SCROLL DOWN FOR JUNE 22 AND JUNE 29

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! 

June 22, 2008
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost 

Jeremiah 20:7-13
Romans 6:1b-11
Matthew 10:24-39

·    Jeremiah and Jesus speak about the controversy their teachings have/will bring. Jeremiah is persecuted. Jesus comes to bring a sword and not peace – to split families. 
·    How does speaking about/working towards ending world hunger bring controversy for our communities? 
·    We continue to live lives of the old self under the name of our new lives in Christ. 

·    Paul’s words are proclamation of good news AND an ethical imperative.
o        “Remember this, says Paul, in baptism you put envy, greed, and ambition to death.
Christ lives: serve him.” (Dave Bartlett www.workingpreacher.org)

·    Dead to Old Self
o        What does it mean for our communities to die to our old selves?
o        Dying to our old selves is difficult.
o        How does the need of the world cause us to face our own inadequacies? To face our need to die to our old selves? Are we willing to face them?
o        How would we respond if we were asked to look to the needs of others before our own?
o        If we were asked to give 20% of our Growth Stimulus checks to the poor? 
o        If we were asked to eat lower on the food chain?
o        If we were asked to cut back our lifestyles in solidarity with the earth and those who have little?

·    Alive in Christ
o        What does it mean for our communities to be alive in Christ?
o        Being confident in the grace God pours upon us in baptism
o        Being free from fear – for God knows the hairs on our heads
o        Being not above those whom we serve, but like those whom we serve
o        Being like Christ. Being like the Hungry.
o        Speaking what has been whispered in our ears from the rooftops
o        Speaking grace and hope in the face of adversity and despair
o        Speaking for those who have no voice.  
o        Feeding those who have no food.
o        Being a family with those who have none. 
o        Our response to being alive in Christ is reorienting our families, our habits, our priorities. Looking to the life of the hungry before our own – trusting in God’s grace and not fearing what may come. 

Pastor Ben Sheets
Associate Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

__________________________________________________

June 29, 2008
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Jeremiah 28:5-9
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42
 
·    Hearing the gospel text, I cannot help but think forward to Matthew 25 and the parable of the sheep and the goats. Our hospitality for others truly matters. 
·    Who needs a cold cup of water?
·    We need the cold cups of water in baptism to pour over us in grace.
·    We need the cold cups of water to be filled with the Holy Spirit to refresh our souls.
·    We need the cold cups of God’s grace to awaken us from our grogginess and apathy
·    We are called to give a cold cup of water to those in our midst
·    We are called to give a cold cup of water to those who thirst for righteousness.
·    We are called to give a cold cup of water to those who thirst for their lives. 
·    As the summer heat begins to set in, a cold cup of water is the epitome of hospitality and love for the neighbor and the stranger. 
·    In slavery to sin we are parched with selfishness, in slavery to righteousness we are flooded with grace.
·    This cold cup of water that we is given is not only an image for spiritual waters, but is also a call to meet the needs of those who are displaced, disenfranchised, and disdained. 
·    Cold cups of water are needed for the 1 in 6 people in this world who lack safe clean water to drink.
·    Cold cups of water are needed for those who lack adequate water sources in order to farm the land.
·    Cold cups of water are needed in every corner of the world. Our cistern is full so that we might give abundantly to our new brothers and sisters.
 
Pastor Ben Sheets
Associate Pastor, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church