Theme: a Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed
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Pastor’s Notes for Lectionary 13 in Pentecost, B Date: 6/28/15 Theme: A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed Bible Ref’s: Lam. 3:[19-21] 22-33 or Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24; Ps. 30; 2Cor. 8:7-15; and Mk 5:21-43.
Prayer of the Day Almighty and merciful God, we implore you to hear the prayers of your people. Be our strong defense against all harm and danger, that we may live and grow in faith and hope, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Brief Sermon Outline: “Steadfast Love Flows On” Focus Statement: Everything filthy and heartbreaking about the world, Jesus took upon himself.
1. “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end…” (Lam. 3:22). This statement was a desperate hope for the people of the Babylonian exile—it was a desperate hope, it was by no means certain. In fact, this short section of Lamentations we read is the only hopeful part of the whole book—five poems packed with wormwood and gall—the most gut- wrenching, bitter, hopeless and despairing words you will ever read in the Bible. And right in the midst of all this bitterness and despair pouring out…a glimmer of hope? 2. The destruction of Israel and the Babylonian exile was SO bitter because it threw into doubt every everlasting covenant, every promise God had ever spoken. Sure the destruction of Israel was just punishment for the peoples’ disobedient ways: neglecting the homeless, ignoring the poor and destitute, avoiding the sick, showing inhospitality to aliens, afflicting and murdering the prophets, failing to serve and preserve creation as God made them in his image to do. 3. So the Israelites got what they deserved: homelessness and affliction, the land laid to waste and uninhabitable. Tradition is that an embittered prophet Jeremiah wrote Lamentations; Jeremiah says, “The LORD could no longer bear the sight of your evil doings, the abominations that you committed; therefore your land became a desolation and a waste and a curse, without inhabitant... (Jer. 44:22a). Because of their evil doings, desolation and waste had become their lot. 4. But in the process of meting out Israel’s due, God was being mocked for ever suggesting steadfast love & faithfulness would ever prevail, that God’s covenant with all flesh after Noah & the flood could be everlasting as God had promised, that David’s kingdom could be established forever. 5. In Micah Marty’s column this month in The Lutheran, he talks about mercy being “at the heart of God, the deepest quality of God’s compassion.” So humanity’s persistent rebellion (constantly provoking God to wrath) cut at the very heart of who God is, turned the quality of God’s goodness to wormwood and his compassion to gall. Sin was twisting God’s steadfast love into perpetual, never-ending wrath. 6. So Jesus came as the vindication, the proof of God’s steadfast love not just to humanity, but to the world. Everything filthy & heartbreaking re: the world, Jesus took upon himself—took the form of a slave (Phil. 2:7) became the very embodiment of the world’s lament, bore it all in love to the cross. 7. And on the third day, Christ arose victorious over the filth/heartbreak of the world—Jesus became first fruits of a new creation, bringing us up w/ him by baptism into a new way of being in solidarity w/ the world. You & I, we, are no longer defined by lament, but by the steadfast love of Christ crucified and risen. Indeed “the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end.” Jairus’ daughter and the hemorrhaging woman experienced firsthand how Jesus can turn “mourning into dancing” as it said in today’s Psalm 30. 8. Two recent events underscore this difference Christ makes to people of faith in the world. On Fri- day was the first of several funerals after the murder of nine people in a Bible study at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston. God brought good out of evil as news reports described in the midst of peoples’ anguish a spirit of steadfast love and mercy flowing out into the community. 9. One headline read “Victims’ families offer forgiveness, not condemnation, to suspect in Charleston church murders.” We’re seeing unprecedented resolve to remove symbols of entrenched racism. 10. President of the A.M.E. Council of Bishops said, “The nation can no longer live in denial & act as if [racism] does not exist.” The A.M.E. Presiding Bishop of SC, Bp. Richard Franklin Norris, added, “This will make us stronger & more determined to advance God’s kingdom on earth. This tragedy will not weaken, but strengthen us. African Methodism will become stronger because of this tragedy.” Out of unimaginable lament, an equally unimaginable outpouring of steadfast love. 11. The other major event was release of Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si.” (“Praised Be”) The pope challenged the world “to clean up its filth” and to “protect our common home.” I particularly like this statement: “The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.” Out of the earth’s lament, a sure and certain hope for change. 12. For decades, the ELCA has been engaged in this work of anti-racism and anti-abuse of creation. But now is an extraordinary moment in the church’s history—a chance to allow Christ’s steadfast love & mercy to go forth from us into a dying and bleeding world. I’ve included two bulletin inserts for you to consider this: how you can answer God’s call to have Christ’s power of steadfast love and mercy go forth from you like it did when the hemorrhaging woman touched Jesus’ robe. 13. We affirm in baptism that we are precious in God’s sight. Flowing from the waters of baptism & continuing thru the bread/wine of communion, Christ’s steadfast love flows out through us to make a difference in the world. Taking down structural sins like racism & carelessness of creation are 2 of the most important ways God calls us today to turn peoples’ mourning into dancing, to convert the world’s laments into occasions of mercy & love. For in Christ we know with a sure and certain hope that “the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies [will] never come to an end.”
Hymn of the Day: “My Life Flows On in Endless Song” (ELW #763, WOV #781)
Children’s Sermon <”Wormwood and gall” is an expression of deep distress and sorrow in the Bible. Using green onions for tasting, and a couple pictures from a prayer retreat (Savanna Portage, 2011), we talk about the limitedness of life, how all things decay and return to the ground, but that God’s love never ends.>
Pastor: Good morning, kids. We’ve heard some very interesting Bible readings just now. One was from the book of Lamentations. Laments are sad poems, and the book of Lamentations is actually five long poems written by poets who were extremely sad about the destruction of Israel by the Babylonians way back in the year 587 BCE—that’s like 2,600 years ago!
One of the ways poets in the Bible describe their sadness is as “wormwood and gall.” Do you know what wormwood and gall are? Wormwood and gall were two plants that people made into medicines to relieve pain and suffering, or even to treat worms. But it was very bitter to eat or drink, it tasted horrible. So wormwood and gall symbolized a very bitter experience.
I have a green plant here that I’ll let you taste bitterness.
It doesn’t look very healthy, does it? It is wood that’s rotting—little creatures like grubs, termites, fungi and bacteria break down the wood, and the wood becomes no good for human uses, not even for firewood. Everything alive in the world eventually dies & returns to the ground. But from this decayed material, new life emerges, signs of God’s continuing love.
Let us pray: Praised be you, our Lord, with all your creatures: brother sun and sister moon and stars, brother wind, sister water and mother earth! We thank you for the miracles and mysteries of creation that sustain life on this planet. In so many ways, our sins turn your creation to wormwood & gall. Thru the new life of your Son J.C. teach us to be your steadfast love for the world in Jesus’ name. Amen
The Word (Lamentations 3:[19-21] 22-33) [The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! 20 My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:] 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. 26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. 27 It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, 28 to sit alone in silence when the Lord has imposed it, 29 to put one’s mouth to the dust (there may yet be hope), 30 to give one’s cheek to the smiter, and be filled with insults. 31 For the Lord will not reject forever. 32 Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; 33 for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.
(Psalm 30) A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the temple. Of David. 1 I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3 O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 4 Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” 7 By your favor, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. 8 To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication: 9 “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!” 11 You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
(Mark 5:21-43) When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” 24 So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 He looked all around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Sermon Notes
"The church proclaims Christ, confident this good news sets at liberty those captive behind walls of hostility” (cf. Luke 4:18)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In the public statement I made June 18, the day after the shooting in Charleston, S.C., I called for a day of repentance and mourning. I would like that day for the ELCA to be this Sunday, June 28.
The worship staff of the churchwide organization has developed a "Service of Prayer in Remembrance" for your use this Sunday. I hope you will have an opportunity to use significant portions (if not all) of this liturgy this Sunday.
I also want to encourage you to share with your congregations, ideally from the pulpit during Sunday's worship, the June 18 public statement. You might also wish to insert it into bulletins, duplicate it as a handout and/or post it on your congregation's website.
The members of this church, no matter where they are located, must think about, discuss and deal with this crucial issue of justice and compassion. It is the church's work. God’s intention for all humanity is that we see the intrinsic worth, dignity and value of all people. Racism undermines the promise of community and fractures authentic relationships with one another. We need to talk and we need to listen, but we also need to act and speak out against inequity. Look with newly opened eyes at the many subtle and overt ways that racism infects and affects our communities. Above all pray – for insight, for forgiveness, for courage.
I thank God for your faithful service to the gospel and God's work, and I thank you for your partnership in helping all of us address the sin of racism.
Your Sister in Christ,
The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
It has been a long season of disquiet in our country. From Ferguson to Baltimore, simmering racial tensions have boiled over into violence. But this … the fatal shooting of nine African Americans in a church is a stark, raw manifestation of the sin that is racism. The church was desecrated. The people of that congregation were desecrated. The aspiration voiced in the Pledge of Allegiance that we are “one nation under God” was desecrated.
Mother Emanuel AME’s pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, was a graduate of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, as was the Rev. Daniel Simmons, associate pastor at Mother Emanuel. The suspected shooter is a member of an ELCA congregation. All of a sudden and for all of us, this is an intensely personal tragedy. One of our own is alleged to have shot and killed two who adopted us as their own.
We might say that this was an isolated act by a deeply disturbed man. But we know that is not the whole truth. It is not an isolated event. And even if the shooter was unstable, the framework upon which he built his vision of race is not. Racism is a fact in American culture. Denial and avoidance of this fact are deadly. The Rev. Mr. Pinckney leaves a wife and children. The other eight victims leave grieving families. The family of the suspected killer and two congregations are broken. When will this end?
The nine dead in Charleston are not the first innocent victims killed by violence. Our only hope rests in the innocent One, who was violently executed on Good Friday. Emmanuel, God with us, carried our grief and sorrow – the grief and sorrow of Mother Emanuel AME church – and he was wounded for our transgressions – the deadly sin of racism.
I urge all of us to spend a day in repentance and mourning. And then we need to get to work. Each of us and all of us need to examine ourselves, our church and our communities. We need to be honest about the reality of racism within us and around us. We need to talk and we need to listen, but we also need to act. No stereotype or racial slur is justified. Speak out against inequity. Look with newly opened eyes at the many subtle and overt ways that we and our communities see people of color as being of less worth. Above all pray – for insight, for forgiveness, for courage.
Kyrie Eleison.
ELCA issues statement on Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change
"The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change. The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home. Here I want to recognize, encourage and thank all those striving in countless ways to guarantee the protection of the home which we share. Particular appreciation is owed to those who tirelessly seek to resolve the tragic effects of environmental degradation on the lives of the world’s poorest. Young people demand change. They wonder how anyone can claim to be building a better future without thinking of the environmental crisis and the sufferings of the excluded." -Encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, Of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home
CHICAGO (ELCA) – The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), released a statement June 18, 2015 on behalf of this church in response to Pope Francis' encyclical on climate change and the deteriorating global environment. The full text of the statement follows:
As members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we share a deep concern with our Catholic brothers and sisters for the well-being of our neighbors and of God's good creation. "Humans, in service to God, have special roles on behalf of the whole of creation. Made in the image of God, we are called to care for the earth as God cares for the earth" (ELCA social statement, "Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice"). Daily we see and hear the evidence of a rapidly changing climate. At the same time, we also witness in too many instances how the earth's natural beauty, a sign of God's wonderful creativity, has been defiled by pollutants and waste. An accounting of climate change that has credibility and integrity must name the neglect and carelessness of private industry and the failure of government leadership that have contributed to these changes. However, it also must include repentance for our own participation as individual consumers and investors in economies that make intensive and insistent demands for energy. Yet we find our hope in the promise of God's own faithfulness to the creation and humankind. We serve in concert with God's creative and renewing power, understanding that we have the resources and responsibility to act together for the common good, especially for those who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Today we join with Pope Francis in calling on world leaders to embrace our common responsibility as work continues toward a global agreement on climate change. We urge leaders to support an ambitious agreement that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, encourages development of low-carbon technologies, and supports the ability of countries to cope with the effects of a changing climate and build resiliency for a sustainable future. The present moment is a critical one, filled with both challenge and opportunity to act as individuals, citizens, leaders and communities of faith in solidarity with God's good creation and in hope for our shared future.
------The “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice” social statement explains the ELCA’s teachings on ecology and the environment, grounded in a biblical vision of God's intention for the healing and wholeness of creation. This statement provides a Christian understanding of the human role to serve in creation, and a hope rooted in God’s faithfulness to the creation from which humans emerge and depend upon for sustaining life. It provides a framework for understanding the human role in creation, the problem of sin and the current environmental crisis. “Caring for Creation” expresses a call to pursue justice for creation through active participation, solidarity, sufficiency and sustainability, and states the commitments of the ELCA for pursuing wholeness for creation — commitments expressed through individual and community action, worship, learning, moral deliberation and advocacy.