What Should a Follower of Jesus Do?
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For September 6, 2020:
What Should a Follower of Jesus Do?
by Tom Willadsen
Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20
Covid-19 continues. More demonstrations against police violence. The President threatens lawlessness if he is not re-elected. The vice-president substitutes “Old Glory” for “Jesus” in his speech at the Republican National Convention, but is not accused of idolatry.
In this moment of national turmoil, one may ask “What should a follower of Jesus do?” Fortunately, Paul has a clear answer. Not a simple answer, but a clear answer, and perhaps, a way forward.
In the News
“Law and order” is the sum of the Republican campaign strategy as the national election looms less than two months from now. In the President’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for the Presidency, he painted a bleak picture of what the national landscape will look like if he is not re-elected.
When does a demonstration become a riot? Where does the constitutionally assured right to freely assemble end?
When the Minneapolis police killed George Floyd and the nation saw him saying “I can’t breathe” on a video that went viral, a wave of awareness of racism broke across the nation. Lethal police violence became an issue that renewed interest in the Black Lives Matter movement and engaged white people to new levels of awareness and commitment to dismantling racism. As activism began to wane, a new shooting of a black man by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin has prompted another round of demonstrations — and unleashed another round of pushback, this time under the law and order banner.
Appealing to law and order is nothing new. Back in 1968 Richard Nixon made it a central issue in his campaign and easily defeated Hubert Humphrey. Forty years ago in my civics class we learned that law and order was a “valence issue,” that is something that no voter could be against. Honesty, marital fidelity and transparency are other valence issues; who could take a stand against them? Successfully portraying one’s opponent as being against a valence issue makes him or her a very unattractive candidate.
The President’s recent harping on law and order may overshadow that his administration has been tooting that horn for a long, long time. Two years ago when the separation of children from their parents at the US/Mexico border was in the news, Attorney General Jeff Sessions explained it as our “get tough” policy. Sessions made no mention of the humanitarian considerations of separating children as young as three years old from their parents.
The next day, Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited Paul’s Letter to the Romans to defend this policy.
This passage, as the Attorney General interpreted it, contends that the government is God’s instrument; therefore whatever the government says or does should be accepted. The only way for a citizen to live is to be loyal to the existing government. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops called separating children from their mothers “immoral.”
If the Bible can be interpreted to make disagreement with the government a sin, what are we to make of John Lewis’s “Good Trouble?”
Just four months before his death, John Lewis was speaking at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 1, 2020, the 55th anniversary of the confrontation between demonstrators and police there. Lewis advised those in attendance to "Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America." Breaking unjust laws is good trouble. Protesting against injustice and systemic racism is good trouble. As a nation we are profoundly divided over when law and order must be invoked (imposed) to stop good trouble.
In the Scriptures
It’s wise and helpful to look at the verses that precede both the Gospel and Epistle’s readings in today’s lessons. It is not clear where on the map the Gospel lesson takes place. Last the reader knew Jesus and his posse were in Capernaum. The action picks up when one of the disciples asks who is the greatest in the kingdom of God. Jesus turns the question into an ode in praise of humility, especially the guileless humility of children. They are the greatest. The humbler, the greater. (This can lead to something like a pathological humility/self-exaltation spiral; so be careful.) The humble/children are so precious that causing them to stray has dire consequences. It’s better to tie a millstone around your neck and get thrown into deep water than to cause a child to “stumble.” While occasions for stumbling will happen — it’s majorly bad to cause them to happen to someone else.
Jesus describes those dire consequences in the next few verses, suggesting that one is better off cutting off one’s hand, or gouging out one’s eye, if they cause you to sin. It beats burning in hell. While it is clear that Jesus is exaggerating, he does so instructively — those following him have to be brutally honest about themselves and their sin. He calls for rigorous self-examination. And when that self-examination leads to true repentance, the Father/shepherd rejoices in Heaven. Here Jesus gives a much more concise retelling of Luke 15, the chapter that includes the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son and his brother.
Jesus’ discussion of the consequences of sin and self-deception put the gospel lesson for today in an important context. When a member of the church is harmed by another member of the church, the offended one is instructed to go to the offender and point out the fault privately.
Scholars tell us that this instruction must have been post-resurrection, perhaps a generation after. Clearly the structure of Christian churches is in place for this guidance to make sense. It assumes pure motives on the part of the offended one, and those whom he enlists for future visits to the offender. As a last, final resort, the offender is brought before the entire congregation and given the chance to listen, then presumably repent and be restored to the fellowship. Those who do not are to be cast from the church, regarded as outsiders (Gentiles) and sinners (tax collectors).
Given Jesus’ penchant for hanging out with tax collectors — he even had one on this session — and including Gentiles — remember that exchange between him and the Syrophoenician woman a few weeks ago? — this might not be all bad. Still, in the context of this portion of the gospel it is clear that being expelled from the church is a bad thing. A painful action for the church to take, and a severe punishment for the offender.
In contrast to the gospel passage, the Romans passage addresses the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. Again, it’s essential to look at the verses that precede today’s passage. The Christians in Rome were a small, persecuted, misunderstood minority. Paul instructs them to be obedient, and reminds them that civil authorities have been instituted by God. Paul does not consider that the civil authorities could be incompetent, corrupt, or evil. “They’re there because God put them there, so toe the line, Christian!” Paul appears to be saying. Paul is not alone in considering governing authority this way. Jesus said to Pilate “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above…” (19:11, NRSV).
The prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah make similar points regarding Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and Persia’s King Cyrus, respectively.
The Bible does not, however, speak with one voice on one’s obligation to obey all civil authorities. In Revelation, especially, the 13th chapter, where the government is actively opposed to the greater good and the Realm of God, offers a different perspective. “The Beast” which would rule for 42 months, uttered blasphemies against God, made war on the saints. The saints are advised to endure and stay strong in the face of this oppression.
In the Sermon
We live in a moment of great polarization in the nation. It’s tempting to ignore the deep divisions that make it difficult for families and friends to share civil conversation. In this moment it’s wise to take a close look at what Jesus and Paul had to say about living in community.
Jesus gives clear, even humane, guidance in how to address the inevitable harm that people cause to each other, whether intentional or unintentional. Start small.
Start with yourself, recognize the severity of your own sin and imperfection. When a member of the church harms you, humbly, on the down low, bring the matter to the other church member’s attention. It could work. If it doesn’t, bring another member or two. Don’t make it a huge, public, deal. When you bring the matter before the whole church, then you can make it a big deal.
When people learn that I am a Presbyterian minister, they often inform me that they can be good without going to church. I always agree with these people. The church has no monopoly on goodness. But I also find a way to ask this person who’s hostile to church (They claim to be agnostic or “spiritual,” but as soon as I hear “organized religion,” I know they’re biased. [It’s fun to say, “We’re not organized; we’re bureaucratic;” though the distinction is usually lost on them.]) “How do you know when you’re wrong?” I confess I’m wrong a lot. And it’s a gift when someone can bring that to my attention, especially privately, the way Jesus says you should.
Paul makes a similar point in today’s reading, after covering the need for Christians to be good citizens, the only thing you should owe anyone is love. That doesn’t mean kissing strangers in the supermarket. To love is to regard them as worthy of being loved, to regard them as creations made in the image of the living God.
Just slowing down enough in these moments of heated, partisan rhetoric to regard another person as a child of God to whom you owe love, can make us a better, calmer, more Christlike church, community and nation.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Like A Gentile and a Tax Collector
Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 18:15-20
In Paul Simon’s popular song, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover,” the speaker notices that a buddy is involved in a toxic relationship and doesn’t know how to get out of it. The speaker offers that there are at least “50 ways to leave your lover.”
To name a few, the speaker offers:
Just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan.
You don't need to be coy, Roy.
Just get yourself free.
Hop on the bus, Gus.
You don't need to discuss much.
Just drop off the key, Lee,
And get yourself free.
That’s how it works for most of us who find ourselves in toxic relationships, be they romantic, social, or professional. We often feel stuck, unable to move, and end up desperately clawing and digging and working to climb out of them and in into the fresh air of, well, survival at least.
Not so for the rich and powerful.
In the News
Okay, show of hands. How many of us have messed up in, been laid off from, or fired from a job and then received from our employer enough money to live comfortably for the rest of our lives?
No? Me neither.
Funny, that’s exactly what happened to Jill Soltau, the CEO of JCPenney. The company announced in June that they would be closing some 154 unprofitable stores because times are so tough. They had missed debt payments totaling $29 million but they still managed to scrape together a $4.5 million bonus for her.
Chesapeake Energy was caught advancing an illegal scheme to suppress the price of oil and gas leases. So, they paid their CEO, Robert Douglas Lawler, $15.4 million.
Bryan Stockton was fired as CEO of the toy manufacturer Mattel, and then was paid $4 million in “severance,” and rehired as a consultant.
McDonald's CEO Stephen Easterbrook received an exit package of almost $42 million after his relationship with an employee was found to violate company policy. Wonder how much the “employee” received.
Former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly was paid $25 million to leave the network in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal.
Neiman Marcus, the first major department store in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection back in May, blaming the coronavirus for its $5 billion in debt, asked the bankruptcy court to approve $10 million in pay raises for its top executives.
And then there’s Jerry Falwell, Jr., who was paid $10.5 million to leave the office of president of Liberty University, the largest evangelical Christian fundamentalist university in the world.
Mr. Falwell’s sad saga started when he posted on Instagram a somewhat lewd photograph showing himself, the president of the university and son of its co-founder, with his pants unfastened, his stomach exposed, and what appeared to be a cocktail in his hand, grinning next to a pretty, young woman, later identified as his wife’s assistant, who was in a similar pose.
The hue and cry from the university, students, graduate students, and alumni was robust, but not nearly so loud as it was when, last week it was revealed that Falwell’s wife, Becki, had been carrying on a ten-year affair with a young man they first met when he was a cabana boy at a swim club they frequented. (Really! A cabana boy. Isn’t that a B-movie cliché of some kind?) Over the past decade, while the affair was going on, said cabana boy became a business partner and social friend with the power couple.
Mrs. Falwell admitted the affair and chided “Christian people” for not being more forgiving of her. She denies the allegations of her paramour that her husband knew about the affair and was present for some of their, uh, assignations.
All this heat and attention has brought back to the surface previous adventures of the Falwells, homme et femme, such as the time when “not totally nude” photos of Becki were being circulated and Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was brought in to quash the scandal.
These scandals, new and remembered, have also refueled examinations of Falwell’s deep dive into conservative, Republican politics and statements he has made that have brought charges of xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, and racism to the university.
While Falwell insists that he has “done nothing,” a group of former students, alumni, and interested parties that calls itself “Save 71,” says that he has broken rules and traditions that would have gotten students suspended or even expelled from the school.
Last week, amid some confusion about whether he was being fired or allowed to resign, he announced his resignation which was followed by an immediate salary payment of $2.5 million and, after two years, a severance package that will pay him $8 million.
In parting, he said that he had been bored in his position and was seeking new frontiers, so the separation was not particularly painful for him. In fact, he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last.”
Occasions of high reward for poor performance bring up questions of integrity and accountability. But Liberty University has held itself up as a bastion of Christian rectitude, a place that places high ethical demands upon its students as well as its faculty and staff.
Higher education reporter, Susan Svrluga, and religion reporters, Michelle Boorstein and Sarah Pulliam Bailey, report in the Washington Post that the Jerry Falwell, Jr./Liberty University saga brings to the fore questions of faith, power, and accountability that the Falwell empire has managed, up to now, to duck.
Liberty University is not alone in this position. Any church and all church leaders operate, to one degree or another, under this same ethical/moral magnifying glass. The gospel writer, Matthew, understood this when he advised church members how they should deal with controversy and accusations of misdeeds within the Christian community.
In the Scripture
The gospel lesson for this day comes from the proto-Matthean portion of the gospel, that is, the passages that do not appear in any of the other gospels. It is unique, in other words, to Matthew, and we might reasonably wonder what was going on in the Matthean community that would move him to include this passage that none of the other gospel writers saw as necessary or compelling.
The pericope makes several different points all of which fall within the context of the previous passage (10-14) — the parable of the lost sheep. Does a real shepherd actually leave the 99 in the mountains to search for the one that is lost? Of course not. And that is the point. God does!
God’s love for the lost ones is extravagant, risky, even wasteful! That’s what grace is all about, after all: extravagant, overflowing love and reconciliation.
Now, in verses 15-20, Matthew brings those metaphorical lost sheep home to the Christian community, the church. Conflict is, of course, inevitable. So how do the people of God relate to each other when such conflict arises?
The passage makes clear that we have a prophetic mission not just to the world but within the church as well. We are not just allowed but encouraged to call out wrong doing by other members of the church, and Jesus, as told by Matthew, tells us how to do it.
First, the responsibility falls upon the one who is wronged. If you have been wronged or perceive that you have been wronged by another member of the Christian community, you’re not allowed to sit and pout until that person realizes what they have done wrong and comes crawling to you for forgiveness.
If we have been wronged by someone in the church it is our responsibility, as disciples of Jesus, to go to that person alone and seek reconciliation with them. Don’t, in other words, start off by dragging the whole church into your private quarrels. Seek a private reconciliation.
If it works, fine. You have gained or regained a friend in faith.
If that doesn’t work, go to Plan B, which is to repeat Plan A but with one or two witnesses that you bring with you who can testify that you are being reasonable and this other person really did wrong you and is being recalcitrant, obstinate, and obtuse.
If that doesn’t work and the accused person refuses to be drawn into a reasonable dialogue, Plan C: “tell it to the church.”
If that person refuses to listen to the whole church then, and this is important, “let them be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
So there! You’re outa here, sinner! Don’t let the door hit you on the backside on the way out.
But, wait. Maybe not. We usually think of this passage as calling for exclusion. In fact, if we follow the example of Jesus concerning Gentiles and tax collectors what do we see him doing? We see him treating them as objects of missional outreach and grace. He includes them and embraces them.
This is how we are called to treat those who have sinned against us, those lost sheep who have wondered away from the flock? They are to be included in the fellowship of the church and given an extra portion of grace and love so that their hearts might be warmed and softened.
We must be careful, Jesus warns his disciples (and Matthew warns the church).
We have been given great power. The things we do and say to others in the church whether they condemn or enable can create lasting impressions that either bind or free a person for the rest of their life.
That’s one of the reasons Christians function not just as individual, rogue, do-gooders. We function as a community and, when we do, we have the promise that Jesus will be there with us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Matthew 18:15-20
When Someone Sins Against You
When someone injures us, most of us pull back, and seek to avoid the person. Daryl Davis takes the opposite approach. As a Black man, a lifetime of injuries started when he was a child in 1960’s Chicago. “Daryl Davis was shocked when his parents explained that White children were throwing rocks at him during a Cub Scouts parade because he was Black. Davis’ parents both worked in the US Foreign Service and, having lived in numerous parts of the world, he had become used to attending integrated schools, where the children of diplomats of different races and cultural backgrounds were taught together and interacted with one another. This made the violent encounter all the more baffling and left a burning question in Davis’ mind: ‘How can you hate me if you do not know me?’”
A conversation in a bar led Davis into “a 30-year journey that for Davis involved sitting down with members of the Klan and other White supremacists, attending their rallies and cross burnings — all in a search for answers. By tackling prejudices head-on, Davis believes he succeeded in persuading more than 200 KKK members and other white supremacists to disavow their allegiances. And as they came to know him and speak with him more frequently, many became friends, including Scott Shepherd, a former Grand Dragon of the KKK in Tennessee. The two regularly travel together to help shine a light on white supremacy and address the spread of racism through dialogue and education.”
Davis’ presence in Shepherd’s life caused him to re-think his existence. He says his “transformation from white supremacist to “reformed racist” began 20 years ago, after, he says, “several life experiences placed me in a situation where I had to make a decision and take a long hard look at my inner self.” This was demonstrated in 2017, when he publicly apologized to Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., for previous comments he had made about the civil rights activist. “He [Davis] was willing to be there for me, and so I started to see that the problem wasn’t color. The problem I had was myself,” Shepherd says.
The two men have embodied the process Jesus describes, and Davis has been a source of new life for his former adversary.
* * *
Psalm 119:33-40
Give Me Understanding
“Give me understanding,” the psalmist asks God, praying for the wisdom to walk in God’s ways. Lynn Mueser writes to her biological granddaughter, who was adopted by another family, about her own search for understanding in the death of her daughter. Her daughter, Missy, became a mother at a young age, with her baby born into a troubled life. Lynn gave her granddaughter a brightly painted feather as a high school graduation gift, and wrote to her about why.
She writes, “Congratulations on your high school graduation. I wanted to get you something special for the occasion. I came across the enclosed hand-painted feather in a gift shop on a recent trip to Arizona. It felt like the right gift because it also comes with a story. One I haven’t told you before. It’s about your biological mother — my daughter, Missy. You know she loved you, and that is why she gave you up. It was a difficult choice, but it was the right one. Missy was so young when she got pregnant. Her life was unstable. She was struggling on and off with drug addiction. And I was too old to raise another child. We both wanted you to have a big family, with parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. Everything we couldn’t give you.
“When your mom and dad invited me to be a part of your life, I was overjoyed. Missy couldn’t have picked better people to be your parents. Every time I visited you and saw what a happy, well-adjusted little girl you were, it confirmed [the decision to adopt] once again… The story I want to tell you starts in April of 2005 — when you were just seven years old. I’ll never forget that day. It was warm. The sun was shining. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But I couldn’t enjoy it. I had this lingering sense of unease. I hadn’t heard from Missy in a few days. It wasn’t that unusual, but I couldn’t help but worry...” She went outside, still uneasy, and adds, “When it was time to head back inside, I went to get the ball. But as I bent to pick it up, something else caught my eye. A feather. I’d never seen a feather like this. It was huge. It looked as if it had to have come from a bird the size of a swan. But it wasn’t white — it was black and glossy. Iridescent. It was beautiful. I didn’t want to leave it there in the grass. I just knew something about this feather was special. There was an old stump near the house, one that I could see from the living room window. I stuck the feather into the grooves of the bark, so it was standing up. Over the next few days, whenever I caught sight of it, it brought a smile to my face.”
Before long, Muser received a telephone call that Missy had died of a drug overdose a few days before, and had just been found in her apartment. Muser struggled to understand what had happened, and where God was in this tragedy. She prayed that God would add to her understanding. One night, at a friend’s home for dinner, one of the other guests spoke to her as she was leaving. “I have something I feel like I need to share with you. A message,” he said. “Your daughter wants to know if you found the feather she left for you.” Muser continues her letter, saying, “I stopped in my tracks. All of a sudden, it dawned on me. The feather I’d found? I’d found it on the day that Missy had passed. I had gotten the sign I’d hoped for; I just hadn’t known where to look…The feather enclosed in this package isn’t the same one, but I hope whenever you look at it, it’ll be a reminder. A reminder that, as you move on to this next phase of your life, Missy will be there, watching over you from heaven. And today, sweetheart, she is so proud of you. Just as I am.” Understanding comes to us from God in ways that are mysterious, and full of grace.
* * *
Romans 13:8-14
Owe No One Anything
Writing into the stratified world of Roman society, where people were enslaved for unpaid debts, Paul offers both an invitation and an exhortation. “Owe no one anything,” he says, except the gift of love, which is chosen, not imposed from above. As Americans, we are deeply in debt. “Consumer debt hit a fresh record high to start 2020, even as credit card balances declined while Americans adjusted to the coronavirus pandemic. Household debt balances through March totaled $14.3 trillion, a 1.1% increase from the previous quarter and now $1.6 trillion clear of the previous nominal high of $12.7 trillion in the third quarter of 2008 during the financial crisis, according to New York Federal Reserve data released Tuesday. However, one area posted a notable decline. Credit card balances fell $34 billion, a drop that helped offset non-housing balance increases of $27 billion in student loans and $15 billion in auto debt.” During the pandemic, we’re spending less, and still carrying large amounts of debt. We have a ways to go before we can follow Paul’s advice to owe no on anything.
* * *
Romans 13:8-14
Owe No One Anything, Part Two
Not owing any money to credit card companies, student loan servicers and your Aunt Helen is harder than it seems, when people borrow for education costs and put living expenses on credit cards while between jobs. Getting out of debt stories are an internet staple, and yet each one is inspiring in its own way. “Kendall Berry was watching the royal wedding in her dorm room in 2011, praying for her own prince to show up, when Dave Berry, her future husband, walked through the door. “It was honestly love at first sight,” says Kendall, 29. “On our first date … we talked about everything from our faiths, to our thoughts on divorce and other issues, to how many children we wanted and what we saw for our lives.” One thing they didn’t talk about: money. And on that point the two couldn’t have been more different. Kendall was a spender, and Dave was an ardent saver. Still, dating Kendall long distance depleted his savings. “I was probably the most expensive decision he ever made,” Kendall says. “While we were dating he would fly me down to visit him at flight school. He was always very generous with his money.”
After they married, they bought some things for their home. Kendall had student loan debt. In 2016, when they wanted to have kids, the two “who live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, started budgeting in earnest and paid off nearly $54,000 in debt in just seven months.” They found that their shared goal of paying off debt shored up their marriage. “Our relationship has only gotten stronger. It was wonderful to begin with, but we learned how to work together to achieve a goal. That was really powerful for the two of us, to learn that we can do hard things. That we can say “no” to ourselves — mostly me saying “no” to myself — there’s a maturity that comes with that. And I learned to have more self-discipline and to work toward a goal. Having children was the biggest goal and the biggest motivation for us. Even though that has not worked out, it’s still a huge part of how we paid off our debt.”
Telling a similar story, DeShena Woodard says not owing anything to anyone has changed her mental health for the better. “My life has definitely changed for the better since being out of debt. For one thing, I can sleep better at night. I’m not always worried about being able to pay my bills. I am now at the point where I forget when payday is. And I often go for more than a week before even checking my bank account to make sure that I did get paid.” Paul’s advice works for the spiritual realm, and also for our finances.
* * *
Romans 13:8-14
Wake from Sleep
“Now is the moment for you to wake from sleep,” Paul writes to the churches in Rome, signaling that it’s time to be alert to what God is doing. Even in this pandemic time, many Americans are having trouble waking up physically, if not spiritually. Tied to our electronic devices, we go to bed too late, and sleep too little. We can’t wake up because we haven’t slept enough. “Recent reports have shown that nearly 30% of American adults are getting 6 hours or less of sleep per night, and only 31% of high school students are getting 8 hours or more. The effects of sleep deprivation are widespread and are having a dramatic impact on public health — increasing risk of disease. In fact, it has been shown that getting 5 hours of sleep or fewer for at least 4 nights in a row affects cognitive performance the same way a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .06 (approximately 3 drinks) would. The price we’re paying for not prioritizing sleep is a noticeable depletion of our mental and physical health — and at times, even our safety.”
In real life, waking up is not instantaneous. Perhaps this is true for our spiritual lives, too. “Per research, no one pops out of bed immediately ready to start the day, even if waking during light sleep. Everyone goes through a transition from being asleep to being awake, called “sleep inertia” — marked by reduced vigilance, impaired performance, and a desire to go back to sleep. For some, it lasts minutes; for others it lasts less than 30 minutes, unless you’re chronically sleep-deprived.” We have more work to do if we are to wake up as readily as Paul calls us to do.
* * * * * *
From team member Bethany Peerbolte:
Exodus 12:1-14
Declaring an Identity
God’s people had to make a public declaration of their identity at the first Passover. The lamb's blood marking on the doors would keep them safe from the angel of death, but what would the neighbors think. Most likely the neighbors had a mark too, or at least already knew who lived in that home. However, there is a huge difference between probably knowing a neighbor’s identity and seeing it displayed in full color. There may have been dread about the looks their neighbors would give as they marked their door. There may have been fear of retaliation after the angel of death did its work. It took a great act of faith and a sure sense of ones’ identity to follow the instructions and mark their doors with lamb’s blood.
As I was speaking with friends this week the conversation shifted to our first Black Lives Matter protest. One of us mentioned showing up to a rally and being handed a shirt that said “Black Lives Matter.” It was the first time they physically wore the statement they had been making online for months. They confessed it felt like a big moment. Another friend’s church is struggling to keep vandals away from their “Black Lives Matter” sign on the front lawn of the church. The congregation, though, is determined to keep the message out there. I then told a story of my first time “wearing” the controversial phrase.
I recently participated in a driving protest. We stayed in our cars, tuned into the rally on a radio station, and drove together through downtown Detroit. Since we could not carry signs, I brought my window markers to write “Black Lives Matter” and the names of recent victims of police brutality all over my car. In the moment, it felt good. In the midst of the other protestors, if felt right. When we ended and drove our separate ways home, it felt scary. I suddenly felt like eyes were on me in not entirely supportive ways. I wondered what would happen if I drove past a police car. Worried they would pull me over because of an assumption that my support of Black lives meant I was against law enforcement. I was hyper aware of the rules of the road.
As I tried to process the emotions this drive home was evoking in me, I realized the time spent with my car on and driving around Detroit left me in need of gas. The abrupt realization pulled me out of my emotional experience, and I turned into the next gas station without thinking. When three motorcycles pulled up to the pumps next to me, I was quickly thrown back into awareness of the words on the car into which I was pumping gas. I realized my fearful reaction was based in a bias. There was no reason for me to assume these three middle aged white men on motorcycles wearing all leather in the suburbs of Detroit would not be fellow Black Lives Matter supporters, but something inside me told me the chances were slim. As I continued to pump my gas my ears reached for their hushed words. The corner of my eyes caught the corner of their eyes a few times. I was so aware of where every inch of my skin was, I felt like I was about to float out of my body completely.
Then it happened…. “BLUE LIVES MATTER” was shouted at me as I hung up the gas pump. Then I was happy to be so aware of my body because I was able to keep my pace even. I did not let my face show a reaction or even that I heard and I calmly slide into the driver’s seat. I drove away. I still think about my response. I wonder if I should have stayed and answered back. I wished I had been wearing my clerical collar. Some days I want to write the words all over my car again just to spite the fear they planted inside me. I am still unsure how I should have or would have liked to respond. What I do know, that was not even a fraction of the fear BIPOC citizens of my community have had to handle.
Putting “Black Lives Matter” on our bodies, on our front lawns, on our property is a declaration of who we are. That declaration can put us into categories that people make assumptions about and label as other. As political signs pop up in front yards around the country, we are acutely aware of our neighbors and who they declare themselves to be. Our responses will vary. Some of use will choose to engage them in conversation. Some of us will avoid registering the little rectangles of affiliation like elephants on the cul-de-sac. Hopefully, we will all avoid the vandals and the strangers willing to deface and shout.
* * *
Romans 13:8-14
Love in a Pandemic
We love when someone makes it simple. Ten Commandments are too much — we want the Spark Notes version. Romans 13:8-14 is the simplification. Sum it all up, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Just like everything else in this year, the pandemic has given us a new space through which to live out this commandment.
We have seen great acts of love in this time. A recent Traveler’s Insurance ad captures many of these acts of love. In the commercial, a teenage girl watches her neighbors out the window of her car. She sees a man run to collect a book and chair cushion as it begins to rain. She sees a woman finishing up some gardening in front of a house. A man opens the hood of a truck to find the cause of the smoke pouring out, and another man finishes building a basketball hoop. As her mother continues to drive home it becomes clear none of these people are working on their own property. The man in the rain is saving the items for his neighbor. The woman is gardening for her neighbor. The truck belongs to a rival food truck to the man fixing it, and the basketball hoop is for the whole block to use. When the girl gets out of her car she grabs a few bags and runs to the house next to hers. She too is dropping off groceries for her neighbor. The commercial paints a beautiful picture of what a neighborhood in a pandemic can look like.
Another new example of love in a pandemic is the TV series “Love in the Time of Corona.” The four episodes are made up of interwoven stories about people in quarantine trying to find love and stay connected. The cast is made up of actual couples, families or friends, in real life, who have been quarantining together during the pandemic. While it is a scripted mini-series, it shines a beautiful light on how love has survived and thrived even in these hard times.
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Matthew 18:15-20
Where 2 or 3, and Even 1, are Gathered
This verse has been such a comfort to faltering churches. We only need two or three for Jesus to be with us. These verses will sound quite different to your single congregants this week. Those of our members who are sheltering in place alone have been hit hard by isolation. It is a tactic used to punish hardened criminals and torture seasoned veterans. Being alone for this amount of time is torturous. Sure we have phones and video conferencing but after five months, the digital connections are not cutting it. When we read these verses this week we need to acknowledge the presence of God with the individual.
Gathering, even in twos and threes, is just not possible for many. It is not just those over the age of 65 or those with preexisting heart or lung conditions. Those who vape or smoke, those with arthritis, even young children are showing up as high-risk populations. Those being advised to stay isolated to stay safe grows every day. Especially as reports of crowds causing spikes in cases increase every day. Colleges are trying to be stern with students and protestors are having to accept risk to be heard by their communities.
People need encouragement to stay safe and get creative to fight isolation. We need to be more like the penguin who watched Pingu, a penguin Claymation series, to keep from feeling lonely. One article written to help teens who are feeling lonely may give us all a good start. It suggests some ways to fight the effects of isolation. Endeavors like finding a new online social group to engage, finding a new hobby, and being honest about our feelings will help. We can add to the list the affirmation that God shows up for the ones, too.
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WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Praise God! Sing to God a new song.
People: Sing God’s praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Leader: God takes pleasure in the people of God.
People: God adorns the humble with victory.
Leader: Let the faithful exult in glory;
People: Let the high praises of God be in our throats.
OR
Leader: God comes among us as Creator and Re-Creator.
People: We stand in dire need of God’s creative power.
Leader: There is nothing in all creation that God can’t restore.
People: We trust and hope in God’s love that renews us.
Leader: We only need to be willing to be changed!
People: We offer ourselves to the renewing power of our God.
Hymns and Songs:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
O Worship the King
UMH: 73
H82: 388
PH: 476
NNBH: 6
NCH: 26
CH: 17
LBW: 548
ELW: 842
W&P: 2
AMEC: 12
How Great Thou Art
UMH: 77
PH: 467
AAHH: 148
NNBH: 43
NCH: 35
CH: 33
LBW: 532
ELW: 856
W&P: 51
AMEC: 68
Renew: 250
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52/53/65
I Surrender All
UMH: 354
AAHH: 396
NNBH: 198
W&P: 474
AMEC: 251
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
UMH: 358
H82: 652/653
PH: 345
NCH: 502
CH: 594
LBW: 506
W&P: 470
AMEC: 344
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
UMH: 381
H82: 708
PH: 387
AAHH: 424
NNBH: 54
NCH: 252
CH: 558
LBW: 481
ELW: 789
W&P: 440
AMEC: 379
Take Time to Be Holy
UMH: 395
NNBH: 306
CH: 572
W&P: 483
AMEC: 286
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
This Is a Day of New Beginnings
UMH: 383
NCH: 417
CH: 518
W&P: 355
Change My Heart, O God
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
Create in Me a Clean Heart
CCB: 54
Renew: 181/182
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
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
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is ever making all things new:
Grant us the courage to take a clear look at ourselves
so that we can allow your Spirit to make us anew;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you renew creation in each new moment. Your creation ever new and renewing. As you children we join in your creativity and offer ourselves to your renewing presence. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our willingness to stay with the old and familiar rather than with the new and novel.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us in your image and likeness. We are endowed with creativity and life and yet we are content to live without growth and change. You call us to repent, to change our minds, and yet we stay with the same old thinking and live in the same old ruts. Renew our minds with the power of your Spirit that we may truly live as your children. Amen.
Leader: We are God’s children and heirs of God’s creativity. Use your God given ability to make things new in your life and in the lives of those around you.
Prayers of the People
We sing your praises, O God of the living. You are the God of newness and of life that moves from life to new life.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us in your image and likeness. We are endowed with creativity and life and yet we are content to live without growth and change. You call us to repent, to change our minds, and yet we stay with the same old thinking and live in the same old ruts. Renew our minds with the power of your Spirit that we may truly live as your children.
We give you thanks for the wonders of creation and, especially, of the ways in which creation is ever new and refreshed. We thank you for making us in your image and likeness so that we can share in your creative power.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children, everywhere. We pray for those who feel stuck in situations that are stifling and deadly to their souls. We pray for the courage we all need to step forward into the new life you offer us and all 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 Our Father 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
Go on the internet and search ‘restored toys before and after’ and you can get some great images of things that have been restored after being in very bad shape. You can print these out and show the children several of the before pictures. Talk about how they don’t look very nice and might not be much fun to play with. Then show them the restored pictures and talk about how nice they look and how much fun they would be to have and play with. God is a great restorer. God can always make us new. Now matter how much we may have missed what God had in mind when we were created, God can make us new again.
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CHILDREN'S SERMON
It’s Time!
by Chris Keating
Matthew 18:15-20, Romans 13:8-14
Begin the time with children with a ringing alarm. A cell phone alarm clock will work fine, but a really loud, old-fashioned wind up alarm clock would be better!
It is back to school time, and whether that is in person or online, “back to school” means a return to the three “R”s of classroom life: respect, routines, and rules. Be mindful that children who have returned to school this week have returned to a very different experience of school. There is much more to learn besides just getting up early! The Epistle and Gospel readings may echo some of the conversations children may have been having at school this week, and also offer an opportunity for teaching about the commandments.
Paul’s advice to the Romans is intended to wake them up by reminding them it is time to learn a new way of living.
You could quickly review the Ten Commandments, highlighting their purpose in helping God’s people learn how to love God and each other. If you are holding in-person worship, children could help you by naming some of the rules their teachers have taught them. If you are leading virtual worship, consider having a mini interview with a teacher in the congregation, asking him or her to explain why rules are important. Another option for virtual worship might be to film a conversation with some of the children of the church ahead of time, asking them to brainstorm the sort of rules they think are important for school. What rules would they make if they were teachers?
Using a chart, name the Ten Commandments and explain how these function in helping us experience faithful community. Point out how the commandments are focused on how we relate to God and how we relate to each other in community. Playing fair means that we show each person the sort of respect and love we want for ourselves. Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us that the entire law is summed up by loving one another. Practice saying “Love is the fulfilling of the law.”
One wise teacher once told me that she only had one rule in her class. “If I have more rules,” she said, “I have to spend all my time teaching all the rules.” Instead, she would tell her sixth graders that the one rule for her class was “respect.” It was the perfect rule she said because it covered what was necessary for her class to work together. One simple rule may be all we need!
Jesus points out something similar. When two people have a disagreement, he suggests that they work together in respect. He tells the disciples that they are to respect each other by following a detailed plan of talking to each other when there are disagreements.
Remind the children that wearing facemasks right now is a great way of showing respect for other people, especially those who might be at special risks for Covid-19. We also love each other by accepting people who are different, or by honoring God’s commandments.
Consider ending the children’s time with the ringing of another alarm, and close with this paraphrase of Romans 13:
Dear God,
We know that now is the time we need to wake up and pay attention. Your commandments teach us to love each other as you have loved us. Help us to respect you and each other, so that others may see Jesus living in us every day. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, September 6, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
- What Should a Follower of Jesus Do? by Tom Willadsen — Looking at the Gospel and Epistle lesson for this week nudges us to explore the call to examine oneself before confronting the other.
- Second Thoughts: Like A Gentile and a Tax Collector by Dean Feldmeyer.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin, Bethany Peerbolte.
- Worship resources by George Reed that focus on self-examination.
- Children’s sermon: It's Time by Chris Keating — Paul reminds us that now is the time to wake up and live as people who know God’s love.
What Should a Follower of Jesus Do?by Tom Willadsen
Romans 13:8-14, Matthew 18:15-20
Covid-19 continues. More demonstrations against police violence. The President threatens lawlessness if he is not re-elected. The vice-president substitutes “Old Glory” for “Jesus” in his speech at the Republican National Convention, but is not accused of idolatry.
In this moment of national turmoil, one may ask “What should a follower of Jesus do?” Fortunately, Paul has a clear answer. Not a simple answer, but a clear answer, and perhaps, a way forward.
In the News
“Law and order” is the sum of the Republican campaign strategy as the national election looms less than two months from now. In the President’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for the Presidency, he painted a bleak picture of what the national landscape will look like if he is not re-elected.
When does a demonstration become a riot? Where does the constitutionally assured right to freely assemble end?
When the Minneapolis police killed George Floyd and the nation saw him saying “I can’t breathe” on a video that went viral, a wave of awareness of racism broke across the nation. Lethal police violence became an issue that renewed interest in the Black Lives Matter movement and engaged white people to new levels of awareness and commitment to dismantling racism. As activism began to wane, a new shooting of a black man by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin has prompted another round of demonstrations — and unleashed another round of pushback, this time under the law and order banner.
Appealing to law and order is nothing new. Back in 1968 Richard Nixon made it a central issue in his campaign and easily defeated Hubert Humphrey. Forty years ago in my civics class we learned that law and order was a “valence issue,” that is something that no voter could be against. Honesty, marital fidelity and transparency are other valence issues; who could take a stand against them? Successfully portraying one’s opponent as being against a valence issue makes him or her a very unattractive candidate.
The President’s recent harping on law and order may overshadow that his administration has been tooting that horn for a long, long time. Two years ago when the separation of children from their parents at the US/Mexico border was in the news, Attorney General Jeff Sessions explained it as our “get tough” policy. Sessions made no mention of the humanitarian considerations of separating children as young as three years old from their parents.
The next day, Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited Paul’s Letter to the Romans to defend this policy.
This passage, as the Attorney General interpreted it, contends that the government is God’s instrument; therefore whatever the government says or does should be accepted. The only way for a citizen to live is to be loyal to the existing government. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops called separating children from their mothers “immoral.”
If the Bible can be interpreted to make disagreement with the government a sin, what are we to make of John Lewis’s “Good Trouble?”
Just four months before his death, John Lewis was speaking at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 1, 2020, the 55th anniversary of the confrontation between demonstrators and police there. Lewis advised those in attendance to "Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America." Breaking unjust laws is good trouble. Protesting against injustice and systemic racism is good trouble. As a nation we are profoundly divided over when law and order must be invoked (imposed) to stop good trouble.
In the Scriptures
It’s wise and helpful to look at the verses that precede both the Gospel and Epistle’s readings in today’s lessons. It is not clear where on the map the Gospel lesson takes place. Last the reader knew Jesus and his posse were in Capernaum. The action picks up when one of the disciples asks who is the greatest in the kingdom of God. Jesus turns the question into an ode in praise of humility, especially the guileless humility of children. They are the greatest. The humbler, the greater. (This can lead to something like a pathological humility/self-exaltation spiral; so be careful.) The humble/children are so precious that causing them to stray has dire consequences. It’s better to tie a millstone around your neck and get thrown into deep water than to cause a child to “stumble.” While occasions for stumbling will happen — it’s majorly bad to cause them to happen to someone else.
Jesus describes those dire consequences in the next few verses, suggesting that one is better off cutting off one’s hand, or gouging out one’s eye, if they cause you to sin. It beats burning in hell. While it is clear that Jesus is exaggerating, he does so instructively — those following him have to be brutally honest about themselves and their sin. He calls for rigorous self-examination. And when that self-examination leads to true repentance, the Father/shepherd rejoices in Heaven. Here Jesus gives a much more concise retelling of Luke 15, the chapter that includes the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son and his brother.
Jesus’ discussion of the consequences of sin and self-deception put the gospel lesson for today in an important context. When a member of the church is harmed by another member of the church, the offended one is instructed to go to the offender and point out the fault privately.
Scholars tell us that this instruction must have been post-resurrection, perhaps a generation after. Clearly the structure of Christian churches is in place for this guidance to make sense. It assumes pure motives on the part of the offended one, and those whom he enlists for future visits to the offender. As a last, final resort, the offender is brought before the entire congregation and given the chance to listen, then presumably repent and be restored to the fellowship. Those who do not are to be cast from the church, regarded as outsiders (Gentiles) and sinners (tax collectors).
Given Jesus’ penchant for hanging out with tax collectors — he even had one on this session — and including Gentiles — remember that exchange between him and the Syrophoenician woman a few weeks ago? — this might not be all bad. Still, in the context of this portion of the gospel it is clear that being expelled from the church is a bad thing. A painful action for the church to take, and a severe punishment for the offender.
In contrast to the gospel passage, the Romans passage addresses the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. Again, it’s essential to look at the verses that precede today’s passage. The Christians in Rome were a small, persecuted, misunderstood minority. Paul instructs them to be obedient, and reminds them that civil authorities have been instituted by God. Paul does not consider that the civil authorities could be incompetent, corrupt, or evil. “They’re there because God put them there, so toe the line, Christian!” Paul appears to be saying. Paul is not alone in considering governing authority this way. Jesus said to Pilate “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above…” (19:11, NRSV).
The prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah make similar points regarding Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and Persia’s King Cyrus, respectively.
The Bible does not, however, speak with one voice on one’s obligation to obey all civil authorities. In Revelation, especially, the 13th chapter, where the government is actively opposed to the greater good and the Realm of God, offers a different perspective. “The Beast” which would rule for 42 months, uttered blasphemies against God, made war on the saints. The saints are advised to endure and stay strong in the face of this oppression.
In the Sermon
We live in a moment of great polarization in the nation. It’s tempting to ignore the deep divisions that make it difficult for families and friends to share civil conversation. In this moment it’s wise to take a close look at what Jesus and Paul had to say about living in community.
Jesus gives clear, even humane, guidance in how to address the inevitable harm that people cause to each other, whether intentional or unintentional. Start small.
Start with yourself, recognize the severity of your own sin and imperfection. When a member of the church harms you, humbly, on the down low, bring the matter to the other church member’s attention. It could work. If it doesn’t, bring another member or two. Don’t make it a huge, public, deal. When you bring the matter before the whole church, then you can make it a big deal.
When people learn that I am a Presbyterian minister, they often inform me that they can be good without going to church. I always agree with these people. The church has no monopoly on goodness. But I also find a way to ask this person who’s hostile to church (They claim to be agnostic or “spiritual,” but as soon as I hear “organized religion,” I know they’re biased. [It’s fun to say, “We’re not organized; we’re bureaucratic;” though the distinction is usually lost on them.]) “How do you know when you’re wrong?” I confess I’m wrong a lot. And it’s a gift when someone can bring that to my attention, especially privately, the way Jesus says you should.
Paul makes a similar point in today’s reading, after covering the need for Christians to be good citizens, the only thing you should owe anyone is love. That doesn’t mean kissing strangers in the supermarket. To love is to regard them as worthy of being loved, to regard them as creations made in the image of the living God.
Just slowing down enough in these moments of heated, partisan rhetoric to regard another person as a child of God to whom you owe love, can make us a better, calmer, more Christlike church, community and nation.
SECOND THOUGHTSLike A Gentile and a Tax Collector
Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 18:15-20
In Paul Simon’s popular song, “Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover,” the speaker notices that a buddy is involved in a toxic relationship and doesn’t know how to get out of it. The speaker offers that there are at least “50 ways to leave your lover.”
To name a few, the speaker offers:
Just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan.
You don't need to be coy, Roy.
Just get yourself free.
Hop on the bus, Gus.
You don't need to discuss much.
Just drop off the key, Lee,
And get yourself free.
That’s how it works for most of us who find ourselves in toxic relationships, be they romantic, social, or professional. We often feel stuck, unable to move, and end up desperately clawing and digging and working to climb out of them and in into the fresh air of, well, survival at least.
Not so for the rich and powerful.
In the News
Okay, show of hands. How many of us have messed up in, been laid off from, or fired from a job and then received from our employer enough money to live comfortably for the rest of our lives?
No? Me neither.
Funny, that’s exactly what happened to Jill Soltau, the CEO of JCPenney. The company announced in June that they would be closing some 154 unprofitable stores because times are so tough. They had missed debt payments totaling $29 million but they still managed to scrape together a $4.5 million bonus for her.
Chesapeake Energy was caught advancing an illegal scheme to suppress the price of oil and gas leases. So, they paid their CEO, Robert Douglas Lawler, $15.4 million.
Bryan Stockton was fired as CEO of the toy manufacturer Mattel, and then was paid $4 million in “severance,” and rehired as a consultant.
McDonald's CEO Stephen Easterbrook received an exit package of almost $42 million after his relationship with an employee was found to violate company policy. Wonder how much the “employee” received.
Former Fox News star Bill O’Reilly was paid $25 million to leave the network in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal.
Neiman Marcus, the first major department store in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection back in May, blaming the coronavirus for its $5 billion in debt, asked the bankruptcy court to approve $10 million in pay raises for its top executives.
And then there’s Jerry Falwell, Jr., who was paid $10.5 million to leave the office of president of Liberty University, the largest evangelical Christian fundamentalist university in the world.
Mr. Falwell’s sad saga started when he posted on Instagram a somewhat lewd photograph showing himself, the president of the university and son of its co-founder, with his pants unfastened, his stomach exposed, and what appeared to be a cocktail in his hand, grinning next to a pretty, young woman, later identified as his wife’s assistant, who was in a similar pose.
The hue and cry from the university, students, graduate students, and alumni was robust, but not nearly so loud as it was when, last week it was revealed that Falwell’s wife, Becki, had been carrying on a ten-year affair with a young man they first met when he was a cabana boy at a swim club they frequented. (Really! A cabana boy. Isn’t that a B-movie cliché of some kind?) Over the past decade, while the affair was going on, said cabana boy became a business partner and social friend with the power couple.
Mrs. Falwell admitted the affair and chided “Christian people” for not being more forgiving of her. She denies the allegations of her paramour that her husband knew about the affair and was present for some of their, uh, assignations.
All this heat and attention has brought back to the surface previous adventures of the Falwells, homme et femme, such as the time when “not totally nude” photos of Becki were being circulated and Donald Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, was brought in to quash the scandal.
These scandals, new and remembered, have also refueled examinations of Falwell’s deep dive into conservative, Republican politics and statements he has made that have brought charges of xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, and racism to the university.
While Falwell insists that he has “done nothing,” a group of former students, alumni, and interested parties that calls itself “Save 71,” says that he has broken rules and traditions that would have gotten students suspended or even expelled from the school.
Last week, amid some confusion about whether he was being fired or allowed to resign, he announced his resignation which was followed by an immediate salary payment of $2.5 million and, after two years, a severance package that will pay him $8 million.
In parting, he said that he had been bored in his position and was seeking new frontiers, so the separation was not particularly painful for him. In fact, he quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last.”
Occasions of high reward for poor performance bring up questions of integrity and accountability. But Liberty University has held itself up as a bastion of Christian rectitude, a place that places high ethical demands upon its students as well as its faculty and staff.
Higher education reporter, Susan Svrluga, and religion reporters, Michelle Boorstein and Sarah Pulliam Bailey, report in the Washington Post that the Jerry Falwell, Jr./Liberty University saga brings to the fore questions of faith, power, and accountability that the Falwell empire has managed, up to now, to duck.
Liberty University is not alone in this position. Any church and all church leaders operate, to one degree or another, under this same ethical/moral magnifying glass. The gospel writer, Matthew, understood this when he advised church members how they should deal with controversy and accusations of misdeeds within the Christian community.
In the Scripture
The gospel lesson for this day comes from the proto-Matthean portion of the gospel, that is, the passages that do not appear in any of the other gospels. It is unique, in other words, to Matthew, and we might reasonably wonder what was going on in the Matthean community that would move him to include this passage that none of the other gospel writers saw as necessary or compelling.
The pericope makes several different points all of which fall within the context of the previous passage (10-14) — the parable of the lost sheep. Does a real shepherd actually leave the 99 in the mountains to search for the one that is lost? Of course not. And that is the point. God does!
God’s love for the lost ones is extravagant, risky, even wasteful! That’s what grace is all about, after all: extravagant, overflowing love and reconciliation.
Now, in verses 15-20, Matthew brings those metaphorical lost sheep home to the Christian community, the church. Conflict is, of course, inevitable. So how do the people of God relate to each other when such conflict arises?
The passage makes clear that we have a prophetic mission not just to the world but within the church as well. We are not just allowed but encouraged to call out wrong doing by other members of the church, and Jesus, as told by Matthew, tells us how to do it.
First, the responsibility falls upon the one who is wronged. If you have been wronged or perceive that you have been wronged by another member of the Christian community, you’re not allowed to sit and pout until that person realizes what they have done wrong and comes crawling to you for forgiveness.
If we have been wronged by someone in the church it is our responsibility, as disciples of Jesus, to go to that person alone and seek reconciliation with them. Don’t, in other words, start off by dragging the whole church into your private quarrels. Seek a private reconciliation.
If it works, fine. You have gained or regained a friend in faith.
If that doesn’t work, go to Plan B, which is to repeat Plan A but with one or two witnesses that you bring with you who can testify that you are being reasonable and this other person really did wrong you and is being recalcitrant, obstinate, and obtuse.
If that doesn’t work and the accused person refuses to be drawn into a reasonable dialogue, Plan C: “tell it to the church.”
If that person refuses to listen to the whole church then, and this is important, “let them be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
So there! You’re outa here, sinner! Don’t let the door hit you on the backside on the way out.
But, wait. Maybe not. We usually think of this passage as calling for exclusion. In fact, if we follow the example of Jesus concerning Gentiles and tax collectors what do we see him doing? We see him treating them as objects of missional outreach and grace. He includes them and embraces them.
This is how we are called to treat those who have sinned against us, those lost sheep who have wondered away from the flock? They are to be included in the fellowship of the church and given an extra portion of grace and love so that their hearts might be warmed and softened.
We must be careful, Jesus warns his disciples (and Matthew warns the church).
We have been given great power. The things we do and say to others in the church whether they condemn or enable can create lasting impressions that either bind or free a person for the rest of their life.
That’s one of the reasons Christians function not just as individual, rogue, do-gooders. We function as a community and, when we do, we have the promise that Jesus will be there with us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Matthew 18:15-20
When Someone Sins Against You
When someone injures us, most of us pull back, and seek to avoid the person. Daryl Davis takes the opposite approach. As a Black man, a lifetime of injuries started when he was a child in 1960’s Chicago. “Daryl Davis was shocked when his parents explained that White children were throwing rocks at him during a Cub Scouts parade because he was Black. Davis’ parents both worked in the US Foreign Service and, having lived in numerous parts of the world, he had become used to attending integrated schools, where the children of diplomats of different races and cultural backgrounds were taught together and interacted with one another. This made the violent encounter all the more baffling and left a burning question in Davis’ mind: ‘How can you hate me if you do not know me?’”
A conversation in a bar led Davis into “a 30-year journey that for Davis involved sitting down with members of the Klan and other White supremacists, attending their rallies and cross burnings — all in a search for answers. By tackling prejudices head-on, Davis believes he succeeded in persuading more than 200 KKK members and other white supremacists to disavow their allegiances. And as they came to know him and speak with him more frequently, many became friends, including Scott Shepherd, a former Grand Dragon of the KKK in Tennessee. The two regularly travel together to help shine a light on white supremacy and address the spread of racism through dialogue and education.”
Davis’ presence in Shepherd’s life caused him to re-think his existence. He says his “transformation from white supremacist to “reformed racist” began 20 years ago, after, he says, “several life experiences placed me in a situation where I had to make a decision and take a long hard look at my inner self.” This was demonstrated in 2017, when he publicly apologized to Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., for previous comments he had made about the civil rights activist. “He [Davis] was willing to be there for me, and so I started to see that the problem wasn’t color. The problem I had was myself,” Shepherd says.
The two men have embodied the process Jesus describes, and Davis has been a source of new life for his former adversary.
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Psalm 119:33-40
Give Me Understanding
“Give me understanding,” the psalmist asks God, praying for the wisdom to walk in God’s ways. Lynn Mueser writes to her biological granddaughter, who was adopted by another family, about her own search for understanding in the death of her daughter. Her daughter, Missy, became a mother at a young age, with her baby born into a troubled life. Lynn gave her granddaughter a brightly painted feather as a high school graduation gift, and wrote to her about why.
She writes, “Congratulations on your high school graduation. I wanted to get you something special for the occasion. I came across the enclosed hand-painted feather in a gift shop on a recent trip to Arizona. It felt like the right gift because it also comes with a story. One I haven’t told you before. It’s about your biological mother — my daughter, Missy. You know she loved you, and that is why she gave you up. It was a difficult choice, but it was the right one. Missy was so young when she got pregnant. Her life was unstable. She was struggling on and off with drug addiction. And I was too old to raise another child. We both wanted you to have a big family, with parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. Everything we couldn’t give you.
“When your mom and dad invited me to be a part of your life, I was overjoyed. Missy couldn’t have picked better people to be your parents. Every time I visited you and saw what a happy, well-adjusted little girl you were, it confirmed [the decision to adopt] once again… The story I want to tell you starts in April of 2005 — when you were just seven years old. I’ll never forget that day. It was warm. The sun was shining. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But I couldn’t enjoy it. I had this lingering sense of unease. I hadn’t heard from Missy in a few days. It wasn’t that unusual, but I couldn’t help but worry...” She went outside, still uneasy, and adds, “When it was time to head back inside, I went to get the ball. But as I bent to pick it up, something else caught my eye. A feather. I’d never seen a feather like this. It was huge. It looked as if it had to have come from a bird the size of a swan. But it wasn’t white — it was black and glossy. Iridescent. It was beautiful. I didn’t want to leave it there in the grass. I just knew something about this feather was special. There was an old stump near the house, one that I could see from the living room window. I stuck the feather into the grooves of the bark, so it was standing up. Over the next few days, whenever I caught sight of it, it brought a smile to my face.”
Before long, Muser received a telephone call that Missy had died of a drug overdose a few days before, and had just been found in her apartment. Muser struggled to understand what had happened, and where God was in this tragedy. She prayed that God would add to her understanding. One night, at a friend’s home for dinner, one of the other guests spoke to her as she was leaving. “I have something I feel like I need to share with you. A message,” he said. “Your daughter wants to know if you found the feather she left for you.” Muser continues her letter, saying, “I stopped in my tracks. All of a sudden, it dawned on me. The feather I’d found? I’d found it on the day that Missy had passed. I had gotten the sign I’d hoped for; I just hadn’t known where to look…The feather enclosed in this package isn’t the same one, but I hope whenever you look at it, it’ll be a reminder. A reminder that, as you move on to this next phase of your life, Missy will be there, watching over you from heaven. And today, sweetheart, she is so proud of you. Just as I am.” Understanding comes to us from God in ways that are mysterious, and full of grace.
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Romans 13:8-14
Owe No One Anything
Writing into the stratified world of Roman society, where people were enslaved for unpaid debts, Paul offers both an invitation and an exhortation. “Owe no one anything,” he says, except the gift of love, which is chosen, not imposed from above. As Americans, we are deeply in debt. “Consumer debt hit a fresh record high to start 2020, even as credit card balances declined while Americans adjusted to the coronavirus pandemic. Household debt balances through March totaled $14.3 trillion, a 1.1% increase from the previous quarter and now $1.6 trillion clear of the previous nominal high of $12.7 trillion in the third quarter of 2008 during the financial crisis, according to New York Federal Reserve data released Tuesday. However, one area posted a notable decline. Credit card balances fell $34 billion, a drop that helped offset non-housing balance increases of $27 billion in student loans and $15 billion in auto debt.” During the pandemic, we’re spending less, and still carrying large amounts of debt. We have a ways to go before we can follow Paul’s advice to owe no on anything.
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Romans 13:8-14
Owe No One Anything, Part Two
Not owing any money to credit card companies, student loan servicers and your Aunt Helen is harder than it seems, when people borrow for education costs and put living expenses on credit cards while between jobs. Getting out of debt stories are an internet staple, and yet each one is inspiring in its own way. “Kendall Berry was watching the royal wedding in her dorm room in 2011, praying for her own prince to show up, when Dave Berry, her future husband, walked through the door. “It was honestly love at first sight,” says Kendall, 29. “On our first date … we talked about everything from our faiths, to our thoughts on divorce and other issues, to how many children we wanted and what we saw for our lives.” One thing they didn’t talk about: money. And on that point the two couldn’t have been more different. Kendall was a spender, and Dave was an ardent saver. Still, dating Kendall long distance depleted his savings. “I was probably the most expensive decision he ever made,” Kendall says. “While we were dating he would fly me down to visit him at flight school. He was always very generous with his money.”
After they married, they bought some things for their home. Kendall had student loan debt. In 2016, when they wanted to have kids, the two “who live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, started budgeting in earnest and paid off nearly $54,000 in debt in just seven months.” They found that their shared goal of paying off debt shored up their marriage. “Our relationship has only gotten stronger. It was wonderful to begin with, but we learned how to work together to achieve a goal. That was really powerful for the two of us, to learn that we can do hard things. That we can say “no” to ourselves — mostly me saying “no” to myself — there’s a maturity that comes with that. And I learned to have more self-discipline and to work toward a goal. Having children was the biggest goal and the biggest motivation for us. Even though that has not worked out, it’s still a huge part of how we paid off our debt.”
Telling a similar story, DeShena Woodard says not owing anything to anyone has changed her mental health for the better. “My life has definitely changed for the better since being out of debt. For one thing, I can sleep better at night. I’m not always worried about being able to pay my bills. I am now at the point where I forget when payday is. And I often go for more than a week before even checking my bank account to make sure that I did get paid.” Paul’s advice works for the spiritual realm, and also for our finances.
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Romans 13:8-14
Wake from Sleep
“Now is the moment for you to wake from sleep,” Paul writes to the churches in Rome, signaling that it’s time to be alert to what God is doing. Even in this pandemic time, many Americans are having trouble waking up physically, if not spiritually. Tied to our electronic devices, we go to bed too late, and sleep too little. We can’t wake up because we haven’t slept enough. “Recent reports have shown that nearly 30% of American adults are getting 6 hours or less of sleep per night, and only 31% of high school students are getting 8 hours or more. The effects of sleep deprivation are widespread and are having a dramatic impact on public health — increasing risk of disease. In fact, it has been shown that getting 5 hours of sleep or fewer for at least 4 nights in a row affects cognitive performance the same way a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .06 (approximately 3 drinks) would. The price we’re paying for not prioritizing sleep is a noticeable depletion of our mental and physical health — and at times, even our safety.”
In real life, waking up is not instantaneous. Perhaps this is true for our spiritual lives, too. “Per research, no one pops out of bed immediately ready to start the day, even if waking during light sleep. Everyone goes through a transition from being asleep to being awake, called “sleep inertia” — marked by reduced vigilance, impaired performance, and a desire to go back to sleep. For some, it lasts minutes; for others it lasts less than 30 minutes, unless you’re chronically sleep-deprived.” We have more work to do if we are to wake up as readily as Paul calls us to do.
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From team member Bethany Peerbolte:Exodus 12:1-14
Declaring an Identity
God’s people had to make a public declaration of their identity at the first Passover. The lamb's blood marking on the doors would keep them safe from the angel of death, but what would the neighbors think. Most likely the neighbors had a mark too, or at least already knew who lived in that home. However, there is a huge difference between probably knowing a neighbor’s identity and seeing it displayed in full color. There may have been dread about the looks their neighbors would give as they marked their door. There may have been fear of retaliation after the angel of death did its work. It took a great act of faith and a sure sense of ones’ identity to follow the instructions and mark their doors with lamb’s blood.
As I was speaking with friends this week the conversation shifted to our first Black Lives Matter protest. One of us mentioned showing up to a rally and being handed a shirt that said “Black Lives Matter.” It was the first time they physically wore the statement they had been making online for months. They confessed it felt like a big moment. Another friend’s church is struggling to keep vandals away from their “Black Lives Matter” sign on the front lawn of the church. The congregation, though, is determined to keep the message out there. I then told a story of my first time “wearing” the controversial phrase.
I recently participated in a driving protest. We stayed in our cars, tuned into the rally on a radio station, and drove together through downtown Detroit. Since we could not carry signs, I brought my window markers to write “Black Lives Matter” and the names of recent victims of police brutality all over my car. In the moment, it felt good. In the midst of the other protestors, if felt right. When we ended and drove our separate ways home, it felt scary. I suddenly felt like eyes were on me in not entirely supportive ways. I wondered what would happen if I drove past a police car. Worried they would pull me over because of an assumption that my support of Black lives meant I was against law enforcement. I was hyper aware of the rules of the road.
As I tried to process the emotions this drive home was evoking in me, I realized the time spent with my car on and driving around Detroit left me in need of gas. The abrupt realization pulled me out of my emotional experience, and I turned into the next gas station without thinking. When three motorcycles pulled up to the pumps next to me, I was quickly thrown back into awareness of the words on the car into which I was pumping gas. I realized my fearful reaction was based in a bias. There was no reason for me to assume these three middle aged white men on motorcycles wearing all leather in the suburbs of Detroit would not be fellow Black Lives Matter supporters, but something inside me told me the chances were slim. As I continued to pump my gas my ears reached for their hushed words. The corner of my eyes caught the corner of their eyes a few times. I was so aware of where every inch of my skin was, I felt like I was about to float out of my body completely.
Then it happened…. “BLUE LIVES MATTER” was shouted at me as I hung up the gas pump. Then I was happy to be so aware of my body because I was able to keep my pace even. I did not let my face show a reaction or even that I heard and I calmly slide into the driver’s seat. I drove away. I still think about my response. I wonder if I should have stayed and answered back. I wished I had been wearing my clerical collar. Some days I want to write the words all over my car again just to spite the fear they planted inside me. I am still unsure how I should have or would have liked to respond. What I do know, that was not even a fraction of the fear BIPOC citizens of my community have had to handle.
Putting “Black Lives Matter” on our bodies, on our front lawns, on our property is a declaration of who we are. That declaration can put us into categories that people make assumptions about and label as other. As political signs pop up in front yards around the country, we are acutely aware of our neighbors and who they declare themselves to be. Our responses will vary. Some of use will choose to engage them in conversation. Some of us will avoid registering the little rectangles of affiliation like elephants on the cul-de-sac. Hopefully, we will all avoid the vandals and the strangers willing to deface and shout.
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Romans 13:8-14
Love in a Pandemic
We love when someone makes it simple. Ten Commandments are too much — we want the Spark Notes version. Romans 13:8-14 is the simplification. Sum it all up, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Just like everything else in this year, the pandemic has given us a new space through which to live out this commandment.
We have seen great acts of love in this time. A recent Traveler’s Insurance ad captures many of these acts of love. In the commercial, a teenage girl watches her neighbors out the window of her car. She sees a man run to collect a book and chair cushion as it begins to rain. She sees a woman finishing up some gardening in front of a house. A man opens the hood of a truck to find the cause of the smoke pouring out, and another man finishes building a basketball hoop. As her mother continues to drive home it becomes clear none of these people are working on their own property. The man in the rain is saving the items for his neighbor. The woman is gardening for her neighbor. The truck belongs to a rival food truck to the man fixing it, and the basketball hoop is for the whole block to use. When the girl gets out of her car she grabs a few bags and runs to the house next to hers. She too is dropping off groceries for her neighbor. The commercial paints a beautiful picture of what a neighborhood in a pandemic can look like.
Another new example of love in a pandemic is the TV series “Love in the Time of Corona.” The four episodes are made up of interwoven stories about people in quarantine trying to find love and stay connected. The cast is made up of actual couples, families or friends, in real life, who have been quarantining together during the pandemic. While it is a scripted mini-series, it shines a beautiful light on how love has survived and thrived even in these hard times.
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Matthew 18:15-20
Where 2 or 3, and Even 1, are Gathered
This verse has been such a comfort to faltering churches. We only need two or three for Jesus to be with us. These verses will sound quite different to your single congregants this week. Those of our members who are sheltering in place alone have been hit hard by isolation. It is a tactic used to punish hardened criminals and torture seasoned veterans. Being alone for this amount of time is torturous. Sure we have phones and video conferencing but after five months, the digital connections are not cutting it. When we read these verses this week we need to acknowledge the presence of God with the individual.
Gathering, even in twos and threes, is just not possible for many. It is not just those over the age of 65 or those with preexisting heart or lung conditions. Those who vape or smoke, those with arthritis, even young children are showing up as high-risk populations. Those being advised to stay isolated to stay safe grows every day. Especially as reports of crowds causing spikes in cases increase every day. Colleges are trying to be stern with students and protestors are having to accept risk to be heard by their communities.
People need encouragement to stay safe and get creative to fight isolation. We need to be more like the penguin who watched Pingu, a penguin Claymation series, to keep from feeling lonely. One article written to help teens who are feeling lonely may give us all a good start. It suggests some ways to fight the effects of isolation. Endeavors like finding a new online social group to engage, finding a new hobby, and being honest about our feelings will help. We can add to the list the affirmation that God shows up for the ones, too.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship:
Leader: Praise God! Sing to God a new song.
People: Sing God’s praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Leader: God takes pleasure in the people of God.
People: God adorns the humble with victory.
Leader: Let the faithful exult in glory;
People: Let the high praises of God be in our throats.
OR
Leader: God comes among us as Creator and Re-Creator.
People: We stand in dire need of God’s creative power.
Leader: There is nothing in all creation that God can’t restore.
People: We trust and hope in God’s love that renews us.
Leader: We only need to be willing to be changed!
People: We offer ourselves to the renewing power of our God.
Hymns and Songs:
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty
UMH: 64/65
H82: 362
PH: 138
AAHH: 329
NNBH: 1
NCH: 277
CH: 4
LBW: 165
ELW: 413
W&P: 136
AMEC: 25
STLT: 26
Renew: 204
O Worship the King
UMH: 73
H82: 388
PH: 476
NNBH: 6
NCH: 26
CH: 17
LBW: 548
ELW: 842
W&P: 2
AMEC: 12
How Great Thou Art
UMH: 77
PH: 467
AAHH: 148
NNBH: 43
NCH: 35
CH: 33
LBW: 532
ELW: 856
W&P: 51
AMEC: 68
Renew: 250
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
UMH: 127
H82: 690
PH: 281
AAHH: 138/139/140
NNBH: 232
NCH: 18/19
CH: 622
LBW: 343
ELW: 618
W&P: 501
AMEC: 52/53/65
I Surrender All
UMH: 354
AAHH: 396
NNBH: 198
W&P: 474
AMEC: 251
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
UMH: 358
H82: 652/653
PH: 345
NCH: 502
CH: 594
LBW: 506
W&P: 470
AMEC: 344
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
UMH: 381
H82: 708
PH: 387
AAHH: 424
NNBH: 54
NCH: 252
CH: 558
LBW: 481
ELW: 789
W&P: 440
AMEC: 379
Take Time to Be Holy
UMH: 395
NNBH: 306
CH: 572
W&P: 483
AMEC: 286
I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light
UMH: 206
H82: 490
ELW: 815
W&P: 248
Renew: 152
Be Thou My Vision
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELW: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
This Is a Day of New Beginnings
UMH: 383
NCH: 417
CH: 518
W&P: 355
Change My Heart, O God
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
Create in Me a Clean Heart
CCB: 54
Renew: 181/182
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
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
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is ever making all things new:
Grant us the courage to take a clear look at ourselves
so that we can allow your Spirit to make us anew;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you renew creation in each new moment. Your creation ever new and renewing. As you children we join in your creativity and offer ourselves to your renewing presence. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our willingness to stay with the old and familiar rather than with the new and novel.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us in your image and likeness. We are endowed with creativity and life and yet we are content to live without growth and change. You call us to repent, to change our minds, and yet we stay with the same old thinking and live in the same old ruts. Renew our minds with the power of your Spirit that we may truly live as your children. Amen.
Leader: We are God’s children and heirs of God’s creativity. Use your God given ability to make things new in your life and in the lives of those around you.
Prayers of the People
We sing your praises, O God of the living. You are the God of newness and of life that moves from life to new life.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have created us in your image and likeness. We are endowed with creativity and life and yet we are content to live without growth and change. You call us to repent, to change our minds, and yet we stay with the same old thinking and live in the same old ruts. Renew our minds with the power of your Spirit that we may truly live as your children.
We give you thanks for the wonders of creation and, especially, of the ways in which creation is ever new and refreshed. We thank you for making us in your image and likeness so that we can share in your creative power.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children, everywhere. We pray for those who feel stuck in situations that are stifling and deadly to their souls. We pray for the courage we all need to step forward into the new life you offer us and all 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 Our Father 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
Go on the internet and search ‘restored toys before and after’ and you can get some great images of things that have been restored after being in very bad shape. You can print these out and show the children several of the before pictures. Talk about how they don’t look very nice and might not be much fun to play with. Then show them the restored pictures and talk about how nice they look and how much fun they would be to have and play with. God is a great restorer. God can always make us new. Now matter how much we may have missed what God had in mind when we were created, God can make us new again.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONIt’s Time!
by Chris Keating
Matthew 18:15-20, Romans 13:8-14
Begin the time with children with a ringing alarm. A cell phone alarm clock will work fine, but a really loud, old-fashioned wind up alarm clock would be better!
It is back to school time, and whether that is in person or online, “back to school” means a return to the three “R”s of classroom life: respect, routines, and rules. Be mindful that children who have returned to school this week have returned to a very different experience of school. There is much more to learn besides just getting up early! The Epistle and Gospel readings may echo some of the conversations children may have been having at school this week, and also offer an opportunity for teaching about the commandments.
Paul’s advice to the Romans is intended to wake them up by reminding them it is time to learn a new way of living.
You could quickly review the Ten Commandments, highlighting their purpose in helping God’s people learn how to love God and each other. If you are holding in-person worship, children could help you by naming some of the rules their teachers have taught them. If you are leading virtual worship, consider having a mini interview with a teacher in the congregation, asking him or her to explain why rules are important. Another option for virtual worship might be to film a conversation with some of the children of the church ahead of time, asking them to brainstorm the sort of rules they think are important for school. What rules would they make if they were teachers?
Using a chart, name the Ten Commandments and explain how these function in helping us experience faithful community. Point out how the commandments are focused on how we relate to God and how we relate to each other in community. Playing fair means that we show each person the sort of respect and love we want for ourselves. Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us that the entire law is summed up by loving one another. Practice saying “Love is the fulfilling of the law.”
One wise teacher once told me that she only had one rule in her class. “If I have more rules,” she said, “I have to spend all my time teaching all the rules.” Instead, she would tell her sixth graders that the one rule for her class was “respect.” It was the perfect rule she said because it covered what was necessary for her class to work together. One simple rule may be all we need!
Jesus points out something similar. When two people have a disagreement, he suggests that they work together in respect. He tells the disciples that they are to respect each other by following a detailed plan of talking to each other when there are disagreements.
Remind the children that wearing facemasks right now is a great way of showing respect for other people, especially those who might be at special risks for Covid-19. We also love each other by accepting people who are different, or by honoring God’s commandments.
Consider ending the children’s time with the ringing of another alarm, and close with this paraphrase of Romans 13:
Dear God,
We know that now is the time we need to wake up and pay attention. Your commandments teach us to love each other as you have loved us. Help us to respect you and each other, so that others may see Jesus living in us every day. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, September 6, 2020 issue.
Copyright 2020 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.
