In this week’s gospel text, Jesus tells us that he is the shepherd and gatekeeper for the sheep. Because the sheep know the shepherd’s voice, Jesus says, they will follow him. But Jesus also warns us that while there will be many competing voices from charlatans, the sheep will not follow them -- it is only through the gate (Jesus) that we attain true life. All that seems fairly straightforward -- but as team member Dean Feldmeyer points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, there’s such a cacophany of voices in our lives, not only in the world surrounding us but even inside our own heads too, that it can be difficult to make sure that the voice we are following is that of Jesus.
We may think we know what Jesus asks of us... but actually recognizing his voice can be a major challenge. With so many incentives in our world to conduct ourselves otherwise, living in a way that is consistent with Jesus’ teachings is more difficult than it seems at first glance. So, Dean tells us, training ourselves to discern and listen to Jesus’ voice -- one might call it Christian “ear training” -- is of utmost importance. How do we go about that? Our Acts text hints at the answer when it talks about converts “devot[ing] themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers... sell[ing] their possessions and goods and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need... spen[ding] much time together in the temple... praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” In other words, Dean suggests, that means spending time with Jesus through the Christian disciplines of study, prayer, communion, worship, fellowship, almsgiving, and evangelism.
Team member Mary Austin shares some additional thoughts on the passage from First Peter, which focuses on another discipline that may help us to better hear the shepherd’s voice: enduring suffering. As Mary reminds us, however, this text demands a cautionary note -- if we’re not careful, it can be too easily used to encourage the acceptance of unjust and abusive situations such as violence against women and minorities, or the exploitation of low-wage workers. Mary points out that when discussing the nobility of suffering, it’s not merely about exalting our own miseries... it’s also incumbent upon us to be mindful that we don’t needlessly cause suffering for others on our behalf. Only then can we begin to truly appreciate Jesus’ example of enduring suffering for the sake of others.
The Well-Tuned Ear
by Dean Feldmeyer
John 10:1-10
“Absolute pitch” -- or as it is more commonly known, “perfect pitch” -- is the ability to identify the pitch of a music note simply by hearing it, or to produce (sing) that note without hearing it first. Ask a person with perfect pitch to sing A above middle C, and they can do it.
It is a gift with which about one in every 10,000 people are born.
Musicians and psychologists have for decades argued about whether absolute pitch can be taught. Most come down on the side of “well, sort of.”
No one, most seem to agree, can be taught note identification as an adult.
Young children, however, especially those who already have a gift or ear for music, can be taught note recognition. But to retain this ability they must practice it daily. If they don’t, they lose it fairly quickly.
And everyone agrees that having the gift of absolute pitch does not make a person a musician any more than being able to identify colors makes a person an artist. Music is as much a discipline as it is an art.
The gospel lesson this week uses the metaphor of sheep hearing and identifying their shepherd’s voice and compares it to the followers of Jesus being able to hear and identify his voice among the cacophony of noises that assault us every hour of the day.
No one, it turns out, has the type of perfect pitch required to identify the voice of Jesus every time he speaks. It is a skill, a discipline that must be learned and practiced.
But it can be done.
In the News
If you go to a concert and listen to music being played through four six-foot amplifier speakers you are probably hearing it at about 115 decibels, about five decibels above the human pain threshold. If they “turn it up to 11,” however, and play it at 120 decibels -- rock music or Mozart, it doesn’t matter -- your hearing will be irreparably damaged in 7.5 minutes.
Communication theory identifies “noise” as anything that hinders communication, by distraction or cover or any number of ways. Some noise hinders communication by making us deaf.
This is as true in the ethical/moral/spiritual realm as it is in the physical. Some noises can actually deafen us to the sounds and voices that we really want and need to hear.
There’s a lot of noise out there clamoring for our auditory attention -- lots of voices that want to be heard and are speaking so loudly that they can damage the hearing of those who listen to them, deafening them to the voice of the true shepherd.
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s voice was vying for our attention last week. It had been recorded and was replayed over and over hundreds (thousands?) of times in the news media, and we were once again treated to the sound of a white man making what he thought were covert racist remarks.
And then his voice was countered by the voices of his detractors, especially those in professional sports, the news and sports media, and the entertainment industry, each wanting to be heard on the subject of race, race relations, and racism.
Sterling believed that if he made a public spectacle of giving money to projects sponsored by the local chapter of the NAACP, his largess would buy him the right to harbor whatever racially prejudiced attitudes he liked in his private life and to practice racial discrimination in his business life.
The NBA has sought, by banning him from the world of professional basketball, to silence his voice -- but the voice of racism is as ubiquitous as it is loud.
In Nevada, rancher Cliven Bundy’s voice loudly proclaims that he doesn’t recognize the authority of the federal government, and therefore is not required to pay fees for grazing his livestock on public land. And while he has the microphone for his 15 minutes of fame, he also voices the opinion that many African-Americans are poor because they never learned to pick cotton and they were actually better off as slaves.
His voice has been heard by followers and sycophants (his flock?), who have come to his side armed and ready to enter a shooting war with federal agents. These same followers have now set up roadblocks and checkpoints staffed by armed guards who require citizens to show proof of residency before being allowed to drive on public roads around Bundy’s ranch.
One cannot but wonder if they are attempting to amplify the voice of their spokesman, Bundy, through the barrels of their weapons.
In Oklahoma, the execution of a man sentenced to death was botched and witnesses watched as the man convulsed and writhed in pain for 15 minutes before he was finally taken by a heart attack.
One group of voices loudly proclaims that this is proof that the death penalty is inhumane and cruel and should be immediately removed from consideration. Another voice proclaims, just as loudly, that the only thing wrong with the execution of the rapist/murderer was that it wasn’t painful enough and didn’t last long enough.
Loud voices are also being raised about the separation of church and state and the nature of religious freedom.
The Roman Catholic church proclaims its opinion, through sermons and yard signs, that the Affordable Care Act violates their freedom of religion by requiring Catholic employers to provide insurance that covers birth control costs for their employees. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, the general synod of the United Church of Christ has filed suit against a state law banning clergy from performing same-gender marriages, claiming that such a ban impinges on the free expression of their religious faith.
Lots of voices. Lots of noise. But where is the voice of the Good Shepherd in all of this? How can we hear it above the clamor? How do we discern it from all the other voices?
In the Bible
This week’s gospel text uses the sheep and the shepherd as a metaphor for the relationship between Jesus and the church. According to this metaphor there are two tests that the sheep use to identify their authentic shepherd.
The first test is that of approach.
In first-century Palestine, shepherds would pool their resources to build a sheep pen so that their sheep could be confined and protected after dark. They would then pay someone (or take turns themselves) to function as the gatekeeper, guarding the sheep. Other shepherds were then free to sleep at ease, knowing that the sheep were well cared for.
The same was often done when the shepherd came into a city. The sheep would be corralled overnight while the shepherd attended to business, purchased supplies, rested, ate, bathed, and did those things that could only be done in town.
In either case -- rural or urban -- the shepherd would return in the morning, often before dawn, to claim the sheep that had been left in the corral and return with them to the grazing land.
As the true shepherd and the rightful owner of the sheep, the shepherd would enter the corral or sheep pen through the gate. There was no need to sneak into the sheep pen, to climb over the back fence and enter unseen. He would simply approach the gatekeeper, pay the boarding fee, gather his sheep, and be on his way.
The second test is that of familiarity.
The shepherd had spent countless hours in the field with the sheep. He had sung to them to calm their fears. He had talked to them. While they might all look and seem the same to an outsider, he knew them so well that he could tell them all apart. He had given a name to each sheep in his flock, and he knew, called, and spoke to them by name.
And they knew him. They could tell his voice from any other because they had heard it so much and so often that it was instantly recognizable to them. They had well-trained ears. Another might call them, but it was only to their shepherd’s voice that they would respond. It was he who had earned their trust and their obedience through long hours of intimate proximity.
The shepherd knew the sheep, and the sheep knew the shepherd.
They have what we might even call a relationship.
Compare that relationship to the one which the thief has with the sheep. His only desire was to profit and benefit personally from the sheep, a task which he would accomplish by sneaking into the sheep pen, killing them quietly and quickly so they couldn’t make noise, and then stealing away with his bloody prize back into the darkness from whence he came. He does not know the sheep. He does not care about them. He sneaks in, takes what he wants, and sneaks out again.
His only mission is to benefit himself.
In the Pulpit
Donald Sterling has given so much money to causes that support the African-American and Latin communities in Los Angeles that he has been given one lifetime achievement award and was about to receive a second one from the local chapter of the NCAAP (the president of which has resigned in the wake of recent revelations).
How is it that Sterling, who is capable of such apparent generosity, can speak so viciously against those same people in his private and, according to other witnesses, his business life?
We all realize that giving to charity benefits the giver as well as the recipient. And no one would reasonably deny a charitable person those good feelings that come with doing the right thing.
But there is another kind of charitable giving, the kind that is undertaken solely for the benefit of the giver, to enhance the giver’s public image, to do damage control for someone whose public image is in need of repair, or to open doors to the giver that might otherwise be closed. Coined “conspicuous giving” by some researchers and “profit largess” by others, this giving is done with a nod to the recipients -- but the focus is on the giver who is looking for a payoff, a quid pro quo.
It may also be an example of someone trying to sneak into the sheep pen not by way of the gate but via what might be called the “VIP special entrance.”
John’s gospel warns us to not be taken in by such shallow and insincere tactics.
Keep your eye on the front gate, he says. That’s where the true shepherd, the one we are called to follow, will enter our lives. His approach will be simple and direct and up-front. There’s nothing subtle or sneaky about it. It comes head-on.
If we want to be able to discern the voice of our shepherd from all the other voices we hear out there -- on the floor of Congress, on talk radio, in the op-ed pages of the newspaper, on cable TV, in pulpits and barbershops and social media -- then we need to be fine-tuning our ear by way of a close, personal relationship with the shepherd.
We need to spend time with him -- lots of time.
We need to harken often unto his voice as it comes to us in those “red letters” that are printed in our Bibles.
We need to go to him in prayer and study and service.
And then, when that sweet, lyrical voice comes to us in our hour of need, we will hear it and recognize it and follow it, wherever it takes us.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
1 Peter 2:19-25
This passage from First Peter offers us either an embarrassing glimpse of a dated worldview, or a formula for the Christian life. The lectionary drops off the first verse of this section, in which the author is addressing house slaves and counseling obedience. Even so, we squirm at the instruction to endure pain and suffering. We organize our lives to eliminate inconvenience, let alone suffering.
All of our lives hold suffering, as we grieve for loved ones, struggle with finances, worry about children who’ve lost their way and face illness. No one is immune, but most of us only glimpse the physical suffering that people in other places endure.
As I shop with my teenage daughter, I try to explain that some exciting bargains are too cheap. When she finds just the right shirt for $7.99, does the bargain price mean that someone was underpaid to make it? Is there another teenage girl somewhere else in the world who made the shirt for very low wages? Should I let her buy it, with money she earned from her own job, which pays a little over minimum wage? Many people around the world would love to earn that, but for full-time workers in the US, it isn’t enough to live on.
A New York City shopper got a glimpse of the suffering that goes into our clothing when she discovered a note asking for help inside her shopping bag. As the Huffington Post reports: “Stephanie Wilson was reaching for a receipt inside a paper shopping bag from Saks Fifth Avenue when she found a letter pleading, ‘HELP HELP HELP.’ The message, written in blue ink on white lined paper, appeared to be a desperate cry from a man who said he made the bag while being unfairly held in a Chinese prison factory more than 7,000 miles away.” The shopper took the note and picture “to the Laogai Research Foundation, a Washington, DC-based advocacy group founded to fight human rights abuses in Chinese prisons. The nonprofit foundation began investigating using its contacts on the ground as well as online.... Harry Wu, the founder of Laogai Research Foundation, spent 19 years in a Chinese prison factory, known as laogai. He said he took steps to verify the letter” and believes that the writer took a risk to write and send it.
The letter writer was later found, now out of the Chinese prison where he worked, and said he wrote five letters while in prison, in both French and English. The shopper who found the letter saw her life changed by this long-distance encounter, and “she thinks about his plea for help all the time. She had always been mindful of the products she purchased and where they were made in a bid to avoid sweatshop labor, but she never thought to worry about generic products like shopping bags.” The Huffington Post article quotes her as saying: “This has been the biggest eye-opener for me. I have never once thought about the people making my shopping bag or other consumable products like the packaging of the food I buy, or the pen I write with or the plastic fork I eat my lunch with.”
Ironically, as I was reading this article online I found it placed next to an article about engagement rings to swoon over.
When a time of suffering is over, we may find greater value in it than we imagined. New York Times columnist David Brooks writes that “We live in a culture awash in talk about happiness. In one three-month period last year, more than 1,000 books were released on Amazon on that subject. But notice this phenomenon. When people remember the past, they don’t only talk about happiness. It is often the ordeals that seem most significant. People shoot for happiness but feel formed through suffering.” Suffering brings an intimate awareness of our limitations, Brooks notes, and also of our unexpected strengths. People “can’t determine the course of their pain, but they can participate in responding to it.” The more we choose to face the pain, and to wrestle with it, the more grace we find in it.
Daniel G. Deffenbaugh writes for workingpreacher.org that “Though the introductory verse is omitted in our lectionary reading for the week, Peter is addressing this section of his epistle to ‘house slaves,’ oiketai (2:18), imploring them to be submissive to their masters in all things, not in deference to their owners’ earthly authority but rather as an affirmation of Christ’s supreme example.... Our contemporary embarrassment over what appears in scripture to be the acceptance of a deplorable social institution has perhaps led us to excise the introductory verse from this lectionary pericope, but in so doing we miss the force of Peter’s argument. As members of a heavenly household (paroikos, exiles living ‘outside the house’), the faithful will inevitably have to suffer the injustices of the domination system that rules the individual and cultural households of which they are still a part, if for but a while.”
In our shared life as Christians, we have a dual identity. Living in a world of privilege, we need to be mindful that our lives don’t create suffering for others. Imposed suffering is different from life’s ups and downs, or from the struggles we choose to embrace for the lessons they eventually teach. And yet, if we understand ourselves as servants of Christ, we also begin to see the meaning of this passage. If we are servants in the grand household of God, we start to see what Jesus was talking about.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Acts 2:42-47
Which Horse Would Jesus Pick?
According to Luke, members of the earliest Christian community weren’t waiting for their horse to come in -- instead they devoted themselves to charity, community, and generous living.
The question is, would they have gone to the races? And would they have picked California Chrome to win last week’s Kentucky Derby?
Of course, those questions have no answers. And while questions of gambling may stir up debates within church communities, one of Jesus’ contemporary disciples landed it big at last Saturday’s famed horse race. Denver Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker apparently wagered well during the Kentucky Derby, and later was spotted holding a huge wad of $100 bills. Welker, who identifies as a born-again Christian, was photographed giving away the money to random people. His act of generosity was stopped short by the intervention of a police officer, who was apparently worried a riot might ensue.
Was it Derby magic, or a desire to “distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need”? As of Monday, Welker had failed to make any comments on his Twitter feed.
*****
Acts 2:42-47
Compassionate Community
As Luke reminds his audience, compassion and generosity were the hallmarks of the early Church. Pain and suffering have always been part of life, but being part of a faithful community of compassion may offer gifts of hope and resilience. Author and researcher James Doty notes that socially connected persons live longer, report higher levels of happiness, and exhibit faster rates of recovery from illness. He also observes that acts of compassion enhance one’s own life:
While survival of the fittest may lead to short-term gain, research clearly shows it is survival of the kindest that leads to the long-term survival of a species. It is our ability to stand together as a group, to support each other, to help each other, to communicate for mutual understanding, and to cooperate, that has taken our species this far. Compassion is an instinct. Recent research shows that even animals such as rats and monkeys will go through tremendous effort and cost to help out another of its species who is suffering. We human beings are even more instinctually compassionate; our brains are wired for compassion.
*****
John 10:1-10
Knowing the Voice
It’s tempting to think that racism is only a problem among a certain generation. Take the bizarre rants of an epithet-spewing rancher, for example, or even the rambling comments of octogenarian basketball team owner Donald Sterling. Isn’t that proof that racism is just the voice of a past generation?
According to Howard University senior Chuck Walton III, a sports and entertainment blogger, the answer is no. Perhaps overt racial comments are more taboo today than in the past, but Walton says there are still real problems:
I hear the subtle signs of racism on talk radio or on the internet, where coded language of “quotas” and “bootstraps” is used in substitution of the old phrases of “ghettos” and “laziness.” I read the Twitter feeds and troll the comment boards, listening to how those of like mind cluster together, reinforcing their own points of view.
Walton reminds us that “racism is not an innate trait. It is a learned characteristic.” And one of the options available to our world today, he says, are the opportunities afforded by social media. “It provides us an unprecedented level of exposure and opportunity to interact with others not like ourselves.” He believes the challenge falls to his generation to make better choices -- in effect, to listen to a voice that helps discern “right from wrong, unacceptable from appropriate.”
*****
John 10:1-10
Listening to Strangers
Jesus’ portrayal of Christian community is one headed by the shepherd of the sheep, who calls his own by name and leads them out. He warns the disciples of the problems of “stranger danger,” which in this case is the embodied voice of the one who comes to do damage to the flock. It’s advice well taken, especially for believers who were under fierce attack. Yet there are times when welcoming the stranger may also express the voice of Christ -- and lead to greater experiences of community.
Two behavioral scientists in Chicago approached commuter train passengers and invited them to participate in an experiment. The scientists asked the commuters to break the norms of city life -- never make eye contact, stay away from strangers, don’t talk to anyone you don’t know -- by explicitly making some effort at being friendly. At the end of the train ride, passengers who talked with strangers reported having a more positive experience than those who did not.
Writers Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton note that perhaps the social experiment could reap huge societal benefits:
Individuals and governments pour money into making commutes slightly more bearable by investing in everything from noise-canceling headphones to more spacious seating. But what if the research showed that we would improve our commutes more by investing in social capital -- interacting with the strangers sitting all around us?
Perhaps it could even lead to the sort of conversations Jesus encouraged, conversations that could lead others to abundant life. As Dunn and Norton conclude: “Rather than fall back on our erroneous belief in the pleasures of solitude, we could reach out to other people. At least, when we walk down the street we can refuse to accept a world where people look at one another as though through air.”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Acts 2:42-47
Jahn Hultgren writes in a newspaper column about his enjoyment of going to garage sales each Saturday morning. Even more than garage sales, he enjoys estate sales because they are the best place to find treasures. But Hultgren also recognizes that an estate sale is a “somber reminder that most of the stuff we cherish will someday be sold, thrown out, or given away.”
Application: Surrendering possessions so all things can be held in common may be easier when we consider that at the end of it all there will be an estate sale.
*****
Acts 2:42-47
In a Herman comic strip by Jim Unger, there is a scene of Herman sitting in his lounge chair reading a book. His son comes to him with a request for money. Herman offers this advice: “I make it a rule never to lend money to people who borrow!”
Application: If we could hold all things in common there would be no need to borrow or lend.
*****
Acts 2:42-47
A significant milestone has been reached in American education with the achievement of an 80 percent graduation rate -- an all-time high. The increase is due to the closing of “dropout factory” schools, greater parental participation, and schools taking more aggressive action to assist borderline students. But this still means that means that one of every five students will leave school without a diploma.
Application: The graduation rate for Christians continued to increase as they devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles.
*****
Acts 2:42-47
After years of resistance, author Harper Lee has finally agreed to allow her celebrated book To Kill a Mockingbird to be both digitalized and made into an audio CD. She finally made her decision after realizing that there was a “new generation” of readers who have escaped reading the printed page.
Application: As the first-century Christians devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, we need to be sure we provide acceptable educational opportunities for 21st-century Christians.
*****
John 10:1-10
The biggest sports news this past week was the racist remarks made by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. In a conversation with his girlfriend/personal assistant, who is of both black and Mexican heritage, he informed her not to bring any more black people to the games and even forbade her from being photographed with a black person. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acted quickly, suspending Sterling for life and fining him $2.5 million, with the possibility he may be forced to sell his team.
Application: It is most apparent that Sterling is the thief who guards the gate of the Clippers.
***************
From team member Leah Lonsbury:
1 Peter 2:19-25
Tuesday, May 6, 2014, marked the one-year anniversary of the escape by Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight from their almost decade-long imprisonment in Ariel Castro’s home in Cleveland, Ohio. The women report that they are thriving, that they are “thankful and growing in many ways.”
Michelle Knight said in an interview with NBC this week that she forgives her captor. She said she would want to be forgiven if she did wrong, so she offers that kind of grace to Castro, who is now deceased. “That’s the way of life,” according to Knight.
First Peter tells us that Jesus bore our sins on his body on the cross so that we “might live for righteousness.” Christ did not return abuse for the abuse he received, and he did not threaten others when he suffered. He showed us with his own body and actions how to respond with grace and “live for righteousness.” He wants us to know that the suffering is not the key but instead the way we move through and beyond it.
“That’s the way of life,” we learn as we read 1 Peter and attend to the news out of Cleveland.
*****
Acts 2:42-47
Listening for the voice of the Shepherd over the world’s din can sometimes be a tricky proposition. But what happens when the din is sustained by shouting voices from within the church itself?
Vatican orthodoxy watchdog Cardinal Gerhard Mueller is after the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a group which represents about 80% of US nuns, to better tune their ears and curb their “movement away from the ecclesial center of faith in Christ Jesus the Lord.”
Mueller means to follow through on a reform order by former Pope Benedict XVI, based on an investigation that concluded the nuns’ group had taken positions that undermined Roman Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”
The Associated Press reports that the investigators praised the nuns’ humanitarian work, but accused them of focusing too much on social justice and not enough on critical issues such as fighting abortion.
Now that the Leadership Conference is planning to give its outstanding leadership award to Sister Elizabeth Johnson -- a theologian and author whose work has been criticized by US bishops, who say it includes “misrepresentations” and doctrinal errors -- Mueller has set himself to rein them in and retune their ears for the voice of the Shepherd.
The nuns have chosen not to comment. Perhaps they find it easier to listen for the voice if they’re not shouting and condemning the merciful efforts of others.
*****
Acts 2:42-47; John 10:1-10
The Supreme Court is on quite a roll. It recently ruled that states have the right to restrict the use of affirmative action programs in university admissions and throughout other public institutions. Then Chief Justice Roberts and four of his colleagues struck down the limits on how much money can be spent in federal political campaigns over a two-year period.
How might we interpret these decisions -- and the 10 big decisions that are approaching in the next two months -- if we were listening carefully for the voice of the Shepherd? What if our listening was sharpened through the Christian practices listed in our reading for this Sunday from Acts? What would our devotion to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers, to holding all things in common, to selling our possessions and goods and distributing the proceeds to those in need tell us about campaign finance and equal opportunity? What would spending time with the faithful and living with glad and generous hearts help us to hear from the Shepherd, and how might it influence our thinking around the Supreme Court’s upcoming cases and the decisions we must make about our lives?
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: You, O God are the Good Shepherd, we shall never want.
People: You lead us beside still waters.
Leader: You restore the life of our souls.
People: You lead us in right paths for your name’s sake.
Leader: Even when we walk through the darkest valley, we fear no evil.
People: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives.
OR
Leader: God calls us to worship this day.
People: With joy and singing, we respond to God’s call.
Leader: God calls us into communion with each other.
People: We open our arms and our hearts to all of God’s children.
Leader: God calls us to service and to mission.
People: We will serve God as we reach out in love to others.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us”
found in:
UMH: 381
H82: 708
PH: 387
AAHH: 424
NNBH: 54
NCH: 252
CH: 558
LBW: 481
ELA: 789
W&P: 440
AMEC: 379
“The King of Love My Shepherd Is”
found in:
UMH: 138
H82: 645, 646
PH: 171
NCH: 248
LBW: 456
ELA: 502
Renew: 106
“The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want”
found in:
UMH: 136
NNBH: 237, 241
CH: 78
LBW: 451
ELA: 778
W&P: 86
AMEC: 208
“Jesus Calls Us”
found in:
UMH: 398
H82: 549, 550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171, 172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELA: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
“I Am Thine, O Lord”
found in:
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
“The Voice of God Is Calling”
found in:
UMH: 436
“Near to the Heart of God”
found in:
UMH: 472
PH: 527
NNBH: 316
CH: 581
AMEC: 322
“Sweet Hour of Prayer”
found in:
UMH: 496
AAHH: 442
NNBH: 332
NCH: 505
CH: 570
W&P: 478
AMEC: 307
“I Love You, Lord”
found in:
CCB: 14
Renew: 36
“More Precious Than Silver”
found in:
CCB: 25
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
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who calls your children to yourself: Grant us the grace to be able to hear your voice,
to recognize it as your own, and to follow you in the ways of the Christ; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you for your constant love that calls us to you, O God. We rejoice that you call us your children. Help us to listen for your voice and to learn to recognize it. Then give us the courage and faith to follow the Christ into service and mission in your world. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we fail to listen to God’s call.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You call us and we fail to recognize your voice. We fill our ears and our heads with so much noise that we no longer have the time or the ability to distinguish your voice from all the others. We spend so little time in prayer, and when we do it is mostly in talking with very little listening. When we read the Bible, we are more often looking for confirmation of what we already think than we are listening to hear you speak to us. Forgive us, and help us to heed your call to turn and follow the Christ once again. Help us to tune our ears to your voice and to respond with obedient hearts. Amen.
Leader: God is calling us and desires nothing more than that we should respond with joy as we know we are God’s children. God calls us that we might have life, full and abundant.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise and adore you, O God, for you are the loving one who calls us your children. You created us your image and you claim us as your own.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You call us and we fail to recognize your voice. We fill our ears and our heads with so much noise that we no longer have the time or the ability to distinguish your voice from all the others. We spend so little time in prayer, and when we do it is mostly in talking with very little listening. When we read the Bible, we are more often looking for confirmation of what we already think than we are listening to hear you speak to us. Forgive us, and help us to heed your call to turn and follow the Christ once again. Help us to tune our ears to your voice and to respond with obedient hearts.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you call to us. You are present in creation, and we are thrilled when we perceive you there. You are present in the scriptures, and we rejoice to hear you speak to us in these texts. You are present in your Church -- in its community, in its worship and sacraments, and in its mission. You are present in your Spirit that fills and engages each one of us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for each other and for all your children in their needs. We know that many find it hard, as we do, to always hear your voice and to feel your loving presence. We know some find it impossible because the noise of their troubles has consumed them. As you move among them, help us to be your presence for them. Help us to bring your words of love and compassion into their lives.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about knowing when it is Mom or Dad who is calling them. We learn to recognize voices because we hear them often. Sometimes we know who is speaking because of what they say -- they may have a special name for us, or they may always greet people in a certain way so that we know who they are even if we can’t see them (such as when we talk on the telephone). We also learn to recognize Jesus’ voice by listening to him. We learn the stories of Jesus, and we know the things he did and the things he taught. Then we can know how to respond as his disciples by being like him.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
The Right Voice
John 10:1-10
Note: Before the service, ask two children to help you demonstrate how to play “Simon Says.”
Good morning. How many of you have played “Simon Says”? (Let the children answer.) In case some of you don’t know how to play, I’ve asked (name your helpers) to show us. (Have the children you recruited to assist you stand. Give them a typical “Simon Says” statement like “Simon says, scratch your head.” Then give them a statement like “scratch your head.” Explain that by following the wrong voice, a player is out of the game. The object is to follow the right voice.)
“Simon Says” is a fun game to play. It makes me think of today’s lesson. The lesson is about following the right voice instead of the wrong voice. Sometimes in the game “Simon Says” you follow the wrong voice and do the wrong thing. Life is like that too. Sometimes you do something that you know is wrong, but you do it anyway. Sometimes you might say something bad about a friend, and that hurts your friend. Sometimes you might be with a group of friends, and the group may tease someone and you follow along. At the time you know it’s wrong, but you follow the wrong voice and do it.
Adults have this problem also. They say bad things and even tease when they shouldn’t. When this happens, the adult is following the wrong voice. The good news is that, as in the game “Simon Says,” there is one voice that we can always listen for and follow. It is the voice of Jesus. This voice will always tell us to do what is right. Our lesson says that Jesus is like a good shepherd who takes care of a flock of sheep. The sheep never follow a stranger -- or the wrong voice. Sheep follow their shepherd’s voice. The next time you are faced with a decision about doing something that you know is wrong, try to follow Jesus’ voice. You may always trust Jesus. If you do this, you will always do the right thing.
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The Immediate Word, May 11, 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.
