LISTSERV 16.0 - HUNGERSERMONSTARTERS Archives

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!

· The stories don’t stay in the desert: A resulting gratitude explodes like a seed pod filled with hope and rejoicing. A psalmist exults and a prophet shivers with excitement about redemption.

· This godly work is exactly what happens because of the programs of the ELCA Hunger Program. Wells are dug, domesticated animals provide food and clothing, infrastructure is built. In places where you would expect otherwise – “deserts” in our world today – the redemption of God shows up in an irrigation project, a percolation tank, a deep well.

· This famous statement of Jesus was never meant to explain why we should expect hunger and injustice to always be present. Or to acquiesce to their existence or power.

· Instead – especially in the variant readings in Matthew and Mark – the text suggests the exact opposite: Jesus is offering a hard assessment of the condition of his day, and he’s not exactly pleased.

· The Johanine record nails Judas for misuse of the common fund, for his lack of stewardship. But here, too, comes the stinging rebuke of a man who claims to have high regard for the poor – “Imagine what would happen if we gave a few year’s salary to the poor!” – but who in fact is just looking for ways by which to line his own pockets.

· Might there be some warning – and hope – in examining the concept of “wasting our donations on the poor”? Any hypocrisy there? Any sense of false priorities? Anything God can help us with?

· A word of context: It’s always helpful to remember that, for these three years at least, Jesus does NOT work for a living, does NOT ask for financial support from the headquarters, and does NOT exactly benefit financially from his ministry. In short, Jesus is one among the majority of people in his day who are poor. (Yes, his ministry was likely financed or materially supported by a group of faithful women disciples, but this does not redefine Jesus’ basic financial situation from “dependent poor.” The generosity of these women, by the way, is another subject worth deeper examination or at least deeper exegetical work.)

· From this story we can derive good questions regarding our own attitudes and behaviors towards people who are poor, those close at hand and those far away. Who do we think benefits from our generosity? What “results” do we expect? How are the poor always with us, and how could that be changed? What happens when we are extravagantly generous with our lives? (In one moment, Mary – or “the woman” – gave away a significant portion of her net work.)

1. Because the “waters in the desert” idea jumps out of the texts a few times, find a water-related story in the Web pages of the ELCA Hunger Program (www.elca.org/hunger) or its world-wide partners, Lutheran World Relief (www.lwr.org) or Lutheran World Federation (www.lutheranworld.org). Rehearse, then retell any of these stories, as though from the viewpoint of those for whom these remarkable gifts are evidence of God’s surprising abundance.

2. Extol the value of water in deliciously describable prose that starts to make children thirsty. Its taste, its cool and refreshing character, how it feels to swallow water. Once children get to the point of being thirsty, produce a pitcher of water and glasses and offer them the simple gift of a drink of water. After they remark about their appreciation, remind them how this gift comes to people around the world because of their gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

3. Ask children to imagine if, instead of small amounts of money, they were to sell something really valuable that they “own” and give the money to people who are poor. What would that item be, and how much money would they receive? Yes, there will be some humor here, but play to the opposite side of this matter by being thankful about their being willing to part with something important so that poor people can be fed or be offered water. (And be careful in your shared imaginings, because some children will likely do what they have imagined!)

4. Plant some seeds or give away some seeds – the children disburse seeds in the entire congregation? – or dedicate some plants for your congregational sharing garden. (You will have other ideas based on the hardiness zones and growing conditions in your locale.) Talk together about how you will together use the harvest – flowers for shut-ins, produce for a food cupboard, a congregational meal served at a homeless shelter.)

1. In the Philippians text – written by Paul to people he knew well and loved dearly – he counts his life as garbage. Even though his life --- in prison – was not exactly all that lovely, Paul was still willing to give it all away for the sake of something better or more important. Talk together about how that might work among you. Be specific about the “garbage” you could give away for the sake of something good.

2. Another take on this text is to look at it from the viewpoint of someone imprisoned, at the bottom of his barrel, with nothing much to name as “quality of life.” At that point, Paul becomes like many faithful believers who are destitute or poor, no matter where they live in the world. Their faith shines through their poverty and their piety frames their whole view of life. Who feels and lives this way in today’s world? Talk about specific people or events or situations.

3. “Crying sowers” show up in the psalm for this day. Or more accurately, “formerly crying sowers about to harvest.” So, too, we might look at the hunger-related work of your congregation or this church body. The difficulty in sowing seeds is that it takes hard work – the plowing, the weeding, the fertilizing and the anguishing. But there IS hope inside the seeds, the promise of harvest. And so we rejoice in the growing potential of a development project in Africa, a job-training program in Ohio, a congregationally based organizing project in Los Angeles or a food cupboard in South Carolina. The seeds have power – our loving and caring carries the power of God’s love to those most in need.

4. Rework Psalm 126 from the viewpoint of one of those “harvests,” in which a formerly destitute person looks back at what could have been sad but is now joyful. For example, how would a refugee from Kenya or Rwanda or Liberia rewrite this psalm on returning home from a refugee camp? How about an ex-offender who’s welcomed into your congregation? Or a teen-age mother who gets her life turned around and headed in a direction?

5. The Gospel and the Philippians lesson, in tandem, invite an interesting exercise: Each individual tallies his or her net worth – without identifying himself or herself, as though counting everything as saleable garbage, including check book balance, savings, liquid investments, assets minus liabilities, cashed-in life insurance and anything that could be changed into actual cash, even with some effort. These anonymous slips of paper are given to the leader and their total added up. THIS amount is what would be available to people who are poor, or this amount is what this group would give up – per Paul – if they chose to. Talk about the amount – in many places it’s a staggeringly large total – and about the idea of giving everything away for the sake of the poor or for Jesus’ sake.

6. Paul admires his pedigree, and perhaps you and the participants feel the same way. Nothing wrong with that. Paul describes imagined authority and real credentials, but he’s also describing his personal (read “relational”) power in the Philippians text. As in Number 5 above, tally the personal power – by categories similar to Paul’s – of the people in your group, and ask what good could come of those assets, were they to be applied to the wellbeing of people who were poor.

I’m finishing a long string of weekends on the road – this one in a congregation in Belleville, Illinois – where the whole congregation prays out loud, in unison and by name for those who are sick! Like you, I’m heartened by the examples of generosity and faithful witness that I encounter all over the country. In places well-known and in quiet acts of love, the work of God goes on, especially the work of this church to alleviate suffering and stifle injustice. You and I are part of something very, very big, friends: The working of the will of God on the world! What a privilege.

Although today’s lessons are woven around the horror of Jesus’ final days, other themes also emerge, ideas and ideals that may be as useful as our respectful/sorrowful observing of Jesus’ passion, as though from a distance. Some closer-to-home themes, consistent with the meaning of Jesus’ ministry among the poor, might include these:

· Isaiah’s suffering servant and the psalmist’s persecuted petitioner could just as easily be any person in any part of the world who faces continuing poverty and injustice. (My first instinct: The psalm and Isaiah text sounded like the words of some homeless men I’ve met.)

· As the Christ, Jesus suffers for the whole world. As an itinerant preacher of justice, Jesus exemplifies the same attributes and suffers the same pain as any other person who is poor.

· In a sense, then, every person who is poor shows the suffering of Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus reminds us of every person who is suffering from poverty and injustice, and all their evil cousins.

· The Lucan rendering of the Passion story is an inexorable march, a falling or even a tragic facing down of an unjust death. (This man Jesus did NOT have to die in order for the political good of the Jewish nation.)

· Read in its entirety, this Passion narrative could be seen as the story of a group of out-of-town pilgrims whose poverty-laced leader runs afoul of the authorities and is severely punished for it. A “hill country preacher” punished for his lack of political acumen and his lack of rhetorical/diplomatic skill among those who think they run the country.

· From all appearances, “just another expendable poor person” is silenced by a cross and its supporting cast. And yet, the story doesn’t stop at Luke 23:56!

· History – including the history of this very day – is filled with “just another poor person” stories that turn out to be beginnings, not ends! (Know some?)

· It might be foolish to think of self-abasement or other kinds of false humility as somehow salvific in themselves. (We are NOT saved by giving in to abuse, disregard or acquiescence to evil!)

· How foolish it seems to be dealing kindly with enemies who persecute and mock, how utterly unfathomable to be teaching and talking with one’s friends when certain death is poised at the edge of your life’s stage, ready for an horrific entrance.

· But when you have nothing – everything of supposed value is stripped away by systemic injustice – you get to choose how to give away your life for a purpose that outlasts you.

· While you read this – and while you preach – other poverty-laden martyrs will die for the good of God’s will for the world. Jesus was not the first or the last, just the best example.

· In the middle of the Lucan gospel lesson, the strange suggestion by Jesus that his disciples equip themselves for some larger, perhaps dangerous task or journey. (Swords, moneybags, knapsacks – all necessary equipment for something important.)

· This is especially true if we see Christ’s death as redemptive of our life purposes, examples of the relationship we have with God, God’s people who are poor, God’s covenantal commissioning of each of us to risk everything for what’s fair, right, good or godly.

· Sometimes the pageantry of this week – important events played out on the stage of Scriptural narrative – turns us into mere observers of a ghastly parade of deadly events.

· Deep inside ourselves, we can react to the Passion Story with sorrow for Jesus, or with some dull sense that the same kinds of things are happening somewhere else.

· When it comes to the “passion stories” of people dying of hunger on this day, we could as easily become mere observers, content to ratchet up our emotions to include sorrow or even disgust at the existence and effects of poverty.

· Then Christ’s passion becomes our passion, Jesus’ Holy Week story the narrative of our days, Jesus’ teachings the hallmarks of our thinking and speaking.

1. Make the children’s time into a parade of ideas, not only a time for the waving of palms. At each station – perhaps the parade becomes the whole sermon? – deal with one or more of the Lucan stories or teachings, perhaps “meeting” a new person at each place in the sanctuary where the “parade” stops. Perhaps the parade ends at a large cross or at the altar!

2. Along the way, these lessons/teachings: “Who’s the greatest?” the matter of our faith/resolve being tested, “equipment” to take along during the Holy Week journey, “what God wants”, betrayal, being accused and suffering for doing the right thing. (We don’t have space here for me to spin out possibilities for each of the stations, but I trust your creativity.)

3. Bring in a “homeless person” – someone in the congregation who can accurately and sensitively portray this form of poverty – and have a conversation with this person about people’s attitudes and actions towards him/her. At the end of the conversation, the person turns out to be Jesus! (Or use the play, “Need Help” from the hunger dramas book, Hunger and Hope: Dramas about Poverty, Hunger & Mission by Carl H. Billings, Jr. (Visit the online store at www.augsburgfortress.org/hunger for more information about ordering this resource, and visit www.elca.org/hunger/resources/hungerdramas for supplementary materials.)

4. Use a children’s version of the Bible for the reading of today’s Passion Story. The Contemporary Version (CEV) is especially helpful because it’s vocabulary level pegs out at third grade!

1. The psalm for this day is written by David, at a very-down time in his life. The thought occurs: Even very rich people become very poor people, if only that they experience downfalls and discardings. How does the text read from the viewpoint of a homeless man and a disgraced CEO? A person who has rarely had much, and someone who has lost it all? Apply the same question to the Isaiah text, and then compare.

2. The Philippians text might seem to invite us to become servile or accepting of our real or imagined low estates, as though these attitudes or behaviors somehow ennoble us. The self-emptying of Jesus is for a purpose, and it works for the good of God’s will! But what about those who suffer today, needlessly and to no seeming purpose? (Think of abused women, poor people crushed underfoot by developers or governments or those who don’t even see that they exist.)

3. Spend some time with participants getting deeper into their reactions about the Passion narrative. “Jesus died for my sins” is an objective statement of truth, but what about participants’ emotional reactions to the sweep of this story? In other words, how to they do more with the story than just feel badly that Jesus had to die? How, too, do they move beyond guilt or shame when they think of Jesus’ work on their behalf?

4. A hard question: How, in these times, are poor people – like Jesus? – dying on behalf of those of us who are rich? To say that another way: Are we “saved” in any way by the sufferings of people who are poor? (A possible example: The low cost of consumer goods as a result of low wages and poor working conditions in other countries.)

5. How do the texts for today call forth participants’ own stories of suffering for what is right or just? Another way to ask this question: For what good and godly truth are you a martyr? Or even this question: For what part of God’s will would you be willing to give your life, totally or in part?

Today’s a gray day where I live – rain and storms on the way. But inside this one soul is a bright possibility: The world’s landscape doesn’t HAVE to be littered with the bodies and lives of poor people who, like Jesus, sacrifice themselves for real or imagined good – their children, their nations, their churches. On this cloudy day, I hold to the hope of the empty tomb as well as I honor the lives and witness of those who have suffered greatly so that I can be alive. May your preaching be lively, hopeful and honest!