SCROLL DOWN FOR NOV. 27 (THANKSGIVING), NOV. 30, AND DEC. 7

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!

November 27, 2008

Day of Thanksgiving (USA)

First Reading: Deuteronomy 8:7-18

Psalm 65

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Gospel: Luke 17:11-19

It’s Thanksgiving! If you and your family are anything like mine, your preparations for this day may have begun days in advance. People gather. There is noise and food – lots of both. And we stuff ourselves, put away the leftovers and plop in front of the TV to watch football.

Two images:

My seminary friend, who on coming to America from Palestine was overwhelmed at the choices to be found in our grocery stores.
The over laden, groaning table I myself set with Great Grandma’s china and Auntie’s best linen table cloth. People bowing their heads as someone gives thanks.

We have choices. Many do not. What a blessing!

In Deuteronomy, we are cautioned:

Not to forget the Lord who has given us these good things
To remember that it is not by our ‘power and might’ that we have them
To ‘bless the Lord…..for the good land (all we have) that he has given’
That this is a confirmation of God’s covenant
How do we uphold our end of that covenant?

The Psalm:

Speaks of the praise due to God for deliverance and salvation, and of God’s provision of a good harvest
It also says that ‘those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed’ by these signs
Who lives at the farthest bounds of our world today? And is this necessarily measured in terms of distance?
How are these people to see the signs of God’s bounty, the choices we take for granted?
Might we not be instrumental in showing them these ‘signs’ of God’s gracious love?
How might we help in assuring God’s children all ‘shout and sing together for joy’?

Paul in 2 Corinthians:

Says that ‘great generosity’ in sharing produces true ‘thanksgiving’ and glorifies God
And that one is enriched by it – for this is true ‘obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ’
Which would seem to say that if we confess Jesus as risen Lord of all, our deeds of giving are authentic testimony to our faith.

Then again in Luke, the story of the one Leper who returns to thank Jesus:

· I’ve always wondered about the other nine – they were doing what Jesus said, and surely they were grateful and exuberant – so what was wrong with their actions?

· Perhaps it was that they didn’t put their gratitude into action – making it a concrete and living thing.

· How might we put our gratitude into action and make it both concrete and living?

Altering the images:

· Choice is not an option to many – some must choose between eating and medication, or food and keeping a roof over their heads. Some are just glad to have anything to assuage the gnawing hunger of both their spirits and their bellies.

· Choice is offered in providing sustainable measures for agriculture and methods of assuring viable drinking water.

· Choice is offered in advocating for shared resources and against despotic governments which hoard them.

· Choice is offered to us by means of service.

· When we offer prayers of thanks for what fills us to the brim, ‘remembering’ those who do not have – do we open our hearts, hands, and homes to those whom we remember?

· What does true thanksgiving look like?

· With whom do we sit at the table?

Cynthia A. Werner, Senior MDiv Candidate, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary

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November 30, 2008

First Sunday of Advent

First Reading: Isaiah 64:1-9

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:3-9

Gospel: Mark 13:24-37

Happy New Year!

We celebrate the beginnings of a new Church year as we look forward in anticipation to celebrating the coming of the Messiah.

So, what’s new? It seems as if not much is new, for…

Isaiah speaks to a people returning from exile in Babylon:

Ruin and destruction greet them – images of war torn areas of today come to mind
Yet, we are ‘all the works of your hand’, ‘all your people’
So if ruin and destruction afflict our brothers and sisters, so too are we afflicted – their hunger, poverty, despair, and adversity belong to us.
The request is for God to ‘tear open the heavens and come down’ – Where might the presence of God be made known?
If God’s face is hidden from any, how might we show that face to them?

The same might be said of the Psalmist whose plea is:

That God come and save and restore us.
I think of the people, who are fed and watered with tears and the scorn of neighbors and wonder who among our earthly family remain the scorned ones.
I think of those who are not fed and watered by anything but tears and am shamed to realize I may have scorned them by my own inaction.
Where is it, and how, that God’s face is to shine here in this world today?
Perhaps through us, we who have tasted salvation, the ones ‘whom you made strong’?
Perhaps in action that feeds and waters not just the soul but the body?

Because God is faithful and God indeed sends the long awaited Savior, Paul prays:

For the fellowship of believers, that none lack spiritual gifts, and that strength be given for faithful living.
It’s a reminder that our faith isn’t just ‘me and Jesus’ – it’s a fellowship, a community.
I think of parish ‘fellowships’, you know, those after service get-togethers where everyone brings something. We Lutherans really know how to do one of those. Think of how much and how many different dishes are available.
Yet only those on the ‘inside’ eat.
What would our ‘fellowships’ look like if they were to reflect the fellowship of which Paul is speaking?
When was the last time those on the ‘outside’ were invited?
Is our fellowship, our sharing, a sign of faithful living?

‘Keep awake’ the author of Mark counsels:

The Son of Man will indeed return
We who await God’s coming have been left in charge, ‘each with his work’.
It is important that we remember our ‘work’ meaning living God words – which ‘will not pass away’, and of whom Christ is God’s ultimate and perfect Word.
Are we asleep – not seeing that which needs doing so that the creation of which God has put us in charge is not cared for?
Are we asleep – not living as if the Word resides within us?
Are we asleep – neglecting the work set before us because it’s easier to dream of a better world than to try and make it happen?
‘Keep awake’ the author exhorts – care for those things and those people which have been left to us; look forward in assurance of the fullness of God’s Kingdom to come by living as if it already had.

It is at this time of the year that we remember our brokenness, our need for a Savior. It is fitting that we should look outward as well to those who suffer as a result of humankind’s inability to be human as God intended. It is also fitting that we remember the One whose coming restores us to relationship with God and with one another. Our lives should reflect that perfect union in caring for our brothers and sisters. That is the new thing for which Christ came, the Kingdom of which Christ is the herald, and the perfection to which we look forward when Christ comes again.

Cynthia A. Werner, Senior MDiv Candidate, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary

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Dec. 7, 2008
2^nd Sunday in Advent

First reading: Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Second reading: 2 Peter 3:8-15
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

· Isaiah’s context is that the “exile” is nearly over, and there is good news coming. People suffering from a variety of world conditions can look to God for words of comfort and hope.

· Isaiah 40: 55 is entitled the “Book of Consolation” and speaks of both signs of human mortality and eternal hope. As part of the human enterprise, we “wither and fade,” but in contrast “God’s word stands forever.” Notice the psalm invites us to “hear what God will speak” and declares that “peace and righteousness will embrace.”

· To whom this prediction might help, healing and hope must sound like great news.

· Another way of asking for our context today is to ask what region and nation is most desperately waiting for a word of comfort and hope.

· It was Gandhi who once said, “The only form in which God dares show up in our country is in the form of bread.” What is the form of God’s comfort and help that is most desperately needed in Africa, the Middle East, in America?

· Notice Mark chooses to open his gospel by quoting John the Baptist’s sermon based on Isaiah. The word of hope is that God comes to “restore” his people. Make way for God’s new entry into the world of chaos. Jesus is God’s form of bringing help, healing, and hope to the world.

· John the Baptist’s call to repentance is a way of clearing us of the barriers that stand in the way of our hearing and receiving God means of grace—Jesus.

· What are the barriers that stand in the way of our seeing, hearing, sharing, and following the One who brings us comfort and hope? Be specific. (If we are indifferent to those who suffer or live in denial of our own need for God’s intervention, what good are these words?)

· The good news of the text is that we have a God who cares, who helps by giving us one who can bring healing and help to our cries today.

· Notice the 2 Peter text has a marvelous benediction urging…“Fear not” and “Be ready to defend your faith and articulate your hope.”

· Pope John Paul 2 in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope predicts the greatest challenge of youth today is to find and hold on to hope. If that is an accurate description of this generation, God’s comfort and hope is greatly desired and needed.

The Rev. Howie Wennes (former bishop of the Grand Canyon Synod