New For Fall -- The Narrative Lectionary

This fall, beginning September 7, we will begin using The Narrative Lectionary (NL) as the basis for the texts preached during Sunday worship services.  The NL is a four-year cycle of readings, which allows the pastor to preach annually through the biblical narrative in order to center the lives of believers in God’s story.  Each week, two texts are assigned – a preaching text and an accompanying text.  The outline for the NL is as follows:

Fall/Advent:  Old Testament readings move through the story of God’s dealings with Israel and culminate in Advent with the prophets who speak of longing and hope and the coming of the Messiah.

Christmas – Lent:  Readings from the Gospels fit the movement from birth of the Messiah at Christmas, the public revelation of the Messiah during Epiphany, and the Passion and resurrection through Lent, Holy Week and Easter.

Easter – Pentecost:  Resurrection accounts, stories from Acts and readings of Paul’s letters tell of the power of the Holy Spirit’s presence through the Easter season to the Day of Pentecost. 

The Summer texts focus on particular books or themes in Scripture.

For more information about The Narrative Lectionary, go to the Luther Seminary information page: http://www.workingpreacher.org/narrative_faqs.aspx

Preaching Texts

September 7 – January 4, 2015
(all texts are from New Revised Standard Version)

September 7

Genesis 6:16-22; 9:8-15

¹⁶Make a roof^* for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. ¹⁷For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. ²¹Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.’ ²²Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.^{* 11}I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ ¹²God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: ¹³I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

September 14

Genesis 12:1-9

Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ²I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’^*

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, ⁶Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak^* of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring^* I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. ⁹And Abram journeyed on by stages towards the Negeb.

Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ²The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man; he was in the house of his Egyptian master. ³His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper in his hands. ⁴So Joseph found favour in his sight and attended him; he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. ⁵From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. ⁶So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge; and, with him there, he had no concern for anything but the food that he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. ⁷And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ ⁸But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Look, with me here, my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand. ⁹He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ ¹⁰And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not consent to lie beside her or to be with her. ¹¹One day, however, when he went into the house to do his work, and while no one else was in the house, ¹²she caught hold of his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me!’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. ¹³When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside, ¹⁴she called out to the members of her household and said to them, ‘See, my husband^* has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us! He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; ¹⁵and when he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.’ ¹⁶Then she kept his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷and she told him the same story, saying, ‘The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; ¹⁸but as soon as I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me, and fled outside.’

19 When his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, ‘This is the way your servant treated me’, he became enraged. ²⁰And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; he remained there in prison. ²¹But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love; he gave him favour in the sight of the chief jailer. ²²The chief jailer committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison, and whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. ²³The chief jailer paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

September 28

Exodus 14:10-14, 21-29

¹⁰As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. ¹¹They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” ¹³But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. ¹⁴The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. ²²The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. ²³The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. ²⁴At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. ²⁵He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” ²⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” ²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. ²⁸The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. ²⁹But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

October 5

Exodus 19:3-7; 20:1-17

³Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: ⁴You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, ⁶but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’

7 So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.

Then God spoke all these words:

2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³you shall have no other gods before^* me.

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, ⁶but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation^* of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. ⁹For six days you shall labour and do all your work. ¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

12 Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 You shall not murder.^*

14 You shall not commit adultery.

15 You shall not steal.

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

17 You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

October 12 – Rev. Dr. Doug Portz, Pittsburgh Presbytery -- Guest Preacher

October 19

2 Samuel 12:1-9

¹and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, ‘There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had very many flocks and herds; ³but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meagre fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴Now there came a traveller to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.’ ⁵Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; ⁶he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.’

7 Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; ⁸I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. ⁹Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

Psalm 51:1-9

To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
   blot out my transgressions. 
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
   and cleanse me from my sin.


³ For I know my transgressions,
   and my sin is ever before me. 
⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
   and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
   and blameless when you pass judgement. 
⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty,
   a sinner when my mother conceived me.


⁶ You desire truth in the inward being;^*
   therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
   wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
   and blot out all my iniquities.

October 26

1 Kings 3:4-28

⁴The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt-offerings on that altar. ⁵At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ ⁶And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. ⁷And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. ⁹Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’

10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹²I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. ¹³I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honour all your life; no other king shall compare with you. ¹⁴If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.’

15 Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem, where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered up burnt-offerings and offerings of well-being, and provided a feast for all his servants.

16 Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷One woman said, ‘Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. ¹⁸Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. ¹⁹Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. ²⁰She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. ²¹When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.’ ²²But the other woman said, ‘No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.’ The first said, ‘No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.’ So they argued before the king.

23 Then the king said, ‘One says, “This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead”; while the other says, “Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.” ’ ²⁴So the king said, ‘Bring me a sword’, and they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵The king said, ‘Divide the living boy in two; then give half to one, and half to the other.’ ²⁶But the woman whose son was alive said to the king—because compassion for her son burned within her—‘Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!’ The other said, ‘It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.’ ²⁷Then the king responded: ‘Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.’ ²⁸All Israel heard of the judgement that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice.

November 2

2 Kings 5:1-14

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.^{* 2}Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. ³She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’^{* 4}So Naaman^* went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. ⁵And the king of Aram said, ‘Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’

He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. ⁶He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’^{* 7}When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?^* Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’

8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’ ⁹So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’ ¹¹But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!^{* 12}Are not Abana^* and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a rage. ¹³But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ ¹⁴So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

November 9  -- Rev. Linda Ruby, Guest Preacher 

November 16

Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; 2:1-4

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ²The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. He stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ³And there came out to him Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder.

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, ‘Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴Thus says the king: “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will eat from your own vine and your own fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, ¹⁷until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, The Lord will save us. Has any of the gods of the nations saved their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰Who among all the gods of these countries have saved their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should save Jerusalem out of my hand?” ’

When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³They said to him, ‘Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. ⁴It may be that the Lord your God heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, ‘Say to your master, “Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷I myself will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumour, and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.


² In days to come
   the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
   and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it. 
³   Many peoples shall come and say,
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
   to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
   and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 
⁴ He shall judge between the nations,
   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
   and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more.

November 23

Jeremiah 1:4-10; 7:1-11

4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 
⁵ ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ 
⁶Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ ⁷But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you. 
⁸ Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,

says the Lord.’ 
⁹Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth. 
¹⁰ See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to worship the Lord. ³Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you^* in this place. ⁴Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is^* the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

5 For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, ⁶if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, ⁷then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors for ever and ever.

8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are safe!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord.

November 30 (First Sunday of Advent)

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:2-4; 3:17-19

The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.


² O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
   and you will not listen?
Or cry to you ‘Violence!’
   and you will not save? 
³ Why do you make me see wrongdoing
   and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
   strife and contention arise. 
⁴ So the law becomes slack
   and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
   therefore judgement comes forth perverted.

² Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
   make it plain on tablets,
   so that a runner may read it. 
³ For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
   it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
   it will surely come, it will not delay. 
⁴ Look at the proud!
   Their spirit is not right in them,
   but the righteous live by their faith.^*

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not blossom,
   and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
   and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
   and there is no herd in the stalls, 
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
   I will exult in the God of my salvation. 
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   and makes me tread upon the heights.^*

December 7 (Second Sunday of Advent)

Esther 4:1-17

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; ²he went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. ³In every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. ⁵Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. ⁶Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, ⁷and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.

9 Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, ¹¹‘All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden sceptre to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.’ ¹²When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, ¹³Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.’ ¹⁵Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, ¹⁶‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.’ ¹⁷Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

December 14 (Third Sunday of Advent)

Isaiah 42:1-9

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
   my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
   he will bring forth justice to the nations. 
² He will not cry or lift up his voice,
   or make it heard in the street; 
³ a bruised reed he will not break,
   and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
   he will faithfully bring forth justice. 
⁴ He will not grow faint or be crushed
   until he has established justice in the earth;
   and the coastlands wait for his teaching.


⁵ Thus says God, the Lord,
   who created the heavens and stretched them out,
   who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
   and spirit to those who walk in it: 
⁶ I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
   I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,^*
   a light to the nations, 
⁷   to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
   from the prison those who sit in darkness. 
⁸ I am the Lord, that is my name;
   my glory I give to no other,
   nor my praise to idols. 
⁹ See, the former things have come to pass,
   and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
   I tell you of them.

December 21 (Fourth Sunday of Advent)

Matthew 1:18-25

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah^* took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ ²²All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 
²³ ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’ ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son;^* and he named him Jesus.

December 28 (First Sunday of Christmas) -- Guest preacher (TBD)

January 4 (Second Sunday of Christmas)

Matthew 2:13-23

13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ ¹⁴Then Joseph^* got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men,^* he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.^{* 17}Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 
¹⁸ ‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
   wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ²⁰‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ ²¹Then Joseph^* got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. ²³There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’

Ordinary 22A -- August 31, 2014

Flip Flop Worship -- With Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon

We were delighted to welcome our brothers and sister from Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon to our church this morning to end our summer "Flip Flop" worship season in the same way we began  -- together.

Rev. Dr. Donna Giver Johnston led us in worship, preaching on Exodus 3:1-15.  The audio of her sermon can be heard here:  https://soundcloud.com/emsworthup/august-31-2014-10-17-24-am/s-e77uj

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. ³Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” ⁴When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹²He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.” ¹³But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” ¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’“ ¹⁵God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

Ordinary 21A -- August 24, 2014

You Gotta Serve Somebody

Listen to the audio here:  https://soundcloud.com/emsworthup/august-24-2014-10-17-38-am/s-C2yiC

Matthew 16:13-20

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Let us pray:  Holy God, open our ears to your word and our hearts to your truth.  If you are with us, nothing else matters.  If you are not with us, nothing else matters.  Bless our hearing and our speaking on this day.  Amen.

It is so good to be back with you today.  It feels like I’ve been away forever, which my husband always says is the sign of a good vacation. So it must have been a fantastic vacation.  I calculated that our family managed to travel more nearly 4,000 miles this summer on various trips to Boston, Montreal, Florida and South Carolina.  And all of those miles were by car.  That’s a lot of miles for one summer.   I wasn’t tempted to calculate how many sticks of gum were chewed or how many gallons of gas were pumped or how many times iPhones were recharged in the back seat by my bored kids.  But the Rothenbergs definitely covered some significant ground this summer.

As we were driving home on Thursday night, we talked about our summer experiences and the trips we took together and the places we saw on our travels.  And I remembered how we had passed by two towns this summer that were marked by violence that made big news and sparked significant controversy.  In July, we drove by the interstate exit for Sandy Hook/Newtown in Connecticut on our trip to Boston to move Rachel in to her new apartment.   And on our way from Florida to South Carolina, we passed an exit on Interstate 95 for Sanford, Florida, which will be associated with the names of Travon Martin and George Zimmerman for a long, long time.  I thought about another obscure little suburban town that has become suddenly famous in the worst possible way.  Ferguson, Missouri will also be long associated with the names Michael Brown and Darren Wilson, for a long time.

The names that we give to places and people always have meaning, and sometimes those names become synonymous with characteristics and events that change the meaning forever.  Sometimes the names of places become famous – or infamous -- in ways that no one would choose.  I’m sure people who live in Newtown, Ct. or Sanford, Fl. or Ferguson, Missouri wish they could go back to being ordinary towns with ordinary interstate exits that people whiz by at 70 miles an hour without even noticing. 

It’s easy when we’re reading scripture to also whiz right by the names of places and people.  In today’s text, we are dealing with not one but three names.  The names of Jesus and Peter, certainly.  But also the name of the town where Jesus has taken the disciples. 

I’m speaking about the setting of today’s scene from the gospel of Matthew: Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi was the site of an ancient sacred spring flowing out from the mouth of a cave at which a shrine to the god Pan had been established.  Herod the Great and then his son, Herod Philip, as was their family custom, built an impressive complex of buildings there designed to showcase Rome’s wealth and power.  The city itself was named in honor of the Roman emperor, as well as Herod and his son.  If ever there were a name associated with political, Caesarea Philippi was it.

In a recent blog post, my former pastor Mary Louise McCullough said: “To say this city didn’t represent the political weight of Rome bearing down upon the people of Galilee would be like saying that Washington D.C. being named after George Washington had little or nothing to do with what went on there. That Jesus took the guys to this place and asked them questions about who he was signaled that it was time to confront the political overtones of his ministry, overtones which would soon become clanging cymbals. The disciples were in for a shock.”[1]  The shock of course would be that Jesus hadn’t come to overthrow the political and religious establishment, at least not in the way the disciples expected.  Very soon, Jesus will tell them that he will die at the hands of that establishment. 

But all of that is still in the future. Here in this starkly political setting, in the dark shadow of Roman rule, Jesus decides to do some focus group work with his disciples.  Time for a few probing questions.  What are people saying about Jesus?  Who do people think Jesus is?  Well, that that’s a pretty easy question for the disciples.  In fact, it’s a total softball question because they don’t have to come up with the right answer on their own.  The disciples need only give reports about opinions of people they’ve heard out in the field.  And clearly, there’s been lots of speculation about who Jesus is.  Some say he’s Elijah, John the Baptist., Jeremiah or maybe even another prophet! 

And if Jesus were to ask us that same question, we could easily quote any number of creeds or theologians.  Here’s what Nicea says!  Here’s Calvin’s opinion!  Here’s what my 3^rd grade Sunday school teacher taught!  A fellow pastor says that when she was in seminary, one of her professors took this verse from Matthews gospel and told the class he would give them the correct answer to Jesus’ question.  From what she can remember, his answer went something like this: Jesus is the proleptic, salvific, hidden appearance of the eschatological kingdom of God." Did you get that? "The proleptic, salvific, hidden appearance of the eschatological kingdom of God." Well, to be fair, the guy was teaching a systematic theology class.  And I am sure I’ve memorized other peoples’ opinions about Jesus is over the years without really knowing their meaning, and I bet you have, too.

But then Jesus goes deeper.  He asks the tougher question of “Who do you say I am?”  He’s not asking what your pastor says.  Not what your tradition says.  Not even what you were taught in Sunday school or communicants’ class or seminary.  It’s time for you to dig deep and tell Jesus what YOU think.  Who is this man?   Who is he in all of your experiences, your disappointments, your successes and failures?  After a lifetime in which you’ve seen the best and the worst of what people can do, and done your best and your worst right along with them– what do you say about Jesus?  What does Jesus mean to you on an ordinary day when you are simply trying to get through it?  And who is Jesus – on vacation, in our community, or even in Ferguson, Missouri right now?

It’s a “Come to Jesus” moment for the disciples.  After all they’ve witnessed.  After all Jesus has taught them.  Jesus wants to take a moment to see if any of this has gotten through to his followers.  Has anything he’s done or said made a difference to them?  It’s not just a “Come to Jesus” moment.  It’s a “You Gotta Serve Somebody” moment for the disciples.  Like the old Bob Dylan tune:

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You're gonna have to serve somebody

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Who do the disciples think they are serving?  Who do we think we are following? 

I do not think it is by coincidence that Jesus brings his disciples to Caesarea Philippi at this point in his ministry.  It matters that Jesus will ask this question in a place with a name that represents the powers and principalities of the disciples’ known world.  Because Jesus knows that the time going to come – not just for the disciples – but for all the disciples of every time and place to answer the question when the stakes couldn’t be higher.  Who are you going to serve?  What will you stand up for? What’s important? When do you say what you need to, want to, have to? Or when will you choose to be silent or hide?

Peter gets the answer right, not because he is any smarter or more faithful than the other disciples.  If anything, Peter gets it right because Peter is never afraid to put himself out there for better or worse.   And Jesus says it himself – Peter gets it right because he is not afraid to say out loud what God has revealed to him.   Those are the kinds of people Jesus chooses to build the church that will come after him – the ones foolish and fearless enough to proclaim the truth about Jesus.  Even in a place like Caesarea Philippi where talking the way Peter is talking could get you in a lot of trouble.

Who are you going to serve?  You’re gonna have to serve somebody.

This has been a crazy hard couple of weeks, despite the fact that I was on vacation.  I tried to look away as much as possible, but I couldn’t.  Robin Williams. Michael Brown. The death of a celebrity tormented by depression and the onslaught of Parkinson’s. The death of a black teenager that seems senseless and suspect. To some extent these cases are not at all related and at the same time, so connected, so real. 

Because they ask us to make a decision.  How will you respond?  Who are you going to serve?

Are we going to end the stigma that still exists about mental illness in this country, not to mention this congregation?  Are we going to spend the money to ensure that people have access to good mental health care in this country, not to mention this community?  Are we going to stop whispering about depression and schizophrenia behind closed doors, and start talking about it in the same way we talk about diabetes or cancer.  Can we talk about mental illness as an affliction that makes no distinction between celebrities and ordinary people?

Are we going to stand up for the unarmed and the unprotected?

Are we going to stand up for the hungry and the rejected?

Are we going to give in to our fears and prejudices, or stay silent when we hear the voices of hatred?

Who are you going to serve?  Jesus – who showed us the forgiving, gracious heart of God?  Who told a story about a Samaritan who stumbles upon a traveler, possibly a Jew, laying in a ditch, and doesn’t ask if the man deserved what happened to him?  Or will you serve the one who loves nothing more than dividing us and making us suspicious of people who do not look like us or think like us?

Who are you going to serve?  Jesus – who took on the form of a servant, humbling himself, emptying himself, giving everything he had for the love of God’s people?  Or will you serve the one who rejoices every time we hoard and hold back or try to tell ourselves that what happens to thugs or homeless people is none of our business?

Who are we going to serve? Jesus – who washed feet and embraced the unclean and the unwanted, and never once turned anybody away? Or will you serve the one who gleefully watches our wars and our conflicts and our reflexive exclusion of those we find unworthy of our time and concern?

Jesus is not about our safety and our comfort.  If he wanted the disciples to stay safe, he wouldn’t have dragged the disciples to Caesarea Philippi instead of a secluded mountain far away from the listening ears of the Romans.  Because what Peter says about Jesus could very well get him killed. But it is the only Truth that matters.  And it is a truth that changes everything for Peter.  What does that Truth change us?

Jesus says that the gates of hell will not prevail.  Which is hard to believe isn’t it?  It is for me sometimes when I think that the gates of hell seem to be all around us.  In the outrage of Ferguson.  In the violence of  Gaza and Israel.  In the horrific images of a public beheading of a journalist doing his job.  In the heartbreaking photos of people suffering from Ebola and the healthcare workers risking their own lives to care for them.  

But we know the end of the story, just as Peter does although it will take time for him to understand fully what he has uttered out loud at the gate of hell to which Jesus led them.  Do not trust your eyes or even your educated mind on this one.  Be bold enough to say it out loud along with Peter:  Love will win.  Forgiveness will win.  Peace will win.  In the end, what is evil doesn’t stand a chance because Jesus handed over the keys to one of us, representing all of us.  We are the people whom God trusts to sort through the wreckage we inflict upon one another and embrace a suffering world.

I invite you to take some time this week to think about the question.  Imagine Jesus here among us, saying:  “Who do you say I am?”  Because how you answer that question has everything to do with who you are willing to be.  Who you are choosing to serve.  And how much you are willing to risk. 

Thanks be to God.  Amen. 

---

[1] http://2pcnashville.com/2014/08/22/posts-from-our-pastor-looking-toward-sunday-20/

Ordinary 19 A -- August 10, 2014

WHAT’S SO FUNNY ABOUT PEACE, LOVE, AND RECONCILIATION?

Guest Preacher:  Alan Olson

Philippians 2: 1-11        

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,

   did not regard equality with God

   as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

   taking the form of a slave,

   being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

   he humbled himself

   and became obedient to the point of death—

   even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

   and gave him the name

   that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

   every knee should bend,

   in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

   that Jesus Christ is Lord,

   to the glory of God the Father.

         Good morning! Thank you for having me to share this time of worship with you today. I was going to start with a really old joke: I just flew in from Africa, and boy, are my arms tired—and my legs, and my back, etc. etc. But I’ve been for about two weeks, so I think the statute of limitations on using that joke has expired. Mind you, I’m not joking about flying in from Africa. I have recently returned from a two-week mission trip to South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho.

         Now I’m going to guess that all of you are familiar with the nation of South Africa—especially if you were alive during the 1970s and 80s and were paying attention to the struggle to end Apartheid, the legal segregation of and discrimination against black South Africans and other people of color. Chances are good that most of you are familiar with South African leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But I would guess that there are some of you who aren’t familiar with the Kingdom of Lesotho. Let me confess that I didn’t know very much about it, either, until about two weeks ago.

         Lesotho is an independent nation of about two million people and it is entirely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho is about the size of Maryland; it’s a very mountainous country and it looks a lot like Arizona, but with green grass and trees. It is a very pretty place, but it’s not a place that gets many visitors from the United States. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard about Lesotho in the news. It’s a poor nation, but it’s far from the poorest. Although HIV/AIDS is a problem in Lesotho—as in all of southern Africa—I’m unaware of any famines or wars in Lesotho in recent memory.

         The main reason that our team went to Lesotho was to work on a service project. We were in a little town in the countryside called Morija and we were there to help build a latrine at a nursery school. This is a very typical understanding of Christian mission—a group of us went somewhere far away, to do something for someone who really needed our help. It could be viewed, as the Apostle Paul described in this morning’s reading from Philippians, as an act of “compassion and sympathy.” But most of the work on the project was done by four experienced masons; all of them were from Lesotho. At best, we were their helpers, but they could have done all of the work without us.

         Another common understanding of mission work is to send a person or a group of people abroad to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. But that wasn’t our job, either. In fact, the town of Morija was founded by French missionaries in 1833! We missed that party by almost 200 years! Today, 90% of the population is Christian. So what were we doing there? Why did we travel some 9,000 miles to assist some brick layers? Before I address those questions, I think we need to take a closer look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians; it sheds a lot of light on Christian mission.

         Philippi was a fairly large settlement in Macedonia. It was a Roman colony. That meant that land in Philippi had been given to Roman soldiers after they had completed their service in the legions. Think about that for a second. Many of the Philippians were veterans. I imagine most of you know a few people who served in the armed forces of the United States; perhaps some of you are veterans. I’ve never met a veteran who was not proud of his or her service.

         This must have been true in Philippi, too. Imagine that you were a Roman soldier in the middle of the First Century. Perhaps you were a Roman citizen, but you had little property or chance of advancement. Or maybe you were a freeman, but not a full citizen of the Empire. Service in the legions was your chance for moving up in the world. The term of service in the Roman legions was typically twenty-five years. So, after all those years of marching around the Roman world, sleeping on the ground, in the cold, eating bad food, and fighting the enemies of the Empire—where you might have been outnumbered five-to-one, or six-to-one, or ten-to-one—if you made it through all that, then you got a plot of farm land and you earned the right to be called a Roman citizen. You made it! Now, you were someone. And you earned it! How could you not be proud?

         Instead, Paul urges the congregation at Philippi to be humble, to imitate Christ’s humility. That must have been really hard to do. Paul urges the Philippians to do “nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” But being a Roman citizen meant that you were better than most other people. So it must have been a tough pill for the Philippians to swallow, when Paul told them to set aside their pride and imitate Christ’s humility.

         This is also how we, as American Christians, must act when we engage in Christian missions. Generosity is a good thing, but when we give to others, we have to do it in humility. If we are not humble when we give, then the giving becomes about us. We must, as Paul says, “be sharing in the Spirit.” Compassion and sympathy are not acts of good will that start with us. No, this is the reconciling action of the Holy Spirit. We do not do good works of our own accord. Rather, when we act in accordance with the Holy Spirit, good works are accomplished through our actions. Or maybe I should say God’s work is accomplished through our actions. This is a fine line to walk.

         Our mission team in South Africa included sixteen people: two seminary professors, thirteen seminary students and recent graduates, and the husband of one of the students. It was a diverse group: half of us were white, half were African-American; the youngest member of our group was 23, while the oldest members were in their early- or mid-sixties. When we got to Morija, we were joined by another eight volunteers. The new volunteers were college-age students from Lesotho, who were also there to help build the latrine. As I mentioned before, there were four skilled workers already working on the job site.

         When we arrived, the hole for the latrine had been completed. The next part of the project was to lay the concrete block that would serve as the septic tank for the latrine and support the upper walls of the structure. Only two people in our group knew how to lay block. What’s more, the pit for the latrine could only accommodate four or five workers at a time. In short, we had a lot more workers than work. At first, this was really frustrating. I wasn’t the only person to ask, “What am I doing here?”

         Later that night, we had devotions with the whole group. I was paired with one of my African colleagues, a young man named Sechaba. He asked that same question. He said that many of his friends had asked him why he was doing this service project and he didn’t have a good answer. The truth is, Sechaba and I were both asking the wrong question. It wasn’t about what I was doing or what Sechaba was doing. The right question is, “what is God doing here?”

         Of course it took a long day, with too little work, for either of us to realize that something more profound was going on. In fact, the lack of work created a wonderful space for conversations to take place. The team from Lesotho got to know each other better. The team from Pittsburgh got to know one another better. And best of all, members of each team began to talk with members of the other team. God had created a sacred space in which we were all invited to be in relationship with one another. The work wasn’t just about laying block for a latrine; it was about laying the foundation for relationships across the continents. My friends, that is part of the reconciling work of the Holy Spirit.

         I have traveled overseas for a number of mission trips. One of the things that I have discovered is that most people outside of the United States have never heard of Pittsburgh. Can you believe that? Never heard of Pittsburgh? It’s strange but true. But then, a great many of us had never heard of Lesotho, a nation that is not well known outside of southern Africa. To the uninitiated, Pittsburgh and Lesotho might seem like global backwaters, names on a map that few people ever visit. Then again, two thousand years ago, Palestine was a little province on the edges of the Roman Empire. Nobody expected that a humble servant born in Palestine some two thousand years ago would eventually change the world. Amazing things can happen outside of capital cities and the centers of culture.

         We spent about a week in Morija. And yes, lots of block was laid. We didn’t finish the latrine, but we came really close. More than that, the people of the two mission teams—the team from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the team of young people from Lesotho—grew close to one another. We used the time to get to know one another. At this point, you might be wondering what this has to do with humility and the imitation of Christ.

         That first morning in Morija, when there wasn’t enough work to keep all of us busy, I found that really frustrating. I felt that my time wasn’t being used wisely. I wanted to be doing something. I wanted to be useful. I. I. I! In those moments of frustration, it was all about me and what I wanted. It was only after I let go of my own expectations—after I humbled myself—that I was able to move into the sacred space that God had provided for me. It was only after I let go of my ego and my attachment to the idea that I was doing something for someone else—let me repeat that: my attachment to the idea that I was doing—it was only after I let that go that I could fall in with the work of the Holy Spirit. I suspect that this was true for most of our group.

         After we let go of our expectations, wonderful things began to happen in our groups. Many of the older women in our group adopted the young people from the Lesotho team. One of the young seminarians in our group felt compelled to give his Pirates’ hat to one of the young men from Lesotho. Many of us became Facebook friends with the young people from Lesotho. We began relationships. Before we met, the groups from Pittsburgh and Lesotho were separated by distance and culture. Through our time together, doing the work of the Holy Spirit and building relationships with one another, we began to be reconciled to one another.

         One of the more interesting relationships that began there in Morija was with an older woman named Ma’Pabello. Ma’Pabello was the administrator of the nursery school where we were working. She is a wonderful witness to a life of faith in the service of others. Caring for the young children of Morija is her mission. As we got to know Ma’Pabello better, one of the women in our group asked what we could do to help her out.

         Ma’Pabello’s first answer was to ask us to pray for the children, and then to pray for the school. Talk about humility! We asked Ma’Pabello what we could do for her and she deflected the request—the children were more important!

         The women from Pittsburgh were undeterred. They wanted to know if there was anything else that we could do for Ma’Pabello, perhaps donations of money or equipment for the school. Ma’Pabello gave the most amazing reply: “Ma’Paballo: I want your songs, not your stuff!” She didn’t want a flat-screen, high-def TV for herself or a library full of books for the school. She didn’t want computers or a new car. She wanted to know our hymns of praise. She wanted to know what we sang when we humbled ourselves before God! She wanted to share in our witness to God’s love in the world!

         As I said before, the real question, the question we couldn’t ask until we let go of our pride and arrogance and made ourselves humble, was this: “What is God doing here in Morija?” For that week, God brought us together as equals, to learn from one another and to be in community with one another. God brought us there to hear Ma’Pabello’s wisdom, and then God brought us home safely so that we could share what we learned in Lesotho.

         My friends, you don’t have to go to Africa to practice humility or to do mission work. Christian mission is not just a committee! It is what each of us does every day, when we fall in with the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to go halfway around the world to do it. The work of reconciliation must be done everywhere: in Africa, yes, and also right here on Chess Street and on Main Street; here in Mon City, down in Donora, and Monessen, too! To do this, we must approach God in prayer and humility and ask God to use us in the work of reconciliation. Thanks be to God. Amen!