Things Unseen
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Note: This installment is still being edited, but for purposes of immediacy we are posting it for your use. Please excuse any errors or omissions. We'll have it cleaned up soon.
For June 17, 2018:
Things Unseen
by Mary Austin
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17; 1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
Reacting to the recent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, fans have said things like “I feel like I’ve lost a friend.” Fans and strangers are reacting with stunned grief to their deaths by suicide. For each of them, their talent was not just in their art, but in a mysterious connection with the fans who felt that they knew each of them. Now we’re realizing how much we don’t see about someone’s life, even someone who feels accessible to us.
Bourdain’s fans “felt connected to Bourdain through his fearless travels, his restless spirit and his magical way with words.” Beyond being a foodie, or a world traveler, he was a storyteller, and so this ending to his own story is hard to take in. Former President Obama, who shared a meal in Vietnam with Bourdain, said, “‘Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.’ This is how I'll remember Tony. He taught us about food -- but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We'll miss him.”
Commenting on Kate Spade's death, one fan said, “Depression doesn’t care how smart you are, how high you can jump, how much money you have, whether you can make people laugh, or design incredible hand bags. It will rob you of all the beauty you once felt. So it’s crucial we recognize the monster and thief that it is, and fight each day to not let it win. Do all that you can -- seek help through therapy, friends, meditation, yoga, whatever. Do everything you can and if it doesn’t work, try again. Be relentless in your fight against it. But also know that victory can be slow and nonlinear. And sometimes you just need to make it through a day, an hour, a minute.”
Both Bourdain and Spade struggled with things invisible to the gaze of fans, things beneath the surface of seemingly full, successful lives. Their deaths point us to the truth that God voices to Samuel, as the two of them look for a new king. God reminds Samuel not to be swayed by outward appearances, for God sees things differently.
In the News
Kate Spade had a place in many women's lives beyond the label on the purse they carry. “It sounds the least of it, but the handbag hymns are testimony to the fact that Ms. Spade’s influence had resonated far beyond the store window and the runway. Her work had reached into people’s minds and helped express their sense of self. A bag became more than a bag: it became a symbol of an important moment in a life and part of an individual’s biography.” Her designs marked important life moments for people, and so she felt like a friend. “Sometimes it was a gift from a family member to mark an important transition. Sometimes it was a gift to oneself, saved up for over months or longer. Sometimes it signaled arrival of sorts, or the beginning of a new stage; sometimes it was an entry point to an expanded identity. Often, it was saved.” Her designs evoked something she didn’t herself feel, it seems – or that she hoped to feel. One customer said, “The news kind of shocked me because she always seemed like a happy and bubbly person. As a person who bought her brand, it made me really sad. You walk in the store and there are neon signs and stuff talking about being yourself and the best version of yourself.”
Anthony Bourdain, too, offered people a mirror of their own lives. Bourdain was not always a travel host, or a food expert. "I was a happy dishwasher," he said in a 2016 interview on NPR's "Fresh Air." "I jokingly say that I learned every important lesson, all the most important lessons of my life, as a dishwasher." He began to use drugs during those jobs, and eventually became a heroin addict. He became a cook and then an executive chef, and then wrote about life behind the scenes in restaurant kitchens. Working in restaurants is an American rite of passage for many people, and they found a resonance with his experiences.
Bourdain and Spade found heir way into people’s lives through the ordinary media of handbags and food, and came to seem like familiar figures. Their deaths by suicide come as they seemingly had it all. Each was wealthy, well-known and respected, and doing creative work, and the burdens of depression and anxiety trumped all of that. Since we see the outer person, instead of the inner one, we wonder why all of that wasn’t enough. Our questions reveal how oriented we are to seeing the surface of people’s lives, and thinking that we’re seeing the whole thing.
Their deaths have also reminded us of the other people who die by suicide. The two join thousands of other Americans in a growing epidemic of death by suicide. “Treatment for chronic depression and anxiety -- often the precursors to suicide -- has never been more available and more widespread. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week reported a steady, stubborn rise in the national suicide rate, up 25 percent since 1999. The rates have been climbing each year across most age and ethnic groups. Suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 45,000 Americans killed themselves in 2016, twice the number who died by homicide. After decades of research, effective prevention strategies are lacking.” The reasons are complicated, including access to guns, a mental health system that’s patchy, and perhaps a decreasing stigma about suicide. “Some experts fear that suicide is simply becoming more acceptable. “It’s a hard idea to test, but it’s possible that a cultural script may be developing among some segments of our population,” said Julie Phillips, a sociologist at Rutgers. “Prohibitions are apparently loosening in some quarters,” she said.
In the Scriptures
Poor Samuel bears the burden of being God’s messenger, as God changes the divine mind about who should be king. Samuel listens as God regrets choosing Saul, and is then entrusted with anointing the new king. God has already chosen, but doesn’t clue Samuel in about exactly which son of Jesse should become king. Samuel has go to through the sons, one by one, even calling David in from the fields. As the sons parade through for inspection, God and Samuel converse about each one. “Nope,” God says, “not this one,” after each young man. God is seeing something that Samuel can’t see.
The scriptures have a preference for younger sons over older ones, and this choice fits that pattern of choosing the unlikely younger son for a role that we might expect to go to the older one. When God chooses people for particular tasks, God often disrupts the expected order of things.
Paul picks up the same theme in his letter to the Corinthian church, urging them to see each other as God sees. “From now on,” he says, “we regard no one from a human point of view.” In a world where we feel like we know Harry and Meghan better than our next door neighbors, this is a hard calling. Samuel manages to do this, walking patiently with God while God sloooowly reveals the divine choice for the next king. The painstaking process reminds us again that this is not quick work.
As Christians, we live by this truth: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Where mental health, addiction or grief are concerned, this is hard work, as we and God labor together on this new creation. We hold the hope in front of us, but it takes time and effort to get there. Just as it takes time to see other people the way God sees them, it takes time to see ourselves as God envisions us.
In the Sermon
The sermon might focus on how we, like Paul and Samuel, learn to see people as God sees them. It might explore the kind of spiritual labor involved in this. We have a daily calling to see beneath the surface of people’s happy Instagram pictures and peppy Facebook posts to the truth underneath. We can let go of being impressed by or jealous of anything that happens to anyone else, and see the truth of their lives, and ours.
Going a step farther, the sermon might look at the real mental health challenges people face. We can talk, not just this week, but consistently, about mental health in the same non-judgmental, even-handed way we talk about physical health. Commenting on Kate Spade’s death, one fan wrote in the comments in the New York Times, “The real tragedy is Kate Spade felt that by seeking treatment for her mental illness she might do damage to her "brand." By putting her business first and her mental health second, she inadvertently allowed her mental illness to control her life and to, ultimately, consume her. The stigma associated with mental illness -- in all its forms -- is crippling, destructive and an unnecessary burden for those who seek treatment for their illness, or to be accepted by society. The shame of this talented woman's death is on us as a society and a reminder that we can do better for our weakest citizens.”
“We walk by faith, not by sight,” Paul tells the Corinthians, and sometimes people who are in the grip of depression don’t have enough faith in a brighter future to carry them through even one day. We may need to hold the future for them, until they can see it again. Trying to cheer someone up has never once worked for a person who is clinically depressed, but listening, being present and advocating for professional help can make a difference. The sermon might outline ways to help that actually are helpful. Prayer works, but not alone. It works best in conjunction with skilled therapy and medication, where those are needed.
Pastor and author Rachael Keefe has written a new book about how church communities can help people who are thinking about death by suicide. “Would you know how to respond if the person sitting next to you in your pew was contemplating suicide?” she asks. For most of us, the answer is no. The sermon might explore some of these life-saving ideas. Keefe was herself once suicidal, and she says that her church community saved her life.
People felt connected to Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain because they offered connection through design and food. Their creative energy drew us to them. Each of them was a mirror for something vibrant in ourselves. Like every person who dies by suicide, each of them was also a mirror for the loneliness, shame and despair we all feel. If we see as God sees, we see beyond the surface to the inner qualities, and see both health and ill health in one another. Their deaths remind us to attend to the mental health of the people around us, along with ourselves. The mirror of mental health is frightening, and it also holds the hope that our inner nature can be renewed. It holds the hope that we will become God’s new creation, with God’s grace and one another’s help.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Sow, What?
by Chris Keating
Mark 4:26-34
Later this week, several thousand members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will descend upon St. Louis, Missouri, to convene the church’s 223rd General Assembly. Presbyterians love meetings, and as far as meetings go, General Assembly is a whopper. Attendees will flock into the America’s Center Convention Center and fill seven downtown hotels. There will be meals and motions, debates and prayers, communion services and social gatherings.
Polity geeks and Presby-nerds will be sitting on the edge of their seats, their hearts pounding from the opening gavel, eagerly awaiting the first person who will jump into the fray to introduce a substitute motion or offer a minority report. Oh, the drama!
But in an age when denominations are dwindling, and church resources are becoming scarce, does any of this matter? Or, as Jill Duffield, editor of independent newspaper The Presbyterian Outlook, observed in an editorial this week: “If a vote takes place in a convention center and no one notices, was a vote cast?” Duffield notes that as she visits local congregations to discuss business coming before this year’s General Assembly the first question she is inevitably asked is, “So what?” (The Presbyterian Outlook, June 11, 2018, p. 6.)
It’s not unique to Presbyterians, though our own brand of inside baseball talk may be particularly obtuse to anyone but hardcore Presby-loyalists. But the point is worth considering. Rarely do the seeds planted in denominational meetings yield the sort of growth Jesus describes in the parable of the sower. Chapter four of Mark’s gospel leads off with a story an of astonishing yield -- the likes of which would astonish any North American congregation today.
Thirty, sixty, hundredfold? Let’s be real. We’re thrilled if the same seven kids who attended vacation Bible school last July will sign up again this year. It’s hard to be excited about denominational hoo-ha and all of its accompanying folderol with worship attendance plummeting and budgets turning red by the second.
Is there any way these sorts of meetings, and more importantly, the work of local congregations, might begin to resemble the dynamic seed-sowing activity of Jesus’ confident, if unassuming, farm worker?
Only if we are prepared to be surprised, and ready to try something new.
That seems to be the message in this smorgasbord of parables in the fourth chapter of Mark. Jesus challenges the audience’s perception of how things happen in the reign of God. It’s not always linear and predictable, despite what church growth experts might preach. Sometimes it is as surprising as corn pushing up through farmland, or maybe even an ear growing inside an arm.
Until late last month, U.S. Army Private Shamika Burrage’s left ear was not on her head -- it was inside her forearm. Burrage is not a character in some sort of sci-fi fantasy. She’s the beneficiary of a stunning procedure which allowed doctors to grow an ear made completely of her own cells. She is the first American soldier to undergo the reconstruction procedure, which is technically called “prelaminated forearm free flap surgery.” Like the sower who couldn’t tell how the seed had grown, Burrage nonetheless knows what this new ear means for her life. “It’s been a long process for everything,” Burrage said recently, “but I’m back.”
The how and why of such procedures are amazing, though they likely pale in comparison to the bold methods pursued by the sower. The kingdom emerges like subtle and persistent seedlings, surprising and perhaps as out of place as an ear growing inside of an arm. Mark’s message throughout the Gospel has been that God’s reign has come, and the results are stunning.
Notice that the sower has indiscriminately tossed the seed hither and yon (verses 3-9), and that he or she has ignored the basics of farming (verses 26-27). No matter, however, because the seeds still manage to “sprout and grow, he does not know how.” The sower has seemingly neglected even the most rudimentary of agricultural skills, preferring to toss the valuable seeds willy-nilly and then head to bed without even adding a dose of manure.
There’s no cultivating of the ground, no fertilizing, no amending of the soil. It’s unorthodox, but the amazing thing is it works. Like growing an ear inside an arm.
It’s a message that leaders of the Presbyterian church hope its members experience in the upcoming assembly. In planning to hold the meeting in St. Louis, denominational leaders were aware of the various racial, economic, and political struggles the city had endured. In addition, organizers were faced with concerns raised by the NAACP in 2017 when it invoked a travel advisory for African Americans travelling through Missouri.
But the PCUSA’s stated clerk (the primary ecclesiastical officer of the church) J. Herbert Nelson saw a place where a seed of the kingdom might be tossed. Nelson, who formerly led the church’s office of public witness in Washington, D.C., the national church encouraged several “hands and feet” initiatives in St. Louis in 2017 as signs of God’s love aimed at grassroots organizations.
In addition, when the Assembly convenes next week, it will take a special offering to call attention to the inequities of the cash bail system which often makes local jails function like modern-day debtor’s prisons. Participants will be invited to march the offering directly to the St. Louis City Hall of Justice.
It’s not just a publicity stunt. It is intended to be tossed like a seed of God’s reign. Those are the sorts of seeds that sprout in the unlikeliest of places, including the cement floors of a convention center in the middle of a denominational meeting in downtown St. Louis.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Mark 4:26-29
First the blade, and then the ear (“Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”)
Application: This is more of cultural comment from someone with a deep-rooted botanical obsession, than an application…
The best annual event my church holds is The Corn Roast. On the last Sunday of August we gather outside and eat corn, roasted in husks, then shucked and dipped in melted butter. People are encouraged to bring a dish to pass, and they do, but the real attraction is fresh sweet corn.
No one knows precisely when The Corn Roast started. Al remembers that he hosted the first one in his backyard, but he can’t place the year, maybe 1988.
I started serving this congregation in 1999 and the tradition was well-established, or one could say, deeply-rooted, by then.
I grew up in central Illinois, Peoria to be exact. [NB: Peoria is considered “downstate” because it’s south of 112th Street in Chicago, but it is not “Southern Illinois.” We are a little defensive about being called “southern.” Southern Illinois starts around Springfield; the chicken-fried steak gets edible about there. We Central Illinoisans refer to Southern Illinois as “The South without the charm.”]
To live in central Illinois is to be surrounded by corn. Miles and miles of my homestate are fields of corn broken only by the occasional creek, which we pronounce “crick,” and state highway. Sometimes the monotony is broken by a soy bean field, because soy beans fix nitrogen in the field for next year’s corn crop.
In central Illinois we take our corn very seriously. We boil it about 90 seconds with a little sugar added to the water. We buy it at the Farmers’ Market and we prefer the most freshly-picked corn possible. If we could we would haul pots of boiling water out to the fields and dip the ears into it still on the stalk. It was an adjustment, no, culture shock to eat sweet corn that had been roasted here in Wisconsin. I have adjusted to this local bit of eccentricity. [I still haven’t acquired a taste for cheese curds and their tooth-rattling squeak, don’t ask.]
Corn is the basis of one of my happiest moments in college. It was a Saturday night, special dinner night, which meant steak or French fried shrimp. I took the shrimp, a mound of them, with a little dish of cocktail sauce on the side. I found a seat across from Robert. Robert is from New Orleans. Robert howled at my shrimp, pushed my plate away and informed me -- and everyone else in the Willard Hall cafeteria --“That is not shrimp!” He went on to describe what shrimp truly is, how it is prepared -- never breaded and fried to a golden brown. My meal was repulsive and offensive. He managed to insult my supper and me in this tirade. I sat there, belittled and astonished. Then Robert went back for seconds, and reported that there was still some corn on the cob. I was outraged! Here it was February in Chicago and he was eating corn on the cob! It was 4 inches long! It had kernels the color of a Crayola sunrise! It was field corn, for pity’s sake! Couldn’t he tell the difference between field corn and sweet corn? “Robert, buddy, we feed this to pigs or turn it into Frito’s! This is not fit for human consumption! It’s been frozen for at least eight months! It’s an abomination, and so are you for eating it!”
I am now 54 years old and a Presbyterian minister. This is the only time in my life I have been able to be a snob about anything. I savor this moment and retell it gleefully. As a Peorian I know it may never happen again.
Each spring while I was in college I went south for spring break. Peoria is south of Chicago, look at a map. It was mid-March, which meant college and high school basketball. One Saturday the Peoria city spelling bee was broadcast; the next Saturday the regional grand champion would be crowned, who would then head to nationals in Washington, DC. A good spring break was timed so I could watch both bees. Mom and I rooted for the kids with peculiar facial tics or funny names.
One spring break a classmate from college spent a weekend in Peoria. He grew up in Florida, but he fit right in; he was a basketball fan, and a decent speller in his salad days. When the local news came on, however, he experienced culture shock.
“What the hell is Treflan?” he shouted.
“A post emergent broadleaf herbicide.” I thought everyone knew that.
Now I am the consummate city kid. Peorians are split into two categories: those who cannot wait to move to Chicago, and those who are afraid of ever getting near Chicago. I was clearly in the first group. Still, I grew up hearing commercials for herbicides, pesticides, fertilizer and seed corn. Every spring the wonders of Prowl were touted just before the weather and after the sports on the local news. I have jingles for these products rattling around my aural memory the same way you have nursery rhymes.
Standard, broadcast, tank mix or piggy back;
It’s the broad leaf control you’ve been lookin’ for,
Let Counter do it right.
Somehow the singer managed to rhyme “control” and “for.” Another verse promised “cleaner beans and bigger yields.”
The first time my college roommate, a native of the Bay Area, left campus during our freshman year, was to ride with me about three hours for Thanksgiving. He was fascinated, and perhaps hypnotized, by what appeared to be 170 consecutive miles of recently harvested corn fields. We went to church the next day, and when we sang “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.” We sang, “First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear,” and he imagined he’d walked into a Stephen King story. “Do these people worship corn?” he wondered. He was too polite to ask, but he looked much more relaxed when he saw that corn was absent from my family’s annual bacchanalia.
The Sunday of the Corn Roast my congregation sings “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.” It is practically the national anthem for folks from downstate Illinois. We sing the truth that my people know. This particular Sunday I am very fortunate because a man my age who grew up in Iowa is sitting in the second row. While he’s a Funks G Hybrid man and I’m a Northrup King guy, [Somebody gave me one of their baseball caps once, I think.] he nods in recognition at corn’s cultural dominance.
* * *
Mark 4:30-32
What kind of kingdom?
Application: Mustard seed, not plant, is a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven.
It’s easy to overlook that Jesus says that it’s the mustard seed, “the smallest of all seeds on earth,” that “becomes the greatest of all shrubs,” that can be compared to the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is referring to the seed itself, not its product, as being a parable for the kingdom of heaven.
It’s not the plant in which birds can build their nests. It’s not the shrub that will provide shade for many birds and people. It’s the seed, before it is sown, before it grows, before it is placed in the ground to die, and thus give new life. The seed itself is a metaphor for the kingdom.
[Note this is not the passage in which Jesus challenges his disciples to have the faith of a mustard seed, to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). This is a more modest illustration.]
In what ways can a seed be like a kingdom?
It contains everything it needs to grow -- except soil and water.
The tiny seed is necessary for, and precedes, wild, extravagant growth, so one could imagine that the kingdom of God itself has the potential to grow, spread out and shelter multitudes, once it is placed in the right conditions.
* * *
Mark 4:33-34
Parables, and their uses
Application: In Matthew’s gospel (13:11, 14-15), Jesus is asked why he spoke in parables and he answered with a reference to Isaiah 6:9-10
And he said, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’
Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.”
Today’s passage from Mark shows a gentler, more compassionate Jesus, concluding “but he explained everything in private to the disciples.”
Why would Jesus want to confuse the people, while making his meaning plain to his disciples?
* * *
Mark 4:26-34
The miracle of growth; trust
Application: We simply do not understand.
We don’t know how seeds grow into plants. “Only God can make a tree.” It is something people simply do not control. It happens beyond our control, though gardeners sow, fertilize, water, weed and tend their plants, the growth itself is beyond their control.
Yet we do not need to understand botany to harvest the crop. God gives the miracle of growing plants from dying seeds, and thus all people are fed.
* * *
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Everyone finds shelter under the tree’s branches
Application: The Lord promises to renew Israel at last
Much of this imagery is echoed in Jesus’ description of the mustard shrub. The plan to restore the Israelites following the Babylonian exile, is along-awaited dream. The imagery in Ezekiel indicates that it is not only Israelites who will live under the shade of its metaphorical branches. There’s room for “every kind of bird,” and “winged creatures of every kind.” (17:22)
* * *
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Jesse’s sons: Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah & __?__, __?__, __?__, & David
Application: Not an application so much as an opportunity for play. Three of Jesse’s sons are unnamed. I suggest Groucho, Harpo & Chico; or perhaps Barry, Robin & Maurice or even Greg, Peter & Bobby.
* * * * * * * * *
From team member Ron Love:
Calling
Hugh Jackman is an Australian actor, singer, and producer. He is best known for his long-running role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. He traveled to Ethiopia in 2009, and while he was there he met Dukale, an impoverished coffee farmer. From that relationship Jackman learned that coffee farmers needed an extended market if they were going to be able to make a living. This led Jackman to establish Laughing Man Coffee, which is a marketplace for coffee farmers in developing countries. Jackman said his work with Laughing Man Coffee is “much more import than acting.” He got his children involved in the project as a lesson “that you have to give back.” But, perhaps more importantly they learned, “This is what makes us a part of the world community.”
Application: Samuel was searching for someone who would be a part of the world community. It is our calling to be a part of the world community.
* * *
Calling
Chris Norton was a freshman football player at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He was just six weeks into the season when a football injury, on October 16, 2010, left him paralyzed from the neck down. Reflecting back to when he arrived at the Des Moines hospital he said, “I had no idea what my future held.” With intensive physical therapy he was able to graduate. Online he met Emily Summers, who was attending Iowa State University. On April 21 of this year, they were married. With his new wife assisting him, Chris walked down a seven-yard aisle -- one yard for every year since his accident. Chris is now a motivational speaker and he tells students, “how my life is still great with a wheelchair and that things can happen to you, but you just keep moving forward.”
Application: When David was called before Samuel he had no idea what the future would hold, but he kept moving forward. In our calling, we must keep moving forward into an uncertain future.
* * *
Reassurance
On April 17, Southwest Flight 1380 en route from New York to Dallas, had its left engine explode when a fan blade came off. Debris from the shattered engine pierced the fuselage, causing the plane to become ice cold and quickly depressurize. The suction caused Jennifer Riordan, who was seated in 14A, to have half her body sucked through the window. Hollie Mackey, who was seated in 14C, helped a young girl seated between them with her oxygen mask, then Hollie tried to pull Jenifer back into the plane. She did not have the strength to bring her back into the plane, so she held her by the waist for the several minutes it took for others to come and assist. Hollie said of holding Jenifer, “I just wanted to be there for her, to let her know she wasn’t alone.” Jenifer, unfortunately, later died of her injuries.
Application: Samuel had a difficult task in selecting a replacement for Saul, but he was assured of God’s presence. We all need a hand to hold us.
* * *
Reassurance
When Barbra Bush died on April 17, at the age of 92, she and her husband George’s 73-year union was the longest marriage of any presidential couple. Though Barbara always appeared outgoing, bright and cheerful in public, she did suffer from anxiety and depression. Barbara wrote in her memoirs that “many times George held me in his arms and let me weep myself to sleep.”
Application: Samuel had a difficult task in selecting a replacement for Saul, but he was assured of God’s presence. We all need someone to rock us to sleep.
* * *
Righteousness
Octavia Spencer is an actress. Her breakthrough role came in 2011, when she played a maid in 1960s America in the movie The Help, for which she won several awards, including the Academy Award. Spencer actively supports City Year, whose goal is to graduate as many children as possible, focusing on at-risk schools. The program finds mentors to assist students in their academic endeavors. Spencer relates her involvement in education to the influence of her mother. She writes, “I grew up in an impoverished neighborhood, but my mother understood the transformative power of education.” Spencer went on to write, “I want to help kids who feel as though they were born with nothing understand they have what they need: their minds.”
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized.
* * *
Righteousness
Marcia Gay Harden is an actress whose film breakthrough was in the 1990 movie Miller’s Crossing. She won the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actress as artist Lee Krasner in the 2000 film Pollock. Harden earned another Academy Award nomination for her performance as Celeste Boyle in the 2003 movie Mystic River. Harden has recently published a book that reflects on her mother’s journey with Alzheimer’s disease. Her mother, Beverly, is 81-years-old. The title of the book is The Seasons of My Mother. In the book Harden writes, “Yet even as the pitch-black darkness of this hideous disease called Alzheimer’s advances, the core of my mom has remained the same. I think of it as her light that cannot be extinguished.”
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized. It is our light that cannot be extinguished.
* * *
Faith
Tennis star Serena Williams gave birth to her first child in September. Williams wasn’t expecting any drama when she arrived at Saint Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. But within hours the child’s life was in danger and an immediate C-section was performed. Complications after the surgery left the four-time Olympic gold-medal winner fighting for her life over the next six days. In the new HBO documentary Being Serena, she says of that experience, “This was the one time where I couldn’t control anything.”
Application: Paul teaches us that we need to “walk by faith.”
* * *
Righteousness
Carol Burnett was the daughter of two alcoholics, who divorced in the 1930s. Burnett, as a child, often blamed herself as the reason for their addiction. After the divorce, she was raised by her grandmother, Mabel White, in a Hollywood studio apartment. Remembering how kind and gentle her grandmother was, at the end of every The Carol Burnett Show, a variety show that ran from 1967 to 1978, she would tug her ear while on camera. This signature ear tug was Carol Burnett’s way of saying hello to her grandmother.
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized.
* * *
Righteousness
Katie Couric is hosting a new television series on the National Geographic Channel. The show is called America Inside Out. The show explores the most divisive topics of our time. Couric was once cohost on the Today show with Matt Lauer. Lauer was later terminated from the Today show for the sexual abuse of women. When asked why our understanding of sexual abuse has come to the forefront Couric responded, “I think Harvey Weinstein’s story. There has been so much frustration, anger and resentment bubbling that it just sort of erupted like a long-dormant volcano.”
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized.
* * *
Righteousness
During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington knew how important it was to be a God-fearing man with a God-fearing army. Washington realized that only “Divine Providence,” the words he used to reference God’s actions in human affairs, would lead his army to victory and America to independence. This is why Washington required that every military unit had a chaplain, and that he also insisted that his soldiers attended Sunday worship. Further, after every battlefield victory Washington held a worship service of Thanksgiving.
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized.
* * * * * * * * *
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Fashion Judges At The CMT’s (Appearances)
Kelsea Ballerini was almost a hit with a “fabulous ensemble” that was nearly ruined by a long, sheer train thing that she dragged behind it.
Carrie Underwood wore an “amazing minidress, which featured a plunging neckline, long sleeves and beautiful yellow and white embellishments over semi-sheer nude fabric” and added a metallic note with gold high heeled shoes.
Darius Rucker bombed in t-shirt, bomber jacket, trousers and some snakeskin cowboy boots.
Danielle Bradbery, rocked an “edgy little white minidress” which not only had a “funky asymmetrical hemline, but also had detached long sleeves that featured embellishments down the arm.”
Kane Brown opted for a (air quotes) Canadian Tuxedo. He wore a denim jacket, ripped jeans, a black t-shirt and “funky gray sneakers,” all of which spelled “loser” to the fashionistas judging the gray carpet sartorial choices on display at the CMT Music Awards, according to Wonderwall.com.
Thankfully, the artists on display were being judged for their musical abilities and not their appearance. Especially the guys, who pretty much crashed and burned and every fashion category.
See more here...
* * *
Some Hollywood Parables (Appearances)
Looking for a parable about the importance of character over appearances? Hollywood has produced some remarkably good ones. To name just a few:
In the most recent version of “Jumanji” a video gaming nerd, a sports-obsessed athlete, a self-absorbed beauty, and a shy, sarcastic Brainiac (all teenagers) are drawn into a video game and transformed in to characters which are the opposite of who they are in real life: The nerd becomes a muscled adventurer, the athlete becomes a diminutive zoologist, the beauty is an overweight, middle aged man, and the brainiac is a martial arts specialist. To get back to their real life they must work together, using their “strengths” to reach the game’s objective.
In “Mask” (1985) a teenager with a massive facial skull deformity and his biker mom attempt to live as normal a life as possible. He discovers romance with a blind girl who sees only his personality and character rather than his deformity.
Director David Lynch’s 1980 masterpiece, “The Elephant Man,” is based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, who suffered from Neurofibromatosis Type I and Proteus Syndrome which deformed his entire face, head and much of his body. In his early life, Merrick was mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Rescued by a compassionate surgeon the Elephant Man was discovered to be a person of kindness, intelligence, talent, and sensitivity.
* * *
For Want of a Hat (Appearances)
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American artist, active during the American Gilded Age of the late 19th century and based primarily in the United Kingdom.
A story is told of him that he was in a London haberdashery to purchase a hat and the proprietor had taken his hat to the back of the store to use for a comparison. Whistler was standing hatless in the store when a man rushed breathlessly in and, mistaking Whistler for a sales clerk, tore his hat from his head, thrust it Whistler’s face and shouted, “This hat doesn’t fit!”
Whistler eyed the stranger critically from head to foot, and then drawled out: "Well, neither does your coat. What's more, if you'll pardon my saying so, I'll be hanged if I care much for the color of your trousers."
* * *
Flowers vs. Weeds (Scattered vs. Planted)
When I retired from the active ministry in the United Methodist Church my wife and I bought a house that, we later learned, was next door to a retired Baptist minister. In the past year he and I have become friends and enjoy comparing notes on yard and home care.
There is a fairly obtrusive utility company thing, about 10 feet in diameter that straddles the line in our two front yards and, this spring, I decided to try to mask it a little by sowing some wild flower seeds around it. The seeds have sprouted and some plants are growing where I sowed them but, for the life of me, I can’t tell what they are. I don’t know which are weeds and which are flowers.
I shared my frustration with Brian as we stood there looking at them and he responded, in his slow, Tennessee drawl, “Well, you know, a weed is just a plant that is growin’ where you don’t want it to grow. I guess we won’t know for sure about these until they start to bloom.” I nodded in agreement, thinking, “Yeah, that’ll preach.”
* * *
Sowing Seeds (Sowing seeds)
I think it was Unitarian minister and author Robert Fulghum who said that you won’t know how good of a job you did at being a parent until your kids are in their thirties and, even then, you won’t know for sure. There are, after all, so many factors that go into molding a child into a responsible adult.
That came home to me about a year or so ago when I was at our United Methodist Annual Conference.
I spent the first ten years of my ordained ministry as a youth minister. I led youth ministries in local churches as well as at the district and conference levels.
My wife and I were walking down the crowded street of the Chautauqua grounds where our conference is held when a young lady pushing a chubby toddler in a stroller yelled my name and ran across the street, opened her arms and gave me a big hug. “It’s so good to see you,” she said. “I just want you to know that you changed my life. I was in a very bad place that spring and the things you taught us really changed the direction I was going in. Thank you. Thank you so much.” She hugged me again and was gone.
My wife looked at me quizzically. “Who was that?”
“I have no idea.”
“She had a name tag on.”
“Yeah, I read it and I still don’t know who she was.”
“Well, what did you say to her back in the day.”
Shaking head. “No idea.”
“Well, whatever it was, it must have worked.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”
You never really know ’till later.
* * *
Sowing and Reaping (Sowing seeds)
During the 1920’s, the years of Prohibition, there was a favorite story that allegedly circulated among prohibitionist preachers about a bootlegger who became rich making, smuggling, and selling alcohol illegally. Eventually, he was caught and sent to prison.
When an old friend decided to visit him, he found the old bootlegger sitting on the floor of his cell beside a large pile of burlap bags. He held a large needle and some course thread and was sewing another bag which he presently added to the pile, whereupon he began to sew yet another.
The visitor took all this in and, not knowing what to say, said, simply, “Sewing, eh?”
The prisoner looked up at his old friend and said, “No, reaping.”
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: God answer you in the day of trouble!
People: The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
Leader: May God send you help from the sanctuary.
People: May God grant you your heart's desire.
Leader: Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
People: but our pride is in the name of God our God.
OR
Leader: We come to worship the God who looks on our hearts.
People: We rejoice that God does not judge by out outer shell.
Leader: We come to worship a God who always at work.
People: We celebrate God’s coming reign now among us.
Leader: God invites us to see as God sees.
People: We will strive to look beyond mere appearances.
Hymns and Songs:
All Creatures of Our God and King
UMH: 62
H82: 400
PH: 455
AAHH: 147
NNBH: 33
NCH: 17
CH: 22
LBW: 527
ELA: 835
W&P: 23
AMEC: 50
STLT: 203
Renew: 47
God of the Sparrow God of the Whale
UMH: 122
PH: 272
NCH: 32
CH: 70
ELA: 740
W&P: 29
Morning Has Broken
UMH: 145
H82: 8
PH: 469
CH: 53
ELA: 556
W&P: 35
STLT: 38
Lord of the Dance
UMH: 261
W&P: 118
Spirit of the Living God
UMH: 393
PH: 322
AAHH: 320
NNBH: 133
NCH: 283
CH: 259
W&P: 492
CCB: 57
Renew: 90
Seek Ye First
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
CCB: 76
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
Open My Eyes, That I May See
UMH: 454
PH: 324
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
All I Need Is You
CCB: 100
Give Thanks
CCB: 92
Renew: 266
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
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 looks at the very core of our being:
Grant us the wisdom to not be distracted by the outward
but to see what is real and what is of value;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you know us to the very depths of our being. Help us to see as you see. Do not let us be distracted by outward appearances but help us to take the time to look deep within so that we can see what is real and what is of real value. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to see what is important and where God is at work.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We look at outward appearances and we make snap judgements about people and about situations. We do not take the time to know before we judge. We look around us and we are more apt to see the evil than we are to notice the places where you are at work building your realm. We are blind and it because we choose not to see. Forgive us and open us to the reality that you see so that we may participate in your ever coming reign. Amen.
Leader: God reign is coming where everyone is judged rightly according to the true worth. Receive God’s grace and forgiveness and by the power of the Spirit, see as God sees.
Prayers of the People
We worship you, O God, for you alone judge rightly all of your creation.
(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. We look at outward appearances and we make snap judgements about people and about situations. We do not take the time to know before we judge. We look around us and we are more apt to see the evil than we are to notice the places where you are at work building your realm. We are blind and it because we choose not to see. Forgive us and open us to the reality that you see so that we may participate in your ever coming reign.
We thank you for all your blessings. We thank you that you do not judge us as others do but look deep within us to see what you intended at our creation. We thank you for those who have taken the time to know us and see beneath our rough surface.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their need. We pray for those who are judged by strangers because of the color of their skin or because of who they love. We pray for those who are judged by their wealth or lack of wealth rather than on their character.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
I don’t think you can repeat this often enough so here it is again. Have a geode that has been cut in half. Tell the children how you love the beauty of this stone while showing them only the outside. Then turn it over and show them the crystal structure within. (I actually once stood inside a huge geode. It was incredible.) Many judge people and geodes by what is on the outside. But God and wise people, judge by what is inside.
CHILDREN”S SERMON
Potential for Greatness
by Bethany Peerbolte
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13, Mark 4:26-34
These two verses can be great inspiration for kids. When Samuel picks David it is not because he is the fastest runner, or best at math. David is picked because Samuel can tell he will grow into a great man. Samuel knows God will equip David with all the skills he will need, even if he is the youngest now. Jesus affirms this is how God’s kingdom always operates. It is the small seeds that hold the potential for a useful plant. That seed grows in mysterious ways, but with a little care the farmer and God create something incredible together.
Say something like:
How many of you know who Michael Jordan is? How about J.K. Rowling? Anyone heard the name Einstein? These are all people we know because they are very good at something. Some would even say they are THE BEST at what they do.
We all want to be the best at something, but it takes a lot of hard work to be the best. When we start something, we might be really bad at it. (If you have a fun story about a time you started something and weren’t so good this is a good place to tell it) People have studied how long it takes to get good at a new skill and they found it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. That is a super long time!
If I was forming a new basketball team who do you think I should put on my team, Michael Jordan or someone who has never played basketball? Michael Jordan seems like a good pick right? He is already good at basketball. Well in our Bible verses today we see how God picks a team.
In the scripture God needs to pick a new king. So he sends Samuel to find the right person. Samuel goes to a family that is well known for having talented sons. Samuel looks over every single son, some of them are really strong, some of them are really smart, but none of them are who God wants to be king. Then Samuel finds out the youngest son isn’t there and he says he wants to meet him. David walks in and is young, kind of dirty from playing outside, hasn’t finished school yet, not really good at anything yet. Then Samuel says,YES he is the one God wants to be king.
Everyone was shocked, but God knew David would learn everything he needed to know to be a king and God promised to help David become a great king. Jesus tells us this is always how God picks a team. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are now, God cares that you want to be better.
God promises to help us learn new things and grow into better people. Jesus reminds his followers that we don’t really understand how a plant grows. We know a little, like how to water it, where to plant it, and that it needs sun. There are a lot of other smaller details that happen as a plant grows that are still a mystery to us, but God knows and helps the growth.
Next time you feel like you aren’t good enough I want you to think about David. Then remember that God picks us for the team even if we aren’t the best. When we remember God still picks us it will help us start those 10,000 hours we need to get better because we know God is helping.
Pray: Thank you God for helping us grow. We know we aren’t always the best but we want to be better. Help us be a little better each day. In Jesus name, Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, June 17, 2018, issue.
Copyright 2018 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.
For June 17, 2018:
- Things Unseen by Mary Austin -- We have a daily calling to see beneath the surface of people’s happy Instagram pictures and peppy Facebook posts to the truth underneath. Like Paul and Samuel, we need learn to see people as God sees them.
- Second Thoughts: Sow, What? by Chris Keating -- Jesus reminds the disciples that the surprising seeds of God’s reign sprout in unpredictable and often unorthodox ways.
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen, Ron Love, and Dean Feldmeyer.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on seeing what is really important rather than what is obvious and the surprise of the reign of God which is all around us.
- Potential for Greatness -- Children's sermon by Bethany Peerbolte -- The readings from 1 Samuel and Mark can be great inspiration for kids. Samuel picks David not because he is the fastest runner, or best at math... And it is the small seed that holds the potential for a useful plant...
Things Unseen
by Mary Austin
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17; 1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
Reacting to the recent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, fans have said things like “I feel like I’ve lost a friend.” Fans and strangers are reacting with stunned grief to their deaths by suicide. For each of them, their talent was not just in their art, but in a mysterious connection with the fans who felt that they knew each of them. Now we’re realizing how much we don’t see about someone’s life, even someone who feels accessible to us.
Bourdain’s fans “felt connected to Bourdain through his fearless travels, his restless spirit and his magical way with words.” Beyond being a foodie, or a world traveler, he was a storyteller, and so this ending to his own story is hard to take in. Former President Obama, who shared a meal in Vietnam with Bourdain, said, “‘Low plastic stool, cheap but delicious noodles, cold Hanoi beer.’ This is how I'll remember Tony. He taught us about food -- but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We'll miss him.”
Commenting on Kate Spade's death, one fan said, “Depression doesn’t care how smart you are, how high you can jump, how much money you have, whether you can make people laugh, or design incredible hand bags. It will rob you of all the beauty you once felt. So it’s crucial we recognize the monster and thief that it is, and fight each day to not let it win. Do all that you can -- seek help through therapy, friends, meditation, yoga, whatever. Do everything you can and if it doesn’t work, try again. Be relentless in your fight against it. But also know that victory can be slow and nonlinear. And sometimes you just need to make it through a day, an hour, a minute.”
Both Bourdain and Spade struggled with things invisible to the gaze of fans, things beneath the surface of seemingly full, successful lives. Their deaths point us to the truth that God voices to Samuel, as the two of them look for a new king. God reminds Samuel not to be swayed by outward appearances, for God sees things differently.
In the News
Kate Spade had a place in many women's lives beyond the label on the purse they carry. “It sounds the least of it, but the handbag hymns are testimony to the fact that Ms. Spade’s influence had resonated far beyond the store window and the runway. Her work had reached into people’s minds and helped express their sense of self. A bag became more than a bag: it became a symbol of an important moment in a life and part of an individual’s biography.” Her designs marked important life moments for people, and so she felt like a friend. “Sometimes it was a gift from a family member to mark an important transition. Sometimes it was a gift to oneself, saved up for over months or longer. Sometimes it signaled arrival of sorts, or the beginning of a new stage; sometimes it was an entry point to an expanded identity. Often, it was saved.” Her designs evoked something she didn’t herself feel, it seems – or that she hoped to feel. One customer said, “The news kind of shocked me because she always seemed like a happy and bubbly person. As a person who bought her brand, it made me really sad. You walk in the store and there are neon signs and stuff talking about being yourself and the best version of yourself.”
Anthony Bourdain, too, offered people a mirror of their own lives. Bourdain was not always a travel host, or a food expert. "I was a happy dishwasher," he said in a 2016 interview on NPR's "Fresh Air." "I jokingly say that I learned every important lesson, all the most important lessons of my life, as a dishwasher." He began to use drugs during those jobs, and eventually became a heroin addict. He became a cook and then an executive chef, and then wrote about life behind the scenes in restaurant kitchens. Working in restaurants is an American rite of passage for many people, and they found a resonance with his experiences.
Bourdain and Spade found heir way into people’s lives through the ordinary media of handbags and food, and came to seem like familiar figures. Their deaths by suicide come as they seemingly had it all. Each was wealthy, well-known and respected, and doing creative work, and the burdens of depression and anxiety trumped all of that. Since we see the outer person, instead of the inner one, we wonder why all of that wasn’t enough. Our questions reveal how oriented we are to seeing the surface of people’s lives, and thinking that we’re seeing the whole thing.
Their deaths have also reminded us of the other people who die by suicide. The two join thousands of other Americans in a growing epidemic of death by suicide. “Treatment for chronic depression and anxiety -- often the precursors to suicide -- has never been more available and more widespread. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week reported a steady, stubborn rise in the national suicide rate, up 25 percent since 1999. The rates have been climbing each year across most age and ethnic groups. Suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 45,000 Americans killed themselves in 2016, twice the number who died by homicide. After decades of research, effective prevention strategies are lacking.” The reasons are complicated, including access to guns, a mental health system that’s patchy, and perhaps a decreasing stigma about suicide. “Some experts fear that suicide is simply becoming more acceptable. “It’s a hard idea to test, but it’s possible that a cultural script may be developing among some segments of our population,” said Julie Phillips, a sociologist at Rutgers. “Prohibitions are apparently loosening in some quarters,” she said.
In the Scriptures
Poor Samuel bears the burden of being God’s messenger, as God changes the divine mind about who should be king. Samuel listens as God regrets choosing Saul, and is then entrusted with anointing the new king. God has already chosen, but doesn’t clue Samuel in about exactly which son of Jesse should become king. Samuel has go to through the sons, one by one, even calling David in from the fields. As the sons parade through for inspection, God and Samuel converse about each one. “Nope,” God says, “not this one,” after each young man. God is seeing something that Samuel can’t see.
The scriptures have a preference for younger sons over older ones, and this choice fits that pattern of choosing the unlikely younger son for a role that we might expect to go to the older one. When God chooses people for particular tasks, God often disrupts the expected order of things.
Paul picks up the same theme in his letter to the Corinthian church, urging them to see each other as God sees. “From now on,” he says, “we regard no one from a human point of view.” In a world where we feel like we know Harry and Meghan better than our next door neighbors, this is a hard calling. Samuel manages to do this, walking patiently with God while God sloooowly reveals the divine choice for the next king. The painstaking process reminds us again that this is not quick work.
As Christians, we live by this truth: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Where mental health, addiction or grief are concerned, this is hard work, as we and God labor together on this new creation. We hold the hope in front of us, but it takes time and effort to get there. Just as it takes time to see other people the way God sees them, it takes time to see ourselves as God envisions us.
In the Sermon
The sermon might focus on how we, like Paul and Samuel, learn to see people as God sees them. It might explore the kind of spiritual labor involved in this. We have a daily calling to see beneath the surface of people’s happy Instagram pictures and peppy Facebook posts to the truth underneath. We can let go of being impressed by or jealous of anything that happens to anyone else, and see the truth of their lives, and ours.
Going a step farther, the sermon might look at the real mental health challenges people face. We can talk, not just this week, but consistently, about mental health in the same non-judgmental, even-handed way we talk about physical health. Commenting on Kate Spade’s death, one fan wrote in the comments in the New York Times, “The real tragedy is Kate Spade felt that by seeking treatment for her mental illness she might do damage to her "brand." By putting her business first and her mental health second, she inadvertently allowed her mental illness to control her life and to, ultimately, consume her. The stigma associated with mental illness -- in all its forms -- is crippling, destructive and an unnecessary burden for those who seek treatment for their illness, or to be accepted by society. The shame of this talented woman's death is on us as a society and a reminder that we can do better for our weakest citizens.”
“We walk by faith, not by sight,” Paul tells the Corinthians, and sometimes people who are in the grip of depression don’t have enough faith in a brighter future to carry them through even one day. We may need to hold the future for them, until they can see it again. Trying to cheer someone up has never once worked for a person who is clinically depressed, but listening, being present and advocating for professional help can make a difference. The sermon might outline ways to help that actually are helpful. Prayer works, but not alone. It works best in conjunction with skilled therapy and medication, where those are needed.
Pastor and author Rachael Keefe has written a new book about how church communities can help people who are thinking about death by suicide. “Would you know how to respond if the person sitting next to you in your pew was contemplating suicide?” she asks. For most of us, the answer is no. The sermon might explore some of these life-saving ideas. Keefe was herself once suicidal, and she says that her church community saved her life.
People felt connected to Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain because they offered connection through design and food. Their creative energy drew us to them. Each of them was a mirror for something vibrant in ourselves. Like every person who dies by suicide, each of them was also a mirror for the loneliness, shame and despair we all feel. If we see as God sees, we see beyond the surface to the inner qualities, and see both health and ill health in one another. Their deaths remind us to attend to the mental health of the people around us, along with ourselves. The mirror of mental health is frightening, and it also holds the hope that our inner nature can be renewed. It holds the hope that we will become God’s new creation, with God’s grace and one another’s help.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Sow, What?
by Chris Keating
Mark 4:26-34
Later this week, several thousand members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will descend upon St. Louis, Missouri, to convene the church’s 223rd General Assembly. Presbyterians love meetings, and as far as meetings go, General Assembly is a whopper. Attendees will flock into the America’s Center Convention Center and fill seven downtown hotels. There will be meals and motions, debates and prayers, communion services and social gatherings.
Polity geeks and Presby-nerds will be sitting on the edge of their seats, their hearts pounding from the opening gavel, eagerly awaiting the first person who will jump into the fray to introduce a substitute motion or offer a minority report. Oh, the drama!
But in an age when denominations are dwindling, and church resources are becoming scarce, does any of this matter? Or, as Jill Duffield, editor of independent newspaper The Presbyterian Outlook, observed in an editorial this week: “If a vote takes place in a convention center and no one notices, was a vote cast?” Duffield notes that as she visits local congregations to discuss business coming before this year’s General Assembly the first question she is inevitably asked is, “So what?” (The Presbyterian Outlook, June 11, 2018, p. 6.)
It’s not unique to Presbyterians, though our own brand of inside baseball talk may be particularly obtuse to anyone but hardcore Presby-loyalists. But the point is worth considering. Rarely do the seeds planted in denominational meetings yield the sort of growth Jesus describes in the parable of the sower. Chapter four of Mark’s gospel leads off with a story an of astonishing yield -- the likes of which would astonish any North American congregation today.
Thirty, sixty, hundredfold? Let’s be real. We’re thrilled if the same seven kids who attended vacation Bible school last July will sign up again this year. It’s hard to be excited about denominational hoo-ha and all of its accompanying folderol with worship attendance plummeting and budgets turning red by the second.
Is there any way these sorts of meetings, and more importantly, the work of local congregations, might begin to resemble the dynamic seed-sowing activity of Jesus’ confident, if unassuming, farm worker?
Only if we are prepared to be surprised, and ready to try something new.
That seems to be the message in this smorgasbord of parables in the fourth chapter of Mark. Jesus challenges the audience’s perception of how things happen in the reign of God. It’s not always linear and predictable, despite what church growth experts might preach. Sometimes it is as surprising as corn pushing up through farmland, or maybe even an ear growing inside an arm.
Until late last month, U.S. Army Private Shamika Burrage’s left ear was not on her head -- it was inside her forearm. Burrage is not a character in some sort of sci-fi fantasy. She’s the beneficiary of a stunning procedure which allowed doctors to grow an ear made completely of her own cells. She is the first American soldier to undergo the reconstruction procedure, which is technically called “prelaminated forearm free flap surgery.” Like the sower who couldn’t tell how the seed had grown, Burrage nonetheless knows what this new ear means for her life. “It’s been a long process for everything,” Burrage said recently, “but I’m back.”
The how and why of such procedures are amazing, though they likely pale in comparison to the bold methods pursued by the sower. The kingdom emerges like subtle and persistent seedlings, surprising and perhaps as out of place as an ear growing inside of an arm. Mark’s message throughout the Gospel has been that God’s reign has come, and the results are stunning.
Notice that the sower has indiscriminately tossed the seed hither and yon (verses 3-9), and that he or she has ignored the basics of farming (verses 26-27). No matter, however, because the seeds still manage to “sprout and grow, he does not know how.” The sower has seemingly neglected even the most rudimentary of agricultural skills, preferring to toss the valuable seeds willy-nilly and then head to bed without even adding a dose of manure.
There’s no cultivating of the ground, no fertilizing, no amending of the soil. It’s unorthodox, but the amazing thing is it works. Like growing an ear inside an arm.
It’s a message that leaders of the Presbyterian church hope its members experience in the upcoming assembly. In planning to hold the meeting in St. Louis, denominational leaders were aware of the various racial, economic, and political struggles the city had endured. In addition, organizers were faced with concerns raised by the NAACP in 2017 when it invoked a travel advisory for African Americans travelling through Missouri.
But the PCUSA’s stated clerk (the primary ecclesiastical officer of the church) J. Herbert Nelson saw a place where a seed of the kingdom might be tossed. Nelson, who formerly led the church’s office of public witness in Washington, D.C., the national church encouraged several “hands and feet” initiatives in St. Louis in 2017 as signs of God’s love aimed at grassroots organizations.
In addition, when the Assembly convenes next week, it will take a special offering to call attention to the inequities of the cash bail system which often makes local jails function like modern-day debtor’s prisons. Participants will be invited to march the offering directly to the St. Louis City Hall of Justice.
It’s not just a publicity stunt. It is intended to be tossed like a seed of God’s reign. Those are the sorts of seeds that sprout in the unlikeliest of places, including the cement floors of a convention center in the middle of a denominational meeting in downtown St. Louis.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Mark 4:26-29
First the blade, and then the ear (“Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”)
Application: This is more of cultural comment from someone with a deep-rooted botanical obsession, than an application…
The best annual event my church holds is The Corn Roast. On the last Sunday of August we gather outside and eat corn, roasted in husks, then shucked and dipped in melted butter. People are encouraged to bring a dish to pass, and they do, but the real attraction is fresh sweet corn.
No one knows precisely when The Corn Roast started. Al remembers that he hosted the first one in his backyard, but he can’t place the year, maybe 1988.
I started serving this congregation in 1999 and the tradition was well-established, or one could say, deeply-rooted, by then.
I grew up in central Illinois, Peoria to be exact. [NB: Peoria is considered “downstate” because it’s south of 112th Street in Chicago, but it is not “Southern Illinois.” We are a little defensive about being called “southern.” Southern Illinois starts around Springfield; the chicken-fried steak gets edible about there. We Central Illinoisans refer to Southern Illinois as “The South without the charm.”]
To live in central Illinois is to be surrounded by corn. Miles and miles of my homestate are fields of corn broken only by the occasional creek, which we pronounce “crick,” and state highway. Sometimes the monotony is broken by a soy bean field, because soy beans fix nitrogen in the field for next year’s corn crop.
In central Illinois we take our corn very seriously. We boil it about 90 seconds with a little sugar added to the water. We buy it at the Farmers’ Market and we prefer the most freshly-picked corn possible. If we could we would haul pots of boiling water out to the fields and dip the ears into it still on the stalk. It was an adjustment, no, culture shock to eat sweet corn that had been roasted here in Wisconsin. I have adjusted to this local bit of eccentricity. [I still haven’t acquired a taste for cheese curds and their tooth-rattling squeak, don’t ask.]
Corn is the basis of one of my happiest moments in college. It was a Saturday night, special dinner night, which meant steak or French fried shrimp. I took the shrimp, a mound of them, with a little dish of cocktail sauce on the side. I found a seat across from Robert. Robert is from New Orleans. Robert howled at my shrimp, pushed my plate away and informed me -- and everyone else in the Willard Hall cafeteria --“That is not shrimp!” He went on to describe what shrimp truly is, how it is prepared -- never breaded and fried to a golden brown. My meal was repulsive and offensive. He managed to insult my supper and me in this tirade. I sat there, belittled and astonished. Then Robert went back for seconds, and reported that there was still some corn on the cob. I was outraged! Here it was February in Chicago and he was eating corn on the cob! It was 4 inches long! It had kernels the color of a Crayola sunrise! It was field corn, for pity’s sake! Couldn’t he tell the difference between field corn and sweet corn? “Robert, buddy, we feed this to pigs or turn it into Frito’s! This is not fit for human consumption! It’s been frozen for at least eight months! It’s an abomination, and so are you for eating it!”
I am now 54 years old and a Presbyterian minister. This is the only time in my life I have been able to be a snob about anything. I savor this moment and retell it gleefully. As a Peorian I know it may never happen again.
Each spring while I was in college I went south for spring break. Peoria is south of Chicago, look at a map. It was mid-March, which meant college and high school basketball. One Saturday the Peoria city spelling bee was broadcast; the next Saturday the regional grand champion would be crowned, who would then head to nationals in Washington, DC. A good spring break was timed so I could watch both bees. Mom and I rooted for the kids with peculiar facial tics or funny names.
One spring break a classmate from college spent a weekend in Peoria. He grew up in Florida, but he fit right in; he was a basketball fan, and a decent speller in his salad days. When the local news came on, however, he experienced culture shock.
“What the hell is Treflan?” he shouted.
“A post emergent broadleaf herbicide.” I thought everyone knew that.
Now I am the consummate city kid. Peorians are split into two categories: those who cannot wait to move to Chicago, and those who are afraid of ever getting near Chicago. I was clearly in the first group. Still, I grew up hearing commercials for herbicides, pesticides, fertilizer and seed corn. Every spring the wonders of Prowl were touted just before the weather and after the sports on the local news. I have jingles for these products rattling around my aural memory the same way you have nursery rhymes.
Standard, broadcast, tank mix or piggy back;
It’s the broad leaf control you’ve been lookin’ for,
Let Counter do it right.
Somehow the singer managed to rhyme “control” and “for.” Another verse promised “cleaner beans and bigger yields.”
The first time my college roommate, a native of the Bay Area, left campus during our freshman year, was to ride with me about three hours for Thanksgiving. He was fascinated, and perhaps hypnotized, by what appeared to be 170 consecutive miles of recently harvested corn fields. We went to church the next day, and when we sang “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.” We sang, “First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear,” and he imagined he’d walked into a Stephen King story. “Do these people worship corn?” he wondered. He was too polite to ask, but he looked much more relaxed when he saw that corn was absent from my family’s annual bacchanalia.
The Sunday of the Corn Roast my congregation sings “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.” It is practically the national anthem for folks from downstate Illinois. We sing the truth that my people know. This particular Sunday I am very fortunate because a man my age who grew up in Iowa is sitting in the second row. While he’s a Funks G Hybrid man and I’m a Northrup King guy, [Somebody gave me one of their baseball caps once, I think.] he nods in recognition at corn’s cultural dominance.
* * *
Mark 4:30-32
What kind of kingdom?
Application: Mustard seed, not plant, is a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven.
It’s easy to overlook that Jesus says that it’s the mustard seed, “the smallest of all seeds on earth,” that “becomes the greatest of all shrubs,” that can be compared to the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is referring to the seed itself, not its product, as being a parable for the kingdom of heaven.
It’s not the plant in which birds can build their nests. It’s not the shrub that will provide shade for many birds and people. It’s the seed, before it is sown, before it grows, before it is placed in the ground to die, and thus give new life. The seed itself is a metaphor for the kingdom.
[Note this is not the passage in which Jesus challenges his disciples to have the faith of a mustard seed, to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). This is a more modest illustration.]
In what ways can a seed be like a kingdom?
It contains everything it needs to grow -- except soil and water.
The tiny seed is necessary for, and precedes, wild, extravagant growth, so one could imagine that the kingdom of God itself has the potential to grow, spread out and shelter multitudes, once it is placed in the right conditions.
* * *
Mark 4:33-34
Parables, and their uses
Application: In Matthew’s gospel (13:11, 14-15), Jesus is asked why he spoke in parables and he answered with a reference to Isaiah 6:9-10
And he said, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’
Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.”
Today’s passage from Mark shows a gentler, more compassionate Jesus, concluding “but he explained everything in private to the disciples.”
Why would Jesus want to confuse the people, while making his meaning plain to his disciples?
* * *
Mark 4:26-34
The miracle of growth; trust
Application: We simply do not understand.
We don’t know how seeds grow into plants. “Only God can make a tree.” It is something people simply do not control. It happens beyond our control, though gardeners sow, fertilize, water, weed and tend their plants, the growth itself is beyond their control.
Yet we do not need to understand botany to harvest the crop. God gives the miracle of growing plants from dying seeds, and thus all people are fed.
* * *
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Everyone finds shelter under the tree’s branches
Application: The Lord promises to renew Israel at last
Much of this imagery is echoed in Jesus’ description of the mustard shrub. The plan to restore the Israelites following the Babylonian exile, is along-awaited dream. The imagery in Ezekiel indicates that it is not only Israelites who will live under the shade of its metaphorical branches. There’s room for “every kind of bird,” and “winged creatures of every kind.” (17:22)
* * *
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Jesse’s sons: Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah & __?__, __?__, __?__, & David
Application: Not an application so much as an opportunity for play. Three of Jesse’s sons are unnamed. I suggest Groucho, Harpo & Chico; or perhaps Barry, Robin & Maurice or even Greg, Peter & Bobby.
* * * * * * * * *
From team member Ron Love:
Calling
Hugh Jackman is an Australian actor, singer, and producer. He is best known for his long-running role as Wolverine in the X-Men film series. He traveled to Ethiopia in 2009, and while he was there he met Dukale, an impoverished coffee farmer. From that relationship Jackman learned that coffee farmers needed an extended market if they were going to be able to make a living. This led Jackman to establish Laughing Man Coffee, which is a marketplace for coffee farmers in developing countries. Jackman said his work with Laughing Man Coffee is “much more import than acting.” He got his children involved in the project as a lesson “that you have to give back.” But, perhaps more importantly they learned, “This is what makes us a part of the world community.”
Application: Samuel was searching for someone who would be a part of the world community. It is our calling to be a part of the world community.
* * *
Calling
Chris Norton was a freshman football player at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. He was just six weeks into the season when a football injury, on October 16, 2010, left him paralyzed from the neck down. Reflecting back to when he arrived at the Des Moines hospital he said, “I had no idea what my future held.” With intensive physical therapy he was able to graduate. Online he met Emily Summers, who was attending Iowa State University. On April 21 of this year, they were married. With his new wife assisting him, Chris walked down a seven-yard aisle -- one yard for every year since his accident. Chris is now a motivational speaker and he tells students, “how my life is still great with a wheelchair and that things can happen to you, but you just keep moving forward.”
Application: When David was called before Samuel he had no idea what the future would hold, but he kept moving forward. In our calling, we must keep moving forward into an uncertain future.
* * *
Reassurance
On April 17, Southwest Flight 1380 en route from New York to Dallas, had its left engine explode when a fan blade came off. Debris from the shattered engine pierced the fuselage, causing the plane to become ice cold and quickly depressurize. The suction caused Jennifer Riordan, who was seated in 14A, to have half her body sucked through the window. Hollie Mackey, who was seated in 14C, helped a young girl seated between them with her oxygen mask, then Hollie tried to pull Jenifer back into the plane. She did not have the strength to bring her back into the plane, so she held her by the waist for the several minutes it took for others to come and assist. Hollie said of holding Jenifer, “I just wanted to be there for her, to let her know she wasn’t alone.” Jenifer, unfortunately, later died of her injuries.
Application: Samuel had a difficult task in selecting a replacement for Saul, but he was assured of God’s presence. We all need a hand to hold us.
* * *
Reassurance
When Barbra Bush died on April 17, at the age of 92, she and her husband George’s 73-year union was the longest marriage of any presidential couple. Though Barbara always appeared outgoing, bright and cheerful in public, she did suffer from anxiety and depression. Barbara wrote in her memoirs that “many times George held me in his arms and let me weep myself to sleep.”
Application: Samuel had a difficult task in selecting a replacement for Saul, but he was assured of God’s presence. We all need someone to rock us to sleep.
* * *
Righteousness
Octavia Spencer is an actress. Her breakthrough role came in 2011, when she played a maid in 1960s America in the movie The Help, for which she won several awards, including the Academy Award. Spencer actively supports City Year, whose goal is to graduate as many children as possible, focusing on at-risk schools. The program finds mentors to assist students in their academic endeavors. Spencer relates her involvement in education to the influence of her mother. She writes, “I grew up in an impoverished neighborhood, but my mother understood the transformative power of education.” Spencer went on to write, “I want to help kids who feel as though they were born with nothing understand they have what they need: their minds.”
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized.
* * *
Righteousness
Marcia Gay Harden is an actress whose film breakthrough was in the 1990 movie Miller’s Crossing. She won the Academy Award for the Best Supporting Actress as artist Lee Krasner in the 2000 film Pollock. Harden earned another Academy Award nomination for her performance as Celeste Boyle in the 2003 movie Mystic River. Harden has recently published a book that reflects on her mother’s journey with Alzheimer’s disease. Her mother, Beverly, is 81-years-old. The title of the book is The Seasons of My Mother. In the book Harden writes, “Yet even as the pitch-black darkness of this hideous disease called Alzheimer’s advances, the core of my mom has remained the same. I think of it as her light that cannot be extinguished.”
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized. It is our light that cannot be extinguished.
* * *
Faith
Tennis star Serena Williams gave birth to her first child in September. Williams wasn’t expecting any drama when she arrived at Saint Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. But within hours the child’s life was in danger and an immediate C-section was performed. Complications after the surgery left the four-time Olympic gold-medal winner fighting for her life over the next six days. In the new HBO documentary Being Serena, she says of that experience, “This was the one time where I couldn’t control anything.”
Application: Paul teaches us that we need to “walk by faith.”
* * *
Righteousness
Carol Burnett was the daughter of two alcoholics, who divorced in the 1930s. Burnett, as a child, often blamed herself as the reason for their addiction. After the divorce, she was raised by her grandmother, Mabel White, in a Hollywood studio apartment. Remembering how kind and gentle her grandmother was, at the end of every The Carol Burnett Show, a variety show that ran from 1967 to 1978, she would tug her ear while on camera. This signature ear tug was Carol Burnett’s way of saying hello to her grandmother.
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized.
* * *
Righteousness
Katie Couric is hosting a new television series on the National Geographic Channel. The show is called America Inside Out. The show explores the most divisive topics of our time. Couric was once cohost on the Today show with Matt Lauer. Lauer was later terminated from the Today show for the sexual abuse of women. When asked why our understanding of sexual abuse has come to the forefront Couric responded, “I think Harvey Weinstein’s story. There has been so much frustration, anger and resentment bubbling that it just sort of erupted like a long-dormant volcano.”
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized.
* * *
Righteousness
During the Revolutionary War, General George Washington knew how important it was to be a God-fearing man with a God-fearing army. Washington realized that only “Divine Providence,” the words he used to reference God’s actions in human affairs, would lead his army to victory and America to independence. This is why Washington required that every military unit had a chaplain, and that he also insisted that his soldiers attended Sunday worship. Further, after every battlefield victory Washington held a worship service of Thanksgiving.
Application: In our lectionary readings for today the importance of the inward attribute of character is emphasized.
* * * * * * * * *
From team member Dean Feldmeyer:
Fashion Judges At The CMT’s (Appearances)
Kelsea Ballerini was almost a hit with a “fabulous ensemble” that was nearly ruined by a long, sheer train thing that she dragged behind it.
Carrie Underwood wore an “amazing minidress, which featured a plunging neckline, long sleeves and beautiful yellow and white embellishments over semi-sheer nude fabric” and added a metallic note with gold high heeled shoes.
Darius Rucker bombed in t-shirt, bomber jacket, trousers and some snakeskin cowboy boots.
Danielle Bradbery, rocked an “edgy little white minidress” which not only had a “funky asymmetrical hemline, but also had detached long sleeves that featured embellishments down the arm.”
Kane Brown opted for a (air quotes) Canadian Tuxedo. He wore a denim jacket, ripped jeans, a black t-shirt and “funky gray sneakers,” all of which spelled “loser” to the fashionistas judging the gray carpet sartorial choices on display at the CMT Music Awards, according to Wonderwall.com.
Thankfully, the artists on display were being judged for their musical abilities and not their appearance. Especially the guys, who pretty much crashed and burned and every fashion category.
See more here...
* * *
Some Hollywood Parables (Appearances)
Looking for a parable about the importance of character over appearances? Hollywood has produced some remarkably good ones. To name just a few:
In the most recent version of “Jumanji” a video gaming nerd, a sports-obsessed athlete, a self-absorbed beauty, and a shy, sarcastic Brainiac (all teenagers) are drawn into a video game and transformed in to characters which are the opposite of who they are in real life: The nerd becomes a muscled adventurer, the athlete becomes a diminutive zoologist, the beauty is an overweight, middle aged man, and the brainiac is a martial arts specialist. To get back to their real life they must work together, using their “strengths” to reach the game’s objective.
In “Mask” (1985) a teenager with a massive facial skull deformity and his biker mom attempt to live as normal a life as possible. He discovers romance with a blind girl who sees only his personality and character rather than his deformity.
Director David Lynch’s 1980 masterpiece, “The Elephant Man,” is based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, who suffered from Neurofibromatosis Type I and Proteus Syndrome which deformed his entire face, head and much of his body. In his early life, Merrick was mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Rescued by a compassionate surgeon the Elephant Man was discovered to be a person of kindness, intelligence, talent, and sensitivity.
* * *
For Want of a Hat (Appearances)
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American artist, active during the American Gilded Age of the late 19th century and based primarily in the United Kingdom.
A story is told of him that he was in a London haberdashery to purchase a hat and the proprietor had taken his hat to the back of the store to use for a comparison. Whistler was standing hatless in the store when a man rushed breathlessly in and, mistaking Whistler for a sales clerk, tore his hat from his head, thrust it Whistler’s face and shouted, “This hat doesn’t fit!”
Whistler eyed the stranger critically from head to foot, and then drawled out: "Well, neither does your coat. What's more, if you'll pardon my saying so, I'll be hanged if I care much for the color of your trousers."
* * *
Flowers vs. Weeds (Scattered vs. Planted)
When I retired from the active ministry in the United Methodist Church my wife and I bought a house that, we later learned, was next door to a retired Baptist minister. In the past year he and I have become friends and enjoy comparing notes on yard and home care.
There is a fairly obtrusive utility company thing, about 10 feet in diameter that straddles the line in our two front yards and, this spring, I decided to try to mask it a little by sowing some wild flower seeds around it. The seeds have sprouted and some plants are growing where I sowed them but, for the life of me, I can’t tell what they are. I don’t know which are weeds and which are flowers.
I shared my frustration with Brian as we stood there looking at them and he responded, in his slow, Tennessee drawl, “Well, you know, a weed is just a plant that is growin’ where you don’t want it to grow. I guess we won’t know for sure about these until they start to bloom.” I nodded in agreement, thinking, “Yeah, that’ll preach.”
* * *
Sowing Seeds (Sowing seeds)
I think it was Unitarian minister and author Robert Fulghum who said that you won’t know how good of a job you did at being a parent until your kids are in their thirties and, even then, you won’t know for sure. There are, after all, so many factors that go into molding a child into a responsible adult.
That came home to me about a year or so ago when I was at our United Methodist Annual Conference.
I spent the first ten years of my ordained ministry as a youth minister. I led youth ministries in local churches as well as at the district and conference levels.
My wife and I were walking down the crowded street of the Chautauqua grounds where our conference is held when a young lady pushing a chubby toddler in a stroller yelled my name and ran across the street, opened her arms and gave me a big hug. “It’s so good to see you,” she said. “I just want you to know that you changed my life. I was in a very bad place that spring and the things you taught us really changed the direction I was going in. Thank you. Thank you so much.” She hugged me again and was gone.
My wife looked at me quizzically. “Who was that?”
“I have no idea.”
“She had a name tag on.”
“Yeah, I read it and I still don’t know who she was.”
“Well, what did you say to her back in the day.”
Shaking head. “No idea.”
“Well, whatever it was, it must have worked.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”
You never really know ’till later.
* * *
Sowing and Reaping (Sowing seeds)
During the 1920’s, the years of Prohibition, there was a favorite story that allegedly circulated among prohibitionist preachers about a bootlegger who became rich making, smuggling, and selling alcohol illegally. Eventually, he was caught and sent to prison.
When an old friend decided to visit him, he found the old bootlegger sitting on the floor of his cell beside a large pile of burlap bags. He held a large needle and some course thread and was sewing another bag which he presently added to the pile, whereupon he began to sew yet another.
The visitor took all this in and, not knowing what to say, said, simply, “Sewing, eh?”
The prisoner looked up at his old friend and said, “No, reaping.”
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: God answer you in the day of trouble!
People: The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
Leader: May God send you help from the sanctuary.
People: May God grant you your heart's desire.
Leader: Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
People: but our pride is in the name of God our God.
OR
Leader: We come to worship the God who looks on our hearts.
People: We rejoice that God does not judge by out outer shell.
Leader: We come to worship a God who always at work.
People: We celebrate God’s coming reign now among us.
Leader: God invites us to see as God sees.
People: We will strive to look beyond mere appearances.
Hymns and Songs:
All Creatures of Our God and King
UMH: 62
H82: 400
PH: 455
AAHH: 147
NNBH: 33
NCH: 17
CH: 22
LBW: 527
ELA: 835
W&P: 23
AMEC: 50
STLT: 203
Renew: 47
God of the Sparrow God of the Whale
UMH: 122
PH: 272
NCH: 32
CH: 70
ELA: 740
W&P: 29
Morning Has Broken
UMH: 145
H82: 8
PH: 469
CH: 53
ELA: 556
W&P: 35
STLT: 38
Lord of the Dance
UMH: 261
W&P: 118
Spirit of the Living God
UMH: 393
PH: 322
AAHH: 320
NNBH: 133
NCH: 283
CH: 259
W&P: 492
CCB: 57
Renew: 90
Seek Ye First
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
CCB: 76
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
UMH: 420
H82: 508
PH: 316
AAHH: 317
NNBH: 126
NCH: 292
CH: 254
LBW: 488
W&P: 461
AMEC: 192
Open My Eyes, That I May See
UMH: 454
PH: 324
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
All I Need Is You
CCB: 100
Give Thanks
CCB: 92
Renew: 266
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
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 looks at the very core of our being:
Grant us the wisdom to not be distracted by the outward
but to see what is real and what is of value;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you know us to the very depths of our being. Help us to see as you see. Do not let us be distracted by outward appearances but help us to take the time to look deep within so that we can see what is real and what is of real value. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to see what is important and where God is at work.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We look at outward appearances and we make snap judgements about people and about situations. We do not take the time to know before we judge. We look around us and we are more apt to see the evil than we are to notice the places where you are at work building your realm. We are blind and it because we choose not to see. Forgive us and open us to the reality that you see so that we may participate in your ever coming reign. Amen.
Leader: God reign is coming where everyone is judged rightly according to the true worth. Receive God’s grace and forgiveness and by the power of the Spirit, see as God sees.
Prayers of the People
We worship you, O God, for you alone judge rightly all of your creation.
(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. We look at outward appearances and we make snap judgements about people and about situations. We do not take the time to know before we judge. We look around us and we are more apt to see the evil than we are to notice the places where you are at work building your realm. We are blind and it because we choose not to see. Forgive us and open us to the reality that you see so that we may participate in your ever coming reign.
We thank you for all your blessings. We thank you that you do not judge us as others do but look deep within us to see what you intended at our creation. We thank you for those who have taken the time to know us and see beneath our rough surface.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their need. We pray for those who are judged by strangers because of the color of their skin or because of who they love. We pray for those who are judged by their wealth or lack of wealth rather than on their character.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
I don’t think you can repeat this often enough so here it is again. Have a geode that has been cut in half. Tell the children how you love the beauty of this stone while showing them only the outside. Then turn it over and show them the crystal structure within. (I actually once stood inside a huge geode. It was incredible.) Many judge people and geodes by what is on the outside. But God and wise people, judge by what is inside.
CHILDREN”S SERMON
Potential for Greatness
by Bethany Peerbolte
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13, Mark 4:26-34
These two verses can be great inspiration for kids. When Samuel picks David it is not because he is the fastest runner, or best at math. David is picked because Samuel can tell he will grow into a great man. Samuel knows God will equip David with all the skills he will need, even if he is the youngest now. Jesus affirms this is how God’s kingdom always operates. It is the small seeds that hold the potential for a useful plant. That seed grows in mysterious ways, but with a little care the farmer and God create something incredible together.
Say something like:
How many of you know who Michael Jordan is? How about J.K. Rowling? Anyone heard the name Einstein? These are all people we know because they are very good at something. Some would even say they are THE BEST at what they do.
We all want to be the best at something, but it takes a lot of hard work to be the best. When we start something, we might be really bad at it. (If you have a fun story about a time you started something and weren’t so good this is a good place to tell it) People have studied how long it takes to get good at a new skill and they found it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. That is a super long time!
If I was forming a new basketball team who do you think I should put on my team, Michael Jordan or someone who has never played basketball? Michael Jordan seems like a good pick right? He is already good at basketball. Well in our Bible verses today we see how God picks a team.
In the scripture God needs to pick a new king. So he sends Samuel to find the right person. Samuel goes to a family that is well known for having talented sons. Samuel looks over every single son, some of them are really strong, some of them are really smart, but none of them are who God wants to be king. Then Samuel finds out the youngest son isn’t there and he says he wants to meet him. David walks in and is young, kind of dirty from playing outside, hasn’t finished school yet, not really good at anything yet. Then Samuel says,YES he is the one God wants to be king.
Everyone was shocked, but God knew David would learn everything he needed to know to be a king and God promised to help David become a great king. Jesus tells us this is always how God picks a team. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are now, God cares that you want to be better.
God promises to help us learn new things and grow into better people. Jesus reminds his followers that we don’t really understand how a plant grows. We know a little, like how to water it, where to plant it, and that it needs sun. There are a lot of other smaller details that happen as a plant grows that are still a mystery to us, but God knows and helps the growth.
Next time you feel like you aren’t good enough I want you to think about David. Then remember that God picks us for the team even if we aren’t the best. When we remember God still picks us it will help us start those 10,000 hours we need to get better because we know God is helping.
Pray: Thank you God for helping us grow. We know we aren’t always the best but we want to be better. Help us be a little better each day. In Jesus name, Amen.
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The Immediate Word, June 17, 2018, issue.
Copyright 2018 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.
