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!

This passage starts with uncertainty. Abram, though victorious in battle, doesn’t see how he will have an heir to this great nation that God will make of him. But after a reiteration of the promise and look up at a starry sky, uncertainty is replaced by trust. The account of Abraham believing the promise is important in Paul’s understanding of Abraham (Romans 4) and an understanding of faith in Lutheran theology. In our congregations and personal lives we may see that we are not so different from Abraham. Like him, we can look around at what we have and trust that God is providing. But we can also look at what we do not have (and what our neighbors do not have), and wonder about God’s provision. What connections can be made between trust in God and having our needs met? What promise are we clinging to, and how do we see trust in that promise affecting our lives?

This psalm paints a picture of a God who watches from a distance, though perhaps intervening intermittently—fashioning hearts (v.15) and sustaining lives in the midst of famine (v.19). But there is also the tradition in Christian theology of a God who is very much a part world, moving through everyday interactions. Modern thought has galvanized both depictions of God. What is to be gained from each? And how might we best witness to Christ as the “Word made flesh” in our ministry and mission, especially when we are addressing issues of divine action in the world?

This Hebrews passage lends itself well to talk about the journey of faith. This is a new journey, where one does not necessarily know the road ahead, but at the same time experiences some assurance of a promise. The author of Hebrews indicates that this journey is one away from complacency—leaving the known and the safe because we are convinced of something God has done and is doing. How might this inspire us beyond settling for the tired “God has a plan for your life” message? What is a deeper and more evocative invitation?

After the warning against putting our trust in wealth Jesus follows with a message for any who might wonder where this leaves us: “Do not worry.” The promise of God’s glad willingness to give us the kingdom should be enough for us to exchange what we have for the things that do not wear out. Living in this promise is not just propping our feet up and living in an easy truth. As Jesus explains, it is living in active watchfulness. It is living as though we are waiting for the return of the master—where we are ready to open the door for the one who comes.

The warning at the end of this passage is somewhat foreboding. The warning about wealth earlier in the chapter is expanded here where a posture of watchfulness is suggested. How are we to live without worry and maintain watchfulness?