What Belongs to God?
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In this week’s lectionary gospel text, the Pharisees scheme to trap Jesus with what in journalistic parlance is known as a “gotcha” question -- asking him if it is lawful for religious folk to pay taxes to the emperor. After lashing out at them for “putting me to the test,” Jesus responds with his famous dictum that we should give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer points out how this is a timely question to consider with all of the ongoing controversy over how we ought to honor our civic icons and rituals like the flag and the national anthem. Dean notes that the important question is “What belongs to God?” -- and as we debate the proper distinctions between church and state, he wonders if we too easily try to make artificial separations between what belongs to God and what belongs to the modern equivalent of the emperor... our country. After all, Dean reminds us, everything belongs to God -- and that context informs Jesus’ response to the Pharisees’ attempt to trap him. Perhaps, therefore, the devotion we often lavish on our national symbols ought to be reserved for our true sovereign -- the Lord almighty.
Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the apostle Paul’s lifting up of the Thessalonian community of faith. Using the lens of Harvey Weinstein’s downfall, Chris suggests that there may be parallels between the massive national outpouring of long-ignored stories by women about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault -- and the ad hoc support network that has blossomed online -- and the Thessalonian congregation. Like those early Christians, who Paul points to as a model for other congregations, Chris wonders if the stories women share can teach us all to find a better way -- and to speak the truth with steadfast conviction.
What Belongs to God?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 22:15-22
“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower.”
Wait a minute... that’s not the gospel lesson for this week.
Okay, you’re right. Matthew’s version of the parable of the wicked tenants comes 14 verses before this week’s lection. In Mark and Luke it comes immediately before, and in all three it provides a context for this week’s battle of wits between Jesus and the Pharisees/Herodians.
The landowner in the parable owns the vineyard. He owns the vines, the grapes, the fence, the wine press, and the watchtower. It’s all his. The tenants owe him his due, and they refuse to provide it at their peril.
That’s the context that hovers over this week’s gospel lesson wherein the Pharisees and Herodians, normally bitter rivals, team up to entangle Jesus in a trick question with no right answer. And it hovers over Jesus’ response to their question: Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
It hovers over the question we ask upon hearing this answer: “What belongs to God?”
And it hovers over us when we try to figure out whom we should honor, whom we should revere, and to what we should pledge our allegiance.
In the News
Early Christians would no doubt have been stunned and offended if someone suggested that in order to be
good Christians they had to pledge allegiance to the Roman empire. But that is exactly what is being said by many today. Some have discovered that to question that assertion can bring down a great deal of controversy and disdain, and even unemployment, upon their head.
It all started last fall with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
According to Mark Sandritter, the national anthem protests unfolded pretty much like this:
On August 14 and 20, 2016, Kaepernick began sitting during the national anthem as a silent protest to show support for people of color who are being oppressed in the United States, and to take a stand against police brutality. It was an effort to use his voice and his position as a NFL player to effect change for the people who are suffering, and who don’t have the same ability to create significant change.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said via NFL.com. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street, and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Because he was not suited and didn’t play in those games, however, Kaepernick’s protest went largely unnoticed. It wasn’t until the third game of the preseason (August 26) schedule that people began to take notice.
Two days later, Kaepernick met with the media and reiterated that he was acting to give a voice to people who didn’t have one: “I’m going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there’s significant change and I feel that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand.”
He went on to say: “I have great respect for the men and women that have fought for this country. I have family, I have friends that have gone and fought for this country. And they fight for freedom, they fight for the people, they fight for liberty and justice, for everyone. That’s not happening.”
On September 1, after talking with former Green Beret Nate Boyer, Kaepernick did not sit, but instead took a knee in deference to the military. After the game, Kaepernick announced a plan to donate $1 million to charities focusing on racial issues.
Also, on that day Jeremy Lane of the Seattle Seahawks became the first non-teammate to join Kaepernick in protest by sitting during the anthem. “I wasn’t trying to say anything. Just standing behind Kaepernick,” Lane said following the game. He added that he would keep doing it until he felt like justice was served.
On September 4, the protest spread outside the NFL when U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem before the NWSL match between the Seattle Reign and Chicago Red Stars, in support of Colin Kaepernick.
On September 9, Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall (a college teammate of Kaepernick) took a knee during the national anthem at the NFL regular season opener. “I’m not against the military. I’m not against the police or America,” Marshall said, according to the Denver Post. “I’m against social injustice.”
The first Sunday of the 2016 NFL season took place on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This made the national anthem ceremonies on that day particularly emotional. Four Miami Dolphins players -- running back Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas, wide receiver Kenny Stills, and linebacker Jelani Jenkins -- took a knee during the anthem after standing up for a 9/11 acknowledgment.
After the game, Foster explained that he loves the country and the rights it affords him. He later tweeted “don’t let the love for a symbol overrule the love for your fellow human.”
No Seahawks players took a knee during the anthem, but the entire team did link arms as a way of honoring the flag and continuing the conversation that Kaepernick started. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs locked arms before kickoff of their game with the San Diego Chargers.
Throughout the fall, similar protests continued to spread... and Time magazine featured Kaepernick kneeling on the cover of the October 3 issue.
Fast forward to this fall, and what had been a relatively limited number of protests during the NFL preseason became an avalanche after President Trump weighed in on the issue during a September 22 rally in North Carolina, using a vulgar epithet to describe protesting players and calling for all of them to be fired. He accused the protestors of intentionally disrespecting the flag, the country, and the military.
In response to the president’s remarks, on September 24 over 200 players join the protest -- while the Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, and Tennessee Titans refused to come onto the field during the national anthem.
On October 8, Vice President Mike Pence left an Indianapolis Colts football game in what turned out to be a pre-planned counter-protest cooked up by President Trump. Also, on that day Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones -- who previously had locked arms and knelt with his players before the national anthem -- announced that any player who “disrespects the flag” will not play for the team.
Since then, the October 2 massacre of 58 and wounding of approximately 500 concertgoers in Las Vegas and the charges of sexual harassment against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, have pushed the national anthem protests off the front page. Few reporters mentioned the protests on October 8 or 15.
On more than a few occasions, it was explained to the press that the protests were meant to draw attention to and raise issues of race and justice in America. In many cases, however, the issue that took precedence over the intended one had more to do with the deference Americans of any race should pay to the American flag and the national anthem. The focus shifted from racial oppression and the behavior of the police to the nature of patriotism and what occasions and venues are appropriate for staging political protests.
One cannot help but wonder where Jesus might have come down on the continuum representing this delicate, emotionally charged debate. We need not wonder for long, however. This week’s gospel lection finds Jesus being drawn into a political debate with a question that has no correct answer.
In the Scriptures
As pointed out above, this story sits squarely in the middle of and cannot be correctly understood outside of the context established in previous verses -- that is, the parable of the wicked tenants. So any faithful exegesis of the current passage must necessarily consider, if only briefly, that parable.
In that story, a wealthy man builds a vineyard as an investment. He plants grapes, builds a stone fence or wall around its perimeter to keep out animals, creates a building in the center to serve as a shelter for the tenant vinekeepers, erects a lookout tower to observe and protect the vineyard, and digs a pit to serve as a wine press for turning the grapes into juice, which in turn will become wine.
He lets all this out to tenants who reside at or near the vineyard to take care of and protect -- and, when the time is right, to harvest the grapes. The customary rent would be about half of the harvest.
But when the harvest time rolls around and the man sends some servants to collect the rent, the tenants mistreat and even kill the servants. He does it again, and the result is the same.
Finally, exasperated, he sends his son to collect the rent. “Surely they will honor my son and pay me what is mine,” he reasons to himself -- while we wonder how he could be so naïve. What makes him think that they are going to honor his son when they have honored no one else, including himself?
So, of course, the tenants don’t honor the son. In fact, they kill him.
Some scholars have suggested that because the son came to collect, the tenants believed that the landlord was dead -- and that by killing the son they would be able to keep the vineyard for themselves. Most, however, believe that the tenants killed the son simply because they could. The landlord would be so overcome with grief that he would never bother to take revenge on them.
They are, of course, wrong.
Everyone hearing the story knows that. When Jesus asks them what the landlord will do, they are clear about the answer and quick to give voice to it. What will he do? Why, he will fall upon these evil men with all of his power and might and put them all to the spear and sword.
The vineyard, after all, was his. He was asking only for what was due him. The tenants will get what they deserve.
Now, with that story and the lessons it teaches in our minds, as it was in the minds of the very first readers of this text, let us move to this week’s lesson.
The Pharisees were a religious party, and the Herodians were a political party.
The Pharisees were religious and doctrinal purists. They believed that Israel was a separate nation, set apart for God’s purpose. They believed in rigorous interpretation of the Torah, and rigorous practice of its precepts.
The Herodians believed that it was good for Israel to acquiesce to Rome. They backed the Herods, kings appointed by the Romans to rule Palestine, and they thought that Rome was a gift from God that would ultimately modernize and strengthen God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel.
So it is no surprise that these two groups were usually at each other's throats. They had completely different rules, goals, and methods. Not to put too fine a point on it, they hated each other.
But here we find them working together.
They come up with a question that has no acceptable answer, and it is this: Should we pay taxes? Seems simple, right? Straightforward. Yes or no... or maybe not.
If Jesus says, “yes,” the Pharisees will indict him for pandering to the Romans.
If he says, “no,” the Herodians will accuse him of treason, or at least of promoting tax evasion.
There is no right answer.
So Jesus doesn’t answer the question. Or, he answers their question with a question of his own. “Who has a denarius? Let me see one.” A denarius was about the equivalent of the modern $20 bill and was one of the most common coins in the Roman world.
Someone produces a coin and Jesus looks at it -- and then he asks the BIG QUESTION: Whose picture is on the coin?
“The emperor’s,” they respond.
Jesus concludes the exchange with a response that is a brilliant mix of seeming simplicity and complex irony. “So, give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and to God what belongs to God.”
In the Sermon
When approaching a topic that is infused with emotion and rhetoric, a topic that may be controversial, the wise preacher starts with scripture -- and that is where we begin today.
For centuries, the sentence “Give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and to God what belongs to God” has been used as a justification for everything from paying taxes to going to war. It has been interpreted as an admonition to do whatever the government requires or requests of us. But it also raises questions. If a directive comes to us printed on the government’s letterhead, are we duty-bound to follow it? If something is allowed by the constitution, do we have no choice but to allow it?
Such an interpretation does not fully appreciate the context in which the story is set. It does not allow for a critical examination of the issues that permeate the topic.
Before we can give a responsible and authentic response to Jesus’ direction, we must ask and answer the question “What belongs to the government, and what belongs to God?”
Fortunately, Jesus has already answered that question in the parable that precedes this scene. In the parable, the vineyard clearly belongs to the landowner. The vines, the grapes, the wall, the tower, the winepress -- they all belong to him. He allows the tenants to farm the vineyard as an act of grace, and in exchange for their labor they get to keep half the produce.
But no law says that he has to give them half of the grapes. He chooses to do so. He could decide to give them less, and if they didn’t like it they could go find another vineyard to work in. This particular owner, however, is fair, kind, and generous.
But they don’t want to give him even the portion that is his due. They want to keep it for themselves, and so determined are they to do so that they will commit murder in the pursuit of that end -- and it will, eventually, be their undoing.
Clearly, God is the landowner in this story. The vineyard was Israel when the story was first uttered. But time has allowed us to replace Israel with other things: my country, myself, my money, etc. Whatever we insert there, the important thing to remember is that it belongs to God.
In fact, everything belongs to God.
For the people of God, that and that alone will determine how we relate to everything else in our world: our country, our money, our belongings, our future, our family.
They all belong to God, regardless whose face is on the coins and whose name is on the letterhead.
SECOND THOUGHTS
#Thessalonians Too
by Chris Keating
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
For decades, Hollywood kept its mouth shut.
Threatened by the considerable power of men like Harvey Weinstein and overwhelmed by threats of volatile retribution, many victims of assault buried their stories. As detailed in recent reports, it was Weinstein’s power and money which enabled his monstrous behavior to continue for nearly 30 years.
While Hollywood’s sordid “casting couch” culture goes back nearly a century, Weinstein’s decades-long pattern of assault, harassment, and rape is nearly as astonishing as his career in films. Reports of his behavior made their way into the national media last month, led by stories in the New York Times and New Yorker. The reports reveal a strikingly similar pattern of manipulation.
The allegations also resonate with accounts of the misdeeds of many other powerful men -- Clarence Thomas, Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Donald Trump, and assorted executives at Fox News and Amazon, to name a few. The revelations surrounding Weinstein’s patterns of abuse are reminders of a mentality that tolerates abuse, and a culture that is complicit with abusers. As Maureen Dowd noted, “Hollywood is a culture that runs on fear.”
But it is not just Hollywood.
Over the weekend, Weinstein’s dramatic free fall from the pantheon of Hollywood’s prestigious elite continued when he was ousted by a club he had studiously endeavored to control. Directors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled Weinstein, in what the Los Angeles Times called “an unprecedented public rebuke of a prominent industry figure.”
Well over two-thirds of its membership voted to eject Weinstein. The academy’s statement made it clear that even a legend is not above reproach:
We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over. What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society. The board continues to work to establish ethical standards of conduct that all academy members will be expected to exemplify.
It was a move -- to borrow the apostle Paul’s language -- filled with power and full conviction.
In response, women began sharing accounts of sexual assault cross social media. Facebook and Twitter’s propellers churned out stories tagged #MeToo, highlighting women’s experiences of sexual exploitation. The stories of daughters, sisters, mothers, friends sounded strikingly familiar to the experiences of actors and executives, and many others, who have lived through terrifying, dehumanizing encounters.
One woman recounted the rape and abuse she experienced from her pastor -- a reminder that Hollywood is hardly the only place where sexuality has been weaponized. After he raped her, the pastor told her: “You were just too much a temptation for me.”
After years of therapy, this young victim struggled to feel at home in her body. She says that it is often hard to admit that monsters may look like us, or even people we most deeply trust. “I wish this weren’t my story,” she wrote recently, “with it, though, I hope to make all the good I can. My interest and vocational expertise in spiritual formation and leadership is not happenstance, nor did it arise out of mere intellectual curiosity. I write and teach on what it means for Christians, especially those in authority, to actually live and be like Jesus -- through and through -- so that maybe tomorrow, there will be fewer people with stories like mine.”
Hers is a story of faith arising from desperate circumstances. It is a story not dissimilar to the faith of those Paul encountered in Thessalonica. Paul calls the Thessalonians to continue building on the foundations of faith by becoming imitators of Christ, “to actually live like Jesus.” They are the church, the ones called to new life. Their fellowship of grace, equality, and hope is empowered by Christ’s love and strength, perhaps not unlike the way the #MeToo sisterhood has been empowered by the sharing of stories. The Thessalonians have a story of faith which has produced lives of steadfastness and hope, the word of their experiences is starting to spread.
Similarly, the long silent #MeToo sisterhood has somehow managed to discover hope in the shadows of abuse. Weinstein’s downfall is a reminder of how truth longs to be heard, even if it must be shouted across the chasms of lies and deceit. The stories of victims become the foundational stories of a community which is often ignored, though nearly universally present.
#MeToo holds the possibility of becoming more than a historical blip in time. Indeed, it holds the possibility of offering transformation, of inviting structural change. There is more here than just a fleeting trending Twitter hashtag. It could become, like those to whom Paul writes with such affection, a community of hope gathered by grace to continue the work of God in the world. Their stories could prompt us to be imitators of grace, instead of imitators of the profoundly perverted.
Along with their mother, my three daughters have taught my son and I a good bit about becoming imitators of grace. The outnumbered males of our family learn from these courageous women. At times we’re still clumsy, but they are remarkably patient in teaching us what it means to speak in a culture which often prefers they remain silent. They have become examples to the men around them, inviting us to imitate them in the patterns of grace. It is perhaps not unlike the way the story of those blessed Thessalonians inspired Paul’s other fledgling congregations.
Harvey Weinstein’s tales of abuse will not be the last time we hear stories of sexual assault. That is a stark and bitter truth. Yet the stories of women and men who have discovered the power to rise from brokenness to speak with power and full conviction are signs of a beautiful and sustaining hope. It is to such stories that Paul calls us to listen.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Matthew 22:15-22
Render to God
“Give to God the things that belong to God,” Jesus instructs. Math professor Richard Semmler has found the right equation for giving in his personal life: Semmler believes in living so he has money to give away... lots of money to give away. “In the last 35 years, by working part-time jobs and forgoing such everyday comforts as a home telephone and vacations, by living in an efficiency apartment and driving an old car, Semmler has donated as much as half of his annual income or more to charity. His goal: $1 million before he retires.” Semmler’s generosity is unusual. “Each year, U.S. households give away an average of 2 percent of their income to nonprofit and religious organizations, according to Giving USA, which tracks donation trends. A household with Semmler’s annual income, $100,000, donates an average of $2,000 annually to charity. Last year, Semmler gave away $60,000.”
Semmler’s giving began with a gift to him. He is the son of a Rochester electrician and a secretary who couldn’t afford the money for college for him. “Semmler, a top track athlete in high school, attended Plattsburgh State on scholarships. In gratitude, he made his first contribution -- $25 -- to the school after graduating in 1968. ‘That’s the snowball that started rolling,’ Semmler recalled with a rich chuckle. ‘As it did, it got bigger and bigger and bigger.’ Decades later, he resembles a youthful, beardless Santa Claus -- with his rolling laugh, bushy white hair, rosy face, and slight paunch. Those who work with him say he is always smiling.”
Semmler understands what belongs to the world and what belongs to God, and gives away God’s portion with exuberant generosity.
*****
Matthew 22:15-22
Jesus Tells Us to Pay it Forward
By telling people to give to God what belongs to God, Jesus us reminding us that everything belongs to God. Our lives are the gift we owe to God. In that spirit, Omid Safi recalls a speech that Maya Angelou gave when he was a college student.
Angelou “didn’t just walk on the stage. She strutted. She prowled. She moved like a tiger teasing her prey. She owned the crowd. She played with the crowd. She was so comfortable in front of this group of uncertain 17- and 18-year-olds. She loomed larger than most of the audience, including the collection of funnily-dressed professors, mostly white men, almost all in these ridiculous costumes (academic robes). In the middle of her speech, she pointed in her inimitable, dramatic way to the crowd and thundered: “You have been paid for.” We were thousands crammed into the chapel, but somehow I felt like she was looking at me. It was as if her loving, wise glance reached right to me and went through me. “You have been paid for.” She saw me. She saw my family. She saw our sacrifice. She saw our struggle. She saw our humanity.”
College was a huge expense for his family, and he was one of six children in the family. “But here was this magnificent, charismatic, beautiful, wise black woman telling me that I was paid for. Sitting there with all the insecurity of not knowing how to pay for college, how my parents were going to pay for my college, feeling guilty that my family was spending our finite resources on college, feeling that I didn’t belong (no, knowing that I didn’t belong), and having some of my classmates tell me that I didn’t belong (“You are only here because you are a diversity applicant,” I was told in my first week of college by a kid down my hall), knowing that I was paid for was reassuring. I felt less alone knowing that my parents’ sacrifice kept me company. I was there with my family’s love, with their sacrifice, and I was not alone. I was paid for. I was paid for not just in money (though I still carry the student loans almost three decades later); I was paid for in love, I was paid for in tears, and I was paid for in sacrifice. And somebody knew that.”
In the same way, our lives are already claimed by Jesus. Now we can do the work of paying that gift forward, as we render our lives to the God to whom we belong. As Omid Safi says, “There is a circle of life. And there are circles of love. Circles of sacrifice. No beginning, no end. We are here because somebody loved us. We are here because somebody sacrificed for us. We are here because somebody paid for us. Pay it forward.”
*****
Matthew 22:15-22
Paying What We Owe
Lynne Twist, in her lovely book The Soul of Money, tells about the time her mother was near the end of her life. She was in hospice care, and she wanted to be sure she was leaving people with what she wanted them to have.
She got out the Yellow Pages and made a list of the people whom she had known over the years, then had her daughter call the first number, her dry cleaner. When they answered, she asked for Ken, the manager. “Ken,” she said, “this is Mrs. Tenney. I’m dying... and I’m speaking with my daughter about all the people who have made this final part of my life so special. You have been cleaning my clothes for the past 20 years, and I feel served and cared for by you and your people behind the counter. I appreciate you, and I want you to know that when a person gets old and can’t do a lot for herself anymore, the people in the neighborhood who provide those needed services become the people who inhabit your life, the people who make your day.” She thanked him, and told him what he and his business had meant to her. She added that she would like him to come to her funeral when the time came, and to sit right behind her family. She passed the phone to her daughter, who wrote down his name and phone number. She did the same with the two women who worked behind the counter.
Then she did the same thing with her favorite restaurant, talking with the chef and her favorite waitress... the car repair shop, and the man who fixed her car... the pharmacy, including the pharmacist and the delivery person... the woman behind the makeup counter at the department store... her hairdresser, and so on. “Each conversation was very moving,” and people were surprised to be remembered. Mrs. Tenney had paid for all of these services, but there was another layer of relationship under each transaction. She wanted people to know that more had happened than just the exchange of money and services.
What we owe to people is often much more than money, and paying these debts leads us into deeper connections with each other.
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Exodus 33:12-23
In the popular comic strip Ziggy, the title character is a small, bald, trouserless, barefoot, almost featureless character (save for his large nose) who seems to have no friends, hobbies, or romantic partner and who it appears is always being confronted by the problems of life. In one episode Ziggy is standing on a hilltop looking into the night sky. All he can see is cluster after cluster of brightly shinning stars. In front of him, on top of that hill, is a sign that reads: “Wish upon a star. 1 trillion stars. No waiting.”
Application: It is important for us to know that our God is present with us.
*****
Psalm 99
In a Peanuts comic strip, Linus is standing in a grassy field, eyes shut, with a tranquil smile on his face. As he meditates there, his older sister Lucy walks up to him with an inquisitive look on her face. Linus smiles, then says to her: “Stand real still and feel the warm air on your back... doesn’t that feel great? And it’s free.” Lucy follows those instructions, and ends up standing with a smile as large as her little brother.
Application: Linus understood the meaning of meditation and worship.
*****
Psalm 99
During prayer, as all the other Anglicans in church knelt at their pews, George Washington would stand tall at his pew. An explanation was never offered for this action. It was wondered if Washington was imitating the early Christians who stood during prayer as a part of their Jewish heritage. Or perhaps he stood because that is how he did it as an officer when he served in the English army. In either case, it was certainly a declaration that Washington understood himself to be a “child of God.”
Application: Worship is a sign of respecting God.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Harvey Weinstein, the movie mogul who co-founded the Weinstein film company, has been in the news as revelation after revelation has been reported regarding his sexual abuse of women. Most of his victims were young actresses who were trying to land a role in one of his films, and to do so would have to accommodate Weinstein’s sexual demands. If they didn’t comply, not only would they not get the movie role they were auditioning for but Weinstein would make it impossible for them to get a part in any future movie. Three women accused Weinstein of rapping them. One of those women was Italian actress Asia Argento. In an interview for the New Yorker, Argento shared how Weinstein ruined the careers of actresses who would not meet his sexual demands, and presented this as the reason she has remined silent until now. Argento said, “I know he has crushed a lot of people before. That’s why this story -- in my case, it’s 20 years old, some of them are older -- has never come out.”
Application: Sometimes speaking the truth is difficult and can have repercussions.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
When it comes to a charge of publishing fake news, the internet is a culprit. Online services are designed to engross users in controversial subjects with outlandish opinions. This makes online services very vulnerable to posting stories that are not true. According to a report by the Associated Press, “That problem is much bigger in the wake of disaster, when facts are still unclear and the demand for information runs high.” While established news organizations check their facts, especially by the history of accuracy by reliable sources, Facebook and Google are unable to do this. Also, according to David Carroll, a professor of media design at Parsons School of Design in New York, Facebook and Google get caught off-guard “because their algorithms just look for signs of popularity and recency at first,” without first checking to ensure relevance. The AP article went on to note, “Thanks to political polarization, the very notion of what constitutes a ‘credible’ source of news is now a point of contention.”
Application: Paul writes about speaking the truth.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
The FBI has just completed a three-year investigation into payments and bribes to recruit high school basketball players to attend a certain university and sign with a particular agent. The payments were made by the Adidas shoe company, hoping that one of the high school recruits would become a NBA star and endorse Adidas products -- thus becoming hugely profitable for the company. Adidas is not the only shoe manufacturer involved in this scandal. A number of arrests were made. In the past payments were made to high school coaches, but now they are directed to the individual athletes and college assistant coaches. Most of the athletes come from an environment of poverty. An assistant coach is much more vulnerable than the head coach because they have much lower salaries and are responsible for recruiting star athletes. Larry Krystkowiak, the head coach at Utah, said, “I was told this summer by a coach ‘If you’re not cheating, you’re cheating yourself.’ Certain conferences, I think, are notorious for doing that, and if you’re trying to compete in those conferences and you don’t do it you’re going to be subpar. It’s a big egg on a lot of our faces.”
Application: Paul writes that we should be someone others want to imitate.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
The FBI has just completed a three-year investigation into payments and bribes to recruit high school basketball players to attend a certain university and sign with a particular agent. The payments were made by the Adidas shoe company, hoping that one of the high school recruits would become a NBA star and endorse Adidas products -- thus becoming hugely profitable for the company. Adidas is not the only shoe manufacturer involved in this scandal. A number of arrests were made. In the past payments were made to high school coaches, but now they are directed to the individual athletes and college assistant coaches. Most of the athletes come from an environment of poverty. An assistant coach is much more vulnerable than the head coach because they have much lower salaries and are responsible for recruiting star athletes. Frank Martin, the head coach at South Carolina, said: “Any coach in this business who tries to act like there weren’t any shenanigans going on the way it was reported, they’re not being honest with you.” The Gamecocks head coach went on to explain why he never got involved. “I have not worked so hard to overcome the odds, to obtain the job and the trust of the people who have employed me to circumvent it for a couple of dollars.” Martin began as a bar bouncer, then a Florida high school coach, before being hired as a college basketball coach.
Application: Paul writes that we should be someone others want to imitate.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Cam Newton, the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, was at a recent news conference when Charlotte Observer reporter Jourdan Rodrigue asked him about wide receiver Devin Funchess’ route running. The quarterback laughed and replied: “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes. It’s funny.” Newspaper journalists, television commentators, and social media instantly took Newton to task for his sexist response. On Twitter, Newton offered a two-minute video apology. In part he said, “What I did was extremely unacceptable. I’m a father to two beautiful daughters and I try to instill in them that they can be anything that they want to be.” It should be noted that while Newton made a public apology, he never apologized directly to Jourdan Rodrigue.
Application: Paul writes that we should be someone others want to imitate.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Charles Darwin remains a controversial individual because of his theory of evolution. Little known to the public is his cousin Francis Galton, who made an equally revolutionary discovery about the evolution of a species, but absent of Darwin’s controversy. Galton became intrigued with the nature of heredity. He developed mathematical formulas to examine the relative contributions of both parents, as well as grandparents, to the inherited makeup of an individual. He recorded how certain traits were passed on from one generation to another. For his studies, Galton became known as the father of eugenics.
Application: Paul writes that we are to labor for the Lord. Certainly the painstaking work of Galton was a labor of love as he tried to discover the genetic traits of individuals.
*****
Matthew 22:15-22
In a Blondie comic strip, Dagwood is in a store and is talked into buying an app (for $99.99) that allows Dagwood to monitor his favorite places for taking a nap. When he comes home and explains the purchase to his wife Blondie, she exclaims: “But I already know your favorite nap spots: the sofa and your chair at work! For free!” But Dagwood, admiring the app on his watch, replies, “Yeah, I know!! But now I have an app!”
Application: We need to know what is important in life and where our priorities are.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God is sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
People: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Leader: God is great in Zion and is exalted over all the peoples.
People: Extol God our God; worship at God’s footstool.
Leader: Extol our God, and worship at God’s holy mountain.
People: Extol our God who is most is holy.
OR
Leader: Let us worship the God who created all things.
People: We praise and adore our ever-creating God.
Leader: All that is and was and ever will be is God’s.
People: All creation and all of us belong to God.
Leader: Let us live as faithful tenants in God’s vineyard.
People: We are God’s children and will honor our God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty”
found in:
UMH: 64, 65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELA: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
“O Worship the King”
found in:
UMH: 73
H82: 388
PH: 476
NNBH: 6
NCH: 26
CH: 17
LBW: 548
ELA: 842
W&P: 2
AMEC: 12
“From All That Dwell Below the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 101
H82: 380
PH: 229
NCH: 27
CH: 49
LBW: 550
AMEC: 69
STLT: 381
“I Sing the Almighty Power of God”
found in:
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
“I Am Thine, O Lord”
found in:
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
“Rejoice, the Lord Is King”
found in:
UMH: 715, 716
H82: 481
PH: 155
NCH: 303
CH: 699
LBW: 171
ELA: 430
W&P: 342
AMEC: 88, 89
“Take My Life, and Let It Be”
found in:
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELA: 583, 685
W&P: 466
AMEC: 292
Renew: 150
“All Creatures of Our God and King”
found in:
UMH: 62
H82: 400
PH: 455
AAHH: 147
NNBH: 33
NCH: 17
CH: 22
LBW: 527
ELA: 835
W&P: 23
AMEC: 50
STLT: 203
Renew: 47
“This Is My Father’s World”
found in:
UMH: 144
H82: 651
PH: 293
AAHH: 149
NNBH: 41
CH: 59
LBW: 554
ELA: 824
W&P: 21
AMEC: 47
“From the Rising of the Sun”
found in:
CCB: 4
“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
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who created all the was and is and ever will be: Grant to us the wisdom to remember that everything is yours, so that we may use your gifts wisely to bring glory to you and justice and mercy to your people; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you have created all things. Receive our worship and thanksgivings, and grant us the wisdom to act as stewards of creation. Help us give glory to you in our use of all our resources so that you are pleased and your people blessed. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our treatment of creation as if it belonged to us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have received everything from your hand, and we have treated it as if we made it. We think we are entitled to the resources of the earth rather than seeing them as gifts from you. We hoard and we do not like to share. We are selfish and self-serving. We forget that all these things are yours, as are we and those we refuse to share with. Forgive us our selfish ways and give us hearts of thankfulness that we might rightly share your gifts with all. Amen.
Leader: We are all part of God’s treasure and God values us. Receive God’s grace and forgiveness, and with the power of God’s Spirit share God’s gifts with thanksgiving.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise you, O God of Creation, for all you have shared with us. In love you have lavished us with good things.
(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 have received everything from your hand, and we have treated it as if we made it. We think we are entitled to the resources of the earth rather than seeing them as gifts from you. We hoard and we do not like to share. We are selfish and self-serving. We forget that all these things are yours, as are we and those we refuse to share with. Forgive us our selfish ways and give us hearts of thankfulness that we might rightly share your gifts with all.
We thank you for the bounty of the earth that supplies all our physical needs. We thank you for yourself, as your love supplies all other needs. We thank you for the ways in which that love comes to us through family, friends, and even strangers.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray especially for those who have been denied a share in the good gifts you have provided us. We pray for those who have been deprived because of our selfishness or carelessness. We pray that we may be better stewards of your creation.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Okay, this isn’t a new idea -- but I find it effective, and it is stewardship season and it illustrates this week’s point.
I give the children 10 dimes. I stress to them that these dimes are my dimes, that they belong to me. I then tell them that they can do anything they want with them -- but it shouldn’t be something I wouldn’t want done with my dimes. Now, I don’t like green beans so I impress upon the children not to go out and buy a can of green beans with their dimes.
If tithing is a concept I want to teach, I then ask them to give me one of my dimes back. I remind them several times that these are my dimes, after all. I just want one back.
Whether or not I do the tithing part, then I ask them what they think they will do with the other nine dimes that they get to use. But remember, they are my dimes. After we talk about it, I share with them that actually these are God’s dimes and everything is God’s. God lets us use the things of the world, but they belong to God. We need to honor God in how we use our money, our time, the earth, etc.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Imitators
by Chris Keating
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord (v. 6a)
Preparations:
* Make a list of simple “Simon says”-type instructions that all the children present will be able to understand. (Examples: “Point to your nose,” “Touch your ear,” “Lift up your right hand,” “Raise your leg,” and so on.) Then make a list of simple actions that we do in worship each week: “Open a hymnal,” “Stand up,” “Bow our heads,” and others.
* Take time to read 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, and begin thinking of what it means to become imitators of Jesus.
* Find either a Bible map that shows Thessalonica or an image of Thessalonica from the internet.
After the children gather, tell them that you are glad to see them because you have special mail for them today. You can have fun with this by explaining that “back in the olden days” the best way of communicating with each other was to write letters. While e-mail has replaced a lot of letter writing, there are still many times when a letter is the best way to tell someone something.
Talk to them about Paul, and share how Paul wrote many letters. He wrote to people, but he also wrote to churches that he had started during his many travels. One of these letters was written to Christians from a place called Thessalonica (show the image/map). Paul loved his friends there, and today we will read a part of the letter he wrote to them.
One of the things that Paul was happy about was the way his friends had learned about God and Jesus. They had learned to live their lives the way Jesus did, and had started doing some of things Jesus wanted his disciples to do. Paul says that they were “imitating” Jesus. Ask if that is a familiar word. Explain that sometimes learning by imitating another a good way to learn how to do something new.
Help them wonder “What kinds of things can you learn by imitating an adult? A music teacher? A friend? A big sister or brother?
Next, move to trying out some simple imitation instructions. Say “Let’s try this and see how it works. See if you can imitate what I am doing.” (Begin to demonstrate the imitating actions you listed, demonstrating one at a time.) “Can you imitate what I am doing? Watch carefully and do exactly what I’m doing. That’s one way we imitate each other. Another way we imitate is by coming to church and worshiping. We learn what it means to imitate God by hearing a story (open a Bible), or by standing to sing (stand up), singing a hymn, and so many other things. What can you learn by imitating each other in church?” Help them wonder what ways we can become imitators of Jesus every day, not just in church.
Depending on the time available and the age/developmental interests of your children, you might want to point out that imitating God is not exactly the same as being a copycat. (If you’ve not read Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathman, this would be a good week!) Sometimes people “copy” each other because they are nervous or afraid they won’t fit in, and sometimes that can be annoying or even dangerous if you start copying bad behaviors. Imitating what God does is a bit different: it is learning what it means to share God’s love and peace, just as Paul’s friends did so many years ago.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for your love. Help us to love others as you have loved us, so that we might imitate the joy Jesus shared with the disciples. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 22, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 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.
Team member Chris Keating shares some additional thoughts on the apostle Paul’s lifting up of the Thessalonian community of faith. Using the lens of Harvey Weinstein’s downfall, Chris suggests that there may be parallels between the massive national outpouring of long-ignored stories by women about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault -- and the ad hoc support network that has blossomed online -- and the Thessalonian congregation. Like those early Christians, who Paul points to as a model for other congregations, Chris wonders if the stories women share can teach us all to find a better way -- and to speak the truth with steadfast conviction.
What Belongs to God?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 22:15-22
“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower.”
Wait a minute... that’s not the gospel lesson for this week.
Okay, you’re right. Matthew’s version of the parable of the wicked tenants comes 14 verses before this week’s lection. In Mark and Luke it comes immediately before, and in all three it provides a context for this week’s battle of wits between Jesus and the Pharisees/Herodians.
The landowner in the parable owns the vineyard. He owns the vines, the grapes, the fence, the wine press, and the watchtower. It’s all his. The tenants owe him his due, and they refuse to provide it at their peril.
That’s the context that hovers over this week’s gospel lesson wherein the Pharisees and Herodians, normally bitter rivals, team up to entangle Jesus in a trick question with no right answer. And it hovers over Jesus’ response to their question: Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
It hovers over the question we ask upon hearing this answer: “What belongs to God?”
And it hovers over us when we try to figure out whom we should honor, whom we should revere, and to what we should pledge our allegiance.
In the News
Early Christians would no doubt have been stunned and offended if someone suggested that in order to be
good Christians they had to pledge allegiance to the Roman empire. But that is exactly what is being said by many today. Some have discovered that to question that assertion can bring down a great deal of controversy and disdain, and even unemployment, upon their head.
It all started last fall with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
According to Mark Sandritter, the national anthem protests unfolded pretty much like this:
On August 14 and 20, 2016, Kaepernick began sitting during the national anthem as a silent protest to show support for people of color who are being oppressed in the United States, and to take a stand against police brutality. It was an effort to use his voice and his position as a NFL player to effect change for the people who are suffering, and who don’t have the same ability to create significant change.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said via NFL.com. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street, and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Because he was not suited and didn’t play in those games, however, Kaepernick’s protest went largely unnoticed. It wasn’t until the third game of the preseason (August 26) schedule that people began to take notice.
Two days later, Kaepernick met with the media and reiterated that he was acting to give a voice to people who didn’t have one: “I’m going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there’s significant change and I feel that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent, and this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand.”
He went on to say: “I have great respect for the men and women that have fought for this country. I have family, I have friends that have gone and fought for this country. And they fight for freedom, they fight for the people, they fight for liberty and justice, for everyone. That’s not happening.”
On September 1, after talking with former Green Beret Nate Boyer, Kaepernick did not sit, but instead took a knee in deference to the military. After the game, Kaepernick announced a plan to donate $1 million to charities focusing on racial issues.
Also, on that day Jeremy Lane of the Seattle Seahawks became the first non-teammate to join Kaepernick in protest by sitting during the anthem. “I wasn’t trying to say anything. Just standing behind Kaepernick,” Lane said following the game. He added that he would keep doing it until he felt like justice was served.
On September 4, the protest spread outside the NFL when U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem before the NWSL match between the Seattle Reign and Chicago Red Stars, in support of Colin Kaepernick.
On September 9, Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall (a college teammate of Kaepernick) took a knee during the national anthem at the NFL regular season opener. “I’m not against the military. I’m not against the police or America,” Marshall said, according to the Denver Post. “I’m against social injustice.”
The first Sunday of the 2016 NFL season took place on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This made the national anthem ceremonies on that day particularly emotional. Four Miami Dolphins players -- running back Arian Foster, safety Michael Thomas, wide receiver Kenny Stills, and linebacker Jelani Jenkins -- took a knee during the anthem after standing up for a 9/11 acknowledgment.
After the game, Foster explained that he loves the country and the rights it affords him. He later tweeted “don’t let the love for a symbol overrule the love for your fellow human.”
No Seahawks players took a knee during the anthem, but the entire team did link arms as a way of honoring the flag and continuing the conversation that Kaepernick started. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs locked arms before kickoff of their game with the San Diego Chargers.
Throughout the fall, similar protests continued to spread... and Time magazine featured Kaepernick kneeling on the cover of the October 3 issue.
Fast forward to this fall, and what had been a relatively limited number of protests during the NFL preseason became an avalanche after President Trump weighed in on the issue during a September 22 rally in North Carolina, using a vulgar epithet to describe protesting players and calling for all of them to be fired. He accused the protestors of intentionally disrespecting the flag, the country, and the military.
In response to the president’s remarks, on September 24 over 200 players join the protest -- while the Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, and Tennessee Titans refused to come onto the field during the national anthem.
On October 8, Vice President Mike Pence left an Indianapolis Colts football game in what turned out to be a pre-planned counter-protest cooked up by President Trump. Also, on that day Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones -- who previously had locked arms and knelt with his players before the national anthem -- announced that any player who “disrespects the flag” will not play for the team.
Since then, the October 2 massacre of 58 and wounding of approximately 500 concertgoers in Las Vegas and the charges of sexual harassment against Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, have pushed the national anthem protests off the front page. Few reporters mentioned the protests on October 8 or 15.
On more than a few occasions, it was explained to the press that the protests were meant to draw attention to and raise issues of race and justice in America. In many cases, however, the issue that took precedence over the intended one had more to do with the deference Americans of any race should pay to the American flag and the national anthem. The focus shifted from racial oppression and the behavior of the police to the nature of patriotism and what occasions and venues are appropriate for staging political protests.
One cannot help but wonder where Jesus might have come down on the continuum representing this delicate, emotionally charged debate. We need not wonder for long, however. This week’s gospel lection finds Jesus being drawn into a political debate with a question that has no correct answer.
In the Scriptures
As pointed out above, this story sits squarely in the middle of and cannot be correctly understood outside of the context established in previous verses -- that is, the parable of the wicked tenants. So any faithful exegesis of the current passage must necessarily consider, if only briefly, that parable.
In that story, a wealthy man builds a vineyard as an investment. He plants grapes, builds a stone fence or wall around its perimeter to keep out animals, creates a building in the center to serve as a shelter for the tenant vinekeepers, erects a lookout tower to observe and protect the vineyard, and digs a pit to serve as a wine press for turning the grapes into juice, which in turn will become wine.
He lets all this out to tenants who reside at or near the vineyard to take care of and protect -- and, when the time is right, to harvest the grapes. The customary rent would be about half of the harvest.
But when the harvest time rolls around and the man sends some servants to collect the rent, the tenants mistreat and even kill the servants. He does it again, and the result is the same.
Finally, exasperated, he sends his son to collect the rent. “Surely they will honor my son and pay me what is mine,” he reasons to himself -- while we wonder how he could be so naïve. What makes him think that they are going to honor his son when they have honored no one else, including himself?
So, of course, the tenants don’t honor the son. In fact, they kill him.
Some scholars have suggested that because the son came to collect, the tenants believed that the landlord was dead -- and that by killing the son they would be able to keep the vineyard for themselves. Most, however, believe that the tenants killed the son simply because they could. The landlord would be so overcome with grief that he would never bother to take revenge on them.
They are, of course, wrong.
Everyone hearing the story knows that. When Jesus asks them what the landlord will do, they are clear about the answer and quick to give voice to it. What will he do? Why, he will fall upon these evil men with all of his power and might and put them all to the spear and sword.
The vineyard, after all, was his. He was asking only for what was due him. The tenants will get what they deserve.
Now, with that story and the lessons it teaches in our minds, as it was in the minds of the very first readers of this text, let us move to this week’s lesson.
The Pharisees were a religious party, and the Herodians were a political party.
The Pharisees were religious and doctrinal purists. They believed that Israel was a separate nation, set apart for God’s purpose. They believed in rigorous interpretation of the Torah, and rigorous practice of its precepts.
The Herodians believed that it was good for Israel to acquiesce to Rome. They backed the Herods, kings appointed by the Romans to rule Palestine, and they thought that Rome was a gift from God that would ultimately modernize and strengthen God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel.
So it is no surprise that these two groups were usually at each other's throats. They had completely different rules, goals, and methods. Not to put too fine a point on it, they hated each other.
But here we find them working together.
They come up with a question that has no acceptable answer, and it is this: Should we pay taxes? Seems simple, right? Straightforward. Yes or no... or maybe not.
If Jesus says, “yes,” the Pharisees will indict him for pandering to the Romans.
If he says, “no,” the Herodians will accuse him of treason, or at least of promoting tax evasion.
There is no right answer.
So Jesus doesn’t answer the question. Or, he answers their question with a question of his own. “Who has a denarius? Let me see one.” A denarius was about the equivalent of the modern $20 bill and was one of the most common coins in the Roman world.
Someone produces a coin and Jesus looks at it -- and then he asks the BIG QUESTION: Whose picture is on the coin?
“The emperor’s,” they respond.
Jesus concludes the exchange with a response that is a brilliant mix of seeming simplicity and complex irony. “So, give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and to God what belongs to God.”
In the Sermon
When approaching a topic that is infused with emotion and rhetoric, a topic that may be controversial, the wise preacher starts with scripture -- and that is where we begin today.
For centuries, the sentence “Give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and to God what belongs to God” has been used as a justification for everything from paying taxes to going to war. It has been interpreted as an admonition to do whatever the government requires or requests of us. But it also raises questions. If a directive comes to us printed on the government’s letterhead, are we duty-bound to follow it? If something is allowed by the constitution, do we have no choice but to allow it?
Such an interpretation does not fully appreciate the context in which the story is set. It does not allow for a critical examination of the issues that permeate the topic.
Before we can give a responsible and authentic response to Jesus’ direction, we must ask and answer the question “What belongs to the government, and what belongs to God?”
Fortunately, Jesus has already answered that question in the parable that precedes this scene. In the parable, the vineyard clearly belongs to the landowner. The vines, the grapes, the wall, the tower, the winepress -- they all belong to him. He allows the tenants to farm the vineyard as an act of grace, and in exchange for their labor they get to keep half the produce.
But no law says that he has to give them half of the grapes. He chooses to do so. He could decide to give them less, and if they didn’t like it they could go find another vineyard to work in. This particular owner, however, is fair, kind, and generous.
But they don’t want to give him even the portion that is his due. They want to keep it for themselves, and so determined are they to do so that they will commit murder in the pursuit of that end -- and it will, eventually, be their undoing.
Clearly, God is the landowner in this story. The vineyard was Israel when the story was first uttered. But time has allowed us to replace Israel with other things: my country, myself, my money, etc. Whatever we insert there, the important thing to remember is that it belongs to God.
In fact, everything belongs to God.
For the people of God, that and that alone will determine how we relate to everything else in our world: our country, our money, our belongings, our future, our family.
They all belong to God, regardless whose face is on the coins and whose name is on the letterhead.
SECOND THOUGHTS
#Thessalonians Too
by Chris Keating
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
For decades, Hollywood kept its mouth shut.
Threatened by the considerable power of men like Harvey Weinstein and overwhelmed by threats of volatile retribution, many victims of assault buried their stories. As detailed in recent reports, it was Weinstein’s power and money which enabled his monstrous behavior to continue for nearly 30 years.
While Hollywood’s sordid “casting couch” culture goes back nearly a century, Weinstein’s decades-long pattern of assault, harassment, and rape is nearly as astonishing as his career in films. Reports of his behavior made their way into the national media last month, led by stories in the New York Times and New Yorker. The reports reveal a strikingly similar pattern of manipulation.
The allegations also resonate with accounts of the misdeeds of many other powerful men -- Clarence Thomas, Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Donald Trump, and assorted executives at Fox News and Amazon, to name a few. The revelations surrounding Weinstein’s patterns of abuse are reminders of a mentality that tolerates abuse, and a culture that is complicit with abusers. As Maureen Dowd noted, “Hollywood is a culture that runs on fear.”
But it is not just Hollywood.
Over the weekend, Weinstein’s dramatic free fall from the pantheon of Hollywood’s prestigious elite continued when he was ousted by a club he had studiously endeavored to control. Directors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled Weinstein, in what the Los Angeles Times called “an unprecedented public rebuke of a prominent industry figure.”
Well over two-thirds of its membership voted to eject Weinstein. The academy’s statement made it clear that even a legend is not above reproach:
We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over. What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society. The board continues to work to establish ethical standards of conduct that all academy members will be expected to exemplify.
It was a move -- to borrow the apostle Paul’s language -- filled with power and full conviction.
In response, women began sharing accounts of sexual assault cross social media. Facebook and Twitter’s propellers churned out stories tagged #MeToo, highlighting women’s experiences of sexual exploitation. The stories of daughters, sisters, mothers, friends sounded strikingly familiar to the experiences of actors and executives, and many others, who have lived through terrifying, dehumanizing encounters.
One woman recounted the rape and abuse she experienced from her pastor -- a reminder that Hollywood is hardly the only place where sexuality has been weaponized. After he raped her, the pastor told her: “You were just too much a temptation for me.”
After years of therapy, this young victim struggled to feel at home in her body. She says that it is often hard to admit that monsters may look like us, or even people we most deeply trust. “I wish this weren’t my story,” she wrote recently, “with it, though, I hope to make all the good I can. My interest and vocational expertise in spiritual formation and leadership is not happenstance, nor did it arise out of mere intellectual curiosity. I write and teach on what it means for Christians, especially those in authority, to actually live and be like Jesus -- through and through -- so that maybe tomorrow, there will be fewer people with stories like mine.”
Hers is a story of faith arising from desperate circumstances. It is a story not dissimilar to the faith of those Paul encountered in Thessalonica. Paul calls the Thessalonians to continue building on the foundations of faith by becoming imitators of Christ, “to actually live like Jesus.” They are the church, the ones called to new life. Their fellowship of grace, equality, and hope is empowered by Christ’s love and strength, perhaps not unlike the way the #MeToo sisterhood has been empowered by the sharing of stories. The Thessalonians have a story of faith which has produced lives of steadfastness and hope, the word of their experiences is starting to spread.
Similarly, the long silent #MeToo sisterhood has somehow managed to discover hope in the shadows of abuse. Weinstein’s downfall is a reminder of how truth longs to be heard, even if it must be shouted across the chasms of lies and deceit. The stories of victims become the foundational stories of a community which is often ignored, though nearly universally present.
#MeToo holds the possibility of becoming more than a historical blip in time. Indeed, it holds the possibility of offering transformation, of inviting structural change. There is more here than just a fleeting trending Twitter hashtag. It could become, like those to whom Paul writes with such affection, a community of hope gathered by grace to continue the work of God in the world. Their stories could prompt us to be imitators of grace, instead of imitators of the profoundly perverted.
Along with their mother, my three daughters have taught my son and I a good bit about becoming imitators of grace. The outnumbered males of our family learn from these courageous women. At times we’re still clumsy, but they are remarkably patient in teaching us what it means to speak in a culture which often prefers they remain silent. They have become examples to the men around them, inviting us to imitate them in the patterns of grace. It is perhaps not unlike the way the story of those blessed Thessalonians inspired Paul’s other fledgling congregations.
Harvey Weinstein’s tales of abuse will not be the last time we hear stories of sexual assault. That is a stark and bitter truth. Yet the stories of women and men who have discovered the power to rise from brokenness to speak with power and full conviction are signs of a beautiful and sustaining hope. It is to such stories that Paul calls us to listen.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Matthew 22:15-22
Render to God
“Give to God the things that belong to God,” Jesus instructs. Math professor Richard Semmler has found the right equation for giving in his personal life: Semmler believes in living so he has money to give away... lots of money to give away. “In the last 35 years, by working part-time jobs and forgoing such everyday comforts as a home telephone and vacations, by living in an efficiency apartment and driving an old car, Semmler has donated as much as half of his annual income or more to charity. His goal: $1 million before he retires.” Semmler’s generosity is unusual. “Each year, U.S. households give away an average of 2 percent of their income to nonprofit and religious organizations, according to Giving USA, which tracks donation trends. A household with Semmler’s annual income, $100,000, donates an average of $2,000 annually to charity. Last year, Semmler gave away $60,000.”
Semmler’s giving began with a gift to him. He is the son of a Rochester electrician and a secretary who couldn’t afford the money for college for him. “Semmler, a top track athlete in high school, attended Plattsburgh State on scholarships. In gratitude, he made his first contribution -- $25 -- to the school after graduating in 1968. ‘That’s the snowball that started rolling,’ Semmler recalled with a rich chuckle. ‘As it did, it got bigger and bigger and bigger.’ Decades later, he resembles a youthful, beardless Santa Claus -- with his rolling laugh, bushy white hair, rosy face, and slight paunch. Those who work with him say he is always smiling.”
Semmler understands what belongs to the world and what belongs to God, and gives away God’s portion with exuberant generosity.
*****
Matthew 22:15-22
Jesus Tells Us to Pay it Forward
By telling people to give to God what belongs to God, Jesus us reminding us that everything belongs to God. Our lives are the gift we owe to God. In that spirit, Omid Safi recalls a speech that Maya Angelou gave when he was a college student.
Angelou “didn’t just walk on the stage. She strutted. She prowled. She moved like a tiger teasing her prey. She owned the crowd. She played with the crowd. She was so comfortable in front of this group of uncertain 17- and 18-year-olds. She loomed larger than most of the audience, including the collection of funnily-dressed professors, mostly white men, almost all in these ridiculous costumes (academic robes). In the middle of her speech, she pointed in her inimitable, dramatic way to the crowd and thundered: “You have been paid for.” We were thousands crammed into the chapel, but somehow I felt like she was looking at me. It was as if her loving, wise glance reached right to me and went through me. “You have been paid for.” She saw me. She saw my family. She saw our sacrifice. She saw our struggle. She saw our humanity.”
College was a huge expense for his family, and he was one of six children in the family. “But here was this magnificent, charismatic, beautiful, wise black woman telling me that I was paid for. Sitting there with all the insecurity of not knowing how to pay for college, how my parents were going to pay for my college, feeling guilty that my family was spending our finite resources on college, feeling that I didn’t belong (no, knowing that I didn’t belong), and having some of my classmates tell me that I didn’t belong (“You are only here because you are a diversity applicant,” I was told in my first week of college by a kid down my hall), knowing that I was paid for was reassuring. I felt less alone knowing that my parents’ sacrifice kept me company. I was there with my family’s love, with their sacrifice, and I was not alone. I was paid for. I was paid for not just in money (though I still carry the student loans almost three decades later); I was paid for in love, I was paid for in tears, and I was paid for in sacrifice. And somebody knew that.”
In the same way, our lives are already claimed by Jesus. Now we can do the work of paying that gift forward, as we render our lives to the God to whom we belong. As Omid Safi says, “There is a circle of life. And there are circles of love. Circles of sacrifice. No beginning, no end. We are here because somebody loved us. We are here because somebody sacrificed for us. We are here because somebody paid for us. Pay it forward.”
*****
Matthew 22:15-22
Paying What We Owe
Lynne Twist, in her lovely book The Soul of Money, tells about the time her mother was near the end of her life. She was in hospice care, and she wanted to be sure she was leaving people with what she wanted them to have.
She got out the Yellow Pages and made a list of the people whom she had known over the years, then had her daughter call the first number, her dry cleaner. When they answered, she asked for Ken, the manager. “Ken,” she said, “this is Mrs. Tenney. I’m dying... and I’m speaking with my daughter about all the people who have made this final part of my life so special. You have been cleaning my clothes for the past 20 years, and I feel served and cared for by you and your people behind the counter. I appreciate you, and I want you to know that when a person gets old and can’t do a lot for herself anymore, the people in the neighborhood who provide those needed services become the people who inhabit your life, the people who make your day.” She thanked him, and told him what he and his business had meant to her. She added that she would like him to come to her funeral when the time came, and to sit right behind her family. She passed the phone to her daughter, who wrote down his name and phone number. She did the same with the two women who worked behind the counter.
Then she did the same thing with her favorite restaurant, talking with the chef and her favorite waitress... the car repair shop, and the man who fixed her car... the pharmacy, including the pharmacist and the delivery person... the woman behind the makeup counter at the department store... her hairdresser, and so on. “Each conversation was very moving,” and people were surprised to be remembered. Mrs. Tenney had paid for all of these services, but there was another layer of relationship under each transaction. She wanted people to know that more had happened than just the exchange of money and services.
What we owe to people is often much more than money, and paying these debts leads us into deeper connections with each other.
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Exodus 33:12-23
In the popular comic strip Ziggy, the title character is a small, bald, trouserless, barefoot, almost featureless character (save for his large nose) who seems to have no friends, hobbies, or romantic partner and who it appears is always being confronted by the problems of life. In one episode Ziggy is standing on a hilltop looking into the night sky. All he can see is cluster after cluster of brightly shinning stars. In front of him, on top of that hill, is a sign that reads: “Wish upon a star. 1 trillion stars. No waiting.”
Application: It is important for us to know that our God is present with us.
*****
Psalm 99
In a Peanuts comic strip, Linus is standing in a grassy field, eyes shut, with a tranquil smile on his face. As he meditates there, his older sister Lucy walks up to him with an inquisitive look on her face. Linus smiles, then says to her: “Stand real still and feel the warm air on your back... doesn’t that feel great? And it’s free.” Lucy follows those instructions, and ends up standing with a smile as large as her little brother.
Application: Linus understood the meaning of meditation and worship.
*****
Psalm 99
During prayer, as all the other Anglicans in church knelt at their pews, George Washington would stand tall at his pew. An explanation was never offered for this action. It was wondered if Washington was imitating the early Christians who stood during prayer as a part of their Jewish heritage. Or perhaps he stood because that is how he did it as an officer when he served in the English army. In either case, it was certainly a declaration that Washington understood himself to be a “child of God.”
Application: Worship is a sign of respecting God.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Harvey Weinstein, the movie mogul who co-founded the Weinstein film company, has been in the news as revelation after revelation has been reported regarding his sexual abuse of women. Most of his victims were young actresses who were trying to land a role in one of his films, and to do so would have to accommodate Weinstein’s sexual demands. If they didn’t comply, not only would they not get the movie role they were auditioning for but Weinstein would make it impossible for them to get a part in any future movie. Three women accused Weinstein of rapping them. One of those women was Italian actress Asia Argento. In an interview for the New Yorker, Argento shared how Weinstein ruined the careers of actresses who would not meet his sexual demands, and presented this as the reason she has remined silent until now. Argento said, “I know he has crushed a lot of people before. That’s why this story -- in my case, it’s 20 years old, some of them are older -- has never come out.”
Application: Sometimes speaking the truth is difficult and can have repercussions.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
When it comes to a charge of publishing fake news, the internet is a culprit. Online services are designed to engross users in controversial subjects with outlandish opinions. This makes online services very vulnerable to posting stories that are not true. According to a report by the Associated Press, “That problem is much bigger in the wake of disaster, when facts are still unclear and the demand for information runs high.” While established news organizations check their facts, especially by the history of accuracy by reliable sources, Facebook and Google are unable to do this. Also, according to David Carroll, a professor of media design at Parsons School of Design in New York, Facebook and Google get caught off-guard “because their algorithms just look for signs of popularity and recency at first,” without first checking to ensure relevance. The AP article went on to note, “Thanks to political polarization, the very notion of what constitutes a ‘credible’ source of news is now a point of contention.”
Application: Paul writes about speaking the truth.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
The FBI has just completed a three-year investigation into payments and bribes to recruit high school basketball players to attend a certain university and sign with a particular agent. The payments were made by the Adidas shoe company, hoping that one of the high school recruits would become a NBA star and endorse Adidas products -- thus becoming hugely profitable for the company. Adidas is not the only shoe manufacturer involved in this scandal. A number of arrests were made. In the past payments were made to high school coaches, but now they are directed to the individual athletes and college assistant coaches. Most of the athletes come from an environment of poverty. An assistant coach is much more vulnerable than the head coach because they have much lower salaries and are responsible for recruiting star athletes. Larry Krystkowiak, the head coach at Utah, said, “I was told this summer by a coach ‘If you’re not cheating, you’re cheating yourself.’ Certain conferences, I think, are notorious for doing that, and if you’re trying to compete in those conferences and you don’t do it you’re going to be subpar. It’s a big egg on a lot of our faces.”
Application: Paul writes that we should be someone others want to imitate.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
The FBI has just completed a three-year investigation into payments and bribes to recruit high school basketball players to attend a certain university and sign with a particular agent. The payments were made by the Adidas shoe company, hoping that one of the high school recruits would become a NBA star and endorse Adidas products -- thus becoming hugely profitable for the company. Adidas is not the only shoe manufacturer involved in this scandal. A number of arrests were made. In the past payments were made to high school coaches, but now they are directed to the individual athletes and college assistant coaches. Most of the athletes come from an environment of poverty. An assistant coach is much more vulnerable than the head coach because they have much lower salaries and are responsible for recruiting star athletes. Frank Martin, the head coach at South Carolina, said: “Any coach in this business who tries to act like there weren’t any shenanigans going on the way it was reported, they’re not being honest with you.” The Gamecocks head coach went on to explain why he never got involved. “I have not worked so hard to overcome the odds, to obtain the job and the trust of the people who have employed me to circumvent it for a couple of dollars.” Martin began as a bar bouncer, then a Florida high school coach, before being hired as a college basketball coach.
Application: Paul writes that we should be someone others want to imitate.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Cam Newton, the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers, was at a recent news conference when Charlotte Observer reporter Jourdan Rodrigue asked him about wide receiver Devin Funchess’ route running. The quarterback laughed and replied: “It’s funny to hear a female talk about routes. It’s funny.” Newspaper journalists, television commentators, and social media instantly took Newton to task for his sexist response. On Twitter, Newton offered a two-minute video apology. In part he said, “What I did was extremely unacceptable. I’m a father to two beautiful daughters and I try to instill in them that they can be anything that they want to be.” It should be noted that while Newton made a public apology, he never apologized directly to Jourdan Rodrigue.
Application: Paul writes that we should be someone others want to imitate.
*****
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Charles Darwin remains a controversial individual because of his theory of evolution. Little known to the public is his cousin Francis Galton, who made an equally revolutionary discovery about the evolution of a species, but absent of Darwin’s controversy. Galton became intrigued with the nature of heredity. He developed mathematical formulas to examine the relative contributions of both parents, as well as grandparents, to the inherited makeup of an individual. He recorded how certain traits were passed on from one generation to another. For his studies, Galton became known as the father of eugenics.
Application: Paul writes that we are to labor for the Lord. Certainly the painstaking work of Galton was a labor of love as he tried to discover the genetic traits of individuals.
*****
Matthew 22:15-22
In a Blondie comic strip, Dagwood is in a store and is talked into buying an app (for $99.99) that allows Dagwood to monitor his favorite places for taking a nap. When he comes home and explains the purchase to his wife Blondie, she exclaims: “But I already know your favorite nap spots: the sofa and your chair at work! For free!” But Dagwood, admiring the app on his watch, replies, “Yeah, I know!! But now I have an app!”
Application: We need to know what is important in life and where our priorities are.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: God is sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
People: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Leader: God is great in Zion and is exalted over all the peoples.
People: Extol God our God; worship at God’s footstool.
Leader: Extol our God, and worship at God’s holy mountain.
People: Extol our God who is most is holy.
OR
Leader: Let us worship the God who created all things.
People: We praise and adore our ever-creating God.
Leader: All that is and was and ever will be is God’s.
People: All creation and all of us belong to God.
Leader: Let us live as faithful tenants in God’s vineyard.
People: We are God’s children and will honor our God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty”
found in:
UMH: 64, 65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELA: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
“O Worship the King”
found in:
UMH: 73
H82: 388
PH: 476
NNBH: 6
NCH: 26
CH: 17
LBW: 548
ELA: 842
W&P: 2
AMEC: 12
“From All That Dwell Below the Skies”
found in:
UMH: 101
H82: 380
PH: 229
NCH: 27
CH: 49
LBW: 550
AMEC: 69
STLT: 381
“I Sing the Almighty Power of God”
found in:
UMH: 152
H82: 398
PH: 288
NCH: 12
W&P: 31
Renew: 54
“I Am Thine, O Lord”
found in:
UMH: 419
AAHH: 387
NNBH: 202
NCH: 455
CH: 601
W&P: 408
AMEC: 283
“Rejoice, the Lord Is King”
found in:
UMH: 715, 716
H82: 481
PH: 155
NCH: 303
CH: 699
LBW: 171
ELA: 430
W&P: 342
AMEC: 88, 89
“Take My Life, and Let It Be”
found in:
UMH: 399
H82: 707
PH: 391
NNBH: 213
NCH: 448
CH: 609
LBW: 406
ELA: 583, 685
W&P: 466
AMEC: 292
Renew: 150
“All Creatures of Our God and King”
found in:
UMH: 62
H82: 400
PH: 455
AAHH: 147
NNBH: 33
NCH: 17
CH: 22
LBW: 527
ELA: 835
W&P: 23
AMEC: 50
STLT: 203
Renew: 47
“This Is My Father’s World”
found in:
UMH: 144
H82: 651
PH: 293
AAHH: 149
NNBH: 41
CH: 59
LBW: 554
ELA: 824
W&P: 21
AMEC: 47
“From the Rising of the Sun”
found in:
CCB: 4
“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
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who created all the was and is and ever will be: Grant to us the wisdom to remember that everything is yours, so that we may use your gifts wisely to bring glory to you and justice and mercy to your people; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for you have created all things. Receive our worship and thanksgivings, and grant us the wisdom to act as stewards of creation. Help us give glory to you in our use of all our resources so that you are pleased and your people blessed. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our treatment of creation as if it belonged to us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have received everything from your hand, and we have treated it as if we made it. We think we are entitled to the resources of the earth rather than seeing them as gifts from you. We hoard and we do not like to share. We are selfish and self-serving. We forget that all these things are yours, as are we and those we refuse to share with. Forgive us our selfish ways and give us hearts of thankfulness that we might rightly share your gifts with all. Amen.
Leader: We are all part of God’s treasure and God values us. Receive God’s grace and forgiveness, and with the power of God’s Spirit share God’s gifts with thanksgiving.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
We praise you, O God of Creation, for all you have shared with us. In love you have lavished us with good things.
(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 have received everything from your hand, and we have treated it as if we made it. We think we are entitled to the resources of the earth rather than seeing them as gifts from you. We hoard and we do not like to share. We are selfish and self-serving. We forget that all these things are yours, as are we and those we refuse to share with. Forgive us our selfish ways and give us hearts of thankfulness that we might rightly share your gifts with all.
We thank you for the bounty of the earth that supplies all our physical needs. We thank you for yourself, as your love supplies all other needs. We thank you for the ways in which that love comes to us through family, friends, and even strangers.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray especially for those who have been denied a share in the good gifts you have provided us. We pray for those who have been deprived because of our selfishness or carelessness. We pray that we may be better stewards of your creation.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Okay, this isn’t a new idea -- but I find it effective, and it is stewardship season and it illustrates this week’s point.
I give the children 10 dimes. I stress to them that these dimes are my dimes, that they belong to me. I then tell them that they can do anything they want with them -- but it shouldn’t be something I wouldn’t want done with my dimes. Now, I don’t like green beans so I impress upon the children not to go out and buy a can of green beans with their dimes.
If tithing is a concept I want to teach, I then ask them to give me one of my dimes back. I remind them several times that these are my dimes, after all. I just want one back.
Whether or not I do the tithing part, then I ask them what they think they will do with the other nine dimes that they get to use. But remember, they are my dimes. After we talk about it, I share with them that actually these are God’s dimes and everything is God’s. God lets us use the things of the world, but they belong to God. We need to honor God in how we use our money, our time, the earth, etc.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Imitators
by Chris Keating
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord (v. 6a)
Preparations:
* Make a list of simple “Simon says”-type instructions that all the children present will be able to understand. (Examples: “Point to your nose,” “Touch your ear,” “Lift up your right hand,” “Raise your leg,” and so on.) Then make a list of simple actions that we do in worship each week: “Open a hymnal,” “Stand up,” “Bow our heads,” and others.
* Take time to read 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, and begin thinking of what it means to become imitators of Jesus.
* Find either a Bible map that shows Thessalonica or an image of Thessalonica from the internet.
After the children gather, tell them that you are glad to see them because you have special mail for them today. You can have fun with this by explaining that “back in the olden days” the best way of communicating with each other was to write letters. While e-mail has replaced a lot of letter writing, there are still many times when a letter is the best way to tell someone something.
Talk to them about Paul, and share how Paul wrote many letters. He wrote to people, but he also wrote to churches that he had started during his many travels. One of these letters was written to Christians from a place called Thessalonica (show the image/map). Paul loved his friends there, and today we will read a part of the letter he wrote to them.
One of the things that Paul was happy about was the way his friends had learned about God and Jesus. They had learned to live their lives the way Jesus did, and had started doing some of things Jesus wanted his disciples to do. Paul says that they were “imitating” Jesus. Ask if that is a familiar word. Explain that sometimes learning by imitating another a good way to learn how to do something new.
Help them wonder “What kinds of things can you learn by imitating an adult? A music teacher? A friend? A big sister or brother?
Next, move to trying out some simple imitation instructions. Say “Let’s try this and see how it works. See if you can imitate what I am doing.” (Begin to demonstrate the imitating actions you listed, demonstrating one at a time.) “Can you imitate what I am doing? Watch carefully and do exactly what I’m doing. That’s one way we imitate each other. Another way we imitate is by coming to church and worshiping. We learn what it means to imitate God by hearing a story (open a Bible), or by standing to sing (stand up), singing a hymn, and so many other things. What can you learn by imitating each other in church?” Help them wonder what ways we can become imitators of Jesus every day, not just in church.
Depending on the time available and the age/developmental interests of your children, you might want to point out that imitating God is not exactly the same as being a copycat. (If you’ve not read Ruby the Copycat by Peggy Rathman, this would be a good week!) Sometimes people “copy” each other because they are nervous or afraid they won’t fit in, and sometimes that can be annoying or even dangerous if you start copying bad behaviors. Imitating what God does is a bit different: it is learning what it means to share God’s love and peace, just as Paul’s friends did so many years ago.
Prayer: Thank you, God, for your love. Help us to love others as you have loved us, so that we might imitate the joy Jesus shared with the disciples. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, October 22, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 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.
