SCROLL DOWN FOR JULY 5 AND JULY 12, 2009
Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!
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!
July 5, 2009 (Fifth Sunday after Pentecost)
Complementary Series
Ezekiel 2:1-5
Psalm 123 (2)
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13
Resistance. Jesus and his followers met with resistance. They said, “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Where did he get all of this wisdom? How come he has all of this power?
When I hear the above questions, it as if the crowds and neighbors of Jesus are questioning why their children did not receive the gifts he received. Therefore they resist.
Currently three of my pastors are riding a bicycle built for three across the United States. The Tour De Revs expected that they would be greeted by large welcoming groups of people. In some cases this is true. In other cases it is not. In several areas they have been met by down right apathy. It is as if some are saying, who cares about the poor? Who cares about wellness?
Quite often as a bishop of this church I preach making use of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal. In one congregation a man questioned my sermon and my emphasis upon the possibility that we could indeed end hunger and poverty. I stated that we have all of the resources that we need to end hunger and poverty. This man said, “don’t we need a certain amount of poverty, otherwise the world’s economic structure will collapse?”
Resistance comes in many shapes and sizes. It comes in the form of “we’ve never done it that way before.” It comes in apathy. It comes in believing myths!
Jesus lived and died and lived again to destroy our resistance to his good news and to his gift of grace. For me Lutheranism 101 is in the clause, “Because… therefore.” Because God saves us by the free gift of Jesus, therefore I can respond by feeding the poor ….I can respond by lowering my resistance to ….therefore I can respond in so many ways to show my thanks to God Almighty!
Rev. Dr. Ralph Dunkin
Bishop of the West Virginia-Western Maryland Synod
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Welcome to Hunger Sermon Starters!
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!
July 12, 2009 (Sixth Sunday after Pentecost)
Today’s texts have a common theme of speaking out uncomfortable truths. Just last month, new figures were released on global hunger. According to the UN, for the first time in decades, the downward trend of hungry people has reversed. This year there will be a 10% increase in those who are hungry, reaching up over 1 billion (that’s one in six people who are hungry). While we work to bail out banks and businesses (to the tune of over $1 trillion), what is being done to protect those who are poorest and most vulnerable? What other injustices might we need to speak out against in our time?
Complementary Series
Amos 7:7-15
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?
Psalm 85:8-13
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?
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29
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?
David Creech
Director of Hunger Education, ELCA World Hunger
