Who Do You Trust?
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In this week’s lectionary reading from Genesis, God promises Abram that “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing” -- if Abram will follow God’s direction to drop everything and go to a new land. Given his age, those promises must have bordered on the fantastical... requiring an extraordinary level of trust from Abram to take them seriously and follow God. In the epistle text, Paul draws on that Genesis passage to make the point that such deep trust in God is the basis for our faith -- and that all who share that belief also share in God’s promise to Abraham. In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer examines the relevance of that issue for modern Christians... and asks us to consider in what and in whom we really place our trust, and more importantly, our faith.
Team member Mary Austin shares some additional thoughts on the Genesis text. She notes that God specifically chose Abram -- demonstrating the same deep faith in humankind that we are called to have in God. Abram’s obedience was a sign of his faith -- but Mary wonders if we are worthy of the faith that God has placed in us... and if our actions toward others indicate that we have the same confidence in human potential as God does.
Who Do You Trust?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Genesis 12:1-4a; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
You and your best friend are selected to appear on a game show, where you will be challenged to answer trivia questions to win money. Each question will be worth more money -- all the way up to, oh, let’s say, a whole lot!
AND before each question you will have to decide whether you or your friend will give the answer. You do not get to consult with each other; you just have to decide.
Here comes question number 16. It’s worth $1,200. “What was the original title of Glenn Miller’s big band classic ‘In the Mood’?”* Now choose. Who is going to answer -- you or your friend?
Not easy, is it?
That’s exactly what contestants used to do on the television game show Who Do You Trust? It ran on weekday afternoons from 1957 to 1963. Originally called Do You Trust Your Wife?, the network changed the title in 1958 when Johnny Carson took over as host so they could utilize a more diverse group of teams on the show and women could, if the couple chose, be the team captain of a married team.
This week Paul asks us Johnny Carson’s famous question: “Who do you trust?”
Your friends? Your president? The media?
God?
*(Answer to trivia question: “Hot and Anxious”)
In the News
In 2015, the most recent year for which figures are available, the United States of America spent $596 billion on the military. That was more than the next seven countries (China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, India, and Saudi Arabia) combined, who spent a total of $567 billion.
Business Insider says that we could add Germany, Brazil, Australia, and South Korea to that list and the U.S. would still be outspending them all put together. And that’s after the military portion of the total federal budget was cut from 20.1% to 15.9%.
The budget which President Trump has said he will recommend to congress includes a 10% increase of $54 billion for defense, which would put U.S. defense spending at over $600 billion per year, constituting 54% of all federal discretionary spending. Spending on food and agriculture, including food stamps, is about 1% of the budget. Education gets 6%, health gets 6%, government administration gets 6%, and interest on loans gets 6%. Support for the arts doesn’t even appear on most pie charts, because it is impossible to show the .016% of the federal discretionary budget that is spent to support the arts each year. [These figures do not include “mandatory spending” (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, transportation, labor, etc.), which must, by law, be considered separate from the discretionary budget.]
Of course, no one would suggest that we spend zero dollars on defense, but when the budget becomes so extraordinarily lopsided, people of faith might rightly wonder in whom or what it is that we, as a nation, place our trust.
The issue of trust need not center upon our nation’s budget alone. It could well be argued that our family budgets are also reliable indicators of whom and/or what we trust.
According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ figures for 2016, the average American family brought home about $69,600 per year before taxes, of which they spent about $56,000.
Of those expenditures, about $18,000 went to housing, furnishings, and utilities; $7,000 went to food (about half of which we purchased at restaurants); $9,500 was spent on transportation (vehicle purchase, upkeep, and fuel); $4,300 (about 8.5% of the total) was spent on healthcare -- three-quarters of which went to health insurance; $2,800 went to entertainment; $1,300 went to education; $1,800 was given away to charity, and about $17,000 went to personal insurance, pensions, Social Security, and taxes.
Of course, averages are rarely 100% accurate for any specific individual -- but in this case the average can serve as an impetus for us, as Christians, to examine our own spending habits and see if they reveal any insights into whom or what we trust.
In the Bible
In the Genesis text for this morning, YHWH visits 75-year-old Abram and tells him to pack his stuff, get his family (not just his immediate family but the entire clan) together, tell them to pack their stuff, and start walking westward.
“I’ll tell you when to stop,” God says.
Then God makes a promise to Abram, sort of a quid pro quo. The reason God wants Abram to do this traveling, he says, is because God’s got some big plans for Abram and his family. First, God’s going to make of them a great -- that is, big -- nation. God is also going to make Abram a blessing to all of those whom he encounters. In fact, through Abram, everyone on earth is going to be blessed. If anyone messes with you, God says, I’m going to mess with them. And if anyone treats you well, I’m going to treat them well.
Now Abram is 75 years old, and he wants a son more than anything in this earth, a son who can continue the family name and inherit everything Abram has worked so hard to achieve -- but so far no son has appeared.
So, being 75, Abram figures that he’s not going to get any better or bigger offers sitting around in the town of Ur of the Chaldeans, so he says, “Okay, why not?”
And he does as God says. He follows God’s instructions and begins an adventure that is going to take up the next ten chapters of Genesis and lay the foundation upon which much of the rest of the Bible is built.
But today all we hear are the opening remarks, something like a bare-bones introduction to what might be called “The Adventures of Abraham.” And to sum it up, that introduction reads: “God told Abram to go, and he went.”
At first glance it’s not all that impressive, right?
But wait, there’s more.
About 500 years after Genesis was written, Paul puts a new spin on it.
The issue for Paul is “righteousness” -- that is, goodness or moral uprightness.
There are those who have argued that the key to salvation is righteousness. If we are good enough, according to the law, we can save ourselves. God will have no choice in the matter.
Paul contends that this is not the case.
We are human beings, he says, born in sin, estrangement, and separation. And we are incapable of washing away that stain from our own souls. It’s been there too long, it’s too deeply etched into who we are.
We are simply incapable of being righteous by way of our own works, our own behavior.
BUT...
And this is important. (That’s why I put it in all uppercase letters.) While we may be incapable of being righteous, we are fully capable of always being faithful.
“Abraham believed God,” says Paul, “and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” He goes on: “Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.”
Faith, for Paul, is more than just believing what can’t be proved. For Paul, faith is TRUST. Faith is our willingness to trust God, to take risks based on our knowledge and experience of God’s love and grace.
Faith is believing that what we have learned about God through Jesus Christ is true and then living accordingly.
And if we have that kind of faith, God will count it as righteousness.
In the Pulpit
It is easy to turn the Genesis passage into a sermon about obedience, one full of remonstration and repudiation, full of “should” and “ought.”
Y’all ought to have more faith. Y’all should be more like Abraham.
But when we peal back the layers, these passages aren’t about obedience as much as they are about faith.
Faith is not belief alone.
I can, for instance, believe that if I let myself fall backward with my eyes closed and my arms crossed, you will catch me. Such belief requires nothing of me. It is intellectual assent, and that only.
In fact, I won’t be demonstrating faith until my body crosses the point of no return, the threshold after which I will not be able to right myself and I am solely at your mercy. That is faith.
It is not blind or foolish. It is often based upon our past experience, our ability to reason, our intimate knowledge of scripture, and our relationship with the one who has promised to catch us.
But no matter how we cut it, faith always involves three things without which it is not faith.
First, it involves risk. I don’t know for sure, can’t know for sure if you are going to catch me when I fall. No matter how much I believe that you will, no matter how many times you’ve caught me in the past, no matter how reasonable it is for you to catch me, there is still an element of risk.
Second, it involves trust. If you said you will catch me, I must trust that you are able to actually do it, and that in fact you will do it.
And third, it involves action. As long as I stand there with my hands folded over my chest, refusing to move, refusing to be talked into it, unless I actually let go and fall, it isn’t faith.
But this falling backward is a silly party game for children, right? It’s all well and good to equate falling backwards into the arms of our friends with faith in God. That’s cheap and easy faith.
The real faith is when we decide, as individuals and as communities, that we are going to trust God when we are planning our budgets, and when we are arranging and paying for our safety and welfare.
Real faith is faith that trusts God at those big and important times, that trusts God with the big things that come to our lives.
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit (Isaiah 17:5-8).
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Genesis 12:1-4a
As they make their covenant, Abram (soon to become Abraham) shows an extraordinary amount of trust in God, moving from his homeland to an unknown place, all for the promise of God’s blessing in the future. As people of faith, we hold Abraham up as an example for our own faith. He manages to retain his trust in God (mostly) through the decades it takes God to fulfill the divine promises.
Abraham has a deep confidence in God... and God also has a large measure of confidence in Abraham. God knows Abraham’s steadfast spirit and his courage, and sees his willingness to leave the familiar and embrace the new. Being chosen by God is demanding work, and God is sure that Abraham and Sarah are up to this task.
As heirs of the promise made to Abraham, are we worthy of the same confidence? Can God count on us to share in God’s work? There is plenty of work to be done for the people of God, in this time of fear for immigrants, the poor, Muslim people, the LGBTQ+ community, and others. Are there places where God is calling us out of our own familiar places, into a journey of learning something new or doing something different?
If we are to care for God’s people, there are plenty of places where God might be calling us. Budget measures proposed by President Trump will have an impact on lower-income Americans. He has suggested tariffs on goods imported from China and Mexico. These “could easily hurt America’s working class as well. A study published by the Council of Economic Advisers [CEA], a group of economists appointed by President Obama, demonstrates how tariffs place a heavier burden on poorer people, especially working-class families and single parents.... If tariffs do go into place, they would likely place a heavier burden on poorer people, as the CEA study suggests. That’s in part because spending on tradable goods -- the kind of products that would be taxed under a tariff, such as food and apparel -- make up a larger proportion of the overall spending of poorer households, as past economic research shows.” Automotive analysts “anticipate that the average new car price could increase $2,000 to $2,500 if the Trump administration’s proposed border tax goes into effect.”
The House has introduced a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, described as “a remarkable moment in government health-care policymaking. The Affordable Care Act... ushered in the most significant expansion of insurance coverage since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.... There is no precedent for Congress to reverse a major program of social benefits once it has taken effect and reached millions of Americans.” The bill has a series of tax credits which “would go to more people but provide less financial help to lower-income people, according to... the Kaiser Family Foundation.”
At the same time, the proposed repeal also strips funding from Planned Parenthood, the “largest network provider of women’s health care in the country.” The proposal closes off another health care avenue for low-income women. “The GOP’s health plan -- dubbed the American Health Care Act, or AHCA -- released Monday night, restricts fundings to organizations that provide abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or health of the mother. Planned Parenthood currently receives 40% of its operating budget -- or around $500 million -- from the federal government, none of which can be used for abortion services thanks to the Hyde Amendment. In fact, 60% of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding comes from reimbursements from Medicaid and Title X funding for preventative and primary care (things like birth control and cancer screenings).”
Other proposed cuts to the federal budget come from the Legal Services Corporation [LSC], which provides legal help to lower-income people for civil court proceedings. “Working-class Americans get dragged into civil court by powerful entities frequently in very serious situations where the government has no obligation to provide them with a lawyer. If the bank claims it has the right to take your house away, for example, the complex thicket of foreclosure proceedings that follows are not covered by right-to-counsel laws for civil court.” LSC funding is a tiny fraction of the federal budget, and “by making it significantly harder to find a lawyer unless you’re already rich, Trump’s planned destruction of the LSC would tilt the economic playing field more steeply against the little guy.”
Abraham has enough trust in God to set out on a journey into a future he can’t even imagine, and we hold him up as an of faith. God has a parallel kind of trust in Abraham, certain that he will be able to fulfill the demands of their covenant. If Abraham is an example for us, his story prompts us to wonder if we too are worthy of God’s trust. And by extension, what about the people around us? If people look to us as representatives of God, can they trust us to act as God would act? If the most vulnerable people in our society look to us to be bearers of God’s justice and grace, will our actions stand up to their hopes?
Abraham is worthy of God’s confidence because he lives out of an enduring place in his faith (mostly). Like all of us he has lapses, and anxiety replaces faith on some days. Still, God chooses to have confidence in him, and we pray that God will also choose to have confidence in us. Even more deeply, we pray to be worthy of God’s trust, and to deserve the confidence of those who need a sign of God’s presence among us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Genesis 12:1-4a
Living Boldly
Katherine Du, 17, may be just a teenager, but she has already discovered what it means to live as boldly as Abraham and Sarah. Du is on a “gap year” prior to beginning her college studies next fall at Stanford University. The break between high school and college has afforded the young woman -- who is a contributing writer to the Huffington Post and USA Today -- a chance to explore a topic most of her peers avoid at all costs: mortality.
“The free reins of a gap year also tone up the muscles of self-discipline and self-reflection,” Du writes, “which allowed me to contemplate mortality as much as I have.”
Her reflections began after her grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer, but also included observing a former surgeon general give a presentation on organ donation, and a visit to Thailand during the official mourning period for the late King Bhumibol. She also volunteered for the New York attorney general, where she met a government lawyer who had passed on jobs paying higher salaries in order to remain dedicated to serving poor and exploited populations.
All of it contributed to what Du calls an awareness of living life boldly and with passion -- the sort of fierce faithfulness Abram and Sarai display in responding to God. Du’s grandmother, by the way, was recently declared cancer-free:
Miraculously, my grandmother was recently declared cancer-free. My joy was mixed with the realization that flesh is mortal. We are human because we feel, seek, lose, and feel again. The cycle is beautiful because it is endlessly doomed. Today, my grandmother and I are drunk on life. We will live boldly, learn ceaselessly, and love fearlessly in the years to come; the time we have is a gift, not a given.
No doubt Abram would agree.
*****
Genesis 12:1-4a
A Migrant’s Faith
Before Abraham was the father of nations, he was first an immigrant. With faithful determination, Abraham and Sarah left their homeland to pursue God’s claim on their lives. As immigration policies are debated and discussed, it’s helpful to recall these migrant origins of our faith. Immigration policies impact all Americans:
* In Wisconsin, dairy farmers are worried how deportations will impact their labor force. About 80% of hired help at Wisconsin dairy operations are immigrants, and many of those are undocumented. One dairy farmer put it this way: “If you remove Mexican labor, farms would go out of business.”
* Apple growers in Washington are also worried that an increase in immigration enforcement activities will pose “serious harm” to this year’s apple crop. One farmer told Washington state legislators that enforcement actions could “potentially devastate our agricultural crops.”
* The story is similar in Florida’s tomato and strawberry fields, where some workers fear that they will be deported while their U.S.-born children are attending school.
* There are between 2-3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers present in the United States. Their average family income ranges from $17,500 to $19,999, with 23% living below the government’s poverty guidelines. About half entered the United States without a visa or other documentation, and on average have spent more than six years with the same employer.
*****
Psalm 121
From Where Does Our Help Come?
Deadly tornadoes ripped through many Midwestern states last week, uprooting families and destroying homes. In Perryville, Missouri, a small town less than two hours south of St. Louis, a powerful EF-4 storm destroyed homes and left a 15-mile pathway of debris. Like many communities faced with catastrophic events, Perryville has welcomed teams of volunteers from across the state and country. The town’s Chamber of Commerce website notes that the outpouring of love and support has been “incredible.”
When disaster strikes, people want to help.
It’s part of a larger phenomenon known as “convergence,” or the informal gathering of people, messages, equipment, and supplies following disasters. Many times volunteers simply show up -- and while that can prove to be a management problem, scholars suggest that emergency management agencies need to spend time thinking about how to best harness the talents, energy, and desire of informal volunteers.
*****
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
The Surprising Gift of Life
Paul describes the remarkable gift of life to those who turn to God, a gift that “calls into existence the things that do not exist.” Perhaps it’s a gift that Thomas Starzl, a Pittsburgh surgeon considered to be the “father” of organ transplantation in the United States, might have understood. Starzl died this week at age 90.
His groundbreaking work in surgery and in developing immune suppressants changed the narratives about life for many patients. His work offered life to many who would have otherwise died. Starzl achieved international renown for performing complicated transplant surgeries.
“Tom Starzl’s tremendous respect and affection for his patients became the life force of his career. Countless lives were saved through his advances in technique and his pioneering work to prevent organ rejection,” said Arthur S. Levine, M.D., University of Pittsburgh senior vice chancellor for the Health Sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “There is not a transplant surgeon worldwide who has not, in some way, been influenced by his work.”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Understanding
Billionaire Warren Buffett surprised the financial community when his Berkshire Hathaway corporation increased its holdings of Apple to 133 million shares. This from an investor who once counseled individuals not to purchase stock in technology companies because it was too difficult to predict which tech companies would prevail. But when Buffett observed how inseparable people are from their iPhones, he realized that Apple was more a producer of consumer products than a tech company. Buffett said, “Apple strikes me as having a quite a sticky product and an enormously useful product to people who use it, not that I do.” Buffett himself still relies on his flip phone.
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is the new understanding that people have of God.
*****
Understanding
In a political cartoon satirizing the Oscar awards, the announcer introduces the next winner with these words: “And here to accept the Oscar is another self-absorbed Hollywood type nobody knows, from a film nobody’s seen, with a political opinion nobody cares about.” (Note: If your sanctuary has a projection screen, you may want to display this image.)
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is the new understanding that people have of God. It is a lesson of distinguishing the trivial from the serious.
*****
Understanding
Adam Purinton killed one person and wounded a second in Olathe, Kansas, thinking they were Iranian when they were actually from India. Before Purinton shot them, he yelled, “Get out of my country.”
Application: People need to have a new understanding of the message that God has for us. Part of that message is to live a life of redemption.
*****
Understanding
Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed and Alok Madasani was wounded by Adam Purinton in a shooting in Olathe, Kansas, Purinton attacked them because he thought they were Iranian, when they were actually from India. Speaking at a gathering of several hundred people at the Ball Conference Center in Olathe, Madasani shared how Kuchibhotla was his best friend. Then, reflecting on the tragedy, Madasani said, “I wish it was a dream.”
Application: People need to have a new understanding of the message that God has for us. Part of that message is to realize that there is evil in the world, and the evil is not a dream.
*****
Understanding
Several weeks after an 18-member jury found Dylann Roof guilty for his murder of nine black church members at Emanuel AME church in Charleston, they attended a worship service at Emanuel. After the service, they went down to the fellowship hall were the murders took place. Following that service they wrote an article for the city newspaper. They wrote of that experience: “It was difficult to grasp that we were in the room that had existed in our minds only as graphic images presented at the trial. Most of us became very quiet.”
Application: We need to have a new understanding of the direction that God wishes to take society.
*****
Understanding
The jury members who attended a worship service at Emanuel AME church in Charleston following Dylann Roof’s trial wrote of their experience: “Seeing everyone in their beloved church praising God and enjoying fellowship left us all with an incredible feeling of peace.”
Application: People need to have a new understanding of the message that God has for us. Part of that message is the joy we experience when we know we are following the calling of God.
*****
Understanding
It has been called the Great Mistake of the 2017 Oscars -- La La Land was initially announced as the best picture of the year, before producers came on stage and announced that the actual winner was Moonlight. The producer, writers, and actors of Moonlight did not take offense at this, as the mistake actually brought more attention to a film that is considered the first LGBT-themed movie to win an Oscar in the 87-year history of the awards. Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the LGBT advocacy group GLAAD, said the reason for the film’s success was simple: “It reflects the world we live in today. Countless people can relate to it.”
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is for people to understand society as God created it to be.
*****
Obedience
In a Frank and Ernest comic, the two title characters are at the counter of an electronics store. Frank tells the salesclerk, “We’d like to return this GPS. Every route it suggested for getting to ‘easy street’ requires travelling down ‘endeavor boulevard’ ” (Note: If your sanctuary has a projection screen, you may want to display this comic.)
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is the need to be obedient to the call of God.
*****
Love
Pope Francis has reduced the sentencing of pedophile priests. Instead of having them defrocked, he no longer allows them to have a public ministry -- but they are assigned to administrative duties. Francis has been criticized by many for his lenient attitude. Greg Burke, the Vatican spokesman, said, “The Holy Father understands that victims and survivors can find any sign of mercy in this area difficult. But he knows that the gospel message of mercy is ultimately a source of powerful healing and of grace.”
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is how love can transform lives and foster obedience to the gospel message.
*****
Life
Karl Baden, a Boston College professor, has taken a black-and-white photograph of himself every morning for 30 years. He has always used the same camera with the same backdrop. He has purposely not grown a beard or mustache, so that his face will be fully exposed. The project began on February 23, 1987, and so far he has nearly 11,000 photographs, some of which have been put on public display in art galleries. The purpose of the daily photographs is to show the aging process with the realization that we are all going to die. Howard Yezerski, a Boston gallery owner, has exhibited the project on two different occasions. Yezerski said: “It’s both personal and universal at the same time. He’s recording life, or at least one aspect of it that we can all relate to because we’re all in the same boat. We’re going to die.”
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is the calling for us to live life as God intended it to be. Part of that message is the realization of our shared humanity.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Lift up your eyes to the hills -- from where will our help come?
People: Our help comes from our God, who made heaven and earth.
Leader: God will not let our foot be moved.
People: Our God who keeps us will not slumber.
Leader: God is our keeper; our God is our shade at our right hand.
People: God will keep us from all evil; our God will keep our life.
OR
Leader: God is our Rock and our Strength.
People: We put our trust in the God who cares for us.
Leader: Let us share with others that God is faithful.
People: We will spread the news of God’s faithfulness.
Leader: Talk about God, but also show God’s faithfulness by being trustworthy.
People: With God’s help, we will be trustworthy persons.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
found in:
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELA: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
“All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded”
found in:
UMH: 132
H82: 665
NCH: 408
CH: 88
ELA: 757
“Blessed Assurance”
found in:
UMH: 369
PH: 341
AAHH: 508
NNBH: 249
NCH: 473
CH: 543
ELA: 638
W&P: 426
AMEC: 450
“It Is Well with My Soul”
found in:
UMH: 377
AAHH: 377
NNBH: 255
NCH: 438
CH: 561
ELA: 785
W&P: 428
AMEC: 448
“Jesus Calls Us”
found in:
UMH: 398
H82: 549, 550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171, 172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELA: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
“Be Thou My Vision”
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELA: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
“My Faith Looks Up to Thee”
found in:
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELA: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
“ ’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”
found in:
UMH: 462
AAHH: 368
NNBH: 292
AMEC: 440
“I Call You Faithful”
found in:
CCB: 70
“Great Is the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 5
Renew: 22
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is faithful and calls us to faithfulness: Grant us the grace to trust in your faithfulness and the courage to be faithful ourselves; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for your faithfulness. You are the one on whom we can always depend. Help us to grow in our trust of you so that we can learn to trust one another. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our lack of trust in God to guide us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to trust in you as the great Sovereign of all. We put so much of our energy and resources into things we hope we can rely on. We fail to center ourselves in the eternal faithfulness. Forgive us, and bring us back under your wings. Amen.
Leader: God is faithful and is always ready to embrace us. Receive God’s love and grace, and share that with others so they can learn faith as well.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Faithful are you, O God, and greatly to be praised. In the midst of all that fails, you are our Rock.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to trust in you as the great Sovereign of all. We put so much of our energy and resources into things we hope we can rely on. We fail to center ourselves in the eternal faithfulness. Forgive us, and bring us back under your wings.
We give you thanks for your faithfulness, which supports us all the days of our lives. We thank you for those who mirror your faithfulness and care for us. We thank you for the opportunities we have to be your trustworthy children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all who are in need, and especially for those who find no one and nothing that they feel they can trust. We pray for those who have been hurt because they put their faith in people who have failed them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Have two eggs -- one hard-boiled and one raw. Tell the children there is one of each. Ask them to guess which one is hard-boiled. Ask them if they have faith that they are right. If so, then ask them if you can break it over their head. Faith is more than hoping -- it is believing enough to act.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Trusting God
by Beth Herrinton-Hodge
Genesis 12:1-4a
Greet the children and welcome them. Begin the message by reading Genesis 12:1-4a. (Choose whatever version you wish, mindful of the age of the children gathered.)
This is a very short passage that tells us a lot about Abraham and about God. Abraham’s name back in those days was Abram -- a shortened version of the name we know for him. God gave Abram a new name as a sign of the covenant between him and God.
Getting a new name showed that Abram had a new life -- trusting and following God. He begins to trust God right here, in the text I just read to you.
God told Abram: Go... leave this place, your home, your larger family, the land where your family lives. Go to a new place that I will show you. When you go to this new land, I will make your name great. I will bless you. You will be a blessing. In you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
Can you imagine getting a message like that? Can you imagine God telling you to just pick up and go to a new place, without even knowing where you were going? What would you do if God said this to you? (If you have a small group of children, you may ask them this question one-by-one. Use their names as you ask -- example: Rachel, what would you do if God told you to move to a new place? Allow time for responses.)
How do you think Abram felt in leaving his home and family and moving away? (Allow time for responses.)
Why do you think Abram did what God told him to do? (Allow time for responses.)
I think that if God told me to leave my family and home and go to where God told me to go... it would be pretty hard to do. I would need to think about it, and pray about it, and talk to my family about it. But most importantly, I would need to trust God. If I didn’t trust God, I don’t think I could make a move like Abram did.
What does it mean to “trust God,” especially when God asks you to do something big -- like to move somewhere, or to try something new? (Allow time for responses.)
Have you ever had to pick up and move to a new place, or start going to a new school? How did it feel to you? Who did you have to trust to be able to make the move or the change? (Allow time for responses.)
I haven’t talked with Abram lately. But I’m pretty sure he trusted God when he made that move. He didn’t know exactly where he was going, but he trusted God to lead him and to bless him and to go with him.
We find out, when we read the rest of Abram’s story, that he did trust God. He did make that move.
And God was faithful to the promises God made to Abram.
This is a good message to hear: To trust God -- like Abram did -- because God promises to lead us, to bless us, and to go with us, even when (especially when) we’re doing something new.
God keeps God’s promise to walk beside us, just as God did with Abraham.
Prayer: Holy God, it’s not always easy to follow you, to do what you ask us to do. It probably wasn’t easy for Abram to follow you either. Thank you for keeping your promises, for walking beside Abraham just like you walk beside us in all that we do. Help us to trust you. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 12, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Mary Austin shares some additional thoughts on the Genesis text. She notes that God specifically chose Abram -- demonstrating the same deep faith in humankind that we are called to have in God. Abram’s obedience was a sign of his faith -- but Mary wonders if we are worthy of the faith that God has placed in us... and if our actions toward others indicate that we have the same confidence in human potential as God does.
Who Do You Trust?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Genesis 12:1-4a; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
You and your best friend are selected to appear on a game show, where you will be challenged to answer trivia questions to win money. Each question will be worth more money -- all the way up to, oh, let’s say, a whole lot!
AND before each question you will have to decide whether you or your friend will give the answer. You do not get to consult with each other; you just have to decide.
Here comes question number 16. It’s worth $1,200. “What was the original title of Glenn Miller’s big band classic ‘In the Mood’?”* Now choose. Who is going to answer -- you or your friend?
Not easy, is it?
That’s exactly what contestants used to do on the television game show Who Do You Trust? It ran on weekday afternoons from 1957 to 1963. Originally called Do You Trust Your Wife?, the network changed the title in 1958 when Johnny Carson took over as host so they could utilize a more diverse group of teams on the show and women could, if the couple chose, be the team captain of a married team.
This week Paul asks us Johnny Carson’s famous question: “Who do you trust?”
Your friends? Your president? The media?
God?
*(Answer to trivia question: “Hot and Anxious”)
In the News
In 2015, the most recent year for which figures are available, the United States of America spent $596 billion on the military. That was more than the next seven countries (China, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, India, and Saudi Arabia) combined, who spent a total of $567 billion.
Business Insider says that we could add Germany, Brazil, Australia, and South Korea to that list and the U.S. would still be outspending them all put together. And that’s after the military portion of the total federal budget was cut from 20.1% to 15.9%.
The budget which President Trump has said he will recommend to congress includes a 10% increase of $54 billion for defense, which would put U.S. defense spending at over $600 billion per year, constituting 54% of all federal discretionary spending. Spending on food and agriculture, including food stamps, is about 1% of the budget. Education gets 6%, health gets 6%, government administration gets 6%, and interest on loans gets 6%. Support for the arts doesn’t even appear on most pie charts, because it is impossible to show the .016% of the federal discretionary budget that is spent to support the arts each year. [These figures do not include “mandatory spending” (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, transportation, labor, etc.), which must, by law, be considered separate from the discretionary budget.]
Of course, no one would suggest that we spend zero dollars on defense, but when the budget becomes so extraordinarily lopsided, people of faith might rightly wonder in whom or what it is that we, as a nation, place our trust.
The issue of trust need not center upon our nation’s budget alone. It could well be argued that our family budgets are also reliable indicators of whom and/or what we trust.
According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ figures for 2016, the average American family brought home about $69,600 per year before taxes, of which they spent about $56,000.
Of those expenditures, about $18,000 went to housing, furnishings, and utilities; $7,000 went to food (about half of which we purchased at restaurants); $9,500 was spent on transportation (vehicle purchase, upkeep, and fuel); $4,300 (about 8.5% of the total) was spent on healthcare -- three-quarters of which went to health insurance; $2,800 went to entertainment; $1,300 went to education; $1,800 was given away to charity, and about $17,000 went to personal insurance, pensions, Social Security, and taxes.
Of course, averages are rarely 100% accurate for any specific individual -- but in this case the average can serve as an impetus for us, as Christians, to examine our own spending habits and see if they reveal any insights into whom or what we trust.
In the Bible
In the Genesis text for this morning, YHWH visits 75-year-old Abram and tells him to pack his stuff, get his family (not just his immediate family but the entire clan) together, tell them to pack their stuff, and start walking westward.
“I’ll tell you when to stop,” God says.
Then God makes a promise to Abram, sort of a quid pro quo. The reason God wants Abram to do this traveling, he says, is because God’s got some big plans for Abram and his family. First, God’s going to make of them a great -- that is, big -- nation. God is also going to make Abram a blessing to all of those whom he encounters. In fact, through Abram, everyone on earth is going to be blessed. If anyone messes with you, God says, I’m going to mess with them. And if anyone treats you well, I’m going to treat them well.
Now Abram is 75 years old, and he wants a son more than anything in this earth, a son who can continue the family name and inherit everything Abram has worked so hard to achieve -- but so far no son has appeared.
So, being 75, Abram figures that he’s not going to get any better or bigger offers sitting around in the town of Ur of the Chaldeans, so he says, “Okay, why not?”
And he does as God says. He follows God’s instructions and begins an adventure that is going to take up the next ten chapters of Genesis and lay the foundation upon which much of the rest of the Bible is built.
But today all we hear are the opening remarks, something like a bare-bones introduction to what might be called “The Adventures of Abraham.” And to sum it up, that introduction reads: “God told Abram to go, and he went.”
At first glance it’s not all that impressive, right?
But wait, there’s more.
About 500 years after Genesis was written, Paul puts a new spin on it.
The issue for Paul is “righteousness” -- that is, goodness or moral uprightness.
There are those who have argued that the key to salvation is righteousness. If we are good enough, according to the law, we can save ourselves. God will have no choice in the matter.
Paul contends that this is not the case.
We are human beings, he says, born in sin, estrangement, and separation. And we are incapable of washing away that stain from our own souls. It’s been there too long, it’s too deeply etched into who we are.
We are simply incapable of being righteous by way of our own works, our own behavior.
BUT...
And this is important. (That’s why I put it in all uppercase letters.) While we may be incapable of being righteous, we are fully capable of always being faithful.
“Abraham believed God,” says Paul, “and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” He goes on: “Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.”
Faith, for Paul, is more than just believing what can’t be proved. For Paul, faith is TRUST. Faith is our willingness to trust God, to take risks based on our knowledge and experience of God’s love and grace.
Faith is believing that what we have learned about God through Jesus Christ is true and then living accordingly.
And if we have that kind of faith, God will count it as righteousness.
In the Pulpit
It is easy to turn the Genesis passage into a sermon about obedience, one full of remonstration and repudiation, full of “should” and “ought.”
Y’all ought to have more faith. Y’all should be more like Abraham.
But when we peal back the layers, these passages aren’t about obedience as much as they are about faith.
Faith is not belief alone.
I can, for instance, believe that if I let myself fall backward with my eyes closed and my arms crossed, you will catch me. Such belief requires nothing of me. It is intellectual assent, and that only.
In fact, I won’t be demonstrating faith until my body crosses the point of no return, the threshold after which I will not be able to right myself and I am solely at your mercy. That is faith.
It is not blind or foolish. It is often based upon our past experience, our ability to reason, our intimate knowledge of scripture, and our relationship with the one who has promised to catch us.
But no matter how we cut it, faith always involves three things without which it is not faith.
First, it involves risk. I don’t know for sure, can’t know for sure if you are going to catch me when I fall. No matter how much I believe that you will, no matter how many times you’ve caught me in the past, no matter how reasonable it is for you to catch me, there is still an element of risk.
Second, it involves trust. If you said you will catch me, I must trust that you are able to actually do it, and that in fact you will do it.
And third, it involves action. As long as I stand there with my hands folded over my chest, refusing to move, refusing to be talked into it, unless I actually let go and fall, it isn’t faith.
But this falling backward is a silly party game for children, right? It’s all well and good to equate falling backwards into the arms of our friends with faith in God. That’s cheap and easy faith.
The real faith is when we decide, as individuals and as communities, that we are going to trust God when we are planning our budgets, and when we are arranging and paying for our safety and welfare.
Real faith is faith that trusts God at those big and important times, that trusts God with the big things that come to our lives.
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit (Isaiah 17:5-8).
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
Genesis 12:1-4a
As they make their covenant, Abram (soon to become Abraham) shows an extraordinary amount of trust in God, moving from his homeland to an unknown place, all for the promise of God’s blessing in the future. As people of faith, we hold Abraham up as an example for our own faith. He manages to retain his trust in God (mostly) through the decades it takes God to fulfill the divine promises.
Abraham has a deep confidence in God... and God also has a large measure of confidence in Abraham. God knows Abraham’s steadfast spirit and his courage, and sees his willingness to leave the familiar and embrace the new. Being chosen by God is demanding work, and God is sure that Abraham and Sarah are up to this task.
As heirs of the promise made to Abraham, are we worthy of the same confidence? Can God count on us to share in God’s work? There is plenty of work to be done for the people of God, in this time of fear for immigrants, the poor, Muslim people, the LGBTQ+ community, and others. Are there places where God is calling us out of our own familiar places, into a journey of learning something new or doing something different?
If we are to care for God’s people, there are plenty of places where God might be calling us. Budget measures proposed by President Trump will have an impact on lower-income Americans. He has suggested tariffs on goods imported from China and Mexico. These “could easily hurt America’s working class as well. A study published by the Council of Economic Advisers [CEA], a group of economists appointed by President Obama, demonstrates how tariffs place a heavier burden on poorer people, especially working-class families and single parents.... If tariffs do go into place, they would likely place a heavier burden on poorer people, as the CEA study suggests. That’s in part because spending on tradable goods -- the kind of products that would be taxed under a tariff, such as food and apparel -- make up a larger proportion of the overall spending of poorer households, as past economic research shows.” Automotive analysts “anticipate that the average new car price could increase $2,000 to $2,500 if the Trump administration’s proposed border tax goes into effect.”
The House has introduced a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, described as “a remarkable moment in government health-care policymaking. The Affordable Care Act... ushered in the most significant expansion of insurance coverage since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid.... There is no precedent for Congress to reverse a major program of social benefits once it has taken effect and reached millions of Americans.” The bill has a series of tax credits which “would go to more people but provide less financial help to lower-income people, according to... the Kaiser Family Foundation.”
At the same time, the proposed repeal also strips funding from Planned Parenthood, the “largest network provider of women’s health care in the country.” The proposal closes off another health care avenue for low-income women. “The GOP’s health plan -- dubbed the American Health Care Act, or AHCA -- released Monday night, restricts fundings to organizations that provide abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or health of the mother. Planned Parenthood currently receives 40% of its operating budget -- or around $500 million -- from the federal government, none of which can be used for abortion services thanks to the Hyde Amendment. In fact, 60% of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding comes from reimbursements from Medicaid and Title X funding for preventative and primary care (things like birth control and cancer screenings).”
Other proposed cuts to the federal budget come from the Legal Services Corporation [LSC], which provides legal help to lower-income people for civil court proceedings. “Working-class Americans get dragged into civil court by powerful entities frequently in very serious situations where the government has no obligation to provide them with a lawyer. If the bank claims it has the right to take your house away, for example, the complex thicket of foreclosure proceedings that follows are not covered by right-to-counsel laws for civil court.” LSC funding is a tiny fraction of the federal budget, and “by making it significantly harder to find a lawyer unless you’re already rich, Trump’s planned destruction of the LSC would tilt the economic playing field more steeply against the little guy.”
Abraham has enough trust in God to set out on a journey into a future he can’t even imagine, and we hold him up as an of faith. God has a parallel kind of trust in Abraham, certain that he will be able to fulfill the demands of their covenant. If Abraham is an example for us, his story prompts us to wonder if we too are worthy of God’s trust. And by extension, what about the people around us? If people look to us as representatives of God, can they trust us to act as God would act? If the most vulnerable people in our society look to us to be bearers of God’s justice and grace, will our actions stand up to their hopes?
Abraham is worthy of God’s confidence because he lives out of an enduring place in his faith (mostly). Like all of us he has lapses, and anxiety replaces faith on some days. Still, God chooses to have confidence in him, and we pray that God will also choose to have confidence in us. Even more deeply, we pray to be worthy of God’s trust, and to deserve the confidence of those who need a sign of God’s presence among us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Chris Keating:
Genesis 12:1-4a
Living Boldly
Katherine Du, 17, may be just a teenager, but she has already discovered what it means to live as boldly as Abraham and Sarah. Du is on a “gap year” prior to beginning her college studies next fall at Stanford University. The break between high school and college has afforded the young woman -- who is a contributing writer to the Huffington Post and USA Today -- a chance to explore a topic most of her peers avoid at all costs: mortality.
“The free reins of a gap year also tone up the muscles of self-discipline and self-reflection,” Du writes, “which allowed me to contemplate mortality as much as I have.”
Her reflections began after her grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer, but also included observing a former surgeon general give a presentation on organ donation, and a visit to Thailand during the official mourning period for the late King Bhumibol. She also volunteered for the New York attorney general, where she met a government lawyer who had passed on jobs paying higher salaries in order to remain dedicated to serving poor and exploited populations.
All of it contributed to what Du calls an awareness of living life boldly and with passion -- the sort of fierce faithfulness Abram and Sarai display in responding to God. Du’s grandmother, by the way, was recently declared cancer-free:
Miraculously, my grandmother was recently declared cancer-free. My joy was mixed with the realization that flesh is mortal. We are human because we feel, seek, lose, and feel again. The cycle is beautiful because it is endlessly doomed. Today, my grandmother and I are drunk on life. We will live boldly, learn ceaselessly, and love fearlessly in the years to come; the time we have is a gift, not a given.
No doubt Abram would agree.
*****
Genesis 12:1-4a
A Migrant’s Faith
Before Abraham was the father of nations, he was first an immigrant. With faithful determination, Abraham and Sarah left their homeland to pursue God’s claim on their lives. As immigration policies are debated and discussed, it’s helpful to recall these migrant origins of our faith. Immigration policies impact all Americans:
* In Wisconsin, dairy farmers are worried how deportations will impact their labor force. About 80% of hired help at Wisconsin dairy operations are immigrants, and many of those are undocumented. One dairy farmer put it this way: “If you remove Mexican labor, farms would go out of business.”
* Apple growers in Washington are also worried that an increase in immigration enforcement activities will pose “serious harm” to this year’s apple crop. One farmer told Washington state legislators that enforcement actions could “potentially devastate our agricultural crops.”
* The story is similar in Florida’s tomato and strawberry fields, where some workers fear that they will be deported while their U.S.-born children are attending school.
* There are between 2-3 million migrant and seasonal farmworkers present in the United States. Their average family income ranges from $17,500 to $19,999, with 23% living below the government’s poverty guidelines. About half entered the United States without a visa or other documentation, and on average have spent more than six years with the same employer.
*****
Psalm 121
From Where Does Our Help Come?
Deadly tornadoes ripped through many Midwestern states last week, uprooting families and destroying homes. In Perryville, Missouri, a small town less than two hours south of St. Louis, a powerful EF-4 storm destroyed homes and left a 15-mile pathway of debris. Like many communities faced with catastrophic events, Perryville has welcomed teams of volunteers from across the state and country. The town’s Chamber of Commerce website notes that the outpouring of love and support has been “incredible.”
When disaster strikes, people want to help.
It’s part of a larger phenomenon known as “convergence,” or the informal gathering of people, messages, equipment, and supplies following disasters. Many times volunteers simply show up -- and while that can prove to be a management problem, scholars suggest that emergency management agencies need to spend time thinking about how to best harness the talents, energy, and desire of informal volunteers.
*****
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
The Surprising Gift of Life
Paul describes the remarkable gift of life to those who turn to God, a gift that “calls into existence the things that do not exist.” Perhaps it’s a gift that Thomas Starzl, a Pittsburgh surgeon considered to be the “father” of organ transplantation in the United States, might have understood. Starzl died this week at age 90.
His groundbreaking work in surgery and in developing immune suppressants changed the narratives about life for many patients. His work offered life to many who would have otherwise died. Starzl achieved international renown for performing complicated transplant surgeries.
“Tom Starzl’s tremendous respect and affection for his patients became the life force of his career. Countless lives were saved through his advances in technique and his pioneering work to prevent organ rejection,” said Arthur S. Levine, M.D., University of Pittsburgh senior vice chancellor for the Health Sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “There is not a transplant surgeon worldwide who has not, in some way, been influenced by his work.”
***************
From team member Ron Love:
Understanding
Billionaire Warren Buffett surprised the financial community when his Berkshire Hathaway corporation increased its holdings of Apple to 133 million shares. This from an investor who once counseled individuals not to purchase stock in technology companies because it was too difficult to predict which tech companies would prevail. But when Buffett observed how inseparable people are from their iPhones, he realized that Apple was more a producer of consumer products than a tech company. Buffett said, “Apple strikes me as having a quite a sticky product and an enormously useful product to people who use it, not that I do.” Buffett himself still relies on his flip phone.
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is the new understanding that people have of God.
*****
Understanding
In a political cartoon satirizing the Oscar awards, the announcer introduces the next winner with these words: “And here to accept the Oscar is another self-absorbed Hollywood type nobody knows, from a film nobody’s seen, with a political opinion nobody cares about.” (Note: If your sanctuary has a projection screen, you may want to display this image.)
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is the new understanding that people have of God. It is a lesson of distinguishing the trivial from the serious.
*****
Understanding
Adam Purinton killed one person and wounded a second in Olathe, Kansas, thinking they were Iranian when they were actually from India. Before Purinton shot them, he yelled, “Get out of my country.”
Application: People need to have a new understanding of the message that God has for us. Part of that message is to live a life of redemption.
*****
Understanding
Srinivas Kuchibhotla was killed and Alok Madasani was wounded by Adam Purinton in a shooting in Olathe, Kansas, Purinton attacked them because he thought they were Iranian, when they were actually from India. Speaking at a gathering of several hundred people at the Ball Conference Center in Olathe, Madasani shared how Kuchibhotla was his best friend. Then, reflecting on the tragedy, Madasani said, “I wish it was a dream.”
Application: People need to have a new understanding of the message that God has for us. Part of that message is to realize that there is evil in the world, and the evil is not a dream.
*****
Understanding
Several weeks after an 18-member jury found Dylann Roof guilty for his murder of nine black church members at Emanuel AME church in Charleston, they attended a worship service at Emanuel. After the service, they went down to the fellowship hall were the murders took place. Following that service they wrote an article for the city newspaper. They wrote of that experience: “It was difficult to grasp that we were in the room that had existed in our minds only as graphic images presented at the trial. Most of us became very quiet.”
Application: We need to have a new understanding of the direction that God wishes to take society.
*****
Understanding
The jury members who attended a worship service at Emanuel AME church in Charleston following Dylann Roof’s trial wrote of their experience: “Seeing everyone in their beloved church praising God and enjoying fellowship left us all with an incredible feeling of peace.”
Application: People need to have a new understanding of the message that God has for us. Part of that message is the joy we experience when we know we are following the calling of God.
*****
Understanding
It has been called the Great Mistake of the 2017 Oscars -- La La Land was initially announced as the best picture of the year, before producers came on stage and announced that the actual winner was Moonlight. The producer, writers, and actors of Moonlight did not take offense at this, as the mistake actually brought more attention to a film that is considered the first LGBT-themed movie to win an Oscar in the 87-year history of the awards. Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the LGBT advocacy group GLAAD, said the reason for the film’s success was simple: “It reflects the world we live in today. Countless people can relate to it.”
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is for people to understand society as God created it to be.
*****
Obedience
In a Frank and Ernest comic, the two title characters are at the counter of an electronics store. Frank tells the salesclerk, “We’d like to return this GPS. Every route it suggested for getting to ‘easy street’ requires travelling down ‘endeavor boulevard’ ” (Note: If your sanctuary has a projection screen, you may want to display this comic.)
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is the need to be obedient to the call of God.
*****
Love
Pope Francis has reduced the sentencing of pedophile priests. Instead of having them defrocked, he no longer allows them to have a public ministry -- but they are assigned to administrative duties. Francis has been criticized by many for his lenient attitude. Greg Burke, the Vatican spokesman, said, “The Holy Father understands that victims and survivors can find any sign of mercy in this area difficult. But he knows that the gospel message of mercy is ultimately a source of powerful healing and of grace.”
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is how love can transform lives and foster obedience to the gospel message.
*****
Life
Karl Baden, a Boston College professor, has taken a black-and-white photograph of himself every morning for 30 years. He has always used the same camera with the same backdrop. He has purposely not grown a beard or mustache, so that his face will be fully exposed. The project began on February 23, 1987, and so far he has nearly 11,000 photographs, some of which have been put on public display in art galleries. The purpose of the daily photographs is to show the aging process with the realization that we are all going to die. Howard Yezerski, a Boston gallery owner, has exhibited the project on two different occasions. Yezerski said: “It’s both personal and universal at the same time. He’s recording life, or at least one aspect of it that we can all relate to because we’re all in the same boat. We’re going to die.”
Application: A common theme in our lectionary readings is the calling for us to live life as God intended it to be. Part of that message is the realization of our shared humanity.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Lift up your eyes to the hills -- from where will our help come?
People: Our help comes from our God, who made heaven and earth.
Leader: God will not let our foot be moved.
People: Our God who keeps us will not slumber.
Leader: God is our keeper; our God is our shade at our right hand.
People: God will keep us from all evil; our God will keep our life.
OR
Leader: God is our Rock and our Strength.
People: We put our trust in the God who cares for us.
Leader: Let us share with others that God is faithful.
People: We will spread the news of God’s faithfulness.
Leader: Talk about God, but also show God’s faithfulness by being trustworthy.
People: With God’s help, we will be trustworthy persons.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
“Great Is Thy Faithfulness”
found in:
UMH: 140
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELA: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
“All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded”
found in:
UMH: 132
H82: 665
NCH: 408
CH: 88
ELA: 757
“Blessed Assurance”
found in:
UMH: 369
PH: 341
AAHH: 508
NNBH: 249
NCH: 473
CH: 543
ELA: 638
W&P: 426
AMEC: 450
“It Is Well with My Soul”
found in:
UMH: 377
AAHH: 377
NNBH: 255
NCH: 438
CH: 561
ELA: 785
W&P: 428
AMEC: 448
“Jesus Calls Us”
found in:
UMH: 398
H82: 549, 550
NNBH: 183
NCH: 171, 172
CH: 337
LBW: 494
ELA: 696
W&P: 345
AMEC: 238
“Be Thou My Vision”
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELA: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
“My Faith Looks Up to Thee”
found in:
UMH: 452
H82: 691
PH: 383
AAHH: 456
NNBH: 273
CH: 576
LBW: 479
ELA: 759
W&P: 419
AMEC: 415
“ ’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”
found in:
UMH: 462
AAHH: 368
NNBH: 292
AMEC: 440
“I Call You Faithful”
found in:
CCB: 70
“Great Is the Lord”
found in:
CCB: 5
Renew: 22
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who is faithful and calls us to faithfulness: Grant us the grace to trust in your faithfulness and the courage to be faithful ourselves; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, for your faithfulness. You are the one on whom we can always depend. Help us to grow in our trust of you so that we can learn to trust one another. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially our lack of trust in God to guide us.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to trust in you as the great Sovereign of all. We put so much of our energy and resources into things we hope we can rely on. We fail to center ourselves in the eternal faithfulness. Forgive us, and bring us back under your wings. Amen.
Leader: God is faithful and is always ready to embrace us. Receive God’s love and grace, and share that with others so they can learn faith as well.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord’s Prayer)
Faithful are you, O God, and greatly to be praised. In the midst of all that fails, you are our Rock.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to trust in you as the great Sovereign of all. We put so much of our energy and resources into things we hope we can rely on. We fail to center ourselves in the eternal faithfulness. Forgive us, and bring us back under your wings.
We give you thanks for your faithfulness, which supports us all the days of our lives. We thank you for those who mirror your faithfulness and care for us. We thank you for the opportunities we have to be your trustworthy children.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all who are in need, and especially for those who find no one and nothing that they feel they can trust. We pray for those who have been hurt because they put their faith in people who have failed them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father . . . Amen.
(or if the Lord’s Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children’s Sermon Starter
Have two eggs -- one hard-boiled and one raw. Tell the children there is one of each. Ask them to guess which one is hard-boiled. Ask them if they have faith that they are right. If so, then ask them if you can break it over their head. Faith is more than hoping -- it is believing enough to act.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Trusting God
by Beth Herrinton-Hodge
Genesis 12:1-4a
Greet the children and welcome them. Begin the message by reading Genesis 12:1-4a. (Choose whatever version you wish, mindful of the age of the children gathered.)
This is a very short passage that tells us a lot about Abraham and about God. Abraham’s name back in those days was Abram -- a shortened version of the name we know for him. God gave Abram a new name as a sign of the covenant between him and God.
Getting a new name showed that Abram had a new life -- trusting and following God. He begins to trust God right here, in the text I just read to you.
God told Abram: Go... leave this place, your home, your larger family, the land where your family lives. Go to a new place that I will show you. When you go to this new land, I will make your name great. I will bless you. You will be a blessing. In you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
Can you imagine getting a message like that? Can you imagine God telling you to just pick up and go to a new place, without even knowing where you were going? What would you do if God said this to you? (If you have a small group of children, you may ask them this question one-by-one. Use their names as you ask -- example: Rachel, what would you do if God told you to move to a new place? Allow time for responses.)
How do you think Abram felt in leaving his home and family and moving away? (Allow time for responses.)
Why do you think Abram did what God told him to do? (Allow time for responses.)
I think that if God told me to leave my family and home and go to where God told me to go... it would be pretty hard to do. I would need to think about it, and pray about it, and talk to my family about it. But most importantly, I would need to trust God. If I didn’t trust God, I don’t think I could make a move like Abram did.
What does it mean to “trust God,” especially when God asks you to do something big -- like to move somewhere, or to try something new? (Allow time for responses.)
Have you ever had to pick up and move to a new place, or start going to a new school? How did it feel to you? Who did you have to trust to be able to make the move or the change? (Allow time for responses.)
I haven’t talked with Abram lately. But I’m pretty sure he trusted God when he made that move. He didn’t know exactly where he was going, but he trusted God to lead him and to bless him and to go with him.
We find out, when we read the rest of Abram’s story, that he did trust God. He did make that move.
And God was faithful to the promises God made to Abram.
This is a good message to hear: To trust God -- like Abram did -- because God promises to lead us, to bless us, and to go with us, even when (especially when) we’re doing something new.
God keeps God’s promise to walk beside us, just as God did with Abraham.
Prayer: Holy God, it’s not always easy to follow you, to do what you ask us to do. It probably wasn’t easy for Abram to follow you either. Thank you for keeping your promises, for walking beside Abraham just like you walk beside us in all that we do. Help us to trust you. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, March 12, 2017, issue.
Copyright 2017 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
