Shepherds Of Malfeasance
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
For November 24, 2019:
Note: This installment is still being edited and assembled. For purposes of immediacy we are posting this for your use now with the understanding that any errors or omissions will be corrected between now and Tuesday afternoon.
Shepherds Of Malfeasance
by Dean Feldmeyer
Jeremiah 23:1-6
The prophet, Jeremiah, blamed the Babylonian captivity not so much on the Babylonians as on the ineffective, dysfunctional leaders of Judah — the priests, the politicians, the aristocracy. God had placed upon them the mantel of leadership and they had abused it to enrich themselves. They counseled the king to rely not upon God and God’s word as communicated through the prophet, but upon the power of his army and the army of Egypt who, they assured him, would surely come and save him.
But Egypt never showed up and Judah fell to Nebuchadnezzar’s army.
The shepherds of Judah were guilty of both malfeasance and misfeasance, immorally bad and ineffective leadership and, now, God would deal with them and replace them with good shepherds.
John Quincy Adams said that a true and effective leader is someone whose actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more. It’s hard to argue with that assessment.
So, what shall we say of those alleged leaders or shepherds whose actions encourage those whom they lead to dream less, learn less, do less, become less?
In the Scriptures
In today’s reading from the Hebrew scriptures, the prophet, Jeremiah, speaks to the issue of leadership.
As we have said, in this passage, he doesn’t blame Babylon or it’s king, Nebuchadnezzar, for the fall, of Judah, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, the razing of the temple, the murder of the royal family, the blinding and binding of the king, and the exile of the country’s leaders. He blames those leaders.
They are, he says, only now experiencing the consequences of their bad actions, their ineffective, incompetent, and corrupt leadership. It was that leadership, or lack thereof, that caused all of this devastating trouble and suffering.
Given the role of shepherd, they ignored their responsibility and let the flock be scattered,
The advice they gave to king Zedekiah was given not in the interest of the country. It was not given with an ear to God’s word as it came to them through God’s prophet, Jeremiah. It was not given with a view to the long-term effects of their actions.
It was given with only one thing in mind: their own prosperity and comfort.
They naively believed and convinced the king that the pharaoh, fearing that Nebuchadnezzar would, eventually, invade and try to capture Egypt, would send his army north to meet the army of Babylon at Judah and, thus, rescue the besieged people of Jerusalem.
Pharaoh Psamtik II did just that. He sent his army north under the leadership of the crown prince, Hophra, to liberate the city of Jerusalem. But Nebuchadnezzar got wind of the advancing Egyptian army and lifted the siege on Jerusalem long enough to march south and confront the Egyptians before they could leave Egypt.
As the battle raged, Pharaoh Psamtik II died, succumbing to a long illness, and Prince Hophra was called back to the capital city to claim the throne vacated by his father and, wisely, called off the battle. Nebuchadnezzar returned to re-establish the siege of Jerusalem before the residents had a chance to restock their nearly depleted supplies.
The city was now virtually defenseless so Jeremiah worked out a surrender treaty with Nebuchadnezzar: If King Zedekiah would surrender himself and humble himself before the Babylonian king his life would be forfeit but the city and its inhabitants would be spared.
Jeremiah took the offer back to King Zedekiah but his counselors did not trust Nebuchadnezzar and foolishly counseled the king to reject Babylon’s offer and hold out. Surely, they said, Egypt would march to their rescue under the new king, Hophra.
Zedekiah followed the advice of his counselors and rejected the offer of Nebuchadnezzar.
In 586 BCE, the army of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon breached the walls and entered the city of Jerusalem. Thousands of its inhabitants were put to the sword. The entire city was razed to the ground, the Temple of Solomon was burned and torn down stone by stone, and the Ark of the Covenant was carried away, never to be seen again.
The king was forced to watch as every member of his family was murdered, then he was blinded and taken back to Babylon in chains where he disappeared into the cavernous dungeons beneath the city where, presumably, he died in misery and pain.
The leadership of the country — the surviving military, the aristocracy, the priests, the educators — was marched 900 miles to Babylon where they were required to live in a ghetto at the confluence of the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers.
Jeremiah was offered a position in Nebuchadnezzar’s court as a sort of representative of the Hebrews but he refused to accept it. Instead, he stayed in Judah and tried to establish some order among the remnant that remained there.
During that time he sent letters to the exiles and many scholars believe that today’s reading is an excerpt from one of those letters. In it he rails against the poor leadership of Judah whose bad council caused the horrible circumstances in which the people — at home and in exile — now found themselves.
God, he says, is dealing with those inept, dysfunctional, self-obsessed leaders, those perpetrators of malfeasance and misfeasance, and God is using the Babylonians as his instrument of justice. In time, however, God will raise up new leadership for God’s people, leaders who will lead with justice and righteousness.
And, in time, God will raise up a single leader out of the house of David, a leader with kingly lineage, who will lead the children of Israel to live in peace and safety.
In the World
“It started by selling a single product category. But when it became clear that a sleepy, overpriced retail sector would crumble before it, there was nothing to stop the company from selling anything and everything. You could order from the comfort of your own home. You could pay a fair price. It would ship the goods right to you. Sales exploded, and if you'd picked up a big enough chunk of stock when the company went public, you'd never have to work again.”
Sound familiar?
Well, guess again, bubby. It ain’t Amazon we’re talking about, here.
The company being described is Sears. The year is 1906, the first year Sears stock went public. Their annual sales, by that time, was around $750,000 ($200 million in today’s dollars) and their mail order catalogue was over 500 pages long. Their logistics center in Chicago covered 40 acres and Henry Ford came there to study how to make a business efficient.
When Ford’s newfangled automobile made mail order less popular and retail more popular, Sears adapted and opened retail stores across the country. By 1931 revenues totaled $180 million — around $2.8 billion in today's dollars. The company began to introduce its own brands, including Craftsman, DieHard, and Kenmore and it began selling insurance through its Allstate subsidiary.
By 1969 Sears was the largest retailer in the world and, when profits began to fade they diversified into credit cards (Discover) and electronics (Prodigy). By 2000 sears.com was leading the world internet sales of home electronics, computers, office equipment, appliances, cookware, baby products, school uniforms, gifts, toys, and sports memorabilia while Amazon was just branching out from books. Sears revenue was more than $59 billion per year.
But then something happened — something that changed everything. Call it Walmart.
By 1999 Walmart was vying to become the world’s largest retailer with low prices and shiny new stores located in the suburbs and small towns with lots of free parking. Following Walmart’s model were, Target, Kohl’s, J.C. Penney, Home Depot, Lowes, and Best Buy. Shoppers flocked to them and by 2003, Sears was in trouble.
Enter Eddie Lampert, the hedge fund wunderkind who had purchased controlling interest in K-Mart just a few years earlier. Now he presented a plan where K-Mart would buy Sears. He purchased a 53% share of the staggering company for just $1 billion. The new company combining K-Mart and Sears would be called Sears Holdings.
SH made money the first year and everyone hailed Lampert as the next Warren Buffet.
Then, SH started losing money and continued to do so for the next 13 years. By 2010, the company’s profits were zero. Sears Holdings lost $10.4 billion from 2011 to 2016. In 2014, its total debt surpassed its value.
Today, the stock is worthless.
What happened? Why this dismal failure?
Most experts and analysts agree that the biggest problem was Eddie Lampert’s ego. He assumed that being a talented investor meant he would just naturally be a talented manager. He was wrong. He had literally no experience in retail sales and when his managers, with years of experience, told him that he needed to invest in sprucing up the Sears stores so they would look more like Target and Kohl’s, he scoffed at their naivety. The managers and employees just weren’t working hard enough, he said. They weren’t sufficiently motivated. He spent years experimenting with Ayn Randian management styles that pitted managers against each other and failed time after time, while Amazon was building a retail juggernaut.
His final strategy, now underway, is to make money for the few remaining stockholders — and himself — by selling off the assets of K-Mart and Sears and, eventually, closing both of the companies.
Thousands of stores closed, tens of thousands of people put out of work, hundreds of millions of dollars lost for investors, many of whom had counted on Sears and K-Mart stock for their retirements. And the only explanation for all this pain and suffering — a shepherd who knew not how to shepherd the flock that was placed within his care and knew not that he knew not.
Meanwhile…
You may not realize it but you have actually heard of a company called Intuit. It’s the company that brought us TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Mint.
It’s not a retail juggernaut like Amazon. It’s not a pop-culture retail coffee shop/gathering place like Starbucks. It’s not a big box, brick and mortar retail giant like Target or Kohl’s or Walmart. It’s just a little software company with 9,000+ employees, in 19 locations world-wide, with an annual revenue of $6 billion (2018).
And it manages to do all that while maintaining a corporate citizenship that has won for Intuit, Forbes award for “America’s Best Employers for Diversity,” the Fortune award as “One of the 100 Best Companies to Work For,” and People Magazine’s award for “Companies that Care.”
Ask anyone from Intuit employees to business analysts and they will tell you that those accolades and achievements came about via the leadership of Brad Smith. Brad, a native of West Virginia who never tires of telling others about the greatness of his home state and his alma mater, Marshall U., served as the C.E.O. from 2008 to 2019 and now chairman of the board of directors.
It was under Smith’s leadership that the company developed a set of “core values” that include such things as “create a vision that inspires,” “think beyond what is accepted as possible,” and “never stop short of awesome.”
He also led in creating a statement of corporate responsibility that includes “diversity and inclusion,” “education,” and “environmental sustainability.”
The company’s mission statement describes a company whose “strategy builds on the strengths of our people, products and partners,” in a way that “will enable us to power prosperity in communities around the world.”
In short, Brad Smith is a leader who encourages his people to dream dreams and have visions, who insists on corporate accountability at both the local and global level, who looks to the well-being of employees at the every level, and who sees the work of the company as helping people solve the problems that are holding them back from their prosperity goals.
Little wonder that, under Brad Smith’s leadership, Intuit grew “from a desktop software company to a global, cloud-based product and platform company in just eleven years.
Brad Smith is a shepherd who cares for his flock so his flock has grown and multiplied.
In the Pulpit
The powerful story of the fall of Jerusalem to the army of Nebuchadnezzar is one worth telling and retelling. Not only is it a fascinating lesson in biblical history, it is also a parable for our own times.
Jeremiah’s letter indicting the leadership whose bad choices led to the fall of Judah and the exile, serves as a kind of epilogue to the rest of the story.
In it he offers the metaphor of the shepherd as leader:
The bad shepherd does not attend to the flock but attends to his/her own interests. The bad shepherd sews fear and distrust and consternation and distress. As a result, the sheep are scattered and, eventually, destroyed.
The good shepherd attends to the flock and cares for them. The good shepherd brings the individual sheep, who have fled in fear and panic, back to the fold where they can be protected, where they can be fruitful and multiply.
We thrive best when we are part of a community and the good leader knows this and works to build up the community so that all within it can thrive.
The good leader leads with wisdom and executes justice and righteousness for all. Only with this kind of leadership can the people be saved and live in safety.
The two illustrations from the contemporary business world (above) are worthy examples of how these principles of leadership play out in 21st century America.
But, as we approach an election year, we might also ask ourselves how we would apply these leadership principles to the ones we will elect to lead us.
I recently heard a radio interview where a political analyst suggested that the most appropriate way to prepare ourselves to enter the voting booth is not to ask how the different candidates make me feel but by asking what kind of country do I want my country to be, and where do I want it to go, and which candidate is the one best suited and best equipped to take it there.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Small Wonder(s)
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 1:68-79
I have a colleague who has thought for years that the Gospel of Luke should be rendered as an opera, or at least a musical. While “Godspell” took a crack at that concept five decades ago, he believes there is still room for some creative soul to turn some of the “songs” one finds in the very beginning of Luke into “production numbers.” Cue the extras in dusty tunics and sandals!
Today’s alternative Psalm reading is the song of Zechariah. Let’s put this fellow into context. Zechariah is pretty old. He’s on the priestly staff at the temple. It fell to him once that he got to offer incense in the temple. While he was there, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and said that his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son — shades of the birth of Isaac to Sarah and Abraham. Just like Abe and Sarah, Zechariah didn’t believe this good news. Elizabeth is barren, and she’s also old. The text isn’t quite as explicit of Genesis’s account — which says of Sarah, “It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women” (Genesis 18:11, NRSV) — you get the idea, this child promised to Zechariah is a miracle.
Zechariah, like any sane person in the Bible is terrified by the sight of the angel there in the temple. Zechariah can’t believe what the angel told him. For this hesitancy to trust the Lord’s messenger, Zechariah is struck dumb.
There’s Zechariah, the unwilling convert to Quakerism. He walks out of the temple. The people know he had a vision, but Zechariah is unable to tell the people about what he saw and heard. (Remember, visions are more than pictures.) His term at the temple ends and he heads home to Elizabeth. She conceives.
Meanwhile, the Angel Gabriel is given another stop on his message delivery route. This time he goes to Galilee, specifically Nazareth, and tells a betrothed virgin named Mary that she’s going to have a son. Mary is only perplexed, not fearful, of the angel. Gabe gets off to a better start this time, he begins, “Greetings, favored one!” It is commonly believed that Mary was very young, probably a teenager. I do not find anything in the text to suggest her age. She’s younger than Elizabeth. And presumably it had not ceased to be for her after the manner of women. In Mary’s case the reason she’s unlikely to conceive is, as she points out to Gabe, “I am a virgin.”
OK, so we’ve got two women, both of whom have conceived children miraculously. They’re cousins. Mary pays a visit to her older cousin and the promised fruit of Elizabeth’s womb does a happy dance when she (Elizabeth) and or he (John, in utero) hears Mary’s greeting. Things are going so well, the women are feeling the presence of the Lord so strongly, that Mary bursts into song. This is the Magnificat, also known as Luke’s first production number. You can skip this today; it’s one of the readings for the Third Sunday of Advent.
Another echo of the story of Sarah giving birth to Isaac: In Genesis 18:14, the Lord asks among the oaks at Mamre, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” In Luke 1:37, Gabriel says “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Mary heads home and Elizabeth has her baby. Elizabeth wants to name her baby John, but the crowd tries to talk her out of it. They ask Zechariah to break the tie and give him something to write on. (Why they didn’t think of this a few months earlier when he was first struck dumb at the temple is unclear. Presumably Zechariah could have written a description of his vision, or drawn a picture. Maybe they just couldn’t find a pen that writes. Frustrating.)
When Zechariah gets his speech back he breaks into song. The second production number. If you want to hear a beautiful, haunting rendering of the Song of Zechariah, check out Sting’s CD “If on a Winter’s Night.”
The Song of Zechariah continues a theme that recurs throughout Luke’s gospel: the sense of wonder or awe.
More than the other gospels, Luke presents Jesus as one who is amazing, awesome — in the true sense of the word — perplexing, baffling….
There’s a lot of pondering in Luke’s gospel, as though the author knows the reader needs a moment to collect her thoughts at what she has just seen and heard.
After John was born, “all who heard pondered…”
The third production number in Luke — and this one blows the special effects budget—is the angel shining the glory of God around itself, terrifying the shepherds then…wait for it…an army of the angels of heaven, a multitude singing, praising God.
The shepherds bust to Bethlehem and find that the angel who preceded the stage-filling extravaganza, had accurately described that they would see. They make their appearance in the spare room and exit the stage “glorifying and praising God.” At this point, it might be wise to reprise one of the themes that has already appeared.
The first act of this musical does not end when the shepherds dance off the stage. Sure, sure “everyone who heard what the shepherds told them” was amazed. On stage, Mary sits alone, with a single, weak spotlight on her, as she treasures the words of the shepherds and ponders them in her heart.
In all seriousness, today’s reading from Luke really does foreshadow a theme that you might want to pick up throughout Advent. Or themes. There’s the wonder, fear, awe, confusing that Jesus continually inspired in those who encounter him. There are also lulls in the text that are too often overlooked.
In chapter two of Luke there’s a possibility of two ballads when Jesus is presented in the temple. Or maybe you want to combine Simeon and Anna and have them sing a souring duet as at last, they realize in their old age, that deliverance has come!
In the third chapter, there’s the only mention of Jesus between infancy and the start of his ministry at his baptism. (His cousin did the deed by the way, so their reunion might inspire another song.) Jesus spends a few days away from his family. He’s 12 and instead of joining the troupe heading back to Nazareth, he spends a couple days in the temple, amazing (there it is again) the people who hear him there. He’s kind of sassy to his parents when they find him, “Hey Mom and Dad, duh, you shoulda looked for me here in the first place!” He gets that out of his system and returns home. “His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
Wonder, amazing things that stun the people, and silence or dramatic pauses do not balance one another in Luke. There are many more dazzling than contemplative moments. Still, Luke is alone in describing the “action” the day following the crucifixion: “On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.” (Luke 23:56b, NRSV) Is there a bigger dramatic pause anywhere?
Small Wonders
Rachel Carson is best known for writing “Silent Spring” which called attention to the disastrous effect DDT was having on song birds. Another book of hers is worth spending about an hour reading: “The Sense of Wonder.” Especially now, more than 50 years later, we need to hear Carson’s call for us to see the wonder of nature all around us, and especially to help our children cultivate a sense of wonder.
Carson writes, “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful…” And somewhere before we reach adulthood “our true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring is dimmed.”
For Rachel Carson, the sense of wonder was necessary for faith, faith’s foundation, and “an unfailing antidote to boredom and disenchantments of later years…the alienation from the sources of our strength.”
Here in the Midwest as winter is coming, we see Sun Dogs increasingly in the afternoon sky. For the uninitiated Sun Dogs are those sort of wadded up rainbows one can see on either side of the Sun on cold, clear days. Take some time to marvel at their beauty, to let their beauty point you back to the Creator.
Last week a 97-year-old member of the congregation I serve had her hip replaced. She went home the next day (Apparently her case was too serious to handle at Drive-Thru.) She was filled with joy that her pain had finally ended, even though she faced several weeks of rehab. Things like successful hip replacements are no less wonderful because we understand how they happen. Take a moment to marvel at wonderful things that surround us every day. You do not have to be struck dumb to be touched by the miracles of the modern world you live in. Give thanks, not just for wonderful things, large and small, but also for the ability to recognize the wonderful. This season, be “wonder-filled!”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
Luke 1:68
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
Charles Dickens wrote a Christmas poem that is probably unfamiliar to most people. The title of the poem is A Christmas Tree. The opening line reads, “I have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their heads.” The poem then describes that on the table, surrounding the tree, is everything a child could desire — toys, fruit, candy, and the tree even preforms a play. His poem makes a subtle transition that this is the Christmas tree that Dickens himself imagined as a child. A line that I particularly like reads, “Now, a bell rings—a magic bell, which still sounds in my ears unlike all other bells…”
The poem ends describing this magical tree blest Dickens life and the lives of all children everywhere. Dickens wrote, “Now, the tree is decorated with bright merriment, and song, and dance, and cheerfulness. And they are welcome. Innocent and welcome be they ever held, beneath the branches of the Christmas Tree, which cast no gloomy shadow! But, as it sinks into the ground, I hear a whisper going through the leaves. ‘This, in commemoration of the law of love and kindness, mercy and compassion. This, in remembrance of me!’”
* * *
Jeremiah 23:3
Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
The Christmas song Santa Claus is Coming to Town is one in which we sing with merriment, but in fact it is a tragic song. The composer, James Lamont Gillespie, born in 1888, grew up in Covington, Kentucky, a small town in the hills that overlooked the Ohio River. He was born into abject poverty. He lived with his eight siblings in a tiny basement apartment that was rodent infested. When the holiday season approached his mother often reminded her nine children that Santa always knew if you were good or bad, even when you were asleep. She would often point her finger at one of the children and say, “You better watch out, you better be good, because Santa Claus is soon coming to town.”
Lamont went through a series of jobs, but his desire was always to write music. Gillespie was writing for The New York Times when he received an invitation to compose a Christmas song. The invitation came from the manager of Eddie Cantor. Cantor in 1933 was the world’s highest-paid radio and box office star.
When Gillespie got the call, he was in a state of mourning the recent death of his brother in Kentucky. It was once again the holiday season, and he kept thinking of how his mother chastised him and his eight siblings during the Christmas season. “Santa always knew if you were good or bad, even when you were asleep.” “You better watch out, you better be good, because Santa Claus is soon coming to town.” With these thoughts, riding home on the subway, Gillespie pulled an envelope from his pocket and penned the lines of the song in fifteen minutes.
On a national broadcast, Cantor sang the song for the first time at the November 1934 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Within twenty-four hours more than 30,000 records were sold along with 100,000 copies of the sheet music. Since then the song has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Mariah Carey.
After Cantor first sang the song, Gillespie never listened to it again because of the sad and bad memories that it brought forth. See the original lyrics written by Gillespie.
* * *
Jeremiah 23:1
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.
On Saturday, October 26, 2019, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the second largest mall in the United States opened its doors to shoppers. It will showcase three million square feet of leasable space dedicated to more than a dozen entertainment attractions like a 16-story indoor ski slope, rollercoaster, waterpark and eventually 450 retail, food and specialty shops. American Dream is looking to draw 40 million visitors in its first year, with entertainment accounting for more than half of its space. Attractions include a bunny field and an aviary. There will also be such amenities as a doggy day care and a luxury wing, where shoppers can sip champagne and sample caviar as they wait to have their designer handbags wrapped. Two hotels with a total of 3,500 rooms are being planned next to the complex. Ken Downing, chief creative officer for the Triple Five Group, the mall’s developer, said “You can make it your backyard playground if you live in Manhattan or even if you’re in New Jersey. It’s a staycation. So, it’s a little bit of competing with mindset and emotion, far more than a property or even Disneyland.”
* * *
Jeremiah 23:1
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.
Highlighting football news occurred on November 14, 2019, the Thursday night football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. With eight seconds left in the Browns’ 21-7 win, a brawl broke out. Myles Garrett, a defensive end for the Browns, attacked the Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. What made the fight so serious is that Garret ripped the helmet off of Rudolph’s head, and then the 272-pound Garret began to hit Rudolf with the helmet. Joe Buck, the games announcer for Fox news said during the brawl, “That’s one of the worst things I’ve seen on a professional sports field.” After the game Browns quarterback Erin Andrews was interviewed. He told reporters, “It’s inexcusable. I don’t care, rivalry or not. We can’t do that. It’s endangering the other team. It’s inexcusable. He knows that. I hope he does now. That’s tough. We’ll see. The reality is, he’s going to get suspended and we don’t know how long and that hurts our team. We can’t do that. We can’t continue to hurt this team. It’s inexcusable.”
* * *
Jeremiah 23:4
I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.
“Pa vobis.” In Latin the greeting means “Peace be with you.” To which the congregants responds, “Et cum spiritu tuo,” which means in Latin, “And also with you.” It is the opening words for every pope’s Christmas Eve sermon, always titled, “Urbi et Orbi,” meaning “to the city and to the world.” Pope Benedict XVI, who served from 2005 until his resignation in 2013, hoped that Christians would bring consolation to “those who are still denied their legitimate aspirations for a more secure existence, for health, education, stable employment, for fuller participation in civil and political responsibilities, free from oppression and protected from conditions that offend human dignity.” It is a calling that should be heard every Christmas season, a season of peace on earth. The Pope challenged the world, and it is a challenge that is still before us this day, “May the child of Jesus bring relief to those who are suffering and may he bestow upon political leaders the wisdom and courage to seek and find humane, just and lasting solutions.”
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:
Colossians 1:11-20
Being Made Strong
The Letter to the Colossians offers a prayer that the church may be “made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience.” Activist Lizzie Velasquez is a living embodiment of the strength that can come through adversity. Born with a rare disease, her face has an unusual shape, and her body is unable to gain weight. At 17, Velasquez dealt with harsh online bullying, and people who saw her on YouTube called her the “Ugliest Woman in the World.” The comments included things like “Why did your parents keep you?” and “Kill it with fire.”
Velasquez remembers, “Honestly, I had no idea I was different from other kids until I started kindergarten. To my family, I was just Lizzie. It was a big slap of reality for a 5-year-old. The other kids were scared of me, pointing at me, not wanting to sit with me. I couldn’t process it. I wasn’t doing anything to them, so why was it happening to me? And I didn’t dare tell anyone. Finally, I told my parents and they said, “There is nothing wrong with you, you are just smaller than the other kids. You are beautiful and smart and can accomplish anything.” My parents gave me an incredible foundation and a strong faith in who I am. They loved me in the face of so many unknowns. When I was first born, doctors said they might have to care for me my whole life. But my family surrounded me with the most incredible support system. As I got older, I knew my syndrome wasn’t going away. It was a hard pill to swallow. I wanted to look like everyone else and blend in, and I couldn’t find a way to make that happen. I couldn’t blame the doctors or my parents, so I blamed myself.”
Her life improved in high school, when, as she says, “I realized I had power over my own life - to be positive. I decided to be brave and join activities and make friends and learn how to be outgoing. It was scary, but I knew it would pay off.” Then she saw the video of herself, and read all the hurtful comments. “I felt like someone was putting a fist through the computer screen and physically punching me. I bawled my eyes out.” She doesn’t know who labeled her “ugliest woman in the world” but says if she did, she would “send a thank you card and flowers because that video changed my life for the better.”
She was determined to prove those harsh judges wrong, and today is an anti-bullying activist. She has great strength, which she continues to cultivate, and says, “It might seem like I am having an incredible life, but I still have bad days. I am still processing the fact that I have a final diagnosis on my health. I have a weak immune system and if I am on the go for weeks straight and don’t have a full day to recover, it hits me pretty hard. The doctors say I have to take care of myself first to help others. The most frequent question I am asked is how do I stay so positive. I always tell people I allow myself sad days to be alone and close the blinds and listen to sad music like Adele and cry, eat junk food and have a pity party. I let it out of my system for one day, but the sun comes out the next day I have the power to go on.”
* * *
Luke 23:33-43
Christ the King
In his book Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People, Bob Goff writes about a trip to Disney and the Magic Kingdom. He was schedule to give a talk, and so the organizers sent a limo to the airport for him. On the ride, he started talking to the limo driver, asking if the driver enjoyed his job. Yes, the driver said and added, “I’m really going to miss this job, because I’m retiring next month.” Bob Goff says, “I sat back in my seat, watched the palm trees pass by for a few more minutes, and then I had a thought. I leaned forward and said through the glass, “Hey buddy, have you ever ridden in the back of one of these limos? I bet you’d love it. They’re terrific!” He laughed and said, “Of course not. I’d get fired.” Now I had my arm through the glass between the driver’s seat and the living-room-sized back seats in the limo. I think I even got a shoulder through the window. “Hey, you’re retiring anyway. Pull over!” I said. And you know what? He did! I got out of the back of the car, and we swapped places. He got in the back, and I put on his hat and jumped behind the wheel and drove us to Disney World. He got there about fifteen minutes after me — it was a pretty long limo."
This reversal embodies the kingdom that Jesus talks about. As Bob Goff says, "You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in…kingdoms are built from the people up. There’s no set of plans — just Jesus.” The Magic Kingdom may not be what God has planned, but the people of God’s realm are everywhere we look.
* * *
Thanksgiving
Gratitude
At this time of year, gratitude is much discussed, and we commit ourselves to remembering how fortunate we are. Other cultures have things we can learn to take our practice of thanksgiving to an even deeper level. Kira Newman writes, “If you’re trying to become happier, you’ve probably heard the advice to practice gratitude. “Gratitude is literally one of the few things that can measurably change people’s lives,” writes pioneering researcher Robert Emmons in his book Thanks! His studies suggest that gratitude can improve our health and relationships — making it one of the most well-studied and effective ways to increase our well-being in life. But prescribing gratitude to everyone is a problem: Most of what we know about it comes from studying Americans — and, specifically, the mainly white American college students from the campuses where researchers work.” In a diverse world, we can learn from our neighbors how to live more fully with our thanksgiving.
Researchers say we can express gratitude in three different ways: 1) Verbal gratitude: Saying thank you in some way. 2) Concrete gratitude: Reciprocating with something the child likes, such as offering the person some candy or a toy. 3) Connective gratitude: Reciprocating with something the wish-granter would like, such as friendship or help.
“Overall, children in China and South Korea tended to favor connective gratitude, while kids in the United States leaned toward concrete gratitude. Children in Guatemala — where it’s common to say “Thanks be to God” in everyday speech — were particularly partial to verbal gratitude.”
We’re often instructed to write down our gratitude, but that practice has mixed results, depending on our cultural background. “This was the question behind a 2011 study in which researchers invited Anglo Americans and Asian Americans to write gratitude letters to their friends and family. Each week, some people wrote for 10 minutes about their appreciation, and others (as a comparison) simply wrote about what they had done that week. They also reported how satisfied they were with life. After six weeks of gratitude, the Anglo Americans saw a boost in their well-being…But the Asian Americans did not; their satisfaction with life barely changed…Why don’t Asian and Asian American participants see the same benefit from this practice? Expressing appreciation for other people’s help may generate more mixed emotions for them, such as indebtedness, guilt, and regret.”
As we move toward Thanksgiving, and think about the importance of gratitude in our own lives, Newman concludes, “Gratitude is, after all, ultimately a skill that strengthens our relationships — and it arises when we pay more attention to our relationships and all the gifts they bring us.
* * *
Luke 1:68-79
Silence
Zechariah spends less than a year without being able to speak, and it reshapes his connection with God. Joseph Dispenza had an even more dramatic experience with silence, and he tells about entering a monastery as a young man. He says, “A few weeks after I graduated from high school, I left home and went away to a monastery. For the next eight years I lived the life of a monk — a solitary life of prayer, work, contemplation, fasting, and silence. Within the walls of the monastery my life was not much different from the life of a monk of the Middle Ages. I was part of a community of about 60 monks, ranging in age from 18, like me, to 80. The monastery was self-sufficient. We grew our own food in the fields around the monastery, which was in a remote farming area in the American Midwest. Our life was the simplest imaginable. We wore plain clothing, ate humble meals, and, at night, retired to small individual rooms that were furnished only with bed, sink, desk, and chair.” He adds, “When I tell people that I spent an entire year in silence, their expressions usually stop cold, waiting for their minds to catch up with the novel information…Being silent was not difficult for me. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that once I went into the silence, I was not interested, most of the time, in speaking.”
For Dispenza, the silence of the monastery “had both an interior and an exterior character.” Silence from the inside meant not talking, in the first place, but also something deeper: it had to do with quieting the mind, not being busy inside. Inner silence also carried the idea of refraining from judgment and staying away from thinking about the past and the future. Being silent within was really being at once absent from the world of busy-ness and at the same time present in the moment. Silence on the outside had to do with keeping away anything that did not foster inner silence. So, no radio or television or newspapers or magazines found their way behind the walls of the monastery. There were no computers in those days — and therefore no Internet, no email, no Facebook, no Twitter; if there had been computers, they would not have been part of our monastery.”
He adds that when one is silent for a long period, “the outer noise goes first, and then the inner noise starts to evaporate. Soon, quiet reigns everywhere, it seems. Time slows to a crawl. Sound becomes a curiosity — natural sounds, especially, like the flow of water or the rustle and sway of tall grass, become occasions for deeper listening and lead to a most profound inner calm.” Perhaps this happens to Zechariah, too, and leads him closer to God.
* * *
Luke 1:68-79
Seeing Anew
In his time of enforced silence, Zechariah has plenty of time to think about what God can and can’t do. Without the ability to speak, he has to listen, and the time without words teaches him to see God’s world differently. Attorney and philanthropist Bob Goff says, [in his book Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People] "We’ll see what we spend the most time looking for." Zechariah finally learns to look for God at work, and sees it in the birth of John.
Goff himself has an eye condition which requires frequent treatment. He says, “They’ve done quite a few operations on my eye since I had my problem. Before every operation, I always ask my eye doctor how much I’ll be able to see afterward. You know what? She’s never told me. Instead, each time she just says, “Bob, you’re going to see more.” At first I felt like she was dodging the question. I was looking for a prognosis for my eye, but she gave me something far better. I got a promise from someone I could trust and a reminder about my life. It’s the same promise God gives us every day. We want God to tell us all the details, but all we usually get is a promise that we’ll see more of Him if we look in the right places. This doctor knows what she’s doing. She practically invented eyes. Jesus knows what He’s doing, too, and He did invent eyes. Because I trust both of them, I’m okay with the promise I’ll see more."
Like Zechariah, we can all learn to see more of God at work in our lives.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Blessed be the God of Israel.
People: God has looked favorably on us and redeemed us.
Leader: God has raised up a mighty savior for us.
People: By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn will break upon us.
Leader: It will give light to those who sit in darkness.
People: It will guide our feet into the way of peace.
OR
Leader: Let us bless our God who reigns over all.
People: We bless and praise our God and our Sovereign.
Leader: God comes to lead us in the power of love.
People: We are lost and needs God’s guidance.
Leader: God comes as a shepherd who calls us to shepherd others.
People: With God’s help we will reach out in love and care to others.
Hymns and Songs:
Crown Him with Many Crowns
UMH: 327
H82: 494
PH: 151
AAHH: 288
NNBH: 125
NCH: 301
CH: 234
LBW: 170
ELW: 855
W&P: 317
AMEC: 174
Renew: 56
Rejoice, the Lord Is King
UMH: 715/716
H82: 481
PH: 155
NCH: 303
CH: 699
LBW: 171
ELW: 430
W&P: 342
AMEC: 88/89
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
UMH: 138
H82: 645/646
PH: 171
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELW: 502
Renew: 106
The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want
UMH: 136
NNBH: 237/241
CH: 78
LBW: 451
ELW: 778
W&P: 86
AMEC: 208
We Gather Together
UMH: 131
H82: 433
PH: 559
AAHH:
NNBH: 326
NCH: 421
CH: 276
ELW: 449
W&P: 81
AMEC: 576
STLT: 349
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
UMH: 430
H82: 659/660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELW: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
O God of Every Nation
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELW: 713
W&P: 626
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
All Hail King Jesus
CCB: 29
Renew: 35
Our God Reigns
CCB: 33
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who shepherds us with tender mercies:
Grant that we may graciously care for those in our care
with mercy, justice, and humility;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you are the Good Shepherd who cares for us all. Your tender mercies are ever around us. Help us to also care for those whom we watch over with mercy, justice, and humility. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we are thoughtless about those who have been entrusted to our care.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us to be care givers and protectors of all your children which we encounter and yet we have failed to care for even those closest to us. We spend our time looking out for ourselves and our own interests and fail to watch over others. We are especially neglectful of those who are most in need of our care. Help us to truly honor the Christ as our sovereign by following his example in caring for others with loving compassion. Amen.
Leader: God is our good shepherd and welcomes us all to join in caring for the flock. Receive God’s forgiveness and grace and become a shepherd with Christ.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God, for you are our sovereign. You are one who reigns over all creation in love.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us to be care givers and protectors of all your children which we encounter and yet we have failed to care for even those closest to us. We spend our time looking out for ourselves and our own interests and fail to watch over others. We are especially neglectful of those who are most in need of our care. Help us to truly honor the Christ as our sovereign by following his example in caring for others with loving compassion.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received from your gracious bounty. We especially thank you for the care and guidance you have given us through the thoughtfulness of others. We thank you for those who have watched over us and guided us to you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who feel lost in this life and feel alone and uncared for. We pray for those who struggle to know how best to care for loved ones who are in difficult places in their lives.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
We usually think about God blessing us or we think about asking God to bless our food but Zechariah blessed God. We bless God by praising God and thanking God for all the good things we receive. Have the children say some things for which they would like to bless God.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
We Could Be Royals!
by Chris Keating
Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43, Luke 1:68-79
Since Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday is a relative newbie to the church calendar, it may provide an opportunity for teaching children and adults about its theological and liturgical role. As the culminating feast of the church’s calendar, it takes us to the brink of Advent and offers an opportunity to reflect on what we mean to proclaim Christ “King of Kings.” Jesus Christ is king — but what is the nature of his kingdom?
It’s a complicated theological issue which may be hard to introduce to children whose primary understanding of royalty has been shaped by Disney characters and make-believe notions of all-powerful rulers adorned with crowns and regal regalia. Yet perhaps Disney’s narratives might make for an interesting introduction to this less-well known Sunday of the church year.
Begin the time with children by retelling (or, more bravely, singing) the song young Simba sings in “The Lion King.” As he jaunts across the Pride Lands, Simba sings “I just can’t wait to be king!” Remind the children why Simba wanted to be king: “I’m going to be the main event…no one saying ‘do this,’ no one saying ‘be there.” It’s a great song that captures a familiar notion of what it means to be a queen or king.
What would it be like to be a royal?
All children can identify with that idea. Explore it with them: make believe you are a king, or a queen or a prince/princess. What laws would you pass? What pronouncements might you make? What sort of actions might they take? Wonder with them about the “work” of being a real king or queen, which is often more like a servant than we normally believe. If the children are older, you might explain that while there are 26 monarchies in the world today, few of them have the sort of authority Simba thinks he will have. In truth, many royal families have quite limited roles.
The prophet Jeremiah told people that God wanted kings to act with compassion and justice, acting like wise and faithful shepherds. Jeremiah announces that the king who is coming to reign over Israel will be one who acts faithfully and with justice. That’s not just a king or queen who does what he or she wants, but a ruler who acts in love.
That is also the image offered by Colossians. Rather than trying to tease apart the complicated argument of the epistle, you might consider passing around paper crowns with words which describe Jesus as king. Use words from Colossians, such as “forgiveness,” “creator,” and “peace.” Jesus did not grow up singing, “I just can’t wait to be king,” but instead knew that bringing about the kingdom of God must include giving of himself in ways that were different from the way royalty usually acted.
Zechariah’s song in Luke (“the benedictus”) also spells out the way Jesus acts as a ruler. The same is true for the Gospel reading from Luke 22:33-43. In each instance, scripture points to Jesus as bringing the reign of God like a king — but a king who is quite different from a Disney prince or princess.
You may consider ending the children’s time by singing the very simple and easy to learn Cameroonian song, “Jesus, We are Here,” (Jesu, tawa pano). “We are here for you,” the lyrics go, a reminder that we are sent by Jesus to continue the work of the kingdom which he began: sharing, caring, loving, serving.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 24, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Shepherds Of Malfeasance by Dean Feldmeyer — A true and effective leader, said John Quincy Adams, is someone whose actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more. The prophet, Jeremiah, would have agreed.
- Second Thoughts: Small Wonder(s) by Tom Willadsen — Once Zechariah regains his speech, his first words are a song of praise to God — not a complaint, like many people might have.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin and Ron Love.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on shepherds: the good, the bad, and the ugly; things to sing praises about.
- Children’s sermon: We Could Be Royals! by Chris Keating — We learn what it means to be a part of God’s kingdom by sharing in Jesus’ work.
Note: This installment is still being edited and assembled. For purposes of immediacy we are posting this for your use now with the understanding that any errors or omissions will be corrected between now and Tuesday afternoon.
Shepherds Of Malfeasanceby Dean Feldmeyer
Jeremiah 23:1-6
The prophet, Jeremiah, blamed the Babylonian captivity not so much on the Babylonians as on the ineffective, dysfunctional leaders of Judah — the priests, the politicians, the aristocracy. God had placed upon them the mantel of leadership and they had abused it to enrich themselves. They counseled the king to rely not upon God and God’s word as communicated through the prophet, but upon the power of his army and the army of Egypt who, they assured him, would surely come and save him.
But Egypt never showed up and Judah fell to Nebuchadnezzar’s army.
The shepherds of Judah were guilty of both malfeasance and misfeasance, immorally bad and ineffective leadership and, now, God would deal with them and replace them with good shepherds.
John Quincy Adams said that a true and effective leader is someone whose actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more. It’s hard to argue with that assessment.
So, what shall we say of those alleged leaders or shepherds whose actions encourage those whom they lead to dream less, learn less, do less, become less?
In the Scriptures
In today’s reading from the Hebrew scriptures, the prophet, Jeremiah, speaks to the issue of leadership.
As we have said, in this passage, he doesn’t blame Babylon or it’s king, Nebuchadnezzar, for the fall, of Judah, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, the razing of the temple, the murder of the royal family, the blinding and binding of the king, and the exile of the country’s leaders. He blames those leaders.
They are, he says, only now experiencing the consequences of their bad actions, their ineffective, incompetent, and corrupt leadership. It was that leadership, or lack thereof, that caused all of this devastating trouble and suffering.
Given the role of shepherd, they ignored their responsibility and let the flock be scattered,
The advice they gave to king Zedekiah was given not in the interest of the country. It was not given with an ear to God’s word as it came to them through God’s prophet, Jeremiah. It was not given with a view to the long-term effects of their actions.
It was given with only one thing in mind: their own prosperity and comfort.
They naively believed and convinced the king that the pharaoh, fearing that Nebuchadnezzar would, eventually, invade and try to capture Egypt, would send his army north to meet the army of Babylon at Judah and, thus, rescue the besieged people of Jerusalem.
Pharaoh Psamtik II did just that. He sent his army north under the leadership of the crown prince, Hophra, to liberate the city of Jerusalem. But Nebuchadnezzar got wind of the advancing Egyptian army and lifted the siege on Jerusalem long enough to march south and confront the Egyptians before they could leave Egypt.
As the battle raged, Pharaoh Psamtik II died, succumbing to a long illness, and Prince Hophra was called back to the capital city to claim the throne vacated by his father and, wisely, called off the battle. Nebuchadnezzar returned to re-establish the siege of Jerusalem before the residents had a chance to restock their nearly depleted supplies.
The city was now virtually defenseless so Jeremiah worked out a surrender treaty with Nebuchadnezzar: If King Zedekiah would surrender himself and humble himself before the Babylonian king his life would be forfeit but the city and its inhabitants would be spared.
Jeremiah took the offer back to King Zedekiah but his counselors did not trust Nebuchadnezzar and foolishly counseled the king to reject Babylon’s offer and hold out. Surely, they said, Egypt would march to their rescue under the new king, Hophra.
Zedekiah followed the advice of his counselors and rejected the offer of Nebuchadnezzar.
In 586 BCE, the army of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon breached the walls and entered the city of Jerusalem. Thousands of its inhabitants were put to the sword. The entire city was razed to the ground, the Temple of Solomon was burned and torn down stone by stone, and the Ark of the Covenant was carried away, never to be seen again.
The king was forced to watch as every member of his family was murdered, then he was blinded and taken back to Babylon in chains where he disappeared into the cavernous dungeons beneath the city where, presumably, he died in misery and pain.
The leadership of the country — the surviving military, the aristocracy, the priests, the educators — was marched 900 miles to Babylon where they were required to live in a ghetto at the confluence of the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers.
Jeremiah was offered a position in Nebuchadnezzar’s court as a sort of representative of the Hebrews but he refused to accept it. Instead, he stayed in Judah and tried to establish some order among the remnant that remained there.
During that time he sent letters to the exiles and many scholars believe that today’s reading is an excerpt from one of those letters. In it he rails against the poor leadership of Judah whose bad council caused the horrible circumstances in which the people — at home and in exile — now found themselves.
God, he says, is dealing with those inept, dysfunctional, self-obsessed leaders, those perpetrators of malfeasance and misfeasance, and God is using the Babylonians as his instrument of justice. In time, however, God will raise up new leadership for God’s people, leaders who will lead with justice and righteousness.
And, in time, God will raise up a single leader out of the house of David, a leader with kingly lineage, who will lead the children of Israel to live in peace and safety.
In the World
“It started by selling a single product category. But when it became clear that a sleepy, overpriced retail sector would crumble before it, there was nothing to stop the company from selling anything and everything. You could order from the comfort of your own home. You could pay a fair price. It would ship the goods right to you. Sales exploded, and if you'd picked up a big enough chunk of stock when the company went public, you'd never have to work again.”
Sound familiar?
Well, guess again, bubby. It ain’t Amazon we’re talking about, here.
The company being described is Sears. The year is 1906, the first year Sears stock went public. Their annual sales, by that time, was around $750,000 ($200 million in today’s dollars) and their mail order catalogue was over 500 pages long. Their logistics center in Chicago covered 40 acres and Henry Ford came there to study how to make a business efficient.
When Ford’s newfangled automobile made mail order less popular and retail more popular, Sears adapted and opened retail stores across the country. By 1931 revenues totaled $180 million — around $2.8 billion in today's dollars. The company began to introduce its own brands, including Craftsman, DieHard, and Kenmore and it began selling insurance through its Allstate subsidiary.
By 1969 Sears was the largest retailer in the world and, when profits began to fade they diversified into credit cards (Discover) and electronics (Prodigy). By 2000 sears.com was leading the world internet sales of home electronics, computers, office equipment, appliances, cookware, baby products, school uniforms, gifts, toys, and sports memorabilia while Amazon was just branching out from books. Sears revenue was more than $59 billion per year.
But then something happened — something that changed everything. Call it Walmart.
By 1999 Walmart was vying to become the world’s largest retailer with low prices and shiny new stores located in the suburbs and small towns with lots of free parking. Following Walmart’s model were, Target, Kohl’s, J.C. Penney, Home Depot, Lowes, and Best Buy. Shoppers flocked to them and by 2003, Sears was in trouble.
Enter Eddie Lampert, the hedge fund wunderkind who had purchased controlling interest in K-Mart just a few years earlier. Now he presented a plan where K-Mart would buy Sears. He purchased a 53% share of the staggering company for just $1 billion. The new company combining K-Mart and Sears would be called Sears Holdings.
SH made money the first year and everyone hailed Lampert as the next Warren Buffet.
Then, SH started losing money and continued to do so for the next 13 years. By 2010, the company’s profits were zero. Sears Holdings lost $10.4 billion from 2011 to 2016. In 2014, its total debt surpassed its value.
Today, the stock is worthless.
What happened? Why this dismal failure?
Most experts and analysts agree that the biggest problem was Eddie Lampert’s ego. He assumed that being a talented investor meant he would just naturally be a talented manager. He was wrong. He had literally no experience in retail sales and when his managers, with years of experience, told him that he needed to invest in sprucing up the Sears stores so they would look more like Target and Kohl’s, he scoffed at their naivety. The managers and employees just weren’t working hard enough, he said. They weren’t sufficiently motivated. He spent years experimenting with Ayn Randian management styles that pitted managers against each other and failed time after time, while Amazon was building a retail juggernaut.
His final strategy, now underway, is to make money for the few remaining stockholders — and himself — by selling off the assets of K-Mart and Sears and, eventually, closing both of the companies.
Thousands of stores closed, tens of thousands of people put out of work, hundreds of millions of dollars lost for investors, many of whom had counted on Sears and K-Mart stock for their retirements. And the only explanation for all this pain and suffering — a shepherd who knew not how to shepherd the flock that was placed within his care and knew not that he knew not.
Meanwhile…
You may not realize it but you have actually heard of a company called Intuit. It’s the company that brought us TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Mint.
It’s not a retail juggernaut like Amazon. It’s not a pop-culture retail coffee shop/gathering place like Starbucks. It’s not a big box, brick and mortar retail giant like Target or Kohl’s or Walmart. It’s just a little software company with 9,000+ employees, in 19 locations world-wide, with an annual revenue of $6 billion (2018).
And it manages to do all that while maintaining a corporate citizenship that has won for Intuit, Forbes award for “America’s Best Employers for Diversity,” the Fortune award as “One of the 100 Best Companies to Work For,” and People Magazine’s award for “Companies that Care.”
Ask anyone from Intuit employees to business analysts and they will tell you that those accolades and achievements came about via the leadership of Brad Smith. Brad, a native of West Virginia who never tires of telling others about the greatness of his home state and his alma mater, Marshall U., served as the C.E.O. from 2008 to 2019 and now chairman of the board of directors.
It was under Smith’s leadership that the company developed a set of “core values” that include such things as “create a vision that inspires,” “think beyond what is accepted as possible,” and “never stop short of awesome.”
He also led in creating a statement of corporate responsibility that includes “diversity and inclusion,” “education,” and “environmental sustainability.”
The company’s mission statement describes a company whose “strategy builds on the strengths of our people, products and partners,” in a way that “will enable us to power prosperity in communities around the world.”
In short, Brad Smith is a leader who encourages his people to dream dreams and have visions, who insists on corporate accountability at both the local and global level, who looks to the well-being of employees at the every level, and who sees the work of the company as helping people solve the problems that are holding them back from their prosperity goals.
Little wonder that, under Brad Smith’s leadership, Intuit grew “from a desktop software company to a global, cloud-based product and platform company in just eleven years.
Brad Smith is a shepherd who cares for his flock so his flock has grown and multiplied.
In the Pulpit
The powerful story of the fall of Jerusalem to the army of Nebuchadnezzar is one worth telling and retelling. Not only is it a fascinating lesson in biblical history, it is also a parable for our own times.
Jeremiah’s letter indicting the leadership whose bad choices led to the fall of Judah and the exile, serves as a kind of epilogue to the rest of the story.
In it he offers the metaphor of the shepherd as leader:
The bad shepherd does not attend to the flock but attends to his/her own interests. The bad shepherd sews fear and distrust and consternation and distress. As a result, the sheep are scattered and, eventually, destroyed.
The good shepherd attends to the flock and cares for them. The good shepherd brings the individual sheep, who have fled in fear and panic, back to the fold where they can be protected, where they can be fruitful and multiply.
We thrive best when we are part of a community and the good leader knows this and works to build up the community so that all within it can thrive.
The good leader leads with wisdom and executes justice and righteousness for all. Only with this kind of leadership can the people be saved and live in safety.
The two illustrations from the contemporary business world (above) are worthy examples of how these principles of leadership play out in 21st century America.
But, as we approach an election year, we might also ask ourselves how we would apply these leadership principles to the ones we will elect to lead us.
I recently heard a radio interview where a political analyst suggested that the most appropriate way to prepare ourselves to enter the voting booth is not to ask how the different candidates make me feel but by asking what kind of country do I want my country to be, and where do I want it to go, and which candidate is the one best suited and best equipped to take it there.
SECOND THOUGHTSSmall Wonder(s)
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 1:68-79
I have a colleague who has thought for years that the Gospel of Luke should be rendered as an opera, or at least a musical. While “Godspell” took a crack at that concept five decades ago, he believes there is still room for some creative soul to turn some of the “songs” one finds in the very beginning of Luke into “production numbers.” Cue the extras in dusty tunics and sandals!
Today’s alternative Psalm reading is the song of Zechariah. Let’s put this fellow into context. Zechariah is pretty old. He’s on the priestly staff at the temple. It fell to him once that he got to offer incense in the temple. While he was there, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and said that his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son — shades of the birth of Isaac to Sarah and Abraham. Just like Abe and Sarah, Zechariah didn’t believe this good news. Elizabeth is barren, and she’s also old. The text isn’t quite as explicit of Genesis’s account — which says of Sarah, “It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women” (Genesis 18:11, NRSV) — you get the idea, this child promised to Zechariah is a miracle.
Zechariah, like any sane person in the Bible is terrified by the sight of the angel there in the temple. Zechariah can’t believe what the angel told him. For this hesitancy to trust the Lord’s messenger, Zechariah is struck dumb.
There’s Zechariah, the unwilling convert to Quakerism. He walks out of the temple. The people know he had a vision, but Zechariah is unable to tell the people about what he saw and heard. (Remember, visions are more than pictures.) His term at the temple ends and he heads home to Elizabeth. She conceives.
Meanwhile, the Angel Gabriel is given another stop on his message delivery route. This time he goes to Galilee, specifically Nazareth, and tells a betrothed virgin named Mary that she’s going to have a son. Mary is only perplexed, not fearful, of the angel. Gabe gets off to a better start this time, he begins, “Greetings, favored one!” It is commonly believed that Mary was very young, probably a teenager. I do not find anything in the text to suggest her age. She’s younger than Elizabeth. And presumably it had not ceased to be for her after the manner of women. In Mary’s case the reason she’s unlikely to conceive is, as she points out to Gabe, “I am a virgin.”
OK, so we’ve got two women, both of whom have conceived children miraculously. They’re cousins. Mary pays a visit to her older cousin and the promised fruit of Elizabeth’s womb does a happy dance when she (Elizabeth) and or he (John, in utero) hears Mary’s greeting. Things are going so well, the women are feeling the presence of the Lord so strongly, that Mary bursts into song. This is the Magnificat, also known as Luke’s first production number. You can skip this today; it’s one of the readings for the Third Sunday of Advent.
Another echo of the story of Sarah giving birth to Isaac: In Genesis 18:14, the Lord asks among the oaks at Mamre, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” In Luke 1:37, Gabriel says “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Mary heads home and Elizabeth has her baby. Elizabeth wants to name her baby John, but the crowd tries to talk her out of it. They ask Zechariah to break the tie and give him something to write on. (Why they didn’t think of this a few months earlier when he was first struck dumb at the temple is unclear. Presumably Zechariah could have written a description of his vision, or drawn a picture. Maybe they just couldn’t find a pen that writes. Frustrating.)
When Zechariah gets his speech back he breaks into song. The second production number. If you want to hear a beautiful, haunting rendering of the Song of Zechariah, check out Sting’s CD “If on a Winter’s Night.”
The Song of Zechariah continues a theme that recurs throughout Luke’s gospel: the sense of wonder or awe.
More than the other gospels, Luke presents Jesus as one who is amazing, awesome — in the true sense of the word — perplexing, baffling….
There’s a lot of pondering in Luke’s gospel, as though the author knows the reader needs a moment to collect her thoughts at what she has just seen and heard.
After John was born, “all who heard pondered…”
The third production number in Luke — and this one blows the special effects budget—is the angel shining the glory of God around itself, terrifying the shepherds then…wait for it…an army of the angels of heaven, a multitude singing, praising God.
The shepherds bust to Bethlehem and find that the angel who preceded the stage-filling extravaganza, had accurately described that they would see. They make their appearance in the spare room and exit the stage “glorifying and praising God.” At this point, it might be wise to reprise one of the themes that has already appeared.
The first act of this musical does not end when the shepherds dance off the stage. Sure, sure “everyone who heard what the shepherds told them” was amazed. On stage, Mary sits alone, with a single, weak spotlight on her, as she treasures the words of the shepherds and ponders them in her heart.
In all seriousness, today’s reading from Luke really does foreshadow a theme that you might want to pick up throughout Advent. Or themes. There’s the wonder, fear, awe, confusing that Jesus continually inspired in those who encounter him. There are also lulls in the text that are too often overlooked.
In chapter two of Luke there’s a possibility of two ballads when Jesus is presented in the temple. Or maybe you want to combine Simeon and Anna and have them sing a souring duet as at last, they realize in their old age, that deliverance has come!
In the third chapter, there’s the only mention of Jesus between infancy and the start of his ministry at his baptism. (His cousin did the deed by the way, so their reunion might inspire another song.) Jesus spends a few days away from his family. He’s 12 and instead of joining the troupe heading back to Nazareth, he spends a couple days in the temple, amazing (there it is again) the people who hear him there. He’s kind of sassy to his parents when they find him, “Hey Mom and Dad, duh, you shoulda looked for me here in the first place!” He gets that out of his system and returns home. “His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
Wonder, amazing things that stun the people, and silence or dramatic pauses do not balance one another in Luke. There are many more dazzling than contemplative moments. Still, Luke is alone in describing the “action” the day following the crucifixion: “On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.” (Luke 23:56b, NRSV) Is there a bigger dramatic pause anywhere?
Small Wonders
Rachel Carson is best known for writing “Silent Spring” which called attention to the disastrous effect DDT was having on song birds. Another book of hers is worth spending about an hour reading: “The Sense of Wonder.” Especially now, more than 50 years later, we need to hear Carson’s call for us to see the wonder of nature all around us, and especially to help our children cultivate a sense of wonder.
Carson writes, “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful…” And somewhere before we reach adulthood “our true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring is dimmed.”
For Rachel Carson, the sense of wonder was necessary for faith, faith’s foundation, and “an unfailing antidote to boredom and disenchantments of later years…the alienation from the sources of our strength.”
Here in the Midwest as winter is coming, we see Sun Dogs increasingly in the afternoon sky. For the uninitiated Sun Dogs are those sort of wadded up rainbows one can see on either side of the Sun on cold, clear days. Take some time to marvel at their beauty, to let their beauty point you back to the Creator.
Last week a 97-year-old member of the congregation I serve had her hip replaced. She went home the next day (Apparently her case was too serious to handle at Drive-Thru.) She was filled with joy that her pain had finally ended, even though she faced several weeks of rehab. Things like successful hip replacements are no less wonderful because we understand how they happen. Take a moment to marvel at wonderful things that surround us every day. You do not have to be struck dumb to be touched by the miracles of the modern world you live in. Give thanks, not just for wonderful things, large and small, but also for the ability to recognize the wonderful. This season, be “wonder-filled!”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:Luke 1:68
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
Charles Dickens wrote a Christmas poem that is probably unfamiliar to most people. The title of the poem is A Christmas Tree. The opening line reads, “I have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of children assembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas tree. The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their heads.” The poem then describes that on the table, surrounding the tree, is everything a child could desire — toys, fruit, candy, and the tree even preforms a play. His poem makes a subtle transition that this is the Christmas tree that Dickens himself imagined as a child. A line that I particularly like reads, “Now, a bell rings—a magic bell, which still sounds in my ears unlike all other bells…”
The poem ends describing this magical tree blest Dickens life and the lives of all children everywhere. Dickens wrote, “Now, the tree is decorated with bright merriment, and song, and dance, and cheerfulness. And they are welcome. Innocent and welcome be they ever held, beneath the branches of the Christmas Tree, which cast no gloomy shadow! But, as it sinks into the ground, I hear a whisper going through the leaves. ‘This, in commemoration of the law of love and kindness, mercy and compassion. This, in remembrance of me!’”
* * *
Jeremiah 23:3
Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
The Christmas song Santa Claus is Coming to Town is one in which we sing with merriment, but in fact it is a tragic song. The composer, James Lamont Gillespie, born in 1888, grew up in Covington, Kentucky, a small town in the hills that overlooked the Ohio River. He was born into abject poverty. He lived with his eight siblings in a tiny basement apartment that was rodent infested. When the holiday season approached his mother often reminded her nine children that Santa always knew if you were good or bad, even when you were asleep. She would often point her finger at one of the children and say, “You better watch out, you better be good, because Santa Claus is soon coming to town.”
Lamont went through a series of jobs, but his desire was always to write music. Gillespie was writing for The New York Times when he received an invitation to compose a Christmas song. The invitation came from the manager of Eddie Cantor. Cantor in 1933 was the world’s highest-paid radio and box office star.
When Gillespie got the call, he was in a state of mourning the recent death of his brother in Kentucky. It was once again the holiday season, and he kept thinking of how his mother chastised him and his eight siblings during the Christmas season. “Santa always knew if you were good or bad, even when you were asleep.” “You better watch out, you better be good, because Santa Claus is soon coming to town.” With these thoughts, riding home on the subway, Gillespie pulled an envelope from his pocket and penned the lines of the song in fifteen minutes.
On a national broadcast, Cantor sang the song for the first time at the November 1934 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Within twenty-four hours more than 30,000 records were sold along with 100,000 copies of the sheet music. Since then the song has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to Mariah Carey.
After Cantor first sang the song, Gillespie never listened to it again because of the sad and bad memories that it brought forth. See the original lyrics written by Gillespie.
* * *
Jeremiah 23:1
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.
On Saturday, October 26, 2019, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the second largest mall in the United States opened its doors to shoppers. It will showcase three million square feet of leasable space dedicated to more than a dozen entertainment attractions like a 16-story indoor ski slope, rollercoaster, waterpark and eventually 450 retail, food and specialty shops. American Dream is looking to draw 40 million visitors in its first year, with entertainment accounting for more than half of its space. Attractions include a bunny field and an aviary. There will also be such amenities as a doggy day care and a luxury wing, where shoppers can sip champagne and sample caviar as they wait to have their designer handbags wrapped. Two hotels with a total of 3,500 rooms are being planned next to the complex. Ken Downing, chief creative officer for the Triple Five Group, the mall’s developer, said “You can make it your backyard playground if you live in Manhattan or even if you’re in New Jersey. It’s a staycation. So, it’s a little bit of competing with mindset and emotion, far more than a property or even Disneyland.”
* * *
Jeremiah 23:1
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.
Highlighting football news occurred on November 14, 2019, the Thursday night football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns. With eight seconds left in the Browns’ 21-7 win, a brawl broke out. Myles Garrett, a defensive end for the Browns, attacked the Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. What made the fight so serious is that Garret ripped the helmet off of Rudolph’s head, and then the 272-pound Garret began to hit Rudolf with the helmet. Joe Buck, the games announcer for Fox news said during the brawl, “That’s one of the worst things I’ve seen on a professional sports field.” After the game Browns quarterback Erin Andrews was interviewed. He told reporters, “It’s inexcusable. I don’t care, rivalry or not. We can’t do that. It’s endangering the other team. It’s inexcusable. He knows that. I hope he does now. That’s tough. We’ll see. The reality is, he’s going to get suspended and we don’t know how long and that hurts our team. We can’t do that. We can’t continue to hurt this team. It’s inexcusable.”
* * *
Jeremiah 23:4
I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.
“Pa vobis.” In Latin the greeting means “Peace be with you.” To which the congregants responds, “Et cum spiritu tuo,” which means in Latin, “And also with you.” It is the opening words for every pope’s Christmas Eve sermon, always titled, “Urbi et Orbi,” meaning “to the city and to the world.” Pope Benedict XVI, who served from 2005 until his resignation in 2013, hoped that Christians would bring consolation to “those who are still denied their legitimate aspirations for a more secure existence, for health, education, stable employment, for fuller participation in civil and political responsibilities, free from oppression and protected from conditions that offend human dignity.” It is a calling that should be heard every Christmas season, a season of peace on earth. The Pope challenged the world, and it is a challenge that is still before us this day, “May the child of Jesus bring relief to those who are suffering and may he bestow upon political leaders the wisdom and courage to seek and find humane, just and lasting solutions.”
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:Colossians 1:11-20
Being Made Strong
The Letter to the Colossians offers a prayer that the church may be “made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience.” Activist Lizzie Velasquez is a living embodiment of the strength that can come through adversity. Born with a rare disease, her face has an unusual shape, and her body is unable to gain weight. At 17, Velasquez dealt with harsh online bullying, and people who saw her on YouTube called her the “Ugliest Woman in the World.” The comments included things like “Why did your parents keep you?” and “Kill it with fire.”
Velasquez remembers, “Honestly, I had no idea I was different from other kids until I started kindergarten. To my family, I was just Lizzie. It was a big slap of reality for a 5-year-old. The other kids were scared of me, pointing at me, not wanting to sit with me. I couldn’t process it. I wasn’t doing anything to them, so why was it happening to me? And I didn’t dare tell anyone. Finally, I told my parents and they said, “There is nothing wrong with you, you are just smaller than the other kids. You are beautiful and smart and can accomplish anything.” My parents gave me an incredible foundation and a strong faith in who I am. They loved me in the face of so many unknowns. When I was first born, doctors said they might have to care for me my whole life. But my family surrounded me with the most incredible support system. As I got older, I knew my syndrome wasn’t going away. It was a hard pill to swallow. I wanted to look like everyone else and blend in, and I couldn’t find a way to make that happen. I couldn’t blame the doctors or my parents, so I blamed myself.”
Her life improved in high school, when, as she says, “I realized I had power over my own life - to be positive. I decided to be brave and join activities and make friends and learn how to be outgoing. It was scary, but I knew it would pay off.” Then she saw the video of herself, and read all the hurtful comments. “I felt like someone was putting a fist through the computer screen and physically punching me. I bawled my eyes out.” She doesn’t know who labeled her “ugliest woman in the world” but says if she did, she would “send a thank you card and flowers because that video changed my life for the better.”
She was determined to prove those harsh judges wrong, and today is an anti-bullying activist. She has great strength, which she continues to cultivate, and says, “It might seem like I am having an incredible life, but I still have bad days. I am still processing the fact that I have a final diagnosis on my health. I have a weak immune system and if I am on the go for weeks straight and don’t have a full day to recover, it hits me pretty hard. The doctors say I have to take care of myself first to help others. The most frequent question I am asked is how do I stay so positive. I always tell people I allow myself sad days to be alone and close the blinds and listen to sad music like Adele and cry, eat junk food and have a pity party. I let it out of my system for one day, but the sun comes out the next day I have the power to go on.”
* * *
Luke 23:33-43
Christ the King
In his book Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People, Bob Goff writes about a trip to Disney and the Magic Kingdom. He was schedule to give a talk, and so the organizers sent a limo to the airport for him. On the ride, he started talking to the limo driver, asking if the driver enjoyed his job. Yes, the driver said and added, “I’m really going to miss this job, because I’m retiring next month.” Bob Goff says, “I sat back in my seat, watched the palm trees pass by for a few more minutes, and then I had a thought. I leaned forward and said through the glass, “Hey buddy, have you ever ridden in the back of one of these limos? I bet you’d love it. They’re terrific!” He laughed and said, “Of course not. I’d get fired.” Now I had my arm through the glass between the driver’s seat and the living-room-sized back seats in the limo. I think I even got a shoulder through the window. “Hey, you’re retiring anyway. Pull over!” I said. And you know what? He did! I got out of the back of the car, and we swapped places. He got in the back, and I put on his hat and jumped behind the wheel and drove us to Disney World. He got there about fifteen minutes after me — it was a pretty long limo."
This reversal embodies the kingdom that Jesus talks about. As Bob Goff says, "You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in…kingdoms are built from the people up. There’s no set of plans — just Jesus.” The Magic Kingdom may not be what God has planned, but the people of God’s realm are everywhere we look.
* * *
Thanksgiving
Gratitude
At this time of year, gratitude is much discussed, and we commit ourselves to remembering how fortunate we are. Other cultures have things we can learn to take our practice of thanksgiving to an even deeper level. Kira Newman writes, “If you’re trying to become happier, you’ve probably heard the advice to practice gratitude. “Gratitude is literally one of the few things that can measurably change people’s lives,” writes pioneering researcher Robert Emmons in his book Thanks! His studies suggest that gratitude can improve our health and relationships — making it one of the most well-studied and effective ways to increase our well-being in life. But prescribing gratitude to everyone is a problem: Most of what we know about it comes from studying Americans — and, specifically, the mainly white American college students from the campuses where researchers work.” In a diverse world, we can learn from our neighbors how to live more fully with our thanksgiving.
Researchers say we can express gratitude in three different ways: 1) Verbal gratitude: Saying thank you in some way. 2) Concrete gratitude: Reciprocating with something the child likes, such as offering the person some candy or a toy. 3) Connective gratitude: Reciprocating with something the wish-granter would like, such as friendship or help.
“Overall, children in China and South Korea tended to favor connective gratitude, while kids in the United States leaned toward concrete gratitude. Children in Guatemala — where it’s common to say “Thanks be to God” in everyday speech — were particularly partial to verbal gratitude.”
We’re often instructed to write down our gratitude, but that practice has mixed results, depending on our cultural background. “This was the question behind a 2011 study in which researchers invited Anglo Americans and Asian Americans to write gratitude letters to their friends and family. Each week, some people wrote for 10 minutes about their appreciation, and others (as a comparison) simply wrote about what they had done that week. They also reported how satisfied they were with life. After six weeks of gratitude, the Anglo Americans saw a boost in their well-being…But the Asian Americans did not; their satisfaction with life barely changed…Why don’t Asian and Asian American participants see the same benefit from this practice? Expressing appreciation for other people’s help may generate more mixed emotions for them, such as indebtedness, guilt, and regret.”
As we move toward Thanksgiving, and think about the importance of gratitude in our own lives, Newman concludes, “Gratitude is, after all, ultimately a skill that strengthens our relationships — and it arises when we pay more attention to our relationships and all the gifts they bring us.
* * *
Luke 1:68-79
Silence
Zechariah spends less than a year without being able to speak, and it reshapes his connection with God. Joseph Dispenza had an even more dramatic experience with silence, and he tells about entering a monastery as a young man. He says, “A few weeks after I graduated from high school, I left home and went away to a monastery. For the next eight years I lived the life of a monk — a solitary life of prayer, work, contemplation, fasting, and silence. Within the walls of the monastery my life was not much different from the life of a monk of the Middle Ages. I was part of a community of about 60 monks, ranging in age from 18, like me, to 80. The monastery was self-sufficient. We grew our own food in the fields around the monastery, which was in a remote farming area in the American Midwest. Our life was the simplest imaginable. We wore plain clothing, ate humble meals, and, at night, retired to small individual rooms that were furnished only with bed, sink, desk, and chair.” He adds, “When I tell people that I spent an entire year in silence, their expressions usually stop cold, waiting for their minds to catch up with the novel information…Being silent was not difficult for me. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that once I went into the silence, I was not interested, most of the time, in speaking.”
For Dispenza, the silence of the monastery “had both an interior and an exterior character.” Silence from the inside meant not talking, in the first place, but also something deeper: it had to do with quieting the mind, not being busy inside. Inner silence also carried the idea of refraining from judgment and staying away from thinking about the past and the future. Being silent within was really being at once absent from the world of busy-ness and at the same time present in the moment. Silence on the outside had to do with keeping away anything that did not foster inner silence. So, no radio or television or newspapers or magazines found their way behind the walls of the monastery. There were no computers in those days — and therefore no Internet, no email, no Facebook, no Twitter; if there had been computers, they would not have been part of our monastery.”
He adds that when one is silent for a long period, “the outer noise goes first, and then the inner noise starts to evaporate. Soon, quiet reigns everywhere, it seems. Time slows to a crawl. Sound becomes a curiosity — natural sounds, especially, like the flow of water or the rustle and sway of tall grass, become occasions for deeper listening and lead to a most profound inner calm.” Perhaps this happens to Zechariah, too, and leads him closer to God.
* * *
Luke 1:68-79
Seeing Anew
In his time of enforced silence, Zechariah has plenty of time to think about what God can and can’t do. Without the ability to speak, he has to listen, and the time without words teaches him to see God’s world differently. Attorney and philanthropist Bob Goff says, [in his book Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People] "We’ll see what we spend the most time looking for." Zechariah finally learns to look for God at work, and sees it in the birth of John.
Goff himself has an eye condition which requires frequent treatment. He says, “They’ve done quite a few operations on my eye since I had my problem. Before every operation, I always ask my eye doctor how much I’ll be able to see afterward. You know what? She’s never told me. Instead, each time she just says, “Bob, you’re going to see more.” At first I felt like she was dodging the question. I was looking for a prognosis for my eye, but she gave me something far better. I got a promise from someone I could trust and a reminder about my life. It’s the same promise God gives us every day. We want God to tell us all the details, but all we usually get is a promise that we’ll see more of Him if we look in the right places. This doctor knows what she’s doing. She practically invented eyes. Jesus knows what He’s doing, too, and He did invent eyes. Because I trust both of them, I’m okay with the promise I’ll see more."
Like Zechariah, we can all learn to see more of God at work in our lives.
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Blessed be the God of Israel.
People: God has looked favorably on us and redeemed us.
Leader: God has raised up a mighty savior for us.
People: By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn will break upon us.
Leader: It will give light to those who sit in darkness.
People: It will guide our feet into the way of peace.
OR
Leader: Let us bless our God who reigns over all.
People: We bless and praise our God and our Sovereign.
Leader: God comes to lead us in the power of love.
People: We are lost and needs God’s guidance.
Leader: God comes as a shepherd who calls us to shepherd others.
People: With God’s help we will reach out in love and care to others.
Hymns and Songs:
Crown Him with Many Crowns
UMH: 327
H82: 494
PH: 151
AAHH: 288
NNBH: 125
NCH: 301
CH: 234
LBW: 170
ELW: 855
W&P: 317
AMEC: 174
Renew: 56
Rejoice, the Lord Is King
UMH: 715/716
H82: 481
PH: 155
NCH: 303
CH: 699
LBW: 171
ELW: 430
W&P: 342
AMEC: 88/89
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
UMH: 138
H82: 645/646
PH: 171
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELW: 502
Renew: 106
The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want
UMH: 136
NNBH: 237/241
CH: 78
LBW: 451
ELW: 778
W&P: 86
AMEC: 208
We Gather Together
UMH: 131
H82: 433
PH: 559
AAHH:
NNBH: 326
NCH: 421
CH: 276
ELW: 449
W&P: 81
AMEC: 576
STLT: 349
O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee
UMH: 430
H82: 659/660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELW: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
O God of Every Nation
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELW: 713
W&P: 626
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
UMH: 465
PH: 321
NCH: 63
CH: 241
LBW: 257
ELW: 398
All Hail King Jesus
CCB: 29
Renew: 35
Our God Reigns
CCB: 33
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who shepherds us with tender mercies:
Grant that we may graciously care for those in our care
with mercy, justice, and humility;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you are the Good Shepherd who cares for us all. Your tender mercies are ever around us. Help us to also care for those whom we watch over with mercy, justice, and humility. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we are thoughtless about those who have been entrusted to our care.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us to be care givers and protectors of all your children which we encounter and yet we have failed to care for even those closest to us. We spend our time looking out for ourselves and our own interests and fail to watch over others. We are especially neglectful of those who are most in need of our care. Help us to truly honor the Christ as our sovereign by following his example in caring for others with loving compassion. Amen.
Leader: God is our good shepherd and welcomes us all to join in caring for the flock. Receive God’s forgiveness and grace and become a shepherd with Christ.
Prayers of the People
We praise you, O God, for you are our sovereign. You are one who reigns over all creation in love.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us to be care givers and protectors of all your children which we encounter and yet we have failed to care for even those closest to us. We spend our time looking out for ourselves and our own interests and fail to watch over others. We are especially neglectful of those who are most in need of our care. Help us to truly honor the Christ as our sovereign by following his example in caring for others with loving compassion.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received from your gracious bounty. We especially thank you for the care and guidance you have given us through the thoughtfulness of others. We thank you for those who have watched over us and guided us to you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who feel lost in this life and feel alone and uncared for. We pray for those who struggle to know how best to care for loved ones who are in difficult places in their lives.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
We usually think about God blessing us or we think about asking God to bless our food but Zechariah blessed God. We bless God by praising God and thanking God for all the good things we receive. Have the children say some things for which they would like to bless God.
CHILDREN'S SERMONWe Could Be Royals!
by Chris Keating
Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20, Luke 23:33-43, Luke 1:68-79
Since Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday is a relative newbie to the church calendar, it may provide an opportunity for teaching children and adults about its theological and liturgical role. As the culminating feast of the church’s calendar, it takes us to the brink of Advent and offers an opportunity to reflect on what we mean to proclaim Christ “King of Kings.” Jesus Christ is king — but what is the nature of his kingdom?
It’s a complicated theological issue which may be hard to introduce to children whose primary understanding of royalty has been shaped by Disney characters and make-believe notions of all-powerful rulers adorned with crowns and regal regalia. Yet perhaps Disney’s narratives might make for an interesting introduction to this less-well known Sunday of the church year.
Begin the time with children by retelling (or, more bravely, singing) the song young Simba sings in “The Lion King.” As he jaunts across the Pride Lands, Simba sings “I just can’t wait to be king!” Remind the children why Simba wanted to be king: “I’m going to be the main event…no one saying ‘do this,’ no one saying ‘be there.” It’s a great song that captures a familiar notion of what it means to be a queen or king.
What would it be like to be a royal?
All children can identify with that idea. Explore it with them: make believe you are a king, or a queen or a prince/princess. What laws would you pass? What pronouncements might you make? What sort of actions might they take? Wonder with them about the “work” of being a real king or queen, which is often more like a servant than we normally believe. If the children are older, you might explain that while there are 26 monarchies in the world today, few of them have the sort of authority Simba thinks he will have. In truth, many royal families have quite limited roles.
The prophet Jeremiah told people that God wanted kings to act with compassion and justice, acting like wise and faithful shepherds. Jeremiah announces that the king who is coming to reign over Israel will be one who acts faithfully and with justice. That’s not just a king or queen who does what he or she wants, but a ruler who acts in love.
That is also the image offered by Colossians. Rather than trying to tease apart the complicated argument of the epistle, you might consider passing around paper crowns with words which describe Jesus as king. Use words from Colossians, such as “forgiveness,” “creator,” and “peace.” Jesus did not grow up singing, “I just can’t wait to be king,” but instead knew that bringing about the kingdom of God must include giving of himself in ways that were different from the way royalty usually acted.
Zechariah’s song in Luke (“the benedictus”) also spells out the way Jesus acts as a ruler. The same is true for the Gospel reading from Luke 22:33-43. In each instance, scripture points to Jesus as bringing the reign of God like a king — but a king who is quite different from a Disney prince or princess.
You may consider ending the children’s time by singing the very simple and easy to learn Cameroonian song, “Jesus, We are Here,” (Jesu, tawa pano). “We are here for you,” the lyrics go, a reminder that we are sent by Jesus to continue the work of the kingdom which he began: sharing, caring, loving, serving.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, November 24, 2019 issue.
Copyright 2019 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
