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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!
 
August 26, 2007
Time after Pentecost – Lectionary 21
 
First Reading: Isaiah 58:9b-14
Psalm 103:1-8
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-29
Gospel: Luke 13:10-17
 
 
STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES
 
Up close and personal
·         Today’s lessons might be helpful for the people you serve, as they move/mature from “taking an offering to help the hungry” toward deeper and longer-lasting responses to injustice, poverty, hunger and homelessness. You can find both Law and Gospel in the lessons, both joy and sorrow, both command and invitation.
·         What a joy to know that the matters of hunger-and-justice give us the opportunity to get close to those who are hungry and homeless. “Food” is not an abstract concept – neither is “hungry.” PEOPLE with names and faces starve for lack of food; PEOPLE with names and faces are hungry right now.
·         “Feeding hungry people” and “providing housing for people who are homeless” are tangible, observable activities that put people in touch with each other. Face-to-face ministries of presence, touch, conversation, brains that connect, relationships that last.  
·         Our denomination’s global mission folks call this “accompaniment.” This is the way they do mission in the world. So do many organizations that walk alongside people who are poor.
·         The psalmist reminds us how healing and protection are available to us as well as for those we claim to help.
·         A good example from the first lesson: Building houses and repairing cities. 
·         Yes, the Gulf Coast comes to mind – and most likely you can find and tell those good stories with great joy. But other examples might be equally close at hand: Your congregation’s participation in food cupboards or feeding programs; your work to establish and volunteer at homeless shelters; your tutoring programs; your presence at community meetings to change laws or protect people who are poor, your encounters with needy strangers who drop in at the church office.
·         The great joy and privilege in these examples is heard in the psalm and the first lesson: We understand that “they” are us; that “we” includes those who help and those who are helped; that God provides for us all; that we both give and receive kindness. Perhaps even that we meet Christ in the faces of those who are poor.
·         The primary benefit of face-to-face hunger/justice ministries is that come to know as unique, blessed individuals those among us who are poor. We remove “helping the poor” from forebrain—based “good idea” towards emotion- and relationship-rich “loving people who are poor.” We move from the arrogance of being helpers towards the humble solidarity of being among the helpless ones graced by God.
·         This church body’s hunger program includes opportunities for you to contribute funds for those who are directly in contact with people who are poor, certainly. But if you look at the program more carefully, you’ll also see wonderful ways in which you can participate directly in the lives of people who are poor and homeless. 
·         There’s great joy in this idea. (But then, you already knew that . . . .)
 
 
Shaken and removed
1.       The Hebrews lesson is a tough one for sermon construction, but let’s try out a slightly weird take on its meaning/application: How to think about the collapse of the world, an environmental and spiritual matter.
2.       Two time-honored locations are contrasted in this text: the dangerous Mount Sinai – a kind of gigantic bug-zapper place – and the New Jerusalem – a kind of large congregational picnic. Fear of punishment contrasted with the pleasures of casual conversation. The possibility of vengeful retribution contrasted with the hope of safety.
3.       In the middle of the bug-zapper: An angry God. In the middle of the picnic: Jesus, strolling among the picnickers, laughing and patting people on the back. Touching with his presence, his eyes, his words.
4.       Still, the picture is not complete if we forget that thunderstorms – the shaking, earthquaking rumbling roarings of nature’s awesome powers – are always possible. The picnic is never immune from those threats, even though there is more than reasonable assurance that this kingdom, this time together, will not be easily shaken or broken.
5.       Where am I going with this? I think that we live in a time when our celebrations of God’s grace – our material blessings – take place inside of our gut-level feelings that “created things will someday be shaken and removed.” (Hebrews 12: 27 CEV) God’s gracious love for us surrounds us, now and into the future, but we also know that we live in fragile circumstances when it comes to matters such as drought, changing weather patterns, the availability of arable land, potable water, sustainable economic conditions.
6.       And inside that sense of fragility – shared deeply by people around the world, especially among those who are poor – we find ourselves not quite sure whether to pay attention to the picnic or pay attention to the gathering clouds.
7.       How much do we express gratitude for safety and deliverance – per the psalm today – and how much do we give voice to our worries about environmental degradation or collapse? How much do we relish the company of the angelic voices – including the people of God and Christ himself – and how much to we pay attention to those who warn about the collapse of this planet’s systems?
8.       It’s a question that can shake any of us, removing us from our engagement with the world around us. We could retreat from this world’s realities, imagining ourselves into the glories of congregational life that resemble an eternal picnic. (Or at least a walk in the metaphorical park.)
9.       In this church’s hunger program are places and people who can help with the questions and their answers. Wonderfully, those people include worldwide partners – especially people who are poor and prophetic – who can look us in the eye and tell us honestly how it is with them, with those they love, with the context in which we live. Some of them warn, and some of them reassure.
10.   Can you make something of this? Thanks . . . .
 
Skirting silly/subtle rules
11.   “Healing” – as metaphor or as physical reality– is part of the work of the hunger and justice work of this church body and its worldwide partners. On the one hand, “healing” is any good and godly work that brings any kind of health to minds and bodies; on the other hand, this word denotes direct/observable touch that results in a return to physical or mental wholeness.
12.   This congregation’s members are healers, too. The daily ministries of this congregation’s members are a bona fide outreach of the congregation’s hunger-and-justice work. Not just doctors and nurses – an easy example – but also insurance workers, ambulance repairpersons, people who manufacture medical equipment or healing drugs, kids who write letters to legislators about health care. The people of God are healers in everyday situations.
13.   In this lesson, Jesus skitters around the barriers of brittle religiosity – mostly about propriety and purity -- in at least four ways: 
  1. He interrupts his teaching at a synagogue (purposefully deflating his status as guest rabbi).
  2. He pays attention to and – gasp! – actually touches a woman in public.
  3. He violates the supposed purity of Sabbath laws – a kind of last vestige of Jewish spirituality that separates the men from the boys (and the women from the men).
  4. He openly mocks the Synagogue Guy, a breach of etiquette that flies in the face of the supposed hospitality of the synagogue’s manager/ruler/boss/trustee/elder/deacon.
·         There’s justice in this story because this woman was likely considered a sinner who was suffering the punishment for some unknown sin. Perhaps you can also look at how “skirting barriers” might be a helpful concept in getting justice accomplished.
·         While not all rules are silly, and while not all rule-skirting is admirable, there IS something to be said for the spirit of Jesus when he cuts to the heart of the matter and makes possible a healing that brings joy to the woman and the people who watched the miracle happen. In spite of the eventual consequences, Jesus does what needs to be done. And it works!
·         So how does that happen in your congregation, and how do you rejoice when that kind of healing-past-the-fences takes place? Directly, or through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
·         Or take the opposite tack: How does your congregation perhaps stand in the way of that kind of healing, directly or indirectly?
·         One note: Not all barriers are “silly rules.” Sometimes we might go around barriers and only then find out that they were put up to protect us from the washed-out road ahead. Someone who’s been there before us wanted to help us, not hinder our progress.
 
 
STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES
 
1.       Use BandAids (or their more generic cousins) to tickle children’s fancies about healing and being healed. Using a red marker, draw pretend “cuts” onto the wrists or hands of each child. Distribute BandAids, one per child, and ask them what they could do to take care of these wounds. As the children begin to bandage the pretend wounds, stop them with “regulations” you invent, such as:
 
Elicit children’s feelings about being prohibited from taking care of each other. You can stop the activity right here – and segue into observations about the Gospel lesson – or continue by encouraging children to find a way to bandage each other’s wounds right now, despite the restrictions of the rules. Thoughts about the text would follow.
 
2.       Another tack: To think together about – and thank God for – people around the world (especially those funded by the ELCA World Hunger Appeal) who try to be healers even when rules and regulations make that work difficult.
 
3.       Still another: Think together how all of us are both healed and healers. (In this case you would make sure that children bandage each other.)
 
4.       Use a couple of large paper bags and some articles of food – a piece of fruit, or a cup of water – to illustrate the idea that we might want to know something about the people we serve through a hunger program. Place large paper bags over the heads of several children – eye and mouth holes might be good ideas – and name them as “poor people we want to feed.” Offer these poor kids some food or something to drink. Ask the remainder of the children if they notice anything odd about what just happened. (We don’t know anything about these people who are poor because we can’t see their faces.) After a few moments, remove the bags and introduce yourself to the “poor kids” and ask them a few questions about themselves. Close the lesson with references to the First Lesson, and the examples of face-to-face work with the poor. If possible, talk about the ways in which your congregation meets people who are poor, as individuals with names and face, NOT covered by paper bags!
 
 
STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS
 
1.       If you’re offering Bible-based study or conversation during the summer, today might be a good time to sit outside as you consider the matters I’ve proposed in examining the Hebrews text. As you talk together, seek both spiritual and intellectual honesty as you think about the idea of a “shaken creation” that peeks out of that text. The hunger connections are these:
 
2.       The idea of “rules” will bring good thinking and good sharing to these Bible conversations. Think through the Gospel lesson from Jesus’ point of view, using questions such as these:
 
3.       You could have some interesting conversation about the ideas of “knowing personally people who are poor” or “accompaniment”. But in eliciting thoughts are the ideas, also probe towards participants’ inner thoughts or identities regarding people who are poor. Try questions like these:
 
 
THE SENDOFF
 
The thematic threads that I pulled out of today’s lessons are ones I’ve considered – and lived – most of my adult life. Stuff I’m passionate about. Although I realize how easy it is to think everything is a nail when you have a hammer, I’m also aware how many of the intellectual concepts regarding hunger and justice are just labeled tools – never put to use by passionate people. I’m not apologizing for the ideas – or for my hammering – but encouraging you to consider and honor the value of your enduring passions for justice as you pound words into shape with your hammer. God keep you working . . . .
 
 
Bob Sitze, Director
Hunger Education

__________________
 
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!
 
September 2, 2007
Time after Pentecost – Lectionary 22
 
First Reading: Proverbs 25:6-7
Psalm 112
Second Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14
 
 
STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES
 
Never getting what we really want
·         Buried in today’s texts are some little reminders that, despite the relaxation of summer vacation, the calm of time away and the ease of life that summer so readily symbolizes, many people are not satisfied with what they have, what they do and who they are.
·         In one text, it’s favor of the Popular Kids that we want; in another text, just a good seat at the ballgame, in full view of the cameras. Hidden in Hebrews are other hints that people around us – us, too? – are just at all satisfied with our lives.
·         It’s easy to understand: stock market jitters and palpitating; housing market in the toilet, a never-ending war and growing dislike of our country, environmental woes piling up like recalled toys at the loading dock of a Chinese factory. 
·         Summer is over – we wanted it to keep promising an idyllic life – and now we face the music, and the homework and the messy relationships at work and runny noses and dripping faucets of ordinary life.
·         Perhaps the easiest way around the problem is to change what we want, hmm? To bring our hopes and yearnings into line with God’s mission for the world – see below – and Christ’s example. To stop paying attention to the people and culture around us that wants us to stay dissatisfied – unfilled people are perhaps more easily persuaded to buy more things, yes? To recommit ourselves to being like Christ.
·         Sidebar: We are not gaining anything in the big picture when we export our Western notions of “the good life” into developing parts of the world. Do the math: Every Chinese family can’t drive two cars and live in starter castles. Every African can’t own a cell phone Every child in the cities of this country can’t have new Nikes every sports season. (Every congregation can’t grow exponentially, either.)
·         So let’s name the lie and the vanity. Let’s confess our chasing after the lies of summertime living. Let’s reframe our notions of how we should live. Let’s read the next theme to see if it’s any different than this one . . . .
 
Textbook in Christian identity
·         In tandem, today’s lessons could easily suggest a way to reshape – I know, I know: we all say “transform” these days – your basic identity.
·         Maybe this is a good time to think about what it really means to be “the church in the world,” starting with the lives of individual believers and moving up through the levels of aggregation to your congregation as a collection of saints.
·         Start of “program year,” end of summer. Back to school. Committees coming out from hibernation, people thinking again about what it will take to keep this group of saints functioning well. A good time to think seriously about identity
·         What if your congregation’s identity was wrapped up in the specific behaviors described in Hebrews, in the psalm and in the Gospel? What would that look like?
·         And what if the lives of the congregation’s members were also wrapped in the brown kraft paper of humble service to people around them? What would that look like?
·         Note that the behaviors here are quite specific and tangible. One-on-one visits to prisoners, inviting poor people to dinner, stopping the silliness of trying to outsize or outperform the neighboring congregations.
·         There’s good news in having an identity. Not the quilted spread of required tasks in your constitution or your mission and visions statements – that sometimes feels like too much work. 
·         No, we’re talking about a singular identity – much like Christ’s – that reaches in visible ways to be helpful and respectful of people who are poor.
·         How would you “transform” yourselves with today’s lessons in mind? What would you give away or stop doing? What would you start doing?
·         Here’s a thought – not for the sermon, thank you – that comes from some quarters of generational theory: Young adults might more readily become part of your fellowship if your purposes (and identity) were more aligned in the direction of these texts than in some of the other, more institutionally oriented directions. An outward-turning congregation, say the theorists, is likely to attract a broad swath of young adults who in these turbulent times are seeking purpose and meaning that puts them in the company of others who are changing the world. Like Christ.
 
What’s next?
 
1.       Here’s another thought, perhaps for the sermon: After we’ve taken the offering for “the poor people,” what next? After we’ve filled a gazillion plastic baggies with rice and spices, what’s next? After we’ve prayed vague or general prayers about “God blessing the people who have no food,” what’s next? 
2.       Today’s texts don’t condemn those activities, but they all answer “What’s next?” within the same general pattern: Face-to-face, down-and-dirty, sleeves-rolled-up ministry among people who are poor. 
3.       Granted, there were back then no societal mechanisms for the kind of large-scale work we can do together as denomination or congregations, so the only choice for social ministry in biblical times was either face-to-face or doing the alms thing.
4.       Think, though, whether this might not be a good time to challenge your congregation to take up the deep and necessary actions of individual contact with people who are poor, in behaviors and tasks suggested strongly by today’s texts. There’s good news in whatever answer you find to the question, “What’s next?”
 
 
STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES
 
1.       Two story games applied to hunger. Both invite children’s imaginations to probe causes and effects of the actions they or you might take to combat hunger or injustice through congregational programs. Here’s how they could work: Choose either of these two phrases/questions: “And then?” or “So then?” Start telling a story about good things that your congregation is doing to help poor people. On cue, the children chorus one of those phrases, and you continue the story to answer the question. Pretty soon one or more of the smarter children will insert one of the two story-shaper phrases at a time of their choosing, not yours, and then the story will get interesting. The point: What you do together as a congregation has consequences, effects, next steps, deeper meaning. The two phrases elicit that kind of discernment about the good things that happen in your congregation’s hunger ministry.
 
2.       Back to school time suggests a good kickoff for a program of assembling School or Health Kits for Lutheran World Relief use. Visit www.lwr.org/parish/schoolkit/asp or www.lwr.org/parish/healthkit/asp for more information. Today might be a good time to talk about the value of education in the lives of people around the world, and the ways in which it helps to eliminate or mitigate extreme poverty. Again, the Web sites www.lwr.org or www.lutheranworld.org will have specific stories for your use.
 
 
STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS
 
1.       Take the Hebrews text to heart today, and spend time together with other participants imagining how they could engage, here and now, in any of the activities in this text. What would it take to start doing that? Who would lead and who would follow? What are the assets you already have to begin doing these things? 
 
2.       Take apart the story of Jesus in the home of the important Pharisee, but from the viewpoint of the social and sociological dimensions of this situation. Think who Jesus is talking to, and what he is telling them. (This material is doubtlessly more than parable, and probably directed straight at the Pharisee and those like him.) Who is watching Jesus and why? (Be careful: Not just his enemies were watching – and learning.) What might Jesus be saying to poor people about rich people? And what does the Greek literally say in verse 10b, “Friend, come up a little higher.” For the clincher, transfer this incident into today’s setting. Where would Jesus be and what would he be saying to whom? And for what reason did Jesus say and do any of this, hmmm? (Hint: This story could be about much more than humility in a crowd of important people.)
 
3.       Read the psalm with today’s newspaper in mind. (Okay, okay, the “lending” thing jumps out quickly, but what else?) Where are there, in today’s news stories, evidences that the Psalmist’s message needs heeding this day as well as tomorrow? How do you know?
 
THE SENDOFF
 
Show me your ID. By that directive – and my willing compliance – I establish my place in a society that wants to authenticate my validity as a citizen or participant in the economy or a capable driver of automobiles. I’m compelled by an identity that I can’t shake – even at my advanced age – and it has to do with shaking up the world, in however small ways I’m given. Whatever the size of my earthquake, I wish its trembling, earthen dance on your soul as well. The more of us doing this kind of work, the better . . . .

God keep you joyful.
 
Bob Sitze, Director
Hunger Education