Preaching as Prophetic Calling: Sermons That Work series XII: v. 12 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0819218936 ISBN 13: 9780819218933

Publisher: Morehouse Publishing, 2004

Synopsis

Preaching as Prophetic Calling is the twelfth in a series of books devoted to presenting examples of preaching excellence from parishes throughout the Episcopal Church.

This volume addresses the difficult and essential area of preaching a prophetic word. What does a prophetic sermon look like without being shrill, and without being filled with “musts,” “oughts,” and “shoulds”? This collection of sermons includes examples of prophetic preaching that are visionary and that speak in ways that offer radical comfort as well as radical challenge.

About this title

About the Authors

Roger Alling is president of the Episcopal Preaching Foundation and director of the Foundation's Preaching Excellence Program. Co-editor of the Sermons that Work series, he lives in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

David J. Schlafer is a noted homiletician and speaker and co-author of the Morehouse series Sermons That Work. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

PREACHING AS PROPHETIC CALLING

By ROGER ALLING, DAVID J. SCHLAFER

Church Publishing Incorporated

Copyright © 2004 Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8192-1893-3

Contents

INTRODUCTION: The Range of Riches in "Prophetic" Preaching
1 Focusing Specific Issues of Prophetic Concern
2 Framing Spacious Visions of Prophetic Ministry
3 Preaching Paul Prophetically
Epilogue: Jesus the Prophet Rhonda Smith McIntire
Acknowledgments

CHAPTER 1

Focusing Specific Issues of Prophetic Concern

CELEBRATING SIGNS OF HOPE

COMMUNITY SERVICES

A Table in the Wilderness

Psalm 78:14–20; Romans 8:35–39; Matthew 14:13–21Proper 13 AAmanda Rutherford May

THE LAND AROUND the Sea of Galilee is hardly a wilderness. It is rich andfertile country with beautiful hills and valleys and some trees. Yet Jesusspeaks of withdrawing to "a lonely place." The words translated "lonely place"in Matthew's Gospel literally mean "a place that is like a wilderness." Thewilderness—a place of quiet, of stillness, of barrenness—a place that is wildand open, a place where we come to terms with ourselves and with God.

The wilderness experience of the people of Israel was the most formative in theOld Testament. After having been led out of slavery in Egypt by Moses, theIsraelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Forty years of movingtoward the Promised Land, forty years of trusting in God, trusting in God toprotect them and to guide them, trusting in God to satisfy their hunger and toassuage their thirst. In the wilderness they experienced hardship and freedom,and they longed for comfort and slavery. They were tempted to worship other godsand to turn back to the life from which they had been redeemed. But God lovedhis people. He taught them, fed them, and cared for them. Finally when they wereready, God led them to the Promised Land.

The story of the loaves and fishes is the story of another wildernessexperience. After Jesus was rejected in his own city of Nazareth, the disciplesbrought him the news that John the Baptist had been executed. For all of them itwas a time of failure and fear. They left Nazareth and crossed the Sea ofGalilee to a "lonely place"—a wilderness where they could again come to termswith themselves and with God. But when they arrived, the people of Galilee, likethe Israelites of old, had gathered to experience God, to escape from theslavery of sin, and to seek the Promised Land, the kingdom of God proclaimed bythe Messiah. Jesus taught the people, as God had taught the Israelites in thewilderness. He cast out demons and healed the sick, as God had cared for theIsraelites in their wanderings. But as the day lengthened and the people beganto be hungry and restless, even the faithful wondered: "Can God prepare a tablein the wilderness?"

On that day in Galilee, there were only five loaves and two fishes, a meal forone to feed a crowd of five thousand men, besides the women and children. Jesustook the offerings, blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples tofeed the people. In the Exodus, God fed the people of Israel with manna and withquails, enough for the whole company each day. But on that day in Galilee, thepeople were fed and there was food left over—more than enough for all to share.Like the Israelites of the Exodus, the people of Galilee and the disciples whohad sought out "a lonely place" experienced God in their midst, a loving andfaithful God who prepared a table in the wilderness with food and drink inabundance.

I have had the privilege for the last eight years of serving as the executivedirector of Episcopal Community Services. This agency provides services to thepoor in San Diego and Riverside Counties, including:

• early childhood education and care

• drug and alcohol rehabilitation, education, and prevention

• housing for battered women and their children, and for women who havethemselves been offenders

• emergency assistance

• services and housing for the homeless mentally ill

• employment for the homeless and for foster youth entering the workforce

• housing for those who are homeless and suffering from AIDS

• chaplaincy to all of our programs

With five hundred employees and forty locations, our programs serve aboutthirty-five hundred clients each day.

ECS is a place where we experience wilderness. Those who come to us arephysically, mentally, and spiritually in the wilderness of their lives. Somehave nowhere to sleep; some have no food; some are mentally, physically, orspiritually ill. Many are addicted or abused. All are poor. Many have beenseparated from families and friends for years. Some are separated from God. Likethe Israelites of old, they wander, looking for the Promised Land, trying torely on God's providence, yet asking the question, "Can God prepare a table inthe wilderness?"

Bob had enjoyed a successful career. As a young man he had graduated fromStanford, then completed an MBA at Harvard. He had become a marketing executivein a succession of companies, with a significant income, a house, and a brightfuture—bright, until the clouds started to form. He was unable to perform at hisusual high standards and eventually didn't go to work at all. His companyterminated him. He found himself unable to search for a new job. As money gottighter and tighter, his wife left him, defeated by his undiagnosed disease. Boblived in his house for two years, spending all his savings, until the bankforeclosed, the utility companies cut off services, and his friends desertedhim.

As he will tell you, one day he was carrying a bucket of water from his swimmingpool to the bathroom to flush a toilet, because the water had been turned off.He said to himself, "Bob, this is crazy! And if this is crazy, you must be crazytoo!" Shortly thereafter he was forced out of his house and was forced to livein his car. When his car was finally repossessed, Bob found himself homeless andliving on the street. For Bob it was the wilderness, a time of powerlessness,desperation, fear, and loneliness. He could not overcome the situation, and hecould not escape. It was all he could do to survive.

Eventually Bob found his way to the ECS Friend-to-Friend Clubhouse, where hecould shower and eat and talk to others who were mentally ill. Bob suffered froma form of clinical depression so severe that at times he could not function.After he was diagnosed and the appropriate medications were prescribed, Bobbegan to return to a shadow of his former self. He started by working at the ECSDowntown Work Center for minimum wage. He then joined the ECS staff, working asa counselor at the Friend-to-Friend Clubhouse. From there he became the managerof the Work Center. But he was still too fragile, and he sank into depressionagain. It was a low point for all of us who had great hopes for Bob's recovery.But, he returned to his job at the Clubhouse and slowly has been restored tohealth. About three years ago, he accepted a new job at his old salary scale,doing marketing on the Internet.

On his last day at the Clubhouse, Bob gathered together the members to tell themhis story and the good news. Now those who are members of the Friend-to-FriendClubhouse are homeless (or nearly homeless) and mentally ill. They hear voices,they are depressed or manic, they are paranoid or delusional, but they cometogether at the Clubhouse to form a community. There is a great bond among themembers of the Clubhouse. They know they are fragile. They know they areoutcasts. They know that their futures are uncertain. But they also know that atthe Clubhouse they are respected and treated with dignity, valued because theyare children of God.

Bob told the members that he was going to a job that paid a hundred thousanddollars more than his job at the Clubhouse. They thought he was delusional. Thenhe told them that he was buying a new industrial strength washer and dryer forthe Clubhouse. That was enough to convince everyone!

The going-away party was joyful, festive, and full of hope. In the midst of thewilderness of fear and loneliness, oppression and degradation, God had prepareda table for Bob and his friends at the Clubhouse. Bob told me as he was leavingthat he would never forget what ECS had done for him: that we had helped him andbelieved in him, but most of all that we had convinced him that God had notforsaken him.

To be in the wilderness is to be apart. To experience the wilderness is toexperience separation. It is a place stripped of amenities. It is a placeforsaken. And when we enter into a wilderness experience, we take on the natureof the place. The comfort of our daily lives is removed. We feel suddenly veryalone, very vulnerable, and very much in the presence of God.

All of us spend time in the wilderness. Perhaps we have been homeless, addicted,or abused. Perhaps we have been depressed, despairing, in mourning. Perhaps wehave felt worthless, useless, or ineffectual. Perhaps we have felt abandoned orbetrayed by friends, family, or by God. But that time we spend in the wildernessis a time to be cherished, for it is a time when we come face to face with God.It is a time when pretensions are stripped away and we come to know that indeedGod will provide for us—and that we cannot provide for ourselves.

Several years ago I went to the Holy Land, and in the course of visitingdifferent places in Israel, I went to the small monastery where the miracle ofthe loaves and fishes is commemorated. It is a wilderness, not without water orgreenery, as it sits on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, but a place where thereis silence and the presence of God. On the floor of the sanctuary is a second-centurytile floor with the symbols of the loaves and fishes. Around thesanctuary are the Eucharistic words describing Jesus' action as he was given themeager offerings of bread and fish. "Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it,and gave it to the crowd," the words of the Last Supper and the words said everySunday in our Eucharist together.

For each of us the Eucharistic words are reminders of that encounter with God inthe wilderness, for it is there that we offer ourselves to God, and there thathe takes up the offering of our lives. God blesses us, and calls us hischildren. He breaks apart our worlds to conform our wills to his. And he givesus to the world for service in the name of Christ.

It is hard to say what it was about that monastery that influenced my ownspiritual journey, but it was from that time and place that I mark my adultcommitment as a disciple of Christ. Perhaps it was that my intellectualresistance to Christianity was finally broken down by the historical reality ofthat simple place. But looking back over the years, I know that God called mefrom the wilderness of my life at that time to experience his presence, thepresence of a loving and faithful God. For me, God prepared a table in thewilderness, and it was in those simple Eucharistic words written on the walls ofthe sanctuary that I found my life in God.

"Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?" The stories of the Old and NewTestaments and our own experiences echo with a resounding "yes!" For each of usthe time in the wilderness is a time of struggle, a time of waiting andwatching, a time of vulnerability. But it is in the wilderness, where all isstripped away, that we know the power of God's love.

As Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: "For I am convinced that neitherdeath, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will beable to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." It is in thewilderness that the table is prepared for us, and it is there that God gives usthe Bread of Life.

Amanda Rutherford May is executive director ofEpiscopal Community Services, San Diego, California.

LITERACY

Finding a Voice

Luke 18:1–8Proper 24 CMargaret A. Faeth

DURING A RECENT family vacation, I caught a cold that turned into laryngitis.For an entire week I had no voice. It became a long and lonely week as I wasprogressively isolated by my inability to speak. For the first day or two, mychildren still expected some response from me. I clapped as my son bravelyattempted his first back dive. When my daughter asked for a Popsicle beforedinner, I was able to get my message across with a shake of my head and a raisedeyebrow. But I missed a lovely bike ride because nobody heard my response to theinvitation. Before long we were all tired of the extra effort it took tocommunicate. Nobody wanted my germs, but I really missed my daily dose of hugsand kisses. I became more isolated as the children began to look to their fatheras the sole source of permission, affirmation, and response.

I became very dependent upon my husband. I couldn't introduce myself in thechurch we visited. I couldn't ask directions or use the telephone. I couldn'teven make my own doctor's appointment. In restaurants, after much gesticulatingand pointing, I finally had to have Paul order for me. I began to understandwhat it must feel like to be invisible. I really don't know what I would havedone without my husband. In my voiceless state, he was my advocate, the one whobridged the chasm between society and me. In the midst of my frustrationhowever, I realized that my condition was only temporary. I knew that soon Iwould be able to speak for myself.

Two thousand years ago, women did not have the luxury of speaking forthemselves. In ancient Palestine, women relied exclusively on the men in theirlives for permission, affirmation, and response. Virtuous women lived inisolation, venturing out into public only under swaths of veils designed toprotect their modesty. A good woman was not seen and not heard. Jewish folkloreexplained that the mother of the Maccabean heroes had been blessed with so manyvaliant sons because even the beams in her ceiling had never seen a hair of heruncovered head.

In a society so unaccustomed to the sight and sounds of women, widows posed aspecial problem. A woman fortunate enough to have sons became dependent uponthem after her husband died. Some women were taken in by male relatives. But thewidow without a male advocate lived on the outskirts of society—without voiceand without hope. The Greek and Hebrew words for widow reflect this isolation.The Hebrew word for widow, almanah, comes from the word that means mute orvoiceless. The Greek word for widow, chera, is derived from the word chasma,which denotes a chasm or deficiency.

Voiceless, deficient, isolated by an impossible social chasm—this was thewidow's reality. The big surprise in today's Gospel is not that the judge grewweary of the widow's persistence and relented. The big surprise is that thewidow found her voice. She sought justice and mercy when she had no right orreason to expect it. Under Jewish law, she had no right to be heard. Had shebeen wealthy, or the mother of sons, she would have found an advocate to presenther petition. But this was apparently not the case. In her desperation, shecried out across the chasm of social norms that isolated her. If we listencarefully, we can still hear the echoes.

My friend Ginny knows the pain of isolation. Without an advocate in the publicschool system, she advanced from grade to grade without learning to read. In theeyes of her teachers and classmates, Ginny's deficiency defined her. Labeledstupid and slow, she became an outcast. In humiliation, she finally dropped outwhen she turned sixteen. She began a series of menial jobs that she undertookwith her usual sense of quiet determination. You might know Ginny. She's the onewho scrapes the food off our plates when we finish our restaurant meal. She'sthe one who dries our hubcaps at the carwash. And when her illiteracy isdiscovered, Ginny is the voiceless, helpless one who falls victim to employerswho alter or miscalculate her timecard, double charge her for uniforms, andreduce her wages because she can't tell the difference.

Ginny knows the cry of desperation. Her isolation drove her into a relationshipwith the first man who paid her any attention—an advocate at last. But it didn'tlast. Finally, alone and without an advocate, Ginny gave up her only child foradoption because she didn't understand the paperwork she was asked to sign.

It took a long time, but Ginny's pain and isolation finally pushed her to theedge of the chasm and she called out for help. Her past had taught her that shehad no right or reason to expect a response, but her petition was answered. Atage forty, Ginny found her voice when she learned to read. Literacy was thebridge that Ginny built, word by word, book by book, between herself andsociety. Ginny's efforts were sustained by her longing for God. Her dream was toworship in a Christian community without shame, able to follow the pastor'sinstructions to open her Bible to a particular chapter and verse. God listenedto Ginny as nobody had listened to her before. In grace, God responded with awealth of opportunities beyond Ginny's wildest dreams. Before the ears of mercy,Ginny learned to speak for herself.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from PREACHING AS PROPHETIC CALLING by ROGER ALLING, DAVID J. SCHLAFER. Copyright © 2004 Roger Alling and David J. Schlafer. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Morehouse Publishing
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0819218936
• ISBN 13: 9780819218933
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 145
• Editor: Alling Roger, Schlafer David J.