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Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!
 
The lessons for each Sunday in this new 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!
 
December 2, 2007
First Sunday of Advent
 
First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Second Reading: Romans 13:11-14
Gospel: Matthew 24:36-44
 
 
STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES
 
Today’s lessons signal both the start of a new (liturgical) year and the ending of an old (calendar) year. Betwixt and between, you get to preach today’s sermon as though caught in the middle of one month’s nearly surreal time machine. Backward and forward, stuck in neutral, clutch disengaged, time to think in all three verb tenses at the same time. A wonderful time to be a preacher!
 
 
Peaceful laws from the Capital
·         Hunger is caused by wars and other civil strife, not all of them of the same intensity. Wherever “the common good” is threatened – by any kind of physical or psychological violence – poverty prospers and hunger spreads.
·         Like a new cold virus or the damage from a cyclone, hunger continues unabated because violent people use violent means to achieve their goals.
·         An easy target for finger-pointing: Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan or some other place “over there.” (They’re not Christians, you know.)
·         A more difficult target for questions about peace: Our own nation’s centers of power and decision-making.
·         Most difficult: Our own seeking after peace and peaceful laws in the metaphorical capitals of our own identities.
·         Both the First Lesson and Psalm envision the glory and serenity of a nation – or perhaps your own identity? – in which peace is assured by peace-fulfilling laws. How joyful, how calming, how worthy of God-praise.
·         As Lutheran Christians, we do that peace-bringing. (Hello, other beloved readers! Your faith communities likely do the same thing!)  Little glimmers of insistence and invitation toward peace are found in the ELCA Hunger Program. Grants to peace-making organizations like Lutheran Peace Fellowship, our presence at the United Nations, our state and Washington, DC public policy advocates – all evidence of this church’s deep yearning – and working – for peace. 
·         Internationally, we are connected with non-governmental agencies (NGOs) and world-spanning organizations – such as Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches -- that consistently stave off violence and bring former enemies to negotiating tables. (Look for news soon about the fact that the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda has come to public gatherings of other Ugandans, asking for forgiveness. Google “reconciliation in Uganda” to see how forgiveness is being granted!)
·         Peace is not just the obvious kind – the cessation or diminution hostility – but also the calming and curbing of any form of violence within the human spirit. 
·         Like you and your congregations, we call into question the self-important violence-bringers; we advocate for justice without ourselves becoming examples of violent opinion-mongers; we love our enemies and pray for those whose spirits are defaulted toward war and war-like attitudes.
·         Peace is always a three-tense activity: Looking back at violence- and vengeance-deserving hostility towards ourselves; forgiving it now, and living forgiven into the future. 
·         Welcome to the Time Machine of Advent!
 
 
Working for the national good
·         Also embedded in most of the lessons for this day is the subtle message that peace – or any of its family members – comes from our individual and collective working for the good of this country.
·         Not as mindless “patriotism”, of course. Chauvinism and flag-waving have never been worthy synonyms for patriotism.
·         In these lessons – on this backwards- and forward-looking Sunday – the past crashes into the future if we forget how God is working -- with us as partners -- to make our nation more capable of fulfilling God’s will.
·         A sense of the greater good – “nationalism” at its best? – compels us to seek God’s will, past the senseless greed of consumerism or individualism that fouls our nests and addles our social brains.
·         How can we praise a God – of peace-bringing laws – when we let slide our civic responsibilities, ignore what’s happening around us (good and not-so-good), let egoistic or just-plain-mean leaders hold sway over the affairs of town, county, state or country?
·         Does God love us and this country? Yes, as surely as God loves the whole world, including other countries. (cf. the broad sweep of “world” in John 3:16.)
·         Before us on this day are opportunities for that greater good – if only in remembering the poor in our collecting together blankets and clothing and money for food purchases. Before us are opportunities to remember how short the time is – see later here – and opportunities to pray for our leaders.
·         In this denomination we have special opportunities to participate fully in learning and acting about national priorities, particularly those that most affect people who are poor. We have an office in Washington, DC, and in over twenty state capitals across the country – see www.elca.org/advocacy for starters -- and so engage leaders of all stripes in the common good.
·         And come to think of it, wouldn’t “common good” and “the national good” lie somewhere within the broad definition of God’s will for the world?
 
 
Waking up with your clothes on
·         The people who sleep with their clothes on include the following: Boy Scouts, refugees, people who are homeless and soldiers. As you prepare for and preach this sermon, there are people all over the world sleeping in this fashion – most likely fitfully – and deserving of your prayers.
·         They sleep this way because they are ready for what will come when they awake. (And because they may have no other choice.)
·         In these days of looking backward and forward to imagine the end of the world – an Advent theme you can’t escape, yes? – it’s time to sleep with our “clothes” on. (See Romans 13:14.)
·         And just what WOULD those “clothes” be? The spirit of Christ, like long underwear or a form-fitting sweater, sticking to our spirits so that we don’t fall into the silly behaviors of folks who shop-and-surely-drop. So that we don’t become like people who are not mindful of the slow creep of civilization towards anarchy or the steady deterioration of the environment.
·         “Wake up!” is more than the start of a rousing German chorale; it’s the start of a call to action among God’s willful people, moving towards God’s will wherever they can lay their hands and focus their minds.
·         “Wake up!” means to look at the times we are in. Besides a-changin’, these times are wending their way toward certain precipices, box canyons and yawning traps. (At the time of this writing, a UN task force has just issued a far more certain and sobering assessment of global warming’s effects.)
·         “Wake up!” means sober and repentant reflection. “Wake up!” means remembering our utterly beggardly status before God and God’s blessing hand. “Wake up!” means utter and complete thanks for whatever we have and whoever we are. “Wake up!” means complete and overwhelming generosity towards the world.
·         So, with our “clothes” on – the Spirit of a soon-to-come-again Messiah – we give our lives away, our contributions of time and money. We pour out our wallets and our calendars so that the world God loves will know that love by our actions.
·         It’s morning, for Heaven’s sake! What a wonderful time to wake up!
 
Always be ready (Version 1)
·         I think a lot about the Gospel for this day – and wonder just where “good news” might be found in it. You’ve seen my ponderings about the slow freight train of civilization’s collapse, and perhaps your spirit has also included these questions. What you haven’t seen, perhaps, is how I traverse that chasm to get to the other side: How to be ready for what surely will come.
·         In the Gospel for this day – most likely eschatological and not about the coming destruction of Jerusalem by the dominant war machine of that era – Jesus warns about sudden changes.
·         He also sues and soothes our minds with the injunction to be ready for what may come.
·         Students of change talk about the ways in which trends curve along slow progressions to sudden drops or rises. Because change ripples and gathers like foam at the edge of a polluted stream, what one day seems inconsequential could the next day be a major problem, and on the following day be an overwhelmingly deadly reality.
·         If cataclysm this way comes, then what’s the place of readiness? Repentantly, we do more than slog on, mindless creatures of habit doing only what The Boss asks. Repentant and forgiven, we stand straight again, refusing to bow under the weight of worry or be cowed by Jeremiahs. Repentant, forgiven and equipped, we stride out into the light of day and work toward justice and what’s right for more people than those just like us.
·         The good news of God in Christ Jesus may always be “you get to work in spite of what’s coming.” Because we do NOT fear death, we can also trust the rippling and foaming of our own Christ-like lives. We can trust “viral change” to also include the growing sense – among youth and young adults – that the world doesn’t have to keep deteriorating. We have the God-given capabilities to be ready to respond immediately. When it comes to getting God’s work done, we are already Ready People.
 
Always be ready (Version 2)
·         Earthquakes in Chile and the rest of the Ring of Fire, floods in Mexico and the Upper Midwest, an horrific cyclone in Bangladesh, charred hillsides in California and Greece, the continuing effects of Hurricane Katrina – the world is full of natural and human disasters. We call them “natural” because they occur in nature, but also because they seem to be a continual part of daily life.
·         For those affected – and in a way, we are all affected always – these disasters are literally “the end of the world as we know it.”
·         But wait, there’s good news a-comin’.
·         As a Lutheran Christian you should know that, along with countless other partners, your church’s disaster readiness is continual, continuing and constant.
·         Lutheran Disaster Response – a continuing pan-Lutheran effort – covers this country with a blanket of state coordinators, literally hundreds of Lutheran social service agencies, and countless volunteers. Relationships with government agencies and other disaster-ready agencies are already in place. Contributions of generous donors like you are at ready, and also working right now. In increasing numbers of congregations, people are getting ready for the strong possibilities of disasters in their own communities.
·         Through your participation with Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran World Federation – and THEIR worldwide partners – you are always “on the ground” within hours of any disaster anywhere in the world. (After the Christmas 2005 tsunami, Indian Lutheran Christians were present on the East Coast of India within 12 hours!)
·         For years after a disaster, long-term assistance continues in the lives of those affected by the disaster. (LDR’s response to the Oklahoma City bombings lasted nearly ten years!)
·         Do you understand these amazing facts? Let me offer them to you in one sentence: By God’s grace and your generous contributions of time and money, we ARE ready! (Okay, it was a long sentence, but necessarily so . . . )
·         Thanks be to God!
·         And let’s keep at this godly work together!
 
STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES
 
1.       This might be a good Sunday to collect materials for one of the Lutheran World Relief kits – school kits and health kits -- each of which has a strong use during times of disaster. By collecting these resources, LWR helps care-givers to always be ready!   (Visit www.lwr.org for further information. As part of the time with children, talk about how the kits help answer the question, “Are you ready (for disaster)?”
2.       This might also be a good Sunday to play with “Wake up!” as a familiar part of children’s lives. Pretend to wake sleeping children – to protect them – or to use the expression as a metaphor for seeing clearly what’s happening in the world. How do God’s children see what others might have missed “because they have been sleeping”? What do they look for?
3.       I like the image in Romans of Christ being as close as the clothes you’re wearing. If it’s wintry where you are, you might show children tights or long underwear or any clothing that stays close to them. How does the example of Jesus’ life help keep them from forgetting God’s wishes and will? What if they are wearing some other “clothes”?
4.       I’m trying to avoid the easily horrific images of the end of the world that permeate these lessons; I hope you can, too, because these things can scare children. Or maybe not . . . .
5.       “Peace” can become a nice thematic direction for children, using a list of synonyms for “peace” as an exercise, and a bowl of water as your object lesson. (Yes, you can figure out how peace synonyms play out with water!)
 
 
STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS
1.       The lessons for this day contrast “the peaceable Kingdom” images of the Old Testament readings with the “end of the world” emphases of the New Testament readings. How do the two emphases compare with each other? (HINT: End of the world thoughts didn’t emerge in Judaism right away.) How do the two emphases play out in participants’ lives?
2.       In recent years there have been many dire warnings about end-of-life-as-we-know-it events – meteors, global warming, WWIII, the collapse of the global economy. How do participants’ think about these matters? What do these thoughts compel them to do? Where in those thoughts do generosity and love for others still survive or prosper?
3.       Why would Jesus be such a sourpuss or wet blanket in the Gospel reading? (Look at the context for some thoughts.) Why are modern-day prophets saying similar things? What should we think of them?
4.       You could take apart the Psalm and the First Reading for their implications about nations that seek, promote or promulgate peace throughout the world. If you’re worried about the discussion getting partisan or “political,” try framing it back in Old Testament times only, keeping in mind the thoughts of those might have written these ideas, and those of the first hearers or readers. What were THEIR reactions? Why?
5.       If today is a dark day – literally, because of weather or time change – ask participants about the value of “dark thoughts” among God’s people. What do these thoughts engender? How do they constrict or detract from ministry? Why even thing or utter such thoughts?
 
NEW FEATURE FOLLOWS!!!
 
STARTER FOUR: ACTION STEPS
1.       Assemble materials for LWR Kits, and put them together as a group.
2.       Write letters – of thanks or warning? – to local or global leaders about the state of the world, and your encouragement for them to keep God’s will (for the poor) in mind as they govern or lead.
3.       Read together a book such as Collapse: Why Some Societies Choose and Others Succeed by Jared Diamond, or Plan B 2.0 by Lester Brown.
4.       Write a litany of repentance – for the kind of lifestyles against which Paul and Jesus speak – for use in next Sunday’s worship.
5.       Commit to gathering funds for Lutheran Disaster Response.
6.       Read sections of today’s newspaper that connect with today’s lessons.
 

THE SENDOFF
Advent is upon us, a time between times that extracts from Fall the most important and delicate flavors of repentance and gratitude and generosity. This is a favorite season for me, one I wish would last longer and longer, so that we all could talk seriously about the meaning of life, and our joy in serving Christ. May your sermon help that to happen among those you love.

Bob Sitze, Director
ELCA Hunger Education
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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!
 
December 9, 2007
Second Sunday of Advent
 
First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10
Psalm 72:1-9, 15
Second Reading: Romans 15:4-13
Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
 
 
STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES
 
The Peaceable Kingdom
·         Do your hermeneutical homework before interpreting this passage, friend! Biological improbabilities layer on one another like peanut butter and pickles, and a host of familiar biblical images vie for the interpreter’s attention like kindergartners at Show-and-Tell time.
·         I want to focus on one segment of Isaiah’s vision, the part where the prophet imagines a king who deals fairly and justly with people who are poor.
·         Simply stated, there can’t be peace without justice. More than a faded bumper sticker on a vintage Volvo, this sentiment sums up a consistent part of God’s economia, God’s plan for the world.
·         It makes sense: If systemic hunger is to be obliterated there has to be peace. Deep peace, a kingdom that’s peaceful from its core to its skin. Forgiveness and love are at the root of peace, to be sure, but perhaps nothing happens until the king – the government in our times – is dedicated to the proposition that the barometer of peace is measured not just in cute animals doing their Disneyesque thing, but in how poor people are treated.
·         This “peace” thing is a little scary when it’s fragile or artificial – e.g., maintained only by military might or propped up by surface-level laws.
·         What characterizes peace is a Savior King – in any time and any place – who judges people fairly and honestly.
·         The Savior King comes soon – see the Matthew reading – for biblical audiences. For us today, the Savior King has already come, already established his rule and now asks us to follow in his governance, in his example. 
·         Christ-who-is-fair and who loves all, regardless of their appearances – this is the King we worship and emulate. This is the ruler to whom we will give our allegiance. 
 
Crushingly honest and fair
·         In both First Lesson and Psalm you get the strong Old Testament message – well-known to Jesus – that God demands and exemplifies honest justice. Given the default behaviors of rulers during those pre-Christ eons, it makes sense that psalmist and prophet would join in prayer/plea/praise for a ruler who insists that justice extend deeply into the social fabric, to the level of those easily trampled or ignored.
·         Both lessons also add the thought that God’s insistence comes as more than a gentle invitation. Some of the language around the theme of God’s justice gets just a little physical, and maybe even a little violent. (E.g., “crush” or see the Gospel’s “threshing and winnowing”.)
·         You get the picture from these lessons – and scores like them in the entire Scriptures – that the God who saves us all is also the God who has no patience for those who want to make the world their oyster, their playground, their pleasure-trove. God may not be willing to wait around for their conversion, the dawn of their awareness, their grudging compliance with God’s laws.
·         One of the thematic emphases on this day might be termed “John the Baptist Sunday.” Because he carried forward this godly insistence on class – and racial? – justice, Cousin John was the epitome of a firebrand God who wants to squash and squelch and sweep away those whose way of living squashes, squelches and sweeps away those who are poor. 
·         How’s that work with the ELCA Hunger program? Prophets abound in this church.  They may have names like Nessan, Johnson, Malpica-Padilla, Genszler, Mortha, Larson, Soto, Bennett, Glass, Basye, Bullock or Hanson. They may work in Chicago, Sioux Falls, Minot, Milwaukee, Sidney, Columbus, Sacramento, Baltimore or El Paso. Prophets may be as close to you as the pastor down the road apiece. They may write well, preach fiery sermons, ask hard questions, confront evil head-on, give their lives away in risky ministries. They may work in daily vocations outside the church.
·         Yes, “ELCA World Hunger” is comprised of thousands of prophetic voices – honest and fair – who crush evil every day, inside and outside of this church’s official programs. And today might be a good time to thank and encourage ALL whose work against hunger is strong, physical, insistent and effective. ALL who follow in the footsteps of John the Baptist.
·         And, John/Johanna, let me be the first to thank YOU!
 
Benedictions
·         The Romans lesson fairly oozes with benedictions – good words – for people perhaps beat down to the level of the pavement by their poverty, or in their work against poverty.
·         Read the lesson as a lexicon for writing benedictions, and see how you can use the words you find to form new benedictions for the John the Baptists in your own congregation.
·         In other words, make this a Sunday filled with good words, encouraging words, hopeful words. Person-to-person.
·         These are NOT “nice words”, but “good words,” encouragement and invitation to keep at the godly task of justice, truth, eliminating hunger and poverty.
·         For a sermon that folks will remember for its actions as well as its words, list all the useful and poignant words in this lesson. After your short sermonic introduction, ask worshipers to look around the sanctuary, thinking of the prophetic and caring work of other worshipers. Then folks can turn to people next to them, and offer homemade benedictions from the words you’ve listed from Romans.
·         After folks have circulated among other worshipers, repeating the customized benedictions, summarize the experience by calling for some comments from worshipers.
·         In the olden days – when I was a pup – this was called a “dialogue sermon.” Far out, dudes.
·         They worked then, they can work now. The people of God preaching to the people of God.
·         How to deal with the actual end-of-service benediction? Your problem, because I am only a sermon starter guy . . . .
 
Prophetic words match prophetic actions
·         So you want all God’s people to be prophets, do you? But what do prophets do when they get up in the morning? What do they say, and what do they wear? How do they behave?
·         John the Baptist may be a hard act to follow in complete form. But his words and actions can translate into these days, these settings, these people. Let’s try that here.
·         John the Baptist is not afraid; he separates himself out from the rest of society, but yet draws people to himself and his message. He lives simply, principled almost beyond description. His language is devoid of euphemisms, but rich in metaphors.  He engages in invective when necessary.  He challenges the present social, economic and religious systems.  He looks over the horizon, beyond himself and even beyond his message straight to the “mind of God”. He baptizes – an act of grace and of commissioning, even in those times. His audience includes poor people as well as the rich and the powerful – I’m drawing on the parallel accounts in other gospels – who are ready for something beyond “ordinary religion.” His message centers on repentance that breaks out of “attitude change” into “changed living.”  He is not afraid. (Yes, I’ve said that twice, for emphasis.)
·         Any of those ways of speaking or acting possible for people you know? How might “prophetic” already be happening in your congregation? And how could you encourage these words and behaviors in cirucmstances they are still only seeds in the ground? Youth ministry folks? People ready to tip away from unsustainably profligate lifestyles? Young adults looking for a church where something happens for the good of the world? 
·         One of the realities about prophetic words is that they have to be matched with prophetic actions. Isaiah rails against the political, social and spiritual powers of his day, but undoubtedly taking the risk of losing his position in the princely class. Amos probably leaves his trees and his livestock while prophesying up in Israel. Jeremiah spends time in disgrace – and in a pit – for his open mind and open mouth. 
·         To say this another way: Prophecy that tells OTHERS what THEY ought to do is probably not as effective as prophetic words that come from prophetic actions. 
·         All this by way of encouragement, not condemnation – I would be hoisted on my own petard if I did that. The people of your congregation are undoubtedly prophets – in small ways, perhaps – in many places. And they can be heartened by the example of John the Baptist.
 
STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES
1.       Find a copy – at your local library? – of the painting, The Peaceable Kingdom, by Quaker preacher, farmer and sign-maker Edward Hicks, whose insistence that Quakerism return to its simple roots made him a reformer. Show children the seemingly improbable circumstances that the Isaiah text portrays in metaphor, and think with the kids about what other improbable circumstances might characterize peace in their settings. (E.g., bullies changing their behavior; parents not fighting any more; street gangs putting away their weapons, Muslims and Christians working together to alleviate the effects of natural disasters, Bears’ fans not being persecuted for their abysmal season – Just checking to see if you’re still reading here.)
2.       Ask children this question about their lives, “Who do you know that is truthful and honest most of the time?” Ask them next what happens to those people when they are most always truthful and honest. Follow with some statements about God’s rule as truthful/honest ruler of all, and about prayers for that kind of just behavior on the part of political leaders in our times.
3.       To work with the obverse, summarize (and show?) Yertle the Turtle as an example of an unjust ruler who gets crushed (literally) by his unjust and dishonest actions.
4.       Another series of questions, closer to home: “What do you do or say when you see or hear something that’s very, very wrong? What happens next? Who helps you to be truthful and honest when you want to do something to change what’s wrong?” One comfort: God (and Jesus) work this way all the time.
 
 
STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS
1.       The painting, The Peaceable Kingdom, comes with quite a story behind it (and the other paintings with this name) because of the story of the colonial-era painter Edward Hicks. Google “The Peaceable Kingdom” and read some of the background for this painter’s work, especially his prophetic insistence on reforming Quakerism back to its original piety, forsaking worldly pleasures and status. After sharing some of the story with participants, talk about parallels in our time, perhaps how “religion” has been transformed by the general culture into something more American than Christian. (For background, skim The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith by Alan Wolfe.)
2.       Spend some time thinking together about the question of “peace in our times.” Stick as close to the Psalm and First Lesson as possible, using questions such as these:
3.       If you’ve taken the “all God’s people are prophets” angle, continue that frame of mind in the Bible conversation, using any of these prompts:
 
STARTER FOUR: ACTION STEPS
1.       In the prayers for this Sunday, include thanks for some (surprising) prophets close at hand, naming them and summarizing their prophetic work.
2.       Investigate the Web site of Lutheran Peace Fellowship (www.lutheranpeace.org) to find actionable ideas and resources.
3.       Look at the most recent “Good Gifts Catalog” -- in the hunger packet we sent you about three weeks ago -- to find projects that bring peace, directly or indirectly. Ask congregation members for their prayerful and financial participation in these projects.
4.       Ask a conflict resolution expert to come talk with your group about how “peace” is necessary and approachable in everyday life situations.
5.       Talk with someone over 60 years old who might have been a “peacenik” years ago. What was it like to advocate and work for peace during the days of seemingly imminent nuclear destruction or the VietNam war?
6.       Read and think about Luther’s take on the idea of “just war”. (Yes, you can Google it and see what comes up.)
7.       Spend personal time – lunch/dinner/an evening – with a recent refugee from a country where war has torn apart the social fabric. Ask good questions, and think about the application of this person’s answers to this country’s present state of mind.


THE SENDOFF
Dense plane-grounding fog covers the landscape as I write this – the spawn of global warming and brother or sister of fog in a variety of places on the weather map? I’m a Californian by nativity, and so am familiar with fog in its many forms. But this one feels ominous – it’s autumn on the calendar but with summer-ish air. Perhaps this is a sign, a prophetic atmospheric reminder of the materialistic haze that covers our brains at this time of year. Or perhaps the fog covers a multitude of sins, and is therefore a sign of forgiveness! In any case, it tempts me to mindfulness, to quiet and to gratitude for all God’s prophecies and signs in the air. A blessing for my sometimes-rushed schedule. Thanks be to God . . . .

Bob Sitze, Director
ELCA Hunger Education