"Donald Trump: The great unifier?" by Zack Hunt
Bigstock/andykatzThe Book of Revelation is shrouded in apocalyptic language that’s often difficult to understand, yet ripe for the cinematic picking should anyone — say Nicolas Cage — desperately need to make a movie — any movie — in order to pay off a steep tax bill.
For the modern reader, all the talk about seven horned lambs with bowls full of wrath makes Revelation seem like a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma only Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye are capable deciphering. But as colorful as their imagination might be, the "Left Behind" writers would have a hard time conjuring up an apocalyptic scenario as terrifying as a Donald Trump presidency. Even a mere nomination would almost certainly usher in at least one Horseman of the Apocalypse, to say nothing of being a complete catastrophe for the Republican Party. And a Trump presidency? It would be an unmitigated disaster not only for the nation, but the entire world, what with the sun becoming black as sackcloth and the moon turning to blood.
Ok, so maybe there’s just a smidge of hyperbole in my prognostication. But to date, The Donald has done little to convince anyone other than his followers that a Trump presidency would be anything other than a total train wreck.
However (and I say this with great hesitancy because even with just three primary victories to his name so far, the support for Trump has revealed the dark underbelly of our citizenry), there is at least one good thing that could maybe, possibly come from Donald Trump’s run for president.
I know, I know. It sounds ridiculous, but hear me out.
I realize this is anecdotal, but I’ve never met nor do I personally know of anyone who actually supports Donald Trump’s candidacy for president. I mean, I know his supporters obviously exist. He wouldn’t have won a primary without them. And though I don’t know any of them personally, I have seen them on TV and have had a smattering of encounters with them online. But in spite of what seems like a mountain of support, polls show that while he unquestionably leads the pack, there are many, many more Republicans who have no interest in supporting Donald Trump for president.
Obviously, it’s not news that a political party is split on who its constituents want as the nominee of their party. This sort of thing happens every year and will continue to happen as long as democracy exists. But Donald Trump has divided his party like few in American political history. It’s not just that some Republicans would prefer a different candidate. No, there’s a visceral disdain for the ideology and policies Trump espouses — to say nothing of the man himself. In years past and regardless of party, constituents have ultimately rallied around the party nominee even if their favored candidate didn’t win the nomination. But this year, there has already been an avalanche of think pieces from proud and committed conservatives explaining why they can’t bring themselves to ever support Trump and why their fellow conservatives — particularly their fellow Christian conservatives — shouldn't either.
But for all the chaos of the past few months, there is at least the potential for a silver lining — a profoundly ironic silver lining — to emerge from the unfolding Trumpocalypse.
Look at the way we talk past and caricature one another today: conservatives are all dumb, racist bigots and liberals are all godless abortion fanatics who hate America. Partisan political websites are the worst about this sort of thing, but the truth is most of us lump the other side together as if they were nothing more than a mindless horde of evil zombies incapable of a diversity of opinion, complex thought, or even basic human decency. Of course there are some conservatives and some liberals for whom such sweeping condemnations are accurate, but the truth is the vast majority of people on the other side of the aisle — and pew — are nothing like their caricature and are, in fact, good and decent people with ideas we may actually agree with if we just took the time to hear them out.
What the Trumpocalypse has revealed is not only deep division in the Republican Party, but an ever-present reality too many of us refuse to acknowledge; namely that the opposition, whoever they may be, is not a monolithic and altogether evil group.
Perhaps in years past we could get away with ignoring dissent in the opposing side by writing off those who contradict the caricature as nothing more than a small minority, an exception that proves the rule. But the radical internal opposition to Trump cannot be ignored. It is (or at least should be if you’re paying any attention) abundantly clear that many conservatives want nothing to do with Trump even if he does end up being his party’s nominee. As such, it simply won’t do to lob criticism of Trump on every single conservative in America as if they are all on board with every hateful and vulgar thing he says. The Republican Party may indeed bear some of the blame for Trump’s rise to prominence, but the vehemence of his conservative detractors should stand as a stark reminder to liberals that “they’re not all like that.” There is diversity and even decency on the other side of the aisle even if our dogmatism makes it painful for us to admit such a thing.
And, of course, conservatives face the same challenge as well. Their desire to avoid being lumped together with the Trump army should compel conservatives to extend the same “they’re not all like that” benefit of the doubt to their liberal opponents that they demand for themselves.
I realize this may be asking a lot from both sides, but if it did happen, it is there that we would find the one good thing that could maybe, possibly come from Donald Trump running for president: the addition of much-needed nuance, charity and grace to our political (and religious) dialogue.
I admit it’s not much, but in a land as deeply divided as ours, it could be an important baby step toward healthy dialogue if we could simply get to know each other and stop talking past the other side in broad sweeping categories that reduce our opponents to nothing more than immoral dullards.
Who knows? If we can open up our hearts and minds to the possibility that there really are good and decent people on the other side of the aisle — and pew — we might even find some common ground to build upon for a better future…together.
All thanks to Donald Trump.
More or less.
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"The social power of sacraments" by Dave Barnhart
Bigstock / Gino Santa Maria
One guy in the retirees’ Sunday school class was a know-it-all. He was excellent at shutting down discussions with his theological pronouncements. He would hold court about the political issues of the day. Everyone admired his intelligence, and he certainly knew the Bible backwards and forwards. He was good at teaching — but not very good at listening. Still, the folks in the Sunday school class tried to be loving and welcoming, even if he was domineering.
One Sunday morning, he was in charge of the lesson about Maundy Thursday. He brought in a biscuit wrapped in a paper napkin and some grape juice. He said to the group, “As you eat this bread and drink this juice, I really want you to think about what you’re doing.”
“You can’t do that,” said one of the members of the class, who happened to be my grandfather.
“What?”
“You can’t do that. Only an ordained or licensed pastor can serve Communion.” My grandfather spoke from first-hand knowledge. He had served as a student and local pastor decades before.
The man blustered something about the priesthood of all believers and said, “It’s just symbolic,” but my grandfather wasn’t having it. He saw the move for what it was: a power grab, an abusive manipulation of the sacrament in order to claim authority over the group. The man was trying to become their priest. Frustrated in his attempt to create his own mini-church within their church, the man eventually stopped coming.
Until my grandfather told that story, I still had some conventional misunderstandings about religious rituals kicking around in my head: that we probably make too big a deal out of symbols and rituals, that the pomp and circumstance surrounding liturgy are distractions from the more “theological” and practical parts of ministry. In my youthful idealism, I dismissed denominational rules about clergy and sacraments as holdovers from a more authoritarian and hierarchal past. Any baptized believer should be able to preside over the sacraments, I would have said. While I recognize that people of some other Christian traditions may function effectively without ordained pastors and strict rules about sacraments, my grandfather’s story helped me grasp the meaning of the phrase “sacramental authority,” because I understood then that the sacraments can be abused. They can be used to gain or exert social power. Paul indicated that he knew sacramental authority and social power were intertwined when he reprimanded the Corinthians for putting too much stock in their baptismal pedigree (1 Corinthians 1:14-16). In the same letter, he also takes them to task for abusing the Lord’s Supper (11:20-26).
When a group of people ordain or “set apart” someone to have priestly authority over them, they are placing their trust in a leader of their community. This is one reason why, in the United Methodist Church, the licensing and ordination process takes so long. We require candidates to have extensive theological and practical education, to demonstrate good character, to have some kind of field education or ministry experience. We vet them thoroughly, because along with sacramental authority goes a good deal of social and spiritual power.
That social and spiritual power does not exist for the glorification of the pastor. It only exists to be distributed to others. The body of Christ in the bread and wine empowers us to be the Body of Christ in the world, broken and given away. The waters of baptism unite us in an egalitarian family with every other Christian, where social distinctions fall away (Galatians 3:28).
Instead of being given away to empower the Body of Christ, sometimes sacramental power gets used as a tool for selfish purposes. When John Wesley famously refused to serve Communion to his ex-girlfriend in Georgia, he was abusing the sacrament, and acting much like the blustering teacher in my grandfather’s Sunday school class. He paid the price. The community rose up against the young Wesley and he slunk back to England.
We don’t expect those presiding over our sacraments to be completely perfect (look up the ancient Donatist controversy for some historical perspective), but we do expect them not to abuse the sacrament. I’m grateful for that story of Wesley’s failure. It shows that the founder of Methodism was able to grow beyond his youthful image of himself as a “gatekeeper” pastor. It was only after he faced his own failures and insecurities as a pastor and a Christian that he gained the confidence of his salvation, which gave him the spiritual power to become a leader. His brokenness allowed room for the Holy Spirit to transform his life, and he went on to empower laypeople to become fully committed disciples of Jesus Christ.
That’s what we need from people who break the bread and wine for us: pastors who are not afraid of their own brokenness, who see in the sacrament a way for God to pour out spiritual power on God’s people and perfect them in love. When pastors stand before the table and declare that it is not their table, but God's, or when they pour water over a new believer’s or an infant’s head and declare they are part of God’s new and diverse family, they are using their role to empower others and to bring glory to a God who pours out power on all God’s people.
Dave Barnhart is the pastor of Saint Junia UMC in Birmingham, Ala.
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"Walking softly while black" by David Person
Bigstock/erikn
Samuel L. Jackson, the world-famous actor, told a very poignant story in the latest issue of Vanity Fair. It ended with him facedown in the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Jackson said that while filming the Quentin Tarantino movie "Pulp Fiction," he had a six-week break during which he took a role in a play. One night after the performance, he and some friends went out to dinner. After eating, they left the restaurant, stood out on the street and talked.
Five law enforcement vehicles pulled up. Officers got out, pointed guns at them and ordered them to get on the ground.
Jackson and his friends, guilty of nothing, did as they were told. He wasn’t a bona fide star yet — he described himself as “on the verge of breaking through” — so the officers apparently didn’t recognize him. Jackson said he asked one of them why they had done this.
“Oh, we got a report of five black guys standing on the corner with guns and bats,” the officer replied.
Jackson and his friends didn’t have any bats or guns. Yet they had been forced to lay facedown on the street like criminals.
That encounter with the police happened over 20 years ago but Jackson said that he still “walks softly” in L.A. because of that night. Is he paranoid? Crazy? Hypersensitive? As a black man, I don’t think so. I suspect most of us “walk softly” in our own ways in the communities where we live.
We’ve seen Eric Garner get choked to death for not being compliant enough when officers confronted him for illegally selling cigarettes in New York. We’ve seen Walter Scott shot in the back for running away from a traffic stop because he owed child support. We’ve seen Laquan McDonald shot to death in Chicago for — well, we still don’t know why since he wasn’t a threat to the officers who confronted him.
These men were killed for minor offenses when their punishment should have been being taken into custody.
I don’t believe many of our white friends understand the burden of walking softly while black. Perhaps because they’ve come to know us as neighbors, co-workers, church members, maybe even family members.
And they, whether by nature or nurture, see us as Dr. Martin Luther King taught: by the content of our character, not the color of our skin; as real people, not media-hyped stereotypes.
So they assume that their experience is ours. It may never occur to them that no matter what neighborhood we live in or what our job title is, we live in two worlds at once — and one of those worlds is fraught with dangers most of them will never face.
Still, there are blessings in these relationships that cross the artificial line of race. One is that it allows us to learn from and share with each other. It also gives us the opportunity to oppose and push back against bigotry together.
We won’t all do this the same way. Some will do it the way one white stranger did for me in a San Diego grocery line, offering to pay for a purchase when she thought I was short of money. Others will do it more dramatically as Jackson did, revealing painful, private moments to share important truths.
In these moments, we see the best of humanity — charity, courage, truth-telling. Perhaps we’re even catching glimpses of God.
But some of us will still have to walk softly. Because everyone ain’t there yet.
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"7 things cats do to sabotage church"
By Greg Gregory
Bigstock/Dunelmia
I'm not really a cat person, but I can be forgiven for that. Ministry experience, combined with the opportunity to observe cats in various contexts, has given me the insight and the resources to compose this list, which is partially a report of things I have seen happen in churches in various parts of America, and is partially a general report on things cats do to sabotage church.
1. Kill the bats in the belfry
There were occasionally concerns about the fact, well known among both the membership and the neighbors of your little United Methodist parish, that a sizable coven of bats has staked for its abode the church belfry. Will a member of the youth group, while covertly and precariously ascending the interior of the old belfry during Sunday morning worship service, startle the bats into a violent flurry of activity, who in turn startle him, so that he plummets to his death? Are the bats rabid, and so a danger to the humans in the neighborhood, or (worse?) the small pets? Yet, on the whole, the bats are considered a rather benign pest. Certainly, guano coats the floor of the belfry, and the walls, but as this is not seen regularly, neither is it a cause for undue worry or sanitation. They are, after all, tiny mammals, not-too-distant relations of ours.
Since your pastor and lay leaders humor the presence of a “church cat,” however, this situation of relative peace will not long endure. The cat will kill those bats with a bloodthirsty relish that would make a 14-year-old boy queasy. The cat will lay into those bats at noon while they're sleeping with all the pitiless decision of an electric lawnmower encountering a garden snake. Then you'll have something to clean up. Five or six will be stuck to the walls of the belfry by their own gore. Five or six will be entirely consumed by the cat, five or ten more only partially. The cat will bring one into the seniors citizens' Sunday school class. And one will inevitably wind up in the offering plate during liturgy.
It's a shame, really. The observable presence of the bats — their ominous if lovely peregrinations at sunset — used to let the neighborhood kids, who don't go to your church, keep up a healthy speculation that the church is haunted. Blood-drinkers, ghosts, etc. But now your church will have to prove its relevance in other ways. Solar panels maybe. At any rate, my point is that cats will kill those bats in the belfry and sabotage your church.
2. Play "Memory" from Cats on the projector screens during Holy Communion
There are so few musical performances that can match the high emotive pining and sheer lovelorn theatricality of Elaine Paige's version of "Memory" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's T.S. Eliot-inspired Broadway musical Cats. Everyone agrees on that. You can sing that song in your head for days and never have a real thought.
What nobody can agree on is how much that audiovisual performance adds to the Communion liturgy as folks file forward to receive the body and blood of Christ and Elaine belts it out onscreen in her catsuit.
Fortunately, I've been to seminary and can answer that question. It is practically irreligious to incorporate "Memory" into Holy Communion that way. (Preachers should cap themselves at quoting T.S. Eliot's poetry in every other sermon.) Which is why the church adopting a cat is such a bad idea. Cats sabotage church, as the "Memory" incident attests.
3. Bite visitors' legs then run off
As if your little church doesn't already have enough trouble scaring visitors into coming a second time.
It's not that the church cat will only bite visitors' legs. It's that the cat will sneak up, bite the leg and run off. Nothing makes a person angrier than a varmint that bites and then escapes with elegant ease and an aristocratic impunity which brings the sheer cruelty of its beauty into (if it were possible) still higher relief. And few people are likely to return to your church after they loudly drop an F-bomb on their first visit.
And it's also not that the church cat will bite only visitors' legs. It's not out of character for the cat to attack anyone, really. It's just that all the regular members have settled into the feline's patterns of abuse.
Numerous exorcism attempts have failed to bring about apparent change, in spite of the energetic and elaborate ceremonials. Cats bite visitors' legs then run off; cats sabotage church.
4. "Join in" too intensely when others are praying in tongues
Your church is Spirit-filled but not weird. People don't peel out into their glossoalia during the pastor's sermon in front of God and everybody. Dipping one's tongue into the Spirit's menu of more ecstatic self-offerings is reserved, at your church, to a few enthusiasts who pray along quietly in their prayer language while others pray aloud in normal American English, and to the people on the Prayer Team who pray in the back of the sanctuary for the people who go to them because they really need prayer.
This latter space is where trouble turns up. It is hard to take your praying seriously when the melodic ark of your bubbly cadence is accompanied by a contrapuntally ascending "meeeeeeow" at your feet. Or how are you supposed to feel what to pray next when your bold denunciation of the Devil echoes back in a defiant "mrrrow!" from below? Just imagine how bad it is if you're the one who's gone to the back and made yourself vulnerable in order to receive prayer. Can you focus on opening your soul to intimate divine healing when the cat is treating your shoes in ways the high school youth are regularly reprimanded for treating each other?
What kind of God would allow such creatures?
To sabotage prayer is to sabotage church. Cats sabotage church.
5. "Confuse" the Folgers grounds and the litter box
Coffee, as everyone knows, is the church drug of choice. But for the cat, coffee grounds meet an entirely different need.
In truth, though, this one never plays out the way the cat expects. Let's listen in at 8:15 on a Sunday morning.
"This coffee tastes great!"
"Yeah, tastes all expensive like Starbucks."
"Nope, its just Folgers!"
6. Put the X-Files theme on the church's voicemail
When someone calls your church, and no one answers (which is usually), they are treated to the authoritative voice of your church secretary enumerating the weekly schedule in just over 90 seconds before they are allowed to leave a message (which they usually don't, unless their car is broken down in the parking lot).
Cats will quickly be bored by this arrangement. Now imagine the difference for the kingdom it will make when someone calls your church voicemail and hears Fox Mulder's voice confess to them through their earpiece, "I want to believe." Then the X-Files theme music plays. And after about 7 refreshing seconds (or 10 refreshing hours, whichever), they get the chance to leave a message. Except, probably, their problems are solved by that point. I know mine are.
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"The Zika virus" by Rebekah Jordan Gienapp
A public health emergency
At the beginning of February, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the Zika virus, as well as the complications that it’s suspected to cause in newborns, a public health emergency of international concern. This is only the fourth time such a designation has been made. Previous designations were made for the H1N1 flu epidemic of 2009, the re-emergence of polio in Pakistan and Syria in 2014, and the Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014.
While scientists have been aware of the Zika virus for more than 50 years, it’s recently become a grave concern because it could be associated with the sudden appearance of thousands of cases of a rare brain defect called microcephaly in Brazil. While scientists haven’t yet been able to confirm or deny that the Zika virus is causing microcephaly, the WHO “strongly suspected” a link and felt that the risk of waiting to declare an emergency was too great. The declaration allows the WHO to coordinate the monitoring of both Zika cases and microcephaly and will encourage more funding and direct assistance for fighting the virus.
Zika and microcephaly
The Zika virus was first identified in monkeys in Uganda in 1947, with the first human case appearing in Nigeria in 1954. Before the current outbreak in the Americas, there were periodic outbreaks in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The current outbreak of Zika has primarily been spread by Aedes mosquitoes, which are the same insects that spread dengue, a potentially lethal virus. Global campaigns to prevent malaria infections through insecticide-treated bed nets are of limited benefit to those at risk of Zika because Aedes mosquitoes are primarily active during the daytime. There have also been a number of cases reported of the virus being spread through sexual contact.
Only about one out of five people who contract Zika is expected to exhibit symptoms. These include fever, rash, conjunctivitis (red, sore eyes), headache and joint pain. There is no vaccine for Zika, nor is drug treatment available. Death from the Zika virus is rare. There are indications, however, that the Zika virus can sometimes have long-lasting neurological effects on infected adults.
The primary reason the virus is of so much concern to health officials is because of its potential impact on babies in the womb. A rapid rise in microcephaly has occurred in regions where Zika has also spiked. One of the challenges to knowing for certain whether a link exists between Zika and microcephaly is that it’s often difficult to know if a pregnant woman actually had the Zika virus.
Microcephaly is a condition in which a baby is born with an abnormally small head, often because the brain hasn’t developed correctly. The effects of microcephaly vary greatly. About 15 percent of people with the condition don’t experience any intellectual disabilities. Officials in Brazil, where there were more than 4,000 reports of microcephaly as of early February, say the cases they’re seeing are on the severe end of the spectrum. Many infants are likely to live with serious speech and motor problems and will require continual care. In some cases, the brain is so underdeveloped that the children won’t survive. For those who do survive, there’s no one particular treatment for the condition. Treatments are generally limited to the symptoms, such as providing speech therapy or medication to prevent seizures.
Efforts to stop the spread
Dr. Rafael Franza, an immunologist in Recife, Brazil, says the greatest challenge to stopping Zika is the inability to “test with certainty if someone had Zika or some other infection, like dengue, which is very similar.” Dr. Franza has a team working to develop a rapid test, because right now the only option is to take a blood test within five days of infection. Since many patients don’t exhibit symptoms, it’s difficult to know whom to test. There’s also a lack of the needed equipment for testing in many laboratories in Brazil.
The Latin American countries experiencing Zika outbreaks often have underfunded health ministries. Many also have a higher percentage of young people in their population, which means there are more women of childbearing age who are at risk. Between limited resources and the lack of a vaccine, most efforts to stop the spread of the disease focus on mosquito control and protection. Health officials are advising people to use insect repellent, cover themselves in long-sleeved clothes, and keep their windows and doors closed. Perhaps the most controversial advice from some health officials about Zika prevention has been a warning to women in affected countries to delay pregnancy.
UNICEF has launched an appeal for close to $9 million in an attempt to limit the spread of Zika. UNICEF is working with the WHO to control the spread of the Aedes mosquito, which carries the Zika virus. A leading component of their efforts is providing education to communities, especially women and pregnant mothers, about how to protect themselves from the mosquitoes. The global Christian health and relief organization MAP International is currently responding to immediate requests from affected communities for strong insecticides, pain relievers and antibiotics.
Some scientists are experimenting with releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the environment that pass on a lethal gene to their offspring. Small-scale studies suggest that doing this can reduce mosquito populations by 80 percent or more. However, other scientists have raised concerns about this idea as a way to control dengue. Dr. Helen Wallace of GeneWatch UK wrote in a 2015 editorial on the topic, suggesting that “releasing genetically engineered mosquitoes could even make the dengue situation worse, perhaps by reducing immunity to the more serious form of the disease.” Another obstacle to this approach is that it would likely take years to scale such a mosquito release effort up to a level where it could have an impact on Zika infections.
A ministry of healing
As we hear of the rapid spread of Zika and the devastating effects of microcephaly on babies, it’s easy to imagine a young mother crying out words like those of Psalm 13: “How long will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (verse 1). The speed with which the virus is multiplying, the alarming rise of microcephaly in newborns, and the limited resources of the affected countries can take us to a place of hopelessness.
Yet the combined efforts of many different governments, organizations, and individuals from both rich and poor countries could likely do much to slow down the spread of the virus. As people of faith, we can remind our nation and our world that God asks us to pay attention to the needs of the most vulnerable, those whose voices are likely to be ignored. Just as the laws of the Hebrew Scriptures and the voices of the Prophets continually pointed their people to look after the poor, the widows and the orphans, we can magnify the cries of parents and babies affected by this disease.
We can engage in ministries of healing by supporting short-term relief and education efforts around the disease. As individuals and as a church, we can also strive for long-term solutions that provide robust health care for all people and that protect the rights of women and children. We can remind our world that God doesn’t intend for so many to suffer alone when there are so many resources in our world that can be shared. We can live toward God’s vision of a new world, where “there will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups.
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"Bright lights from local churches"
by David Staal
Bigstock/EzumeImages
The driver side headlight went out on our minivan, so I bought a replacement bulb and opened the hood. A few minutes later I turned the lights on. The new one shined bright, but now the other side looked too dim.
After another trip to the store, and a few brief moments under the hood (I had experience, so it went fast), I again turned on the lights. To my dismay, the second headlight remained illumination-challenged. How could this be? I returned the bulb and purchased a new one; still no change. Another return, another disappointment. Frustrated, I sat in the car and out of frustration flicked the high beams on and off, on and off, on and off. Ugh.
That’s when the solution came into view. Each headlight contains two bulbs, one for the high beam and one for low. I needed to change the low beam, but instead kept swapping out the high.
Put the right bulb in the right place, and the lights shine bright.
In similar fashion, when a local church puts the right community outreach program in place, a light shines bright—which should serve as a priority for every congregation. Unless, of course, Jesus didn’t really mean what He said in Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven.”
Some programs illuminate better than others. Some are dim. Some are plugged in and use energy, but provide no light. Still others provide an amazing, halogen-like glow. Which one does the surrounding community see best? And how can a church know?
After all, the degree to which a church thinks a program shines bright pales in comparison to what those outside that church believe. So ask. Repeatedly. And ask the right people, of course.
As a provider of an outreach program for local congregations, Kids Hope USA encourages churches to gather input from schools. Why? Because an educator’s candid feedback serves as the best indicator of whether or not mentoring students makes lights burn bright. Bottom line: Place high value on the opinions of people whom the broader community trusts.
The hard questions church leaders should ask are these: What comments do we receive about our program(s)? Do they contain more punch than a requisite thank you?
A positive reputation (aka, bright light) happens as a result of what others say.
Good news travels far and fast, which serves as the key reason why over 2,300 public schools now stand in line waiting for church partners to mentor at-risk students. The full credit for this escalating demand goes to the local churches (“…honor those you should honor.” Romans 13:7) who light up the dark world that too many students must navigate.
Of course many program options exist for churches to serve schools. Yet, congregations are wise to challenge how much light any outreach effort truly produces. This logic applies to any manner in which a congregation seeks to make a local difference. After all, a dim bulb requires as much energy as a bright one. Go for the halogen.
Just make sure to put it in the correct socket.
Note: Today, 156 United Methodist congregations run Kids Hope USA mentoring programs. Learn more at www.kidshopeusa.org.
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"Why this rabbi wants Christians to know about Judaism and Jews to know about Jesus"
by Brandon Ambrosino / Religion News Service
Rabbi Evan Moffic
(RNS) Imagine a test on world religions that asks this question:
“Who founded Christianity?”
Jesus, right?
Wrong.
So writes Rabbi Evan Moffic, author of What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus.
Jesus lived, died and was resurrected as a Jew. His beliefs and practices, including his love of God and neighbor, were informed by his Jewish context.
Eventually, those teachings, and writings about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, developed into Christianity. But many scholars do not believe Jesus saw his vocation as introducing a new religion.
A Reform rabbi at Congregation Solel in Highland Park, Ill., Moffic thinks the study of the common roots of Judaism and Christianity can serve as a bridge between two faiths that have often misunderstood each other.
Moffic wants both Jews and Christians to see Jesus in a fresh way.
For too long, he writes, Christians have looked at Jesus simply as “a ticket to heaven,” and Jews have associated him with anti-Semitism.
He wants Christians and Jews to see Jesus as part of a living tradition less focused on theology and more concerned with living rightly in this world.
Moffic gives the example of Jesus’ famous “Our Father” prayer, which he says fits very well within the context of first-century Jewish life. The prayer isn’t so much a theological reflection as it is a call to action, he says.
When Jews prayed, at Jesus’ suggestion, for God’s will to be done, they were really confessing a partnership with God and his laws. They understood that “God’s will is done on earth through obedience to Torah.”
But of course, Jewish interpretations of Jesus, he writes, are “bound to rub up against Christian convictions about Jesus.” Especially when it comes to the Resurrection.
But as Moffic points out, the Christian belief in the Resurrection doesn’t need to isolate Jews from Christians. Some of Jesus’ early Jewish followers may have viewed the announcement that Jesus was raised from the dead as the beginning of the restoration of the Jewish people.
So if the earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish, at which point did Christianity emerge as something distinct from Judaism?
Scholars don’t all agree.
One thing is clear: As the ranks of gentile Jesus followers began to swell, so did tensions with the original Jewish followers who understood Jesus differently.
The rest, as they say, is, tragically, history. From the Crusades to the pogroms, Jews were often persecuted and killed for their refusal to submit to Christian claims.
But virtually no New Testament scholar today will deny Jesus’ Jewishness. Beginning in the late 19th century, there was a push in Christian scholarship to contextualize Jesus within first-century Palestine.
This scholarship took off after the Holocaust, as more theologians explored the anti-Semitism that fueled the rise of the Third Reich.
Today, scholars such as Amy-Jill Levine, professor of New Testament and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, say Christians cannot understand the full meaning of Jesus’ life, without understanding the Jewish context that produced Jesus.
So Christians need to study Judaism — but what about Jews? Should they study Christianity?
Levine thinks so. “If we Jews want non-Jews to respect us, which means knowing more about us than something about 'Fiddler on the Roof,' then I think we should show that same respect to our Christian neighbors. That means learning what they believe, and how those beliefs are manifested in practice.”
It may be easier for Christians to study Judaism than it is for Jews to study Christianity because the Christian Bible includes the Hebrew Bible, though the books do not appear in the same order.
For Jews, the New Testament is difficult to tackle if only because the name suggests it is an improvement over the old.
But interfaith champions say dialogue between faiths doesn’t pretend that religious differences don’t exist.
“We do not sacrifice the particulars of our traditions on the altar of interfaith sensitivity,” said Levine. “We Jews and Christians are not going to agree on everything until the messiah comes. Or, if you prefer, comes back.”
The last century saw honorable attempts by Jewish scholars to re-examine Jesus.
One such pioneering Jewish voice belonged to Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, who, in 1963, encouraged the biennial convention of the Reform movement to update its views on Jesus. Despite the fact that Jews cannot accept him as Messiah, he argued, “there is room for improved understanding and openness to change in interpreting Jesus as a positive and prophetic spirit in the stream of the Jewish tradition.”
Like a lot of scholarship, this stayed for the most part confined to the halls of academia, and never really took off in lay Jewish communities, which remained sometimes vehemently opposed.
Moffic wants to change that.
“As people of faith,” he writes, “our challenge is to try not to undermine one another. It is not to prove our faith superior to every other. It is living and teaching our message of life and hope in a world filled with violence and indifference.”
Moffic thinks Rabbi Jesus can show Jews and Christians alike a way to do that.
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"Archaeologists dig up fabrics dating back to kings David and Solomon" 
by Michelle Chabin / Religion News Service
The excavation of a metallurgical workshop at Site 34, Central Timna Valley Project. Photo courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority
JERUSALEM (RNS) Israeli archaeologists have discovered fragments of “remarkably preserved” 3,000-year-old fabrics, leather and seeds dating to the era of the biblical kings David and Solomon.
This is the first discovery of textiles dating from the 10th century B.C. “and therefore provides the first physical evidence” of what residents of the Holy Land wore, said Erez Ben-Yosef, the lead archaeologist with the Tel Aviv University excavation team that did the dig.
The excavation, carried out in southern Israel at the ancient copper mines of Timna — believed by many to be the site of King Solomon’s mines — took place in late January and February.
The textiles, just 5-by-5 centimeters in size, are the remnants of clothing, tents, ropes, cords and bags. They were preserved thanks to Timna’s extremely dry conditions, the archaeologist said.
Rope made of the fibers of a date palm tree found at Site 34. Photo by Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority
Ben-Yosef said the fabrics, which vary widely in weaving style, color and ornamentation, provide “new and important information” about the Edomites, the descendants of Esau who often fought against the Israelites and mined in Timna.
“Luxury-grade fabric adorned the highly skilled, highly respected craftsmen managing the copper furnaces,” said Ben-Yosef. “They were responsible for smelting the copper, which was a very complicated process.”
Vanessa Workman, a member of the excavating and analysis team, said the Hebrew Bible is chock-full of references to fabrics and dyes. “Blue colors and green colors and red colors and what the high priest wore, the tabernacles. Linens, woolen fabrics.”
Workman said the discovery at Timna “is an affirmation” of biblical texts. “It brings the desert culture of that period alive.”
"The social power of sacraments" by Dave Barnhart
Bigstock / Gino Santa Maria
One guy in the retirees’ Sunday school class was a know-it-all. He was excellent at shutting down discussions with his theological pronouncements. He would hold court about the political issues of the day. Everyone admired his intelligence, and he certainly knew the Bible backwards and forwards. He was good at teaching — but not very good at listening. Still, the folks in the Sunday school class tried to be loving and welcoming, even if he was domineering.
One Sunday morning, he was in charge of the lesson about Maundy Thursday. He brought in a biscuit wrapped in a paper napkin and some grape juice. He said to the group, “As you eat this bread and drink this juice, I really want you to think about what you’re doing.”
“You can’t do that,” said one of the members of the class, who happened to be my grandfather.
“What?”
“You can’t do that. Only an ordained or licensed pastor can serve Communion.” My grandfather spoke from first-hand knowledge. He had served as a student and local pastor decades before.
The man blustered something about the priesthood of all believers and said, “It’s just symbolic,” but my grandfather wasn’t having it. He saw the move for what it was: a power grab, an abusive manipulation of the sacrament in order to claim authority over the group. The man was trying to become their priest. Frustrated in his attempt to create his own mini-church within their church, the man eventually stopped coming.
Until my grandfather told that story, I still had some conventional misunderstandings about religious rituals kicking around in my head: that we probably make too big a deal out of symbols and rituals, that the pomp and circumstance surrounding liturgy are distractions from the more “theological” and practical parts of ministry. In my youthful idealism, I dismissed denominational rules about clergy and sacraments as holdovers from a more authoritarian and hierarchal past. Any baptized believer should be able to preside over the sacraments, I would have said. While I recognize that people of some other Christian traditions may function effectively without ordained pastors and strict rules about sacraments, my grandfather’s story helped me grasp the meaning of the phrase “sacramental authority,” because I understood then that the sacraments can be abused. They can be used to gain or exert social power. Paul indicated that he knew sacramental authority and social power were intertwined when he reprimanded the Corinthians for putting too much stock in their baptismal pedigree (1 Corinthians 1:14-16). In the same letter, he also takes them to task for abusing the Lord’s Supper (11:20-26).
When a group of people ordain or “set apart” someone to have priestly authority over them, they are placing their trust in a leader of their community. This is one reason why, in the United Methodist Church, the licensing and ordination process takes so long. We require candidates to have extensive theological and practical education, to demonstrate good character, to have some kind of field education or ministry experience. We vet them thoroughly, because along with sacramental authority goes a good deal of social and spiritual power.
That social and spiritual power does not exist for the glorification of the pastor. It only exists to be distributed to others. The body of Christ in the bread and wine empowers us to be the Body of Christ in the world, broken and given away. The waters of baptism unite us in an egalitarian family with every other Christian, where social distinctions fall away (Galatians 3:28).
Instead of being given away to empower the Body of Christ, sometimes sacramental power gets used as a tool for selfish purposes. When John Wesley famously refused to serve Communion to his ex-girlfriend in Georgia, he was abusing the sacrament, and acting much like the blustering teacher in my grandfather’s Sunday school class. He paid the price. The community rose up against the young Wesley and he slunk back to England.
We don’t expect those presiding over our sacraments to be completely perfect (look up the ancient Donatist controversy for some historical perspective), but we do expect them not to abuse the sacrament. I’m grateful for that story of Wesley’s failure. It shows that the founder of Methodism was able to grow beyond his youthful image of himself as a “gatekeeper” pastor. It was only after he faced his own failures and insecurities as a pastor and a Christian that he gained the confidence of his salvation, which gave him the spiritual power to become a leader. His brokenness allowed room for the Holy Spirit to transform his life, and he went on to empower laypeople to become fully committed disciples of Jesus Christ.
That’s what we need from people who break the bread and wine for us: pastors who are not afraid of their own brokenness, who see in the sacrament a way for God to pour out spiritual power on God’s people and perfect them in love. When pastors stand before the table and declare that it is not their table, but God's, or when they pour water over a new believer’s or an infant’s head and declare they are part of God’s new and diverse family, they are using their role to empower others and to bring glory to a God who pours out power on all God’s people.
Dave Barnhart is the pastor of Saint Junia UMC in Birmingham, Ala.
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"Walking softly while black" by David Person
Bigstock/erikn
Samuel L. Jackson, the world-famous actor, told a very poignant story in the latest issue of Vanity Fair. It ended with him facedown in the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Jackson said that while filming the Quentin Tarantino movie "Pulp Fiction," he had a six-week break during which he took a role in a play. One night after the performance, he and some friends went out to dinner. After eating, they left the restaurant, stood out on the street and talked.
Five law enforcement vehicles pulled up. Officers got out, pointed guns at them and ordered them to get on the ground.
Jackson and his friends, guilty of nothing, did as they were told. He wasn’t a bona fide star yet — he described himself as “on the verge of breaking through” — so the officers apparently didn’t recognize him. Jackson said he asked one of them why they had done this.
“Oh, we got a report of five black guys standing on the corner with guns and bats,” the officer replied.
Jackson and his friends didn’t have any bats or guns. Yet they had been forced to lay facedown on the street like criminals.
That encounter with the police happened over 20 years ago but Jackson said that he still “walks softly” in L.A. because of that night. Is he paranoid? Crazy? Hypersensitive? As a black man, I don’t think so. I suspect most of us “walk softly” in our own ways in the communities where we live.
We’ve seen Eric Garner get choked to death for not being compliant enough when officers confronted him for illegally selling cigarettes in New York. We’ve seen Walter Scott shot in the back for running away from a traffic stop because he owed child support. We’ve seen Laquan McDonald shot to death in Chicago for — well, we still don’t know why since he wasn’t a threat to the officers who confronted him.
These men were killed for minor offenses when their punishment should have been being taken into custody.
I don’t believe many of our white friends understand the burden of walking softly while black. Perhaps because they’ve come to know us as neighbors, co-workers, church members, maybe even family members.
And they, whether by nature or nurture, see us as Dr. Martin Luther King taught: by the content of our character, not the color of our skin; as real people, not media-hyped stereotypes.
So they assume that their experience is ours. It may never occur to them that no matter what neighborhood we live in or what our job title is, we live in two worlds at once — and one of those worlds is fraught with dangers most of them will never face.
Still, there are blessings in these relationships that cross the artificial line of race. One is that it allows us to learn from and share with each other. It also gives us the opportunity to oppose and push back against bigotry together.
We won’t all do this the same way. Some will do it the way one white stranger did for me in a San Diego grocery line, offering to pay for a purchase when she thought I was short of money. Others will do it more dramatically as Jackson did, revealing painful, private moments to share important truths.
In these moments, we see the best of humanity — charity, courage, truth-telling. Perhaps we’re even catching glimpses of God.
But some of us will still have to walk softly. Because everyone ain’t there yet.
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"7 things cats do to sabotage church"
By Greg GregoryBigstock/Dunelmia
I'm not really a cat person, but I can be forgiven for that. Ministry experience, combined with the opportunity to observe cats in various contexts, has given me the insight and the resources to compose this list, which is partially a report of things I have seen happen in churches in various parts of America, and is partially a general report on things cats do to sabotage church.
1. Kill the bats in the belfry
There were occasionally concerns about the fact, well known among both the membership and the neighbors of your little United Methodist parish, that a sizable coven of bats has staked for its abode the church belfry. Will a member of the youth group, while covertly and precariously ascending the interior of the old belfry during Sunday morning worship service, startle the bats into a violent flurry of activity, who in turn startle him, so that he plummets to his death? Are the bats rabid, and so a danger to the humans in the neighborhood, or (worse?) the small pets? Yet, on the whole, the bats are considered a rather benign pest. Certainly, guano coats the floor of the belfry, and the walls, but as this is not seen regularly, neither is it a cause for undue worry or sanitation. They are, after all, tiny mammals, not-too-distant relations of ours.
Since your pastor and lay leaders humor the presence of a “church cat,” however, this situation of relative peace will not long endure. The cat will kill those bats with a bloodthirsty relish that would make a 14-year-old boy queasy. The cat will lay into those bats at noon while they're sleeping with all the pitiless decision of an electric lawnmower encountering a garden snake. Then you'll have something to clean up. Five or six will be stuck to the walls of the belfry by their own gore. Five or six will be entirely consumed by the cat, five or ten more only partially. The cat will bring one into the seniors citizens' Sunday school class. And one will inevitably wind up in the offering plate during liturgy.
It's a shame, really. The observable presence of the bats — their ominous if lovely peregrinations at sunset — used to let the neighborhood kids, who don't go to your church, keep up a healthy speculation that the church is haunted. Blood-drinkers, ghosts, etc. But now your church will have to prove its relevance in other ways. Solar panels maybe. At any rate, my point is that cats will kill those bats in the belfry and sabotage your church.
2. Play "Memory" from Cats on the projector screens during Holy Communion
There are so few musical performances that can match the high emotive pining and sheer lovelorn theatricality of Elaine Paige's version of "Memory" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's T.S. Eliot-inspired Broadway musical Cats. Everyone agrees on that. You can sing that song in your head for days and never have a real thought.
What nobody can agree on is how much that audiovisual performance adds to the Communion liturgy as folks file forward to receive the body and blood of Christ and Elaine belts it out onscreen in her catsuit.
Fortunately, I've been to seminary and can answer that question. It is practically irreligious to incorporate "Memory" into Holy Communion that way. (Preachers should cap themselves at quoting T.S. Eliot's poetry in every other sermon.) Which is why the church adopting a cat is such a bad idea. Cats sabotage church, as the "Memory" incident attests.
3. Bite visitors' legs then run off
As if your little church doesn't already have enough trouble scaring visitors into coming a second time.
It's not that the church cat will only bite visitors' legs. It's that the cat will sneak up, bite the leg and run off. Nothing makes a person angrier than a varmint that bites and then escapes with elegant ease and an aristocratic impunity which brings the sheer cruelty of its beauty into (if it were possible) still higher relief. And few people are likely to return to your church after they loudly drop an F-bomb on their first visit.
And it's also not that the church cat will bite only visitors' legs. It's not out of character for the cat to attack anyone, really. It's just that all the regular members have settled into the feline's patterns of abuse.
Numerous exorcism attempts have failed to bring about apparent change, in spite of the energetic and elaborate ceremonials. Cats bite visitors' legs then run off; cats sabotage church.
4. "Join in" too intensely when others are praying in tongues
Your church is Spirit-filled but not weird. People don't peel out into their glossoalia during the pastor's sermon in front of God and everybody. Dipping one's tongue into the Spirit's menu of more ecstatic self-offerings is reserved, at your church, to a few enthusiasts who pray along quietly in their prayer language while others pray aloud in normal American English, and to the people on the Prayer Team who pray in the back of the sanctuary for the people who go to them because they really need prayer.
This latter space is where trouble turns up. It is hard to take your praying seriously when the melodic ark of your bubbly cadence is accompanied by a contrapuntally ascending "meeeeeeow" at your feet. Or how are you supposed to feel what to pray next when your bold denunciation of the Devil echoes back in a defiant "mrrrow!" from below? Just imagine how bad it is if you're the one who's gone to the back and made yourself vulnerable in order to receive prayer. Can you focus on opening your soul to intimate divine healing when the cat is treating your shoes in ways the high school youth are regularly reprimanded for treating each other?
What kind of God would allow such creatures?
To sabotage prayer is to sabotage church. Cats sabotage church.
5. "Confuse" the Folgers grounds and the litter box
Coffee, as everyone knows, is the church drug of choice. But for the cat, coffee grounds meet an entirely different need.
In truth, though, this one never plays out the way the cat expects. Let's listen in at 8:15 on a Sunday morning.
"This coffee tastes great!"
"Yeah, tastes all expensive like Starbucks."
"Nope, its just Folgers!"
6. Put the X-Files theme on the church's voicemail
When someone calls your church, and no one answers (which is usually), they are treated to the authoritative voice of your church secretary enumerating the weekly schedule in just over 90 seconds before they are allowed to leave a message (which they usually don't, unless their car is broken down in the parking lot).
Cats will quickly be bored by this arrangement. Now imagine the difference for the kingdom it will make when someone calls your church voicemail and hears Fox Mulder's voice confess to them through their earpiece, "I want to believe." Then the X-Files theme music plays. And after about 7 refreshing seconds (or 10 refreshing hours, whichever), they get the chance to leave a message. Except, probably, their problems are solved by that point. I know mine are.
Seriously, though, if you're a Christian or (worse) a Pastor / Priest / Youth Director / Theologian / American Ninja Warrior and you're having one of those days where you're just not sure all this Christian stuff can bear the combined weight of your fatigue, sloth and epistemological bafflement about the Holy Trinity, faith, life, death, relationships, Donald Trump, the historical Jesus, kids or all of the above, watch The X-Files, season 10, episode 3, called "Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster." Mulder feels your pain, your epistemological confusion and bafflement about your beliefs and existence generally. He's right there with you. And then he delightfully discovers just how surprising and wonderful the truth can be. And terrifying. And still wonderful. The truth is out there, friends.
7. Compose lists like this
True to their inveterate tradition of pampered misanthropy, cats might even compose a list like this, ostensibly about things cats do to sabotage church. Maybe "Greg Gregory" is just a pen name selected by one or more rather totally depraved and Calvinistic cats (good thing Andrew Lloyd Webber's cats didn't meet any of those!) for the minor vantage it offers for sniping at Wesleyan ways.
Or maybe, just maybe, the cats didn't write this column as a list of ways they sabotage church, but rather as a list of suggestions for how fresh new youth ministers can learn the ropes and succeed in their chosen vocation.
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7. Compose lists like this
True to their inveterate tradition of pampered misanthropy, cats might even compose a list like this, ostensibly about things cats do to sabotage church. Maybe "Greg Gregory" is just a pen name selected by one or more rather totally depraved and Calvinistic cats (good thing Andrew Lloyd Webber's cats didn't meet any of those!) for the minor vantage it offers for sniping at Wesleyan ways.
Or maybe, just maybe, the cats didn't write this column as a list of ways they sabotage church, but rather as a list of suggestions for how fresh new youth ministers can learn the ropes and succeed in their chosen vocation.
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"The Zika virus" by Rebekah Jordan Gienapp
A public health emergency
At the beginning of February, the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the Zika virus, as well as the complications that it’s suspected to cause in newborns, a public health emergency of international concern. This is only the fourth time such a designation has been made. Previous designations were made for the H1N1 flu epidemic of 2009, the re-emergence of polio in Pakistan and Syria in 2014, and the Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014.
While scientists have been aware of the Zika virus for more than 50 years, it’s recently become a grave concern because it could be associated with the sudden appearance of thousands of cases of a rare brain defect called microcephaly in Brazil. While scientists haven’t yet been able to confirm or deny that the Zika virus is causing microcephaly, the WHO “strongly suspected” a link and felt that the risk of waiting to declare an emergency was too great. The declaration allows the WHO to coordinate the monitoring of both Zika cases and microcephaly and will encourage more funding and direct assistance for fighting the virus.
Zika and microcephaly
The Zika virus was first identified in monkeys in Uganda in 1947, with the first human case appearing in Nigeria in 1954. Before the current outbreak in the Americas, there were periodic outbreaks in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The current outbreak of Zika has primarily been spread by Aedes mosquitoes, which are the same insects that spread dengue, a potentially lethal virus. Global campaigns to prevent malaria infections through insecticide-treated bed nets are of limited benefit to those at risk of Zika because Aedes mosquitoes are primarily active during the daytime. There have also been a number of cases reported of the virus being spread through sexual contact.
Only about one out of five people who contract Zika is expected to exhibit symptoms. These include fever, rash, conjunctivitis (red, sore eyes), headache and joint pain. There is no vaccine for Zika, nor is drug treatment available. Death from the Zika virus is rare. There are indications, however, that the Zika virus can sometimes have long-lasting neurological effects on infected adults.
The primary reason the virus is of so much concern to health officials is because of its potential impact on babies in the womb. A rapid rise in microcephaly has occurred in regions where Zika has also spiked. One of the challenges to knowing for certain whether a link exists between Zika and microcephaly is that it’s often difficult to know if a pregnant woman actually had the Zika virus.
Microcephaly is a condition in which a baby is born with an abnormally small head, often because the brain hasn’t developed correctly. The effects of microcephaly vary greatly. About 15 percent of people with the condition don’t experience any intellectual disabilities. Officials in Brazil, where there were more than 4,000 reports of microcephaly as of early February, say the cases they’re seeing are on the severe end of the spectrum. Many infants are likely to live with serious speech and motor problems and will require continual care. In some cases, the brain is so underdeveloped that the children won’t survive. For those who do survive, there’s no one particular treatment for the condition. Treatments are generally limited to the symptoms, such as providing speech therapy or medication to prevent seizures.
Efforts to stop the spread
Dr. Rafael Franza, an immunologist in Recife, Brazil, says the greatest challenge to stopping Zika is the inability to “test with certainty if someone had Zika or some other infection, like dengue, which is very similar.” Dr. Franza has a team working to develop a rapid test, because right now the only option is to take a blood test within five days of infection. Since many patients don’t exhibit symptoms, it’s difficult to know whom to test. There’s also a lack of the needed equipment for testing in many laboratories in Brazil.
The Latin American countries experiencing Zika outbreaks often have underfunded health ministries. Many also have a higher percentage of young people in their population, which means there are more women of childbearing age who are at risk. Between limited resources and the lack of a vaccine, most efforts to stop the spread of the disease focus on mosquito control and protection. Health officials are advising people to use insect repellent, cover themselves in long-sleeved clothes, and keep their windows and doors closed. Perhaps the most controversial advice from some health officials about Zika prevention has been a warning to women in affected countries to delay pregnancy.
UNICEF has launched an appeal for close to $9 million in an attempt to limit the spread of Zika. UNICEF is working with the WHO to control the spread of the Aedes mosquito, which carries the Zika virus. A leading component of their efforts is providing education to communities, especially women and pregnant mothers, about how to protect themselves from the mosquitoes. The global Christian health and relief organization MAP International is currently responding to immediate requests from affected communities for strong insecticides, pain relievers and antibiotics.
Some scientists are experimenting with releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the environment that pass on a lethal gene to their offspring. Small-scale studies suggest that doing this can reduce mosquito populations by 80 percent or more. However, other scientists have raised concerns about this idea as a way to control dengue. Dr. Helen Wallace of GeneWatch UK wrote in a 2015 editorial on the topic, suggesting that “releasing genetically engineered mosquitoes could even make the dengue situation worse, perhaps by reducing immunity to the more serious form of the disease.” Another obstacle to this approach is that it would likely take years to scale such a mosquito release effort up to a level where it could have an impact on Zika infections.
A ministry of healing
As we hear of the rapid spread of Zika and the devastating effects of microcephaly on babies, it’s easy to imagine a young mother crying out words like those of Psalm 13: “How long will you forget me, Lord? Forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (verse 1). The speed with which the virus is multiplying, the alarming rise of microcephaly in newborns, and the limited resources of the affected countries can take us to a place of hopelessness.
Yet the combined efforts of many different governments, organizations, and individuals from both rich and poor countries could likely do much to slow down the spread of the virus. As people of faith, we can remind our nation and our world that God asks us to pay attention to the needs of the most vulnerable, those whose voices are likely to be ignored. Just as the laws of the Hebrew Scriptures and the voices of the Prophets continually pointed their people to look after the poor, the widows and the orphans, we can magnify the cries of parents and babies affected by this disease.
We can engage in ministries of healing by supporting short-term relief and education efforts around the disease. As individuals and as a church, we can also strive for long-term solutions that provide robust health care for all people and that protect the rights of women and children. We can remind our world that God doesn’t intend for so many to suffer alone when there are so many resources in our world that can be shared. We can live toward God’s vision of a new world, where “there will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups.
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"Bright lights from local churches"
by David StaalBigstock/EzumeImages
The driver side headlight went out on our minivan, so I bought a replacement bulb and opened the hood. A few minutes later I turned the lights on. The new one shined bright, but now the other side looked too dim.
After another trip to the store, and a few brief moments under the hood (I had experience, so it went fast), I again turned on the lights. To my dismay, the second headlight remained illumination-challenged. How could this be? I returned the bulb and purchased a new one; still no change. Another return, another disappointment. Frustrated, I sat in the car and out of frustration flicked the high beams on and off, on and off, on and off. Ugh.
That’s when the solution came into view. Each headlight contains two bulbs, one for the high beam and one for low. I needed to change the low beam, but instead kept swapping out the high.
Put the right bulb in the right place, and the lights shine bright.
In similar fashion, when a local church puts the right community outreach program in place, a light shines bright—which should serve as a priority for every congregation. Unless, of course, Jesus didn’t really mean what He said in Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven.”
Some programs illuminate better than others. Some are dim. Some are plugged in and use energy, but provide no light. Still others provide an amazing, halogen-like glow. Which one does the surrounding community see best? And how can a church know?
After all, the degree to which a church thinks a program shines bright pales in comparison to what those outside that church believe. So ask. Repeatedly. And ask the right people, of course.
As a provider of an outreach program for local congregations, Kids Hope USA encourages churches to gather input from schools. Why? Because an educator’s candid feedback serves as the best indicator of whether or not mentoring students makes lights burn bright. Bottom line: Place high value on the opinions of people whom the broader community trusts.
The hard questions church leaders should ask are these: What comments do we receive about our program(s)? Do they contain more punch than a requisite thank you?
A positive reputation (aka, bright light) happens as a result of what others say.
Good news travels far and fast, which serves as the key reason why over 2,300 public schools now stand in line waiting for church partners to mentor at-risk students. The full credit for this escalating demand goes to the local churches (“…honor those you should honor.” Romans 13:7) who light up the dark world that too many students must navigate.
Of course many program options exist for churches to serve schools. Yet, congregations are wise to challenge how much light any outreach effort truly produces. This logic applies to any manner in which a congregation seeks to make a local difference. After all, a dim bulb requires as much energy as a bright one. Go for the halogen.
Just make sure to put it in the correct socket.
Note: Today, 156 United Methodist congregations run Kids Hope USA mentoring programs. Learn more at www.kidshopeusa.org.
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"Why this rabbi wants Christians to know about Judaism and Jews to know about Jesus"
by Brandon Ambrosino / Religion News ServiceRabbi Evan Moffic
(RNS) Imagine a test on world religions that asks this question:
“Who founded Christianity?”
Jesus, right?
Wrong.
So writes Rabbi Evan Moffic, author of What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Jewishness of Jesus.
Jesus lived, died and was resurrected as a Jew. His beliefs and practices, including his love of God and neighbor, were informed by his Jewish context.
Eventually, those teachings, and writings about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, developed into Christianity. But many scholars do not believe Jesus saw his vocation as introducing a new religion.
A Reform rabbi at Congregation Solel in Highland Park, Ill., Moffic thinks the study of the common roots of Judaism and Christianity can serve as a bridge between two faiths that have often misunderstood each other.
Moffic wants both Jews and Christians to see Jesus in a fresh way.
For too long, he writes, Christians have looked at Jesus simply as “a ticket to heaven,” and Jews have associated him with anti-Semitism.
He wants Christians and Jews to see Jesus as part of a living tradition less focused on theology and more concerned with living rightly in this world.
Moffic gives the example of Jesus’ famous “Our Father” prayer, which he says fits very well within the context of first-century Jewish life. The prayer isn’t so much a theological reflection as it is a call to action, he says.
When Jews prayed, at Jesus’ suggestion, for God’s will to be done, they were really confessing a partnership with God and his laws. They understood that “God’s will is done on earth through obedience to Torah.”
But of course, Jewish interpretations of Jesus, he writes, are “bound to rub up against Christian convictions about Jesus.” Especially when it comes to the Resurrection.
But as Moffic points out, the Christian belief in the Resurrection doesn’t need to isolate Jews from Christians. Some of Jesus’ early Jewish followers may have viewed the announcement that Jesus was raised from the dead as the beginning of the restoration of the Jewish people.
So if the earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish, at which point did Christianity emerge as something distinct from Judaism?
Scholars don’t all agree.
One thing is clear: As the ranks of gentile Jesus followers began to swell, so did tensions with the original Jewish followers who understood Jesus differently.
The rest, as they say, is, tragically, history. From the Crusades to the pogroms, Jews were often persecuted and killed for their refusal to submit to Christian claims.
But virtually no New Testament scholar today will deny Jesus’ Jewishness. Beginning in the late 19th century, there was a push in Christian scholarship to contextualize Jesus within first-century Palestine.
This scholarship took off after the Holocaust, as more theologians explored the anti-Semitism that fueled the rise of the Third Reich.
Today, scholars such as Amy-Jill Levine, professor of New Testament and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School, say Christians cannot understand the full meaning of Jesus’ life, without understanding the Jewish context that produced Jesus.
So Christians need to study Judaism — but what about Jews? Should they study Christianity?
Levine thinks so. “If we Jews want non-Jews to respect us, which means knowing more about us than something about 'Fiddler on the Roof,' then I think we should show that same respect to our Christian neighbors. That means learning what they believe, and how those beliefs are manifested in practice.”
It may be easier for Christians to study Judaism than it is for Jews to study Christianity because the Christian Bible includes the Hebrew Bible, though the books do not appear in the same order.
For Jews, the New Testament is difficult to tackle if only because the name suggests it is an improvement over the old.
But interfaith champions say dialogue between faiths doesn’t pretend that religious differences don’t exist.
“We do not sacrifice the particulars of our traditions on the altar of interfaith sensitivity,” said Levine. “We Jews and Christians are not going to agree on everything until the messiah comes. Or, if you prefer, comes back.”
The last century saw honorable attempts by Jewish scholars to re-examine Jesus.
One such pioneering Jewish voice belonged to Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, who, in 1963, encouraged the biennial convention of the Reform movement to update its views on Jesus. Despite the fact that Jews cannot accept him as Messiah, he argued, “there is room for improved understanding and openness to change in interpreting Jesus as a positive and prophetic spirit in the stream of the Jewish tradition.”
Like a lot of scholarship, this stayed for the most part confined to the halls of academia, and never really took off in lay Jewish communities, which remained sometimes vehemently opposed.
Moffic wants to change that.
“As people of faith,” he writes, “our challenge is to try not to undermine one another. It is not to prove our faith superior to every other. It is living and teaching our message of life and hope in a world filled with violence and indifference.”
Moffic thinks Rabbi Jesus can show Jews and Christians alike a way to do that.
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"Archaeologists dig up fabrics dating back to kings David and Solomon" by Michelle Chabin / Religion News ServiceThe excavation of a metallurgical workshop at Site 34, Central Timna Valley Project. Photo courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority
JERUSALEM (RNS) Israeli archaeologists have discovered fragments of “remarkably preserved” 3,000-year-old fabrics, leather and seeds dating to the era of the biblical kings David and Solomon.
This is the first discovery of textiles dating from the 10th century B.C. “and therefore provides the first physical evidence” of what residents of the Holy Land wore, said Erez Ben-Yosef, the lead archaeologist with the Tel Aviv University excavation team that did the dig.
The excavation, carried out in southern Israel at the ancient copper mines of Timna — believed by many to be the site of King Solomon’s mines — took place in late January and February.
The textiles, just 5-by-5 centimeters in size, are the remnants of clothing, tents, ropes, cords and bags. They were preserved thanks to Timna’s extremely dry conditions, the archaeologist said.
Rope made of the fibers of a date palm tree found at Site 34. Photo by Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority
Ben-Yosef said the fabrics, which vary widely in weaving style, color and ornamentation, provide “new and important information” about the Edomites, the descendants of Esau who often fought against the Israelites and mined in Timna.
“Luxury-grade fabric adorned the highly skilled, highly respected craftsmen managing the copper furnaces,” said Ben-Yosef. “They were responsible for smelting the copper, which was a very complicated process.”
Vanessa Workman, a member of the excavating and analysis team, said the Hebrew Bible is chock-full of references to fabrics and dyes. “Blue colors and green colors and red colors and what the high priest wore, the tabernacles. Linens, woolen fabrics.”
Workman said the discovery at Timna “is an affirmation” of biblical texts. “It brings the desert culture of that period alive.”
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"Remembering a mockingbird"
by Matt Rawle
Bigstock/cmfotoworks
Harper Lee never enjoyed being in the spotlight. It’s not because she shied away from telling a powerful story, but because it’s hard to be the focus of the spotlight while focusing the light itself. “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is more than the greatest American Novel; it is an unassuming vessel in which the Gospel walks around in our own skin. It’s one thing to hear the parable of the good Samaritan from the pulpit or bible study, and know that we should be a neighbor to all, but inviting my Deep South neighbor into a familiar Maycomb courtroom so that our holy imaginations can expand beyond our cultural assumptions, changes the very images we see when we close our eyes and think of the “other.”
Lee taught us how to tell our own story through Scout’s adventures, to meet violence with a lamp, rocking chair, and a newspaper, to question our assumptions that we just know are true, and to never fear reaching out to the graceful and mysterious Boo Radleys of the world. A book is a funny thing. The words on the page are bound together with spine and covers, but the idea within it is as timeless and unbound as Lee herself is as she now rests in the heart of God. Lee suggested that a mockingbird simply sings a song for all to enjoy, but the song she sang continues to disrupt our neat Maycomb lines in which we want everything to fit and know its place. Harper Lee will be missed, but her story will continue to focus an incarnational light shining toward justice.
Matt Rawle is the author of The Faith of a Mockingbird, which uses Lee's characters to explore Christian faith, theology, and ethics.
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"This Sunday, February 28, 2016"
Third Sunday in Lent: Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
"Remembering a mockingbird"
by Matt RawleBigstock/cmfotoworks
Harper Lee never enjoyed being in the spotlight. It’s not because she shied away from telling a powerful story, but because it’s hard to be the focus of the spotlight while focusing the light itself. “To Kill a Mockingbird,” is more than the greatest American Novel; it is an unassuming vessel in which the Gospel walks around in our own skin. It’s one thing to hear the parable of the good Samaritan from the pulpit or bible study, and know that we should be a neighbor to all, but inviting my Deep South neighbor into a familiar Maycomb courtroom so that our holy imaginations can expand beyond our cultural assumptions, changes the very images we see when we close our eyes and think of the “other.”
Lee taught us how to tell our own story through Scout’s adventures, to meet violence with a lamp, rocking chair, and a newspaper, to question our assumptions that we just know are true, and to never fear reaching out to the graceful and mysterious Boo Radleys of the world. A book is a funny thing. The words on the page are bound together with spine and covers, but the idea within it is as timeless and unbound as Lee herself is as she now rests in the heart of God. Lee suggested that a mockingbird simply sings a song for all to enjoy, but the song she sang continues to disrupt our neat Maycomb lines in which we want everything to fit and know its place. Harper Lee will be missed, but her story will continue to focus an incarnational light shining toward justice.
Matt Rawle is the author of The Faith of a Mockingbird, which uses Lee's characters to explore Christian faith, theology, and ethics.
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"This Sunday, February 28, 2016"
Third Sunday in Lent: Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
Scritpure Lessons:
Isaiah 55:1 “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!
You without money, come, buy, and eat!
Yes, come! Buy wine and milk
without money — it’s free!
2 Why spend money for what isn’t food,
your wages for what doesn’t satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and you will eat well,
you will enjoy the fat of the land.
3 Open your ears, and come to me;
listen well, and you will live —
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
the grace I assured David.
4 I have given him as a witness to the peoples,
a leader and lawgiver for the peoples.
5 You will summon a nation you do not know,
and a nation that doesn’t know you will run to you,
for the sake of Adonai your God,
the Holy One of Isra’el, who will glorify you.”
6 Seek Adonai while he is available,
call on him while he is still nearby.
7 Let the wicked person abandon his way
and the evil person his thoughts;
let him return to Adonai,
and he will have mercy on him;
let him return to our God,
for he will freely forgive.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,” says Adonai.
9 “As high as the sky is above the earth
are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Psalm 63:1 (0) A psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Y’hudah:
2 (1) O God, you are my God;
I will seek you eagerly.
My heart thirsts for you,
my body longs for you
in a land parched and exhausted,
where no water can be found.
3 (2) I used to contemplate you in the sanctuary,
seeing your power and glory;
4 (3) for your grace is better than life.
My lips will worship you.
5 (4) Yes, I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
6 (5) I am as satisfied as with rich food;
my mouth praises you with joy on my lips
7 (6) when I remember you on my bed
and meditate on you in the night watches.
8 (7) For you have been my help;
in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
1 Corinthians 10:1 For, brothers, I don’t want you to miss the significance of what happened to our fathers. All of them were guided by the pillar of cloud, and they all passed through the sea, 2 and in connection with the cloud and with the sea they all immersed themselves into Moshe, 3 also they all ate the same food from the Spirit, 4 and they all drank the same drink from the Spirit — for they drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them, and that Rock was the Messiah. 5 Yet with the majority of them God was not pleased, so their bodies were strewn across the desert.
6 Now these things took place as prefigurative historical events, warning us not to set our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Don’t be idolaters, as some of them were — as the Tanakh puts it, “The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to indulge in revelry.”[1 Corinthians 10:7 Exodus 32:6] 8 And let us not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, with the consequence that 23,000 died in a single day. 9 And let us not put the Messiah to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by snakes. 10 And don’t grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the Destroying Angel.
11 These things happened to them as prefigurative historical events, and they were written down as a warning to us who are living in the acharit-hayamim. 12 Therefore, let anyone who thinks he is standing up be careful not to fall! 13 No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure.
Luke 13:1 Just then, some people came to tell Yeshua about the men from the Galil whom Pilate had slaughtered even while they were slaughtering animals for sacrifice. 2 His answer to them was, “Do you think that just because they died so horribly, these folks from the Galil were worse sinners than all the others from the Galil? 3 No, I tell you. Rather, unless you turn to God from your sins, you will all die as they did!
4 “Or what about those eighteen people who died when the tower at Shiloach fell on them? Do you think they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Yerushalayim? 5 No, I tell you. Rather, unless you turn from your sins, you will all die similarly.”
6 Then Yeshua gave this illustration: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit but didn’t find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘Here, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for three years now without finding any. Cut it down — why let it go on using up the soil?’ 8 But he answered, ‘Sir, leave it alone one more year. I’ll dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; if not, you will have it cut down then.’”
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary for Isaiah 55:1-9
Verse 1
[1] Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Thirsteth — For the grace of God and the blessings of the gospel. This thirst implies a vehement, and active, and restless desire after it.
No money — Those who are most worthless and wicked, if they do but thirst may be welcome.
Buy — Procure or receive that which is freely offered.
Wine and milk — All gospel-blessings; in particular, that peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, which are better than wine, and that love of God which nourishes the soul, as milk does the body.
Verse 2
[2] Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Money — All your time, and strength, and cost.
Not bread — For those things which can never nourish or satisfy you, such as worldly goods, or pleasures.
Eat ye — That which is truly and solidly, and everlastingly good.
In fatness — In this pleasant food of gospel-enjoyments.
Verse 3
[3] Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
An everlasting covenant — That everlasting covenant of grace and peace which I made with Abraham, and his seed.
Of David — Even that covenant which was made first with Abraham, and then with David, concerning those glorious and sure blessings which God hath promised to his people, one and the chief of which was giving Christ to die for their sins. David here seems to be put for the son of David.
Verse 4
[4] Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
Behold — I have appointed, and will in due time actually give.
Him — The David last mentioned, even Christ.
A witness — To declare the will of God concerning the duty and salvation of men, to bear witness to truth, to confirm God's promises, and, among others, those which respect the calling of the Gentiles: to be a witness of both parties of that covenant made between God and men.
The people — To all people.
Verse 5
[5] Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
Thou — Thou, O Messiah.
Call — To the knowledge of thyself.
Knewest not — With that special knowledge which implies approbation.
Because — Because the Lord shall by many tokens, manifest himself to be thy God, and thee to be his son and faithful servant.
Glorify thee — By confirming thy word with illustrious signs and miracles, and particularly by thy resurrection, and glorious ascension.
Verse 6
[6] Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Seek — Labour to get the knowledge of God's will, and to obtain his grace and favour.
While — In this day of grace, while he offers mercy and reconciliation.
Near — Ready and desirous to receive you to mercy.
Verse 7
[7] Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Return — By sincere repentance, and faith.
Verse 8
[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For — If any man injure you, especially if he do it greatly and frequently, you are slow and backward to forgive him. But I am ready to forgive all penitents, how many, and great, and numberless soever their sins be.
Psalm 63:1-8
Verse 1
[1] O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
Early — Heb. in the morning, Which implies the doing it with diligence and speed.
Thirsteth — For the enjoyment of thee in thy house and ordinances.
Flesh — The desire of my soul, is so vehement, that my very body feels the effects of it.
No water — In a land where I want the refreshing waters of the sanctuary.
Verse 2
[2] To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
To see — To enjoy.
Power — The powerful and glorious effects of thy gracious presence.
Verse 5
[5] My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
Satisfied — When thou shalt fulfil my earnest desire of enjoying thee in the sanctuary.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Verse 1
[1] Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
Now — That ye may not become reprobates, consider how highly favoured your fathers were, who were God's elect and peculiar people, and nevertheless were rejected by him. They were all under the cloud - That eminent token of God's gracious presence, which screened them from the heat of the sun by day, and gave them light by night.
And all passed through the sea — God opening a way through the midst of the waters. Exodus 13:21; Exodus 14:22
Verse 2
[2] And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
And were all, as it were, baptized unto Moses - initiated into the religion which he taught them.
In the cloud and in the sea — Perhaps sprinkled here and there with drops of water from the sea or the cloud, by which baptism might be the more evidently signified.
Verse 3
[3] And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
And all ate the same manna, termed spiritual meat, as it was typical, 1. Of Christ and his spiritual benefits: 2. Of the sacred bread which we eat at his table. Exodus 16:15.
Verse 4
[4] And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
And all drank the same spiritual drink — Typical of Christ, and of that cup which we drink. For they drank out of the spiritual or mysterious rock, the wonderful streams of which followed them in their several journeyings, for many years, through the wilderness. And that rock was a manifest type of Christ - The Rock of Eternity, from whom his people derive those streams of blessings which follow them through all this wilderness. Exodus 17:6.
Verse 5
[5] But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Yet — Although they had so many tokens of the divine presence.
They were overthrown — With the most terrible marks of his displeasure.
Verse 6
[6] Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
Now these things were our examples — Showing what we are to expect if, enjoying the like benefits, we commit the like sins. The benefits are set down in the same order as by Moses in Exodus; the sins and punishments in a different order; evil desire first, as being the foundation of all; next, idolatry, 1 Corinthians 10:7,14; then fornication, which usually accompanied it, 1 Corinthians 10:8; the tempting and murmuring against God, in the following verses.
As they desired — Flesh, in contempt of manna. Numbers 11:4
Verse 7
[7] Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Neither be ye idolaters — And so, "neither murmur ye," 1 Corinthians 10:10. The other cautions are given in the first person; but these in the second. And with what exquisite propriety does he vary the person! It would have been improper to say, Neither let us be idolaters; for he was himself in no danger of idolatry; nor probably of murmuring against Christ, or the divine providence.
To play — That is, to dance, in honour of their idol. Exodus 32:6.
Verse 8
[8] Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
And fell in one day three and twenty thousand — Beside the princes who were afterwards hanged, and those whom the judges slew so that there died in all four and twenty thousand. Numbers 25:1,9.
Verse 9
[9] Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither let us tempt Christ — By our unbelief. St. Paul enumerates five benefits, 1 Corinthians 10:1-4; of which the fourth and fifth were closely connected together; and five sins, the fourth and fifth of which were likewise closely connected. In speaking of the fifth benefit, he expressly mentions Christ; and in speaking of the fourth sin, he shows it was committed against Christ.
As some of them tempted him — This sin of the people was peculiarly against Christ; for when they had so long drank of that rock, yet they murmured for want of water. Numbers 21:4, etc.
Verse 10
[10] Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
The destroyer — The destroying angel. Numbers 14:1,36
Verse 11
[11] Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
On whom the ends of the ages are come — The expression has great force. All things meet together, and come to a crisis, under the last, the gospel, dispensation; both benefits and dangers, punishments and rewards. It remains, that Christ come as an avenger and judge. And even these ends include various periods, succeeding each other.
Verse 12
[12] Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
The common translation runs, Let him that thinketh he standeth; but the word translated thinketh, most certainly strengthens, rather than weakens, the sense.
Verse 13
[13] There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Common to man — Or, as the Greek word imports, proportioned to human strength.
God is faithful — In giving the help which he hath promised.
And he will with the temptation — Provide for your deliverance.
Luke 13:1-9
Verse 3
[3] I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Ye shall all likewise perish — All ye of Galilee and of Jerusalem shall perish in the very same manner. So the Greek word implies. And so they did. There was a remarkable resemblance between the fate of these Galileans and of the main body of the Jewish nation; the flower of which was slain at Jerusalem by the Roman sword, while they were assembled at one of their great festivals. And many thousands of them perished in the temple itself, and were literally buried under its ruins.
Verse 6
[6] He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
A man had a fig tree — Either we may understand God the Father by him that had the vineyard , and Christ by him that kept it: or Christ himself is he that hath it, and his ministers they that keep it. Psalms 80:8. etc.
Verse 7
[7] Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
Three years — Christ was then in the third year of his ministry. But it may mean only several years; a certain number being put for an uncertain.
Why doth it also cumber the ground? — That is, not only bear no fruit itself, but take up the ground of another tree that would.
Sermon Story "Repentance" by Gary Lee Parker for Sunday, 28 February 2016 with Scripture: Isaiah 55:1 “All you who are thirsty, come to the water!
You without money, come, buy, and eat!
Yes, come! Buy wine and milk
without money — it’s free!
2 Why spend money for what isn’t food,
your wages for what doesn’t satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and you will eat well,
you will enjoy the fat of the land.
3 Open your ears, and come to me;
listen well, and you will live —
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
the grace I assured David.
4 I have given him as a witness to the peoples,
a leader and lawgiver for the peoples.
5 You will summon a nation you do not know,
and a nation that doesn’t know you will run to you,
for the sake of Adonai your God,
the Holy One of Isra’el, who will glorify you.”
6 Seek Adonai while he is available,
call on him while he is still nearby.
7 Let the wicked person abandon his way
and the evil person his thoughts;
let him return to Adonai,
and he will have mercy on him;
let him return to our God,
for he will freely forgive.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,” says Adonai.
9 “As high as the sky is above the earth
are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As we have read these four passages of Scripture, there arises a common theme from the Scriptures which is Repentance. [At least from the perspective of this preacher]. The emphasis will be placed upon Isaiah 55 for the message today. We hear from God that those who are thirsty for the holiness of God should come and drink from the waters God has provided. As we come to drink from God, we realize of our own unholiness or sin and repent to God for our sins whether individual or communal. We read over the passage and see where the marginalized or people who have committed evil who thirst for God are able to come and receive God's water of Holiness. We struggle a little with this until we realize how inclusive God is in reaching out to all people whether the oppressed or oppressor or different cultures or different faith traditions or different sexual orientation or different social or economic status or citizenship status as a citizen or immigrant whether legal or illegal or refugee seeking a peaceful place to settle to raise a family and seek education to be employed at a living wage or people who are differently abled. Many times when we get to know people who are differently abled, they come across as people who seek acceptance and love just as they are. God does this for them, but too often we, people, tend to exclude them from society's activities as well as the church's activities. We learn that they seek God's holiness because they are thirsty for God. They not only seek this for themselves, but they seek it for all other people including the people who may be oppressing them or taking care of them. God simply states that those who are thirsty are to come to Him and drink His water as from the Rock who is Jesus. If we do not understand this to be for all people, then we miss what God said in using the word "ALL" for. How have you understood or heard this passage explained before, exclusively or inclusively? How will you respond to people who are different from you? How will you respond to God and drink from His cup and realize that you need to repent of one's sins against Him? We come to realize that as we come to eat the Body of Jesus and drink His Blood through our participation of the Holy Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist or Communion. As we come to receive this mornings blessings from God, we come repenting and drinking from His cup singing the Hymn "Father, I've Failed You" by Ken Bible
1. Father, I've failed You.
See my sin and selfishness;
See how I've nourished my foolish pride.
Touch with Your mercy;
Speak Your forgiveness
Through all the guilt I've tried to hide.
2. Jesus, my brother,
Human, Holy Savior,
You feel the weakness I feel within.
You are my Righteousness;
You are my Confidence,
For when I'm weak, Your strength begins.
3. Moment by moment,
Marvelous, Almighty God,
Resting in You, I am truly free.
Teach me to trust You;
Teach me to walk in You,
My Lord, my Strength, my Liberty!
Benediction
Turn to the Lord, for God is good.
We have found new life in Christ!
Repent of your sins and find God's forgiveness.
We have found new life in Christ!
Go forth as new creatures, able to serve
and quick to love.
We have found new life in Christ!
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Luke 13:1-9
Obadiah wrote, “You should not have gloated over your brother on the day of his misfortune; you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah on the day of their ruin” (v. 12). The prophet laments the tendency his people have to find some sense of satisfaction in the troubles of others. We do not like to admit, in polite company, that we have such feelings, but we do. Why else buy National Enquirer or watch American Idol?
Sometimes, truth be told, what we feel in view of another’s calamity is nothing short of fascination—celebrity trials, wars—it’s like watching a train wreck, and who can resist? Sometimes, what we feel and think is more sinister, a satisfaction both malignant and cruel: “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy!” Other times, however, what we feel is far more complex, and rejoicing only a part of it.
There is a German word, Schadenfreude, which describes a more or less universal human trait: the sometimes sad and always anxious relief, which, for example, certain soldiers feel during battle when the infantryman next to them is wounded or killed while they are spared. Two are in the field; one catches a bullet but the other does not. There is sadness, but there is relief, too—not rejoicing, exactly, but something else. It is hard for a survivor not to read some “pattern” or purpose into such a stark episode. It is hard, in fact, not to posit divine intent or involvement in the moment: “I must have been spared for a reason.” And perhaps that is the case.
A tornado comes, and one house is utterly destroyed while next door there is not even a scrap of paper in the yard. The folks whose house still stands are sorry as they can be about their neighbors, and they will help all they can, but at the same time there is a sense of great relief that they got hit and we didn’t. We should not feel this way, but we often do. We sigh. But maybe we were spared for a reason, we say to only ourselves at first, or maybe they were likewise being punished.
Such thoughts are not without precedent. After all, even the psalmists affirm divine protection for the righteous.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. The Lord is our refuge and our fortress, sings the psalmist, who delivers us from the snare of the fowler and whose faithfulness is a shield (see Psalm 91:1-8).
Still, we must be careful lest warm thanks and praise become cold judgment and self-righteousness. Some of the most condescending words ever spoken are “There but for the grace of God go I.” It may sound like piety to undiscerning ears, but it is much more self-serving than grace-filled.
“Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” the disciples asked Jesus (John 9:2). What a safe, sterile question for the sighted to ask, although as the story reveals, there is more than one kind of blindness. It is not the Pharisee who prays, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like this man,” a prayer that, according to Jesus—although it is as ancient as the text and as current as ethnic and national bigotry—justifies no one. When we say, “There, but for the grace of God, go I,” we may not be nearly so graced as we think.
In our lesson for the morning, we have an example of ancient Near Eastern Schadenfreude: people come to Jesus to tell him about two tragedies that have occurred and perhaps, ostensibly, in hopes of an explanation. They say Pilate has murdered some Galileans, right there “in church,” while they were in the very act of worship! Maybe they were just seeking plausible answers. But Jesus, perhaps sensing a kind of relieved smugness in them, serves up questions instead: “Do you think these suffered in this way because they were worse sinners than others?” (see Luke 13:2). Jesus asks, in effect, “Do you imagine yourselves as better than they because you did not suffer in this way?”
“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will likewise perish” (see v. 3). Jesus will not allow them to content themselves in such a way. He will not permit his questioners to objectify the suffering of others in any way as to make it self-serving.
Jesus strikes again, while the iron is hot, and reaches quickly for another example to drive home the point. In Jerusalem, he reminds them, the Siloam tower fell and killed eighteen people. “Do you think they were worse sinners than any other person in the city?” (see v. 4).
The obvious answer is no. Towers sometimes fall; the Pilates of the world sometimes kill people cruelly and irrationally. That does not mean, however, that there is a reason to bless ourselves by cursing others in such a tragedy, or to satisfy ourselves as to the reasons for our own security or righteousness over against other of God’s children. Towers sometimes fall, and the Pilates of the world are sometimes incredibly sadistic. There is no security in this world, and so we too must repent; we may perish in the same way as the others.
In theological language, Jesus is upending the old Deuteronomic theology that equates blessing with righteousness, suffering with wickedness. But it is not that simple, he says. We should not rejoice or stare at our neighbor’s calamity. We must not content ourselves or denigrate others in view of their suffering, or imagine it justice that some suffer and others are spared. No, things happen in this world. There are towers that fall and murderers who kill, and we best not rejoice, only repent. We too must repent.
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Third Sunday in Lent
Color: Purple
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
Theme Ideas
Repentance, a central theme of Lent, cannot be ignored in today's lessons. Jesus' words are clear: repent or perish. Isaiah's words, "Let the wicked forsake their ways," echo Christ's. Paul's writing gives a strong warning from Israel's history to the Corinthians and to us today: "God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down." But repentance is not merely a cessation of sin or a halting of that which is not pleasing in God's sight; it is more than that. Repentance also carries the idea of turning around in a new direction, of doing a one-eighty in your life. Isaiah invites us to embrace the abundant life that God offers us.
Call to Worship (Isaiah 55)
Seek the Lord while God is to be found.
Call upon God while God is near!
Repent of unrighteous ways.
It is never too late to turn to God!
Get rid of evil thoughts.
Let us turn to God, that God may have mercy on us!
For God will pardon our sins and cleanse us
of our transgressions.
We will praise God for the new life we have found!
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Call to Worship (Psalm 63)
Lord, you are our God.
We will praise you with joyful lips.
Lord, you are our God.
Our souls thirst for you.
Lord, you are our God.
We behold your power and majesty.
Lord, you are our God.
We will bless you all of the days of our lives.
Contemporary Gathering Words (Psalm 63)
O God, you are our God.
We will ever praise you!
Praise Sentences
New every morning is your mercy, O God.
You save us from our transgressions.
You bless us with steadfast love and mercy.
In true repentance, we find new life.
Opening Prayer (Luke 13)
Gracious and eternal God,
you call us into a new way of being,
and give us so many second chances in life.
May your love wash over us,
as we turn toward you
from our sinful ways.
Mold us as your people
in new and powerful ways,
that we may be true disciples
of your Son, Jesus Christ,
in whose name we pray. Amen.
Opening Prayer (Psalm 63)
Gentle and loving God,
our souls cling to you
like a newborn baby
clings to its mother.
Give us this day the Bread of life,
that as we feast at your table,
our souls may be filled with your praise,
in Jesus' name. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
A broken and contrite heart
is the acceptable sacrifice to you, O God.
And so we come before you today,
as sinners in need of your mercy.
Grant us your forgiveness, O God.
Help us turn from our old ways.
Lead us into newness of life,
that our actions may be found pleasing
in your sight. Amen.
Unison Prayer
I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.
Benediction
Turn to the Lord, for God is good.
We have found new life in Christ!
Repent of your sins and find God's forgiveness.
We have found new life in Christ!
Go forth as new creatures, able to serve
and quick to love.
We have found new life in Christ!
From The Abingdon Worship Annual edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © Abingdon Press. The Abingdon Worship Annual 2016 is now available.
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Third Sunday in Lent
Color: Purple
Scripture Readings: Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
CALLS TO WORSHIP
Call to Worship #1
L: A rich feast awaits those who call upon the Lord.
P: God offers to us all the bounty of God’s love.
L: How we have thirsted for hope and peace!
P: How we have longed for joy and love!
L: God continually blesses and heals us.
P: Praise be to God for God’s steadfast love. AMEN.
Call to Worship #2
L: Wrap yourselves in the healing love of God!
P: We seek God’s presence in our lives.
L: Know that God continually surrounds us with patience and persistence.
P: Even though we have not produced the “fruits” of hope that God seeks, yet God forgives and heals our weakness.
L: Rejoice! Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised!
P: We will turn our lives again to the Lord, to serve and seek God’s presence. AMEN.
Call to Worship #3
[Using THE FAITH WE SING, p. 2216 “When We Are Called to Sing Your Praise”, offer the following call to worship as directed]
L: The journey began two weeks ago. We were called by God to look inward first, to find those things which have blocked our witness and discipleship. How hard it is to serve God when we are bound by our fears.
Choir: singing verse 1 of “When We Are Called to Sing Your Praise.”
L: Our voices quiver and shake. We cannot frame our words. We seek God’s forgiving love, but fail to recognize God’s presence in our lives. Help us to remember, Lord, that you have walked this path before us.
Congregation, singing verse 2 of “When We Are Called to Sing Your Praise”
L: Open your hearts, dear people, to God’s awesome love, given for you.
P: Help us to repent of our weakness and our indifference and serve you, O Lord. AMEN
Call to Worship #4
L: We have come this day to learn about what God expects of us.
P: Sometimes we really don’t want to know what God wants. We are afraid to make the commitments God seeks.
L: God is persistent. God will not let us off the hook so easily.
P: But we have failed so many times in the past. How can we possibly serve now?
L: Open your hearts to receive forgiveness and healing. Listen to God. Be ready to work with God for hope, peace, justice and love.
P: Be with us, Lord. Help us to turn around, to see you, to serve you, to witness to your Love. AMEN.
PRAYERS, LITANY/READING, BENEDICTION
Opening Prayer
Open our eyes, our ears, our hearts and spirits this morning, Lord, that we may be healed of our faithlessness, freed from our fears and anxieties, and placed on the pathways that lead to peace and service to you. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN.
Prayer of Confession
This is the season of turning. We are called on this journey to turn our lives to the Lord, to turn away from all those things which have harmed us and others; to separate ourselves from actions and attitudes that demean and destroy. It is far too easy for us to sink into the mire of self-pity and self-serving attitudes, wondering why everything isn’t coming our way. We want comfort, contentment, no stress, no struggle. Yet our lives are filled with stress and discontent. We hurt, Lord. We hurt in our bodies and our souls. We hurt in our relationships with others. How we must try your patience! We don’t want to be like this - we want to feel the warmth of your love, the freedom of your spirit, the joy of serving you. Forgive us for our selfishness and stupidity. Heal us. For we ask these things in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
Words of Assurance
You are given another chance! God has heard your cries. Turn again to the Lord. Find comfort and strength in God’s eternal love for you. Be healed. AMEN.
Pastoral Prayer
We put everything off until the last minute, Lord. You have invited and encouraged us on this journey, reminding us of the struggles and of the hope. You ask us to let go of the things that bind us from serving freely, but we have a nasty tendency to wait until it’s almost too late - until the last minute. We can’t seem to let go of the hurt, fear, and pain. On this journey, remind us again of your healing love, your forgiving power. Help us to trust the goodness and potential for good that you have placed in all of us. We have come to this place to hear your word, to sing and pray to you in hope. Enable us to find the courage to really believe in you, that your healing love may permeate our souls and prepare us for true witness; for we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
Litany/Reading
[This reading is very effective if there is only one person who continually reads the part of “voice” and the person reading that part should not be visible in the worship setting. He/she may be using a microphone, or speaking in a loud voice from an area hidden from view. It is good to use four different voices for each of the readers]
Reader 1: I’ve tried, Lord. You know I have. It’s just that there are so many pressures on me right now. I’m not sleeping well, I worry about everything, I don’t know…..I just can’t seem to get things right. Maybe if I just sit here and let things pass by, I’ll be ok.
Voice: Place your trust in the Lord. God is with you.
Reader 2: Listen! You don’t understand! There’s more to be done here than anyone can do. I can’t fix all the problems. They keep coming at me, again and again and again. What do you want from me, Lord? What do you expect?
Voice: Place your trust in the Lord. God is with you.
Reader 3: I don’t see any God. I don’t see any evidence that God cares at all, if there is a good. Look at all the problems in the world. Why doesn’t God do something about them? Why doesn’t God fix it?
Voice: I have called you to be a witness, to bear fruit of hope and peace.
Reader 4: Who will know what I do? Will it make any difference? Will I have any effect at all on the pain and suffering, or will I just be another drop of water in the ocean?
Voice: My beloved child, I will know.
Benediction
God has called you to bear witness to hope and goodness. Know that you have been healed of all that prevents you from serving God. Go forth with God’s love and blessing to bring Good News to this hurting world. AMEN.
ARTISTIC ELEMENTS
Note: I recommend putting a brief paragraph describing or explaining the symbolism used in your visual display in the worship bulletin. This a good teaching tool for the congregation.
The traditional color for this Sunday is PURPLE.
The theme for Lent is JOURNEY INWARD/JOURNEY FORWARD. The idea is that discipleship is a journey that is first lived inward, introspectively, reality-check, and then lived forward in service. The worship center will remain covered with the base cloth of burlap or other neutral rough material. Each week something will be added to the worship center and perhaps other things removed, until all are placed at the foot of the cross. I recommend that you have someone construct an “old, rugged Cross”, about 6-7 feet tall, on a free standing base. This cross will be used during Holy Week, but you want to plan far enough ahead to have it ready.
The focus of today‘s gospel lesson is repentance. The lesson often sounds harsh, with the owner of the vineyard (i.e. God) wanting to destroy the unproductive fig tree (humanity). An intercessor (Jesus) pleads for the life of the fig tree, offering to pay special attention to its needs so that it may produce fruit. The vineyard owner relents, giving the tree another chance. How often we have let God down, saying that we will do something, believe something, serve in some way, and then we have not produced the “fruit” of that stand. Yet it is Christ who intercedes for us, who reminds us that we have been given special attention - a time to look again at what needs to be done, a chance to turn things around and serve fully and well.
SURFACE: Place several risers on the worship center. The tallest riser, approximately 1 foot above the main level of the worship center, should be placed to the upper left as you are facing the worship center. The other risers, about 4-6” high, may be placed, one at the center and the other slightly to the right of the middle one.
FABRIC: Cover the worship center in burlap or other neutral colored, rough fabric. Last week you placed, on one of the risers on the worship center, a piece of cream colored or rough blue fabric, approximately 15” square, draping over the riser. You will set a pile of rocks or bricks on this riser. This will remain in place. This week place a mottled (multicolored, such as hand dyed/tie dyed green) cloth, approximately 15” square over another riser, probably to the right of the center of the worship table.
CANDLES: On the middle riser, place a white pillar candle, about 10” high, representing Christ. Place votive candles, arranged in clusters, on several of the other risers. Place a small pillar candle, preferably white or purple, on the riser on which you are setting the branches for today’s worship. This is a reminder that in the depths of our indecision there lies the possibilities for growth or dormancy - we decide. God has already given the gift of potential.
FLOWERS/PLANTS: No plants or flowers on the worship center
ROCKS/WOOD: Some rocks and wood may be placed on the center and at the base of the worship center. Last Sunday you selected a riser on the worship center and placed a stack of old bricks or large stones - these rocks/bricks representJerusalem on it. Continuing with the same theme, place some gnarled branches on the riser to the right of the worship center. If you are placing a candle near it, please be careful about the proximity of the flame to the branches. Smaller pebbles may be placed near the base of the branches.
OTHER: No cross on the worship center at this time.
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From a Child's Point of View
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. This passage, a call to repentance, is the centerpiece of today's lections. The message to children is that all of us are to obey God's family schedules. We all face temptations. God understands that we are not perfect, but God also expects us to try—and try hard—to do what is right. Verse 13 summarizes these points well.
Unfortunately for children (and for many other worshipers), verses 1-11 assume that readers know the complete story of the Exodus and wilderness wanderings. To understand Paul's points in verse 13, children will need to hear these stories in greater detail.
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9. Few children give death much general thought. Instead, they respond to specific experiences when their pets and people they know die. Therefore, although few children have considered the possibility that terrible deaths are repayment for terrible sins, many older children will be interested in the examples of death that Jesus cites and the problem they present. (They will, however, need helpin fleshing out the sketchy biblical references.) The text also provides an opportunity to speak to the common childhood fear that "I have caused the death of (someone I love) by (something terrible I said or did.)"
It is hard for children to find the point in the parable of the fig tree without some help. In children's words, the parable says that God sets high standards for us but is willing to give us many second chances. The parable can be helpfully recast with coaches, as they decide whether to cut a player from the team.
Old Testament: Isaiah 55:1-9. This text offers a truth that is critical to today's discussion of repentance. The truth is that we can trust God to always forgive us when we repent. Without that assurance, even young children know that confession is a risky business. Telling a friend that you told a secret, or telling a parent that you did something forbidden, may meet understanding forgiveness, or it may meet anger and punishment. Even with good friends and loving parents, it can be hard to predict what will happen. Isaiah, however, insists that when we confess to God, we know for sure that we will be forgiven. God is more loving and forgiving than we can imagine.
Unfortunately, children have trouble finding this truth buried in Isaiah's poetic images (verses 1-5 are especially difficult). They are more likely to get the message from the preacher's sermon than from Isaiah's poetic promise.
Psalm: 63:1-8. If this psalm is introduced as a prayer that David prayed while he was hiding in the desert from his enemies, older children will follow and catch the meaning of the first verse. Beyond that, they quickly get lost in the multiple images, even in the Good News Bible's translation. They will grasp the meaning of the psalm more from its happy, confident tone (when it is read well) than from explanations of its content.
Watch Words
Be attentive to the words used to talk, sing, and pray about sin and forgiveness. Many of the traditional words are no longer part of everyday conversation. This means that children need both explanations of and practice in hearing and saying these words in your worship setting.
When speaking of sin, use with care the words transgressions, trespasses (even if your congregation uses the word regularly in the Lord's Prayer), immortality, iniquity, and evil. Remember that for most boys, offence is the team with the football and that today's definition of trespass is to go uninvited on private land. Sins and wrongs are just about the only words that require no explanation.
Avoid, when possible, chide, rebuke and requite to speak of God's judgment of sin. Punish, repay, and scold are actions children recognize.
Mercy and vindication are not everyday words. The redemption of coupons, the only redemption with which most children are familiar, is not a good parallel to God's activity, grace is a girl's name or a reference to moving in a pleasing manner. Forgiveness and pardon are better words.
Let the Children Sing
Read hymns about repentance carefully. They are so filled with "sin" jargon that none can be suggested for children without reservation. To help children, explore it in the sermon or in a children's time before singing it.
"Let My People Go" is a familiar spiritual that retells the Exodus story. Some of the vocabulary in the verses is obsolete, but the familiar chorus is appealing to children.
"Lord, I Want to Be a Christian" in one songin which all of us can sing our commitment to do better. "O Jesus, I Have Promised" is more complex, but it can be sung by older children with a little encouragement.
The Liturgical Child
1. Pay special attention to the usual prayers of confession and pardon in your worship today. Point them out in the bulletin. Explain the movement—from praise, to confession, to thanksgiving. Describe the feeling behind such acts as rising to our feet to sing the "Gloria Patri," after hearing that God forgives us. If there are statements made or responses sung each week, paraphrase them for children before using them. For example, "Kyrie Eleison" means "God forgive me for the unloving things I have said and done."
2. If you celebrate communion today, highlight the fact that when we eat and drink at this table, we remember that God forgives us. Tell stories about Jesus' forgiving the thief who died with him, his frightened friend Peter who pretended not to know him, and even those who killed him. Instruct worshipers to say to the person to whom they pass the elements, "Name, God loves us" and "Name, we are forgiven."
3. Recite 1 Corinthians 10:13 as a charge to the congregation before the benediction.
Sermon Resources
1. Set up a rhetorical form in which to tell the Exodus stories cited in 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. For example:
God gave the Hebrew slaves freedom . . . (tell about crossing the Sea of Reeds). But did the people trust God and live as God's people after this? No . . . (tell about the grumbling about food). We are not to do as they did.
God gave the Hebrew slaves food in the desert . . . (tell the story of the quail). But did the people trust God and live as God's people after this? No . . . (tell about the grumbling about eating only meat). We are not to do as they did.
(Repeat this format with stories of manna, water, God's presence in the pillar of fire and the cloud, and the giving of the Ten Commandments.)
Break out of this format to explore Paul's call to repentance in verses 12 and 13.
2. Talk about sins of which children are capable: cheating; taking what does not belong to them (especially "borrowing" from brothers and sisters); calling names, teasing, or "cutting someone out"; telling lies (or improving upon the truth) to keep out of trouble or to impress friends; breaking promises; and so on.read more
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A SATISFIED CRAVING
ISAIAH 55:1-9
Every day, out-of-town visitors and tourists come into our office seeking information about our historic community, our church, our favorite restaurants, so forth. Shortly before noon one day, a family came in looking for information. As we talked about their church and ours, a senior adult couple rushed into the office carrying food to a covered dish luncheon. As they began to talk with this visiting family, the couple said, "We are having lunch in the dining room, why don't you join us. There is plenty of food, and you must be starving after your drive this morning. Our menu may be a little different from yours but the food will take care of your craving. After lunch we will show you around town. Come on, now, there is a feast waiting on you."
The speaker in Isaiah 55:1-9 announces a feast that is open to everyone. That feast is described as the answer to life's unsatisfied cravings for meaning and significance. Isaiah described the life-fulfilling feast Yahweh is inviting you to attend as a covenant with three courses.
I. An Everlasting Covenant (vv. 3-4)
Yahweh promises to those who will listen and come to the feast a covenant relationship where "your soul shall live." The nature of that covenant is an age-long character. It offers them security and prosperity that will be without end. Isaiah described the purpose of the covenant to be Yahweh's "steadfast and sure love for David." Those who enter this covenant fall heir to salvation, joy, stability: the goals God had maintained through Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and David.
II. An Unfailing Commander (v. 4)
Yahweh provided a new leader to assume the mantle of leading his people, the Persian emperor, Darius. The task of the new leader was to be a witness to the people of God's sovereignty and providence. Because Yahweh was the glory of Israel the leader's goal would be to beautify the people. The triumph of the new leader would be to fulfill God's will and establish a new sense of peace. That triumph was realized. In 49:6-9, Darius was successful because he acknowledged Yahweh as God. In 50:10, Darius' success is attributed to his claim to servanthood.
God satisfies the craving of our lives with his salvation, which establishes a prevailing experience of peace. We fall heir to God's glory when we also acknowledge God as Lord and assume a posture of servanthood.
III. A Summons to Significance (vv. 5-9)
Yahweh speaks directly to Darius. He was to summon unknown nations, or nationalities, to the covenant feast. That summons is to worship Yahweh (v. 6). Participants in the covenant are to worship in the temple, where Yahweh could be found and at the appropriate time, while he is near. The temple was not to be closed or denied to anyone. Covenant participants are also summoned to repentance (v. 7). The troublemakers are invited to abandon their rebellion for covenant living. If they accept the terms of the covenant, God's mercy will pardon their sin and that pardon will be multiplied abundantly.
A recent article suggested three elements to narrow the generation gap between teenagers and their parents: listening, trust, and understanding. Isaiah's message is that there are three elements that narrow the gap for your craving of a life of significance. The three elements are the three courses of a covenant feast relationship with God. Listen to God and trust God. God's understanding will multiply mercy for those who will abandon their present commitments and enter a new covenant with him. (Barry J. Beames)
THE OLD MISTAKES
1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-13
The people in the television, movie, and Internet industries do not think that what they show and what they do makes any difference in the way we live. (They'll have us believe that their programs don't influence us but the advertisements do!) We are supposed to be wise enough, strong enough, smart enough, and ever vigilant enough to turn off the stuff that we don't want. They claim they have no responsibility for showing something worthwhile. Paul has a lot more understanding of the human spirit. He knew that temptation would overpower and destroy us if left on our own.
I. We Won't Resist Temptation on Our Own
Paul points his young and inexperienced Christians back to the days of Moses. The children of Israel had been pretty well familiar with holy things. If ever a people were going to be kept straight and righteous by the events of their lives, it should have been the children of Israel. After all, they had the benefits of the plagues. They were led by Moses through the sea. The cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night continually led them. Surely they should have been able to remain faithful, but God was not pleased with them and struck them down in the wilderness.
If they did not measure up with all that help, what have we got to help keep us faithful and obedient, we who are struggling to be God's disciples now? Paul suggests that the first thing we have is the negative example of the children of Moses. They are examples for us. They will help keep us faithful. "So that we might not desire evil as they did."
Well, it will certainly give us pause to think. If they were not able to resist evil—with all of the power and presence of God with them on the journey in the wilderness—there is no way any of us ought to suffer from overconfidence. This is a serious and difficult journey of faith and we need all the help we can get.
II. Temptations Can Overpower Us
There are three major temptations that Paul says those early followers of Moses highlight for us. They "sat down to eat and drink and they rose up to play. We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did." One of our constant and most difficult temptations is the temptation of pleasure. One has only to look around at the horrible problems of drugs and drink, the crime that is generated by the desire for drugs, the pain and suffering that is caused by alcohol and other drugs, and it is obvious that preoccupation with our own feelings, to get happy or to drown our sorrows, is one source of great problems for us even now. And when you listen to all of the complications and costs and troubles that are caused by irresponsible sexual activity, all the sexually transmitted disease, all the unwanted pregnancies, teenage mothers, and abortions, it is obvious that the stories from the past help us to be on guard against allowing our physical pleasures to become master of our lives.
The stories of Moses in the wilderness remind us how easy it is to start to put God to the test, to begin to set down conditions by which God has to answer to our specifications. Jesus was guided by the Old Testament story of Moses at the rock when the devil came to tempt him, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God." When we start trying to set up conditions which God has to meet in order to be God, we have stepped way over the boundaries of being creatures of the Most High God. There is no place for us to demand that God perform for us according to our instructions and there is no faith in whining and complaining when we do not get the things we want.
III. God Will Provide a Means of Overcoming Temptation
Paul will not hear their petty complaints. You can almost hear him tell them: What you are suffering is ordinary suffering. Everybody gets some. What makes you think that you are getting more than somebody else? It is amazing to listen to some people who think life has dumped all over them much more than they deserved. Every life has to have some rain and you are just getting your rain.
But Paul also wants them to hang in there. Remember that God will give you the strength to endure. Not always win but complete the assignment. Not always escape but the strength to hold on to the branches till the flood goes down. God gives the strength to endure and God gives us opportunities to escape. Paul doesn't always say that we will experience a visible, glorious triumph over the temptation, but we will be able to endure and to find a way. God helps us overcome as we remember the stories of the past and pray, "Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief." (Rick Brand )
JUST DESERTS?
LUKE 13:1-9
One December night in 1982 in Westland, Michigan, a man and his wife were driving home. Suddenly a fourteen-pound bowling ball crashed through the windshield, killing the man. Why? That question is almost irrepressible, isn't it? When we face freak accidents or tragic illnesses, the question, "Why?" instinctively forms on our lips. It's not enough to be told that the man was killed by the bowling ball because a nineteen-year-old in the car ahead foolishly flipped the ball out his window.
Jesus faced the same kind of question in his time. Apparently Pilate had some people from Galilee killed as they were worshiping. Just as they were offering a sacrifice, their own blood was spilt on the altar. The questions came, "Why?" Around this same time, the tower of Siloam collapsed, killing eighteen people. Again, the question, "Why?"
"Jesus, were these people more sinful than others? Were they deserving of the tragedy they experienced? Was God singling them out for punishment?" Jesus gave a brief but clear answer: "No!" God was not giving the victims their just deserts. God had not picked them out. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all.
It is hazardous to say whose side God is on simply by looking at what has happened to them or for them. We have heard politicians say, "America is great because America is good." And that claim may make us feel all warm inside. But in the time of the prophets—Isaiah and Jeremiah and others—Assyria was great but Assyria wasn't good by any godly standards. In Jesus' time, Rome was great, but that greatness had nothing to do with goodness.
Are the lottery winners of the world the ones God has favored? I don't know about you, but I always find it gratifying when I read that some man or woman who is out of work and has several small children wins the lottery. "All right!" I think. "That's the way it should happen."
But that's not the way it always happens. Some guy who left his family and hasn't been paying child support won the lottery a while back. Too bad his ex-wife didn't win. I remember several years ago in Illinois when no one claimed the lottery purse for several weeks. Finally someone showed up with the ticket. He found it on the floor of his car while he was cleaning it. The guy was a doctor. It didn't seem fair. Nothing against doctors, but I would have felt better if a custodian or a secretary found that lottery ticket.
God is not at work making sure everything comes out right every step of life's way. There are real injustices. The undeserving gain. The deserving lose. The innocent suffer. The guilty often never account for their actions.
When we don't get the rewards we deserve, we become acutely aware of the lack of justice in the world. I remember a "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip from several years ago that reminds me of comments I hear from my own children. Calvin says to his dad, "Why can't I stay up late? You guys can!" Then with a wide-mouthed protest he declares, "IT'S NOT FAIR!" His dad replies, "The world isn't fair, Calvin." Walking away with a sour look on his face, Calvin says, "I know, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?"
No, the world is not fair. In this present existence, people do not always get what they deserve. But we can overstate the case. Sometimes we go to the opposite extreme. We start thinking that sin is never punished by God and that suffering has nothing to do with disobedience. Jesus certainly wouldn't agree with that notion. It is one thing to say that suffering is not necessarily a sign of the sinfulness of the victim. It is a very different thing to say sinfulness never leads to the suffering of the sinner. According to Jesus, sin has tragic consequences. While Jesus denied that the people Pilate had killed and those who were crushed by the tower of Siloam were being punished for their evil, the Lord went on to say, "Unless you repent, you will perish as they did."
But the world is a morally messy place. The things that happen in the world are not subject to easy answers. Once we recognize the fact that prosperity is not automatically a product of righteousness and tragedy is not necessarily a result of sin, we may be tempted to conclude that God isn't really involved in anything that happens in this world. We may imagine God as a mere observer, passively watching the world, as Bette Midler sang, "from a distance." That's not the way Jesus saw it. God is a real player in the push and pull of life. There is judgment.
In this world that God has made, there are consequences to our actions built into the very structure of the world. The apostle Paul wrote, "You reap what you sow." Jesus said, "If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword." Even in this world, judgment sometimes comes. No, God does not reach down and zap particular people. But disobedience has consequences. Liars soon face the distrust of others. The violent are the most likely to become victims of violence. Where are death rates higher than among gang members?
Belinda Mason, a rural Kentucky native, mother of two, who contracted AIDS at age thirty-two was asked, "Do you think AIDS is a punishment from God?" She replied, "AIDS may be a test, not of the infected, but of those not infected. It tests their ability to respond in love." She is surely right. When we speak about punishment for sin in this world, it is not other people's supposed punishment and sin we should focus on, but our own. As Jesus said, "No, these people were not punished because they were such bad offenders. But unless you repent you will perish like them."
It is not our role to decide the punishment of others. It is, however, our duty to examine ourselves. That can be a sobering exercise. (Craig M. Watts)
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