Welcome
to Hunger Sermon Starters!
The
lessons for each Sunday in the church year proclaim God’s grace in
Jesus Christ. Also derived from a Sunday’s texts are lessons
for the Christ-inspired and Christ-like life of God’s people. The
comments here will help you find hunger-related threads – sermon
starters – among the themes of this day’s texts. (We're
presuming you have already done your exegetical work on the texts.) God
bless your proclamation (and teaching) of what is most certainly
true!
January 14, 2007
2nd Sunday after Epiphany
First
Reading: Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm
36:5-10
Second
Reading: 1 Corinthians 12;1-11
Gospel: John 2:1-11
STARTER
ONE: PREACHING THEMES
The
texts for this day can move toward hunger and justice ideas such as the
following:
Discerning spiritual gifts
·
The Spirit’s
sprinkling of gifts comes with a purpose. When we discover our
gifts, we ask, “Gifted for what?”
·
If the question is answered
in self-giving ways, God’s purposes are fulfilled, God’s
love is revealed, God’s own activities carried out.
·
So we are gifted to give,
blessed to be blessings, loved in order to love. All our gifts: the
love of others, year-end bonuses, health, safety, intelligence, skills
– all are accompanied by a Return To Sender requirement that says,
“Jesus is Lord.”
·
In hunger and justice
ministry, the gifts of God flow from God to the people of God to the
whole world. Nothing gets stuck back at selfish or stupid. The ELCA
Hunger Appeal is a gifts-turnaround!
Speaking
up for the city
·
The city of Jerusalem
– in this case also the remnants of the nation – gets a new
name when God speaks for its good. Misery turns to rejoicing, isolation
to intimacy.
·
Who speaks on behalf of
other cities, other nations? How does God’s love for the
whole world find a voice within this city, this nation at this time in
history?
·
If God speaks on behalf of a
city nation mired in misery, how do we become God’s voice
alongside those who beg for mercy, whose whimpering for justice is
almost quiet?
Over and
over again, God cares
·
This is an unrelenting truth
about God: Despite our mistakes and sins, God keeps on coming at
us, loving us when we’re unlovable, repairing and redeeming,
shoring up the natural world, pouring love and lovely gifts into our
lives.
·
We get to do the same, in
response to God’s overwhelming abundance of care for us: In
the ELCA Hunger Program, God’s care and love stick around, year
after year, in places where poverty gets whittled down to toothpick size
after awhile.
Celebrations abound
·
The wedding of God’s
people and God is a time for celebration.
·
So is the wedding of
God’s purposes with God’s gifts.
·
Today is a time to celebrate
what this congregation – and thousands of others like you –
have accomplished together. Add up the dollars, the time, the attention,
the prayers and see how hunger around the world is pushed aside, evil
named and thwarted, people given courage and hope. Dance, shout,
smile!
“A
wedding” as a metaphor for the relationship between us – the
bedraggled folks we may be -- and a continuously loving God! What a
strange way to express the greatest gift of all: Redemption for a
purpose! Deal with it . . . .
Bob
Sitze, Director
Hunger
Education
STARTER
TWO: CHILDREN’S THOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES
1. I’m drawn today to the story of King Midas
and his golden touch, perhaps with some variations to fit today’s
texts. Retell the story – with a puppet playing the role of
King Midas? – so that children understand that the problem was not
his gift, but the purposes to which he put the gift. You might
leave out the part where his daughter turns to gold, and instead change
the story to have Midas come to a change of heart about giving away the
Golden Touch to a beggar or a poor family in his kingdom. Talk with
the children about the avaricious and the generous Midas.
2. Pile up a set of gift boxes or bags with
“gift” labels such as those found in the Second
Reading. Invite two children to receive the gifts. One child
is instructed – quietly beforehand? – to take the labeled
boxes into the church and give them away. The other child gets to keep
all the gifts you give her or him. When you are finished giving away
your pile of gifts, ask the question, “Who has the most good
things now?” Wait for one child to notice that in the act of
giving away his or her gifts, the one child is actually richer by
far. Talk about generosity of the kinds of gifts noted in the
Second Reading.
3. For the fun of it, try some “speaking in
other languages” and translating those languages for
children’s benefit. A simple saying – “God loves
you” -- or Bible passage or portion of the Lord’s Prayer
might be a good starter. The point: To have children consider how
understanding between people comes because of the gift of knowing and
translating languages. This becomes especially poignant if your
congregation includes recent refugees or has a lasting relationship with
Christians in other lands. The point of the point? Jesus is Lord of the
whole world.
STARTER
THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS
Use any
of the following items to engender discussion, sharing or action that
connects today’s lessons with matters of social
justice:
1. Let’s play around with
“celebrations” as a metaphor for how to approach hunger and
justice work. This is and important consideration, especially for
participants who have come past mere pity or sorrow, or even anger, in
matters of justice. Just like with simple living – the
ultimate redemption of the causes for hunger in the world – we can
get caught in morose long-facedness, as though shouldering a problem is
the best way to solve it. In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus
begins an admittedly justice-oriented ministry with a full-scale
celebration of a village wedding. About a week in length, this
party involves his mother and his disciples/friends. So we get to ask
each other today: How do we celebrate and rejoice and make joyful
and dance and fling happy glances and be silly together in matters of
hunger and justice? How do we “save the best for the
last?” Enjoy the conversation. . . .
2. The idea of “speaking up for
Jerusalem” is intriguing, because it posits God as an advocate on
behalf of a city nation that he loves, despite its lack of
deserverdness. The obvious connection in matters of hunger and justice
includes the processes and programs by which this church – and
individual members within the church – engage whomever, on behalf
of the downtrodden “Jerusalems” we see around us. Yes,
there are some textual problems in this comparison, so don’t take
the matter too far. But you might intrigue participants with
questions about God’s own advocacy (with whom?) on behalf of
someone he really loves. You might wonder aloud about self-serving
advocacy, on behalf of our own interests, as compared with speaking out
with others. This is a good place to question whether
“speaking on behalf of” is always a good thing, when
“speaking alongside of” might be a stronger and
longer-lasting option. Another good question: When and where
do we advocate in places and situations beyond the halls of government
or matters of legislation? When and where do these venues of
righteous advocacy bring greater effect than legislative
utterances? Where are Christ and the Spirit evident in our
advocacy?
3. A really fascinating set of questions for just
the right group of folks, those who are struggling to take “hunger
and justice” past the obvious, the surface, the starting
points: How do we apply gifts of prophecy and speaking in
different languages to the work of combating hunger? And
let’s make “languages” more than Spanish or Swahili,
but also include “the language of today’s young
adults” or “the language of those who have too
much.” Listen carefully to the answers so that you can find
even more probing and personal questions.
