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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 23, 2007

Fourth Sunday of Advent

First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-16

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Second Reading: Romans 1:1-7

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES

Delivering a nation

· People may suffer alone from hunger – and poverty, its basic cause – but most likely hunger and injustice prevail over entire societies, entire nations. A question from today’s First Reading might be: How does God deliver a nation?

· Below-Average and Too-Young King Ahaz faced deliverance needs with a political solution, basically an alliance with an imagined super-power.

· His face-to-face meeting with the prophet Isaiah – and Isaiah’s aptly named son? – yielded a different oracle from God: Don’t trust in anyone but God. Not what the young king wanted to hear.

· Isaiah’s “sign” – commentators are all over the map on its exact nature and meaning – is clearly godly, opposed to notions of deliverance that are faithless.

· “God With Us” – the king’s coming son, a small- or large-m “messiah” or Isaiah’s boy? – is fairly clear, though: God delivers, not our Assyrian friends. (Oh, by the way: Ahaz DID make the alliance with Assyria and proceeded to set up worship facilities for their wonderful gods. Big A apostacy as the result of little-a alliances?)

· Thus, faith in God is a pre-emptive or preeminent quality of deliverance. And perhaps the gifts of the Spirit that accompany faith or are derived from it. (E.g., trust, love, patience)

· You can see this work on in several places in the world, with South Africa as a primary example. (There, forgiveness triumphed over post-apartheid revenge.) A current example is Uganda, where Lutheran World Federation projects are helping that country turn from intra-tribal warfare to forgiveness. Check www.elca.org/readytoforgive to see this amazing story. (Big-w Wow!)

· How might we learn --- from Ahaz, Isaiah or Africans – how to seek deliverance for our own nation in these times? How do repentance and forgiveness lead us to Jesus, Big-M Messiah?

The state of the nation

· Advent comes to an end today, and perhaps it’s the last time to take stock of the nature of things. Perhaps it would be good to see how our nation stacks up compared to the situation(s) in today’s texts.

· In the Psalm and First Reading, you get the picture of a nation in peril – or at the point of destruction. The Matthew text takes place in an occupied country, and Paul writes to Christians scattered to all corners of an empire.

· When it comes to social justice, how does our nation compare and how can we be characterized? What percent of our GDP goes to non-military aid? What percentage to humanitarian efforts? How has this nation responded to global warming, peace between warring nations, self-determination? How does our brand of “empire” help bring about God’s will for justice?

· These are neutral questions about important matters, but our stock-taking may find our nation coming up short in some places. Or perhaps we even find ourselves beset by the same kinds of fears or terrors as confounded Ahaz or the psalmist.

· “Turn back to God” is a call to repentance that is never easy to voice or proclaim, but perhaps that’s the word of God on this day, especially when we look face-to-face at a coming Messiah whose birth happened in circumstance of refugee poverty, at the hands of an oppressive empire.

· Good news? God’s deliverance always happens when and how we least expect it.

What’s a Messiah for?

· I often wonder how well-dressed, self-sufficient and comfortable Christians can honestly sing “Amazing Grace” – unless, of course, they HAVE been lost and were found. Possible, but perhaps not true for most of us.

· The same dynamic may operate with “messiah” – the one who saves. If we already save ourselves, what meaning does the word messiah have for us. If we’re already comfortable and secure, what deliverance do we actually seek?

· (There’s a dark side to that question in some communities, filled with shuttered homes and protected by walls and gates: We seek deliverance from all the poor people out there, who terrify us by their desperate state and frighten us with their needs that won’t go away after we distribute the Christmas baskets.)

· Perhaps King Ahaz teaches us the folly of self- or other-reliance. Perhaps we need the same kind of terror that afflicted the people singing Psalm 80. Perhaps we need saving from our addictions to possessions, to pleasure, to “more”.

· People who are poor, oppressed, suffering, hungry, and beaten down? They understand the question and yearn for its answers: A home to call their own, a community that welcomes them as more than “illegals”, a job that pays a living wage, food on their table that doesn’t make them sick, recognition of their rights, power to make their own decisions, a nation that rallies around their gifts instead of their needs.

· A subsidiary question, then, might be this: Who, then, is the Messiah really for? Does Christ come to closed doors and wait to get in? Does salvation sit, like an unopened present, never used by over-fed and over-stressed people? Does God’s deliverance drill through our complacency, our self-dishonesty, our fears until we realize our own poverty?

· Hard questions, even for a messiah . . . .

STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

1. On several large pieces of construction paper, letter a small, medium-size and large letter M. Show the children these wonderful letters, talk briefly about some “m” words, and then introduce “Messiah” as a word from today’s lessons. Explain the idea of “little-m Messiah” (Hardly any need for deliverance), and “Big-M Messiah” (Oboy, we really need some big-time help here!) Middle-size m is in-between. Now portray some situations in which rescue is needed, and ask children what kind of salvation/rescue/deliverance they think is needed in that situation. Think of situations that are concrete – I got lost in the market; someone who has lots of toy and wants more of them; a kid whose parents have been killed in a war; people with only enough food for one more meal – and move quickly through the “voting” about the size of Messiah needed. (Be sure to include one or more situations where people are self-satisfied and might not need any rescue.) The Big Point: When it comes to rescue, Christ is the Big-M Messiah, who delivers entire countries and lots of people. He also can accomplish the big deliverances when it comes to individuals, too. End with a prayer of thanks for every rescue God brings about; perhaps even praying for a rescue/deliverance that’s close at hand for your congregation,

2. Demonstrate the idea of a nation pleading for deliverance by herding the children together into a big group, wrapping a rope (snow fence?) around the entire group, and then telling them that you are completely in charge of them, are NOT going to feed them or let them sleep or have any friends; and they may not talk unless you ask a question. After a few moments of silence, your questions: How’s it feel in there? How are you going to feel when Christmas comes? Any problems? Do you need anything? (You keep saying “NO” to all their requests.)

In the middle of your oppressive behavior, a member of the congregation comes up, pushes or leads you aside, and frees the children. You act surprised, and ask two questions: First, “What’s your name?” (Answer: Messiah) and “Do you have any other name?” (Answer: Jesus)

End the demonstration right there. Proceed directly to the texts or to your sermon. In the absence of either, spend time talking about the nature of “deliverance” and “messiah.” Where does this take place in the world, and how might our hunger offerings help this happen for people who are hungry or poor?

STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS

The Isaiah text is extremely rich for conversations of a deeper kind. (When you do your exegesis on this text, you’ll find that Isaiah 7:14 is the most written-about verse in interpretive scholarship.) Where to go with a Bible conversations group? These thoughts:

1. You might follow the general direction of the sermon starter more-or-less devoted to the Isaiah text.

2. You might explore more deeply the idea of “Messiah rescue,” the view of life in which we hope for a miraculous rescue by an heroic figure. How would that play out in matters of world hunger or justice? Who are “messiahs” in today’s world?

3. Where is it legitimate (or legal?) for faith communities to be involved in civic matters? Political matters? How are they the same or different? How might this conversation connect with your congregation’s involvement in ELCA World Hunger.

4. What in these texts moves you toward solving the problem of world hunger on this Sunday?

1. The Psalm intrigues me, if only to talk about the question, “What causes you to grieve for our nation?” Keep the question neutral so that participants can bare their sorrows. Make sure that “grief” doesn’t morph into “grievances” – different subject. Ask good followup questions, and reference today’s psalm as a connector. Another tack: What WAS the situation in which the psalm writer – or the Isaiah writer – wrote these words? How are those situations similar to those we face today? What’s new about our grief-bringing situation.

STARTER FOUR: ACTION STEPS

· If you are collecting Christmas baskets, include a special gift in each one of them, something that will be “rescuing” for more than a few meals. How about a small dictionary, a phone card, a supply of multivitamins, or something long-lasting?

· Distribute slips of paper with the names and phone numbers of congregational members who are home-bound, who will work on Christmas Day, who are at war, who are in the hospital. Distribute them as part of the offering, asking volunteers to bring the “deliverance” of a kind word.

· Spend time in prayer together, thinking about who needs deliverance – be specific – and how they and this congregation brings God’s rescue to bear on their lives. For a variation, pray for yourselves and the rescues you might need!

· Write holiday letters to legislators – state or national – or civic leaders whose work has been helpful in bringing people out of poverty, rescued from oppression of any kind, or otherwise kept safe and secure. Make sure that these appreciative notes are as specific as those you might write when advocating for a change in these folks’ behaviors!

· For a special Advent offering, gather clocks and watches of every kind – Advent is about time, after all! – and bring them to an agency where they might be useful.

THE SENDOFF

This time I’m not talking about the weather or the moods it engenders. Let’s think about you and the gift that you bring to this nation. Let’s think about how your prayers and deeds add oompah and oomph to God’s Good News in Jesus. Let’s think how you become small-m messiahs to people in need. And then let’s be grateful for Jesus. Over and over and over again. What a happy Advent this has been!

Bob Sitze, Director

ELCA Hunger Education
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Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!

The lessons in the church year proclaim God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Also derived from a set of 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 24/25, 2007

Nativity of Our Lord

(Christmas Eve)

NOTE TO PREACHERS: I have not for the past three years ever included sermon starters on the occasion of Christmas. This year I have broken that tradition because the times seem to warrant a change. Perhaps we live in another “fullness of time” and hunger- and justice-related matters deserve proclamation, even with one-time-a-year folks filling the pews. Or perhaps not . . . .

First Reading: Isaiah 9:2-7

Psalm 96

Second Reading: Titus 2:11-14

Gospel: Luke 2:1-14

STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES

The war is over

· No, not that one. THIS one:

· The war of abusers vs. their victims, of oppressors vs. the downtrodden, of rampaging leaders vs. mindless citizens. It’s a universal war, and it continues, unabated, throughout the world.

· On this night/day, organized and armed conflict will continue, of course. In Afghanistan and Iraq, in clandestine operations in Columbia, Mexico and Congo. Regular soldiers and soldiers of fortune will strap on their weapons and armor, and go to battle against evil – or perhaps on behalf of evil.

· A deeper and more pervasive war continues throughout the world: rich against poor. That war may be as obvious as slavery, Or it could be invisibly surrounded by the wrappings of the market economy, international relations or inter-religious conflict. However it happens, this war is a battle of justice against injustice, food against famine, some rich people against most poor people.

· At its deepest level, this war takes place inside our souls as well. We have a choice: Will we side with the evil and selfish part of our human natures, excluding and excoriating those we perceive as different. (Here I am struck by the newest psycholinguistic trick of spiteful people, to use adjectives as nouns – “Illegals” -- and thus name people by their righteously despised traits.)

· Or will we follow God’s example – cf. the Isaiah text – and tamp down our egos and fears, disregard the voices of selfishness and pleasure-seeking, push away temptations to never forgive those we believe are harming us or our way of life.

· God’s people are as involved in these wars as God himself/herself. No one stands to the side and merely observes this war, whose ultimate end may be the destruction of us all. On this night/day, each of us has to reckon with our own involvement – or complicity – in God’s battle against injustice, wherever it takes place – and perhaps especially inside our own souls.

· God will win, of course, and that comforting eventuality is part of the Good News on this night/day. Isaiah looks back at God’s victory, when the lights get turned back on and the results of God’s triumph can be seen. His many-named child is “victor” in every way. Paul writes – almost as though a letter to a pastor embedded in a war -- about the big picture of Christ’s reign. Luke Christmas-cards this simple truth: The really powerful one is born.

· For those who authorize or promote war against people who are poor, this night/day is a fearsome one, and the signs of God’s powerful victory are ominous. A baby is born, hiding as a child of poverty. “Deliverer” by name, he will grow up to end the power of evil forever.

· For those of us who live after Isaiah and Jesus, we may very well be engaged in a “mopping-up operation” for a war whose end is known. This might require us to be vigilant and steadfast in resisting the pockets of evil that God has conquered in Christ.

· On this night/day, we will celebrate a Jesus whose babyhood is less important than his mature love for all humankind, his low estate at birth less important than his powerful presence as ruler of all the world.

· For those who worship here this night/day, the announcement of the war’s end comes with an implicit invitation: Join with the rest of us – however and wherever you can – to bring God’s justice to bear on all the world. In this place and among these people, all who attend can find solace, comfort, forgiveness and courage to keep doing God’s will, especially God’s intent for people who are poor.

· And peace? It will last forever. Once the war is really over.

At the edges

· On this night/day, “the true meaning of Christmas” will be bandied about like a new-born baby gets passed among admiring relatives. Finally, the child tires of being a football and sets up a cry. Perhaps “The True Meaning of Christmas” should also cry out.

· Perhaps, like many elements of life, “true meaning” is found at the edges – not the core – of a thing’s qualities. How might that work, looking for Christmas-meaning at the edges of the lectionary for this night/day. Some thoughts follow. . . .

· In the Lucan birth narrative, Mary and Joseph are living at the margins of sustainability. No job, no home. Lots of people will on this night/day be living in the same circumstances. Almost everywhere in the world they will face what the Holy Family faced.

· Some contemporary at-the-edges people won’t find lodging or food. They’ll die tonight/today. As quietly as snow falling, their last breaths will escape into the air and their bodies will lie still. A strange connection to “all is calm, all is bright” as well as to “sleep in heavenly peace.”

· Mary and Joseph – parents of the coming Prince of Peace – went to Bethlehem to register for Caesar’s pseudo-census. Strangely, “Bethlehem” can be translated in its earliest version as “house of the Philistine god of war.” What an irony.

· Verse 14 of the Titus text – in its Contemporary English Version – includes the phrase, “He wanted us . . . to be eager to do right.” Is this part of what drives people toward church on this night/day? To do what’s right? Would a sermon on hunger and justice meet that need?

· What will be the use of tonight’s/today’s offering? Given that the texts are soaking with peace-and-war themes, where in the world might the ELCA Hunger Appeal be making peace possible?

(NOT) walking in darkness

· I’m struck by the quiet and sad possibility that today’s texts speak most directly to the lives and the redemption of refugees, especially those escaping wars.

· In ancient times, “people who walk in darkness” were not engaging in usual patterns of travel, commerce or relationships. Darkness was paralyzing – unless moon and stars lent luminescence – and so walking in darkness would be treacherous.

· There’s a logic to walking in the darkness, though. In times of war, refugees hide during the day and travel at night. Over the centuries, night-walking people have always been safer than day-walking people.

· Perhaps you might preach the entire sermon in darkness, as though the members of the congregation were refugees. Tell new and old stories of narrow escape from danger – Rwanda, Central America, Sudan. Ask former refugees who are now part of your congregation to tell the stories. At the end of the sermon, a single light – a candle? -- appears and symbols of joy (safety, lodging, food?) are made available to the congregation – as ornaments for their trees. You proclaim a word of hope. The offering is taken with full light.

STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

1. Children understand the dynamics of “escape from danger” and so will understand that the Christmas story may also be about the plight of first century refugees. Try paraphrasing the events from that point of view, perhaps within the context of today’s world.

2. Use darkness – shut off all the lights except the Christmas tree? --- to help children understand that darkness limits activity, and encourages people to draw in on themselves fearfully. Turn the lights back on, and talk about all the generous activities in which your congregation participates at this time of year – the ELCA World Hunger Appeal? – and how your work brings light to people who might otherwise be imprisoned by darkness.

STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS

Just in case you might actually conduct Bible study or conversation on this night/day, these few thoughts:

1. Look together at some other places where Scripture deals with what happens during darkness or night. Why might the ancient writers have connected darkness/night with fearsome things? How does “fear of the dark” still operate in today’s world? In participants’ lives?

2. As difficult as it might seem, talk about some elements of the Iraq War, as they might connect with this text. Without sidetracking towards political questions that arise during this kind of discussion, focus on the plight of Iraqi Christians on this night/day, on the varieties of “darkness” that prowl among the hearts of people beset by this war. Think about the nature of “deliverance” if you’re an American soldier, an Iraqi civilian, a government leader, someone who prays for this country and its citizens.

3. One more? Together rewrite/retell the Luke 2 story as though it took place in your locale. Without being too insistent on analogous connections, think why a pregnant woman and her husband would be traveling through your locale. Who would give them lodging? Where would the baby be born? Who would the shepherds be? What would the angels tell them in these times?

STARTER FOUR: ACTION STEPS

1. Make “The war is over” ornaments and distribute them after the sermon. On one side of the ornament include a short prayer for peace.

2. Invite families of soldiers to dinner or breakfast this night or morning. Allow time for conversation, gratitude, prayers.

3. Set up a “Sudden Generosity” collection station in the narthex. At the end of service, announce a specially targeted destination or purpose for donations “that dispel darkness.” Perhaps there is a family burned out of their house or an armed forces veteran in difficult circumstances. Perhaps you know of a refugee family in your town who might be otherwise overlooked or under-served. Characterize this special offering – on the way out of church – as evidence of the “light” that suddenly appears for Isaiah’s darkness-walkers.

THE SENDOFF

Yes, it’s hard to write about hunger and justice on this night/day of culture-crusted sacred celebration. I’ve never thought that there was one “true meaning of Christmas” and for years have wondered how, on this night/day, we could all be led gently into the deepest core of our being, drawing the edgy places of our lives into the center of our being like pulling the covers over our heads on a cold wintry night.

“True meaning” to you, friend, with this 1970s-style Christmas card message: May the Baby Jesus open your heart and blow your mind. Or this one: God is great, God is good, God lives in our neighborhood. And may your messages on this day/night be true as well . . . .

Bob Sitze, Director

ELCA Hunger Education
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Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!

December 30, 2007

First Sunday of Christmas

First Reading: Isaiah 63:7-9

Psalm 148

Second Reading: Hebrews 2:10-18

Gospel: Matthew 2:13-23

STARTER ONE: PREACHING THEMES

Holy family, Batman!

· In some ancient lectionary traditions, this Sunday is Holy Family Sunday, a time to celebrate something or the other about families that might take their example from Jesus’ family.

· In our times, though, with this Sunday being in many places the most empty of empty-pew Sundays, it might be strange solace to think of what families might be doing, beside NOT attending worship, to foster their sense of familial solidarity.

· This Jesus-family is not “holy” because of its special attributes or privileged position in society. Mary and Joseph are devout, certainly, but their place in society was down there close to the bottom of any kind of class pyramid.

· What made Jesus’ family “holy” was that they knew that they had been set aside – named, selected by God, equipped – to do something very important for the world. They were sacred-holy, not pure-holy – and their sense of purpose drove them away from danger as much as their fears of a despot ruler and his armed minions.

· On this Sunday, we get to think together of our own families – in whatever configuration we find ourselves – as “holy” in the same sense: set-aside people, aimed at purposes or lifework we’ll only partially fulfill with our lives.

· Whether as entire congregation, a small set of worshipers on this day, or as individual families, we might ourselves made holy, set aside and equipped for the purpose of eliminating the scourge of hunger from the world. We, too, have some capacity for saving the world from its hell-bent state of mind. We, too, have some capabilities by which to save the world.

· Like Jesus and his family. . . .!

· There’s good news in that kind of holy-familyness, even if we never meet Batman or Robin . . . .

Loud praising trees

· The psalm for this day is a familiar one, but seems odd for a wintry time such as this. And yet . . . .

· What’s poignant about this psalm on this day – “poignant” is my word for the week – is that for much of God’s creation today, all this praising of God by God’s creation is a pretty tough call.

· Think of it: What do polar bears have to praise God about? Or loud-melting ice caps? What about a sun clouded by polluted air? Or deep seas filled with the detritus of cruise ships? How will the fruit trees be rejoicing when the bees aren’t around? Or the animals when they can’t find water in dried-up streams?

· Could you imagine yourself into a modern-day version of this psalm? What parts of nature would be praising God on this day? And how would that happen? What part of “He made them to last forever” (v. 6) would be true for endangered species?

· How DOES this psalm fit with the end-of-calendar year thoughts that will accompany worshipers into their sermon-listening time today?

· The answer might be found in a more careful reading of the psalm’s intent – yes, I twisted the verb tenses and forms a bit. The psalmist invites the natural world, people included, to praise God. And in that invitation is found God’s grace.

· Think of God’s option to punish modern humankind with a new Deluge: a flood of polluted water, a raining down of death from overburdened air, a swamping of the earth’s forests by chainsaws, an overwhelming rush of coal to power plants or an overwhelming deluge of bad debt choking out economic life.

· Instead, on this Sunday after Christmas, our God invites a hobbling and sick natural world to praise Him. This forgiving God still accepts the praise of people who have taken creation and turned it into a fast-moving trash truck. This God still protects us against our own sinfulness!

· Such love!

· NOT-A-SIDEBAR: The work of ELCA World Hunger cannot be overlooked here: Through our worldwide partners, our Washington and United Nations offices, through public policy work in a slew of states and through environmental education, we Lutherans plug away at this “creation praising God” thing pretty well. Quietly – that is certainly true in some cases. But increasingly your contributions are aimed at the places in the world where water can be clean, mosquitoes can be obliterated, organic fertilizers will prevail, legislation will insist on care of creation, and “ordinary people” will be taught how to sustain themselves without damaging the Earth.

· Your offerings make that happen, friends! On this last 2008 Sunday just like every other Sunday.

· What a novel thought: Environmental musings right after Christmas!

Refugees, all of us

· Perhaps the most poignant theme for today’s lessons draws its strength from the image of Jesus’ family as a small, forlorn knot of refugees, heading for a foreign country along a seaside route.

· In your sermon, imagine Joseph’s post-dream thoughts and actions as he and Mary bundle up – or hide? – a presumed toddler and travel south to Egypt. What post-Christmas thoughts were in Jesus’ parents’ minds, what fears and hopes? What personal faith did they gather around the uncertainties? What did they want to accomplish?

· They were already displaced persons – Bethlehem was NOT their first home. They faced yet another relocation, this one filled with danger that would not go away easily.

· Refugees then and now are on-the-move people, traveling both away from and towards basic human needs and desires. They cannot claim any place as their own, cannot know with any certainty when home will be possible again. They are caught in the state of in-between, and sometimes must be content to stay in that frame of body, mind and spirit for interminable years.

· I think a sermon on this day could easily find strength, empathy and grace from the notion that we are, all of us, refugees of one kind or the other. That at the end of another year we may not be any closer to our own hopes, or not any farther away from our fears. Like the immigrants in our own communities, we also deal with the realities of being exiled from families, friends, purpose or hopefulness.

· We all sojourn for a little while on earth – it’s close to New Year’s Eve, yes? – and so can always think of ourselves as temporarily comfortable in this place. We don’t belong, really, to much of what we see around us. Many of us live on the road, literally, as perpetual business travelers, refugees because of our sense of working hard to achieve the good life.

· We could learn from people who have come to this country as economic or political exiled-ones. Perhaps this would be a good Sunday to hear from an immigrant family sponsored by your congregation, a child orphaned by war, a formerly homeless person clutching at “normal life”. You can read refugee stories from the good folks at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (www.lirs.org), whose funding includes support through the ELCA World Hunger and Disaster Appeal.

· Of what do their hopes consist? What does their faith contribute to their steadfastness? How does God visit them in the night, with dreams or visions of what to do?

· And in the middle of our in-between-ness, our not belonging, is the now Toddler Jesus, riding along with us in our uncertainties, accompanying us as only God can do. Quietly, assuredly and continually. God with us, Emmanuel, heading towards not-belonging-here.

STARTER TWO: CHILDREN’STHOUGHTS AND ACTIVITIES

1. Consider dramatizing the Flight into Egypt with a Posada-like activity. As you tell parts of the Gospel lesson, move the knot of children from place to place within the sanctuary. Add details to the enacted story so that children can imagine what “refugee” might mean. If you have collected resources from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, this would be a good time to briefly characterize their contents and recommend their use at home.

2. If you choose the environmental theme embedded in the psalm, use a collection of stuffed animals and other objects to “praise God” for the natural world. Connect this exultation with specific environmentally oriented projects of ELCA World Hunger by using selected stories from recent Hunger Appeal packets.

STARTER THREE: BIBLE CONVERSATIONS

1. This Sunday’s lessons offer participants a good chance to talk about their families, their purposes, their identity, their work together toward God’s will. What do participants’ families accomplish, how to they bless God’s world? In what ways do participants join their families to their brothers and sisters around the world? How might participants think of their families as “refugees” within popular culture.

2. Use Bible conversation time this week to talk honestly about participants’ assessment of the natural world. Use the psalm as a comparison – or starter – for those feelings. How do participants help “creation to praise God”? How does this congregation consider the environment in its programs and as part of its mission?

STARTER FOUR: ACTION STEPS

1. Examine the label on any common household product. Find the producer’s Web URL and a “Contact Us” button at the Web site for that company. Write a simple letter asking about the company’s “green” policies or practices. (For example, ask for the company’s work in lowering its carbon footprint.)

2. Make small banners, each one featuring one of the creatures named in today’s psalm. Give them away as prayer-and-thanks reminders for the offices, bedrooms and kitchens of congregation members.

3. Make computers available in the narthex or gathering area of your church. Use the live Web – or downloaded pages from the Web – to spotlight organizations working to save the environment. Look especially for organizations that feature interactive surveys or assessment of environmental impacts of daily living.

4. Include families in the prayers for the day. That they would (continue to) find a sense of purpose and identity in doing God’s will however they can. Be specific.

THE SENDOFF

The New Year looms, and with it new premises and promises for our work as proclaimers and teachers of God’s Word. Thanks for your attention to my thoughts, and for taking on hunger-and-justice matters as a core component of your ministry. You have helped draw together the family of God where you are, and to offer them direction and motivation for living out their commitment to fulfill God’s will in their daily living. I’m happy to have been part of what you do.

Bob Sitze, Director

ELCA Hunger Education