Worship - June 6, 2010

Praise the One who hears the cry of the poor,
who lifts up the weak and gives them strength.
Praise the One who feeds the hungry
and satisfies the longing of those in need.
Praise the One who holds with tenderness the orphan and widow
and gives the stranger a land and a home.

Hymnal #37, Psalm 146:7-9,
adapted from More Than Words,
by Pat Kozak, C.S.J., and Janet Schaffran, C.D.P.
First edition copyright © 1986 Pat Kozak, C.S.J., and Janet Schaffran, C.D.P.;
second revised edition copyright © 1988. Crossroad/Continuum Publishing Company.
Also adapted from New Revised Standard Version

For Children
“Reading from the scroll”

Do you see anyone out in the congregation this morning who was you’re your Sunday School teacher this year? Who? Wave to them and say, “Thank you.” Do you know what makes a Sunday School teacher happy? I’m sure hugs and presents and a “thank you” help. I think, however, that what makes them the happiest is when they see you growing in Jesus. We are taking a summer break from Sunday School, but that doesn’t mean you stop growing.

When Jesus was a boy, he had teachers. Did you know that the word, “Rabbi,” means “teacher”? When Jesus was growing up, he had a teacher, a rabbi who helped him learn how to read the Bible. Now the Bible back then didn’t look like this (hold up a Bible bound as a book), it looked more like this (hold up a scroll). The Bible in Jesus’ day was actually a collection of “scrolls” sort of like this (hold up the scroll again).

When he was a boy, Jesus, studied along with other boys, to learn from a rabbi, a teacher how to read words in the scrolls. Later on, as men knowing how to read the words, they would talk about what the words meant. Notice I said boys and men. Unfortunately, back then girls and women weren’t allowed to do this. Do you think that was fair? I don’t either. I’m glad that’s not how it is today.

Anyway, the goal of learning how to read from the scroll was to get ready for a Bar Mitzvah when, at age 13, a boy would stand up before the congregation and read out loud from the Bible. I think that that day made the rabbi, the teacher very happy. Here was a student doing as he had been taught, and growing up to be a man of God, literally a son (bar) of the commandments of God (mitzvah).

Even today, Jewish boys stand up and read publicly from the scroll when they turn 13, at their Bar Mitzvah. And Jewish girls do the same thing when they turn 12 at the Bat (daughter) Mitzvah. Not only are their parents very proud, but so are their teachers. I can imagine Jesus going through his Bar Mitzvah when he was 13, and making his teacher happy as he read from the Bible.

Many years later, when he had grown up and left his hometown, he returned for a visit. They asked him to again read from the Bible in front of the congregation. He had become a wise teacher, a rabbi, himself, and was traveling throughout Galilee telling about God and healing people. I can imagine that if his rabbi, who had spent time teaching him as a boy, was there that day, he was probably very happy to see his student reading from the scroll.

Now, in the gospel of Luke it says that Jesus read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. This morning, I’d like us to read what he read. I know that some of you can’t read yet, but that okay. I’d like you to simply stand on a stepstool and imagine for a moment what it’s like. We’ll take turns. Okay? Let’s do it.

(they read Luke 4:18-19)

Thank you. You all did an excellent job. I think you just made your Sunday School teachers very happy! Now, quietly return to your seat.

Returning our Tithes and Offerings

Boy, were those people mad! They were so angry that they intended to throw Jesus off a cliff. Were you listening? Have you ever been that upset? One minute, Jesus was a favorite son. The next he was a pariah. All because he implied that with God, charity doesn’t always begin at home. The prophets Elijah and Elisha, he said, cared for outsiders – a widow in a foreign country, a general in an enemy army. The words of the prophet Isaiah applied to a much bigger world than anyone dared to imagine.

Now, before you get mad at those people from Jesus’ hometown who attempted to kill him, consider this: anger is not necessarily a bad thing. It is what we do with anger that matters. Strong emotion can motivate us to make a change. Perhaps that is what Jesus was after. Maybe, just maybe, charity did begin at home in this case, and truth spoken in love changed lives… Please pray with me.

We realize, O Lord, that prophets are not always well received in their own hometown. We pray for the grace of listening to the prophets you still raise up in our midst, perhaps one of our own children. Help charity to, indeed, begin at home as you unsettle our settled-ness and stir us to “do justice and love mercy,” as another of your prophets once nudged (Micah 6:8). Guide our application of these offerings to your work, near and far. In Jesus. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

written closer to the time (if not at the moment)

Benediction

Brothers and sisters,
   the Spirit of the Lord is upon you,
          because you have been anointed in Christ
               to bring good news to the poor.
          You are being sent in Christ
               to proclaim release to the captives
                            and recovery of sight to the blind.
    As one whose eyes are daily being opened, as well,
          live in the liberty of God,
               seeking to let the oppressed go free.
     And in your daily work and walk
          simply proclaim the jubilee of the Lord -
               “thy kingdom come,
                 thy will be done,
                      on earth as it is in heaven.” Amen.