderful non-sexual bonds that men can have with women, bonds like friend and colleague and teammate and co-worker, will be lost.
In the Scriptures
Advent, which begins this Sunday, is a season of expectation, anticipation, preparation, and patient waiting. This week’s texts deal, to some degree, with how waiting time should be spent.
We are waiting for God to do something that will reveal God to us in some definitive way. The biblical writers, however, do not see this waiting on God to be an idle time for us. It is a time to be spent preparing ourselves so that we are equipped to receive God when the time comes.
The texts from the Hebrew Bible show this week to be a time of lamentation, of the expression of grief, sorrow, or regret. It is a time for the singing of songs and the recitation of verses that express how sorry we are for the things we have left undone that we ought to have done, and how much we regret the things we have done which we ought not to have not done.
Notice that this is different from repentance. Repentance has to do with changing, with turning around and doing things differently. In a lamentation, the emphasis has to do with becoming clear about the sin in our life that is separating us from each other and from God, and allowing ourselves to feel the deep and abiding pain that such estrangement causes.
In the Isaiah passage we hear how painful life can become when God delivers “us into the hand of our iniquity.” That is, when God allows us to live with the consequences of our actions.
The author does not tell us what it was that the People of God did to anger God, to cause God to turn the divine face from God’s own creation, God’s own children -- but it must have been something quite awful. Suddenly the people found themselves separated from God, and that caused them to sin even further, making the division worse.
Finally the matter seems hopeless.
“We have all become like one who is unclean” -- diseased, rotten, fetid, and foul -- untouchable, contaminated. Even “our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.” We think they will clean up the contamination, but they only manage to spread it further, to do more damage, to cross-contaminate everything they touch.
Finally, all the author can do is throw himself upon the mercy of God and hope for the best. He reverts to the parental metaphor. We are your children, after all, so please don’t be too hard on us. We are the clay which you, the master potter, formed and shaped, so please don’t throw us into the corner to be broken upon the scrap heap.
The psalmist composes on a similar theme.
Scholars believe this is a psalm for the northern kingdom, lamenting the fall and destruction of Samaria to the Assyrians in 722 BCE (cf. 2 Kings 17). Again, the poet rises out of the state of despair long enough to admit that the only hope to be found is to be found in God -- and he promises that if God will help, will give us life again, will lift us out of this pit of despondence, “Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.”
If, at our lowest, deepest, and darkest time, at the time of lament and sorrow, of grief and regret, we find ourselves in the loving embrace of the God of history, then our only appropriate response is to accept that embrace, that closeness, that reconciliation and to resolve that we shall honor the eternal Lord in all of our words and deeds.
In the Pulpit
The indicative is clear: We have become estranged from God and from women, our female friends, colleagues, co-workers, teammates, and sisters by our actions and/or our inaction. Even if we have not ourselves demeaned, degraded, debased, and dehumanized another human being, we have by our inaction left clear the path so that the victimizers can prey upon the vulnerable and the weak, the easy targets for the predators of this world.
The imperative is now before us: We must become reconciled, and we must initiate that reconciling process by doing the things to the best of our ability that close the divide which separates us.
We must step up and speak up. We can no longer allow our silence to be interpreted as assent. We must become the men, the people that God has created us to be.
As abhorrent as these acts of abuse and exploitation, of aggression, and, yes, of violence are to those of us who do not commit them or condone them, they must be even more so to those of us who call ourselves Christians.
The kind of sexual abuse we have seen in the news this past month is the very antithesis of what and who we are called to be. It violates every syllable of the passage in Matthew 25 that tells us what it means to be a Christian. It calls on us to decide who and whose we are going to be.
Are we the sheep on his right hand, the ones who step up to help, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, to visit the sick and the imprisoned? Are we the ones who take our stand between the victim and the abuser, whatever the consequence?
Or are we the goats who do nothing, who pass up even the simplest, easiest, and cheapest kinds of charity, who refuse to get involved, who walk by on the other side and then are surprised that we are considered part of the problem?
As we enter this season of Advent, this season of expectation and anticipation for the coming Christ, let us align ourselves once again with the one in whose name we live and breathe. Let us stand for the weak and the powerless. Let us resolve that where justice has no voice we will be that voice, where kindness has no advocate we will plead its cause, and where love has no shape or form we will be its incarnation.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 64:1-9
Lamenting Our Iniquity
Isaiah yearns for God’s righteousness and justice. The prophet laments the stain of human sinfulness, and pleads for God’s forgiveness and renewal. The dislocation of deportation and exile is compounded by human complicity with structures of sin. Lament is the place where Advent begins, perhaps best illustrated by faith communities which have relied on liturgies of lament in the aftermath of acts of sexual misconduct.
In response to acts of sexual abuse within the Catholic church, Sr. Christine Schenk of Future Church and liturgical scholar Fr. Joseph Fortuna created a service of lament for the brokenness of Christ’s body, along with other resources. The Mennonite Church, which has faced its own sexual abuse crisis, has held similar services. Such services are not aimed to “make nice,” but rather to point to the sort of renewing, restorative justice imagined by Isaiah.
*****
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Restore Us, O Lord
Like the psalmist, we yearn for change to happen in our lives and in our world. Achieving widespread cultural changes to prevent sexual harassment and abuse are difficult, as Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania professor and expert in child abuse, points out in Newsweek. Hamilton names seven significant changes which she thinks could prompt a cultural shift, noting that:
Our elected officials have to stop the wink and a nod to Hollywood, the bishops, the powerful boarding schools, pro sports, the United States Olympic Committee, and their own, like Dennis Hastert. They have to quit caring about whether they are on the “A” lists and instead choose the path of reaching down to help those who have fallen.
They need to become protectors of the weak rather than enablers of the powerful. I mean, that is, if they want the sex assault, abuse, and harassment to end.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Strength Out of Weakness
Paul’s deep assurance that God will transform weakness into strength offers a sign of hope as the Advent season of waiting begins. For those suffering from depression, the holidays can be a particularly difficult time of experiencing hopelessness. The stories of those who have faced the brutality of depression, like this one, remind us of the grace involved in treatment, and call the church’s attention to be mindful of those who are particularly vulnerable at this time of year. The author, who has struggled with bipolar disease for over a decade, recounts the difficulty of waiting for depression’s veil to lift -- an important reminder for us in these days of waiting, yearning, and praying for God to come.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Waiting, Waiting, Waiting
Likewise, another story points to the difficulty of waiting for a correct diagnosis. Michael Ellenbogen writes of his experience of having been misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and the struggle he faced waiting for a correct diagnosis. Waiting is difficult, says Ellenbogen: “When you are told you are dying, the last thing you want to do is waste time. Not only that, I contributed to the likely failure of those trials because I did not have the amyloid plaques that a particular drug was trying to clear.”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 64:1-9
Charlie Rose was known for the quality and accuracy of his in-depth reporting. After becoming one of the co-hosts on CBS This Morning, the ratings of the show shot up. But it was recently revealed that Rose has been involved in multiple cases of sexual misconduct. CBS immediately fired Rose. The president of CBS News, David Rhodes, sent an e-mail to his staff which read in part: “CBS News has reported on extraordinary revelations at other media companies this year and last. Our credibility in that reporting requires credibility managing basic standards of behavior. This is why we have taken these actions.” The day after Rose’s departure, the opening 10 minutes of CBS This Morning were devoted to an unvarnished account of the allegations against him.
Application: Isaiah informs us that there is judgment.
*****
Isaiah 64:1-9
Recently 10,000 scholars of religion and the Bible attended 300 sessions at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society for Biblical Literature (AAR/SBL). At the forefront of the seminars was Donald Trump’s election, in which he captured 81 percent of the white evangelical vote. The group’s new president, David Gushee, was concerned that under the Trump presidency we have created a “white American Christian tribalism.” But Trump was not the only agenda item. One major discussion was how academic institutions underpay adjunct professors. Adjunct professors have become the “serfs” of academia. Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, the former president of Chicago Theological Seminary, challenged the AAR/SBL members with these words: “If you want to change theological education, it’s not what you as a teacher say, it’s what you do. Don’t tell me you are going to resist Trump and not resist this system in your own institutions.”
Application: We are to confront injustice anywhere it is found.
*****
Isaiah 64:1-9
Joe Gibbs, the former head coach of the Washington Redskins, was recently profiled on the NFL Network series A Football Life. One of the things the show discusses is how little time Gibbs spent with his family while coaching, as he devoted all of his time and energy to his work. He had meeting rooms without clocks and a pullout sofa in his office. His wife Pat would tape-record things at home so he could later listen to what he missed. Realizing how little time he spent with his wife and children, Gibbs said in the half-hour documentary: “But I think it’s the one thing that I’ll go to my grave second-guessing, and not really knowing. Hey, could I have done it a different way?” He now spends countless hours with his grandchildren. Joe Gibbs closing words on the program were: “What we’re gonna leave on this earth is the influence on others, and it’s gonna be those grandkids.”
Application: As we are clay to be molded by the hands of God, we must be mindful of how we mold the clay of others.
*****
Isaiah 64:1-9
The iconic American folk singer Woody Guthrie adorned his guitar with a simple message, placed on the side of his instrument in 1941. It read, “This machine kills fascists.” As the United States was preparing for World War II at the time, it was an appropriate message.
Application: We must be willing to kill, that is, end, sin.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Martin Marty is a respected church historian and teacher as well as a prolific author. He is also an avid reader. He recently wrote, “My lifelong love of fiction often gets suppressed when Sightings’ assignments deal with religion.” (Sightings: Religion in Public Life is a publication of the University of Chicago Divinity School.) But Marty, upon reviewing the fictional writings of Marilynn Robinson, realized he needed to incorporate fiction into his own writings. Robinson is best known for the book Gilead, and incorporates Calvinistic doctrines in her fiction. Robinson said of her writing: “My politics, and my religion as well, are based entirely on ordinary human lives.” Robinson went on to say: “Calvin’s social ethic insists on the reverence we owe one another. His sermons are full of attacks on greed and arrogance.”
Application: Paul writes that we should always be enriched in speech and knowledge.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Newsmax has recently released their list of the 100 most influential evangelicals. Those who created the list came from various denominations, and they were not always in agreement. The top four names on the list were Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, Joel Osteen, and Mike Huckabee. These names were followed by Rick Warren, Jerry Falwell Jr., Vice-President Mike Pence, and Sarah Palin.
Application: One would suspect that most these individuals were not selected for their integrity and their ability to present a coherent systematic theology, but simply because they are big media names. In that way they may be influential, but are they the best influence?
*****
Mark 13:24-37
Pope Francis has become concerned about the anti-immigrant politics that have been gaining influence throughout Europe, including in the Vatican’s backyard in Italy. The pope recently issued a message in preparation for the church’s annual World Day of Peace, celebrated on January 1. The pope noted that policies regarding immigrants are founded on fear, and he went on to say: “Those who, for what may be political reasons, foment fear of migrants instead of building peace are sowing violence, racial discrimination, and xenophobia.”
Application: As the pope is preparing the Roman Catholic Church for the World Day of Peace which is a month from now, we must always be alert and prepared for the events that will occur in the future.
*****
Mark 13:24-37
Exit International has recently introduced a suicide machine called the Sarco capsule. The capsule can be detached and used as a coffin, while the machine itself can then be reused. With a push of a button the machine releases liquid nitrogen, causing the oxygen level within the capsule to drop rapidly, leading to speedy death within minutes. An individual can get a Sarco capsule by completing an online form. Dr. Philip Nitschke, who designed the machine, explained what he believes are its best features: “Sarco does not use any restricted drugs, or require any special expertise such as the insertion of an intravenous needle. Anyone who can pass the entry test can enter the machine and legally end their life.” The Sarco capsule was created by Exit International to meet the growing demand of an aging population.
Application: We are to remain vigilant for the Second Coming, and following the ideology of Exit International is not how we do it.
*****
Mark 13:24-37
Patrick Henry sat quietly in the pew to the left of the altar at St. John’s Anglican Church in Richmond, Virginia. Having been elected to the House of Burgesses from Howard County just nine days previously, he was hesitant to speak publicly -- especially when seated around him were such distinguished men as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. The delegates were in debate and divided on how to respond to the Stamp Act that had been imposed upon the colonies by England. The Stamp Act was a British law placing a tax on printed documents in the colonies. As proof of paying the tax, each document had to have an authorized stamp. The debate was centered on whether to comply with the new law or to sever the colonies’ relationship with England. On Thursday, March 23, 1775, having sat quietly long enough, Patrick Henry stood where he was seated. Speaking without notes, and in a voice that became increasingly louder and more empathic, he advocated raising a militia and declaring independence from the King of England. The climax of the speech was the closing line that has become a hallmark of American patriotism when Henry declared, “Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” Patrick Henry’s oration brought unity to the delegates attending the Virginia Provincial Convention. In the days following Patrick Henry’s speech, the delegates passed all seven resolutions declaring their independence from England.
Application: As we are to keep alert, we are to summon others to be alert and aware.
*****
Mark 13:24-37
John Ruskin once said, “Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.” Ruskin was born in London in 1819. As a child, his father interested John in art, and his pious Protestant mother created an interest in John to study the Bible. As an adult, John continued in the family business as a wine merchant, which made him very wealthy. As a merchant, Ruskin traveled to many countries, and in each country he took the time to study the art of the native land. As a Bible scholar, he took time to learn about the people in each country he did business in. From these two perspectives, he wrote a number of books that interpreted the great paintings through history. Perhaps this is why Ruskin considered patience as a form of beauty.
Application: We need patience and endurance as we wait for the Second Coming.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads us like a flock!
People: You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Leader: Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
People: We have fed upon the bread of tears, and drank our tears.
Leader: But let your hand be upon those at your right hand.
People: Give us life, and we will call on your name.
OR
Leader: Come into the presence of the Potter who shaped us.
People: With joy we come before our creator!
Leader: God has made us out of great love.
People: Praise be to our gracious, loving God!
Leader: God has created us to be compassionate and kind.
People: We will honor God by caring and honoring others.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
found in:
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELA: 858, 859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”
found in:
UMH: 196
H82: 66
PH: 1, 2
NCH: 122
LBW: 30
ELA: 254
W&P: 153
AMEC: 103
“Tell Out, My Soul”
found in:
UMH: 200
H82: 437, 438
W&P: 4
Renew: 130
“My Soul Gives Glory to My God”
found in:
UMH: 198
CH: 130
ELA: 882
“I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”
found in:
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELA: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
found in:
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELA: 257
W&P: 154
AMEC: 102
STLT: 225
“Lord, Speak to Me”
found in:
UMH: 463
PH: 426
NCH: 531
ELA: 676
W&P: 593
“Lead Me, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 473
AAHH: 145
NNBH: 341
CH: 593
Renew: 175
“O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee”
found in:
UMH: 430
H82: 659, 660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELA: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
“Arise, Shine”
found in:
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
“Change My Heart, O God”
found in:
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
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 desires to lead us as a shepherd leads the flock: Grant us the faith to trust that you lead us into life so that we may be your people of compassion and integrity; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship you, O God our Shepherd. You call us to follow you as sheep follow their shepherd, so that you may lead us to life. Help us to hear your voice and follow you, so that we may live as people of compassion and integrity. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our failure to treat others with dignity and to take a stand for those who are mistreated.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have made us to be your holy family, sisters and brothers together, but we have divided ourselves. We treat each other with disrespect in our speech, our actions, and our silence. We have done little to change our culture from one which sees other people as objects to be used for our gratification. We have sinned against one another, and we have defiled you. Come quickly to us and save us from ourselves. Restore your image upon us and your Spirit within us. Amen.
Leader: The God of justice desires all to be made right in creation. When we agree to allow that to happen, then God is pleased and sends the power of the Spirit to transform us.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Praise and glory to you, O God who created us in your image and placed us in community with yourself and one another.
(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 made us to be your holy family, sisters and brothers together, but we have divided ourselves. We treat each other with disrespect in our speech, our actions, and our silence. We have done little to change our culture from one which sees other people as objects to be used for our gratification. We have sinned against one another, and we have defiled you. Come quickly to us and save us from ourselves. Restore your image upon us and your Spirit within us.
We thank you for the great blessings of being united to you and to all your creation. We thank you for those who have seen in us the value of the Christ and treated us with love and dignity. We thank you for those who have taught us how to live as people of compassion.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those whose dignity has been assailed by others. We pray for those who have failed to learn to honor and value 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
If you have pottery mugs or other objects, show some examples to the children. Explain that while they look different from one another, they are all valuable. (If you are a potter and can display your own work, then you can say how the potter values each of them.) Isaiah tells us that we are like clay that God has shaped to be who we are. We don’t all look alike, but we are all valuable. Because each of us is created by God, we should always treat each other with care.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
by Chris Keating
Mark 13:24-37
Gather ahead of time:
* A kitchen timer (or timer app on a smartphone).
* A brightly-wrapped box containing words associated with Advent: Jesus, joy, Mary, Joseph, prepare, wait, rejoice, peace, etc.
As the children gather, be sure to bring the wrapped present out where the children can see it. Tell them that you have something special to give to them. It’s exciting -- but they’ll have to wait! (At this point take out the timer and set it for two or three minutes.) Set the timer aside, and then begin to point out some of the things in church which may be different today (purple banners, an Advent wreath, candles, or any other Advent decorations). Explain or describe any particular Advent traditions which are special to your congregation, and lead the children in a conversation that helps them understand that Advent is a time of preparation and waiting. Meanwhile, the timer keeps ticking... and be sure to keep looking over at the present!
Ask them to describe what it is like to wait for something, like a special trip or a birthday present or a visit from special people. Was it hard to wait? What makes waiting hard? It is especially hard to wait and be patient at Christmastime. It’s easy to get excited by the decorations and activities. It’s even harder waiting for special presents, and sometimes our excitement over Christmas is hard to contain. When the timer dings, tell them it is time to unwrap the gift. (It’s helpful to go “over the top” in being excited about the present. The children, however, may be less excited!) Remind them that these gifts are reminders of the real meaning of Advent -- preparing our hearts to receive God’s gift of Jesus.
Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for all of your gifts. Teach us to be patient this Advent as we wait for you to come to us. Prepare us to receive your best gift, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, December 3, 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.
She Says
by Mary Austin
Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37
Each day brings news of another prominent man accused of using his position to prey on the young women (or in the case of Kevin Spacey, the young men) around him. Starting with former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, the list of men accused of harassment, unwanted contact, and rape grows by the day. It would be easier, a friend half-joked the other day, to list the men who haven’t been accused. The long list includes tech leaders, politicians, members of the media, entertainers, and Hollywood power players.
The accusations, resignations, firings, and apologies are part of a national conversation about workplace safety, consent, predators, and power. It comes as Advent begins, making us stop and look at the difference between our world and the kind of world Jesus spoke about. Thinking about Christ’s coming heightens the contrast between the state of our world and Jesus’ compelling vision where the beaten down are lifted up, and oppressors come to justice.
The hashtag #metoo has revealed how many women have been harassed or assaulted. It’s so common that I forgot to be startled when people started telling their stories.
“Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down,” the prophet Isaiah cries out to God, full of despair at the world he sees around him. We make the same cry to God, wondering how to wrestle truth, healing, and redemption out of this pattern of behavior.
In the News
All of these accusations have led us into a national conversation where men and women have dramatically different experiences to talk about. I understand perfectly the dilemma of young women who go along with uncomfortable experiences because they need the job, the reference, or the business connection. “Do you mind if I do this?” men have asked me in work situations, and I lied. “Of course not,” I said, even though I did mind, and they were making me uncomfortable. Partly I did it because I needed the job... but also because part of me didn’t believe the world could work any other way. I’m indebted to the brave, visionary women who finally said “no more” and told their truth.
Stephen Marche writes that after all of these accusations “men have become, quite literally, unbelievable.” For any particular man, he says, there’s no relationship between his behavior and his politics -- liberal or conservative, his stated beliefs about women -- conservative or feminist, his age or experience. “Through sheer bulk,” he writes, “the string of revelations about men from Roger Ailes to Harvey Weinstein to Louis C.K. to Al Franken and, this week, to Charlie Rose and John Lasseter, have forced men to confront what they hate to think about most: the nature of men in general. This time the accusations aren’t against some freak geography teacher, some frat running amok in a Southern college town. They’re against men of all different varieties, in different industries, with different sensibilities, bound together, solely, by the grotesquerie of their sexuality.” I think it’s more nuanced than that. After a short time, women know who the safe men are and who’s dangerous to be around. We have not always been diligent about protecting each other. The most chilling part of the Harvey Weinstein story, for me, was the accounts of women who came to meet with him and thought, “Oh good, there’s another woman here.” Then the other woman would leave, and she would be alone with Weinstein. This story is more about power and impunity than about sex.
In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, Christine Emba suggests that we have defined sex too narrowly as an issue of consent. We assume, she says, that “the ability to pursue and satisfy our sexual desires -- whether by hitting on that co-worker even if we’re at a professional lunch, or by pursuing a sexual encounter even when reciprocity is unclear -- is paramount. At best, our sexual freedom should be circumscribed only by the boundary of consent. Any other obstacle is not to be borne.” But there are other important values to consider. She adds: “But the idea that pursuing one’s sexual imperatives should take precedence over workplace rules, lines of power, or even just appropriate social behavior is what allows predators to justify sexual harassment and assault. And it encourages the not-predators to value their desires above those of others.”
Emba calls us back to other values, saying that “now could be the time to reintroduce virtues such as prudence, temperance, respect, and even love. We might pursue the theory that sex possibly has a deeper significance than just recreation and that ‘consent’ -- that thin and gameable boundary -- might not be the only moral sensibility we need to respect.” In other words, to see women (and men) as full human beings.
In the Scriptures
As Advent begins, the scriptures call us forward into that better world that Jesus offers. Paul writes to the church in Corinth that we have “been enriched” in Christ -- we are not the same people we once were. He adds that Jesus will “strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless.” For people of faith, more of the spirit of Christ in us will guide us through this time when the old rules -- thankfully -- seem to be ending. The Spirit of Christ in us, and attending to that spirit in others, can take us far in every human relationship.
Each man who apologizes for past bad behavior says something along the lines of “I didn’t know I was doing something wrong.” If he had stopped to consider the spirit and uniqueness of the woman in front of him, instead of seeing her as a backdrop for his self-absorbed story, he would have known. In thinking about himself, he missed the spirit of the women on the other side of the desk or the conference table.
The prophet Isaiah pleads with God, asking God: “Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever.” This scripture raises, for me, the question of what to do about men who aren’t predatory but have been clueless -- the men in the vast middle ground where they have operated by the old rules, or given a pass to other men, and who now want to do better. They have said insensitive things, or not helped women they could have helped, or perceived a romantic interest from a woman who was just being professionally cordial. How do we make room for men to learn to do better?
In the Sermon
The sermon might look at how we all move toward the kind of world Jesus had in mind. How do we move ourselves toward a world of greater respect, truth-telling, and protection for the weaker members of a community?
The sermon might examine how we learn to do better. Over the years, I have learned so much more about how to think and speak about the LGBTQ+ community, about African-Americans, the Latino community, native people, people who are poor, and people who have disabilities. I’m ashamed of some of the ideas I once had, and things I’ve thought (and hopefully didn’t say out loud, but I can’t be sure). Men can learn from women in the same way, and we all have a lot to learn about each other. We can grow in our ability to create community as we listen and learn. We are the clay, as Isaiah reminds us, and God is the potter, continuing to shape us into something better when we’re willing.
Or the sermon might explore how hard it is to be a true community, with all of our differences. There’s a level of watchfulness as we take care of each other’s sensibilities. We can’t just say and do whatever we want -- we set aside some of our freedom to care for each other, and our different experiences.
A really brave sermon might explore the church’s complicity in this. The Twitter hashtag #metoo quickly gave way to #ChurchToo, and women started to tell their stories about abuse, assault, and harassment at church. One woman commented, “Telling a sexual abuse survivor to ‘Just Forgive’ is emotional and spiritual abuse. #ChurchToo.” Another woman said: “A trend I am noticing with #churchtoo: abusers are often charismatic, adored by a community, and in leadership positions. This is what keeps folks silent. It’s kept me silent too.” As one woman posted: “Growing up in purity culture, I was taught that men were ‘visual creatures’ that couldn’t help feeling aroused at the sight of slightly revealed ankles or knees, and that all men were imagining me naked 24/7. The entire system shamed women for even existing. #ChurchToo.”
Whether we preach about this issue this week or not, we can take the advice of one tweet which said: “Christians, scroll through the #churchtoo hashtag. Weep with your brothers and sisters who have been hurt in what *should* be the safest place on earth. Then, do better and demand better.” The church can do better. So can the workplace, the media, the military, and Congress. So can we all, in telling out stories and hearing others, and in imagining a world where we should be startled and outraged by this kind of abuse, instead of resigned. Thanks be to God for the modern-day prophets who call us all into a better world.
Cross-Contamination
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Cross-contamination is defined, technically, as the process by which bacteria or other microorganisms are unintentionally transferred from one substance or object to another, with harmful effect.
Example: You put the turkey on the counter, and whatever harmful bacteria, etc. that’s on the turkey gets transferred to the counter. Then you wipe off the counter with a sponge, and the contamination is transferred to the sponge. Then you wipe off another counter with the same sponge, and the contamination is transferred to that counter. All of the items are contaminated by touching each other. They are cross-contaminated.
Moral cross-contamination is the process by which moral failings of one person are transferred to another person because the second person holds certain similarities or characteristics in common with the first person.
Example: Dave is a bully who enjoys using sexual jokes and innuendo and even unwelcome physical contact to intimidate the women with whom he works. Bob is Dave’s friend and does not express disapproval with Dave’s treatment of women. Ryan doesn’t even know Dave. Under moral cross-contamination, both Bob and Ryan will be assumed by Dave’s victims to be just like Dave because they are men.
Simply put, cross-contamination is contamination by contact. A clean or uninfected thing becomes infected by touching or being touched by something that is contaminated.
In the News
“Through sheer bulk, the string of revelations about men from Bill Cosby to Roger Ailes to Harvey Weinstein to Louis C.K. to Al Franken and, this week, to Charlie Rose and John Lasseter, have forced men to confront what they hate to think about most: the nature of men in general. This time the accusations aren’t against some freak geography teacher, some frat running amok in a Southern college town. They’re against men of all different varieties, in different industries, with different sensibilities, bound together, solely, by the grotesquerie of their sexuality.”
That paragraph, written by Stephen Marche in last Sunday’s New York Times, is perhaps a perfect example of moral cross-contamination.
Note that he doesn’t say “some men” or “a few men” or even “most men.” He uses the word “men,” unadorned and by itself -- and he even says that the acts of these few men are symptomatic of “the nature of men in general” who are “bound together, solely, by the grotesquerie of their sexuality.” The accusations are against men of “all different varieties.” All.
He goes on: “After weeks of continuously unfolding abuse scandals, men have become, quite literally, unbelievable.” That is, men in general, all men, are unbelievable simply by virtue of being men.
Arguments to the contrary could be and are cogently made in the comments section following the article, but whether or not the writer is correct, his assertions alone -- arriving as they do in so venerable a vehicle as the New York Times -- are evidence that moral cross-contamination is a real and serious issue. Men, if we do not address it, our opportunities will be restricted, our potential will be limited, our possibilities truncated, and our hopes and dreams likely dashed. Women will fear us, avoid us, evade us, and shun us simply because we have been contaminated by our gender.
Not that they don’t already have ample reason for doing so.
While most of us are not guilty of treating women in the despicable ways that have been reported of the various prominent men referenced above, rarely have any of us taken any risks or braved any backlash that might come from standing vocally, uncompromisingly, and undeniably against such behavior.
Generally, our response to sexual abuse of women by men, other men, men we know (but not us), is to roll our eyes and shake our heads and frown. We may even discuss it among ourselves:
“What a jerk!”
“I know, right?”
But then we shrug our shoulders. “What are ya gonna do?” And that’s where it ends.
And all the while, our silence becomes a kind of unspoken assent.
Max Fisher and Amanda Taub talk about that silent assent this way in their “Interpreter” newsletter, published in the New York Times:
These [small, seemingly inconsequential] moments, we are learning, matter. They tell men, in a thousand small ways, that they can cross little lines. They tell women that they are expected to “be cool.” They communicate that it’s solely the victim’s responsibility to speak up, that we expect the powerless to take on the powerful on their own. And then somehow, we are surprised when the little transgressions become big ones, when women feel compelled to stay silent, when men in our midst turn out to be predators who operated openly for years.
We like to tell ourselves that as long as we aren’t perpetrators ourselves, we’re merely bystanders. But if you read the stories closely, you will see that the offenders get away with it for so long and so many times over with the help, however unwitting, of the bystanders. Of us.
This realization is troubling and has been met with understandable resistance. We do not want to believe we might be complicit in crimes that we consider abhorrent. But the sort of sexual harassment and assault we see in the news -- sustained, repeated behavior -- takes a village. Our small choices matter. Unless we change them, the stories will keep coming.
Women are not the only victims of sexual abuse. Every time a man hurts or humiliates a woman with sexual talk or acts, we are all contaminated by his behavior. She will become more cautious, more careful about working with or even being around men -- and the fact that most of us don’t do that kind of thing won’t make any difference. The opportunity for those rich and wonderful non-sexual bonds that men can have with women, bonds like friend and colleague and teammate and co-worker, will be lost.
In the Scriptures
Advent, which begins this Sunday, is a season of expectation, anticipation, preparation, and patient waiting. This week’s texts deal, to some degree, with how waiting time should be spent.
We are waiting for God to do something that will reveal God to us in some definitive way. The biblical writers, however, do not see this waiting on God to be an idle time for us. It is a time to be spent preparing ourselves so that we are equipped to receive God when the time comes.
The texts from the Hebrew Bible show this week to be a time of lamentation, of the expression of grief, sorrow, or regret. It is a time for the singing of songs and the recitation of verses that express how sorry we are for the things we have left undone that we ought to have done, and how much we regret the things we have done which we ought not to have not done.
Notice that this is different from repentance. Repentance has to do with changing, with turning around and doing things differently. In a lamentation, the emphasis has to do with becoming clear about the sin in our life that is separating us from each other and from God, and allowing ourselves to feel the deep and abiding pain that such estrangement causes.
In the Isaiah passage we hear how painful life can become when God delivers “us into the hand of our iniquity.” That is, when God allows us to live with the consequences of our actions.
The author does not tell us what it was that the People of God did to anger God, to cause God to turn the divine face from God’s own creation, God’s own children -- but it must have been something quite awful. Suddenly the people found themselves separated from God, and that caused them to sin even further, making the division worse.
Finally the matter seems hopeless.
“We have all become like one who is unclean” -- diseased, rotten, fetid, and foul -- untouchable, contaminated. Even “our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.” We think they will clean up the contamination, but they only manage to spread it further, to do more damage, to cross-contaminate everything they touch.
Finally, all the author can do is throw himself upon the mercy of God and hope for the best. He reverts to the parental metaphor. We are your children, after all, so please don’t be too hard on us. We are the clay which you, the master potter, formed and shaped, so please don’t throw us into the corner to be broken upon the scrap heap.
The psalmist composes on a similar theme.
Scholars believe this is a psalm for the northern kingdom, lamenting the fall and destruction of Samaria to the Assyrians in 722 BCE (cf. 2 Kings 17). Again, the poet rises out of the state of despair long enough to admit that the only hope to be found is to be found in God -- and he promises that if God will help, will give us life again, will lift us out of this pit of despondence, “Then we will never turn back from you; give us life, and we will call on your name.”
If, at our lowest, deepest, and darkest time, at the time of lament and sorrow, of grief and regret, we find ourselves in the loving embrace of the God of history, then our only appropriate response is to accept that embrace, that closeness, that reconciliation and to resolve that we shall honor the eternal Lord in all of our words and deeds.
In the Pulpit
The indicative is clear: We have become estranged from God and from women, our female friends, colleagues, co-workers, teammates, and sisters by our actions and/or our inaction. Even if we have not ourselves demeaned, degraded, debased, and dehumanized another human being, we have by our inaction left clear the path so that the victimizers can prey upon the vulnerable and the weak, the easy targets for the predators of this world.
The imperative is now before us: We must become reconciled, and we must initiate that reconciling process by doing the things to the best of our ability that close the divide which separates us.
We must step up and speak up. We can no longer allow our silence to be interpreted as assent. We must become the men, the people that God has created us to be.
As abhorrent as these acts of abuse and exploitation, of aggression, and, yes, of violence are to those of us who do not commit them or condone them, they must be even more so to those of us who call ourselves Christians.
The kind of sexual abuse we have seen in the news this past month is the very antithesis of what and who we are called to be. It violates every syllable of the passage in Matthew 25 that tells us what it means to be a Christian. It calls on us to decide who and whose we are going to be.
Are we the sheep on his right hand, the ones who step up to help, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, to visit the sick and the imprisoned? Are we the ones who take our stand between the victim and the abuser, whatever the consequence?
Or are we the goats who do nothing, who pass up even the simplest, easiest, and cheapest kinds of charity, who refuse to get involved, who walk by on the other side and then are surprised that we are considered part of the problem?
As we enter this season of Advent, this season of expectation and anticipation for the coming Christ, let us align ourselves once again with the one in whose name we live and breathe. Let us stand for the weak and the powerless. Let us resolve that where justice has no voice we will be that voice, where kindness has no advocate we will plead its cause, and where love has no shape or form we will be its incarnation.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 64:1-9
Lamenting Our Iniquity
Isaiah yearns for God’s righteousness and justice. The prophet laments the stain of human sinfulness, and pleads for God’s forgiveness and renewal. The dislocation of deportation and exile is compounded by human complicity with structures of sin. Lament is the place where Advent begins, perhaps best illustrated by faith communities which have relied on liturgies of lament in the aftermath of acts of sexual misconduct.
In response to acts of sexual abuse within the Catholic church, Sr. Christine Schenk of Future Church and liturgical scholar Fr. Joseph Fortuna created a service of lament for the brokenness of Christ’s body, along with other resources. The Mennonite Church, which has faced its own sexual abuse crisis, has held similar services. Such services are not aimed to “make nice,” but rather to point to the sort of renewing, restorative justice imagined by Isaiah.
*****
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Restore Us, O Lord
Like the psalmist, we yearn for change to happen in our lives and in our world. Achieving widespread cultural changes to prevent sexual harassment and abuse are difficult, as Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania professor and expert in child abuse, points out in Newsweek. Hamilton names seven significant changes which she thinks could prompt a cultural shift, noting that:
Our elected officials have to stop the wink and a nod to Hollywood, the bishops, the powerful boarding schools, pro sports, the United States Olympic Committee, and their own, like Dennis Hastert. They have to quit caring about whether they are on the “A” lists and instead choose the path of reaching down to help those who have fallen.
They need to become protectors of the weak rather than enablers of the powerful. I mean, that is, if they want the sex assault, abuse, and harassment to end.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Strength Out of Weakness
Paul’s deep assurance that God will transform weakness into strength offers a sign of hope as the Advent season of waiting begins. For those suffering from depression, the holidays can be a particularly difficult time of experiencing hopelessness. The stories of those who have faced the brutality of depression, like this one, remind us of the grace involved in treatment, and call the church’s attention to be mindful of those who are particularly vulnerable at this time of year. The author, who has struggled with bipolar disease for over a decade, recounts the difficulty of waiting for depression’s veil to lift -- an important reminder for us in these days of waiting, yearning, and praying for God to come.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Waiting, Waiting, Waiting
Likewise, another story points to the difficulty of waiting for a correct diagnosis. Michael Ellenbogen writes of his experience of having been misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and the struggle he faced waiting for a correct diagnosis. Waiting is difficult, says Ellenbogen: “When you are told you are dying, the last thing you want to do is waste time. Not only that, I contributed to the likely failure of those trials because I did not have the amyloid plaques that a particular drug was trying to clear.”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Isaiah 64:1-9
Charlie Rose was known for the quality and accuracy of his in-depth reporting. After becoming one of the co-hosts on CBS This Morning, the ratings of the show shot up. But it was recently revealed that Rose has been involved in multiple cases of sexual misconduct. CBS immediately fired Rose. The president of CBS News, David Rhodes, sent an e-mail to his staff which read in part: “CBS News has reported on extraordinary revelations at other media companies this year and last. Our credibility in that reporting requires credibility managing basic standards of behavior. This is why we have taken these actions.” The day after Rose’s departure, the opening 10 minutes of CBS This Morning were devoted to an unvarnished account of the allegations against him.
Application: Isaiah informs us that there is judgment.
*****
Isaiah 64:1-9
Recently 10,000 scholars of religion and the Bible attended 300 sessions at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society for Biblical Literature (AAR/SBL). At the forefront of the seminars was Donald Trump’s election, in which he captured 81 percent of the white evangelical vote. The group’s new president, David Gushee, was concerned that under the Trump presidency we have created a “white American Christian tribalism.” But Trump was not the only agenda item. One major discussion was how academic institutions underpay adjunct professors. Adjunct professors have become the “serfs” of academia. Rev. Dr. Susan Thistlethwaite, the former president of Chicago Theological Seminary, challenged the AAR/SBL members with these words: “If you want to change theological education, it’s not what you as a teacher say, it’s what you do. Don’t tell me you are going to resist Trump and not resist this system in your own institutions.”
Application: We are to confront injustice anywhere it is found.
*****
Isaiah 64:1-9
Joe Gibbs, the former head coach of the Washington Redskins, was recently profiled on the NFL Network series A Football Life. One of the things the show discusses is how little time Gibbs spent with his family while coaching, as he devoted all of his time and energy to his work. He had meeting rooms without clocks and a pullout sofa in his office. His wife Pat would tape-record things at home so he could later listen to what he missed. Realizing how little time he spent with his wife and children, Gibbs said in the half-hour documentary: “But I think it’s the one thing that I’ll go to my grave second-guessing, and not really knowing. Hey, could I have done it a different way?” He now spends countless hours with his grandchildren. Joe Gibbs closing words on the program were: “What we’re gonna leave on this earth is the influence on others, and it’s gonna be those grandkids.”
Application: As we are clay to be molded by the hands of God, we must be mindful of how we mold the clay of others.
*****
Isaiah 64:1-9
The iconic American folk singer Woody Guthrie adorned his guitar with a simple message, placed on the side of his instrument in 1941. It read, “This machine kills fascists.” As the United States was preparing for World War II at the time, it was an appropriate message.
Application: We must be willing to kill, that is, end, sin.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Martin Marty is a respected church historian and teacher as well as a prolific author. He is also an avid reader. He recently wrote, “My lifelong love of fiction often gets suppressed when Sightings’ assignments deal with religion.” (Sightings: Religion in Public Life is a publication of the University of Chicago Divinity School.) But Marty, upon reviewing the fictional writings of Marilynn Robinson, realized he needed to incorporate fiction into his own writings. Robinson is best known for the book Gilead, and incorporates Calvinistic doctrines in her fiction. Robinson said of her writing: “My politics, and my religion as well, are based entirely on ordinary human lives.” Robinson went on to say: “Calvin’s social ethic insists on the reverence we owe one another. His sermons are full of attacks on greed and arrogance.”
Application: Paul writes that we should always be enriched in speech and knowledge.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Newsmax has recently released their list of the 100 most influential evangelicals. Those who created the list came from various denominations, and they were not always in agreement. The top four names on the list were Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, Joel Osteen, and Mike Huckabee. These names were followed by Rick Warren, Jerry Falwell Jr., Vice-President Mike Pence, and Sarah Palin.
Application: One would suspect that most these individuals were not selected for their integrity and their ability to present a coherent systematic theology, but simply because they are big media names. In that way they may be influential, but are they the best influence?
*****
Mark 13:24-37
Pope Francis has become concerned about the anti-immigrant politics that have been gaining influence throughout Europe, including in the Vatican’s backyard in Italy. The pope recently issued a message in preparation for the church’s annual World Day of Peace, celebrated on January 1. The pope noted that policies regarding immigrants are founded on fear, and he went on to say: “Those who, for what may be political reasons, foment fear of migrants instead of building peace are sowing violence, racial discrimination, and xenophobia.”
Application: As the pope is preparing the Roman Catholic Church for the World Day of Peace which is a month from now, we must always be alert and prepared for the events that will occur in the future.
*****
Mark 13:24-37
Exit International has recently introduced a suicide machine called the Sarco capsule. The capsule can be detached and used as a coffin, while the machine itself can then be reused. With a push of a button the machine releases liquid nitrogen, causing the oxygen level within the capsule to drop rapidly, leading to speedy death within minutes. An individual can get a Sarco capsule by completing an online form. Dr. Philip Nitschke, who designed the machine, explained what he believes are its best features: “Sarco does not use any restricted drugs, or require any special expertise such as the insertion of an intravenous needle. Anyone who can pass the entry test can enter the machine and legally end their life.” The Sarco capsule was created by Exit International to meet the growing demand of an aging population.
Application: We are to remain vigilant for the Second Coming, and following the ideology of Exit International is not how we do it.
*****
Mark 13:24-37
Patrick Henry sat quietly in the pew to the left of the altar at St. John’s Anglican Church in Richmond, Virginia. Having been elected to the House of Burgesses from Howard County just nine days previously, he was hesitant to speak publicly -- especially when seated around him were such distinguished men as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. The delegates were in debate and divided on how to respond to the Stamp Act that had been imposed upon the colonies by England. The Stamp Act was a British law placing a tax on printed documents in the colonies. As proof of paying the tax, each document had to have an authorized stamp. The debate was centered on whether to comply with the new law or to sever the colonies’ relationship with England. On Thursday, March 23, 1775, having sat quietly long enough, Patrick Henry stood where he was seated. Speaking without notes, and in a voice that became increasingly louder and more empathic, he advocated raising a militia and declaring independence from the King of England. The climax of the speech was the closing line that has become a hallmark of American patriotism when Henry declared, “Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!” Patrick Henry’s oration brought unity to the delegates attending the Virginia Provincial Convention. In the days following Patrick Henry’s speech, the delegates passed all seven resolutions declaring their independence from England.
Application: As we are to keep alert, we are to summon others to be alert and aware.
*****
Mark 13:24-37
John Ruskin once said, “Endurance is nobler than strength, and patience than beauty.” Ruskin was born in London in 1819. As a child, his father interested John in art, and his pious Protestant mother created an interest in John to study the Bible. As an adult, John continued in the family business as a wine merchant, which made him very wealthy. As a merchant, Ruskin traveled to many countries, and in each country he took the time to study the art of the native land. As a Bible scholar, he took time to learn about the people in each country he did business in. From these two perspectives, he wrote a number of books that interpreted the great paintings through history. Perhaps this is why Ruskin considered patience as a form of beauty.
Application: We need patience and endurance as we wait for the Second Coming.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads us like a flock!
People: You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Leader: Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.
People: We have fed upon the bread of tears, and drank our tears.
Leader: But let your hand be upon those at your right hand.
People: Give us life, and we will call on your name.
OR
Leader: Come into the presence of the Potter who shaped us.
People: With joy we come before our creator!
Leader: God has made us out of great love.
People: Praise be to our gracious, loving God!
Leader: God has created us to be compassionate and kind.
People: We will honor God by caring and honoring others.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”
found in:
UMH: 139
H82: 390
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELA: 858, 859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”
found in:
UMH: 196
H82: 66
PH: 1, 2
NCH: 122
LBW: 30
ELA: 254
W&P: 153
AMEC: 103
“Tell Out, My Soul”
found in:
UMH: 200
H82: 437, 438
W&P: 4
Renew: 130
“My Soul Gives Glory to My God”
found in:
UMH: 198
CH: 130
ELA: 882
“I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”
found in:
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELA: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
found in:
UMH: 211
H82: 56
PH: 9
AAHH: 188
NNBH: 82
NCH: 116
CH: 119
LBW: 34
ELA: 257
W&P: 154
AMEC: 102
STLT: 225
“Lord, Speak to Me”
found in:
UMH: 463
PH: 426
NCH: 531
ELA: 676
W&P: 593
“Lead Me, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 473
AAHH: 145
NNBH: 341
CH: 593
Renew: 175
“O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee”
found in:
UMH: 430
H82: 659, 660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELA: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
“Arise, Shine”
found in:
CCB: 2
Renew: 123
“Change My Heart, O God”
found in:
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
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 desires to lead us as a shepherd leads the flock: Grant us the faith to trust that you lead us into life so that we may be your people of compassion and integrity; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship you, O God our Shepherd. You call us to follow you as sheep follow their shepherd, so that you may lead us to life. Help us to hear your voice and follow you, so that we may live as people of compassion and integrity. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our failure to treat others with dignity and to take a stand for those who are mistreated.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have made us to be your holy family, sisters and brothers together, but we have divided ourselves. We treat each other with disrespect in our speech, our actions, and our silence. We have done little to change our culture from one which sees other people as objects to be used for our gratification. We have sinned against one another, and we have defiled you. Come quickly to us and save us from ourselves. Restore your image upon us and your Spirit within us. Amen.
Leader: The God of justice desires all to be made right in creation. When we agree to allow that to happen, then God is pleased and sends the power of the Spirit to transform us.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Praise and glory to you, O God who created us in your image and placed us in community with yourself and one another.
(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 made us to be your holy family, sisters and brothers together, but we have divided ourselves. We treat each other with disrespect in our speech, our actions, and our silence. We have done little to change our culture from one which sees other people as objects to be used for our gratification. We have sinned against one another, and we have defiled you. Come quickly to us and save us from ourselves. Restore your image upon us and your Spirit within us.
We thank you for the great blessings of being united to you and to all your creation. We thank you for those who have seen in us the value of the Christ and treated us with love and dignity. We thank you for those who have taught us how to live as people of compassion.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those whose dignity has been assailed by others. We pray for those who have failed to learn to honor and value 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
If you have pottery mugs or other objects, show some examples to the children. Explain that while they look different from one another, they are all valuable. (If you are a potter and can display your own work, then you can say how the potter values each of them.) Isaiah tells us that we are like clay that God has shaped to be who we are. We don’t all look alike, but we are all valuable. Because each of us is created by God, we should always treat each other with care.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
by Chris Keating
Mark 13:24-37
Gather ahead of time:
* A kitchen timer (or timer app on a smartphone).
* A brightly-wrapped box containing words associated with Advent: Jesus, joy, Mary, Joseph, prepare, wait, rejoice, peace, etc.
As the children gather, be sure to bring the wrapped present out where the children can see it. Tell them that you have something special to give to them. It’s exciting -- but they’ll have to wait! (At this point take out the timer and set it for two or three minutes.) Set the timer aside, and then begin to point out some of the things in church which may be different today (purple banners, an Advent wreath, candles, or any other Advent decorations). Explain or describe any particular Advent traditions which are special to your congregation, and lead the children in a conversation that helps them understand that Advent is a time of preparation and waiting. Meanwhile, the timer keeps ticking... and be sure to keep looking over at the present!
Ask them to describe what it is like to wait for something, like a special trip or a birthday present or a visit from special people. Was it hard to wait? What makes waiting hard? It is especially hard to wait and be patient at Christmastime. It’s easy to get excited by the decorations and activities. It’s even harder waiting for special presents, and sometimes our excitement over Christmas is hard to contain. When the timer dings, tell them it is time to unwrap the gift. (It’s helpful to go “over the top” in being excited about the present. The children, however, may be less excited!) Remind them that these gifts are reminders of the real meaning of Advent -- preparing our hearts to receive God’s gift of Jesus.
Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for all of your gifts. Teach us to be patient this Advent as we wait for you to come to us. Prepare us to receive your best gift, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, December 3, 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.
