LISTSERV 16.0 - HUNGERSERMONSTARTERS Archives

On Monday, November 18 we anticipate the rollout of the new ELCA website. We do not anticipate that the Hunger Sermon Starters will be adversely affected by the arrival of the new site, but if there are complications we will address them in a timely manner. Thank you.

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!

The shepherds referred to in this passage should be placed in the context of the kings mentioned in the previous chapter. There we find the word of the Lord that has come to the prophet and is directed toward the king in Judah. The king is told to do justice, care for the oppressed and the most vulnerable in a way that preserves their well-being and livelihood. In essence…be a good shepherd. Words of woe are directed toward the king who “makes his neighbors work for nothing,” (22:13) and whose eyes and heart are focused on “dishonest gain” (22:17).

This message expresses God’s concern for how kings treat their subjects. Even though kingly rule is out of our context and the image of shepherd (perhaps) too agrarian, we get the connection. Being good sheep means witnessing to Jesus as the good shepherd, while also seeking the well-being and care for the oppressed and vulnerable in our communities. We recognize that we become part of God’s work when we support the shepherds God is raising up… shepherds who gather the missing and bring peace where there is fear.

The tone of Psalm 46 celebrates the reign of God. There is a reliance on God’s stability and faithfulness and it is worth noting again that in Psalm 46 God actively works to dismantle warfare, which is one of the root causes of displacement, hunger, and poverty. In a way the psalm anticipates another time and place, but it also invites us to imagine God’s reign in our lives now, perhaps most evident in the command, “be still” and the witness to the Lord of hosts “with us.” This psalm confronts earthly powers and directs our attention to an active God. When I wrote on this sermon starter for Reformation Sunday I ended with the question: “How can our worshiping communities be a living witness to God’s sure triumph over war, displacement, and other forces that seek to erode safety and stability?” Perhaps a follow-up in light of Christ the King Sunday could be something like: What are the behaviors or systems we eschew when we acknowledge God’s reign and how do our ministries reflect that?

This part of the letter reads as a statement of faith. Often these statements have a declarative tone, but it perhaps we can think about what statements of faith do, and focus on the shaping aspect of them. In other words, how does a community who believes they are made strong by God’s power engage with that with the seats of power in their communities and in the world? And, if through Christ God has reconciled all things to himself, how are we living as though this reconciliation has happened among us?

Luke 23:33–43
This gospel reading is perhaps better suited for an exploration of what it means to have a crucified King than drawing on connections to hunger or poverty. There are of course important symbols of social commentary: poverty of the cross, a criminal who derides and one who shows empathy, but at the heart of the passage is the lordship of Christ, exhibited in a way antithetical to the world's understanding of kingship.