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!

“…But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people…”

What does your heart have to say when you see that people are going hungry? What does your heart have to say when you learn that there’s plenty of food – it’s just that millions of people—nearly one billion—can’t afford to buy it?

Note: Article 25.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

George Bhengani used to struggle with hunger. He and the other farmers in his village in rural South Africa struggled to produce enough food because of occasional drought periods. Several times farmers lost entire fields of crops. Losing crops caused food shortages, and it also meant that no seeds were produced for the next planting season. Planting seeds was a risky investment. People were going hungry. At times, George felt hopeless.

Your gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal helped this community end hunger. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa—one of our ELCA World Hunger partners—met with George's community to talk about how they could work together to reduce hunger. Together, they designed a community development plan that centered around building a rain water reservoir and irrigation system. When the rains fell, the reservoir would fill up. If the rains failed for a few weeks, the water in the reservoir would get them through. They wouldn't lose the crops.

"The project changed our lives," says George.

Thanks to the reservoir, George’s crops are doing well. He and the other farmers are producing corn, beans, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, and leafy greens. They can count on that water to keep their crops alive, even if the rains fail. The water helps farmers have faith that their investment of seed and sweat won’t be in vain…it will bear fruit.

Even though times are tough—in fact, because times are so tough for so many right now, Jesus is calling us to do more to help end hunger. Every seed we water can bear fruit. Hunger is a problem we can solve—just ask George.

The Lectionary this week gives us a couple of choices. Since many celebrate Palm Sunday today (as opposed to Sunday of the Passion), I will comment on Mark 11:1-11. It should be noted, though, that Mark 14:1-15:47 has some great vignettes (especially 14:1-9, which deals fairly specifically with the attitude we should have towards those who are poor—we are to be with them, and do what we can for them).

An interesting exercise would be invite the congregation to reflect on the Psalm as if they were a poor person (another option would be to think about the Psalm in the context of the current economic situation). If you were poor or in desperate need, what would you seek from God in your distress (v. 9)? How would “God’s graciousness” be manifest in your situation? What would it mean to have your “life spent with sorrow” and your “years with sighing” (v. 10)? How are those who are poor and needy a “horror” to their neighbors (v.11)? What would that feel like? In what ways are people who are poor forgotten, as if they were “one who is dead” (v. 12)?

In this hymn, Paul uses the example of Jesus’ ultimate self-emptying (kenosis)as a model for how we are to serve one another. This is radical call. Jesus, whom Paul identifies as divine, becomes a human, but not just any human, a lowly human, a slave who dies a criminal death. If this is our model, what might that look like in our lives? What would self-emptying look like? To what end should we empty ourselves?

The April issue of The Lutheran has an article on page 25 entitled, “Hosanna! Hosanna?” by Richard Hanson (I think it will also be available online shortly at www.thelutheran.org). It may be worth a peek—some of the ideas that follow were sparked by it.

The scene with the throng of people yelling “Hosanna” carries a joyous connotation for many of us today. It is a moment of celebration. The word in the NT is actually a transliteration of a Hebrew word that means “Save now!” (as in Psalm 118:25). The people are coming to Jesus, seeking salvation, which in the Bible implies holistic healing—physical, emotional, and spiritual.

It may be useful to recall that these people lived in an occupied land, with sometimes hostile overlords. Similar situations persist today—Darfur, Palestine, Zimbabwe, to name a few. These are places where those who are poor and vulnerable need salvation. Even in the U.S., systems and structures are in place that keep certain people struggling just to make ends meet. As God’s people, how can we participate with God in salvific acts? What might God ask us to do on behalf of those who plead, “Hosanna! Save us!” What sort of self-emptying might God be calling us to?