Strangers And Aliens In The Voting Booth
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
In this week's lectionary epistle passage, Paul addresses the squabble that had arisen in the Ephesian community over the necessity of circumcision. Of course, the biggest reason this had become a major bone of contention is that it was a powerful symbol of fundamental differences between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. Paul, however, reminds the Ephesians that while these divisions may have once mattered, they are no longer important for all who are "members of the household of God"... and he points out the need to move beyond such petty factionalization.
Paul's rhetoric about both circumcised and uncircumcised no longer being "strangers and aliens" may recall Barack Obama's famous 2004 observation that we live not in red states and blue states but in the United States -- and yet, as team member Leah Lonsbury points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, polarization and division are more characteristic of our political interaction (and inaction) than ever. If ever there was a timely biblical message, it seems that Paul's call to act on our unity in Christ is one that we need to look in the mirror and consider in the coming election season.
Team member Mary Austin offers some additional thoughts on the epistle passage and the chasm that still characterizes racial differences in America. We may have made progress on this front... but much work remains to be done, as a wide range of data indicates. Mary suggests that Paul's approach to healing the rift among the Ephesian Christians is one we should emulate. Rather than papering over significant differences and trying to pretend they don't exist, instead we ought to acknowledge the divisions that have been in the past... while remembering our common heritage as children of God. When we have clarity of vision about what has been, it allows us to more effectively work toward bridging the divide and finding unity.
Strangers and Aliens in the Voting Booth
by Leah Lonsbury
Ephesians 2:11-22; 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
I voted Republican in my first presidential election. I vividly recall entering the voting booth, closing the curtain, and making my mark on the ballot next to Ronald Reagan's name. This happened in the library at Lewis & Clark Elementary School. I was six at the time. I cast my vote in the school election for Reagan for two reasons: 1) He was handsome; and 2) All my friends were voting for him.
Since then, my politics have evolved a bit. A politician's platform now takes precedence over their good looks for me. I try to stay tuned into politics locally and nationally by reading and watching the news, talking to friends whose political minds I respect, and researching candidates in upcoming elections.
The truth is, though my politics have evolved some, the ease with which I make my mark on the ballot hasn't really been complicated at all. I no longer vote for a candidate based solely on good looks and peer pressure. But after all that time I spend reading, in political conversations, and on research, I still vote by the party line. So while I watch the partisan battles in Washington with great contempt, I wage a quieter, more personal partisan battle of my own in the voting booth.
I do this, because as Pietro Nivola of the Brookings Institution writes in his article "In Defense of Partisan Politics":
... the disputes between Republicans and Democrats are about more than "petty grievances" (though there are plenty of them too); the party differences run deep and fundamentally reflect differing convictions held by large blocs of voters, not just their elected representatives.
Nivola goes on to examine how the parties have become more cohesive, how the factions of "so-called liberal Republicans and truly conservative Democrats" have become "dwindling species." Nivola recalls President Barack Obama's inaugural speech and his allusions to scripture as he called the American people and their elected officials to "lay childish polemics aside" and end the politics of "petty grievances" and "worn-out dogmas."
It seems that we did not heed our commander-in-chief's advice. 2009 did not turn out to be the dawn of the post-partisan era. Nivola continues the biblical theme as he writes: "childish or not, America's partisan politics have remained as stubbornly intense and polarized as ever... the lambs remain unwilling to lie down with the lions. And there are few signs of partisan swords being turned into plowshares."
After studying the passage from Ephesians for this week, I'm quite sure Paul (or one of his followers) would have a bone to pick with a majority of the current electorate in these not-so-United States, including myself. Our partisan politics appear to be keeping us in the roles of "strangers and aliens" and from being "built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God."
THE WORLD
Last week, the majority Republican House of Representatives voted for the 33rd time to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), despite the fact that their 32 previous attempts have failed and the highest court in the nation has already ruled to uphold it. Naming cost as their major source of objection to health care reform via the ACA, Republicans have spent 80 hours -- 2 full workweeks -- on the House floor since 2010 fighting to repeal what they have deemed "Obamacare." According to the Congressional Research Service, each House workweek costs taxpayers $24 million. So these fiscal conservatives have spent nearly $50 million in order to fight reform they say will be too costly.
On the other side of the aisle, Democratic Representative Jim McDermott of Washington pointed out that several of the House Republicans who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act have young adult children and have taken advantage of the legislation's provision that allows parents to keep their children on their health insurance until they are 26. These congress members have little to fear, because they know their vote doesn't threaten this arrangement -- a repeal has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. At a briefing with reporters, McDermott said: "So for them to stand up and say I don't like Obamacare, but to put their kids on it because of what Obamacare brought, is pretty disingenuous. It is the height of hypocrisy."
At the same briefing, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's criticism widened as she generalized about the opposition: "There's sort of a hypocritical trend that runs through many of these Tea Party extremists in the Republican conference."
With this kind of partisan game-playing and name-calling going on, it seems likely that our elected officials will remain entrenched in their respective corners, acting and speaking against each other instead of for the people. Healthcare reform has been the hot battleground lately, but the battle happening there seems to have become less about reducing the suffering of the sick and disabled and more about creating suffering for the opposition.
THE WORD
This is the kind of battle that Paul knew well. Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised, far-off and nearby, strangers and members of the household of God -- Paul names the deeply held divisions that the people of Ephesus cling to, keeping them entrenched in opposite corners, and unable or unwilling to live into the "one humanity" Jesus Christ established.
That is who you were -- not who you are, Paul is telling the Ephesians. Paul reminds the estranged factions that the hostility they cling to has already been overcome, the walls that divide them have been broken down, and reconciliation and peace are theirs, if they will simply live into this new reality.
This is who you are in Jesus, Paul is reminding them. You are one new humanity. Wanting to drive his point home, Paul uses the loaded word atheos, which means "without God" but packs a greater emotional punch than most contemporary readers may realize.
... this was more than a description of nonbelief. The insult was loaded with insinuation that the opponent was uncivilized, akin to anarchists, and threatened the well-being of society as a whole. Both sides used this accusation. Greeks were slammed for rejecting the God of the Jews, and Jews were cut down for rejecting the religion of the state. (Edwin Searcy explores Pheme Perkins' work on Ephesians in Feasting on the Word [Year B, Vol. 3], pgs. 254, 256.)
These hostilities that tear you apart are in your past, Paul is saying. Grow your future together into a dwelling place for God.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
This was not merely side-by-side coexistence, but active antagonism and hostility. To remove the dividing walls was no small feat... To make these hostile groups one [would be] nothing short of miraculous.
The above lines are taken from the writing of Edwin Searcy in Feasting on the Word [Year B, Vol. 3] (Westminster John Knox, 2009) as he explores our text from Ephesians for this week. However, they could just as easily have been written about contemporary American politics and the growing chasm between the two parties.
Paul makes what should be a convincing case to the Ephesians and to us, as a part of the American electorate and people of faith. But it's a hard sell, isn't it? At some level, we already know what Paul is telling us. We know the power of what Jesus has done to make us one -- bringing together the "far off" and "near," making the way for hope, breaking down the dividing wall, abolishing the law, and putting in its place a sacred and reconciling love that is strong enough to defeat death.
But is that power strong enough to beat partisan swords into plowshares? Sometimes overcoming death seems like an easier task.
Yes. It is strong enough. That's what Paul would tell us. And here's how... God has been working on God's dream home for years. Jesus may be the cornerstone that makes its completion possible, but the foundation "of the apostles and prophets" and "the saints and members of the household of God" goes back for generations and generations.
Our other texts for this week help us see that foundation as well. They also help us imagine where we fit in, and what part we have to play in the continuing construction. In 2 Samuel, King David has gotten settled in, and it's time to write his thank-you notes to those who have brought him this far. God is at the top of the list, and David's feeling generous (and maybe a bit sheepish about the ark of God's current sleeping arrangements in comparison to his house of cedar). In the text as we have it, David never actually says the words "I will build God a house!" The prophet Nathan just seems to catch his line of thinking and gives it a thumbs-up.
But before David and Nathan can really even formulate their plan, God turns Nathan around with a message for David. I am already building the house I'm after, says God. It started with the people of Israel I brought out of Egypt, and I've been moving with and within them ever since. I didn't ask the tribal leaders for a house, I just dwelt with them and helped them shepherd Israel. And speaking of shepherds, remember where you were when I called you to lead? That's right. In a wide-open pasture. And I have wandered with you from there to where you are now, and I will dwell with you in the generations that bear your name. So thanks, but no thanks to the cedar box. I will make you a house. A living, breathing house...
... your family, my family, ... your people, my people, ... your house, my house.
And so we are reminded that we don't build alone or without God's presence, guidance, and blessing. We also don't start from scratch, as much as it may feel like that when we look at the distance there is to cover between the pieces and fragments of God's holy temple. And we aren't building something beyond our own experience. We're building our lives together. We're building a life together.
God has been and is still hard at work on this life with us.
In our gospel passage from Mark for this week, we see how God is building the tool that God chooses to help God's dream house take shape. In verse 30, the apostles are returning to Jesus after doing the construction work he has trained them for -- teaching, preaching, and healing. They build with the one tool they need -- the compassion of God that Jesus has made clear to them as he has taught, preached, and healed in their midst. He continues to employ that tool, recognizing the apostles' bodily needs for rest and sustenance and attending to the hunger of the crowds -- for teaching, for touching, and for healing. In the gap between verses 34 and 53, the portion of chapter 7 that gets left out of our reading, Jesus feeds the 5,000, addressing both their spiritual and bodily hunger, always building with God's compassion.
This is Jesus' pattern throughout the gospels. He recognizes one humanity in all, the worth and belonging of each person -- the poor, the outcast, the sick, the unclean, the hungry, the lost, the liberal, the conservative, the moderate -- and he acts with compassion. He draws close with compassionate love: his tool of choice, God's tool of choice. And another person, another essential piece is added to God's dwelling place. And the one body is strengthened.
God was and is building with us, and we can clearly see how that building happens in the life and compassionate love of Jesus. Then Paul makes our job a bit easier in his letter to the Ephesians. "Remember that you were" divided and estranged, writes Paul. "But now in Christ Jesus," you are already one. Now you must live that gift into reality, make your daily lives match God's truth in love.
The building we must do now is simply to grow into, to live into what is already established in Christ Jesus. The house is built, but we must make it a home for God, a place where the God of compassionate love would be pleased to dwell. Like the apostles, we've got a blueprint for the work to which we've been called as well. We find it in the life and love of Jesus.
There is his way of compassionate love. And then there is our way of doing things... We'll never grow into the one dwelling place of God through our partisan bickering and name-calling. And it's not likely to happen through some tenuously established middle ground, some great compromise (which, I am told, means nobody gets what they want) or a new set of rules everybody can begrudgingly adhere to sometimes. But remember -- we aren't building something beyond our own experience. We're building our lives together. We're building a life together.
It will only happen according to Jesus' way of compassionate love. It will only happen in the recognition of our common humanity. Like our passage says and like we see in Jesus' pattern, both the "far off" and the "near" belong and cannot be overlooked or left out. That also includes everybody in between. For the purposes of American politics, we could use the labels "liberal," "conservative," and "moderate." All have access through the community of Christ, Spirit, and Creator, so there are no strangers or aliens, and no one (despite what we hear on talk radio on both sides of the dial) is atheos, without God. And so we build this one body, this holy temple, this dwelling place for God by fitting our bodies, our very human lives into the pattern of the cornerstone -- Jesus. It may take some serious chiseling and reshaping, but we can get there.
It will mean using our human bodies, our resources, our wisdom, our strength, our passion, and our energy to heal, to share the Good News, to feed the hungry of all types, to meet the needs we encounter, to include the excluded, to touch the untouchable, and to act always in the model of God's compassionate love we see in Jesus.
When we do these things, when we reach for one another, then we grow together into the holy temple. We become a place where God would be pleased to dwell, and a welcome mat appears on the front stoop of God's home, our common life.
When we do these things, when we let the God of compassionate love lead our lives in the pattern of Jesus, perhaps it will get a little bit harder to play politics in order to trip up the opponent. Perhaps all the name-calling will begin to quiet down a bit. Perhaps we will see those partisan swords find new purpose as plowshares.
The foundation is built. The cornerstone is in place. The house stands. The challenge is to make it God's home sweet home.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Ephesians 2:11-22
The Boston Globe last weekend featured a reflection by Kenny Wiley on the racist remarks he encountered while running for a bus recently. Wiley begins the piece by remembering: "Last Sunday night, I was running down a street near Harvard Yard, trying to get to Harvard Square Station in time to catch a bus. I was wearing, backward, my Houston Texans hat, a Cosby Show T-shirt, and khaki shorts. I had my Mizzou 'Summer Welcome 2010' bag over my shoulder. I wasn't sprinting, but I was moving pretty quickly (for me, anyway). I passed a group of four strangers who looked somewhere between 17 and 21. As I ran by, one of the guys, a white guy, yelled out, 'Bro, you running from the cops or something?' One woman added, 'What'd you steal this time?' "
Wiley's story is both horrible and anecdotal, but it illustrates the deep divide that still remains between white Americans and black Americans. Arguably the greatest division in American culture, blacks and whites remain separated by the amount of household wealth, levels of education, and even whether or not racism is still an issue. As Peter Whoriskey reported last summer in the Washington Post: "Between 2005 and 2009, the median net worth of Hispanic households dropped by 66% and that of black households fell by 53%," according to a Pew Research Center report based on census data. "In contrast, the median net worth of white households dropped by only 16%. The median net worth of a white family now stands at 20 times that of a black family and 18 times that of a Hispanic family -- roughly twice the gap that existed before the recession and the biggest gap since data began being collected in 1984."
Education statistics point to a similar gap. A New York Times article by Tamar Lewin cites Department of Education figures showing that "Black students, especially boys, face much harsher discipline in public schools than other students." The article finds a deep divide in how students are treated at school. "Although black students made up only 18% of those enrolled in the schools sampled, they accounted for 35% of those suspended once, 46% of those suspended more than once, and 39% of all expulsions, according to the Civil Rights Data Collection's 2009-10 statistics from 72,000 schools in 7,000 districts, serving about 85% of the nation's students. The data covered students from kindergarten age through high school. One in five black boys and more than one in ten black girls received an out-of-school suspension. Overall, black students were three and a half times as likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers."
The divide between black and white shows up at the other end of the spectrum in which students take higher level classes or get into gifted and talented programs. Lewin notes: "While the disciplinary data was probably the most startling, the data showed a wide range of other racial and ethnic disparities. For while 55% of the high schools with low black and Hispanic enrollment offered calculus, only 29% of the high-minority high schools did so -- and even in schools offering calculus, Hispanics made up 20% of the student body but only 10% of those enrolled in calculus. And while black and Hispanic students made up 44% of the students in the survey, they were only 26% of the students in gifted and talented programs."
In the Letter to the Ephesians, the writer addresses a similar divide in the early church, between Jews and Gentiles. Even in translation, we can hear the bitterness of the names each side calls the other. Even into that religious divide, the writer is bold enough to claim that Christ is the peace that can heal the breach: "For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us" (v. 14).
According to Wiley's article, we could use some of that peace. As he continues his story, he recalls: "Surely, I'd heard wrong. I stopped and turned around." He asked the group if they were kidding, and says that "the exchange quickly grew heated, with me trying to explain to them why their comments were inappropriate. They weren't having any of it. They refused to understand why their words were offensive. They told me I needed to lighten up."
Race is so divisive that it's even hard to talk about. As Wiley observes: "Discussing anything about race in the 21st century is rarely straightforward. The people didn't call me the N-word, or any other slur. They probably all have at least a handful of black friends. They didn't try to beat me up. There are other possible explanations: Maybe it was my age or that my hat was on backward. Maybe it was how fast I was running. Maybe the same thing would happen to one of my white peers," although he adds that he doubts that. Wiley is a student at Harvard's Divinity School, and he comments that "my faith teaches me that every person has inherent worth and dignity. Every person matters. I don't hate those strangers who loudly suggested that I must be a criminal, 'joking' or not. I don't suddenly hate white people because of the actions of a few."
Still, the painful incident made him realize again how incompletely we have lived up to Paul's assertion that Christ is among us as our peace. It may be that God has ended every division that we can think of for each other, but the message hasn't gotten through to our everyday lives yet. "You are no longer strangers and aliens," Ephesians proclaims, but we haven't figured out how to live that way yet.
"Remember," the letter says several times. Remember who you were, and see where you are now. Wiley has the same hope -- that we can see clearly where we are now, so we can do better. "What I want," Wiley says, "is for us to stop pretending. I want us to stop pretending that racism is over. If it were, tipsy strangers wouldn't have heckled me. I want us to stop pretending that it's not harder to be female than male, that it's not harder to be gay than straight. I want us to stop pretending that we live in an equal society. We don't."
For Wiley, when we stop pretending, we can begin to do the work we need to do. What God has done in Jesus is clear. What we need to do to live into his vision of the world is so much less clear and is still in front of us. It's time to remember -- and then set to work, as God has called us to do.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Tajul Muluk, a Muslim cleric in Indonesia, has been sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy. His crime was being in violation of the Koran by advocating that Muslims pray three times a day to Mecca, rather than the required five. During the sentencing, the presiding judge declared Muluk a heretic.
Application: Paul was trying to join the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians into a single community, but legalistic interpretations of the scriptures prevented unity. How often do we prevent the church from having a unified witness because of our unwillingness to accept alternate points of view?
* * *
Charles Osgood is a journalist, author, and poet, and the host of the CBS news magazine show Sunday Morning -- the best TV show that pastors never see.
One of his favorite stories is about two ladies who lived in a convalescent center. Each had suffered an incapacitating stroke. Margaret's stroke left her left side restricted, while Ruth's stroke damaged her right side. Both of these ladies were accomplished pianists but had given up hope of ever playing again.
The activities director of the center sat them down at a piano and encouraged them to play solo pieces together. They did -- and a beautiful friendship developed as they were, together, able to play music that neither of them would have been able to play alone.
* * *
Bandleader and composer John Philip Sousa was once asked by a reporter which of the instruments in his band was the most important.
The reporter knew that Sousa was himself a virtuoso cornet player. He also knew that the bandleader had invented the sousaphone, a tuba constructed for playing in a marching band. And he had once been quoted as saying that the bass drum was the heart of the band.
But this time Sousa merely held up his baton for the reporter to see. "This," he said, "is the most important instrument in the band. Without the baton, it's all just noise. The baton brings all the noise together in just the right way to turn it into music."
* * *
Some of us can remember using a two-man crosscut saw. These cumbersome and difficult instruments of destruction were usually about six feet long, with a handle on each end and huge, razor-sharp teeth set so they cut going both ways.
A person would stand on each end of the saw and take turns pulling it back and forth, but it was never as easy as it sounds. Having used other saws that required both pushing and pulling, a neophyte on the two-man was always tempted to push the saw back through after pulling.
But pushing only managed to buckle the saw and slow progress. It was only when each person pulled exactly at the right place and time that the saw cut as it was designed to do.
* * *
In the gospel lesson we see Jesus teaching and healing, doing the basic work of the gospel. Sometimes being a Christian means simply doing the hard, unglamorous, but necessary work that needs to be done.
When I was a teenager, a tornado blew through the Indiana community where my family lived. It was a relatively small as tornadoes go. No serious damage was done to people or their homes, but it blew down hundreds of acres of mature corn crops.
When it came time to harvest the corn the machinery couldn't get into the fields, so there was nothing to do but pick it by hand. Scores of families went voluntarily into the fields in the afternoons and evenings after school to pick and shuck corn. Then we went back with machete-like corn knives, cut the stalks, and stacked them in wagons to be hauled back and chopped up into silage.
It was hard, boring, backbreaking labor -- but it was necessary. We didn't expect to get all of the corn harvested, but we got enough of it in to get those small family farms through the winter to the next growing season.
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
Ah, the life of a PK.
When my kids were teenagers they often joked that they were going to be pastors, not because they felt particularly called to the ministry but because they would be able to test out of all the seminary courses that involved setting up and taking down tables and chairs or pouring grape juice and cutting up bread for communion.
My son often found himself running the church's public address system because he happened to be there at the church when the guy installed it, so he got the tutorial on how to run it.
My daughter often babysat in the nursery for church meetings and events because, she said, it was one of the few things a teenage girl could do for the church, and besides she was the preacher's kid.
They grew up in the church, where sometimes they were fed and sometimes they did the feeding. Today, they are both active, adult members of churches where they understand that sometimes the work of the gospel is just that: work.
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
During much of the Jerry Sandusky investigation, Associated Press sports columnist Jim Litke supported Joe Paterno on the basis of Paterno's sterling reputation. As Litke wrote, "Up until Thursday, I believed it still." But with the release of former FBI director Louis Freeh's 267-page report, there it was on page 48 -- evidence that Joe Paterno had, along with three other top Penn State administrators, been a part of a cover-up that began in 1998 when a mother first reported her son being molested by Sandusky in the college's locker room. Regarding the reputation of Coach Paterno, Litke wrote a familiar phrase known to most: "a halo, lowered just a foot or so, becomes a noose."
Application: The alternate Old Testament text from Jeremiah tells of how the respected leaders of Israel were to be the shepherds of the flock; but because they neglected their duties, the sheep scattered. As members of the church, with some holding positions of leadership, are we fulfilling our responsibilities as shepherds? Do we struggle to keep our halo in the place it was designed to be?
* * *
Gallup does an annual poll that is published under the title "Confidence in Institutions." This year the church scored its lowest recorded percentage, with only 44% of Americans affirming "a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in 'the church of organized religion' ". More astonishing is that if the presentation is reversed, it reveals that 56% of Americans have little or no confidence in the organized church.
Application: Our Second Samuel text reports on the dialogue between God and Nathan regarding building a home for the Ark and thus moving the Ark from a tent. How much support would such a building project have today?
* * *
The uniforms of the U.S. Olympic team are very attractive, as they should be since they were designed by Ralph Lauren. The red, white, and blue berets, blazers, and pants are very symbolic of the ideals of our nation.
But a symbolic problem has arisen when it was discovered that the struggling textile industry in the United States did not sew the garments, but instead the U.S. Olympic committee had them imported from China. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, "You'd think they'd know better."
Application: In the dialogue between God and Nathan, it was discerned that David would not build a home for the Ark -- it would be built by his offspring. Can the community look to our own spiritual talents and access that we are capable to maintain the ministry of the church or will they look elsewhere? Let us hope people don't say to us: "You'd think they'd know better."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Come and worship our God who is our shepherd.
People: In God we shall not ever want.
Leader: God makes us lie down in green pastures;
People: God leads us beside still waters;
Leader: surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all our days.
People: We shall dwell in the house of our God forever.
OR
Leader: Come and dwell in the unity of our God.
People: We come to be in communion with God.
Leader: Come and dwell in the unity of the church.
People: We come to be in fellowship with one another.
Leader: Come and dwell in unity with strangers and enemies.
People: We come to embrace all God's people.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise"
found in:
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
Renew: 46
"God of Many Names"
found in:
UMH: 105
NCH: 11
CH: 13
"Jesus, United by Thy Grace"
found in:
UMH: 561
"Help Us Accept Each Other"
found in:
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
"Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation"
found in:
UMH: 559
H82: 518
PH: 416/417
NCH: 400
CH: 275
LBW: 367
ELA: 645
"Where Charity and Love Prevail"
found in:
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 359
"In Christ There Is No East or West"
found in:
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELA: 650
"O God of Every Nation"
found in:
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELA: 713
"As We Gather"
found in:
CCB: 12
Renew: 6
"Sweet, Sweet Spirit"
found in:
CCB: 7
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is unity within your own being: Grant to your children the wisdom to live into the unity that has been prepared for us from the beginning so that we might truly be one as you are one; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship you, O God, who dwells in eternal community within your own being. As we praise your name and listen for your instruction this day, help us to be open to the community that is ours in Christ. Open our eyes that we may see the Risen Christ in each other. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the way we insist on seeing separation where Christ has already brought unity.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You created us to be one people, and when we refused to believe we are one people, the Christ came and proclaimed our unity in you. Yet we refuse to hear him. We look for the differences between ourselves and others. We imagine that we are closer to you than they are. Forgive us our blindness and stubbornness. Open our eyes to the unity with which you have gifted us. Amen.
Leader: God is one and makes all of us one. Receive the unity of God and of humanity as a gift from God.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We offer to you, O God, the praise that you desire from your children. We sing of your greatness and desire to know you more.
(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 created us to be one people, and when we refused to believe we are one people, the Christ came and proclaimed our unity in you. Yet we refuse to hear him. We look for the differences between ourselves and others. We imagine that we are closer to you than they are. Forgive us our blindness and stubbornness. Open our eyes to the unity with which you have gifted us.
We give you thanks for all those who have claimed us as part of their lives and helped us see the unity of your people. We thank you for the stories of the Bible that remind us we are all one family in your great creation.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray that we may all learn to live as one people. We pray especially for those who feel rejected and displaced. We pray for those who through violence, hatred, or neglect can no longer believe that you or anyone can care for them. We pray for the wisdom and courage to live into our unity so that others are brought in with us.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Have the children stand in a line and ask if any of them can reach over to an object or person on the other side. (If you only have one or two children, volunteer some adults to help.) It should be far enough away that they cannot do this. Then ask them how we can reach that person/thing. If they don't suggest it, then suggest holding hands and reaching out. Let them demonstrate how that works. God made us to work and live together. When we do that we can accomplish great things.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Relying on Each Other
Ephesians 2:11-22
Object: two children's puzzles with large enough pieces to be put together in only a minute (However, mix up the pieces so that several from the wrong puzzle are in with the correct pieces.)
Good morning, boys and girls! Do you enjoy doing puzzles? I can remember when I was young we used to get puzzles for presents quite often. Some of them were very easy and could be put together in only a few minutes. Others were much more difficult and would require us to work on them for hours until they were done.
The key to good puzzle construction is to work together. You have to get the right pieces in the right place. Today we are going to do just that. I am going to divide you up into two groups and give each group a puzzle. Then when I say, "Go," I want you to work as quickly as you can to complete the puzzle and see which group is finished first.
Is everyone ready? "Go!" (Comment on what good progress the children are making, then on their realization that something is wrong with their puzzle.) What seems to be the problem here? Oh, I see. Some of your pieces don't belong to your puzzle. Why don't you see if the other team might be able to help you out? That's right! Now we are on the right track again!
The only way these puzzles could be completed is if you rely on each other for the right pieces. That is also the way the Bible speaks of the Christian life. Even though some people would like to live their faith alone and not share it with others, Jesus says we are like the parts of the body. We need to rely on each other. We need to assist each other when someone's faith is weak. We need to share what God has given us so that people around us can learn to trust Him.
That is really what the church is about: Jesus is working in me, Jesus is working in you, each of us reaching out to help each other and others to know Him as Lord.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 22, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 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.
Paul's rhetoric about both circumcised and uncircumcised no longer being "strangers and aliens" may recall Barack Obama's famous 2004 observation that we live not in red states and blue states but in the United States -- and yet, as team member Leah Lonsbury points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, polarization and division are more characteristic of our political interaction (and inaction) than ever. If ever there was a timely biblical message, it seems that Paul's call to act on our unity in Christ is one that we need to look in the mirror and consider in the coming election season.
Team member Mary Austin offers some additional thoughts on the epistle passage and the chasm that still characterizes racial differences in America. We may have made progress on this front... but much work remains to be done, as a wide range of data indicates. Mary suggests that Paul's approach to healing the rift among the Ephesian Christians is one we should emulate. Rather than papering over significant differences and trying to pretend they don't exist, instead we ought to acknowledge the divisions that have been in the past... while remembering our common heritage as children of God. When we have clarity of vision about what has been, it allows us to more effectively work toward bridging the divide and finding unity.
Strangers and Aliens in the Voting Booth
by Leah Lonsbury
Ephesians 2:11-22; 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
I voted Republican in my first presidential election. I vividly recall entering the voting booth, closing the curtain, and making my mark on the ballot next to Ronald Reagan's name. This happened in the library at Lewis & Clark Elementary School. I was six at the time. I cast my vote in the school election for Reagan for two reasons: 1) He was handsome; and 2) All my friends were voting for him.
Since then, my politics have evolved a bit. A politician's platform now takes precedence over their good looks for me. I try to stay tuned into politics locally and nationally by reading and watching the news, talking to friends whose political minds I respect, and researching candidates in upcoming elections.
The truth is, though my politics have evolved some, the ease with which I make my mark on the ballot hasn't really been complicated at all. I no longer vote for a candidate based solely on good looks and peer pressure. But after all that time I spend reading, in political conversations, and on research, I still vote by the party line. So while I watch the partisan battles in Washington with great contempt, I wage a quieter, more personal partisan battle of my own in the voting booth.
I do this, because as Pietro Nivola of the Brookings Institution writes in his article "In Defense of Partisan Politics":
... the disputes between Republicans and Democrats are about more than "petty grievances" (though there are plenty of them too); the party differences run deep and fundamentally reflect differing convictions held by large blocs of voters, not just their elected representatives.
Nivola goes on to examine how the parties have become more cohesive, how the factions of "so-called liberal Republicans and truly conservative Democrats" have become "dwindling species." Nivola recalls President Barack Obama's inaugural speech and his allusions to scripture as he called the American people and their elected officials to "lay childish polemics aside" and end the politics of "petty grievances" and "worn-out dogmas."
It seems that we did not heed our commander-in-chief's advice. 2009 did not turn out to be the dawn of the post-partisan era. Nivola continues the biblical theme as he writes: "childish or not, America's partisan politics have remained as stubbornly intense and polarized as ever... the lambs remain unwilling to lie down with the lions. And there are few signs of partisan swords being turned into plowshares."
After studying the passage from Ephesians for this week, I'm quite sure Paul (or one of his followers) would have a bone to pick with a majority of the current electorate in these not-so-United States, including myself. Our partisan politics appear to be keeping us in the roles of "strangers and aliens" and from being "built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God."
THE WORLD
Last week, the majority Republican House of Representatives voted for the 33rd time to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), despite the fact that their 32 previous attempts have failed and the highest court in the nation has already ruled to uphold it. Naming cost as their major source of objection to health care reform via the ACA, Republicans have spent 80 hours -- 2 full workweeks -- on the House floor since 2010 fighting to repeal what they have deemed "Obamacare." According to the Congressional Research Service, each House workweek costs taxpayers $24 million. So these fiscal conservatives have spent nearly $50 million in order to fight reform they say will be too costly.
On the other side of the aisle, Democratic Representative Jim McDermott of Washington pointed out that several of the House Republicans who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act have young adult children and have taken advantage of the legislation's provision that allows parents to keep their children on their health insurance until they are 26. These congress members have little to fear, because they know their vote doesn't threaten this arrangement -- a repeal has no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate. At a briefing with reporters, McDermott said: "So for them to stand up and say I don't like Obamacare, but to put their kids on it because of what Obamacare brought, is pretty disingenuous. It is the height of hypocrisy."
At the same briefing, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's criticism widened as she generalized about the opposition: "There's sort of a hypocritical trend that runs through many of these Tea Party extremists in the Republican conference."
With this kind of partisan game-playing and name-calling going on, it seems likely that our elected officials will remain entrenched in their respective corners, acting and speaking against each other instead of for the people. Healthcare reform has been the hot battleground lately, but the battle happening there seems to have become less about reducing the suffering of the sick and disabled and more about creating suffering for the opposition.
THE WORD
This is the kind of battle that Paul knew well. Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised, far-off and nearby, strangers and members of the household of God -- Paul names the deeply held divisions that the people of Ephesus cling to, keeping them entrenched in opposite corners, and unable or unwilling to live into the "one humanity" Jesus Christ established.
That is who you were -- not who you are, Paul is telling the Ephesians. Paul reminds the estranged factions that the hostility they cling to has already been overcome, the walls that divide them have been broken down, and reconciliation and peace are theirs, if they will simply live into this new reality.
This is who you are in Jesus, Paul is reminding them. You are one new humanity. Wanting to drive his point home, Paul uses the loaded word atheos, which means "without God" but packs a greater emotional punch than most contemporary readers may realize.
... this was more than a description of nonbelief. The insult was loaded with insinuation that the opponent was uncivilized, akin to anarchists, and threatened the well-being of society as a whole. Both sides used this accusation. Greeks were slammed for rejecting the God of the Jews, and Jews were cut down for rejecting the religion of the state. (Edwin Searcy explores Pheme Perkins' work on Ephesians in Feasting on the Word [Year B, Vol. 3], pgs. 254, 256.)
These hostilities that tear you apart are in your past, Paul is saying. Grow your future together into a dwelling place for God.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
This was not merely side-by-side coexistence, but active antagonism and hostility. To remove the dividing walls was no small feat... To make these hostile groups one [would be] nothing short of miraculous.
The above lines are taken from the writing of Edwin Searcy in Feasting on the Word [Year B, Vol. 3] (Westminster John Knox, 2009) as he explores our text from Ephesians for this week. However, they could just as easily have been written about contemporary American politics and the growing chasm between the two parties.
Paul makes what should be a convincing case to the Ephesians and to us, as a part of the American electorate and people of faith. But it's a hard sell, isn't it? At some level, we already know what Paul is telling us. We know the power of what Jesus has done to make us one -- bringing together the "far off" and "near," making the way for hope, breaking down the dividing wall, abolishing the law, and putting in its place a sacred and reconciling love that is strong enough to defeat death.
But is that power strong enough to beat partisan swords into plowshares? Sometimes overcoming death seems like an easier task.
Yes. It is strong enough. That's what Paul would tell us. And here's how... God has been working on God's dream home for years. Jesus may be the cornerstone that makes its completion possible, but the foundation "of the apostles and prophets" and "the saints and members of the household of God" goes back for generations and generations.
Our other texts for this week help us see that foundation as well. They also help us imagine where we fit in, and what part we have to play in the continuing construction. In 2 Samuel, King David has gotten settled in, and it's time to write his thank-you notes to those who have brought him this far. God is at the top of the list, and David's feeling generous (and maybe a bit sheepish about the ark of God's current sleeping arrangements in comparison to his house of cedar). In the text as we have it, David never actually says the words "I will build God a house!" The prophet Nathan just seems to catch his line of thinking and gives it a thumbs-up.
But before David and Nathan can really even formulate their plan, God turns Nathan around with a message for David. I am already building the house I'm after, says God. It started with the people of Israel I brought out of Egypt, and I've been moving with and within them ever since. I didn't ask the tribal leaders for a house, I just dwelt with them and helped them shepherd Israel. And speaking of shepherds, remember where you were when I called you to lead? That's right. In a wide-open pasture. And I have wandered with you from there to where you are now, and I will dwell with you in the generations that bear your name. So thanks, but no thanks to the cedar box. I will make you a house. A living, breathing house...
... your family, my family, ... your people, my people, ... your house, my house.
And so we are reminded that we don't build alone or without God's presence, guidance, and blessing. We also don't start from scratch, as much as it may feel like that when we look at the distance there is to cover between the pieces and fragments of God's holy temple. And we aren't building something beyond our own experience. We're building our lives together. We're building a life together.
God has been and is still hard at work on this life with us.
In our gospel passage from Mark for this week, we see how God is building the tool that God chooses to help God's dream house take shape. In verse 30, the apostles are returning to Jesus after doing the construction work he has trained them for -- teaching, preaching, and healing. They build with the one tool they need -- the compassion of God that Jesus has made clear to them as he has taught, preached, and healed in their midst. He continues to employ that tool, recognizing the apostles' bodily needs for rest and sustenance and attending to the hunger of the crowds -- for teaching, for touching, and for healing. In the gap between verses 34 and 53, the portion of chapter 7 that gets left out of our reading, Jesus feeds the 5,000, addressing both their spiritual and bodily hunger, always building with God's compassion.
This is Jesus' pattern throughout the gospels. He recognizes one humanity in all, the worth and belonging of each person -- the poor, the outcast, the sick, the unclean, the hungry, the lost, the liberal, the conservative, the moderate -- and he acts with compassion. He draws close with compassionate love: his tool of choice, God's tool of choice. And another person, another essential piece is added to God's dwelling place. And the one body is strengthened.
God was and is building with us, and we can clearly see how that building happens in the life and compassionate love of Jesus. Then Paul makes our job a bit easier in his letter to the Ephesians. "Remember that you were" divided and estranged, writes Paul. "But now in Christ Jesus," you are already one. Now you must live that gift into reality, make your daily lives match God's truth in love.
The building we must do now is simply to grow into, to live into what is already established in Christ Jesus. The house is built, but we must make it a home for God, a place where the God of compassionate love would be pleased to dwell. Like the apostles, we've got a blueprint for the work to which we've been called as well. We find it in the life and love of Jesus.
There is his way of compassionate love. And then there is our way of doing things... We'll never grow into the one dwelling place of God through our partisan bickering and name-calling. And it's not likely to happen through some tenuously established middle ground, some great compromise (which, I am told, means nobody gets what they want) or a new set of rules everybody can begrudgingly adhere to sometimes. But remember -- we aren't building something beyond our own experience. We're building our lives together. We're building a life together.
It will only happen according to Jesus' way of compassionate love. It will only happen in the recognition of our common humanity. Like our passage says and like we see in Jesus' pattern, both the "far off" and the "near" belong and cannot be overlooked or left out. That also includes everybody in between. For the purposes of American politics, we could use the labels "liberal," "conservative," and "moderate." All have access through the community of Christ, Spirit, and Creator, so there are no strangers or aliens, and no one (despite what we hear on talk radio on both sides of the dial) is atheos, without God. And so we build this one body, this holy temple, this dwelling place for God by fitting our bodies, our very human lives into the pattern of the cornerstone -- Jesus. It may take some serious chiseling and reshaping, but we can get there.
It will mean using our human bodies, our resources, our wisdom, our strength, our passion, and our energy to heal, to share the Good News, to feed the hungry of all types, to meet the needs we encounter, to include the excluded, to touch the untouchable, and to act always in the model of God's compassionate love we see in Jesus.
When we do these things, when we reach for one another, then we grow together into the holy temple. We become a place where God would be pleased to dwell, and a welcome mat appears on the front stoop of God's home, our common life.
When we do these things, when we let the God of compassionate love lead our lives in the pattern of Jesus, perhaps it will get a little bit harder to play politics in order to trip up the opponent. Perhaps all the name-calling will begin to quiet down a bit. Perhaps we will see those partisan swords find new purpose as plowshares.
The foundation is built. The cornerstone is in place. The house stands. The challenge is to make it God's home sweet home.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Ephesians 2:11-22
The Boston Globe last weekend featured a reflection by Kenny Wiley on the racist remarks he encountered while running for a bus recently. Wiley begins the piece by remembering: "Last Sunday night, I was running down a street near Harvard Yard, trying to get to Harvard Square Station in time to catch a bus. I was wearing, backward, my Houston Texans hat, a Cosby Show T-shirt, and khaki shorts. I had my Mizzou 'Summer Welcome 2010' bag over my shoulder. I wasn't sprinting, but I was moving pretty quickly (for me, anyway). I passed a group of four strangers who looked somewhere between 17 and 21. As I ran by, one of the guys, a white guy, yelled out, 'Bro, you running from the cops or something?' One woman added, 'What'd you steal this time?' "
Wiley's story is both horrible and anecdotal, but it illustrates the deep divide that still remains between white Americans and black Americans. Arguably the greatest division in American culture, blacks and whites remain separated by the amount of household wealth, levels of education, and even whether or not racism is still an issue. As Peter Whoriskey reported last summer in the Washington Post: "Between 2005 and 2009, the median net worth of Hispanic households dropped by 66% and that of black households fell by 53%," according to a Pew Research Center report based on census data. "In contrast, the median net worth of white households dropped by only 16%. The median net worth of a white family now stands at 20 times that of a black family and 18 times that of a Hispanic family -- roughly twice the gap that existed before the recession and the biggest gap since data began being collected in 1984."
Education statistics point to a similar gap. A New York Times article by Tamar Lewin cites Department of Education figures showing that "Black students, especially boys, face much harsher discipline in public schools than other students." The article finds a deep divide in how students are treated at school. "Although black students made up only 18% of those enrolled in the schools sampled, they accounted for 35% of those suspended once, 46% of those suspended more than once, and 39% of all expulsions, according to the Civil Rights Data Collection's 2009-10 statistics from 72,000 schools in 7,000 districts, serving about 85% of the nation's students. The data covered students from kindergarten age through high school. One in five black boys and more than one in ten black girls received an out-of-school suspension. Overall, black students were three and a half times as likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers."
The divide between black and white shows up at the other end of the spectrum in which students take higher level classes or get into gifted and talented programs. Lewin notes: "While the disciplinary data was probably the most startling, the data showed a wide range of other racial and ethnic disparities. For while 55% of the high schools with low black and Hispanic enrollment offered calculus, only 29% of the high-minority high schools did so -- and even in schools offering calculus, Hispanics made up 20% of the student body but only 10% of those enrolled in calculus. And while black and Hispanic students made up 44% of the students in the survey, they were only 26% of the students in gifted and talented programs."
In the Letter to the Ephesians, the writer addresses a similar divide in the early church, between Jews and Gentiles. Even in translation, we can hear the bitterness of the names each side calls the other. Even into that religious divide, the writer is bold enough to claim that Christ is the peace that can heal the breach: "For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us" (v. 14).
According to Wiley's article, we could use some of that peace. As he continues his story, he recalls: "Surely, I'd heard wrong. I stopped and turned around." He asked the group if they were kidding, and says that "the exchange quickly grew heated, with me trying to explain to them why their comments were inappropriate. They weren't having any of it. They refused to understand why their words were offensive. They told me I needed to lighten up."
Race is so divisive that it's even hard to talk about. As Wiley observes: "Discussing anything about race in the 21st century is rarely straightforward. The people didn't call me the N-word, or any other slur. They probably all have at least a handful of black friends. They didn't try to beat me up. There are other possible explanations: Maybe it was my age or that my hat was on backward. Maybe it was how fast I was running. Maybe the same thing would happen to one of my white peers," although he adds that he doubts that. Wiley is a student at Harvard's Divinity School, and he comments that "my faith teaches me that every person has inherent worth and dignity. Every person matters. I don't hate those strangers who loudly suggested that I must be a criminal, 'joking' or not. I don't suddenly hate white people because of the actions of a few."
Still, the painful incident made him realize again how incompletely we have lived up to Paul's assertion that Christ is among us as our peace. It may be that God has ended every division that we can think of for each other, but the message hasn't gotten through to our everyday lives yet. "You are no longer strangers and aliens," Ephesians proclaims, but we haven't figured out how to live that way yet.
"Remember," the letter says several times. Remember who you were, and see where you are now. Wiley has the same hope -- that we can see clearly where we are now, so we can do better. "What I want," Wiley says, "is for us to stop pretending. I want us to stop pretending that racism is over. If it were, tipsy strangers wouldn't have heckled me. I want us to stop pretending that it's not harder to be female than male, that it's not harder to be gay than straight. I want us to stop pretending that we live in an equal society. We don't."
For Wiley, when we stop pretending, we can begin to do the work we need to do. What God has done in Jesus is clear. What we need to do to live into his vision of the world is so much less clear and is still in front of us. It's time to remember -- and then set to work, as God has called us to do.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Tajul Muluk, a Muslim cleric in Indonesia, has been sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy. His crime was being in violation of the Koran by advocating that Muslims pray three times a day to Mecca, rather than the required five. During the sentencing, the presiding judge declared Muluk a heretic.
Application: Paul was trying to join the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians into a single community, but legalistic interpretations of the scriptures prevented unity. How often do we prevent the church from having a unified witness because of our unwillingness to accept alternate points of view?
* * *
Charles Osgood is a journalist, author, and poet, and the host of the CBS news magazine show Sunday Morning -- the best TV show that pastors never see.
One of his favorite stories is about two ladies who lived in a convalescent center. Each had suffered an incapacitating stroke. Margaret's stroke left her left side restricted, while Ruth's stroke damaged her right side. Both of these ladies were accomplished pianists but had given up hope of ever playing again.
The activities director of the center sat them down at a piano and encouraged them to play solo pieces together. They did -- and a beautiful friendship developed as they were, together, able to play music that neither of them would have been able to play alone.
* * *
Bandleader and composer John Philip Sousa was once asked by a reporter which of the instruments in his band was the most important.
The reporter knew that Sousa was himself a virtuoso cornet player. He also knew that the bandleader had invented the sousaphone, a tuba constructed for playing in a marching band. And he had once been quoted as saying that the bass drum was the heart of the band.
But this time Sousa merely held up his baton for the reporter to see. "This," he said, "is the most important instrument in the band. Without the baton, it's all just noise. The baton brings all the noise together in just the right way to turn it into music."
* * *
Some of us can remember using a two-man crosscut saw. These cumbersome and difficult instruments of destruction were usually about six feet long, with a handle on each end and huge, razor-sharp teeth set so they cut going both ways.
A person would stand on each end of the saw and take turns pulling it back and forth, but it was never as easy as it sounds. Having used other saws that required both pushing and pulling, a neophyte on the two-man was always tempted to push the saw back through after pulling.
But pushing only managed to buckle the saw and slow progress. It was only when each person pulled exactly at the right place and time that the saw cut as it was designed to do.
* * *
In the gospel lesson we see Jesus teaching and healing, doing the basic work of the gospel. Sometimes being a Christian means simply doing the hard, unglamorous, but necessary work that needs to be done.
When I was a teenager, a tornado blew through the Indiana community where my family lived. It was a relatively small as tornadoes go. No serious damage was done to people or their homes, but it blew down hundreds of acres of mature corn crops.
When it came time to harvest the corn the machinery couldn't get into the fields, so there was nothing to do but pick it by hand. Scores of families went voluntarily into the fields in the afternoons and evenings after school to pick and shuck corn. Then we went back with machete-like corn knives, cut the stalks, and stacked them in wagons to be hauled back and chopped up into silage.
It was hard, boring, backbreaking labor -- but it was necessary. We didn't expect to get all of the corn harvested, but we got enough of it in to get those small family farms through the winter to the next growing season.
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
Ah, the life of a PK.
When my kids were teenagers they often joked that they were going to be pastors, not because they felt particularly called to the ministry but because they would be able to test out of all the seminary courses that involved setting up and taking down tables and chairs or pouring grape juice and cutting up bread for communion.
My son often found himself running the church's public address system because he happened to be there at the church when the guy installed it, so he got the tutorial on how to run it.
My daughter often babysat in the nursery for church meetings and events because, she said, it was one of the few things a teenage girl could do for the church, and besides she was the preacher's kid.
They grew up in the church, where sometimes they were fed and sometimes they did the feeding. Today, they are both active, adult members of churches where they understand that sometimes the work of the gospel is just that: work.
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
During much of the Jerry Sandusky investigation, Associated Press sports columnist Jim Litke supported Joe Paterno on the basis of Paterno's sterling reputation. As Litke wrote, "Up until Thursday, I believed it still." But with the release of former FBI director Louis Freeh's 267-page report, there it was on page 48 -- evidence that Joe Paterno had, along with three other top Penn State administrators, been a part of a cover-up that began in 1998 when a mother first reported her son being molested by Sandusky in the college's locker room. Regarding the reputation of Coach Paterno, Litke wrote a familiar phrase known to most: "a halo, lowered just a foot or so, becomes a noose."
Application: The alternate Old Testament text from Jeremiah tells of how the respected leaders of Israel were to be the shepherds of the flock; but because they neglected their duties, the sheep scattered. As members of the church, with some holding positions of leadership, are we fulfilling our responsibilities as shepherds? Do we struggle to keep our halo in the place it was designed to be?
* * *
Gallup does an annual poll that is published under the title "Confidence in Institutions." This year the church scored its lowest recorded percentage, with only 44% of Americans affirming "a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in 'the church of organized religion' ". More astonishing is that if the presentation is reversed, it reveals that 56% of Americans have little or no confidence in the organized church.
Application: Our Second Samuel text reports on the dialogue between God and Nathan regarding building a home for the Ark and thus moving the Ark from a tent. How much support would such a building project have today?
* * *
The uniforms of the U.S. Olympic team are very attractive, as they should be since they were designed by Ralph Lauren. The red, white, and blue berets, blazers, and pants are very symbolic of the ideals of our nation.
But a symbolic problem has arisen when it was discovered that the struggling textile industry in the United States did not sew the garments, but instead the U.S. Olympic committee had them imported from China. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, "You'd think they'd know better."
Application: In the dialogue between God and Nathan, it was discerned that David would not build a home for the Ark -- it would be built by his offspring. Can the community look to our own spiritual talents and access that we are capable to maintain the ministry of the church or will they look elsewhere? Let us hope people don't say to us: "You'd think they'd know better."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Come and worship our God who is our shepherd.
People: In God we shall not ever want.
Leader: God makes us lie down in green pastures;
People: God leads us beside still waters;
Leader: surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all our days.
People: We shall dwell in the house of our God forever.
OR
Leader: Come and dwell in the unity of our God.
People: We come to be in communion with God.
Leader: Come and dwell in the unity of the church.
People: We come to be in fellowship with one another.
Leader: Come and dwell in unity with strangers and enemies.
People: We come to embrace all God's people.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise"
found in:
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
Renew: 46
"God of Many Names"
found in:
UMH: 105
NCH: 11
CH: 13
"Jesus, United by Thy Grace"
found in:
UMH: 561
"Help Us Accept Each Other"
found in:
UMH: 560
PH: 358
NCH: 388
CH: 487
"Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation"
found in:
UMH: 559
H82: 518
PH: 416/417
NCH: 400
CH: 275
LBW: 367
ELA: 645
"Where Charity and Love Prevail"
found in:
UMH: 549
H82: 581
NCH: 396
LBW: 126
ELA: 359
"In Christ There Is No East or West"
found in:
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELA: 650
"O God of Every Nation"
found in:
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELA: 713
"As We Gather"
found in:
CCB: 12
Renew: 6
"Sweet, Sweet Spirit"
found in:
CCB: 7
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is unity within your own being: Grant to your children the wisdom to live into the unity that has been prepared for us from the beginning so that we might truly be one as you are one; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to worship you, O God, who dwells in eternal community within your own being. As we praise your name and listen for your instruction this day, help us to be open to the community that is ours in Christ. Open our eyes that we may see the Risen Christ in each other. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the way we insist on seeing separation where Christ has already brought unity.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You created us to be one people, and when we refused to believe we are one people, the Christ came and proclaimed our unity in you. Yet we refuse to hear him. We look for the differences between ourselves and others. We imagine that we are closer to you than they are. Forgive us our blindness and stubbornness. Open our eyes to the unity with which you have gifted us. Amen.
Leader: God is one and makes all of us one. Receive the unity of God and of humanity as a gift from God.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We offer to you, O God, the praise that you desire from your children. We sing of your greatness and desire to know you more.
(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 created us to be one people, and when we refused to believe we are one people, the Christ came and proclaimed our unity in you. Yet we refuse to hear him. We look for the differences between ourselves and others. We imagine that we are closer to you than they are. Forgive us our blindness and stubbornness. Open our eyes to the unity with which you have gifted us.
We give you thanks for all those who have claimed us as part of their lives and helped us see the unity of your people. We thank you for the stories of the Bible that remind us we are all one family in your great creation.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray that we may all learn to live as one people. We pray especially for those who feel rejected and displaced. We pray for those who through violence, hatred, or neglect can no longer believe that you or anyone can care for them. We pray for the wisdom and courage to live into our unity so that others are brought in with us.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Have the children stand in a line and ask if any of them can reach over to an object or person on the other side. (If you only have one or two children, volunteer some adults to help.) It should be far enough away that they cannot do this. Then ask them how we can reach that person/thing. If they don't suggest it, then suggest holding hands and reaching out. Let them demonstrate how that works. God made us to work and live together. When we do that we can accomplish great things.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Relying on Each Other
Ephesians 2:11-22
Object: two children's puzzles with large enough pieces to be put together in only a minute (However, mix up the pieces so that several from the wrong puzzle are in with the correct pieces.)
Good morning, boys and girls! Do you enjoy doing puzzles? I can remember when I was young we used to get puzzles for presents quite often. Some of them were very easy and could be put together in only a few minutes. Others were much more difficult and would require us to work on them for hours until they were done.
The key to good puzzle construction is to work together. You have to get the right pieces in the right place. Today we are going to do just that. I am going to divide you up into two groups and give each group a puzzle. Then when I say, "Go," I want you to work as quickly as you can to complete the puzzle and see which group is finished first.
Is everyone ready? "Go!" (Comment on what good progress the children are making, then on their realization that something is wrong with their puzzle.) What seems to be the problem here? Oh, I see. Some of your pieces don't belong to your puzzle. Why don't you see if the other team might be able to help you out? That's right! Now we are on the right track again!
The only way these puzzles could be completed is if you rely on each other for the right pieces. That is also the way the Bible speaks of the Christian life. Even though some people would like to live their faith alone and not share it with others, Jesus says we are like the parts of the body. We need to rely on each other. We need to assist each other when someone's faith is weak. We need to share what God has given us so that people around us can learn to trust Him.
That is really what the church is about: Jesus is working in me, Jesus is working in you, each of us reaching out to help each other and others to know Him as Lord.
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The Immediate Word, July 22, 2012, issue.
Copyright 2012 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.
