This week’s gospel text features Luke’s version of the same events John depicted last week: Jesus appearing to the disciples after the resurrection and calming their jangled nerves. But instead of Thomas picking at Jesus’ wounds, we get a much less dramatic scene as Jesus and the disciples easily slip into a familiar interaction: sharing a bite of fish while he “open[s] their minds to understand the scriptures.” The lection concludes with Jesus’ observation that “You are witnesses of these things.”
As team member Chris Keating points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, we are all now witnesses -- not merely of “these things” but of everything. It’s a new world -- one where ubiquitous camera technology and access to social media has made us all reporters of the events surrounding us... something that became evident this past week with the bombshell news of a South Carolina policeman being arrested for murder because of a cellphone video documenting his shooting of a fleeing motorist. Of course, merely being a witness is not enough -- one still must have the courage to come forward and act upon what one has witnessed (like the person who captured the South Carolina policeman’s actions). Chris notes that Jesus makes the same point to the disciples, suggesting that witnessing must lead to concrete change... i.e., repentance and forgiveness of sins.
Team member Dean Feldmeyer shares some additional thoughts on the disciples’ mixed emotions, and the tension between their “joy” and their “disbelieving and wondering.” That’s a state of mind all of us can relate to... especially in today’s world where we're conditioned to be suspicious about any piece of good news. Repeated instances of deception have made us instinctually suspicious of any positive development like reports of decreasing crime rates or increasing school test scores. The Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal, for which several educators are facing lengthy prison time, is just the latest example of why we are often “disbelieving and wondering” about good news. And as Dean suggests, what constitutes good news often changes too... at least in the realm of advice about what is good and healthy for us. He cites several examples of recent revision on that front from physicians and researchers, and concludes that maybe the best way to control our “disbelieving and wondering” is to accept that we don’t have to have a complete understanding in order to accept the joy and wonder of God’s grace.
We’re All Witnesses
by Chris Keating
Luke 24:36b-48
It no longer takes a guy in a suit to tell us “that’s the way it is.” It just takes someone with a cellphone and an internet connection.
Gone are the days when “Eyewitness News” teams were the only ones to land a breaking story. In today’s world, the satellite truck and “eye in the sky” chopper are quickly being replaced by billions of iPhones.
Thanks to social media and high-def technology, we are all now witnesses and potentially reporters of the events taking place before our very eyes. And a witness changes everything.
That’s what we saw last week when a man walking to work used his cellphone to record a South Carolina police officer killing an unarmed man. The video went viral, and soon the police officer was arrested and charged with murder.
There is hardly an unrecorded moment of life anymore. Smartphones, surveillance cameras, remote-controlled drones, and even e-readers are capable of recording every possible human interaction. Nearly everyone carries around the equivalent of a television studio in their pocket -- if we can remember to keep it charged, of course.
The upshot? We’re all witnesses. And if that’s the case, then we need to explore what it means to be a witness. As Jesus makes clear in Luke 24, it’s a bit more complicated than pushing the record button.
We’re all witnesses, and that’s the way it is.
In the News
In the old media days, the lines were clearly drawn: the media were the guys with the cameras and microphones. There was an old joke that went something like this: “you know it’s going to be a bad day if you show up to work and Mike Wallace is sitting in your waiting room.”
And... try to tell that joke today. If you do, my guess is you’ll see confused looks in the eyes of anyone under age 40, and perhaps a polite grin from everyone else. Two-thirds of the congregation won’t know who you’re talking about. Crickets will be chirping as kids ask their parents: “Who’s Mike Wallace?”
The way it is today is that we’re all witnesses.
Our never-stopping, always-recording culture has been called a “tsunami of lights.” Ubiquitous miniature cameras record every possible interaction, from parking cars to fateful encounters with police. With 245 million surveillance cameras in use worldwide, and billions of cellphones, there is very little that goes undocumented.
As Michael Rosenblum, the founder of Current TV, pointed out recently, cellphone users are now able to “cut out the middle man” and become independent news producers. That’s not necessarily good news for journalists, nor pleasing to professional videographers. But it certainly is the way things are.
Rosenblum points out that for the last few years field operatives for the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) have been trained to shoot, edit, and upload their own stories. Frustrated by the lack of interest from traditional media in telling the stories of refugee work, Rosenblum trained UNHCR staff to tackle the job themselves. He notes:
[W]e got the idea to simply empower the UNHCR people who were already on the ground, who spoke the local language, who knew the story inside and out, who lived it every day -- to tell their own stories in video and share them with the world. Using iPhones. So for the past few years, we have been training and equipping more than 165 UNHCR operatives around the world with iPhones and laptops for editing and uploading. Telling stories that are important.
Police departments are also having to learn that lesson -- though in many cases the learning curve has been steep. In the wake of the Michael Brown incident in Ferguson, Missouri, there has been increased scrutiny of police shootings and a rising call for the use of body cameras by police. Last week’s shooting in North Charleston, South Carolina of Walter Scott, an unarmed man who was running from police, has stirred the debate further.
At issue in the Scott case is a gap between police dash cam video that showed officer Michael Slager pulling Scott over for a broken taillight, and a video taken by a bystander seconds later. The bystander’s video shows Slager shooting Scott eight times. Slager has been arrested and charged with murder, and the mayor of North Charleston has called for his police department to purchase body cameras.
Former New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly said Scott’s death forced him to change his mind on the use of body cameras. Kelly had been skeptical about the effectiveness of body cameras, but told ABC’s This Week that the shooting made him rethink the whole issue. It changes the game, said Kelly, because “we have to assume that this officer would not act the way he did if in fact he had a body camera that was recording.”
Yet that was exactly what happened in another shooting on April 2 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In that case, a sheriff’s reservist deputy shot and killed 44-year-old Eric Harris. Harris had been wanted in connection with a police sting and had been fleeing police. Robert Bates, a 73-year-old insurance agent and a deputy sheriff reservist, thought he was reaching for his taser but instead grabbed his weapon. It was all caught on police camera -- including Bates’ apology for his mistake. On Monday, Tulsa County District Attorney Stephen Kunzweiler filed manslaughter charges against the reservist, saying Bates had committed “culpable negligence.”
The whiplash effect of so many cases has meant greater scrutiny of police departments across the country. In San Bernardino, California, for example, ten sheriff’s deputies were put on paid leave last week for using excessive force in capturing a suspect. The FBI initiated an investigation of the incident after news footage aired showing the deputies beating the suspect.
Are body cameras the answer? The debate will continue, but the father of a man shot by Las Vegas police believes they hold potential in supporting the testimony of witnesses: “Honest, well-behaved officers actually welcome body cameras, knowing they are an effective tool of both deterrence and protection. Body-worn cameras are a powerful inhibition to the use of deadly force, because they literally are ‘unimpeachable witnesses.’ ” (Read more here.)
The turn toward video is often seen as the natural outgrowth of the 1991 Rodney King incident in Los Angeles. Even in the pre-internet days, video of police beating King was considered to be an early example of footage going viral. Attorneys point out that unlike DNA evidence, video evidence doesn’t require a specialist. It just requires carefully preserving what has been observed.
Musician and human rights activist Peter Gabriel has founded an organization aimed at helping anyone become a witness against abuse. “With cameras everywhere,” Gabriel told PBS Newshour last week, “we can document and share what is really going on. We can build campaigns with millions and billions of others and we can leverage those numbers, which are large enough that politicians can’t ignore them, to create real change.”
Gabriel’s organization -- aptly named WITNESS -- emphasizes that its mission is to shed light on abuse. According to Kelly Matheson, an attorney for the group, “Video alone isn’t ever going to bring a perpetrator to justice, isn’t ever going to free someone who is falsely accused. It’s used in combination with witness testimony. It’s used in combination with forensics. It’s used in combination with documents.”
In other words, it’s part of being a witness.
In the Scriptures
For Luke, “witness” is a key term in understanding the unfolding impact of Jesus’ resurrection. Luke will really develop his understanding of witness throughout Acts. Here he uses the commissioning of the disciples to illustrate how the Christian community is empowered for ministry. Within the resurrection encounters of Luke 24, there is a mingling of both joy (cf. 24:41) and confusion. There is the unmistakable gift of joyful Eucharist in Emmaus mixed with the terror-filled disciples who think they’ve seen a ghost (v. 37). Taken together, these accounts form the nucleus of the church’s testimony.
At the beginning, the disciples are not fully convinced -- in spite of the women’s testimony. They even demean the women’s accounts. Indeed, Luke tells us they had dismissed their stories as nothing more than an “idle tale.” Yet Luke persists in demonstrating the truth of the resurrection, stacking the evidence thoughtfully, carefully constructing a compelling account of the resurrection’s veracity.
There were no cameras, of course, but the witness of those who had encountered Jesus is compelling. By verse 36, things are really about to get interesting.
It is too bad that James and John hadn’t stopped at the Bethany Best Buy to grab a camcorder, or that Peter had forgotten to charge his iPhone. Lacking the disciple-cam, we can only imagine the astonished looks on their faces as Jesus stands among them. Huddled together, the frightened group experiences a whole spectrum of emotion -- fear, joy, shocked disbelief, and curious wonder. It all begins as Jesus says, “Peace.”
Then he gets down to business. He’s no ghost, he tells them. “I’m the real deal,” we can imagine him saying, and to prove it he asks for something to eat. Jesus eats a fish -- did you see that -- a fish! Give the man something to eat -- resurrection is hard work. Meanwhile, Jesus shows the marks of crucifixion, the scars of his torture. Step by step, Luke builds a compelling witness for veracity of the resurrection, while affirming what Jesus will soon declare: “You are witnesses to these things.”
Just as he did with Cleopas and the unnamed disciple, Jesus offers an impromptu Bible study. The scriptures have been fulfilled, and they are to be the ones God will use in continuing the mission. It’s clear that Luke is carefully building his case, layering each sequence carefully. Startled, the disciples are equipped to move from fear to faithfulness, from sorrow to joy-filled witness. He opens their eyes to what has happened.
Even if they have forgotten, he comes to them just as he promised. And then, he says, just wait to see what happens next.
In the Sermon
Paying attention to the movement and contours of this text provides a useful homiletical tool for a preacher. It continues the series of conversations Jesus has had on the road to Emmaus, and sets the stage for the church’s commissioning on Pentecost. The story reveals once again the surprising the news of the Gospel. As Roger Paynter reminds us in Feasting on the Gospels (Luke, Vol. 2 [Westminster John Knox Press, 2014], p. 355), John Claypool was fond of saying that “God’s other name is surprise.”
With that in mind, one possible path could be to explore what it means for the church to witness to God’s surprising acts today. Throughout the gospel, Luke has been seeding the fields with witnesses of God’s unexpected activity. In their joy and disbelief, Jesus calls the disciples to see that once more God has done the impossible. It’s a pattern scattered across the gospel: Mary waits in expectation, Simeon sings praise at having seen the kingdom’s promise fulfilled, and the poor are amazed at what God has done. Now there’s just one more surprise, and the disciples are sent to tell that story.
Alternatively, the preacher could explore the social justice implications of being a witness. Those who see injustice or racial profiling in our nation are called to be witnesses to God’s righteousness. Like the disciples who were waiting for Jesus to appear, our communities are shuttered and afraid. We are surrounded by fear, yet are commissioned to be witnesses of hope. A sermon on the power of being a witness could pastorally yet prophetically name what we are seeing in our country today -- and offer insights into what it means to be witnesses to the healing God intends for our racially-divided communities.
Unimpeachable witnesses declare what they have seen -- for the disciples it was God’s love disclosed in Jesus Christ. They were called to declare God’s triumph over injustice, and to counter the belief that the powers of the world had won. Witnesses of brutality must also speak out against contemporary injustices. We must declare God’s forgiveness, but also God’s desire that justice be done. After all, we can only speak about what we have seen and experienced in Jesus Christ.
As Luke might tell us, “That’s the way it is.”
SECOND THOUGHTS
Dazed and Confused, but Happy
by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 24:36b-48; Psalm 4
The first call went like this:
“Hello.”
“Hello, is this Dean?”
“Yeah, this is Dean.”
“Dean, this is Pam at Doctor _____’s office. We got the report back from the pathology lab, and I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news -- but as we feared, those lesions that we biopsied are in fact malignant. They are melanoma. Fortunately, we’ve caught them in the very early stage, and once they are removed, you can expect a full recovery.”
“Uh, oh, okay.”
“We just need to set you up with an appointment with the plastic surgeon as soon as possible.”
“Uh, well, yeah, right, okay. Let’s do that.”
The conversation continued in that vein for a few more minutes, but to tell you the truth I don’t really remember most of it. After the words “malignant” and “melanoma” all I heard was “mwah, mwah, mwah.” Fortunately, my wife is a nurse. She called the doctor’s office back and got all the pertinent details, which as it happened were a mixed bag of bad and good news.
Yes, it was cancer. But it was caught in the early stages with a good prognosis for a full recovery.
Yes, it was going to require what would turn out to be some pretty extensive plastic surgery. But it would all be beneath my hairline, and the hair would eventually grow back and cover the scars.
Yes, the melanoma could possibly come back at some time in the future. But we would now be watching for it and we would catch it early, just like we did this one.
The second call was a couple of weeks later, and it went like this:
“Hello.”
“Hello, is this Dean?”
“Yes, this is Dean.”
“Dean, this is Pam at Doctor _____’s office. Dr. _____ asked me to call you as soon as we got the report back from the pathology lab. I have the report right here in front of me, and I’m glad to tell you that the surgery was successful. All of the cancer was removed and you are now completely cancer-free. Dr. ______ also asked me to remind you to use sunscreen and always wear a hat when you go outdoors.”
“Okay.”
“Alright then. We’ll see you at your next appointment to remove the stitches.”
“Okay, bye.”
Had a reporter stuck a microphone in my face at that moment and asked what was going through my mind, I don’t know if I could have given a coherent answer.
Relief. Joy. Doubt. Disbelief. Wondering. Scared. Happy. All of these emotions, and a score of others I can’t even put names to.
And isn’t that pretty much the way we all experience medical science and health care these days? Happy, sad, questioning, celebrating, doubting, denying, affirming -- I think it’s called ambivalence.
What’s right? What’s wrong? What do we believe?
* We need vitamin D, and sunlight is one of the best sources for vitamin D -- except that sunlight also causes skin cancer.
* Short people seem to be at higher risk for heart disease than tall people, but tall people are at higher risk for cancer. And what good does it do us to know this? We can’t do anything about how tall or short we are.
* Forty-four million Americans will go to their doctor for an annual physical or checkup this year, because we’ve been told that we should. It’s just good, basic, preventative health care, right? Well, maybe not. All of the literature going back to the mid-1980s says that annual physicals make virtually no difference in the overall health of healthy adults. So now some doctors are saying to wait until something is wrong before you call your doctor. Others are saying that’s just a bunch of hooey. Who’s right?
* Salt and eggs used to be anathema to anyone who was taking their health seriously, but recent reports show that we may have gone a little overboard. It turns out these two may not be all that bad for us.
* And while our doctors were over-warning us about the dangers of salt and eggs, the FDA was under-warning us about the dangers of dietary supplements.
Far from making life simpler and easier, medical science is making it harder and more complex and a whole lot more difficult. We are happy about the advances that have made our life expectancy longer than it has ever been in human history. We are glad that science has eradicated many of the diseases that used to kill people in widespread epidemics. We are joyous when we can go to the doctor and get a cheap and widely available antibiotic to help us get over our latest case of coughs and sniffles.
But like the disciples in the passage from the gospel of Luke, our joy is just slightly tainted with an ample dose of doubting, disbelieving, and wondering.
Like the psalmist, we cry out “O that we might see some good!” It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it would be nice if we could hear from medical science just one unadulterated, undiluted, unqualified announcement that we could classify as “good news” that we felt pretty confident would still be good news tomorrow.
Medical science holds no monopoly on ambivalence, though, does it?
As more and more people announce that they are candidates for the office of U.S. president, we find our inner skeptics coming to the surface. If we are honest, we have to admit that even the candidates of our own party don’t really excite us anymore.
We hope they will be able to accomplish the goals they have touted, but even in our joy we find ourselves “disbelieving and still wondering.” They are politicians, after all, and we’ve all seen what happens when politicians get elected to office in the real world.
Is this simply the life we are given to live? Are skepticism, doubt, cynicism, and disbelief the default settings on our minds and the way we are given to walk through life?
Luke’s post-Easter story offers an alternative way of living.
First, he reminds us that we don’t have to have all the answers before we can celebrate the gifts that have been given to us. We don’t have to wait for the perfect before we can celebrate the good.
The joy of the disciples was genuine, even though they still didn’t have it all figured out. Yes, their joy was still tinged with disbelief and wonder, but it didn’t keep them from feeling it anyway. Our Christian faith does not require us to have every question answered, every crack filled, and every doubt assailed before we can experience the wonder and joy of God’s grace.
I don’t have to understand how the internal combustion engine works to enjoy driving my car. I don’t have to understand how the brain processes color to enjoy a fine painting. And I don’t have to understand all of the subtle nuances of something like grace or love without celebrating their presence in my life.
Secondly, Luke’s story reminds us that sometimes believing and doing come before understanding.
The disciples are given their commission -- to go into the world and preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins -- before they fully understand how it all comes together.
It is not as important to understand how grace works as it is to understand that it does.
As Saint Augustine is said to have explained, “Quia operatur operatur.”
It works because it works.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Luke 24:36b-48
Not All It’s Cracked Up to Be
Eyewitness testimony is compelling, convincing -- and unreliable.
Dr. Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham write: “Eyewitness testimony, which relies on the accuracy of human memory, has an enormous impact on the outcome of a trial. Aside from a smoking pistol, nothing carries as much weight with a jury as the testimony of an actual witness. The memory of witnesses is crucial not only in criminal cases but in civil cases as well -- in automobile accident cases, for example, eyewitness testimony carries great weight in determining who is at fault. Implicit in the acceptance of this testimony as solid evidence is the assumption that the human mind is a precise recorder and storer of events. Human beings hold fiercely to the belief that our memories are preserved intact, our thoughts are essentially imperishable, and our impressions are never really forgotten.” And yet, memory is faulty -- more than we want to think.
As Science magazine notes: “A new report concludes that the use of eyewitness accounts needs tighter control, and among its recommendations is a call for a more scientific approach to how eyewitnesses identify suspects during the classic police lineup.” An increasing number of people once convicted of crimes by eyewitness testimony have since been exonerated by DNA evidence. The article observes: “Some 75% of the wrongful convictions for rape and murder, including a number that led to people being scheduled for execution, were based on eyewitness testimony.” As eyewitnesses, many things cloud our recollection of what we’re sure we saw. We are not the witnesses we believe we are. (Read more of the science here.)
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Luke 24:36b-48
Mixed Emotions
Feeling confused? Happy? Sad? Grief-stricken? The Mixed Emotions deck of cards helps people recognize how they’re feeling with a series of images. They can be used with people who can’t speak, but who can point to the picture that conveys what they’re feeling. They can serve as an icebreaker in a group, as people stand up and indicate which card expresses their feeling. Or, as the creator of the cards suggests, use them as you’re contemplating a choice and “you’ll find them to be a powerful decision-making tool. By comparing how you feel about your options, the choice that’s right for you suddenly becomes quite clear.”
The images on the cards can help develop people develop clarity about their feelings. “Katki Malloy, a school counselor in California’s Bay Area, finds that the illustrations on each card tell a story that draws children in. The children relate the story to their own personal lives, and then learn to attach words to the feelings depicted on the cards. ‘Instead of saying “I had a good weekend” or “My weekend sucked,” the kids have a way to come up with a new vocabulary,’ says Katki. ‘They discover that feelings are okay to have, and that it’s okay to have lots of feelings at once.’ ” (Order your deck here.)
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From team member Robin Lostetter:
Luke 24:36b-48
The first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection in Luke’s account (Luke 23:55--24:12) were the women. In that time, however, women were not allowed to be legal witnesses. So we move on to this week’s scripture, where Jesus tells the 12 apostles and their companions (24:33): “You are witnesses of these things” (24:48). Now the men among them have been named as witnesses by Jesus, which legitimates their resurrection proclamation within their society. Of course, merely being a witness is not enough -- one must also have the courage to come forward and act upon what one has witnessed. And indeed, all of these witnesses did act upon what they experienced. The women acted (to tell the men), and we know from Acts that the men did also -- with grave consequence to their proclamation.
Below are some stories of 21st-century people, witnesses who have acted upon their experience:
Air Marshal Whistleblower Wins 7-2 Supreme Court Victory
“In late July 2003, air marshal Robert MacLean received an unrestricted text message order. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was eliminating coverage of long-distance flights requiring overnight hotel stays. It was a stunning development, since all air marshals in the country had just completed emergency training to stop al-Qaeda plans confirmed by U.S. and foreign intelligence for a more ambitious rerun of the 9/11 attack: this time long-distance flights to multiple U.S. cities and European capitals were targeted.”
MacLean followed protocol, first protesting to his supervisor and then to an investigator within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General. He was advised to stay quiet, but instead took his concerns to the U.S. Congress. His actions forced the reversal of the agency’s order, and air marshals were reinstated, preventing the hijacking. However, MacLean was fired three years later as a whistleblower.
On January 21 of this year, following 8 ½ years of litigation, MacLean was exonerated by the Supreme Court, which ruled that “his disclosures were covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA). The key legal issue was whether the law’s statutory free speech rights can be canceled by agency secrecy regulations.”
MacLean responded to the court’s decision: “I’m extremely honored and grateful that the Court decided on this case. Many great people from non-government organizations, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, Congress, and the courts came together to make this happen. I believe this ruling will give other federal employees more confidence in exposing wrongdoing without breaking the law. No matter what happens, it will always be difficult for a person to risk his career when speaking out.”
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From the Food Integrity Campaign
Today, one of the most dangerous contexts for witnessing and acting upon that witness is industrialized animal farming (factory farms, or CAFOs [Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations]). Witnesses are usually undercover activists who have gained employment, but even farmers/ranchers themselves have come forward as witnesses in recent years. Those who work undercover are endangered by what are known as “Ag Gag” laws. “Essentially, Ag Gag makes it a crime to report a crime. Concerned advocates are speaking out against these offensive laws on behalf of truth-tellers and whistleblowers.... Going through ‘proper channels’ to report abuse often results in reprisal from supervisors, who try to silence employees through intimidation. Video is often the only way to prove allegations.”
In the 2012-2013 legislative session, 11 states introduced such bills: Arkansas, California, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wyoming -- hoping to join Missouri, which has a law that prohibits undercover investigation of animal facilities. In 2014, “Idaho became the first state to pass an Ag Gag bill since Utah enacted its law in 2012,” and already in 2015, five states have introduced Ag Gag bills: Colorado, Missouri (broadening their existing bill), Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.
Particular examples (arguably inappropriate to the pulpit... or polite conversation!) of work done by the Government Accountability Project (GAP) to protect whistleblowers are found on this webpage under “Full Story” and include Chicken “Fecal Soup”: “USDA grader Hobart Bartley, who was transferred and demoted in 1985 after repeatedly warning the agency of unsanitary conditions at a Missouri poultry plant, came to GAP and was able to expose the routine practice of soaking thousands of chicken carcasses in a giant ‘chiller’ (with dried blood, feces, and hair floating in along with the dead birds) in order to increase their selling weight. His story was featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
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You can also find stories of ranchers and farmers turning from animal agriculture to animal protection after witnessing even “humane farming” and determining that it ultimately violated their personal ethics. Their particular dilemma was pointed out in a well-known quote from novelist and slaughterhouse journalist Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Several of the people profiled on this website have been featured in Tribe of Heart’s 2009 documentary Peaceable Kingdom.
Howard F. Lyman is an American farmer and animal rights activist who is known for his actions promoting vegetarian (and vegan) nutrition and organic farming. It was not until April 1996 that Lyman became well-known. In an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Lyman made remarks which in turn led to Oprah renouncing hamburgers. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association sued Lyman and Winfrey. Both were found not guilty of any wrongdoing early in 1998.
Lyman says: “The people I knew involved in animal production were good people just trying to do the best they knew how for what they envisioned were the right reasons -- feeding a hungry America. They believed they were providing an absolute necessity: first-class protein. It was ingrained in them from the time they were kids: ‘Eat your meat.’ ”
In an interview, Lyman recalls the difficult moment he discovered that he could no longer turn away from the question of killing animals we have no need to harm at all: “Not ‘Am I nice to my animals?’ or ‘Do I feed them well?’ but ‘My God, should we be eating them?’... I was in the bathroom and I was looking in the mirror: it was so traumatic for me that I damn near tore the sink off the wall. That was a door of my soul that I had never opened before. And once I’d opened it, I could never close it again because I knew what those animals looked like when they went onto the kill floor. I knew what was in their eyes, and I was the person putting them there. It was like everything that you believe to be righteous and holy was all of a sudden at risk. Could I actually allow my mind to sort through that? And did I have the intestinal fortitude to know the difference and to make a change? Do you go to your wife when you have a multi-million dollar operation and say, ‘Wait a minute: I think what we are doing is wrong’? I realized that my livelihood was built on sand. Everything I’d believed in my entire life was at risk because there I was with a business built on killing animals.”
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From team member Leah Lonsbury:
Luke 24:36b-48
While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering...
The good news: the economy is improving and the ranks of the unemployed are declining steadily in number.
The bad news: nearly three-quarters of people on public assistance are a part of a family headed by someone who works.
So the joy of this good news is sullied by the effect of the bad, according to a new study by the UC-Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education:
As a result, taxpayers are providing not only support to the poor but also, in effect, a huge subsidy for employers of low-wage workers, from giants like McDonald’s and Walmart to mom-and-pop businesses. “This is a hidden cost of low-wage work,” said Ken Jacobs, chairman of the Berkeley center and a co-author of the report, which is scheduled for release on Monday.
Many enthusiastic employees still find themselves in a “crazy dilemma,” like Denise Rush, a home health care worker in Durham, North Carolina:
[She] often works seven days a week, returning home near midnight after her two teenagers have already gone to bed. At $9.50 an hour, her biweekly paycheck totals just over $700, or the cost of her monthly rent. There is little left for other expenses.
“It’s a crazy dilemma,” she said. “Do I pay the whole bill or do I gas up the car to go to work?”
Despite receiving coverage for her children’s health care from Medicaid as well as about $300 a month in food stamps, Ms. Rush, 41, is still struggling. “We’re talking about basic needs,” she said, including such staples of modern life as a cellphone to keep in touch with work and her children and a home internet connection to allow her children to do their homework.
Her paycheck also fails to pay for the uniforms and fees for the lacrosse, basketball, and soccer teams that Ms. Rush says she believes are essential to keep her son and daughter occupied and out of trouble while she is working. Fortunately, she said, the school has helped pick up that tab.
About 48 percent of home health care workers are on public assistance, the Berkeley researchers found. So are 46 percent of child care workers and 52 percent of fast-food workers.
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Luke 24:36b-48
When Jesus wanted to prove who he was to his disbelieving disciples, he did a very human thing. He ate with them.
Here are two different takes on food, those who have it and those who don’t, and what it means to have your humanity recognized and honored via a meal.
A restaurant owner left the most heartwarming note for the person who was digging through her trash.
The double-standard of making the poor prove they’re worthy of government benefits.
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1 John 3:1-7
The 2016 candidates for president are beginning to line up, but it’s hard to tell this early what exactly they might be like as commander-in-chief.
Hillary Clinton’s 404 error page reveals she might have a sense of humor in the Oval Office, allowing her not to take herself too seriously.
Senator Marco Rubio is positioning himself as the candidate for a new generation, a new day -- specifically today. At a rally in Miami, Rubio set out to make that point by distancing himself from those who have been around the block a few more times. He called Hillary “a leader from yesterday” who will “take us back to yesterday,” and claimed he cannot wait to run as some suggest he should. Rubio’s time, according to Rubio, is now.
Much more will be revealed about these candidates and the many others who will also inevitably run. What will be revealed, though? What will it tell us about these candidates?
As children of God, we will be revealed as God is revealed. When we experience, know, and understand God, we will experience, know, and understand ourselves truly. One way for God (and so ourselves) to be revealed is in righteous living, teaches Paul (v. 7). How might we be revealed as God is revealed when we live well together?
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From team member Ron Love:
1 John 3:1-7
The religion of Hinduism understands the entrapment of living a self-centered life. Hinduism is the oldest established religion in the world, and the third largest. At the end of the first century C.E., the Laws of Manu were established. These laws report the four basic goals that motivate humanity, thus they have also come to be called the “Four Ends of Human Life.” A young man should transcend from a lower level to the next until he discovers the true meaning of life. The journey begins with kama, or pleasure, where one discovers purpose by gratifying the senses. At this stage kama-sutra may be a familiar phrase to us, having become a part of the English lexicon. The Kama-Sutra is an often quoted text for its picturesque descriptions of various positions for sexual intercourse. It is here, at kama, as a hedonist, that one begins the journey of life. Unfulfilled, the young man moves to artha, which means financial success or wealth. This is the first attempt to set some real goals, but it reflects a misplaced ambition. He continues to sense an inner disquiet, because as well as being successful he equally desires to be respected. Therefore he strives for dharma, which is righteous living. As a viable contributor to the community he knows he is doing good for others, but yet there still remains an emptiness. His goal now becomes moksha, which means liberation or spiritual freedom, and it is here that the real purpose of life is realized. Moksha is attained by disidentification with the body and mind, which becomes the realization of our true identity.
Application: Sin is not an abstract concept, as we all dwell behind the dark curtain of kama. Sin is not the evening news; it is what the front door of our dwelling conceals from friends and family. Sin is not absent from the temples of righteousness, as steeples cast a foreboding shadow upon the pretenders of virtue. (Even though this is a concept from Hinduism, it does offer insight for us into the meaning of sin.)
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1 John 3:1-7
In the 1970s Karl Menninger wrote a book that was widely read, studied, and discussed. Menninger was a Harvard-educated psychiatrist who established the Menninger Sanitarium in 1925 in Topeka, Kansas. As a psychiatrist he believed that mental health is dependent upon physical, social, cultural and moral (spiritual) health. A significant aspect of spiritual health is to be unencumbered by the ramifications of sin. Therefore his book (penned by a medical doctor) was titled Whatever Became of Sin? The following paragraph is the one that is most often quoted: “The very word ‘sin,’ which seems to have disappeared, was a proud word. It was once a strong word, an ominous and serious word. It described a central point in every civilized human being’s life plan and lifestyle. But the word went away. It has almost disappeared -- the word, along with the notion. Why? Doesn’t anyone sin anymore? Doesn’t anyone believe in sin?”
Application: Has the word “sin” gone out of your vocabulary, or is it just reserved for the other person? Has sin gone out of your life, but lives abundant in your neighbors? Has sin avoided your church pew, but inhabits that which is behind, in front, and of course across the aisle? If sin is not to be found in your life, then where is it?
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1 John 3:1-7
Each morning an elderly woman was seen kneeling in Florence before a statue of the Virgin Mary at the city’s great cathedral. Savanarola, the respected pastor of the city, commented to a friend on how devout the woman was. But the great 15th-century preacher was offered a word of caution. The woman he saw kneeling each morning had been asked when she was young to pose as the Virgin Mary by the one of the cathedral’s sculptures. What Savanarola was witnessing was not an act of contrition but one of egotism. She was kneeling before herself.
Application: Pride is arrogant self-worship.
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1 John 3:1-7
United Methodist bishop and contemporary theologian William Willimon wrote that without pride, there would not be the six other deadly sins. If we had a healthy self-esteem and an accurate sense of self-awareness, then we would be absent of pride. We would understand our attributes and the counterbalance of our faults, resulting in proper self-respect and respect of others. Willimon wrote, “Arrogance and conceit are two of the sins that are fathered (or mothered) by the sin of Pride. Self-respect is one thing; self-infatuation is another. In noting that Pride is the first of the deadly sins, the root... makes life together difficult.”
Application: Pride may have been the first sin. When Satan asked Eve “did God really say,” she questioned the superiority of her knowledge over that of her Creator. And of course she ate, thinking she knew more.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Answer us when we call, O God of our right!
People: Be gracious to us, and hear our prayer.
Leader: Know that God has set apart the faithful.
People: God hears us when we call.
Leader: We will both lie down and sleep in peace.
People: God alone makes us lie down in safety.
OR
Leader: Come into the presence of the Risen Christ.
People: We come as disciples of the Risen One.
Leader: Hear again the message of God’s grace and love.
People: With joy we hear of God’s love for all creation.
Leader: Know that you are God’s witnesses of that love.
People: We will proclaim new life in God to all.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“I Love to Tell the Story”
found in:
UMH: 156
AAHH: 513
NNBH: 424
NCH: 522
CH: 480
LBW: 390
ELA: 661
W&P: 560
AMEC: 217
“Lift High the Cross”
found in:
UMH: 159
H82: 473
PH: 371
AAHH: 242
NCH: 198
CH: 108
LBW: 377
ELA: 660
W&P: 287
Renew: 297
“Alleluia, Alleluia”
found in:
UMH: 162
H82: 178
PH: 106
CH: 40
W&P: 291
Renew: 271
“We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations”
found in:
UMH: 569
NNBH: 416
W&P: 562
“Go, Make of All Disciples”
found in:
UMH: 571
“God of Grace and God of Glory”
found in:
UMH: 577
H82: 594, 595
PH: 420
NCH: 436
CH: 464
LBW: 415
ELA: 705
W&P: 569
AMEC: 62
STLT: 115
Renew: 301
“Here I Am, Lord”
found in:
UMH: 593
PH: 525
AAHH: 567
CH: 452
ELA: 574
W&P: 559
Renew: 149
“This Little Light of Mine”
found in:
UMH: 585
AAHH: 549
NNBH: 511
NCH: 524, 525
ELA: 677
STLT: 118
“Lord, I Lift Your Name on High”
found in:
CCB: 36
Renew: 4
“O How He Loves You and Me”
found in:
CCB: 38
Renew: 27
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who sent Jesus of Nazareth to witness to your love: Grant us the grace and the courage to be witnesses who call all to a new life through repentance and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We worship you, O God, because you sent us Jesus of Nazareth to witness to your great love for all creation. Receive our praises and fill us with your Spirit so that we may boldly proclaim the repentance and forgiveness that leads to life eternal. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our failure to be witnesses of God’s life-changing grace and love.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We gladly hear the good news of your love for us and your call to new life through repentance and forgiveness. We like to talk about your love for all the world, but we are slow to share that good news with others. Fill us with your Spirit and with a bold courage that enables us to be active witnesses of your love and grace. Amen.
Leader: God’s love is for all, even for those of us who are poor witnesses. Receive God’s grace as you truly repent and turn your lives around so that you can be bold witnesses for God.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Praise and glory are yours, O God, for in love you reach out and offer life to all of your creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We gladly hear the good news of your love for us and your call to new life through repentance and forgiveness. We like to talk about your love for all the world, but we are slow to share that good news with others. Fill us with your Spirit and with a bold courage that enables us to be active witnesses of your love and grace.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received from your gracious hand, and especially for the way you have set before us that leads to abundant life. We thank you for Jesus and his witness to that grace.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all, anywhere, who are in need. We pray for those who have not learned of your love and have not experienced the joy of finding a new life in you.
(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
Ask the children if they like to watch baseball, soccer, gymnastics, ice skating, etc. Talk about what you like to watch. Tell how sometimes you might want to watch something but you are busy and can’t. It is really nice if someone who has watched it tells you about it. But it doesn’t help if they watched it and don’t tell you. Jesus told his disciples, and us, that we not only know Jesus is risen but that we need to tell others.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
The Piece of Fish
Luke 24:36b-48
Object: a piece of broiled fish
What do you think Jesus was really like after he was resurrected? (let the children answer) Do you think he was taller than he was before he was crucified? (let them answer) Do you think maybe he was dressed a little better? (let them answer) One of the stories in the Bible talks about his disciples seeing Jesus after he was resurrected. It seemed to happen quite a few times, but they never seemed to get used to it. The disciples seemed to be just talking about what they heard or saw about Jesus, and there he would be. One moment he was not there and the next moment he was there. Sometimes they were locked in a room and he was not there. No one opened the door or undid the lock, but suddenly he was there. Another time they were standing outside listening to a report of a few of the disciples who had walked with him the night before, when all of a sudden he was there. Some people would even say they thought they had seen a ghost. Do you think you would know a ghost if you saw one? (let them answer) Can you touch a ghost? Can you see right through a ghost? (get several opinions) How do you think you would test someone to see if they were a ghost or a real person? (let them answer)
Those are pretty good ways. Jesus had this suggestion. He invited the disciples to touch him and to see if he had flesh and bones. He also suggested to them to look at his wounds that had been caused by the nails pounded into his hands and the spear pushed into side. They were thrilled to see Jesus. They didn’t want him to go away. They wished that he would just stay with them, but they did act a lot like he was a ghost -- and Jesus knew it. He even talked about them thinking that he was a ghost.
Finally, Jesus knew how to change their minds. Do you know what he did? (let them answer) Jesus asked them if they had anything to eat. Now, ghosts do not eat. You would be able to see the food float around inside of them. Ghosts don’t eat. One of them took a piece of fish that had just been cooked on their grill and gave it to Jesus. What do you think happened? (let them answer) That’s right; he ate it. He ate the whole thing. One piece of fish, grilled by the disciples, and he ate the whole thing. He put it in his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it.
So the next time you wonder what Jesus looked like after he was resurrected, think of the piece of broiled fish he ate in front of the disciples. Then you will know he was no ghost but instead was the resurrected Son of God.
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The Immediate Word, April 19, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 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.
