Immediate Word

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 April 29, 2018:

• Two Conversations by Dean Feldmeyer -- The gospel shouts an inclusive, accepting, reconciling, affirming word to all those who have been marginalized by the faith community.
• Abide or Be Pruned by Bethany Peerbolte -- Discipleship is not over at baptism, or after a prayer. It is a commitment to stay in relationship with Jesus throughout one’s growth.
• Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Ron Love, Tom Willadsen.
• Worship resources by George Reed that deal with recognizing one another as bearers of God; in helping others reach out to God we draw near to God, as well.
• Becoming guides -- Children's sermon by Chris Keating -- Chris shows the importance of guides and also how God guides us into relationships with people who are different than us.

Two Conversions
Acts 8:26-40
Dean Feldmeyer

“He is, at once, exotic, powerful and pious.”1 His skin is black; he comes from the southernmost edge of the known world. He is the treasurer, Chancellor of the Exchequer, of Meroe (Sudan), one of the most powerful city states on the African continent.

But, alas, he is not acceptable. He is not “fit company” for decent, proper folk. He’s just too different, too not-like-us. It’s not just that he’s a gentile, or that he’s black. Those would be enough but, well, he’s a eunuch, you see. A freak. He can’t enter the temple.  He is excluded from the covenant congregation along “with other defective or impaired persons.”2  I don’t mean to be indelicate, but it says so in the Bible. You can look it up: Leviticus 22: 24-25 and Deuteronomy 23: 1.

Pity.  Probably a very nice person, but what is one to do?

Luke answers that question definitively, leaving no room for doubt or equivocation.  When the Ethiopian invites Philip into the carriage he accepts the invitation and sits beside the man who just a few short years ago he would have considered untouchable.

And, together, as they ride along, they explore and experience the Gospel in all of its glorious, inclusive, beauty.

I cannot help but wonder how this story would have played out if it took place today, if Philip and the Ethiopian official found themselves thrown together in, oh, say, Starbucks? 

In the News
You’ve heard about Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson even if their names aren’t familiar.

They are the guys who were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks because they were sitting at a table and not buying coffee.  Arrested. Ouch, right?

And, let’s be honest. Even if we haven’t voiced it out loud, most of us have wondered if any of this ugly, messy, wacky stuff would have happened if Misters Nelson and Robinson would have been white and dressed in dark, pin-striped business suits and crisp, white shirts with school ties. 

Would the “no restroom without a purchase” rule have been as firmly enforced or would it have been suspended, for maybe just a few minutes because, hey, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go, right?

Would the police have been called and, having arrived, would they have arrested two middle aged white men dressed in business suits who explained that they were waiting on a third person to arrive so they could have a business meeting?

Isn’t one of the attractions of coffee shops the feeling that you are welcome to sit and read or talk or study or play chess or skype?  Some of them even provide the chess boards and pieces and I know they don’t check to make sure your coffee cup is full the entire length of the game.

But, alas, these two men were, for whatever reasons, unacceptable.  They were told to leave and when they questioned why they were being singled out among all the patrons of the coffee shop, they were arrested and forcibly removed.  Video records of the incident show that other patrons were incensed by the arrests. People, white and black, are heard asking the police to explain why they are doing what they are doing. The white man they were waiting to meet arrived during the arrest and he, too, can be seen demanding to know why they are being arrested. 

The police don’t answer or explain but go stoically about the business of making an arrest.  Nelson and Robinson are compliant and cooperative. They do not resist. Is this a lesson they have learned by watching the news and seeing young black men shot for not following police orders immediately and to the letter?

The two men spent the day in a jail cell until, just after midnight, they were released because the prosecuting attorney refused to bring charges against them.

Since then, demonstrations in front of that Starbucks, which sits in the city's well-to-do Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, have punctuated the news as have calls for a boycott of Starbucks.

Kevin Johnson, CEO of the Seattle-based company, came to Philadelphia to meet with the men, called the arrests "reprehensible," and ordered more than 8,000 Starbucks stores closed on the afternoon of May 29 so that nearly 175,000 employees can receive training on the topic of unconscious bias.

Nelson and Robinson also got an apology from Philadelphia Police Commissioner, Richard Ross, a black man who at first staunchly defended his officers' handling of the incident. At a news conference, Ross said he "failed miserably" in addressing the arrests. He said that the issue of race is not lost on him and that he shouldn't be the person making things worse. "Shame on me if, in any way, I've done that," he said.3  He also said the police department did not have a policy for dealing for such situations but soon will.

Robinson said that he appreciates the public support but that anger and boycotting Starbucks are not the solution.

The men said they are looking for more lasting results and are in mediation with Starbucks to make changes, including the posting in stores of a customer bill of rights; the adoption of new policies on customer ejections and racial discrimination; and independent investigations of complaints.

They want to see a more inclusive culture but they are willing to start with Starbucks.

In the Bible
Philip was doing just fine up in Samaria, thank you. 

He was preaching Jesus Christ the Messiah to Samaritans, of all people, and converting them like crazy.  He was casting out demons; he was healing people, and “there was great joy in that city.” (Acts 8: 8)

Things were going so well and the Samaritan church was growing so fast that Peter and John decided to come over and help with the overflow crowds.

There was even this guy named Simon, a sorcerer who was mesmerizing people with his so-called magic, and they managed to convert him and straighten him out on the subject of the Gospel’s relationship to money and the Holy Spirit. 

They were having crazy huge success.

So, of course, the Lord decides to reappoint Philip to a different parish, so He sends the Bishop (Luke calls him an angel) to tell Philip to, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (v.26)

Philip understands that obedience is an important part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, so he leaves his big successful Samaritan church and goes where God sends him -- to a desert road in the middle of the day, of course.  

Hey, no one said this was going to be easy, okay?  Successful in Samaria? Well, that’s all well and good, the Lord seems to be saying, so let’s see you do it again, this time on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere.

But wait, the road isn’t totally deserted.

He comes a wagon and someone is riding in it reading aloud.

Luke now launches into his description of the man in the wagon and, in doing so, offers us a peek at the man’s resume as well:

1. He was Ethiopian.  A Nubian with black skin, he would have been an object of much fascination in the Roman world.
2. He was a Eunuch.  Some insist that this may simply mean he was a servant who had risen up through the ranks to become powerful and influential but that is unlikely and does not well serve the point that Luke is trying to make with this story.  It is much more likely that the man is a slave who was castrated in his youth and raised to be a docile servant.  He has managed, however, by virtue of his skill, ambition, and personal charisma, to become a competent and compelling presence in his own right.
3. He is wealthy, powerful, and influential.  He is the treasurer, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for the Candace, (KAN-dah-key) or queen of all of the Ethiopians.
4. He was either born a Jew or converted to Judaism, evidenced by his trip to Jerusalem to worship at the temple.  Sadly, however, he has been turned away at the door.  Castrated males were not allowed into the Temple.  His trip to Jerusalem has been in vain. 
5. He is reading the book of Isaiah.  Philip probably knows this because a servant who can read is reading the book aloud to his master as was a common custom among the wealthy. 

Philip runs up to the wagon and, hearing the passage being read aloud, he asks the Ethiopian if he understands

what he is hearing. The influential, powerful man responds with a child’s innocence and honesty.  “How can I,” he says, “unless someone explains it to me?”  Whereupon he invites Philip to climb aboard the wagon and sit next to him and explain the book of Isaiah as they travel along.

Whoa, hold on a minute.

Okay, Philip is no stranger to preaching to outcasts or people on the very edge of the dominant culture.  He has just come from Samaria, land of the infidels, apostates, and fake Jews, and home of the “Good Samaritan.”  Untouchables in the eyes of good, Palestinian Jews.  But this Ethiopian is a different thing all together.

First, of all, he’s black. He is way not like us, right?  He’s a foreigner who hails from the very edge of the known world.  And he is a castrato, imperfect, unable to keep the commandment to be fruitful and multiply, not even allowed into the temple for worship.

But Philip pushes all that to the side and climbs aboard the wagon to sit next to the Ethiopian official.

Perhaps Philip is moved by the passage that he has heard the Ethiopian reading.  It comes from Isaiah, who is describing the suffering servant who, for Isaiah, was the nation of Israel. “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.”  

The early Christians, however, have seen Jesus in this prophetic poetry.  And how must the eunuch, rejected and despised for his physical condition, have seen himself in the prophet’s lament?  Who can speak for his descendants?  Who, indeed.  He asks Philip, “is the writer describing himself or someone else?”  Whereupon Philip takes the opportunity to tell the story of Jesus to his new companion.

Not much later they come to a pool of water and the eunuch lays down a challenge to Philip: ”What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”

Shall the color of my skin stand in the way?

Shall my country of origin serve as a barrier between me and Jesus?

Will my accent or the strangeness of my language slam the door to baptism for me?

Shall my vague sexual orientation exclude me once again?

No, nothing will keep this from happening.  We are told that “he” ordered the carriage to stop – Philip or the Ethiopian, we do not know – but stop, it did. And there, in the pool, Philip baptized the man and he became a member, a full member of the Christian movement who “went on his way rejoicing” even as Philip went on his way spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ and preaching as he went.

In the Sermon

The text presents us with an opportunity for that rare and wonderful preaching device called the narrative sermon -- the sermon that is made up of a single story.

Several options present themselves in the telling of this particular story.  Here are two:

1. The story teller can pick a central theme and show how the story illustrates it.  For instance, the theme of inclusion and exclusion might be explored. Exclusion can be experienced as a result of race prejudice as seems to be the case in the Starbucks story from the news.  Or it may be experienced as a result of religious or cultural prejudices as in the case of the Ethiopian official. 
   
   How distressing must it have been to be arrested for sitting too long in a coffee shop?  How heartbreaking must it have been to be excluded from worship because of a physical deformity that was perpetrated upon you as a child? 
   
   And how might we, as the people of God and the community of faith, repent of those prejudices and lead society in the social act of repentance?
   
   The story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch is a story of a double conversion.  The Ethiopian official is converted from whatever religion he brought to Jerusalem to Christianity and Philip is converted from his exclusivity to inclusivity through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
   
2. One might also walk the congregation through the story, stopping along the way to point out the metaphors which abound, metaphors which shine light upon our culture and our time.
   
   How, for instance, does God’s directive to Philip to leave his successful ministry in Samaria and go to the desert road reflect upon how God might be calling us?
   
   How is Philip’s obedience instructive for us?  Who are we more like, Philip or Jonah?
   
   The Ethiopian official’s skin color, language, accent, and custom would have been considered exotically different from the Middle Eastern people he encountered in Jerusalem.  What effect might it have on people when we treat them as exotic oddities rather than brothers and sisters?
   
   This exotic foreigner has been excluded from worshipping within the community of faith. How are we excluding people from our faith communities by acts of commission or omission? What does it feel like to be excluded?  How can we become a truly inclusive community?
   
   And, of course, the Ethiopian’s challenge stands boldly before us all, before all Christians throughout the ages:  “What is to keep me from being baptized?”

What, indeed?

1 https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/ivp-nt/Evangelist-Guided-God

2 The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1962 ed., s.v. “Eunuch.”

3 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/2-black-men-arrested-at-starbucks-get-an-apology-from-police/ar-AAw3zaL?ocid=spartanntp


SECOND THOUGHTS
Abide or Be Pruned
by Bethany Peerbolte
John 15: 1-8, Psalm 22

Growing is not always a good thing. Good gardeners know growing can choke out the area, use up nutrients, and strain resources. Growth for the sake of being big is not healthy or sustainable so pruning is necessary. Where my mother, a good gardener, always lost me were the guidelines on what to prune and what to leave. John 15:1-8 speaks of a great gardener who has made plans for the garden and is committed to seeing it through, even when it means pruning back growth. This gardener’s guideline is simple, leave branches that “abide” in the vine.

I am not a gardener, but I was always fascinated when my mother would prune plants in her gardens. I thought the goal of gardening was to grow. Pruning seemed to be counterproductive. When I voiced my confusion about pruning practices, my mother told me she had a plan for her garden. One plant would grow along the front line, another slightly taller plant behind it, and a show stopping plant in the back to attract the eye’s attention. The “show stopper” was not meant to overtake the whole garden though, it had to be pruned to help itself and to help the other plants. If one plant got too big it would literally cast a shadow on the smaller plants and take too many nutrients out of the ground. The framing plants around it would die and dead plants were not part of the plan. Neither was a couple crazy huge plants sitting alone in the bed. My mom also explained that some of the plants could grow themselves to death. The plant’s DNA would tell them to grow and grow and grow until they could not support themselves anymore. Pruning made sure they were able to survive. Pruning helped the plant stay within it’s resources and helped the other plants around it have a chance to grow happily and do their part too.

These verses from John 15 explain that God is a great gardener who has planned out the garden. Christ is the vine that pumps the nutrients and life water throughout the garden. We are the branches that are designed to produce fruit for the gardener. Like my mom’s garden, some of us may be show stoppers, the big churches, the leaders of world change, while others are the smaller framing plants, small community churches, helpers of little old ladies who need to cross the street. Do not confuse the words “big” and “small” with their value. To the gardener they are all necessary and planned. The gardener will prune back the “bigness” to save the other parts of the plan. The gardener knows just how big each part of the plan can get before it needs to be pruned and saved from its own overgrowth.

I think the most frustrating part of understanding gardening for me were the guidelines around what to prune on each plant. Some plants my mother would take the new growth, some she would take the old growth. I never could keep any of it straight. For God’s garden thankfully there is one guideline, abide, or be pruned and burnt up.

In John 15:1-8 “abide” is used 8 times. The repetition signals us in to pay attention, if you hear nothing else at least hear that you need to “abide.” This word in Greek, men-o, is closely tied to a sense of remaining or staying. Jesus is speaking to followers who have already pruned a lot from their lives. They have left families, jobs, and wealth to follow him. They have already bore fruit by loving others, sharing joy, seeking peace. If anyone was ever connected to the vine it was the people who sat at Jesus’ feet as he taught them these verses. Even though they are connected now, Jesus is asking them to remain connected. He knows the path ahead is not going to be easy because pruning is a painful process. Jesus also knows that God is committed to bear fruit through them if they can only commit to a relationship with him.

The theme of abiding is enhanced in verse 8 when Jesus says abiding in him will help them “become disciples.” This seems like crude thing to say to a group of people who have followed Jesus and considered themselves disciples for years. In verse 8 Jesus establishes that discipleship is something continuous. It is not a state you can sit comfortably in, or a title once earned. Discipleship must be worked on, improved, grown. Part of that growing process will include pruning. A branch that is used to support a friend may turn toxic and stop producing fruit. God will prune it so that the energy spent in that area of can be used somewhere else. A passion that is used to give joy may need to be pruned to give that time to a new opportunity. Pruning will cause pain, but disciples who abide in the vine know there is a plan for the garden and trust the gardener.

Psalm 22 maps out this struggle. Pain is persistent (verse 2), self-inflicted (verse 6), and caused by others (verse 7). There is a reason this Psalm is quoted by Jesus as he experiences a world of pain on the cross. This Psalm is honest in its assessment of the pain pruning can cause and gives disciples the freedom to express that pain to God. Just as Jesus understood from the cross, the next breath of this Psalm affirms that the speaker abides in God. From pain we cry out to God who is holy (verse 3), who has helped in the past (verse 4-5), who has control (verse 28), who will always deliver (verse 31). We do not have to deny the reality of our pain to abide in Jesus. The act of crying out does not solve the pain of the first verses, it simply solidifies that this branch is committed to remaining with the vine, because God also abides in us.

Discipleship is not over at baptism, or after a prayer. It is a commitment to stay in relationship with Jesus throughout one’s growth. A commitment to stay, abide, even through times of pruning. With the understanding that the fruit we are growing is not a mechanized result but an organic harvest.


ILLUSTRATIONS

From team member Mary Austin:

Acts 8:26-40
You Don’t Belong
In 1964, William Weaver was a high school sophomore – and one of 14 black students integrating his formerly all-white high school in Knoxville, TN.  The school was determined to make his status as an outsider clear to him.  "As soon as we got into the school, the principal was calling the roll. He said, 'Bill Weaver,' and I said, 'My name is William.' And he said, 'Oh, you're a smart N-word.' I'd been in school maybe 30 minutes and he suspended me," Weaver, 67, says, while recounting his first day at school during a recent visit to StoryCorps.  Weaver, who is now the chief of surgery at Fayetteville VA Medical Center in North Carolina, says he doesn't remember a day that a teacher didn't tell him that he "didn't belong."  "We'd have a test and they'd stand over me and then just snatch the paper out from under and say, 'Time is up,' " he says. "The first report card I got all F's, including [physical education]. So I've gone from being a good student to starting to think, well, maybe I don't belong. Maybe I am dumb."

One night, a teacher from his previous school, Mr. Hill, spoke to him and asked how things were going.  He explained, and Mr. Hill told him to come to his old school every day after school and on Saturdays.  "And so every day waiting for me would be Mr. Hill with assorted other teachers — the English teacher, the math teacher — and they tutored me. And once I got past those F's, I stopped doubting myself," he says. "But learning became almost a spiteful activity to prove the teachers at the high school wrong. And no matter what I did academically or athletically, I was never recognized at that school."

No one at the new school ever talked to him about college, “but, to his surprise, during his senior year, he got a letter telling him he had been awarded a scholarship. Weaver accepted it and went on to attend Howard University.  Thirty-seven years later, Weaver was at his older brother's funeral and saw Mr. Hill.  "And I said, 'You know, Mr. Hill, if I had not gotten that scholarship I don't know what would have happened. And I don't know how I got the scholarship because I never even applied for it," Weaver says. "And he said, 'I know, because I filled in the application and sent it off for you.'  "So Mr. Hill stepped in and, I believe, saved my life," though, at the time Weaver says he didn't realize how much he was being helped.” 

As with the man from Ethiopia and Philip, our ability to touch one another’s lives in beyond measure.

*****

Acts 8:26-40
Being the Outsider
In the aftermath of the arrests of two African-American men at a Philadelphia Starbucks, other people of color are talking about their experiences as outsiders in stores and restaurants.  Philip encounters the Ethiopian eunuch, who is an outsider by virtue of both his race and physical condition, and eventually welcomes the man into the company of people who follow Jesus.  Our neighbors of color would love to experience a similar welcome in the businesses where they go.  Alexandra C. Feldberg, a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard Business School, and Tami Kim, a professor of marketing at the University of Virginia, have been investigating racial bias in customer service, and find that we do a terrible job of making people welcome in businesses.  They note that the Starbucks incident grew from the white manager’s idea that the black men in the store could not be legitimate customers.  “Our research suggests that this belief — that a nonwhite person cannot or will not be a legitimate customer — can indeed worsen discrimination in service delivery.”

Customer service training is a start, they say, but employees still have a wide range of places to display bias.  “Instead of relying primarily on trainings to remedy bias, if they truly want to transform the way they serve customers, companies need to make structural changes…To detect bias…[requires] comparing treatment quality across a range of customers. After all, a store manager may conclude that an employee is doing a great job upon hearing him say “Have a great day!” to an Asian customer but not recognize that the same employee says “Have a great day! You should come back and try our new blonde cappuccino, with soy!” to a white customer. It is only after identifying these disparities that companies can develop targeted interventions to combat biases.” 

Philip could have concluded that the Ethiopian man was not qualified to be a follower of Jesus, but he was willing to make a change in his idea of who could follow Jesus.  In the process, he found his own beliefs changed, too.  As we encounter one another in public spaces, these men offer us a rich example.

*****

Acts 8:26-40
How to Act When You’re the Ethiopian Eunuch
The arrests at Starbucks have reminded us again that going through the routines of everyday life are stressful, when society regards you as an outsider.  The Spirit directs Philip in his interactions with the eunuch.  Without the benefit of such advice, we don’t do as well.  New York Times readers share their personal rules for navigating a society where they feel like outsiders.

They share the following:
A local store that I am fond of collects my bag at the entrance one-hundred percent of the time. That’s fine. They want to prevent shoplifting. My wife, who is not black (I am), was surprised to learn that the store even has this policy. Survey the store and white shoppers tend to have backpacks, giant purses, shopping bags — whatever they want. It makes my blood boil. I’m not proud that, rather than risk that anger, I just avoid shopping there when I’m carrying a bag. – Nicolas King, 41, San Francisco

I’m Arab. My white husband feels comfortable to walk into an establishment if he needs to use the restrooms, even if he has no intention to buy anything. I will not do that, because I fear the reaction of the proprietors to me. I have noticed that my father won’t either. I always make a note of the racial makeup of a room I walk into. I think it’s pretty normal for people of color to do that. – Heba G., 30, New York, N.Y.

I’m Puerto Rican with an abundance of thick black hair, so I try to avoid stores where I’ll stick out — mostly small locally owned stores (which is difficult because I’m a strong proponent of buying local). When I contemplate entering one of these stores, a million questions run through my mind:  Will they serve me? Will they be rude? Will they shadow me? Will they ask me if I am “lost?” – Amy Reyes, 51, Cleveland 

I keep my Platinum American Express Card near my driver’s license so that law enforcement can see that I am a “citizen,” someone in the upper middle class, without overtly saying so. – Christopher Scott, 58, Chicago

When I go into stores, I try to avoid wearing large purses or a lot of layers.  I am educated (with a master’s degree) and have a career, but that does not matter because I cannot wear that as my skin color is worn. – Shawna Francis, 31, Columbia, Mo.

I have registered my car with the N.Y.P.D. with stickers all over the car saying that I am in an “anti-theft program.” What I am really doing is to “mark” myself as friendly to the police so that I can get respect. – Miriam Allen, 61, New York

I try not to talk to people and keep to myself, usually I listen to music or I talk to the people I went with. I try to stay away from other patrons unless they're black. – C.S., 39, New York
If I’ve been followed in a store, I won’t return there, or ever purchase the brand or related brands (like a major clothing chain). If the business hasn’t really changed practices over years nor taken steps to address known incidents, I will advise colleagues to avoid those businesses as well. – Darrell Emile, Philadelphia

I’ve basically given up on women’s clothing stores. No matter how nicely dressed, or how upscale or downmarket the store, it’s just too stressful to put on a big show of “I am not shoplifting” for the inevitable staff-follower while trying to find the styles and sizes I want. Online, no one treats you like a suspected criminal. – Mandisa W., 40, Bronx, N.Y.

The contrast becomes extremely painful when I bring my African-American mentees to a high-end location in the hopes of exposing them to cultures outside their neighborhood. They are met with looks and comments that indicate they do not belong there. It fills me with a silent rage. Internally, I debate whether I needed to fight for my mentees by calling out store employees or teach my mentees the ways I have adopted to prove I am valuable in these spaces too. – Jessica Golson, 29, Philadelphia

Although I grew up in the wealthy suburban North Shore of Chicago, it wasn’t until about 8 years ago when I was with a white friend walking down Michigan Avenue when I was exposed to the “possibility” that I could sit in the lobby of a fancy hotel without being a patron. I can remember the quizzical look on my friends face, “Yes, Kelsey why COULDN’T we sit here.” And the revelation in my mind that the answer may, at that moment at least, simply have been, “because I don’t BELIEVE I’m allowed here.” – Kelsey Taylor, Chicago

**********

From team member Tom Willadsen:

Psalm 22:25-31
The Big Finish
Jesus began reciting Psalm 22 on the Cross, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me…?”  That takes us back to Good Friday…but Sunday’s coming!  This morning’s psalm text is the big finish, the payoff, the reward after the suffering.  And it’s for everyone, all the earth.  Pick any verse 25- the end and there’s good news for all people, even future generations, even those who have gone down to dust, the living and the dead, the past and the future—all this wormwood and gall will end.  We’re on this side of the Cross.  We’re all “in.”

What does that feel like?  Perhaps to people like us who have never missed a meal because my family couldn’t afford food; who have always had a safe place to sleep and a roof over our heads; who have never suffered from discrimination, or even perceived that we might be discriminated against; who have never dreaded the future, but always been able to laugh at the troubles ahead, like the Capable Wife in Proverbs 31—we may not feel or experience the relief and deliverance, the profound undoing of calamity that is described in the psalm that Jesus cited as he died, “Eloi, Eloi…?”

*****

Cut off & roots
From the vine the branch bears no fruit.  Cut off from Jesus the disciples, the church, will bear no fruit.  United, tied into the branch we will bear much fruit.  Plants need to be connected to the soil, the source of their nourishment.  Followers of Christ must also stay connected.

It takes a miracle for those who are cut off to bear fruit.  Only God can make that happen, only God can make the barren fecund again.  

The Ethiopian eunuch, a man of prestige and influence, an earnest observer of the law, yet of a different ethnic group, with a bodily condition that Torah says ritually excludes him from full communion is brought into the fold (last week’s image) and restored and able to bear fruit because Isaiah 56:3-4 explicitly overturns a torah prohibition excluding eunuchs. That’s right, kids.  This is the only place in scripture that a Torah commandment is undone!  Eunuchs are instructed not to think of themselves as “dry trees.”  Isaiah 56:5 promises sons and daughters and “an everlasting name that shall never be cut off.”  (I’m pretty sure the double entendre is present in the Hebrew, but am too pressed for time to verify that; at least it works in English!)

Oh, and not only eunuchs are “uncutoff;” foreigners will have their sacrifices accepted.  This is like the “Big Finish” that we see in Psalm 22’s reading.

*****

Pruning
We know the fate of unproductive branches; they are thrown into the fire and burned.  They are trimmed away, discarded, so the plant can give its life force to the productive, living, parts of the plant.  Dying can and should be part of the process that leads to health and vitality.  Even Jeremiah said that breaking down is part of cannot be separated from building up, just as planting and plucking up are bound together (1:10)

Yes, all peoples will be welcomed and accepted, but we’re all sure gonna be different!  Those unproductive bits will be gone, and the bits that praise God and respect others will be strong and vigorous.

1 John 4:7-21
Reads almost like a series of bumperstickers extolling God’s love.  Reading them one after the other is like making caramel corn your supper.  It’s so compact and rich with love and praise that it’s better to be savored than gobbled.

Oh, and this whole love thing?  God started it. 

We love because God first loved us.

It’s not our doing, certainly not our achievement to accept then spread God’s love.  We have to start by accepting the acceptance God sends in Christ’s death and resurrection.

We have to start by rejecting the rejection that we burden ourselves with -- that the world has weighted us down with. 

We have to start with marveling at the depth and power of God’s love.

**********

From team member Ron Love:

Hate
Bill Cosby is on trial for the second time for aggravated indecent assault charges against a number of women. The first trial last year ended in a hung jury, so he has presently been brought before the court for a second trial. The prosecutor has introduced as evidence, which the judge has allowed, a testimony that Cosby gave in 2005 in which he described how he drugged Andrea Constand, one of his accusers. In the 2005 deposition Cosby discussed how Constand came to his Philadelphia suburban home for advice. Constand shared how she was stressed with the thought of telling her Temple basketball coach she wanted to leave to study message therapy in Canada. Cosby said he gave her 1 ½ tablets of cold and allergy medicine Benadryl to help her relax. He said these pills were “your friends,” and they would help relieve her stress. When the medicine left Constand conscious, but unable to respond, Cosby molested her. What makes this case such a pubic case is that Bill Cosby has always been considered America’s favorite Dad.

Application: John is clear that if we cannot love our brothers and sisters we cannot love God. John even uses the very strong word “hate” our brothers and sisters.

*****

Love
Barbara Bush recently died on Tuesday, April 17. She was the wife of one president, and the mother of a second. She stood by the side of her husband, George H. W. Bush, when he was sworn in as president, and then eight years later, after leaving the nation’s capital, stood by the side of her son, George W. Bush, when he was sworn in as president. Barbara could be caustic in private, but her public image was that of a self-sacrificing spouse who referred to her husband as her “hero.” Barbara said in a 1992 television interview that in the White House “you need a friend, someone who loves you, who’s going to say, ‘You are great.’”

Application: Love is being supportive when you are being disapproved and criticized by others.

*****

Love
Barbara Bush recently died on Tuesday, April 17. She was the wife of one president, and the mother of a second. She stood by the side of her husband, George H.W. Bush, when he was sworn in as president, and then eight years later, after leaving the nation’s capital, stood by the side of her son, George W. Bush, when he was sworn in as president. George and Barbara were married on January 6, 1945 and had the longest marriage of any presidential couple in American history. In a collection of letters published in 1999, George H.W. Bush included a note he gave his wife in early 1994. He wrote, “You have given me joy that few men know…I have climbed perhaps the highest mountain in the world, but even that cannot hold a candle to being Barbara’s husband.”

Application: As president George climbed the highest mountain in the world, but that accomplishment is insignificant compared to being Barbara’s husband.

*****

Love
Barbara Bush recently died on Tuesday, April 17. She was the wife of one president, and the mother of a second. She stood by the side of her husband, George H. W. Bush, when he was sworn in as president, and then eight years later, after leaving the nation’s capital, stood by the side of her son, George W. Bush, when he was sworn in as president. In her 1994 autobiography Barbara Bush: A Memoir, she disclosed a bout of depression she had in the mid-1970s. She wrote, “Night after night, George held me weeping in his arms while I tried to explain my feelings. I almost wonder why he didn’t leave me.”

Application: Love is being present and supportive of another person.

*****

Love
Barbara Bush recently died on Tuesday, April 17. She was the wife of one president, and the mother of a second. She stood by the side of her husband, George H. W. Bush, when he was sworn in as president, and then eight years later, after leaving the nation’s capital, stood by the side of her son, George W. Bush, when he was sworn in as president. In a speech she delivered in 1985, she recalled the stress of raising a family while married to an ambitious man that carried him form the Texas oil fields to the White House. During this period, while raising five children, she wrote, “This was a period for me of long days and short years, of diapers, runny noses, earaches, more Little League games than you could believe possible, tonsils and those unscheduled races to the hospital emergency room, Sunday school and church, of hours urging homework or short chubby arms around your neck and sticky kisses.”

Application: Love is long days and short years.

*****

Love
In the newspaper comic the Born Loser, Gladys is the wife of Brutus, who is known as the Born Loser. Gladys, like Brutus, also has a difficult life. In this episode Gladys is sitting at the kitchen table. She is leaning forward in her chair, with her arms resting on the table. Talking to herself she says, “I’ve got a million things to do today!” In the next panel you see her sighing. In the final panel, where she has now put her elbow on the table and is resting her chin on her hand, she says, “And not one of them is for me!”

Application: Love is doing for others.

*****

Discipleship
The MeToo movement continues to be headline news as there are more disclosures of women who have been sexual assaulted or abused. But what many people do not realize is that the MeToo movement began 12 years ago. Its founder is Tarana Burke. Burke runs the organization out of the Brooklyn, New York, offices of Girls for Gender Equality. Speaking recently at Variety’s annual Power of Women event she wanted people to know that the deeper purpose of the MeToo movement is working with survivors of sexual assault, and not just bringing down powerful abusers. Burk said in he speech that she was “desperate to change the narrative about the MeToo movement before it’s too late.” But, she recognized that the present “moment” of bringing forward the names of powerful abusers is important to the movement. Burke said, “It is wrong to think of this as moment. Movements are long, and they are built over time. Movements are made from moments.”

Application: Philip heard the Lord say. Get up and go.” And Philip got up and went. We are to answer the Lord’s calling so moments do become movements.

*****

Teaching
Following what the teachers did in West Virginia, the teachers of Kentucky refused to go to school and teach on Monday, April 2. Instead, they marched on the capital in Frankfort to protest low wages and poor working conditions, emphasizing substandard classrooms and materials for students. Governor Matt Bevin, who opposes any salary increase for teachers and any additional funding for education, said that children were sexual abused because they were left home alone while the teachers protested. This charge of child abuse was never discovered to be true, and many people criticized the governor for making such an outlandish accusation. In an apology to the citizens of Kentucky, Bevin said, “It’s my responsibility to represent you, not only when I’m speaking to you, but when I’m speaking on your behalf in ways that are clear, that are understood, that don’t hurt people and don’t confuse people. And so the extent that I do that well, great. And to the times I don’t do it well, that’s on me.”

Application: As Philip went and taught the Ethiopian eunuch, Gov. Bevin needs someone to come teach him some lessons on public decency and public speaking. We are all in need of a Philip in our lives to teach us.

*****

Teaching
Starbucks has been in headline news when a store in Philadelphia had two black gentlemen arrested for loitering. They were in the store and had not made a purchase. Further, they asked to use the restroom. They tried to explain that they were waiting for a third gentleman to have a business meeting with. This indecency has led to a national protest and a call to boycott Starbucks. Kevin Johnson, the CEO of Starbucks, called the arrests “reprehensible.” In order to prevent such an action again, he is going to close all 8,000 United States stores on the afternoon of May 29 for racial-bias training of his 175,000 employees. This training will become a part of the training for all newly hired employees in the future.

Application: We have learned from our lectionary reading in Acts that all of us need training.

*****

Hate
There’s a poignantly scent in the movie Driving Miss Daisy that ought to stir everyone’s conscience. Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy) and her black chauffeur Hoke Colburn (Morgan Freeman) are driving to Mobile to celebrate the 90th birthday of Miss Daisy’s uncle. Along the way they innocently park their car on a beautiful lawn next to a serene lake. There they sit in quiet conversation, sharing a box lunch. Two Alabama State Troopers arrive and interrupt this peaceful scene, questioning Colburn’s right to drive an automobile. Only when Miss Daisy is able to establish the fact that she is a woman of prominence and wealth do the patrolmen cease their harassment. Upset, Miss Daisy and Colburn leave their lunches half eaten and depart. Watching the car travel down the highway, one Trooper says to his partner, “an old nigger and an old Jew woman taken off down the road together. Now ain’t that a sorry sight.”

Application: The real sorry sight is the inability of the two troopers to see Miss Daisy and Hoke Colburn as human beings who are the same rights and privileges as all other persons. It is pathetic that our whole society is still blinded by the “isms” – racism, sexism, ageism, attitudes that demean and belittle other individuals, because one thinks of herself/himself as superior to another person because of some arbitrary standard of skin color or religious affiliation. John uses the very harsh word “hate” when he describes those who do not love their brothers and sisters. The word hate may be harsh, but it is accurate for those who fail to love.


WORSHIP
by George Reed

Call to Worship:
Leader: The poor shall eat and be satisfied.
People: All the ends of the earth shall remember God.
Leader: All the peoples will turn to our God.
People: All the families of the nations shall worship before God’s presence.
Leader: Future generations will be told about our God.
People: They will proclaim God’s deliverance to a people yet unborn.

OR

Leader: The God who created is among us today!
People: We offer to God our praise and worship.   
Leader: God dwells within all of us and all creation.
People: We rejoice in God’s constant presence with us.
Leader: God dwells within all we will meet this week.
People: We will seek God and honor God in others.

Hymns and Songs:
“All People That on Earth Do Dwell”
UMH: 75
H82: 377/378
PH: 220/221
NNBH: 36
NCH: 7
CH: 18
LBW: 245
ELA: 883
W&P: 661
AMEC: 73
STLT: 370

“I Sing the Almighty Power of God”
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31

“He Lives”
UMH: 310
AAHH: 275
NNBH: 119
CH: 226
W&P: 302

“O Come and Dwell in Me”
UMH: 388  

“Spirit of the Living God”
UMH: 393
PH: 322
AAHH: 320
NNBH: 113
NCH: 283
CH: 259
W&P: 492
CCB: 57

“Jesu, Jesu”
UMH: 432
H82: 602
PH: 367
NCH: 498
CH: 600
ELA: 708
W&P: 273
CCB: 66

“O God of Every Nation”
UMH: 435
H82: 607
PH: 289
CH: 680
LBW: 416
ELA: 713
W&P: 626

“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: 190

“You Are”
CCB: 23
Renew:

“I Am Loved”
CCB: 80
Renew:

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 dwells within all of creation:
Grant us the grace to see your present in others
so that we may honor you and them;
through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Amen.

OR

We praise you, O God, for you dwell in all of your creation.  You created us in your image and breathed into us your life.  As we worship you today, help us to see you in those we encounter day by day so that we may honor you by honoring them.  Amen. 

Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our failure to see God in others and to think of ourselves as better than others. 
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned.  We love to think of ourselves as being made in God’s image.  We delight to call ourselves children of the most high God.  But we are reluctant to see the truth of that about others.  We think we have much to teach them but little that they can teach us.  We too often resemble the religious snobs that Jesus reproached more than his faithful disciples.  Cleanse us and renew us with your Spirit that we may truly be living branches. Amen.  
Leader: God does dwell within us.  Receive God’s forgiveness and Spirit so that you may live that out in your relationships with others.  

Prayers of the People
We worship you, O God, who more than creation and yet dwells intimately in it. 

(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 love to think of ourselves as being made in God’s image.  We delight to call ourselves children of the most high God.  But we are reluctant to see the truth of that about others.  We think we have much to teach them but little that they can teach us.  We too often resemble the religious snobs that Jesus reproached more than his faithful disciples.  Cleanse us and renew us with your Spirit that we may truly be living branches.

We give you thanks for all the ways in which your presence and grace are given to us.  We thank you for those have allowed themselves to be your clear vessels so that we have met you in their lives. 

(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)

We pray for one another in our need.  We are aware of many who find it difficult to believe that God dwells in them because of the hateful ways in which they are treated by others.  We lift up to you those who are despised because of their race or color, because of the wealth or lack of wealth that they have, or because of who they see themselves to be or who they love. 

(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
Take some coins and coat them in mud.  (I like to use big, old silver dollars.)  Tell them children you have a very special gift for them.  Show them the mud crusted lumps.  (Be sure to have newspapers or a tarp laid down for them.)  Give them their muddy lumps and talk about how special they are.  They have the children break open their gifts.  We are like these coins.  We don’t know what is inside.  We can’t see God inside others but God is there.  Don’t just look on the outside.



CHILDREN'S SERMON
Becoming Guides
by Chris Keating
Acts 8:26-40

Gather ahead of time: Map of Ethiopia

There are two elements of Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian official which could be sources of topics with children. Philip, one of the original Deacons appointed to handle the distribution of food to widows, is guided by the Spirit. The Spirit guides Philip, and then Philip becomes a guide to the man.

The story is also a reminder of how God guides us into relationships with people who are different than us. Philip’s trek across the country road him face to face with a person of a different race and nationality who is earnestly trying to learn more about God. The official came from a country in Africa, far away from where Philip and others lived. He was in many ways an outsider, but he loved God and wanted to know more about God.  Helping children understand how God values difference and diversity could be a helpful conversation, especially given the lack of racial diversity in most congregations.

Ask children to talk about what they think it is like to be an outsider. List some ways that we are different from each other: some of us a right handed while others are left handed; some know how to whistle while others don’t; some of us know how to swim, but maybe not all of us.  Sometimes it  is possible to feel ignored because of our differences, or even hurt by other people’s words and actions toward. How does Philip interact with this person? What is the result of their interaction? How might our words help persons who are different from us feel welcome and included, so that they may go about their lives rejoicing?

There’s a second possibility worth considering as well. Introduce the children to the idea that the apostles and deacons in the early church had special jobs and responsibilities. Just like our churches today, each member of the church had something they could contribute for the sake of the community. God used Philip’s special gifts to be a teacher to the Ethiopian official.

The man asked Philip to be his guide. A guide helps us learn things—imagine how helpful the children could be as guides to new visitors to the church. What are some of the things that they know about the church that could teach others? Remind the children that they have a role to play as teachers, even before they are grown up.

Teachers are important to us.  We have many persons in our community who are teachers: our parents and family members teach us about life; our school teachers help us learn lessons; our Sunday school teachers, and helpers, and so many others teach us about faith. If your congregation has a very special teacher or group of teachers dedicated to helping children learn about faith, you can ask them to come forward and be recognized. Celebrating the gifts of God’s people as teachers and students and mutual guides can help us all rejoice.


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The Immediate Word, April 29, 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.