For May 18, 2014 from The Immediate Word (a component of SermonSuite.com).
This week’s Acts passage tells of the stoning of Stephen. It’s striking that such a gruesome scene is narrated in the matter-of-fact tone of a wire service story. Nevertheless, the essence of the event comes through loud and clear. The crowd obviously doesn’t want to hear what Stephen has to say, and they viciously turn on him: “[T]hey covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.”
In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Chris Keating explores how the American public’s apparent disinterest in facing the truth concerning global climate change (and the aggressive reaction against it on the part of some influential leaders) is somewhat reminiscent of the reaction to Stephen’s inconvenient truth-telling. Despite overwhelming scientific consensus, a large segment of the American public remains unconvinced that climate change is real -- though the recent release by a government-sponsored scientific panel of the National Climate Assessment paints a stark picture, offering massive evidence that the effects of climate change have already begun to manifest themselves in every part of the country: “water growing scarcer in dry regions, torrential rains increasing in wet regions, heat waves becoming more common and more severe, wildfires growing worse, and forests dying under assault from heat-loving insects.” The scientists went on to declare that “climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” and offered dire warnings for the future if we do not significantly alter our present course of inaction. As Chris observes, is covering our ears in the form of refusing to hear and respond to what Al Gore famously dubbed “an inconvenient truth” all that different from the crowd’s rejection of Stephen’s message?
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on the Acts passage (as well as the Psalm text), asking what it means to seek our refuge in God. Does it mean protection from martyrdom? Not really, as Stephen’s fate makes abundantly clear. But what is our obligation as people of faith -- is it to protect others from suffering, or is persecution something that we signed up for when we chose to follow Jesus? Dean draws some lessons from the recent calamity involving acrobats from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus, as well as the dilemma regarding homosexuality faced by the Archbishop of Canterbury as he tries to avoid schism and protect the unity of the Anglican Communion. Dean suggests that these incidents, as well as this week’s lectionary readings, show that we must accept risk before we can call on God for refuge -- and that refuge often involves nurturing a deeper relationship with the Lord even in our most difficult and painful moments.
Uncovering Our Ears
by Chris Keating
Acts 7:55-60
Stephen’s sermon had an interesting impact on his congregation. First they stuck their fingers in their ears, and then they killed him. This wasn’t what the pulpit committee had planned. It seems Stephen neglected to complete the prescribed Dale Carnegie class.
Full of grace and power, not only did Stephen perform great wonders and signs (Acts 6:8), he did the unthinkable -- he told the truth.
That was true in Stephen’s day, and is still true today. Last week’s release of the third National Climate Assessment documents the way climate change has already happened in the United States. A broad consensus of scientists, including representatives from the oil industry, concluded that climate change isn’t something which will happen some day -- it’s already underway.
Most Americans, however, don’t agree. A recent Gallup poll shows only about 34% of Americans worry about climate change. Pew Research Center data shows that Americans are outliers on this issue when compared to other nations such as Canada, France, Japan, or Germany. Skeptics are already carving this week’s gigantic report into political-sized bites, discounting its conclusions.
It’s time to uncover our ears -- and listen for the truth.
In the News
Climate change isn’t something in the future. That is the message in the third report from the National Climate Assessment, an inter-agency federal team of more than 300 experts. The massive report documents the ways climate change is happening today: from droughts to torrential rains, to heat waves and wild brush fires, to melting glaciers and extreme weather events, climate change is part of daily life.
“Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” the panel of scientists reported. Every part of the United States is impacted by the changing climate. Northern areas are feeling the change at a swifter pace than some other areas, but few places in the United States will go unscathed.
“Americans are noticing changes all around them,” the report’s overview says. “Summers are longer and hotter, and extended periods of unusual heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced. Winters are generally shorted and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours.” Rising seas will put major seaports at risk.
Case in point: on Monday of this week, two teams of scientists announced that portions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet have begun to collapse. The researchers called it an “unstoppable” process that over the course of centuries could raise sea levels by 15 feet. The region seems to be warming more quickly than anticipated.
Widespread flooding, rampant wildfires in western states, and the eroding of the arctic sea are all evidence of climate change, the report contends. No part of the United States is immune to these challenges. Scientists nearly universally attribute these changes to increasing levels of human-produced carbon dioxide and fossil fuel emissions.
According to the assessment, there are scientific models that show removing human interference in the climate would have actually cooled the planet over the past 50 years. “Over the last few centuries, emissions from human activities have increased carbon dioxide levels to about 400 (parts per million), or more than 3,000 billion tons -- more than a 40% increase.” (See http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/appendices/faq, p. 799.)
Analysts note that the report calls the nation to awaken from its slumber on this issue, and to begin taking action. Risk management expert David Ropeik summarizes the report this way:
Most climate change communication has framed the issue as a future threat. Future risks don’t worry us as much as threats that are imminent, or current. The basic message of the NCA, offered first and repeatedly through the entire report, is that climate change is not just something we don’t need to worry about until tomorrow. It’s something to worry about NOW.
By and large, however, Americans have closed their ears to climate change.
When compared to other nations, Americans tend to see climate change as less of a threat. The Pew poll noted that most Americans view Islamic extremism, Iran’s nuclear program, or North Korea as a greater threat than the environment. While all countries will be affected by a changing climate, poorer nations will face greater risks. Concern over climate change in middle or poorer nations is higher than it is in the United States, with only the Middle East not having a majority seeing the issue as a critical threat.
There’s also the tendency to see the issue as a political gambit. President Obama’s rivals take umbrage at his insistence that human activity created climate change. They see it as an attempt to push a regulatory agenda, and believe the President is promoting climate change to stir emotions.
Like the crowd that faced Stephen, climate change skeptics are grinding their teeth. Enraged, they are prepared to hurl their own rhetorical rocks.
“I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,” said Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, considered to be a possible 2016 presidential candidate. Rubio’s views mirror many in his party. Across the country, about one in four Republicans agree with Rubio’s conclusion, and among the most conservative of Republicans, 40% say climate change was “just not happening.”
Meanwhile, as politicians prepare to hurl stones, there is near unanimous consensus among scientists worldwide that not only is the climate changing, but that human activity is driving the change.
Perhaps it is time to uncover our ears.
In the Scripture
This week’s lectionary passage from Acts 7 plops us down in the middle of the action shortly before Stephen is stoned. It’s a gruesome scene, but also a potent reminder of the church’s calling to bear witness to uncomfortable truths. The mob has turned on the innocent, angel-faced Stephen.
Speaking to the Sanhedrin at the beginning of chapter seven, Stephen describes the mighty acts of God. His sermon recounts the ways God’s people had consistently turned away from God -- rejecting Moses, worshiping idols, reveling in the works of their hands, forever opposing the Holy Spirit. Here Stephen gives voice to Luke’s unique historical perspective, mushing together a pastiche of times, places, and narratives in order to assert a particular Christological stance. God’s people resisted, yet God persisted. (See Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Acts [Abingdon Press, 2003], p. 133.)
Stephen’s sermon races toward its finish line. Along the way, he seals his fate by rattling off this bit of winsome homiletical phraseology: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do.”
Note to self: cut out the “stiff-necked people” line if you’re arguing for a raise.
The crowd seizes with anger and grinds their teeth as Stephen concludes: “You are the ones that received the law as ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.”
It wasn’t just an inconvenient truth -- it was the plain truth, and yet the crowd was unable to accept it.
Even at that moment, Stephen remains full of power and grace. In the face of death, at the feet of his oppressors, Stephen cries out, “Lord do not hold this sin against them.”
They must have heard that -- because it is mighty hard to cover your ears if you’re still holding a rock.
In the Sermon
In his commentary on Acts, William H. Willimon notes that the persecution of Stephen was not some isolated act of violence. It represented the shift in the church as its message challenged the status quo. Jesus’ followers became the seeds of faith scattered into far-flung regions, but even there God’s message is able to bear fruit. Willimon tells of three bronze plaques placed near the MacKay Center at Princeton Theological Seminary: “One sees three bronze plaques inscribed with the name of Princeton graduates, who like Stephen, paid for their vision in blood: Walter Macon Lawrie -- thrown overboard by pirates in the China Sea, 1847; John Rogers Peal -- killed with his wife by a mob at Lien Chou, China, 1905; James Joseph Reed -- fatally beaten at Selma, Alabama, March 11, 1965” (Willimon, Acts [Westminster/John Knox Press, 1988], p. 65).
Each one, like Stephen, answered a version of the same question: “Are these things so?” Their names, says Willimon, “remind us of some later-day witnesses who went before us, some of whom paid dearly for their witness to the truth.”
The Easter glow is now over, and even the slight Mother’s Day attendance bump is over. On a pretty day in May, it might be easy to gloss over this grueling text. Yet these verses are a reminder of the church’s calling to witness to truth. The preacher is summoned to listen carefully to Stephen’s witness, and to imagine how God’s people have stopped listening today.
One could do worse than to simply tell the story, allowing the congregation to find themselves in this drama. Take note. Block out the action: who are we in this drama? Are we Stephen, persecuted for giving witness to what we have seen and know to be true? Are we the ones picking up stones? Are we in the crowd, with our fingers covering our ears, grinding our teeth at the sound of Stephen’s voice? Or are we Saul, who seems to be a glorified coat-check guy, standing on the sidelines, consenting to the messenger’s death?
As we identify ourselves, we may be able to then listen for the promise of redemption. Rather than pounding the so-called “data of despair” into our congregations, we may be able to help them hear that promise. We may then uncover our ears, and begin to make changes in the way we care for creation.
Stephen’s witness becomes our witness as we encourage our congregations to uncover their ears and listen for the challenge of truth. As a Presbyterian Church (USA) policy statement on climate change observes: “The challenge we face is daunting. The temptation to despair is real. Only God can give us the power to change... we can repent of our own sinful misuse and abuse of the Earth as we confess our sins. As recipients of God’s endless mercy, this redemptive energy frees and empowers us to be good stewards of God’s creation” (The Power to Change: U.S. Energy Policy and Global Warming, The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, Presbyterian Church [USA], 2008, p. 23).
It is not easy to proclaim truth. But even stiff-necked people can change. Eventually even Saul will travel the Damascus road. The stones get heavy, and we set them down. Perhaps even those who have yet to hear will begin listening.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Risk and Refuge
by Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
Is our Christian faith supposed to be a refuge in which we find comfort and safety? Or is it a ministry that calls us to take risks for the sake of the gospel and the life-affirming good news that it brings to all who hear it?
In the Bible
The lectionary would seem to say that it is perhaps both.
In Psalm 31 the psalmist speaks for all of us who have ever experienced fear, especially the fear of ridicule, rejection, persecution, or violence for the sake of our religious faith.
The poet seeks refuge and asks God for deliverance:
Rescue me.
Save me.
Lead me.
Guide me.
Take me.
Redeem me.
Deliver me.
Be a fortress for me, a rock upon which I can take refuge.
The psalmist has gone “all in” with YHWH. “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” These are the same words that Jesus will recall upon the cross -- words of trust, of commitment, of faith.
The Acts pericope tells of the death of Stephen, who was stoned to death for daring to speak the truth of his vision. His final words are not unlike those of the psalmist, and Jesus: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And again, like Jesus: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Stephen and the psalmist have both placed their trust in God, willingly accepting the risks that come with such faith. The psalmist prays to be delivered from the possible negative consequences of his stance. Stephen is not rescued and dies, forgiving his persecutors and commending is spirit to Jesus Christ.
In the News
Circus performers and stunt pilots understand that there is a certain amount of risk involved in their chosen careers. We understand that as well.
So many of us were sorry but not surprised last week when we heard about the equipment failure that led to the injury of nine circus performers with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Rhode Island. “Every single one of us in the troupe, every single circus performer, knows that they are risking their lives every time they go out there to perform or practice,” said Samantha Pitard, one of the injured acrobats and the only one who could walk unassisted three days after the accident. “We hope it doesn’t happen, but we know that we are taking that risk, and we love it enough to take that risk every day to make people happy.”
Samantha is one of a long line of circus performers who have faced risks and suffered for it. We have, after all, lived our lives hearing of such accidents and mishaps. Circus fires in 1942 and 1944 led to laws that require circus tents to be treated with flame retardant. The Flying Wallendas, a family of tightrope walkers, have lost five members of the family to accidents in 1962 and 1978. And in 2004, Ringling/Barnum acrobat Dessi Espana was killed in an accident during a performance.
They understand the risks and they accept them. Samantha Pitard has said that as soon as her wounds have healed she will return to ring to perform again. The same act? Yes, definitely.
But that’s circus performers. What about Christians? Do we sign on to our religious faith like acrobats sign on to the circus, knowing full well that there are risks involved? Do we understand the injuries we are likely to receive, the extent of the suffering we are likely to endure?
Last month the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, indicated that while he was sympathetic to the cause of marriage equality for GLBT persons, he did not feel that the church was free to take a definitive stand in favor of it. One of the reasons he cited was that such a stand would bring persecution down upon Anglicans in third-world countries where homosexuality is vociferously and often violently opposed.
Since then, he has backed away from this stance. Now he says that he fears that a stance for marriage equality by the Anglican Church would split the church, that third-world members would simply leave in favor of a local version that still held homosexuality to be a sin. Many of these churches, Welby says, serve the poorest and most desperate people in the third world and they would refuse to accept the help of the mother church if she insisted on embracing gay marriage.
Welby now acknowledges that the church cannot be blackmailed by the threat of violence into taking this or that ethical/moral stance. The threat of schism still looms large, however, as he leads the church in facing the possibility of losing one group of people because they included another.
In the Pulpit
So do we go to church to accept risk or seek refuge?
The lectionary readings for today seem to indicate that we cannot do the second until we have done the first. We accept risk, and then we seek refuge.
We go “all in” with God and God’s agenda, and then we pray that God will lead us gently through the consequences, whatever they may be.
In the April 30 issue of Christian Century magazine, Samuel Wells, vicar of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, offers that there are three types of prayers that have typically been prayed by those who are “all in.”
One is the “Resurrection” prayer that asks for a miracle: “God, please, heal this cancer and return me to wholeness and health.”
Another is the “Incarnation” prayer that asks for comfort and companionship: “God, be with me and bring me the comfort of your loving presence as I struggle in my battle with cancer.”
These are the two most common and traditional forms of intercessory prayer. Wells offers a third possibility, however, which he calls the “Transfiguration” prayer. This prayer acknowledges the risks and vicissitudes that life, especially the life of faith, brings to us, and asks God to use even the most painful experiences as gateways to a deeper and richer relationship with God: “Make this trial and tragedy, this problem and pain, a glimpse of your glory, a window into your world. Let me see your face, sense the mystery in all things, and walk with angels and saints. Bring me closer to you in this crisis than I ever have been in calmer times. Make this a moment of truth, and when, like your disciples, I cower in fear and feel alone, touch me, raise me, and make me alive like never before.”
The Christian disciple knows and accepts the risks that are inherent in the life of faith and asks God to use the consequences of such a life, be they comforting or painful, to make life more full and authentic.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Acts 7:55-60
Deaf in the NFL
CenturyLink Field, the home venue of the Seattle Seahawks, is the loudest stadium in the NFL -- as verified by a Guinness world record -- but there’s one person who’s not bothered by the noise. Derrick Coleman, a Seahawks running back, has been deaf since the age of three, and relies on lip reading and hearing aids to understand the conversations around him. He played football for UCLA in college, and recalls that his parents never made excuses for him, but instead tried to get him to work harder. For a recent story, his mother said, “We’d tell him God made him for a reason and you don’t let anyone bring you down. If people try to bring you down, they’re always beneath you.”
The people in the crowd around Stephen can hear, but choose not to. Derrick Coleman can’t hear, but chooses to be as engaged as he can, in a demanding sport and as a role model. As ESPN.com’s Tom Friend observed: “There is a deaf football player about to play in the Super Bowl. He’s the best listener on his team.” Friend sums up Coleman’s story with a truth for all of us: “It’s simple, actually: You don’t have to hear to be able to listen.”
*****
Acts 7:55-60
Hearing? Or Listening?
Sound is all around us, writer Bella Bathurst observes, and we take it in whether we want to or not. Sometimes all we want to do is shut out the sound, like the people on the receiving end of Stephen’s sermon in Acts. “Still, there is a difference, strong but not always noted, between listening and hearing. You hear the pneumatic drill, though you would rather not listen. You listen for your children’s voices in the playground, but you can’t always hear them. In urban environments, there’s usually a surplus of sound -- so much, in fact, that it often becomes difficult to hear anything at all. But if we become too good at filtering things, have we also damaged our capacity to listen?”
Bathurst tells the story of Katrina Burton, who started to lose her hearing midway through a degree in music: “Over the years, she has learnt to listen visually. ‘I do read facial expressions a lot. I remember being in a taxi with a friend, and when we got out she said, “Wow! Could you hear the driver?” I said, “Not a word.” She said, “But you were following the conversation.” I wasn’t -- I was just watching his face in the mirror, and when he said something serious, I’d go “Oh dear,” and when he said something a bit more animated, I’d go, “Oh right!” I could catch the tone of his voice and if he was moving his hands, and I was using that. It’s like people speaking in a foreign language -- you don’t know what they’re saying but you can follow the mood of it, whether it’s a good conversation or they’re having a fight, and you can pick up on the body language.’ ” There are lots of ways to listen, when we want to.
*****
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
Taking Refuge
“In you, O Lord, I take refuge,” the psalmist proclaims, and often a holy place of refuge comes through faithful people. In the rough Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, children find a refuge at the home of Millicent “Mama” Hill. “Over the last decade, nearly 3,000 kids have come through her door. In a house -- and neighborhood -- this small, there are no secrets. Mama Hill knows her kids’ friends and she knows their enemies. She knows what they did this weekend, she knows what they’re doing when they leave, and she knows who they’re going with. Everyone is accountable, from who owes his friend an apology to who left that orange peel on the piano. And the kids seem to thrive under her watchfulness, even though they don’t always smile when she orders them to clean up their trash.”
Mrs. Hill is a former high school teacher who has never given up the habit of teaching. “There were limits to what Mama Hill could teach inside the school system. To succeed, her kids needed manners and self-esteem, not standardized testing. And so in 2000, she retired early to escape the exposed asbestos that was destroying her already-fragile health. (‘I was so sick every day. I was coughing foamy stuff out of me and the kids would run up to me with cups.’) Mama Hill’s Help started as a tutoring session for a friend’s daughter, but when the girl started bringing her friends, and those friends started bringing their friends, Hill realized this was her chance to really make a difference.” Mrs. Hill estimates that she has known 2,000 children who have died over her years in Los Angeles, and she offers a refuge to as many kids as she can.
*****
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
America’s Nicest Homeless Shelter
At 350 years old, the Wellspring House in Gloucester, Massachusetts, is an elegant, stately bed and breakfast, with meticulously restored woodwork and floors -- but it’s one that happens to serve homeless people. A CBS News profile notes that “Families who stay there are considered guests. They eat the same food at the same time and table as the staff. And they can stay as long as they need to.... So how does [director Nancy Schwoyer] get people to leave? Not a problem. ‘Oh, as beautiful as this is, it’s not their own home,’ she says. Wellspring started in 1981 when Schwoyer and a group of friends from church decided to buy a house, live in it together, and share it with homeless families. ‘And support them in whatever they needed to get on their feet,’ Schwoyer adds. Since then, through donations and grants, Wellspring has expanded its building and its scope. It now offers everything from classes on finding jobs to the clothes for landing them.”
For such a beautiful place, you would suppose that people come back again and again, but 80% of the guests are never homeless again. Taking refuge at Wellspring House allows them to reset their lives, to develop skills they need, and to begin again.
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Acts 7:55-60
There are currently an estimated 200,000 people still living in Japan who survived the two atomic bombs dropped in 1945. These survivors, with an average age of 79, are referred to as hibakusha. In a speech last summer at a ceremony commemorating the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing, Hiroshima mayor Kazumi Matsui described the pain the hibakusha still endure. Matsui said in his speech at Hiroshima’s peace park: “The atomic bomb is the ultimate inhuman weapon and an absolute evil. The hibakusha, who know the hell of an atomic bombing, have continuously fought that evil.”
Application: As Stephen gazed into heaven, he was prepared to fight the evil of the world.
*****
1 Peter 2:2-10
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of A Prairie Home Companion, a book has been published containing some of host Garrison Keillor’s most memorable writings. But Keillor is confused why The Keillor Reader is being published now while he is still active in radio. Keillor said, “I’m not done yet, so why would you put out a Keillor Reader if Keillor is not done writing?”
Application: As living stones for Jesus, we are never done building. We are never done being active and involved.
*****
1 Peter 2:2-10
Renowned movie director and former child star Ron Howard wants to sell his dainty country estate for $27.5 million. At the request of his wife, the 17,000-square-foot house was built 20 years ago on 32 acres of property. The lakefront home on the New York and Connecticut border has expanded over the years to include numerous buildings and barns. The expansion came, Howard said, with the attitude: “We built it, and then we said ‘how about this, how about that?’ ”
Application: There is a difference in building for the Lord and building because one has an outlandish amount of disposable income.
*****
1 Peter 2:2-10
In 1984, a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Texas had an idea to sell low-cost computers. He thought that selling the computers through a catalog, and later the internet, would allow buyers to decide what components they wished to include. With $1,000 in startup money, that 19-year-old began PC’s Limited -- which eventually became Dell Computer. Thirty years later, its founder, Michael Dell, is worth $18 billion.
Application: There is no limit to what we can build if we have both the vision and the initiative.
*****
1 Peter 2:2-10
Ken Griffey Jr. was inducted last summer into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame. Griffey was recognized not only for his defensive ability as an outfielder, but also for slugging 630 home runs -- placing him sixth on that list of accomplishments. Teammate Jay Buhner said of Griffey, “Every time he came to the plate we were expecting a human highlight reel.”
Application: As spiritual stones, people should always be expecting a human highlight reel from us.
***************
From team member Leah Lonsbury:
Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10
A Florida couple who retired from their management jobs to care for and feed those who are homeless in Daytona Beach are finding that their retirement plans aren’t shaking out quite like they had hoped. Debbie and Chico Jimenez were fined $373 apiece and threatened by police with arrest and incarceration if they keep on offering up their home-cooked fare at Manatee Island Park. The Jimenezes have been feeding around 100 people every Wednesday at the park for about a year. On the day they received their tickets, the Jimenezes were joined by four other volunteers who were also ticketed, bringing the fines issued by the authorities to a total of $2,238. One of the volunteers was a man in a wheelchair who recently escaped homelessness and participated in the food distribution to “pay it forward.”
Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood shared that local residents have been complaining about the Jimenezes’ homeless friends. While Chico and Debbie describe those gathered as “people we have grown to love” and add “they’ve become like family to us,” the police chief seems focused on the segment of the population he calls “homeless by choice... sex offenders, substance abusers, and bank robbers.” Chitwood also cited the millions of dollars the city has spent developing Manatee Park for “families, kids, and dog lovers.”
Daytona Beach formally and legally restricts non-governmental individuals who seek to share food with those who are homeless in the city, public or private. It’s not the only city to make this kind of move. Gainesville, Florida has begun enforcing a rule that limits the number of meals that soup kitchens may serve to 130 people a day. Phoenix, Arizona has used zoning laws to stop a local church from serving a community breakfast that included many people who are homeless, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina has adopted an ordinance that restricts food sharing in public parks with those who are homeless.
What are we doing with the stones we hold in our hands? Are we building “a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2)? Are we shaping our lives in ways that communicate who our God is -- “a rock of refuge... a strong fortress to save” (Psalm 31)? Or are we covering our ears, refusing to hear the stories and the witness of those in need and hurling our stones just as fast and as hard as we can (Acts 7)?
*****
Acts 7:55-60
A poll released this week (May 13th) by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League reveals that more than a quarter of the world’s population harbors intense anti-Jewish sentiment, with region more than religion shaping how respondents view Jews and Judaism. The poll also finds that a large proportion of the world has never heard of the Holocaust or denies historical accounts of it.
A surprising number (74%) of the poll’s respondents have never met a Jew, and yet one in four of them display anti-Semitic attitudes. Of the 26% of people worldwide who harbor anti-Semitic sentiments, 70% admit they have never met a Jew, the survey shows.
***
A playground dedicated to Grace McDonnell, a young victim of the Sandy Hook massacre, is being vandalized by “truthers” who allege the mass shooting never happened and that it is a part of a “false flag” operation designed to lay the groundwork for the government to confiscate all firearms. When one of the truthers called McDonnell’s mother to tell her he had stolen the playground’s sign based on her daughter’s artwork, he also taunted her that she too was a part of conspiracy and that her daughter never existed.
What or whom will be the next target of our tendency to cover our ears and throw stones?
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: In you, O God, we seek refuge.
People: In your righteousness, deliver us.
Leader: Incline your ear to us; rescue us speedily.
People: Be a rock of refuge for us, a strong fortress to save us.
Leader: You are indeed our rock and our fortress.
People: For your name’s sake, lead us and guide us.
OR
Leader: Come and find wholeness in our God.
People: We come to find healing in God’s presence.
Leader: Come and discover anew that God loves us as we are.
People: We are constantly in awe of God’s love for us.
Leader: Come and find in God the way to newness of life.
People: We come to be re-created in God’s image and Spirit.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty”
found in:
UMH: 64, 65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELA: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
CCB: 15
Renew: 204
“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”
found in:
UMH: 103
H82: 423
PH: 263
NCH: 1
CH: 66
LBW: 526
ELA: 834
W&P: 48
AMEC: 71
STLT: 273
Renew: 46
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
found in:
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELA: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 89
Renew: 249
“Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life”
found in:
UMH: 164
H82: 487
NCH: 331
LBW: 513
ELA: 816
W&P: 403
STLT: 89
“Tú Has Venido a la Orilla” (“Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore”)
found in:
UMH: 344
PH: 377
CH: 342
W&P: 347
“Spirit Song”
found in:
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
W&P: 352
CCB: 51
“It’s Me, It’s Me, O Lord”
found in:
UMH: 352
NNBH: 496
CH: 579
“Have Thine Own Way, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 382
AAHH: 449
NNBH: 206
CH: 588
W&P: 486
AMEC: 345
“He Is Exalted”
found in:
CCB: 30
Renew: 238
“Our God Reigns”
found in:
CCB: 33
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is truth: Grant us the grace to listen to your voice even when it means being called to repentance, and help us remember that repenting leads to healing; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our reluctance to hear the truth.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We know you are a God of truth and of compassion. We know that you are always working for our healing and salvation. Yet we fear hearing the truth from you. We would rather ignore our brokenness than face it and come to wholeness. Forgive our foolishness, and give us the courage to face you and ourselves with openness and honesty. Amen.
Leader: God does love us and wants us to be whole. Receive God’s love and forgiveness and the opportunity to be healed.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise you and adore you, O God. You know us, and you know all creation. You alone know what we need for our wholeness and healing.
(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 know you are a God of truth and of compassion. We know that you are always working for our healing and salvation. Yet we fear hearing the truth from you. We would rather ignore our brokenness than face it and come to wholeness. Forgive our foolishness, and give us the courage to face you and ourselves with openness and honesty.
We give you thanks for all the blessings you have bestowed upon us. We thank you for the healing process you have placed within our bodies and our minds and our spirits. We thank you for those who have heard your call to assist the process within us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We are aware that all of us are broken. We are made in your image, but we have allowed sin to mar us. We see the damage that sin and evil have wreaked all around us. We pray for all who are suffering from the brokenness of your creation.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Open Ears
by Wesley T. Runk
Acts 7:55-60
Objects: some ear muffs, cotton, and ear plugs
Have your parents ever accused you of being deaf? I mean, does your mother or dad ever say something to you, and you pretend not to hear what they say? (let the children answer) I brought along a couple of things to show you how you can keep from hearing what you don’t want to hear.
I suppose the least effective way is to wear ear muffs. (put a pair of ear muffs over your ears) When you have these on and they fit well, it keeps some of the sound out. Whatever someone says is harder to hear with ear muffs on than it is without them. But a lot of sound still gets in, and if you want to keep all the sound out you have to try something else.
The second thing I have is some cotton. That’s better than ear muffs. When you have cotton in your ears, it’s hard to hear what someone is saying. (have the children talk and show them that this makes it harder to hear when they speak softly)
The last item that I brought with me is a pair of ear plugs. I know that a lot of you have worn these when you have gone swimming. You can almost shout, and it sounds like you are far away. It is hard for you to understand what other people are saying when you have ear plugs in your ears.
But why do people do things like this? Why don’t they want to hear certain things?
I can tell you a story about a man called Stephen who was one of the early followers of Jesus. He was one of the most devoted disciples. He preached and preached about the love of God and what Jesus had done for everyone. He also told the people about all the ugly things that they were doing, and he asked them to change. There were some people who could not stand to hear about the way they were or about the goodness of Jesus. Do you know what they did? They put their hands over their ears and started screaming and yelling so that they could not hear anything that Stephen said. Try it. Put your hands over your ears and yell and see if you can hear anything that I say. You can’t, can you? That’s what the people did, and after they could not hear Stephen they took him out and killed him. Stephen was the first man who died for Jesus. We call him a martyr. Stephen was the first Christian martyr.
It may be hard to listen to everything that is said, but closing your ears with cotton, ear plugs, or even your hands is the wrong thing to do. Listen to what is said and try to understand why someone is saying it, and you will be better for it. Only cowards try to shut out the world and the love that God tries to share with all of us.
Will you all keep your ears open and listen? (let them answer)
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 18, 2014, issue.
Copyright 2014 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
