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!

Testimony is the common theme in today’s lessons. But those testifying, and the nature of their testimony, are unique to each situation. For us who follow Jesus today, the nature of our testimony can come in many forms, depending on what is called for in a given situation, and depending on the gifts of each us. But like those given in our lessons, our testimony bears faithful witness to God when we testify not for our own glory, but for the sake of others beloved by God. What will be the nature and impact of your testimony this day?

Widows, in biblical times, if they didn’t have next of kin to depend upon, were often among the poorest and most destitute of society. To their credit, church leaders made a point, early on, to develop a ministry specifically to care for widows in their community. For us today, the biblical care for widows symbolizes the modern Christian’s call to minister among any who are marginalized by social rank, physical ability, economic status, gender or age.

Tabitha (a.k.a. Dorcas) was a disciple of Christ who testified by accompanying a community of widows. Her work is summed up in this passage with the line, “She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.” We know that one of the ways she bore witness to Christ’s love was to make clothes for her widowed friends, which clearly made a difference in their lives. For they raised these garments in testimony when their voices were choked by tears of grief. Peter was so moved by the bond between Tabitha and these widows that he deemed her absence by death unacceptable. Clearly her work among them was not yet finished.

This passage is so frustratingly brief that I can’t help but imagine, with 21^st Century vision, what all Tabitha’s presence might have meant among this cohort of women. Maybe she not only made clothing for them, but taught them – or helped them recover their own will and ability – to create what they needed for daily living. Perhaps, like a good community organizer, she accompanied and mentored them as they discovered their own gifts for leadership. Once restored to life, she could continue to encourage and cajole them as they identified their needs as well as cultivated their own assets. Together she and these once dependent women could continue to build strategies in order to gain what they needed for the abundant life God intended them to live.

What a vision of heavenly glory the seer of Revelation provides for us! The “great multitude” standing before the throne of the Lamb testifies with grateful thanksgiving to God for their eternal salvation. But what earthly good does this vision provide to us who continue on our terrestrial journey? Well, for one thing, it paints a clear picture of how God intends all life to be – both here and beyond this worldly realm.

Some of us already experience relative ease and abundance. Heaven might seem like a familiar place for those who have known the good life here on earth. But why should the wait be such a drag, which it is to so many whose “great ordeal” persists day by day? Life on earth should provide a flavorful “foretaste of the feast to come.” God puts us here in part to enjoy God’s abundant gifts of life and in part to assure that all God’s beloved enjoy those gifts as well.

So the images from this text that describe what the atmosphere will be like around the throne of the Lamb can help direct our ministry among our neighbors today. These images can help us identify the critical issues at hand, around which we can take action: peace and unity among peoples of every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages; adequate shelter and housing for all; broad access to nutritious food and clean drinking water; a pervasive quality of life such that joy is a familiar experience for all our neighbors and grief is less persistent and is met with companionship and compassion. When we do all we can to bring such a vision to life, we bear powerful testimony to the Lamb and to the One who sits on the throne.

“The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me.” That’s how Jesus responds when asked for clarity about his identity. Can we say the same? We may go regularly to church. We may call ourselves “Christian” without hesitation, even in mixed company. We might even be veritable prayer warriors! But what if we were asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are a follower of Christ, tell us plainly”? In fact, this reminds me of a question (which may have started as a bumper sticker!) that has gotten some play in contemporary Christian circles: “If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Taking Jesus’ lead, what behavior of ours would we point to that would testify to our Christian identity?

Let’s review the works Jesus is referring to that he claims testify to his identity as the Messiah. So far in John’s narrative Jesus has provided an abundance of fine wine at a wedding party, cleansed the temple of money changers and merchants, healed a royal official’s son as well as a paralytic afflicted for thirty-eight years, fed a crowd of five thousand seekers, intervened to stop the stoning of a woman caught in adultery, and given sight to a man born blind. Not surprisingly, these actions relate to issues of justice, wellness, sustenance, and promote fuller access to rich community life, joy and abundance. Choose any of these areas that appeal to you and for which you have energy, find some partners, and go to work, all along building evidence for your conviction!

A couple of caveats: (1) Lutherans rightly insist, with Pauline theology soundly behind us, that it is not our good works that save us, but rather God’s saving acts in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. That’s not the argument I’m revisiting here, nor why I’m encouraging faith-driven action. Let’s be clear: any good works we do, as Jesus did, rather are our way of bearing testimony to our faith in God and carrying out our call as God’s partners and agents in the world, for the sake of all that God cherishes. And (2) I can’t help but note that several of Jesus’ actions put him at considerable personal risk; so don’t be shy about your own level of engagement!

This passage marks a large shift in the narrative. We are told in Acts 1:8 that the disciples would be witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and to the “ends of the earth.” Acts 1-8 narrates the first two movements. Acts 9 tells of Saul’s call to the Gentiles, and Acts 10 and 11 tell the story of the first Gentile convert. The rest of the book is occupied with the story of the spread of the Christian message across the Roman Empire.

Several features of the story point to its import. It is the longest narrated story in the entire book (66 verses; the second longest, Paul’s journey to Rome, is told in 63 verses). It is centrally located in the book. Visions and divine guidance move the narrative forward (Acts 2:17, citing Joel, tells us that visions and dreams will be signs of God’s activity and throughout the books dreams and visions guide key movements in the narrative). The point of the two chapters is well summarized by Peter’s rhetorical question in 10:17, “Who was I that I could hinder God?” The response of the other disciples affirms the conclusion: “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

So what does this text have to do with hunger? Too often the many “isms” of life (racism, classism, sexism, etc.) conspire against those who are poorest and most vulnerable. For example, according to Bread for the World, in the United States, one in four African Americans lives in poverty, compared to one in eight of the rest of the population. More than one in three African American children under 18 live below the federal poverty line (compared to one in five of the rest of the population). Around the world, women and children are the ones who suffer the most from extreme poverty.

This text marks a huge shift in the thinking of the disciples on how to treat those who were different than them. It was through visions and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that they began to see the work that God was up to. The barriers were just as real then as they are now. What might God be calling us to do today?

Revelation 21:1-6
This passage reminds us that God will redeem this earth and offers the promise that one day God’s reign will bring justice. There will be no place for sorrows as God wipes away every tear from the eyes of God’s people (21:4). In many ways this text underscores what God is about—working on behalf of God’s people, and restoring the good earth God created. As has been observed in many of the Easter texts, this world matters, as do people’s concrete struggles within it. It is a reminder to us to care for each other and the creation. God is in the business of redemption and invites us to participate in redemptive acts.

The mark of God’s people will be the love they have for one another. The commandment to love as Jesus loved comes just after Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. It also immediately follows Jesus’ interaction with Judas (even his betrayer was welcome at his table). To love as Jesus loved is to care for those who are poor and vulnerable. By doing this others will know we are Christ’s disciples.