SCROLL DOWN FOR July 28, 2013
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!
July 28, 2013 Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 18:20-32
We are let in on some decision making dialogue at the beginning of this passage of whether or not Abraham should be in the know. The Lord decides that Abraham, who has been called to live a life of righteousness and justice, should hear the declaration against the towns. We are not told if Abraham has any personal investment in Sodom or Gomorrah, nor are we told why Abraham begins bargaining with God. But it does seem like Abraham is living up to his calling of doing righteousness and justice if one of the ways of doing so is advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves, or on behalf of the innocent who would be caught up in the judgment. Abraham had in mind the lives of others, many of whom he probably didn’t know. How could this story influence our understanding of mission in our communities?
Psalm 138
In the midst of a psalm of thanksgiving, praise is given to God who regards the lowly. God’s care for the lowly is not an “oh by the way” attribute of God’s character, but it is a central to the faith of Israel and activity of God.
Luke 11:1–13
“Give us each day our daily bread,” is one line in the Lord’s Prayer that could be unpacked a bit more. There is one sense in which it could be taken to mean “our bread for tomorrow,” but it is an interesting thing to ask for bread for tomorrow today. But the petition shows a reliance on God’s provision, acknowledging the need for God today and in the days to come.
Jesus then lays out a scenario in which a neighbor in need of food comes to another. Jesus identifies the neighbor who will not give out of kindness, but who will give so that he will no longer be bothered. The point being that if even we, “who are evil,” can give to one another, how much more can we rely on the grace of God. Attention to this daily bread that God gives opens us not only to our own need, but the needs of our neighbors around us too.
Henry Martinez
ELCA World Hunger
