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!

In the sermon starters for this week I will consider the passages assigned for Easter 7 and the Ascension. The corresponding day will be listed next to the passage. Power is a major theme in today’s readings. The ascension imagery is often dominated by the power of resurrection leading to a heavenly life, yet the language of Jesus reveals a power yet to come, and that is clearly for life and ministry here.

Jesus comes into the world humbly, and aside from a visit by some shepherds, with little fanfare. His leaving is quite the juxtaposition, with a crowd of onlookers and disciples who wonder what to make of this. Yet he leaves with a promise of the coming Spirit and imparts them with the task of witnessing “to the ends of the earth.” This text reminds us that we are leaning toward Pentecost where we celebrate the gift of the Spirit given to Christ’s followers.

We are reminded that the work we do in the world, the ministries in which we participate are done in community by people who have been given the Holy Spirit in their lives. This promise of the Spirit does not lead us into timidity when considering such forces as hunger and poverty in the world. Rather, it is sufficient for our witness, wherever that takes us.

It comes as no surprise that the imagery used here (and throughout the scriptures) for the faithful followers of God is one of growth and fruitfulness. It would be hard to imagine this imagery having any effect if the blessing of fruit and harvest were not a reality. The connections between blessing and abundance hardly need explaining, but for the faithful who live without abundance, especially of the agricultural or economic kind, texts like this one may well be difficult to hear. But through the resurrection we see the economy of God is different— making alive that which is not, and making hope flourish in the most unlikely of places.

Knowing that God has called us to a new hope and inheritance is at the core of the gospel. One of the ways our evangelical message connects with justice is in the proclamation of this new hope for all people. Hunger (especially chronic hunger) and poor nutrition are enemies of hope. The naming of these allows us to envision what the power of the resurrection and ascension means for our life in the world rather than our life apart from the world.

In these epistle readings for the past few weeks we have been following the theme of connecting theology to practice. The certainty of the testimony of Christ to which the author urges the audience to cling should give us the rationale we need to respond to hunger in the world. We need no other theology. Still, we will need to continue to connect theology with our action in the world, confident that this life we have in the Son is a life that is lived now.

Following Jesus’ death his disciples were under the power of sadness and fear. Luke notes the dramatic shift when the disciples encounter the resurrected Christ and are told that they will be “clothed with power from on high.” It is no secret that we live in a world of competing powers and we only need to look at what we buy and how we spend our time to be aware of how the powers of this world affect us.

Do we see ourselves as being clothed with the power from on high? What does this power do in the world, or through what acts/behaviors is it made known? These questions should draw our attention to our lives of discipleship and our understanding of injustices in the world. Jesus reminds his followers of the promise that is for all nations. The good news of Christ stands in stark contrast to the power hunger has on people’s lives. One way to preach the ascension is to de-emphasize the “up there” direction of a future-oriented heavenly existence and to instead focus on the power shift which the good news of Christ proclaims. The latter is concerned more with the powers of this world, how our lives are lived in the midst of it, and what becomes of our life together.

Jesus has his followers in mind in this prayer. He prays twice for their protection (vv.11,15) and also for their sanctification (consecration). This works in a couple different aspects: 1) Jesus imagined that his departure would leave them vulnerable, in need, and without a shepherd, 2) he had been sent into the world and was now sending them (v.18). Sanctification and sending go hand in hand, so once again we have an opportunity to make the connection between mission and discipleship. The preacher is then prepared to delve into the “how then shall we live?” question that speaks to the shape of our weekly lives in response to the world.

Today’s readings illustrate how the scriptures offer different depictions of the gift of the Spirit. While Acts shows the inclusivity of the spirit, Ezekiel directs us to its restorative power, and John instructs us about the spirit’s guidance in our lives. As these readings are heard along side one another, we begin to understand the necessity of the spirit for Christian life and witness.

In our congregations we often seek competent readers for vv.9-11. The naming of these ethnicities reveals the author’s concern that this new power from on high be known for its inclusive nature (vv.17-18, 21). The rest of the book of Acts (and the New Testament) is devoted to revealing what the power of the Spirit does (or doesn’t do as evidenced by the discontent expressed in certain epistles). While attention is often (rightly) devoted to the gift of the Spirit, it is worth mentioning that our lives are lived within the work of the Spirit. This effects and guides our ministries, so that we can ask “how are we witnessing to the reality of this blessing, especially in a hungry world?”

Ezekiel is taken to a valley of dry bones, a place whose very description could rationalize an absence of hope. If the question doesn’t come from God it sounds ridiculous: “can these bones live?” The question brings to mind the pain of the exile, but the following word promising this breath (spirit) of God portends the restoration of God’s people.

It would not be difficult to think of the valleys of dry bones in this world. This particular reading draws to our attention the restorative power of the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. As a people of faith, when we seek to bring to light the root causes of hunger and poverty in the world, we do so proclaiming that God’s spirit is at work in the world, creating new life and hope.

This psalm honors what God has done/is doing in creation, with the reflection: “These all look to you to give them their food in due season; when you give to them, they gather it up.” The reminder of the provision of God echoes the Ezekiel reading by showing that God cares for ongoing life: God creates and renews. This also parallels the Lord’s Prayer for God to give us (and keep giving us) our daily bread. God provides food in due season, yet we live in a world where famine, drought and unequal distribution are realities that afflict large populations. While these occasions may raise questions about divine action, we must also raise the issue of resource allocation, consumption and waste, factors which are influenced by human sinfulness.

The image of creation in labor pains is a poignant one for addressing the struggles we face in this world and the hope of what is to come. As Paul connects the work of the Spirit to the hope to come, he does so in a way that involves the spirit intimately with our earthly experience.

Knowing that the Spirit intercedes for us, how do we respond to those who are hungry and in need in this world? Let’s not overlook the danger in the line of thinking which may lead us to the conclusion that since the Spirit intercedes for us or that since creation is in labor pains, there is not much more we can do. But the love of God shown to us in Christ reaches into our lives. At the core of the gospel is a risky love- which calls us to reach out to and advocate for our brothers and sisters in need.

The “spirit of truth” suggests the close association between the spirit of God and the testimony of the prophets. Indeed Jesus prays that the spirit “will guide you into all truth” (16:12), which presumably means not just a truth to live into but one to proclaim as well. This leads Jesus’ followers not only to witness about him, but in the activity of having a prophetic voice in the world.

How as a church can we claim this prophetic voice and become tuned into the guidance and leading of the spirit? Can we also trust that this is a spirit that leads us forward, into the work of justice?