We And Jesus
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
"He's got the whole world in his hands" -- so the old spiritual points to God's concern for the whole of creation. Our lead writer, George Murphy, shows how Paul's intriguing comment about the eventual redemption of the natural world is timely and relevant in a number of respects. Biblical faith with few exceptions involves more than an individual response to the word. It calls us in our time to become aware of threats to our natural environment and to other species, and it calls us to live in expectation of the ultimate reconciliation of all things to God. In this season of the enjoyment of outdoor activity let us reflect on our responsibility to the inanimate world, to other creatures, and to generations yet unborn.
In addition to the worship resources and a children's sermon, we include in this issue of The Immediate Word also a sermon on Psalm 139, assigned in the lectionary for this coming Sunday.
We And Jesus
Romans 8:12-25
Genesis 28:10-19a; Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
By George Murphy
Recent news has forced us to think about the global scope of events that influence our lives. Even before we heard about the bombings of the London subways and buses, our attention was on the G8 summit of industrialized nations meeting in Scotland, where AIDS, the poverty and debt of third world nations, and global warming were some of the issues on the agenda. At the same time the Caribbean and the southeastern United States were bracing for two tropical storms or hurricanes and we were being told that there may be as many as a dozen such storms this year, an indication of worldwide changes in weather patterns. Disease, economic activity, or climate change in one part of the earth quickly affect people everywhere. We're all in it together.
And if we weren't aware of that before, or had forgotten about it, we were reminded of it again by the terrorist attacks in London. The anxieties of travelers and security levels immediately went up around the world. Twenty years ago such bombings by Basque separatists in Spain or Marxist guerrillas in South America barely came to our attention in North America. Now terrorist attacks get special news coverage right away, because we know that what happened on the other side of the world today could happen to us tomorrow.
That sense of interconnectedness, of the rest of the world really mattering to each of us, tends to be missing from the religious beliefs of many Americans. The type of highly individualistic Christianity to which we are attracted has some trouble dealing with such realities. A popular type of faith can be characterized by a country western song of a few years back by Tom T. Hall, "Me and Jesus Got a Good Thing Goin.'" That line could be a sincere expression of Christian commitment, but the fact that a person's commitment is sincere doesn't mean that that person grasps the depth and scope of what Christian faith should mean. "Me and Jesus" can too easily be an escape from any concern about the rest of creation. Jesus and I are all right and I don't have to worry about the rest of the world.
And while I know that Jesus cares about other people too, that doesn't have to concern me very much: Christianity is just the sum of one-on-one relationships between Christ and the believer. It certainly has nothing to do with anything beyond the human sphere.
(Some of you may think that with that description I have in mind only a rather superficial version of popular Christianity. Unfortunately, those with more sophisticated theologies have fallen into the same type of error. The kind of existentialist theology associated with Rudolf Bultmann can encourage a detachment of the one who is called to faith from the rest of the world. Other examples will be given here as we proceed.)
The Second Lesson for this Sunday, Proper 11 in Year A, challenges us to have a much broader understanding of the scope of God's concern and our faith. In Romans 8:12-25 Paul makes it clear that our hope is to be for more than just good individual relations with Christ.
Paul begins our pericope in verses 12-17 by speaking about the gift of the Holy Spirit being made children of God. It's familiar language to Christians and can be fitted into the type of individualistic faith that I've mentioned. But it is not too pedantic to notice that even at this point Paul speaks in the plural of becoming children (tekna) of God, not simply of an individual becoming a child of God. Here the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
But where any kind of individualistic Christianity really gets a jolt is in verses 18-25. Here Paul says that "the whole creation," which is presently "groaning in labor pains," waits for "the revealing of the children of God." And it is not just that the rest of creation hopes for the salvation of humanity. In verse 21 Paul says that "the creation itself" will be liberated and enter into the freedom and glory of God's children. Of course we are given no details about how this is to happen but it's clear that the apostle sees the scope of God's concern to be at least as global as the world events that fill our news. Salvation doesn't just mean some humans (or perhaps their spiritual essences) being snatched out of a dying world -- what Ted Peters describes as God performing a "soulechtomy" (God -- The World's Future) [Fortress, 1992], pp. 311-313). Christ is the Savior of the world, not our savior from the world.
Unfortunately, some biblical scholars downplay the significance of passages like this in the New Testament. John Reumann (Creation and New Creation [Augsburg, 1973], pp. 98-99), for example, labels verses 19-21, which refer to the longing and liberation of the creation, "an apocalyptic fragment," implying that we can treat them as part of an outmoded view of the world. Even more unfortunate is the way in which Eduard Lohse (Colossians and Ephesians [Fortress, 1971], pp. 32-61) deals with the Christ hymn of Colossians 1:15-20, a passage whose repetitions of "all things" (ta panta) reaches its climax with the statement that "all things" are to be reconciled to God through the cross. Much of Lohse's discussion is helpful, but when he concludes that "the great drama ... is for the sake of man alone" (p. 61) he distorts the sense of the text. "All things" does not mean just "human things."
Seeing this global scope of redemption as well as creation is not just a matter of insisting on a literal interpretation of the phrases "the whole creation" and "all things." It is a matter of understanding who we are. We are, as the biblical story insists from the beginning, creatures of the earth made by God to live in community. We are not ourselves without our relationships with other people and the natural world, and if we are to be saved in a full sense then it must be with such relationships.
Can we move from a "Me and Jesus" faith to a "We and Jesus" one -- where "we" includes not just human beings but "the whole creation"? How can we do that without forgetting or minimizing the importance of the "I-Thou" relationship with God to which each one of us is called? And how can a global faith issue in actions for the good of the world? Adequate answers to those questions require a whole process of Christian development -- and in some cases redevelopment. A single sermon will not be able to do justice to all of them. But this week's Romans text certainly provides a good opportunity to get started.
"All who are led by the Spirit are children of God." In the following chapters of Romans, Paul will get into the difficult issues of predestination and election, and what he says there should make us wary of any naive universalism. But I would emphasize the word "naive" in that sentence. The hope that is expressed in this text for "the whole creation" also should make us wary of any naive exclusivism. The ultimate fate of any person is up to God, but we should think and act toward any person as if he or she will finally be among the children of God. If that is the case, then we will not look at issues like the spread of AIDS in Africa or global poverty in a purely pragmatic way. We will think of them as issues that affect members of our family.
Certainly all Christians, even if they have a rather individualistic "Me and Jesus" theology, should know that other people are also the objects of God's concern and are aware of the command to love their neighbors as themselves. Even beyond that, they generally believe that God cares for the non-human creatures of the world. "God made their glowing colors, God made their tiny wings" we sing about the flowers and birds in one of the hymns ("All Things Bright and Beautiful") suggested for this week's worship. But the main current of Christian thought about nature has, until recently, held that all of this is (to recall Lohse's phrase) "for the sake of man alone." God has created a beautiful world for us, including flowers and birds, but we are the only creatures of the world that God has long range plans for. All the rest is for our use and enjoyment.
The hope that Paul expresses here for creation -- as well as other texts such as the one in Colossians -- indicates that that is not the case. That hope for creation is indeed centered on humanity because it is as a member of our species that God has become a participant in creation. But in assuming human nature Christ has also assumed our relationships with the natural world, and therefore can be the source of its liberation from its "futility" and "bondage to decay." Thus as Paul expresses it, the creation is not just a spectator at our salvation but is a participant in it.
That language about "futility" (KJV "vanity") and "decay" requires some caution. It would be easy to equate those ideas with the general experience that things run down and come apart, an experience that is described formally by the second law of thermodynamics. This law says that energy in the world is always becoming less available for useful work, and that on a molecular level things are always becoming more disordered. Entropy, one form of the law says, always increases. It's easy to see how that idea could be equated with the "decay" that Paul speaks of.
But the second law also plays fundamental roles in many processes that are essential for life. Even the simple fact that heat normally flows from hot objects to cold ones is an expression of this law. Thus we can't simply equate entropy with evil. The freeing of creation from its bondage to decay is an eschatological hope for something that can't be explained entirely in terms of our present understanding of the world. But recent discoveries of "dissipative structures" which can be formed in physical systems precisely because of the dissipation of energy may give us some hints. (Further discussion can be found in two articles in the religion-science journal Zygon: Robert John Russell, "Entropy and Evil," 19 [1984], 449, and George L. Murphy, "Time, Thermodynamics, and Theology," 26 [1991], 359.)
If God really cares for the flowers and the birds, if there is a place for them in the kingdom of God, then part of our responsibility for the world is to care for them -- for their own good, and not just for our pleasure. That is true of all species, though how to balance the welfare of predators and prey (for example) is not always easy to see. It's a different matter when it comes to things like hurricanes, which we'll apparently have plenty of opportunity to reflect on this summer. God's creation includes things that can be destructive, and we can see some reasons for that when we get into detailed study of meteorology. But we can try to care for creation as a whole by avoiding things that exacerbate destructive forces.
While it's hard to make precise correlations because of the complexity of the earth's weather system, it does seem fairly certain now that our activities (and especially the burning of fossil fuels) have contributed to global warming, as even President Bush has now indicated. It's a reasonable guess that putting more energy into the atmosphere in this way will increase the possibility of violent storms. Again we see the global interconnections of events, and have to realize that when bad things happen, we can't always complain, "Why did God allow this?" Sometimes it's our own actions that have allowed it. Part of our calling is to not contribute to the futility of creation.
I've referred to the broad scope of God's concern for creation and our involvement with it but to this point have kept the references "merely" global. There are plenty of items in the news that extend that scope. NASA's success last week with its "Deep Impact" mission to study comet Tempel I and the planned launch of a space shuttle after a two-year delay due to the Columbia disaster are possibilities.
Finally, there is a way in which the First Lesson for this Sunday, Genesis 28:10-19a, can connect with the theme I've been pursuing here. When Jacob awakes from his dream he exclaims, "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." It's a belief that made sense in Jacob's cultural context, and has no doubt been reinforced by cult traditions at Bethel ("house of God"). Many people throughout the world have believed that there were special holy places in the world where it was possible to make contact with deities, and where traffic between the world of humans and that of gods could take place.
Jacob thought that he'd stumbled on one of these sites -- but he was wrong. He hadn't found a special holy place. Instead, God had found him and promised to be with him wherever he went (v. 15). The same is true for us today. First Community Church or St. Swithin's are not "houses of God" or "gates of heaven" in the sense that we have to be there or in another holy place to find God. Instead God encounters us in every place where God's word is proclaimed and the sacraments are offered, in every place where we call upon the God whose glory fills the world.
A Sermon on Psalm 139
The Bright Night
By Stan Purdum
Psalm 139:1-18
Revelation 21:1-2, 22-25
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, passed away last year at age 78.1 To some of you, that announcement may not mean anything, but others of you, especially those in the medical field, will recognize her name immediately.
My wife and I became aware of her in the early 1970s, when I was in seminary and my wife was in nursing school. We were each pursuing our education in our different fields and in different schools, but it happened that in our separate educational tracts, we were both assigned to read the same book. That volume, titled On Death and Dying, was written by Dr. Kübler-Ross. She had published the book in 1969, and it fast became required reading for medical personnel, social workers, mental health professionals, clergy, and others in the helping professions. It also was widely read in the general population, so perhaps some of you are familiar with it. But whether you are or not, you or some of your loved ones may have benefited from what Kübler-Ross taught in this book.
Prior to the arrival of her book, dying patients were often viewed by the medical community as failures of medicine, and once a patient was declared beyond help by doctors, the person was often set aside to die, with little help for his or her emotional needs. Either that, or more and more invasive procedures were tried, even when no realistic hope for the patient's survival remained. Many times, the individuals weren't even told that they were dying. Doctors, interested in curing, didn't see much of a role for themselves at the deathbed. Death was something that for the most part happened behind closed doors, and without much recognition that those who were dying had a unique set of needs. Kübler-Ross, however, was one physician who did things differently. She took the time to sit with her terminal patients, to listen to what they had to say, and to figure out that care of the dying was a valid medical field. Far from being failures, terminal patients were undergoing a normal part of life, but one in which they could be helped by care and support.
Kübler-Ross' book made a major contribution to the understanding of what the dying were going through emotionally when she identified and described five stages most such patients experience in some form. Those five are denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. She felt it was important for patients to get to the acceptance stage because it brought the individuals a sense of peace. To say it another way, Kübler-Ross taught that even when there is no cure possible, healing can still take place.
Another result of her work was the coming of hospice-care to this country. Hospices were primarily the work of another person, Dame Cicely Saunders, but it was Kübler-Ross' airing of the needs of the dying that opened the door for acceptance of that movement.
In 1999, Time magazine, in a summary of the 100 greatest scientists and thinkers of the twentieth century, named Kübler-Ross one of "The Century's Greatest Minds." Although her seminal work was in the field of care for the terminally ill, there was another aspect of her thought that hasn't gotten quite as much attention, but that was her belief in an afterlife. In fact, she said it this way, "Life doesn't end when you die. It starts."2
It is of interest to me that many who praised her work with the terminally ill were more reluctant to listen to her when she started talking about life after death, for to a large degree, that reluctance reflects the attitude of many today. Even among Christians, who have heaven and eternal life as primary doctrines, there is often a reluctance to say much about the next life these days. At the same time that most polls show that the majority of people believe they personally are going to heaven, it has become less and less a topic of conversation. An old spiritual contains the line "Everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't goin' there," but today we'd have to say it more like "Everybody goin' to heaven, just ain't talkin' 'bout it."3
The reasons for the relative silence on this subject probably include the fact that there is no way to verify any of our notions of what heaven is like and also that in years past, when preachers and others did talk about heaven more, they offered all sorts of descriptions, some of which had no biblical support and which made heaven sound like a place of endless boredom. In addition, there has been some teaching in the church that living righteously just in hopes of getting into heaven wasn't the best of motivations. Rather, some said, we should love God and our neighbor simply because it is the right thing to do; if we get into heaven as a result, so much the better, but we shouldn't make heaven our goal.
Really? We shouldn't make heaven our goal? What sort of thinking is that?!
While I don't intend to say that loving God should always be reward-driven, let me at least challenge the idea that having heaven on our minds is a bad thing! Frankly, it's a good thing.
And while I don't intend to add to the pile of speculation about what heaven is like, let me at least point you to one biblical image about life after death that appears in both testaments. The image has to do with darkness and light, and one place to find it in the Old Testament is in Psalm 139. This psalm asserts that God's presence is everywhere. The psalmist declares that he is aware that God sees and knows him any place the psalmist is. The psalmist even projects this to Sheol, which in Old Testament thought is the place of the dead. Even there, says the psalmist, God is present.
For most of the Old Testament period, there was very little idea of life after death, and that is true for this psalmist, but here he declares that wherever it is that the dead go, God is there. And then the psalmist says this:
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
The Hebrew word he uses for "darkness" can mean "night," but it was also a figurative way of referring to death. So in this context, one way to understand the psalmist's meaning is "Death cannot not hide me from you, for even death is not dark to you. To you, the night of death is as bright as the day." That's pretty good thinking for time when there was no concept of heaven.
If we turn to the New Testament, where there is a clearly developed idea of heaven, we find the same imagery of darkness and light. Revelation 21, which contains the vision of heaven that came to John of Patmos, pictures heaven as a massive new Jerusalem. But unlike the Jerusalem of earth, this one needs no temple, because God and the Lamb (which is a name for Jesus) are so powerfully present that no temple is needed. This is appropriate, because the earthly temples symbolized the presence of God; in the new city, God is constantly and fully present, so no symbolization is necessary.
John goes on to say that the gates of this holy city will never shut while it is day, and that amounts to them being constantly open. That's because in the city, "God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb," so it is never night in the kingdom.
People can still choose to exclude themselves from that heavenly city. In John of Patmos' language, "nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." But we know how to have our name list in that book of life. It is simply to accept Christ and serve him.
The gates remain open so that the honor and glory of the nations can be brought into the new city. That's a way of saying that the city will accommodate everyone who accepts Christ, regardless of place of origin or nationality. What's more, everyone in the city becomes a full citizen. There are no resident aliens. God and Christ are the city's light, and "all nations will walk by its light."
Thus, light that darkness cannot overcome is an abiding image of heaven, and it speaks from both testaments. That doesn't help us immediately, however, unless we realize that darkness is also a metaphor for misery, pain, suffering, problems, depression, despair, and host of other troublesome aspects of life on earth. Whenever the light of God helps us with those things, it is a foretaste of heaven.
The old movie Zorba the Greek is about an aimless Englishman who finds he has a small inheritance on a Greek island. He goes there, and his joyless existence is disturbed when he meets Zorba, a middle-aged Greek with a real lust for life. As he discovers the pleasures of Greece, the Englishman finds his view of life changing. At one point, Zorba says to the man, "Let the people be, boss; don't open their eyes. What'd they see? Their misery. Leave their eyes closed." But then, after a thoughtful pause, he adds, "Unless, unless, UNLESS!! when they open their eyes you can show them something a better world than the darkness in which they're gallivanting at present...."
Well, judging from the Bible's use of light as image of heaven, heaven does at least that: it conveys us to a better world than the darkness of the present one.
Further, light is also a biblical image for God himself. Psalm 4 says that God is the light of the believer's face. James 1 identifies God "the Father of lights." Genesis 1 says that God created light and separated it from the darkness of chaos. Psalm 119 says that God's word, spoken through the prophets, is the light for the believer's path. Jesus, in John 1, is called the light of the world and so is the salvation he brought.
In other words, light symbolizes the positive, life-giving force of God. In fact, life on earth could not exist without light. In some small way we even experience this in reverse by the scarcity of light during the long dark days of winter. Many of us get the winter blahs and some actually go into Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD, which is often treated by putting the sufferer in front of high-megawatt lights for certain periods every day. Light, you see, is life!
In another place in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul said this: "I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."4 While he does not use the specific language of darkness and light there, he is clearly talking about the sort of things we often use darkness to represent. And he says none of those, including death, can separate us from God. So when we think about death and beyond, we only have to trust God to make good on the promise that nothing will separate us from him. His light shines on us as we walk on, through the night of death into the bright light of eternity. Whatever night is there, the Bible tells us, is a bright as the day.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross made a valuable contribution to our understanding of the dying process and of how to help people who are terminally ill. The psalmist of old, John of Patmos, and several other biblical witnesses, help us grasp something about what the life to come is like for those who love God.
There is a gospel song called "Light of Heaven." Here are some of the lyrics:
The sky is raining tears tonight
My brother
You know it's hard to sleep
So far from home
The moon has covered up her eyes
My sister
I thought I'd find you here
But I am all alone
All alone
CHORUS:
Light of Heaven
Lord of mercy
Shine the goodness
Of your love upon this day
Till we see you
Till we know you
Till the sorrow
And the darkness fade away
Fade away 5
Heaven, I suspect, will be something like that, where darkness has faded away completely, because the life-giving light of God streams upon us.
___________
1. She died August 24, 2004.
2. Quoted on www.elisabethkublerross.com.
3. This observation from David Van Biema, "Does Heaven Exist?" Time, March 24, 1997, 73.
4. Romans 8:38-39.
5. Sung by Fernando Ortega.
Related Illustrations
Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play; whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes -- all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them.
-- John Muir
***
When you destroy a blade of grass
You poison England at her roots:
Remember no man's foot can pass
Where evermore no green life shoots.
-- Gordon Bottomley, "To Ironfounders and Others"
***
dear boss it wont be long now it wont be long ...
till the earth is barren as the moon ...
i relay this information without any fear
that humanity will take warning and reform
signed archy
(A warning letter, typed by archy the cockroach, who is too small and light to use the shift key.)
-- Don Marquis, "what the ants are saying," 1935
***
Sometime in the last ten years the best brains of the Occident discovered to their amazement that we live in an Environment. This discovery has been forced on us by the realization that we are approaching the limits of something.
-- Gary Synder
***
God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches and a thousand straining, levelling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools --only Uncle Sam can do that.
* John Muir
***
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.
-- Aldo Leopold
***
Eighty per cent of the people of Britain want more money spent on public transport -- in order that other people will travel on the buses so that there is more room for them to drive their cars.
-- John Selwyn Gummer
Worship Resources
By George E. Reed
OPENING
N.b.: All copyright information is given from the first cited place where found. Some copyright information may differ in other sources due to adaptations, etc.
Music
Hymns
"Morning Has Broken." WORDS: Eleanor Farjeon, 1931; MUSIC: trad. Gaelic melody, harm. Carlton R. Young, 1988. Words by permission of David Higham Associates, Ltd.; Harm. (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. As found in UMH 145; Hymnal '82: 8; TPH 469; CH 53.
"All Things Bright And Beautiful." WORDS: Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848; MUSIC: 17th cent. English melody; arr. Martin Shaw, 1915. Public domain. As found in UMH 147; Hymnal '82: 405; TPH 267; TNCH 31; CH 61.
"God, Who Stretched The Spangled Heavens." WORDS: Catherine Cameron, 1967; MUSIC: William More, 1825. Words (c) 1967 Hope Publishing Co. As found in UMH 150; Hymnal '82: 580; LBOW 463; TPH 268; TNCH 556; CH 651.
"I Sing The Almighty Power Of God." WORDS: Isaac Watts, 1715; MUSIC: trad. English melody; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Public domain. As found in UMH 152; Hymnal '82: 398; TPH 288; TNCH 12.
"All Creatures Of Our God And King." WORDS: Francis of Assisi, ca. 1225; trans. William H. Draper, 1925, adapt. 1987; MUSIC: Geistliche Kirchengesange, 1623; harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Adapt. (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. As found in UMH 62; Hymnal '82: 400; LBOW 527; TPH 455; AAHH 147; TNNBH 33; TNCH 17; CH 22.
"How Great Thou Art." WORDS: Stuart K. Hine, 1953; MUSIC: Stuart K. Hine, 1953. (c) 1953, renewed 1981 Manna Music, Inc. As found in UMH 77; LBOW 532; TPH 467; AAHH 148; TNNBH 43; CH 33.
Songs
"From The Rising Of The Sun." WORDS & MUSIC: anon. Public domain. As found in CCB 4.
"Sing Unto The Lord A New Song." WORDS: Jewish Folk Song; MUSIC: Jewish Folk Song; arr. J. Michael Bryan. Arr. (c) 1996 Abingdon Press. As found in CCB 16.
"Awesome God." WORDS: USA camp meeting chorus; MUSIC: USA camp meeting chorus; arr. Ralph E. Hudson. Public domain. As found in CCB 18.
"How Majestic Is Your Name." WORDS & MUSIC: Michael W. Smith. 1981 Meadowgreen Music. As found in CCB 21.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: God has searched us and known us.
People: God knows our path and all our ways.
Leader: God hems us in all around.
People: God's hand is upon us.
Leader: This is such a wondrous thought.
People: It is good news too wondrous to tell.
Leader: There is nowhere that we can go that God is not there.
People: Even in the deep darkness God sees us.
COLLECT / OPENING PRAYER
O God of power and glory, who created the small and the great: Grant us your vision of what you are calling creation to be and fill us with the desire to carry out your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
We come into your presence, God, knowing that we are never out of your sight. You know us to the very depths of our beings and there is no place where we can escape you. Your love follows us and calls us daily. Your loving Spirit hovers over creation and calls us and all your creatures to become what you envisioned at our making. During this time of worship fill us with your vision and the desire to follow the Christ. Amen.
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION / PARDON
Leader: Search us, O God, and know our hearts.
People: Test us and know our thoughts.
Leader: See if there is any wicked way in us.
People: God, we know that you have found us to be sinners. Even in our trying to follow Jesus and be his disciples, we have focused on ourselves and our salvation. We have allowed our self-centeredness to rob us of the vision you have not only for us but for all creation. We do not hear the groanings of our brothers and sisters and we certainly do not hear the groanings of the rest of your good creation. Forgive us our inward vision and restore to us the glorious image of all your creation being brought its wondrous fulfillment. Call forth your Spirit within us that may truly be disciples of Jesus Christ healing the sick, bringing good news, releasing the prisoners and restoring creation. Amen.
Leader: God knows us and loves us and will lead us in the way everlasting.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.
We worship and adore you, O God, for you have created us and all that exists. You care and tend all of creation and your Spirit hovers over it and dwells within it. You are an awesome God who knows us better than we know ourselves and yet you love us and continue to see the potential you created in us rather than our foolishness and sinfulness.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
We know that we are sinners. We fail constantly to care for others and even our relationship with you we take for granted. We think that our salvation and our needs are all that matter. We have forgotten the littlest of your creatures and we ignored you. Forgive us and call us once again to follow the Christ.
We are grateful for all your blessings. You have created a world that is full of wonder, beauty, and provides abundantly for our needs. Everywhere we look your bounty is seen. You have blessed us with your own Spirit and have called us together to share your love with one another and all creation. You are truly prodigal in your love and grace.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
Because we have experienced your lavish love we are confident when we bring to you the cares of our hearts. We know of your love for all creation and so we offer into your care those who are on our hearts.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray saying, "Our Father...."
Hymnal & Songbook Abbreviations
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition Renew: Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship
A Children's Sermon
The parable of the weeds
Object: a weed and a flower
Based on Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Good morning! I brought two plants to show you this morning. I brought this beautiful flower. (show the flower) And I brought this ugly weed. (show the weed) Now let me ask you something. Which of these two plants do you want to grow in your garden? (let them answer) Yes, of course, we want the pretty flowers to grow, not weeds.
Have any of you ever weeded a garden? Have you pulled out the weeds from a garden? (let them answer) If you do pull weeds, you must be very careful that you don't pull up the flowers with the weeds. Sometimes the weeds grow so close to the flowers that we can't pull them without damaging the flowers.
The Bible tells us that the people of the world are like flowers and weeds. God wants everyone to be flowers, that is people who believe in Jesus. But there are a lot of people who don't believe and these are the weeds. God allows the world to go on day by day with flowers and weeds all mixed together. But a time is coming when God will take all the flowers out of the world to be with him in heaven. When that time comes, all the weeds, that is all the people who refuse to believe in Jesus, will be sent to hell. We will no longer have flowers and weeds all mixed up together.
I want to ask you this morning, are you a flower or a weed? Are you one of God's flowers who believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? (let them answer) That's good! We are flowers and we must thank God for making us flowers.
Dear Father: We are so grateful that you have made us flowers by your grace, through faith. Help us to live like the flowers you want us to be. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 17, 2005, issue.
Copyright 2005 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 permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
In addition to the worship resources and a children's sermon, we include in this issue of The Immediate Word also a sermon on Psalm 139, assigned in the lectionary for this coming Sunday.
We And Jesus
Romans 8:12-25
Genesis 28:10-19a; Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
By George Murphy
Recent news has forced us to think about the global scope of events that influence our lives. Even before we heard about the bombings of the London subways and buses, our attention was on the G8 summit of industrialized nations meeting in Scotland, where AIDS, the poverty and debt of third world nations, and global warming were some of the issues on the agenda. At the same time the Caribbean and the southeastern United States were bracing for two tropical storms or hurricanes and we were being told that there may be as many as a dozen such storms this year, an indication of worldwide changes in weather patterns. Disease, economic activity, or climate change in one part of the earth quickly affect people everywhere. We're all in it together.
And if we weren't aware of that before, or had forgotten about it, we were reminded of it again by the terrorist attacks in London. The anxieties of travelers and security levels immediately went up around the world. Twenty years ago such bombings by Basque separatists in Spain or Marxist guerrillas in South America barely came to our attention in North America. Now terrorist attacks get special news coverage right away, because we know that what happened on the other side of the world today could happen to us tomorrow.
That sense of interconnectedness, of the rest of the world really mattering to each of us, tends to be missing from the religious beliefs of many Americans. The type of highly individualistic Christianity to which we are attracted has some trouble dealing with such realities. A popular type of faith can be characterized by a country western song of a few years back by Tom T. Hall, "Me and Jesus Got a Good Thing Goin.'" That line could be a sincere expression of Christian commitment, but the fact that a person's commitment is sincere doesn't mean that that person grasps the depth and scope of what Christian faith should mean. "Me and Jesus" can too easily be an escape from any concern about the rest of creation. Jesus and I are all right and I don't have to worry about the rest of the world.
And while I know that Jesus cares about other people too, that doesn't have to concern me very much: Christianity is just the sum of one-on-one relationships between Christ and the believer. It certainly has nothing to do with anything beyond the human sphere.
(Some of you may think that with that description I have in mind only a rather superficial version of popular Christianity. Unfortunately, those with more sophisticated theologies have fallen into the same type of error. The kind of existentialist theology associated with Rudolf Bultmann can encourage a detachment of the one who is called to faith from the rest of the world. Other examples will be given here as we proceed.)
The Second Lesson for this Sunday, Proper 11 in Year A, challenges us to have a much broader understanding of the scope of God's concern and our faith. In Romans 8:12-25 Paul makes it clear that our hope is to be for more than just good individual relations with Christ.
Paul begins our pericope in verses 12-17 by speaking about the gift of the Holy Spirit being made children of God. It's familiar language to Christians and can be fitted into the type of individualistic faith that I've mentioned. But it is not too pedantic to notice that even at this point Paul speaks in the plural of becoming children (tekna) of God, not simply of an individual becoming a child of God. Here the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
But where any kind of individualistic Christianity really gets a jolt is in verses 18-25. Here Paul says that "the whole creation," which is presently "groaning in labor pains," waits for "the revealing of the children of God." And it is not just that the rest of creation hopes for the salvation of humanity. In verse 21 Paul says that "the creation itself" will be liberated and enter into the freedom and glory of God's children. Of course we are given no details about how this is to happen but it's clear that the apostle sees the scope of God's concern to be at least as global as the world events that fill our news. Salvation doesn't just mean some humans (or perhaps their spiritual essences) being snatched out of a dying world -- what Ted Peters describes as God performing a "soulechtomy" (God -- The World's Future) [Fortress, 1992], pp. 311-313). Christ is the Savior of the world, not our savior from the world.
Unfortunately, some biblical scholars downplay the significance of passages like this in the New Testament. John Reumann (Creation and New Creation [Augsburg, 1973], pp. 98-99), for example, labels verses 19-21, which refer to the longing and liberation of the creation, "an apocalyptic fragment," implying that we can treat them as part of an outmoded view of the world. Even more unfortunate is the way in which Eduard Lohse (Colossians and Ephesians [Fortress, 1971], pp. 32-61) deals with the Christ hymn of Colossians 1:15-20, a passage whose repetitions of "all things" (ta panta) reaches its climax with the statement that "all things" are to be reconciled to God through the cross. Much of Lohse's discussion is helpful, but when he concludes that "the great drama ... is for the sake of man alone" (p. 61) he distorts the sense of the text. "All things" does not mean just "human things."
Seeing this global scope of redemption as well as creation is not just a matter of insisting on a literal interpretation of the phrases "the whole creation" and "all things." It is a matter of understanding who we are. We are, as the biblical story insists from the beginning, creatures of the earth made by God to live in community. We are not ourselves without our relationships with other people and the natural world, and if we are to be saved in a full sense then it must be with such relationships.
Can we move from a "Me and Jesus" faith to a "We and Jesus" one -- where "we" includes not just human beings but "the whole creation"? How can we do that without forgetting or minimizing the importance of the "I-Thou" relationship with God to which each one of us is called? And how can a global faith issue in actions for the good of the world? Adequate answers to those questions require a whole process of Christian development -- and in some cases redevelopment. A single sermon will not be able to do justice to all of them. But this week's Romans text certainly provides a good opportunity to get started.
"All who are led by the Spirit are children of God." In the following chapters of Romans, Paul will get into the difficult issues of predestination and election, and what he says there should make us wary of any naive universalism. But I would emphasize the word "naive" in that sentence. The hope that is expressed in this text for "the whole creation" also should make us wary of any naive exclusivism. The ultimate fate of any person is up to God, but we should think and act toward any person as if he or she will finally be among the children of God. If that is the case, then we will not look at issues like the spread of AIDS in Africa or global poverty in a purely pragmatic way. We will think of them as issues that affect members of our family.
Certainly all Christians, even if they have a rather individualistic "Me and Jesus" theology, should know that other people are also the objects of God's concern and are aware of the command to love their neighbors as themselves. Even beyond that, they generally believe that God cares for the non-human creatures of the world. "God made their glowing colors, God made their tiny wings" we sing about the flowers and birds in one of the hymns ("All Things Bright and Beautiful") suggested for this week's worship. But the main current of Christian thought about nature has, until recently, held that all of this is (to recall Lohse's phrase) "for the sake of man alone." God has created a beautiful world for us, including flowers and birds, but we are the only creatures of the world that God has long range plans for. All the rest is for our use and enjoyment.
The hope that Paul expresses here for creation -- as well as other texts such as the one in Colossians -- indicates that that is not the case. That hope for creation is indeed centered on humanity because it is as a member of our species that God has become a participant in creation. But in assuming human nature Christ has also assumed our relationships with the natural world, and therefore can be the source of its liberation from its "futility" and "bondage to decay." Thus as Paul expresses it, the creation is not just a spectator at our salvation but is a participant in it.
That language about "futility" (KJV "vanity") and "decay" requires some caution. It would be easy to equate those ideas with the general experience that things run down and come apart, an experience that is described formally by the second law of thermodynamics. This law says that energy in the world is always becoming less available for useful work, and that on a molecular level things are always becoming more disordered. Entropy, one form of the law says, always increases. It's easy to see how that idea could be equated with the "decay" that Paul speaks of.
But the second law also plays fundamental roles in many processes that are essential for life. Even the simple fact that heat normally flows from hot objects to cold ones is an expression of this law. Thus we can't simply equate entropy with evil. The freeing of creation from its bondage to decay is an eschatological hope for something that can't be explained entirely in terms of our present understanding of the world. But recent discoveries of "dissipative structures" which can be formed in physical systems precisely because of the dissipation of energy may give us some hints. (Further discussion can be found in two articles in the religion-science journal Zygon: Robert John Russell, "Entropy and Evil," 19 [1984], 449, and George L. Murphy, "Time, Thermodynamics, and Theology," 26 [1991], 359.)
If God really cares for the flowers and the birds, if there is a place for them in the kingdom of God, then part of our responsibility for the world is to care for them -- for their own good, and not just for our pleasure. That is true of all species, though how to balance the welfare of predators and prey (for example) is not always easy to see. It's a different matter when it comes to things like hurricanes, which we'll apparently have plenty of opportunity to reflect on this summer. God's creation includes things that can be destructive, and we can see some reasons for that when we get into detailed study of meteorology. But we can try to care for creation as a whole by avoiding things that exacerbate destructive forces.
While it's hard to make precise correlations because of the complexity of the earth's weather system, it does seem fairly certain now that our activities (and especially the burning of fossil fuels) have contributed to global warming, as even President Bush has now indicated. It's a reasonable guess that putting more energy into the atmosphere in this way will increase the possibility of violent storms. Again we see the global interconnections of events, and have to realize that when bad things happen, we can't always complain, "Why did God allow this?" Sometimes it's our own actions that have allowed it. Part of our calling is to not contribute to the futility of creation.
I've referred to the broad scope of God's concern for creation and our involvement with it but to this point have kept the references "merely" global. There are plenty of items in the news that extend that scope. NASA's success last week with its "Deep Impact" mission to study comet Tempel I and the planned launch of a space shuttle after a two-year delay due to the Columbia disaster are possibilities.
Finally, there is a way in which the First Lesson for this Sunday, Genesis 28:10-19a, can connect with the theme I've been pursuing here. When Jacob awakes from his dream he exclaims, "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." It's a belief that made sense in Jacob's cultural context, and has no doubt been reinforced by cult traditions at Bethel ("house of God"). Many people throughout the world have believed that there were special holy places in the world where it was possible to make contact with deities, and where traffic between the world of humans and that of gods could take place.
Jacob thought that he'd stumbled on one of these sites -- but he was wrong. He hadn't found a special holy place. Instead, God had found him and promised to be with him wherever he went (v. 15). The same is true for us today. First Community Church or St. Swithin's are not "houses of God" or "gates of heaven" in the sense that we have to be there or in another holy place to find God. Instead God encounters us in every place where God's word is proclaimed and the sacraments are offered, in every place where we call upon the God whose glory fills the world.
A Sermon on Psalm 139
The Bright Night
By Stan Purdum
Psalm 139:1-18
Revelation 21:1-2, 22-25
Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, passed away last year at age 78.1 To some of you, that announcement may not mean anything, but others of you, especially those in the medical field, will recognize her name immediately.
My wife and I became aware of her in the early 1970s, when I was in seminary and my wife was in nursing school. We were each pursuing our education in our different fields and in different schools, but it happened that in our separate educational tracts, we were both assigned to read the same book. That volume, titled On Death and Dying, was written by Dr. Kübler-Ross. She had published the book in 1969, and it fast became required reading for medical personnel, social workers, mental health professionals, clergy, and others in the helping professions. It also was widely read in the general population, so perhaps some of you are familiar with it. But whether you are or not, you or some of your loved ones may have benefited from what Kübler-Ross taught in this book.
Prior to the arrival of her book, dying patients were often viewed by the medical community as failures of medicine, and once a patient was declared beyond help by doctors, the person was often set aside to die, with little help for his or her emotional needs. Either that, or more and more invasive procedures were tried, even when no realistic hope for the patient's survival remained. Many times, the individuals weren't even told that they were dying. Doctors, interested in curing, didn't see much of a role for themselves at the deathbed. Death was something that for the most part happened behind closed doors, and without much recognition that those who were dying had a unique set of needs. Kübler-Ross, however, was one physician who did things differently. She took the time to sit with her terminal patients, to listen to what they had to say, and to figure out that care of the dying was a valid medical field. Far from being failures, terminal patients were undergoing a normal part of life, but one in which they could be helped by care and support.
Kübler-Ross' book made a major contribution to the understanding of what the dying were going through emotionally when she identified and described five stages most such patients experience in some form. Those five are denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. She felt it was important for patients to get to the acceptance stage because it brought the individuals a sense of peace. To say it another way, Kübler-Ross taught that even when there is no cure possible, healing can still take place.
Another result of her work was the coming of hospice-care to this country. Hospices were primarily the work of another person, Dame Cicely Saunders, but it was Kübler-Ross' airing of the needs of the dying that opened the door for acceptance of that movement.
In 1999, Time magazine, in a summary of the 100 greatest scientists and thinkers of the twentieth century, named Kübler-Ross one of "The Century's Greatest Minds." Although her seminal work was in the field of care for the terminally ill, there was another aspect of her thought that hasn't gotten quite as much attention, but that was her belief in an afterlife. In fact, she said it this way, "Life doesn't end when you die. It starts."2
It is of interest to me that many who praised her work with the terminally ill were more reluctant to listen to her when she started talking about life after death, for to a large degree, that reluctance reflects the attitude of many today. Even among Christians, who have heaven and eternal life as primary doctrines, there is often a reluctance to say much about the next life these days. At the same time that most polls show that the majority of people believe they personally are going to heaven, it has become less and less a topic of conversation. An old spiritual contains the line "Everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't goin' there," but today we'd have to say it more like "Everybody goin' to heaven, just ain't talkin' 'bout it."3
The reasons for the relative silence on this subject probably include the fact that there is no way to verify any of our notions of what heaven is like and also that in years past, when preachers and others did talk about heaven more, they offered all sorts of descriptions, some of which had no biblical support and which made heaven sound like a place of endless boredom. In addition, there has been some teaching in the church that living righteously just in hopes of getting into heaven wasn't the best of motivations. Rather, some said, we should love God and our neighbor simply because it is the right thing to do; if we get into heaven as a result, so much the better, but we shouldn't make heaven our goal.
Really? We shouldn't make heaven our goal? What sort of thinking is that?!
While I don't intend to say that loving God should always be reward-driven, let me at least challenge the idea that having heaven on our minds is a bad thing! Frankly, it's a good thing.
And while I don't intend to add to the pile of speculation about what heaven is like, let me at least point you to one biblical image about life after death that appears in both testaments. The image has to do with darkness and light, and one place to find it in the Old Testament is in Psalm 139. This psalm asserts that God's presence is everywhere. The psalmist declares that he is aware that God sees and knows him any place the psalmist is. The psalmist even projects this to Sheol, which in Old Testament thought is the place of the dead. Even there, says the psalmist, God is present.
For most of the Old Testament period, there was very little idea of life after death, and that is true for this psalmist, but here he declares that wherever it is that the dead go, God is there. And then the psalmist says this:
If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,"
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
The Hebrew word he uses for "darkness" can mean "night," but it was also a figurative way of referring to death. So in this context, one way to understand the psalmist's meaning is "Death cannot not hide me from you, for even death is not dark to you. To you, the night of death is as bright as the day." That's pretty good thinking for time when there was no concept of heaven.
If we turn to the New Testament, where there is a clearly developed idea of heaven, we find the same imagery of darkness and light. Revelation 21, which contains the vision of heaven that came to John of Patmos, pictures heaven as a massive new Jerusalem. But unlike the Jerusalem of earth, this one needs no temple, because God and the Lamb (which is a name for Jesus) are so powerfully present that no temple is needed. This is appropriate, because the earthly temples symbolized the presence of God; in the new city, God is constantly and fully present, so no symbolization is necessary.
John goes on to say that the gates of this holy city will never shut while it is day, and that amounts to them being constantly open. That's because in the city, "God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb," so it is never night in the kingdom.
People can still choose to exclude themselves from that heavenly city. In John of Patmos' language, "nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." But we know how to have our name list in that book of life. It is simply to accept Christ and serve him.
The gates remain open so that the honor and glory of the nations can be brought into the new city. That's a way of saying that the city will accommodate everyone who accepts Christ, regardless of place of origin or nationality. What's more, everyone in the city becomes a full citizen. There are no resident aliens. God and Christ are the city's light, and "all nations will walk by its light."
Thus, light that darkness cannot overcome is an abiding image of heaven, and it speaks from both testaments. That doesn't help us immediately, however, unless we realize that darkness is also a metaphor for misery, pain, suffering, problems, depression, despair, and host of other troublesome aspects of life on earth. Whenever the light of God helps us with those things, it is a foretaste of heaven.
The old movie Zorba the Greek is about an aimless Englishman who finds he has a small inheritance on a Greek island. He goes there, and his joyless existence is disturbed when he meets Zorba, a middle-aged Greek with a real lust for life. As he discovers the pleasures of Greece, the Englishman finds his view of life changing. At one point, Zorba says to the man, "Let the people be, boss; don't open their eyes. What'd they see? Their misery. Leave their eyes closed." But then, after a thoughtful pause, he adds, "Unless, unless, UNLESS!! when they open their eyes you can show them something a better world than the darkness in which they're gallivanting at present...."
Well, judging from the Bible's use of light as image of heaven, heaven does at least that: it conveys us to a better world than the darkness of the present one.
Further, light is also a biblical image for God himself. Psalm 4 says that God is the light of the believer's face. James 1 identifies God "the Father of lights." Genesis 1 says that God created light and separated it from the darkness of chaos. Psalm 119 says that God's word, spoken through the prophets, is the light for the believer's path. Jesus, in John 1, is called the light of the world and so is the salvation he brought.
In other words, light symbolizes the positive, life-giving force of God. In fact, life on earth could not exist without light. In some small way we even experience this in reverse by the scarcity of light during the long dark days of winter. Many of us get the winter blahs and some actually go into Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD, which is often treated by putting the sufferer in front of high-megawatt lights for certain periods every day. Light, you see, is life!
In another place in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul said this: "I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."4 While he does not use the specific language of darkness and light there, he is clearly talking about the sort of things we often use darkness to represent. And he says none of those, including death, can separate us from God. So when we think about death and beyond, we only have to trust God to make good on the promise that nothing will separate us from him. His light shines on us as we walk on, through the night of death into the bright light of eternity. Whatever night is there, the Bible tells us, is a bright as the day.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross made a valuable contribution to our understanding of the dying process and of how to help people who are terminally ill. The psalmist of old, John of Patmos, and several other biblical witnesses, help us grasp something about what the life to come is like for those who love God.
There is a gospel song called "Light of Heaven." Here are some of the lyrics:
The sky is raining tears tonight
My brother
You know it's hard to sleep
So far from home
The moon has covered up her eyes
My sister
I thought I'd find you here
But I am all alone
All alone
CHORUS:
Light of Heaven
Lord of mercy
Shine the goodness
Of your love upon this day
Till we see you
Till we know you
Till the sorrow
And the darkness fade away
Fade away 5
Heaven, I suspect, will be something like that, where darkness has faded away completely, because the life-giving light of God streams upon us.
___________
1. She died August 24, 2004.
2. Quoted on www.elisabethkublerross.com.
3. This observation from David Van Biema, "Does Heaven Exist?" Time, March 24, 1997, 73.
4. Romans 8:38-39.
5. Sung by Fernando Ortega.
Related Illustrations
Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play; whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes -- all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them.
-- John Muir
***
When you destroy a blade of grass
You poison England at her roots:
Remember no man's foot can pass
Where evermore no green life shoots.
-- Gordon Bottomley, "To Ironfounders and Others"
***
dear boss it wont be long now it wont be long ...
till the earth is barren as the moon ...
i relay this information without any fear
that humanity will take warning and reform
signed archy
(A warning letter, typed by archy the cockroach, who is too small and light to use the shift key.)
-- Don Marquis, "what the ants are saying," 1935
***
Sometime in the last ten years the best brains of the Occident discovered to their amazement that we live in an Environment. This discovery has been forced on us by the realization that we are approaching the limits of something.
-- Gary Synder
***
God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches and a thousand straining, levelling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools --only Uncle Sam can do that.
* John Muir
***
We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.
-- Aldo Leopold
***
Eighty per cent of the people of Britain want more money spent on public transport -- in order that other people will travel on the buses so that there is more room for them to drive their cars.
-- John Selwyn Gummer
Worship Resources
By George E. Reed
OPENING
N.b.: All copyright information is given from the first cited place where found. Some copyright information may differ in other sources due to adaptations, etc.
Music
Hymns
"Morning Has Broken." WORDS: Eleanor Farjeon, 1931; MUSIC: trad. Gaelic melody, harm. Carlton R. Young, 1988. Words by permission of David Higham Associates, Ltd.; Harm. (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. As found in UMH 145; Hymnal '82: 8; TPH 469; CH 53.
"All Things Bright And Beautiful." WORDS: Cecil Frances Alexander, 1848; MUSIC: 17th cent. English melody; arr. Martin Shaw, 1915. Public domain. As found in UMH 147; Hymnal '82: 405; TPH 267; TNCH 31; CH 61.
"God, Who Stretched The Spangled Heavens." WORDS: Catherine Cameron, 1967; MUSIC: William More, 1825. Words (c) 1967 Hope Publishing Co. As found in UMH 150; Hymnal '82: 580; LBOW 463; TPH 268; TNCH 556; CH 651.
"I Sing The Almighty Power Of God." WORDS: Isaac Watts, 1715; MUSIC: trad. English melody; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Public domain. As found in UMH 152; Hymnal '82: 398; TPH 288; TNCH 12.
"All Creatures Of Our God And King." WORDS: Francis of Assisi, ca. 1225; trans. William H. Draper, 1925, adapt. 1987; MUSIC: Geistliche Kirchengesange, 1623; harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906. Adapt. (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. As found in UMH 62; Hymnal '82: 400; LBOW 527; TPH 455; AAHH 147; TNNBH 33; TNCH 17; CH 22.
"How Great Thou Art." WORDS: Stuart K. Hine, 1953; MUSIC: Stuart K. Hine, 1953. (c) 1953, renewed 1981 Manna Music, Inc. As found in UMH 77; LBOW 532; TPH 467; AAHH 148; TNNBH 43; CH 33.
Songs
"From The Rising Of The Sun." WORDS & MUSIC: anon. Public domain. As found in CCB 4.
"Sing Unto The Lord A New Song." WORDS: Jewish Folk Song; MUSIC: Jewish Folk Song; arr. J. Michael Bryan. Arr. (c) 1996 Abingdon Press. As found in CCB 16.
"Awesome God." WORDS: USA camp meeting chorus; MUSIC: USA camp meeting chorus; arr. Ralph E. Hudson. Public domain. As found in CCB 18.
"How Majestic Is Your Name." WORDS & MUSIC: Michael W. Smith. 1981 Meadowgreen Music. As found in CCB 21.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: God has searched us and known us.
People: God knows our path and all our ways.
Leader: God hems us in all around.
People: God's hand is upon us.
Leader: This is such a wondrous thought.
People: It is good news too wondrous to tell.
Leader: There is nowhere that we can go that God is not there.
People: Even in the deep darkness God sees us.
COLLECT / OPENING PRAYER
O God of power and glory, who created the small and the great: Grant us your vision of what you are calling creation to be and fill us with the desire to carry out your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
or
We come into your presence, God, knowing that we are never out of your sight. You know us to the very depths of our beings and there is no place where we can escape you. Your love follows us and calls us daily. Your loving Spirit hovers over creation and calls us and all your creatures to become what you envisioned at our making. During this time of worship fill us with your vision and the desire to follow the Christ. Amen.
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION / PARDON
Leader: Search us, O God, and know our hearts.
People: Test us and know our thoughts.
Leader: See if there is any wicked way in us.
People: God, we know that you have found us to be sinners. Even in our trying to follow Jesus and be his disciples, we have focused on ourselves and our salvation. We have allowed our self-centeredness to rob us of the vision you have not only for us but for all creation. We do not hear the groanings of our brothers and sisters and we certainly do not hear the groanings of the rest of your good creation. Forgive us our inward vision and restore to us the glorious image of all your creation being brought its wondrous fulfillment. Call forth your Spirit within us that may truly be disciples of Jesus Christ healing the sick, bringing good news, releasing the prisoners and restoring creation. Amen.
Leader: God knows us and loves us and will lead us in the way everlasting.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.
We worship and adore you, O God, for you have created us and all that exists. You care and tend all of creation and your Spirit hovers over it and dwells within it. You are an awesome God who knows us better than we know ourselves and yet you love us and continue to see the potential you created in us rather than our foolishness and sinfulness.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.)
We know that we are sinners. We fail constantly to care for others and even our relationship with you we take for granted. We think that our salvation and our needs are all that matter. We have forgotten the littlest of your creatures and we ignored you. Forgive us and call us once again to follow the Christ.
We are grateful for all your blessings. You have created a world that is full of wonder, beauty, and provides abundantly for our needs. Everywhere we look your bounty is seen. You have blessed us with your own Spirit and have called us together to share your love with one another and all creation. You are truly prodigal in your love and grace.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.)
Because we have experienced your lavish love we are confident when we bring to you the cares of our hearts. We know of your love for all creation and so we offer into your care those who are on our hearts.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray saying, "Our Father...."
Hymnal & Songbook Abbreviations
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition Renew: Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship
A Children's Sermon
The parable of the weeds
Object: a weed and a flower
Based on Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Good morning! I brought two plants to show you this morning. I brought this beautiful flower. (show the flower) And I brought this ugly weed. (show the weed) Now let me ask you something. Which of these two plants do you want to grow in your garden? (let them answer) Yes, of course, we want the pretty flowers to grow, not weeds.
Have any of you ever weeded a garden? Have you pulled out the weeds from a garden? (let them answer) If you do pull weeds, you must be very careful that you don't pull up the flowers with the weeds. Sometimes the weeds grow so close to the flowers that we can't pull them without damaging the flowers.
The Bible tells us that the people of the world are like flowers and weeds. God wants everyone to be flowers, that is people who believe in Jesus. But there are a lot of people who don't believe and these are the weeds. God allows the world to go on day by day with flowers and weeds all mixed together. But a time is coming when God will take all the flowers out of the world to be with him in heaven. When that time comes, all the weeds, that is all the people who refuse to believe in Jesus, will be sent to hell. We will no longer have flowers and weeds all mixed up together.
I want to ask you this morning, are you a flower or a weed? Are you one of God's flowers who believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? (let them answer) That's good! We are flowers and we must thank God for making us flowers.
Dear Father: We are so grateful that you have made us flowers by your grace, through faith. Help us to live like the flowers you want us to be. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, July 17, 2005, issue.
Copyright 2005 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 permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
