A key theme in this week’s lectionary texts is the contrast between what the world sees as strength and wisdom and what God regards as strength as wisdom -- as Paul distills it for the Corinthian Christians, “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” This difference is reflected in the reversals that Jesus enumerates in the Beatitudes, as he teaches that those who are persecuted, who suffer, and who are exploited by the world will be blessed and receive a great reward. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Chris Keating explores the stark contrast between the simple message Jesus brings us from one mountain (via the Sermon on the Mount) with the entirely different message coming from the mountain resort of Davos, Switzerland, where some of the world’s richest and most powerful figures convened last week for the annual World Economic Forum. One of the most important issues on their agenda was grappling with the massive inequality of wealth throughout the world, and the threat it causes to global peace. But few of these leaders seem willing to confront the massive reversal to the status quo that would be necessary to make a significant dent in these problems. Rather, Chris notes that the evidence suggests their attitude might best be summed up as “Party on!” And, as Chris points out, there is a radical difference between what the wisdom of the world’s best and brightest coming from Davos and what Jesus preaches in the Beatitudes.
Team member Mary Austin shares some additional thoughts on the theme of humility in this week’s texts... an attitude that she observes is becoming increasingly difficult to find in today’s world -- even among Christians. There are many examples that we can point to of this phenomenon, but one need look no further than the contrast between two of the biggest personalities in this Sunday’s Super Bowl: trash-talking Seattle Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman and quarterback Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos, recently tabbed by his peers as the NFL’s most respected player. As Mary points out, even if Manning weren’t already noted for lauding his teammates and displaying a humble spirit throughout his outstanding career, his long odyssey while recovering from career-threatening neck surgery would be an exercise in learning humility. Manning’s frank acceptance -- even in the face of intense media speculation -- that the outcome was beyond his control is quite different from the braggadocio that we see throughout our popular culture, from music to movies to self-promoting celebrities and politicians. While we may say that we value humility, it seems that there’s more shameless arrogance, self-promotion, and egotism than ever -- and that’s certainly not the sort of spirit that Jesus is promoting when he talks about the blessedness of the humble and the meek.
A Tale of Two Mountains
by Chris Keating
Matthew 5:1-12
It’s a story of two mountains, big crowds, and two very different messages.
Last week, thousands of elite, wealthy, and extremely powerful leaders of global business and politics gathered in the Swiss Alps for heady discussions on the state of the world. The annual World Economic Forum brought more than 2,500 participants to the swanky ski resort of Davos for conversations -- and parties.
By any measure, those gathering in Davos were the elite of the world’s elite. The meeting’s attendees blended together a premium mix of CEOs and prime ministers, Saudi princes and Hollywood royalty alike. As ideas were swapped and deals cemented, champagne flowed as freely as the Austrian luge team. Within the pristine beauty of the posh alpine resort, organizers hoped to cull ideas for solving some of the world’s intractable problems -- including rising youth unemployment, a responsible monetary policy, and issues of health and security.
Meanwhile, the church will also gather near a mountain -- the mountain where Jesus preaches to the crowds in Matthew 5:1-12. On this Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Jesus’ message of humility, meekness, and righteousness will not likely be punctuated by the sounds of Dom Perignon being uncorked. The church will instead strain its ears to listen to Jesus’ words of encouragement in a world marked by poverty, hunger, war, and disaster.
In Davos, the rich and famous network and munch on caviar while discussing fiscal policy. In Matthew, Jesus sits down and instructs the crowd on the disciplines of righteousness. It truly is the tale of two mountains. The elite listen for confirmation of their position, while Jesus’ disciples hear promises of the meek inheriting the earth. The church, eager to be faithful in the best of times and in the worst of times, must decide which story will empower its proclamation of the reign of God.
Charles Dickens could not have written it better: while thousands sip champagne and enjoy chocolate-covered strawberries, billions lack enough for their daily needs. It is indeed a tale of two mountains -- and a time for the church to clearly announce Jesus’ often unsettling words.
In the News
It’s the premiere networking opportunity -- a gathering of the best and the brightest cocooned together for a wintertime confab on the world’s most vexing problems. Under the tutelage of Professor Klaus Schwab from the University of Geneva, the World Economic Forum was started in 1971 as a place where big ideas about world change could be discussed. Leaders from around the world gather for daily think-tank discussions on a wide range of global issues.
By day it’s a heady series of lectures and discussions about world peace and global cooperation. But the real action emerges after dark as participants flock to the many euphemistically-termed “nightcaps” -- which is Davos-speak for big time, A-list bacchanalian bashes. The upscale Swiss resort becomes a haven for backslapping and elbow-rubbing at these legendary late-night soirees. Invites to the best parties are hard to grab, and indications are that the parties now overshadow the convocation itself. At the Hotel Belvedere, for example, this year’s Davos season meant 320 parties in just five days. The hotel’s staff uncorked nearly 1,600 bottles of champagne and served more than 16,000 canapés.
And that’s only one of the town’s notable gathering places. Parties range from select gatherings in small chalets to elaborate galas in gigantic hotel ballrooms. No wonder comedian Jon Stewart portrayed the billionaire enclave as “Mountain Few” (complete with a parody of the Mountain Dew logo), and ridiculed Davos as “the money Oscars.”
Of course, after a full day of tackling global income inequality, it takes a bit more than cheese dip and Ritz crackers to unwind.
That’s perhaps the greatest irony surrounding this year’s mountaintop retreat. The historic breach between the world’s rich and poor topped the agenda this year. As Davos devotees were being escorted into town by limos and private jets, the international charity Oxfam unveiled new research indicating that the world’s 85 wealthiest persons are now worth as much as 3.5 billion of the world’s most impoverished persons combined.
Only in Davos does bad news get the party started.
Indeed, though organizers had hoped to explore solutions to this colossal gap between the rich and poor, it seemed attendees were more interested in fetching invites to the Google gala, which was headlined by R&B legend Mary J. Blige. In a crowded field of global struggles, income inequality is seen as headed toward a critical tipping point. More than a few of those attending Davos were members of that exclusive 85 club, prompting hopes that stakeholders could push what Klaus Schwab described as the global “reset button.”
Even Pope Francis entreated those attending to pay close attention to the grinding poverty that threatens world stability, calling for “decisions, mechanisms, and processes directed to a better distribution of wealth, the creation of sources of employment, and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality.”
“I ask you to ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it,” the Pope said in the message read at the opening ceremony by Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice.
The response of those attending? Let’s keep the party rolling.
Writing for the Daily Beast, Christopher Dickey noted that few participants actually engaged in talks about poverty. By the end of the week, the issue had seemed to evaporate. As Dickey summarized it:
The consensus among the rich guys I talked to (most of whom had left in their chauffeur-driven Audis and private jets on Friday), was that Davos this year was just the way it should be: a place to make more deals face to face with more people much faster than they could anywhere else -- then spend a few hours on the slopes or taking in the esoteric offerings on the conference agenda, like Goldie Hawn talking about meditation. “I like to improve my mind,” one influential American CEO told me.
Despite the optimistic dreams of the forum’s organizers, those who have reached the top of the economic mountain seem just as intent as ever in maintaining their position with little regard for those stuck in the crags below. While thousands whooped it up at the summit of success, billions more yearned for their daily bread.
Perhaps the most theologically-nuanced reflection on the week came from none other than Jon Stewart. From his Daily Show pulpit, comedian Stewart commented on the income inequality report by saying, “Jesus Christ (long pause) would not be happy about that.”
In the Scriptures
Stewart’s wry observation is a reminder that Davos espouses values far removed from Jesus’ announcement of the kingdom. The message from the Alps last week was one of glamorous success, limitless fortunes, and happiness secured by material wealth. Even the organizer’s altruistic hopes for global peace are obscured by Gatsby-ish opulence.
In contrast, the message of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12 is a call to meekness, powerlessness, and vulnerability built on a secure faith in God’s abundant provision. Jesus’ words from the mountain reverse our expectations. Instead of promoting happiness secured by fortunes and benchmarked according to income, Jesus brings a message of surprise. It’s not the fabulously wealthy who are happy, he says, but instead it is those who trust in God’s coming kingdom.
And the announcement of such a kingdom won’t include A-list celebs and scads of the world’s pretty people.
In some ways, the messages from the two mountains -- Davos and the Sermon on the Mount -- are quite similar. Both envision a world filled with prosperity and marked by blessing. Davos hopes for greater cooperation, the promotion of harmony, and the creation of world peace. Jesus, too, yearns for these things -- but insists that they happen only through the church’s pronouncement of the reign of God. The kingdom of mammon won’t be inaugurated with vintage champagne or Russian caviar.
Nor will it come as a small percentage of the world is blessed while the majority remains impoverished.
Instead, he says, it is the poor in spirit who will be rich; the grieving who will find comfort; the pure who will see God; and the ones who stick their neck out in the name of peace who shall be named as God’s progenitors. As the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ words are framed by themes of reversal and astonishing surprise. As Thomas Long says, “The people whom the world would see as pitiful -- the mournful, the persecuted -- are the very people Jesus claims are truly joyful” (Matthew [Westminster John Knox Press, 1997], p. 46). It is an absolute reversal of what the world has come to expect.
God’s kingdom will not look like the kingdoms of this world. Matthew has already made it clear that in Jesus, this kingdom has come near. In this prologue to Jesus’ magnificent sermon, the point is reinforced. Jesus is revealing the truth about the kingdom. He does so by recognizing that the crowds who have gathered around him -- the poor and afflicted, the despised and reviled -- are in fact the very ones who are truly blessed. The happy ones are the 3.5 billion poor, not the 85 uber-wealthy. The Beatitudes enable us to see that the reality we have taken for granted is not reality, at least as God sees it.
Jesus makes it clear that this reality is not “in some heaven light years away,” as one contemporary hymn (“Gather Us In”) puts it, but “here in this place,” where new light is shining. The church lives in this joyful tension between the now and the not yet, confidently proclaiming the kingdom which will shatter the present imbalance. Those who see with the eyes of faith see a reality the world cannot understand. The downcast, the depressed, the ones not counted as having value by the world are indeed those whom God has already blessed.
In the Sermon
It is, of course, relatively easy to poke fun at the obscene and excessive glamour of the Davos party scene. There are indications that even the organizers of the forum know this commercial excess has overtaken the very purpose of the forum. But on the other hand, the gathering of so many glitterati while billions are struggling to survive does call to mind images of a dystopian society portrayed in movies and novels such as The Hunger Games or Divergent.
With that in mind, a sermon could help the congregation see that the Beatitudes do not describe some sort of an alternative reality, but are instead the deeper, more true reality, at least as far as God is concerned. The task is to allow them to illustrate a message from the mountain that stands in remarkable contrast to the prevailing wisdom of the world.
In contrast to the word proclaimed in Davos, Jesus proposes that we pursue a different path, a way which leads toward wholeness and healing. It is a path that describes a way for those hungering for more than canapés and caviar or other signs of the world’s gluttony. Those with pure hearts can see this way -- it is the way of a grandparent who sets aside visions of a comfortable retirement in order to care for a troubled grandson, or the way of a talented business person who purposely pursues a career working with disabled adults, eschewing bigger paychecks in order to stand with those disregarded by our world.
It is indeed a tale of two mountains.
The path of Jesus, as Christine Chakoian points out, “may not initially look as appealing, but the farther down the road of faith one travels, the more truth one finds” (Feasting on the Gospels -- Matthew, Vol. 1 [Westminster John Knox Press, 2013], p. 79). In this cold season of the year, our congregations are yearning for a sermon that warms the heart of faith and which declares a word of hope that will sustain them when the brightness of the world’s glitz and glitter has faded. They are looking up the mountain. From where will their help come?
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Micah 6:1-8
Even in our cynical time, people who do justice and love kindness are not hard to find. But humility requires a deeper search. People who walk humbly through life are in short supply. Preparations for this Sunday’s Super Bowl are adding to the over-the-top feel, as rivalries ramp up. And that’s just the commercials!
Humility -- true humility -- is in such short supply that the term “humblebrag” has entered our vocabulary. As Henry Alford wrote for the New York Times, “Sometimes when I crave a powerful dose of humility -- the kind of humility that can come only from fully apprehending the lot of those less fortunate than me -- I turn my attention to the plight of the former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. He experiences an exquisite kind of pain. As he lamented on Twitter... ‘They just announced my flight at LaGuardia is number 15 for takeoff. I miss Air Force One.’ ” More social media, Alford observes, gives us more places to show our false humility. The humblebrag attempts to solicit both approval and sympathy in the same moment.
The world of sports dispenses with the humble, and runs on frequent doses of outright bragging. There has been trash-talking for as long as there’s been competition. Recently, Seattle Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman’s postgame interview, after Seattle defeated the San Francisco 49ers to clinch a spot in the Super Bowl, generated all kinds of commentary. His words weren’t so different from all of the other trash-talking in sports, but the level of energy and raw emotion seemed to take Fox Sports’ Erin Andrews, no shrinking violet herself, aback. The interview showed us the adrenaline which fuels professional sports, usually masked in polite, boring postgame soundbites. This time there was no mask, and we saw the level of energy and passion needed to make a profession out of a game that can end in dementia, permanent pain, and a future full of surgery.
As Tommy Tomlinson wrote for Forbes, “Ninety-nine percent of on-field interviews are boring and useless. The TV networks do them anyway for the one percent of the time they get a moment like Richard Sherman.... As a reporter and writer, that raw emotion -- whatever form it takes -- is exactly what I hope for. That’s why media people fight for access to locker rooms.... We rip athletes for giving us boring quotes. But if they say what they actually feel, we rip them for spouting off or showing a lack of class.”
Roger Groves, also in Forbes, notes that calm interviews rarely yield instant celebrity. Following the old adage that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, he suggests that “Now it is up to Sherman and his economic advisors to ascertain how to cash in on his social media celebrity. He just may figure that out. Sherman was 2nd in his high school class and a Stanford graduate of the School of Communications. Very calm and analytical in the next postgame interview. He apparently already learned something in NFL 101: Two postgame sentences do not create that buzz for most of us. But controversy sells, even when you author it.”
For all their required braggadocio, sports are also a place for public humiliation -- and can be a school for humility.
For an example, one can look to the remarkable career of quarterback Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos, the team facing Sherman’s Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Manning’s outstanding season -- following an extended layoff -- has made him the odds-on favorite to be named this year’s MVP (most valuable player). Moreover, in a recent poll of his peers Manning was voted by a wide margin as the NFL’s most respected player. Manning said in response, “It’s always nice when you are paid respect by your opponents, the guys you play against. I know as a young player in the NFL, I remember some of my goals were to establish the respect of my coaches, my own teammates, and then my opponents. Football is a game where mutual respect between opponents is what all players strive for. It makes the game better.”
Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post looks at Peyton Manning’s accomplishments, and sees a mixture of genetic good fortune, natural talent, and a vast amount of hard work: “Manning was born with undeniable gifts, a tangle of ribonucleic acids that bestowed on him golden boyness, a scanning intelligence, and that python-thick arm he got from his cool and silvery old man Archie, who remains a legend at Ole Miss and quarterbacked the New Orleans Saints from 1971 to 1982. But Manning was also born with a congenital weakness: that neck. He was 16 when his older brother Cooper, a promising wide receiver, received a diagnosis of career-ending spinal stenosis, a collapsing of the spaces between his vertebrae that pressured the spinal cord. Archie insisted his younger sons Peyton and Eli be thoroughly examined for spinal-cervical weakness too, and a doctor pronounced teenaged Peyton’s neck curvature a potential problem. It wasn’t bad enough to forbid football, but it was less than ideal.”
“Not picture perfect,” Manning says.
“For 20 years, the golden boyness trumped the not-picture-perfect flaw,” Jenkins writes, and Manning never missed a game with an injury. As Manning says, “I’d had this string of good health and good fortune. Good protection, good coaches, good linemen, played in a good system. When you play for 20 years, and really, I never had to miss a game due to injury, that’s not just good protection. That’s good luck.”
When the luck wore out, Manning had surgery in 2010 and 2011. Further, recovery from this kind of injury was chancy, with no set timetable or predictable outcome. As Jenkins writes, “Of all the traits Manning was born with, the one that served him best during those months wasn’t his analytical mind or his physical strength, but his painstaking temperament. Manning has always been the most exacting man who has played the position, compulsively meticulous, a turn-over-every-stoner. The quality helped him cope when he finally encountered a problem he couldn’t solve with arm strength.”
When things looked bleak in 2011, Manning went home to see his parents and his brothers. Throwing a football with his brother Eli revealed the lack of progress he was making. Jenkins paints the scene: “But it was Manning’s older brother Cooper who put his neck injury in the proper context and cured him of any self-pity. Cooper had been an athlete equal to anyone in the family, an all-state wide receiver with a scholarship to Ole Miss, when he began experiencing numbness and atrophy in his right bicep. The Mannings flew to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where tests showed dangerous degeneration in his spine. He underwent surgery to relieve the pressure on his spinal cord, and complications set in. After weeks in a wheelchair, he had to walk with a cane. All of which Manning had witnessed up close.... ‘I’ve never taken it for granted, ever since Cooper’s career was taken from him just like that,’ Manning says. ‘So I always had it in perspective, and I didn’t need a year off to remind me how lucky I was to play.’ He and Cooper talked, comparing their conditions -- but in truth, Manning realized, there was no comparison. He had gotten a career, and Cooper hadn’t.” Summing up the experience, Peyton Manning says, “I just thought, wow, I got almost 20 years out of this neck. Boy, I’m grateful for the time I’ve had.”
In 2011, Manning became the father of twins, with his wife Ashley. As Jenkins writes, “Compared to being a father, a football comeback seemed like a vanity project.... Devotion to parenthood had been his father’s greatest talent, and Manning wanted the same for his family.” In the same article Manning recalls, “I’m not sure it would have been as easy if I wasn’t coming home and playing with them every night. The one year the Lord took my greatest physical gift, he gave me the greatest gift you could have in children. So that was a real equalizer. And I would take that trade any day of the week.”
If the physical game is weaker, perhaps the mental game is stronger. As he says, “I really don’t compare myself anymore to how I was before,” he says. “I’ve learned to throw in this state, and I’m just trying to do the best I can with the way things are.”
In a sports world full of bragging, self-promotion, and trash talk, that kind of gratitude is unusual -- and worthy of note. Walking humbly through a world fueled by money, attention, and temptation is rare -- and inspiring.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Ron Love:
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Ford’s F-Series pickup trucks (including such popular models as the F-150 and the heavy-duty F-250) have been the top-selling vehicles in the United States for the past 32 years; in 2013 Ford sold an F-series truck every 41 seconds, with each sale netting the company a $10,000 profit. But Ford’s not playing it safe -- this year’s F-150 model is going to be revolutionized, with the majority of the truck constructed from aluminum instead of steel. Why is the company willing to put its signature product at risk? For many of its truck customers, particularly small business owners, fuel consumption was a major issue. With the change in body design and construction, the F-150 will now weigh 700 pounds less than its original 5,000-pound weight.
Application: Is Ford being wise or foolish? Having listened to small business owners, they were willing to make a substantial change to their signature product. So too we must be wise enough to hear the needs of those who are in want of the gospel message, and be “foolish” enough to change our established ways.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
An Episcopal priest in my community wants to introduce the new Anglican liturgy to his congregation. He wrote a lengthy letter to his constituents, explaining that the new liturgy would be introduced during the Wednesday evening service, and if it was well-received it would then be used for Sunday worship as well. As an analogy, he described how Lay’s potato chips recently changed the packaging of their product without changing the product itself. He then went on to write of the new liturgy: “What must never change is the content: the message of the Gospel. What needs change in each and every generation so that the Gospel can be proclaimed is the packaging of the Gospel.”
Application: Like Paul, this pastor knew that how he packaged the gospel message would affect how it is received.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
In that same letter, the priest indicated an understanding that change cannot be made to the liturgy without forethought. He wrote to his congregants, “As God’s people, we always need to employ prayerful discernment before we set our sail to ride the latest wind of change that comes along.”
Application: Paul wanted us to be “foolish” as we preach the gospel; but he expected us to be wise fools.
*****
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Famed director Martin Scorsese’s new movie The Wolf of Wall Street, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, has drawn criticism for its liberal use of profanity (the F-word is used over 500 times) and full nudity, and for what many see as its glorification of greed, drugs, and sex. As a result, censors in Dubai have deemed that about one-quarter of the film is not appropriate viewing -- meaning that about 45 minutes of the three-hour movie will not be shown on the big screen throughout the United Arab Emirates. Because of this, audiences will view a movie that is disjointed and whose plot line will be very difficult to follow.
Application: Our initial response is to condemn the Arab country for censorship. But on reflection, maybe the movie pushed the envelope of acceptability a little bit too far. Let us be wise enough to present a gospel message in such a manner that it is always acceptable, and that its plot line can always be followed.
*****
Micah 6:1-8
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that Apple has agreed to pay at least $32.5 million in customer refunds in order to settle a complaint over app purchases made by children. The issue centered on how Apple notified parents about in-app purchases. Once installed, many apps now require users to buy various additional virtual goods. For example, if a child were playing a game on a smartphone or tablet, moving to a higher level in the game often necessitated making an additional purchase. To do so, the child’s parent had to enter a password. But what Apple did not disclose was that once the password was entered, the ability to make purchases remained active for 15 minutes. During that time, absent of parental supervision, a child could make an unlimited number of purchases, ranging from 99¢ to $99. As a result, some children went on to rack up thousands of dollars in additional purchases without parental approval.
Application: We are reminded daily of Micah’s message that we must be a just and fair society.
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From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Grandchildren Keep Us Humble
As a new grandfather, I have discovered that few things can keep me humble as effectively as smart grandchildren.
Recently, my son and daughter-in-law invited my wife and me to come with them and our grandsons to the Cincinnati Zoo to see the Christmas light display. It was a crisply cold but comfortable evening, and we were having a wonderful time when I noticed that we were walking on a paved path through a bamboo forest.
I pointed to the bamboo, some of which was 10 to 12 feet tall, and asked five-year-old Luke if he noticed that we were walking through bamboo. He said that he did. Thinking that I might use this as a teaching moment, I asked him if he knew that bamboo was grass. In fact, he did... whereupon he launched into a 10-minute lecture about the nature of bamboo, what it’s used for, what animals eat it, etc.
I noticed my son Ben chuckling to himself. “We have a zoo membership, Dad,” he said. Then he winked and said, “Kinda brought a knife to a gunfight there, didn’t ya?”
*****
If You’re Humble and You Know It
Henry Augustus Rowland was a famous professor of physics at Johns Hopkins University who was widely known for both his genius and his humility. He was generally a quiet, unassuming, even self-depreciating gentleman.
Once, however, he was called as an expert witness in a trial where the attorney asked him under cross-examination, “What are your qualifications as an expert witness in this case?”
Rowland said quietly and calmly, “I am the greatest living expert on the subject under discussion.” Later, when a friend of Rowland told him that he was surprised at Rowland’s answer, Rowland replied: “Well, what did you expect me to do? I was under oath.”
*****
Humility in Heaven
Methodist George Whitfield was considered by Ben Franklin to be the greatest preacher/orator of his age. Whitfield was handsome, articulate, and popular -- and he often disagreed with John Wesley on esoteric points of theology. He almost always kept his disagreements with Wesley private, however, because he didn’t want small points of theology to give the impression of a divided church.
One time someone who knew of his disagreements with Wesley asked him if he thought he’d see John Wesley in heaven. Whitfield replied, “No, I think that he will be so much closer to the heavenly throne than I that I will never even get a glimpse of him.”
*****
It’s Good to Be the King
Mother Jones offers the following data concerning income inequality in the United States:
Average annual income per family:
Bottom 90%: $29,840
Top 10%: $161,139
Top 1%: $1,019,089
Top .1%: $2,802,020
Top .01%: $23,846,940
Percentage of America’s wealth controlled by:
Top 10%: 73.1%
Bottom 90%: 26.9%
From 2007-2009, American average home equity fell 35%, unemployment rose 102%, and Wall Street profits rose 725%.
*****
The Rich Get Richer
In 1950, the CEO-to-worker pay ratio for Fortune 500 CEOs was about 20-to-1. In 1980, it was about 42-to-1. In 2000, it was 120-to-1. Today, it is 1,795-to-1.
*****
Six Myths about Food Stamps
1. Food stamps are “growing exponentially” because of waste and fraud.
2. Cutting food stamps will make people get jobs because able-bodied people are getting food stamps instead of working.
3. Food stamps make people “dependent.”
4. Food stamps are about politicians “buying votes” with other people’s money.
5. Food stamp recipients take drugs.
6. People use food stamps to buy cigarettes and alcohol.
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From team member Leah Lonsbury:
1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12
In a move that seems more suitable to the Crawleys of Downton Abbey than the English royals of our contemporary age, Buckingham Palace began advertising this week for a new housekeeper who would be responsible for such duties as running the royal baths and arranging tea service. This new staffer, who will be working in proximity to the royal family, must be able to “maintain confidentiality” as well as perform her/his duties in a manner that is “meticulous with a close attention to detail.” This new hire must be able to be away from London for three months of the year, work 40 hours a week, and tackle “high-quality cleaning, presentation, and guest care,” as well as “arranging dry cleaning, care of jewelry, running baths, assisting with dressing if required and arranging the service of tea and breakfast trays,” all for the whopping salary of £14,400 (or $23,800) a year. The royal bath drawer will join the household workforce of approximately 1,200 gardeners, curators, cooks, secretaries, furniture planners, and various other “necessary” workers.
How might this advertisement read after hearing Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount? And how foolish does this “wisdom of the world” seem in light of our passage from Corinthians? How well would it withstand the overturning that both Jesus and Paul are enacting with what they preach?
*****
1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12
It turns out the nerds in Silicon Valley may be smart, but they’re not all that wise. In his latest piece for the Washington Post, Vivek Wadhwa takes the valley’s elite to task for their “arrogance, insularity, and sexism,” in other words, their total lack of wisdom about where technology has gone (into the hands of app-downloading grandmas, social-media dominating women, and Twitter’s fastest growing demographic -- African-Americans). The “frat boy antics” and tunnel vision of the tech companies that have kept them designing products for people who are “just like them” has left them oblivious to what the new, increasingly diverse, and technologically savvy public is expecting. Wadhwa writes:
The public is investing billions of dollars in tech companies and expects professionalism, maturity, and corporate social responsibility. It is losing its tolerance for elitism and arrogance.
If Jesus were preaching today and upending the status quo of our own time and culture, what would he have to say to these Silicon Valley executives? How would his emphasis on humility, righteousness, mercy, and peacemaking color his “Blessed are...” pronouncement to them?
How might the widely revered minds and skills of these young white male executives begin to look more like worldly foolishness than mind-blowing or life-altering wisdom if Paul followed Steve Jobs as the new head of Apple?
*****
1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12
As a large swath of the country copes again with bone-chilling single-digit temperatures caused by the “polar vortex” and its “evil twin,” Washington Post op-ed columnist Eugene Robinson writes about the widespread foolishness that is surfacing around global warming as a major contributing factor to the nation’s extreme weather patterns. Robinson castigates “deniers” like Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who said that the cold spell this month “has to make everyone question -- and I am going to tie this together -- whether global warming was ever real,” as well as “officials in the United States and around the world who accept the science and understand the peril but who will not take action because the economic and political costs are so high.”
Robinson continues:
China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is not about to shut down its economic growth and risk political instability. India is not about to abandon its quest to catch up with China. In African nations such as Nigeria and Kenya, which have burgeoning populations and high growth rates, the smokestacks are beginning to puff away. The United States, Europe, and Japan will do what they can, at the margins, without surrendering the comforts that industrialization provides.
President Obama, who understands the science, should use his executive powers as best he can, not just to reduce carbon emissions but also to prepare the country for confronting the environmental, political, and military hazards of a warmer world.
The day will come, I predict, when world leaders are willing, even desperate, to curb greenhouse gases. But by then, I’m beginning to fear, it will probably be too late.
What kind of wisdom will it take to overturn such widely held foolishness -- that of the non-believers and believers, the powerful and the weak alike? How might we fools begin to “Consider [our] own call” in the face of Robinson’s accusations? In the midst of our widespread inaction on global warming, how many of Jesus’ “Blessed are...” statements would actually apply to our leaders or to us, their constituents? Who will be counted amongst the righteous, the merciful, and the peacemakers?
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O God, who may abide in your tent?
People: Who may dwell on your holy hill?
Leader: Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right.
People: Those who speak the truth from their heart.
Leader: Those who do not slander with their tongue, and who do no evil to their friends.
People: Those who do these things shall never be moved.
OR
Leader: Come and learn the wisdom of God.
People: We eagerly seek to become wise about life.
Leader: Come and find strength in God.
People: We need God’s strength for our journeys.
Leader: God’s wisdom seems foolish to some, and God’s strength seems weak.
People: But we know the wisdom and strength of God’s self-giving love.
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
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
“All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”
found in:
UMH: 154, 155
H82: 450, 451
PH: 142, 143
AAHH: 292, 293, 294
NNBH: 3, 5
NCH: 304
CH: 91, 92
LBW: 328, 329
ELA: 634
W&P: 100, 106
AMEC: 415, 416
Renew: 45
“Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 617
PH: 462, 463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
“How Firm a Foundation”
found in:
UMH: 529
H82: 636, 637
PH: 361
AAHH: 146
NNBH: 48
NCH: 407
CH: 618
LBW: 507
ELA: 796
W&P: 411
AMEC: 433
“Make Me a Captive, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 421
PH: 378
“Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”
found in:
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELA: 712
W&P: 575
“God of Grace and God of Glory”
found in:
UMH: 577
H82: 594, 595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELA: 705
W&P: 569
AMEC: 62
STLT: 115
Renew: 301
“All I Need Is You”
found in:
CCB: 100
“Father, I Adore You”
found in:
CCB: 64
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is wise and strong: Grant us the grace to understand the wisdom of your ways and the strength of your love and mercy, so that we may follow in your ways even when others call us foolish and weak; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you for your wisdom and your strength, O God. We have come to learn to walk in your ways and to follow you, even when others call us foolish or weak. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways we confuse foolishness for wisdom and weakness for strength.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the wisdom of your path, and you have made us strong in your love. Yet we constantly are drawn away by foolishness that sounds wise to us. We seek strength through the weakness of violence and hatred. Call us back once again to your way, that we may learn the wisdom and strength of love. Amen.
Leader: God’s love is both strong and wise. Drink deeply of it and share it courageously with others, never doubting that God’s way is the best way.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We worship and honor you, O God, the fount of wisdom and the source of all true strength. In your love and service we see perfection.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have shown us the wisdom of your path, and you have made us strong in your love. Yet we constantly are drawn away by foolishness that sounds wise to us. We seek strength through the weakness of violence and hatred. Call us back once again to your way, that we may learn the wisdom and strength of love.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received from you. We thank you for those who have found wisdom in your teachings and have shared them with us. We thank you for those who have found strength in your self-sacrificing love and have given that love to us, even when it was costly for them to do so.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We know that there are many in need this day. There are those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit, and those who suffer from broken and destructive relationships. We know that some have lost their way in life, and some have given up finding it. We lift these needs to you and pray that as you love and care for them we may learn to reach out and be part of your loving care for others.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Sometimes things that sound silly are really very true. Many places are experiencing winter right now, and sometimes the electricity goes out and people’s houses get cold. It might seem smart to keep your clothes on to stay warm, but you will be warmer if you take off your clothes and put on clean clothes for the night. The moisture your body has given out and put in your clothes will make you colder than if you have clean, dry clothes on. Some people think it sounds silly to love people who mistreat you, but God says that is really wise.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Turning the World Upside-Down
Matthew 5:1-12
Objects: a newspaper, a picture, and a (non-digital) clock
Today we are going to see what the world looks like upside-down. I want you to bend over so that your head is touching the floor, and then look through your legs. (let the children assume the position) Very good! How does the world look upside-down? (let them answer) It isn’t easy, is it? Okay, now you can sit back down the normal way.
If you saw me reading a newspaper like this (pretend to read the newspaper upside-down), what would you say? The pictures and words are upside-down. This is a really different way to read the paper. Just think how hard it would be to tell time if our clocks were upside-down. When it was really 6 o’clock, the clock would say 12 o’clock. (show the clock upside-down) The same thing would happen if we turned all of our pictures upside-down. (demonstrate by flipping the picture upside-down) Pretty soon we would have to learn how to walk upside-down on the ceiling if we wanted to see things right-side up.
The reason I wanted to turn things upside-down is because this is what Jesus did to the world when he gave us the Beatitudes. Jesus taught that the Beatitudes are the ways a Christian should live. (read some of the Beatitudes, and substitute the word “happy” for “blessed”)
Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Happy are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Happy are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Happy are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Happy are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
This is not the way the world teaches us to live. We are taught to be clever, strong, sad at death, and angry at people who hurt us. We are taught to be fighters and not peacemakers. But the way Jesus taught is a lesson most of us are still trying to learn.
The next time you look at things upside-down, think about Jesus and how he changed the world with his new teachings.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 2, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 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.
