SCROLL DOWN FOR SEPTEMBER 12 AND SEPTEMBER 19

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 12, 2010 (Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Complementary Series
Exodus 32:7-14

In this passage Moses reminds God of God’s promise (even though God’s promise would not have been forfeited had God followed through—Moses too was one of Abraham’s children). Moses “stands in the gap” for a wayward people and pleads for God’s mercy, and amazingly God relents. Who of God’s people needs God’s mercy this week? What injustices should we call to God’s attention? Could we change God’s mind today?

Psalm 51:1-10
1 Timothy 1:12-17

Luke 15:1-10

These familiar parables are often remembered as the prologue to the Prodigal Son. The three parables work together to answer the criticism that the Pharisees and scribes brought against Jesus. The issue in the dispute is who will be welcomed into Jesus’ fellowship. Jesus is welcoming tax collectors and sinners and letting them listen to him. Jesus defends his action by likening it to someone who lost something very valuable (the first is about a shepherd who lost his sheep and, in typical Lukan fashion, the second is about a woman who lost a coin. Jesus welcomes sinners and tax collectors because of their inherent value irrespective of their history or background. In terms of hunger, this passage reminds us of the open arms we are to have. Just as Jesus welcomed all people, so too our ministries to the whole person should be welcoming and affirming. Who has not been welcomed? What people have we struggled to serve? What new relationships and ministries might God be calling us into?

David Creech

Director of Hunger Education, ELCA World Hunger

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Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!

September 19, 2010 (Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost)

Complementary Series
Amos 8:4-7

Nearly 3,000 years after Amos first prophesied to Israel his message can still be a challenge to God’s people today. Throughout the book Amos challenges the religious leaders to remember those who are vulnerable. He often points out their willingness to live according to religious rules while refusing to look out for those who are poor. In the present text Amos points out the contradiction in the strict observance of Sabbath while trampling on those who are needy. In our current context, in what ways do we do the same? How might God be calling us to examine our highest values? Are there ways in which we today value our worship or traditions or buildings more than caring for those who are hungry?

Psalm 113 (7)

The refrain of this weeks psalm (v. 7) reminds us of God’s redemptive care for those who are marginalized and oppressed. Since this is what God is about, we as God’s people should be about it to!

1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16:1-13

David Creech

Director of Hunger Education, ELCA World Hunger