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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!

NEW FEATURE: TWO SUNDAYS IN ONE STARTER!! SCROLL DOWN TO SEE BOTH FEBRUARY 25 AND MARCH 4 STARTERS!!!

February 25, 2007

1^st Sunday in Lent

First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 91:1-2;9-16

Second Reading: Romans 10:8b-13

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES

The texts for this day can move toward hunger and justice ideas such as the following:

Homeless folks never forget

· Whether wandering Arameans, despised and deposed formerly favored ones, or people who forget the source of our salvation, we are – all of us – homeless in one way or another. (Hear Luther’s supposed last words: “We are beggars, all of us.”)

· One reaction to the memories of poverty – see the sociologies of Depression-era economics – is to gather and hoard anything and everything in order to keep away the wolves and to secure a safe place in which to stay, summer and winter fortresses.

· Another reaction to the memories of poverty – once again, see Depression-era sociologies – is to give away and live at the edge of safety and security. Altruism born of gratitude born of blessings. God as fortress, for all seasons.

· The temptations of Jesus and the temptations of the Israelites are the same that we face: Grab what we can so that we will never face hunger or insecurity.

· The words of Moses and the words of Jesus are the same: God’s rule invites and requires something more than “dying with the most toys” mentalities.

Generosity is as generosity does

· Generosity – towards others – is as powerful as selfishness. Both are resident in our brains; we choose which to honor. We make our own temptations and with the Spirit’s help, we resist them.

· If you want to learn about ministry among people who are poor, learn from people who are (or were) poor. THIS might be the real benefit of your next “mission trip”!

· Largesse is not the same as generosity. On the other hand, since we own nothing, we’re always giving away what isn’t ours.

· Forty days in a desert should have caused desperate self-fulfilling actions on Jesus’ part. Instead, he gets to work immediately thereafter. An example, certainly, but perhaps also a strategy for motivating any of us to action.

Hunger is as hunger does

· The majority of the world’s people don’t fast as a way of achieving the goals of a spirit-quest. They have no choice, perhaps to fulfill our choices for what they should produce or what goods they should send our way.

· Although there are really never any “noble poor,” we can learn from people who are poor what is truly important, even in the face of desperate urgency.

· Our teachers for how to live – and how to face down temptations – include the poorest of the poor, who stand alongside Jesus. Perhaps we should bring to our own homes the prophetic poor, who could show us our own hungering and help us.

· In our work toward the elimination of hunger, we do well NOT to satisfy our own needs – the vaunted “giver’s need to give.” Instead, we follow an example of self-giving, and honor our wandering, homeless forebears.

Salvation is at hand

· God saves, we accept.

· God gives, we accept.

· God blesses, we accept.

· We are still basically nothing, still only hand-extenders and beggars.

· Still, God accepts our accepting and keeps saving, giving and blessing.

· Wow!

STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

1. This would be a good Sunday to highlight the matters of homelessness in your locale, and your congregation’s efforts to alleviate this growing social ill. (I have just now come from my late night stint at our local homeless shelter, and seen for the third month in a row a family of young parents with three infant girls. In my eighteen years volunteering in this suburban homeless program, I have NEVER seen an entire family stuck in homelessness for this long! Yes, the phenomenon is growing.)

I digress . . . . Bring a homeless advocate or volunteer to the children’s time, or find some compelling stories of how homelessness can be defeated in your locale. Ask children to imagine having no place to call home, wandering from shelter to shelter, with little or no possessions and always at the mercy of other’s generosity. Also imagine the feelings they would have if, by God’s grace and the kindness of others, they were able to get in out of the cold, have a place/room to call their own, to be safe, to sleep quietly in their own beds.

2. The temptations to be selfish – or self-congratulating – didn’t start or end with Jesus. If possible, talk with children about their own tendency (like those of everyone in the congregation) to forget about others, to take without giving, to grab and hoard. What causes that, and what alleviates those thoughts? A good conversation based on a good Gospel lesson!

3. To illustrate homelessness, “wander” inside the sanctuary from place to place, pretending to stay or sleep in various locations, getting roused and moved out, harried if by nothing else than the notion of perpetually moving away from security. See No. 1 above for other conversation starters.

4. Perpetual homelessness is summarized in the word, “refugee,” a state of mind and a physical reality for millions of people at this various moment. This would be a good Sunday to highlight the work of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (Visit www.lirs.org and click on the link, “Lives We Touch.”) In case the matter seems remote, invite some older members of your congregation to tell their family stories of immigration or refugee status. (Yes, those stories are most likely out there, just not told all that much.)

5. For another take at that subject, have children listen to the story of Jesus’ temptation and the Deuteronomy text from the viewpoint of someone who is homeless or afraid to live in their own home. What does the Psalm for this day say to the person who is a refugee or homeless?

STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS

The texts for this Sunday are very rich in application to matters of hunger, justice and all their connected ideas. Choose carefully among the following possibilities to highlight the necessity and privilege of combating hunger anywhere and everywhere!

1. Look at the psalm and take apart the concept of “God as fortress.” Think how it contrasts with “gated community as fortress” or “fortressing our lives through immigration laws.” What’s the value of God as “mighty fortress”? (Yes, look at the hymn together, but not with Psalm 46 in mind!) How do fortresses protect, and how do they wall us off from service or real-security?

2. Talk together about family stories of “wandering Arameans”. Read the text with “Norse” or “Poles” or “Mexicans” in the place of the Arameans and Egyptians. The stories may seem to be only about straightforward immigrations in past centuries, but they may also carry within them amazing stories of continuing gratitude, generosity and other-centeredness!

3. How does homelessness show up in your community? Don’t stop at the obvious – poor people not being able to afford permanent housing – but reach deeper into matters such as divorced men not able to afford their alimony, or troubled teens thrown out of the homes of their desperate parents. How about the affordability of housing for these folks, or the average wage in your town? Think together where homeless folks live when they’re not in shelters – in my locale, they go to forest preserves, and in the northern woods of Minnesota, people live out in the woods in their cars. What’s a congregation to do? Or this small group?

4. Jesus’ temptations range the full gamut of human emotions that are fixed on self-preservation. How does Jesus sense of mission – his understanding of God, his generosity, his other-centeredness – help thwart the clever machinations of an always-present Satan? How might that work in your life?

5. Salvation-by-God’s-grace is stuck into today’s lessons like the candle on a carrot cake. How could you chew on this concept alongside the edible thoughts in other lessons?

THE SENDOFF

Yes, these lessons have me excited, if only because they capture so many of the unspoken and sometimes unknown aspects of hunger ministries: refugees, immigration, homelessness right under your nose, temptations to hoarding lifestyles. Have fun with your preaching and teaching, and if you can, spread your own excitement among the people you serve!

Bob Sitze, Director

Hunger Education

Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!

March 4, 2007

2nd Sunday in Lent

First Reading: Genesis 15:1-12,17-18

Psalm 27

Second Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35

STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES

The texts for this day can move toward hunger and justice ideas such as the following:

Whose god is their belly

· Hunger isn’t just about starvation or the lack of food security among peoples of the world.

· What causes hunger – that’s a matter for consideration by God’s people as well. (The story about “who’s throwing the babies into the river” comes to mind.)

· One of the causes of hunger in other places is likely our consumptive lifestyles here. It works this way: What the people of the richest country in the world want – food, clothing, toys – is what the rest of the world will produce. No matter what the rest of the world really needs. (So a farmer in Africa may forego planting food for his family in order to grow cotton for clothing, no matter that she has no control over the price she will be paid.)

· Another cause for growing economic problems: The food consumption habits of people in the United States. For example: when diabetes and heart disease begin to invade the lives of larger segments of the population, when a growing number of children are obese – then the economic fortune of the country shifts towards repairing and reclaiming these lives, with increasing costs taking priority away from other important matters.

· Whereas most of the world eats to live, many of us live to eat. And by so doing, we fit Paul’s description of people who have made their own stomachs into idols that demand increased food offerings.

· How can you approach this sinfulness in your congregation, which may include a fair number of overweight or obese people who are otherwise faithful followers of Jesus? Maybe even yourself?

· Jesus ministry to the poor may have bothered the belly-gods of his day, starting with the Herods and moving into the circles of the religious elite.

Protection from enemies

· Strangely, David prefers the “protection” of the tent-church to that of his own palace! (Reference last week’s notion of “fortress”.)

· He is alone in his pursuit of righteousness, and is pursued by those who want to do him in.

· This psalm could easily describe the work of relief and development workers for non-governmental agencies – like Lutheran World Relief or Lutheran World Federation – in many countries of the world. Doing justice doesn’t guarantee friends.

· Yet the tent protects; a thin-walled traveling church is where God lives – for folks writing before the Temple cult takes over Judaism – and in that place there is safety.

· Churches protect people from their enemies, and your congregation may be a knowing or unknowing refuge for those who are attacked by others because of their righteousness. Your members provide counsel and friendship for people whose lonely battles against evil sometimes leave them vulnerable. Your programs and sermons can provide wisdom for those beset behind and before by the back-talk of naysayers or worse.

A rich portion

· One of the strangest lessons in all of the Old Testament, today’s first reading portrays a God who assures one faithful follower of bountiful blessings.

· At this moment, in thousands of other places in the world, herdspeople like Abram face their God in the same way, wondering what will become of them, long-term. Not just their good name and their economic legacy, but also their values and their hopes. Fisherpeople in Indonesia, fish-farmers in Africa, fishery workers in Asia – these folks come to God empty-handed, and they find God’s promises kept. How? You betcha! The work of Lutherans around the world, in relief and development programs that assure more than “a fish for today” or even the skill of fishing, but that offer the title to the pond and an abundant water supply as well. Your gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal give shape to the promises God makes to contemporary Abrams.

· And like Abram, these folks understand their total dependence on God for every blessing, now and into the distant future.

· God exacts a covenant, though, and in its reciprocity there is another assurance: Being covenanted with the Almighty One.

Tears

· The Philippian Christians always seem to bring tears to Paul’s eyes. Mostly because of their faithfulness.

· Today tell stories of the faithfulness of God’s people – starting with your congregation and moving into the wider church here and throughout the world.

· When it comes to hunger and justice, those stories are inspiring – tear-inspiring, I would say – and so worthy of our consideration, mostly as evidences of God’s own tearful faithfulness to us in Jesus.

STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

1. If your congregation conducts a canned food drive – not the best thing for food cupboards, but it’s a start for some folks – you might talk with children today about the matter of “food offerings.” Pretend to give your own stomach “an offering” of some kind of canned food. Or pile up the cans and boxes of food in front of another child’s stomach. (You can set the scene how you wish, but a nicely decorated table could serve as faux altar for this lesson.) Contrast this semi-silly scene – using the Philippians text? – with the idea of offering food to a food cupboard as an offering to God’s own self.

2. If you understand the cultural context of the Genesis text, re-enact it with blessings that aren’t dissected animal parts. Think of clothing, bedding, medicines, food packages, even toys. Work the “blessed to be a blessing” feature of God’s complete covenant with Abram, asking children what might become of the items that have been used in the re-enactment.

3. Talk with children about sticking to their values in the face of detractors. Ask them to tell stories about how when they’ve tried to do the right thing they’ve been the subject of verbal or physical abuse, and how they’ve questioned whether to keep on keeping on. Listen carefully to the story starters and use the time to assure children that being faithful is what they’re called to do, and that God will ultimately protect them.

STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS

1. The Philippians text begs consideration of this matter: How much are any of us conformed to a view of the world that’s not godly, but merely about our own wellbeing? How can we determine if that’s true, and how do we correct that matter?

2. If participants are able to be honest – about themselves and others – and do so in a respectful way, spend time on the concept of “whose god is their belly.” Think together about how this congregation promotes gluttony or over-eating, or how any of us shamefully overlooks this problem in ourselves or those around us. Is “fat” forgiveable? And is it always sinful? How do we strengthen each other’s resolve to avoid the stuffing and chomping that we mistake for “eating?” For what shall we pray?

3. We’ve talked together before about “being the only one” who was working towards justice. Today’s psalm raises up the subject again, with similar thoughts:

Who are the enemies who come after us, with words or worse?
How do we find – and use – the protection God makes available?
How does this congregation offer sanctuary, of any kind?
Who makes this a safe place for prophets?
What happens if the church is not a haven or refuge?

4. Aside from its deterministic, nearly Zionistic features, the OT lesson does get at the idea of God’s abundance. When it comes to combating hunger, we can find it difficult to give of ourselves if we live within a mindset of scarcity. This text begs questions about this matter:

Why the big sacrifice on Abram’s part? Why not just a prayer for blessing, while looking fondly at the stars in the sky?
The text can be misinterpreted as “reward time for Abram.” Where do you see hints that Abram is himself unworthy of God’s generous outpouring?
In this text, evidence of God’s abundance is land. How does land-greed contribute to hunger, whether among the descendants of Abram or the people in this room? (How is a foreclosure different than a land-grab or land-war?)

THE SENDOFF

I’m the descendant of people for whom “land in the Sierras” is a wonderful legacy. Although semi-desert in its characteristics, our family’s property has always been a place of refuge for weary people of God, travelers and hikers and family members who want to find the blessing of quiet thought in the middle of creation’s beauty. I understand how God protects by the thinnest of fabrics – an old cabin – and in a thousand miraculous ways. I wish the same for all God’s people, and in this work commit myself to bringing safety and security to people for whom today may be only horrific and dangerous. It’s a good work, and one blessed by your partnership!

Bob Sitze, Director

Hunger Education

Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!

NEW FEATURE: TWO SUNDAYS IN ONE STARTER!! SCROLL DOWN TO SEE BOTH FEBRUARY 18 AND FEBRUARY 25 STARTERS!!!

February 18, 2007

Transfiguration of Our Lord

Last Sunday after Epiphany

First Reading: Exodus 34:29-35

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2

Gospel: Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES

The texts for this day can move toward hunger and justice ideas such as the following:

Seeing the face of God (Jesus)

· Consider how “glory” is both a metaphorical term and also a description of a physical reality. Putting the “glow” into “glory” means that in God’s face there is luminescence, warmth, brilliant illumination, safety (if “darkness” is dangerous).

· The glory of God was recharged when Moses went into the presence of God.

· Seeing the face of God is an awesome – even dangerous – undertaking, because of God’s power and glory. And perhaps necessary?

· If “face to face” implies equality, seeing God’s face (or Jesus’ own) either impugns the glory of God or makes us into something we’re not. See “danger” above.

· We claim to “see Jesus in the eyes of the poor,” – probably per Matthew 25 – and thus to share not so much the glory of transfiguration as the necessary joy of self-giving service.

· The glory of Jesus is assurance that the suffering of Jesus is worthwhile. The same might be true for those of us who follow him.

· One part of God’s glorious rule is to impart justice and fairness. (Psalm 99 understands this.)

· A reflection of God’s face – Moses, the disciples, perhaps us? – works its own brilliance.

Seeing the clouds for what they are

· Clouds obscure but clouds also protect.

· Clouds contrast with glory, but they also make glory just a little more glorious.

· God rules in the clouds, too.

· If we can take advantage of “low-hanging fruit”, how might we take advantage – for God’s purposes – of “low-hanging clouds”?

· Seeking glory can yield a cloudy existence. (See Peter’s shrine-building aspirations and the function of the clouds.)

· If glory compels towards the attraction, clouds compel to action. (Formerly awe-struck disciples head back down the mountain with Jesus.)

God rocks because God rules

· The glory of God and the brilliance of Jesus are not static qualities, as though “ruling in Heaven” was a tableau in which the characters never moved.

· Instead, a glorious God does glorious justice and a transfigured Jesus gets back to his gritty ministries off the mountain.

· God reigns over the world, so has every right to demand of its people – and of God’s own people! – a righteous and just obedience to the Law, especially its core.

· “I forgot” is no excuse for inaction or status quo among people of God, who see God’s own brilliance in Jesus.

· “What would Jesus do?” works nicely on this day, turning that nearly empty moralistic bracelet-selling enterprise into some more powerful: Jesus would not waste his time basking in the glorious presence of the most righteous dudes in the universe. Instead, a God-pleasing Son trudges back down into human existence, taking his chosen, clueless and silent inner circle with him. Do what Jesus did? In deed, indeed!

· Today is one of the few days in the entire year when that over-used adjectival, adverbial utterance has legitimate place in our lives.

· In fact, today’s proclamation of glory beyond words might forever end the use of “awesome” among perpetually over-impressed teens and other with-it folks.

· What’s really awesome? Look up, look at God/Jesus. Look at their mighty and humble acts. Look at what’s just and fair. There’s awesome, alright!

STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

1. Gather cloud-making materials in your sanctuary – available from the U.S. Forest Service Cloud-Seeding Department in rural Chicago, Illinois. (Just checking: You ARE paying attention here! Good! Do NOT try this at home.)

2. This would be a good Sunday to look at faces – people in the congregation, other children, some depictions of Jesus’ own face. (Yes, you may have done this before.) Think together about what you see just in eyes. (You might use partial masks so that just eyes show on people’s faces.) Is there “glory” – whatever that is? Is there kindness, or sadness, or understanding or friendship? How about love? The clincher: We get to see Jesus’ loving and serving face in the faces of people around us. And once we have seen those faces and been inspired by them, we reflect what we’ve seen in our own faces. (For you neuroscience buffs, this is part of the function of motor neurons and the power of mimicry residing primarily in the amygdale!)

3. What might happen if you played around with “awesome”? Children certainly hear the word often enough to know its sound. But what about its meaning? Start with the dictionary’s basic thoughts – choose words that kids will understand – and then move in the direction of quietly awesome events. For example, think how the offerings of children to the ELCA Hunger and Disaster Appeal multiply literally thousands of times into the lives of people around the world. (You could use a globe or world map here.) Or the long-term effects of one child’s surprising self-giving act. (You could check your newspaper for these stories.) Or think what happens when one deed of kindness gets passed on and on and on, even through generations. You could even have children answer your questions with the refrain, “Awesome!” (Some of us would cringe, but this might work for you.)

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. It’s rather odd to think of a leader with a shining face – scholars vary in their interpretation of the physical reality that the Israelites might have encountered. But in a way, that’s part of the skill of leadership. As you talk together about the lessons for this day, consider these matters:

2. Clouds and veils show up in these lessons as seemingly helpful elements of reality. Contrast the functions of clouds and veils in the texts with our usual opinions of their worth. (A “clouded matter” is not good, neither is a “veiled threat.”) When it comes to ministry among people who are poor, or fighting against injustice wherever we find it, how are clouds and veils helpful? How problematic?

3. In the Gospel lesson, shrine-building is thwarted, even though the intent of Peter seems pure enough. How might this matter apply – or not apply – to questions about contemporary “shrines” that we might want to build? What motivates the shrine-building thoughts of Peter? What brings them to a halt? When it comes to hunger and justice ministries, what might be the difference between “the school we built for the villagers in Africa” and a shrine that doesn’t need to be erected? Or is there a difference? (HINT: An implied possibility: If I build the shrine, I get to be with the deity or other Glorious Ones. If that’s true, who’s the one being honored?)

4. Boiling these lessons down to some answers to “So what?”: So then, what’s our response to the glory of Jesus and God? And what if we don’t ever see that glory? (HINT: Lent’s around the corner . . . .)

I’ve seen Jesus in the eyes of the poor – and they were shining like a photo with the red-eye correction not operating. Ferocious, fierce and fervent, those eyes were not pitiful or guilt-inducing. Instead, I saw the glory of God in supposedly downtrodden peasants in India and Mexico City. I’ve seen homeless people with a glint in their eye that says more than “Thanks.” And I’ve seen the fire in your eyes, friends, as you work to bring the glory of God to the people God so dearly loves!

Here’s looking at you . . . .

Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!

February 25, 2007

1^st Sunday in Lent

First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Second Reading: Romans 10:8b-13

STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES

The texts for this day can move toward hunger and justice ideas such as the following:

Homeless folks never forget

· The temptations of Jesus and the temptations of the Israelites are the same that we face: Grab what we can so that we will never face hunger or insecurity.

· The words of Moses and the words of Jesus are the same: God’s rule invites and requires something more than “dying with the most toys” mentalities.

Generosity is as generosity does

· If you want to learn about ministry among people who are poor, learn from people who are (or were) poor. THIS might be the real benefit of your next “mission trip”!

· Largesse is not the same as generosity. On the other hand, since we own nothing, we’re always giving away what isn’t ours.

Hunger is as hunger does

· Although there are really never any “noble poor,” we can learn from people who are poor what is truly important, even in the face of desperate urgency.

Salvation is at hand

· God saves, we accept.

· God gives, we accept.

· God blesses, we accept.

· We are still basically nothing, still only hand-extenders and beggars.

· Still, God accepts our accepting and keeps saving, giving and blessing.

STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS

5. Salvation-by-God’s-grace is stuck into today’s lessons like the candle on a carrot cake. How could you chew on this concept alongside the edible thoughts in other lessons?