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!

God called Amos to speak an unfavorable message. He was told to prophesy against his neighbors in Israel. In other passages in Amos, we learn that the prophet spoke against Israel because they did not look after those who were most vulnerable (see, e.g., Amos 5:6-15, 21-24; 8:1-8). In the present passage, Amos speaks against the king of Israel, predicting that God will rise against Jeroboam with the sword (7:9).

We also learn from this passage the incredible bravery of Amos—though he was a simple herdsman and “dresser of sycamore trees” (7:14), he nonetheless spoke out against the injustice he saw in Israel. In this way, Amos becomes a model for us to follow. What uncomfortable truths are we called to proclaim? What can we do in our work—as teachers, mechanics, lawyers, bankers, plumbers, mothers, fathers, or whatever—to speak out against the horrible injustices of our day?

Today’s psalm offers a vision of God’s kingdom. Peace, salvation (in the fullest sense of the term, which means health and wholeness), righteousness (which is a cognate for justice). These mark God’s kingdom. How can we do God’s work with our hands?

John the Baptist is another prophet who spoke courageously as one of God’s mouthpieces. Like Amos, he spoke out against what he perceived to be an immoral union. What do we need to speak out against? How do we need to adjust our lives so that they will better reflect God’s values?

This Sunday many of the youth in this church will be reflecting on what it means to be “citizens with the saints” at the 2012 National Youth Gathering. A key focus of their time will be the reconciliation that comes in Christ and the way in which the barriers that divide us have been struck down. Hunger and poverty are often justified by the various “isms” that plague us today—racism, sexism, classism, and so on. Christ has broken those barriers and there is no reason why anyone should be marginalized and vulnerable. What barriers do we allow to stand? What barriers might God be calling us to break today?

The Old Testament lesson and the Psalm provide an important lens through which to read this week’s Gospel. Jeremiah tells of a time when a “good shepherd” will come and execute justice. Other shepherds did not care for the sheep but this new shepherd will. In the Gospel, prior to Jesus feeding the 5000, he has compassion on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd. As the shepherd of God’s flock, Jesus feeds (and then in vv.53-56 heals) them. We are called to continue in this feeding and healing activity.