Ordinary Time, Fall 2007
Cycle C, Proper 26, PEACE SUNDAY
(continuing with alternative OT reading plus
additional verses, off-lection psalm and epistle)
November
4, 2007
Title: Billboards for PeaceCOMMUNION
Song leader: Reed
Worship leader: Jonathan
Speaker: Linda
Texts: Habbakkuk
1:1-4,15--2:-4; (optional:3:17-18); Psalm 34:1-4, 12-14; Romans 14:13-21; Luke
19-1-10
Habbakkuk
1:1 The oracle that the prophet
Habakkuk saw. 1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not
listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save? 1:3 Why do
you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention
arise. 1:4 So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked
surround the righteous-- therefore judgment comes forth perverted. ...1:15 The
enemy brings [the nations] up with a hook; he drags them out with his net, he
gathers them in his seine; so he rejoices and exults. 1:16 Therefore he
sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his seine; for by them his portion
is lavish, and his food is rich. 1:17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net,
and destroying nations without mercy? 2:1 I will stand at my watchpost, and
station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint. 2:2 Then the LORD answered me
and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read
it. 2:3 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. 2:4 Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faith.
[optional:
3:17 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, 3:18 yet I will
rejoice in the LORD; I will exult in the God of my salvation.]
Psalm
34:1 I will bless the LORD at
all times; his praise shall continually
be in my mouth. 34:2 My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble
hear and be glad. 34:3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
34:4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my
fears.... 34:12 Which of you desires life, and covets many days to enjoy good?
34:13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. 34:14
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Romans 14:13 Let us therefore no
longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a
stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. 14:14 I know and am
persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is
unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 14:15 If your brother or sister is
being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let
what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. 14:16 So do not let
your good be spoken of as evil. 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not food and
drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 14:18 The one who
thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. 14:19 Let us
then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. 14:20 Do not, for
the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it
is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; 14:21 it is good not to
eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble.
[15:33: The
God of peace be with all of you.]
Luke
19:1 He entered Jericho and was
passing through it. 19:2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax
collector and was rich. 19:3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account
of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 19:4 So he ran
ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that
way. 19:5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him,
"Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house
today." 19:6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 19:7 All who
saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who
is a sinner." 19:8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look,
half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded
anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." 19:9 Then Jesus
said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a
son of Abraham. 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the
lost."
Quotation
to ponder: May we
look upon our treasure, the furniture of our houses, and our garments, and try
to discover whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions.
— John Woolman (1774; Quaker
activist and thinker who refused to wear dyed clothing because the dyes were
made with slave labor)
Notes, resources:
This is Peace Sunday in the Mennonite Church; I
want to continue to broaden our understanding of peace as far more than the
facile “absence of conflict” our culture gives it. The Hebrew shalom
carries the far greater meaning of “well-being”. What does well-being look like for us? For our brothers and sisters around the globe who are so impacted
by our entitlement and consumption?
I’m struck by how the thrust of the Romans passage
shifts in very contemporary way when the word “consume” is substituted for
“eat.” We aren’t using Habakkuk 2:5 but
that also fits in with this consumption theme and its cost in human wellbeing
and contributions to war/violence. What
would John Woolman say and do in our context??
Communion: We can strengthen this
theme in communion as a way to make tangible our connections with each other
and all “for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15).
Intergen:
Probably most of you know the story about little boy who was visiting a great Cathedral with his grandmother. He asked who the people were in the windows. "Those are the Saints" Gran said. He asked why their pictures were in the windows. Gran got a bit carried away - this was a hobby horse of hers and she explained that they were there to remind us that each time we come into a church to worship God, we join with the saints in giving thanks and praising God and glorifying God's name. But the little boy had stopped listening. However, next week in school their Scripture teacher asked "Who can tell me what a Saint is?" and the little boy had the answer - "A Saint is someone the light shines through".
JOHN WOOLMAN: THE STORY OF
A QUAKER CONSCIENCE
[This
document is from a pamphlet printed several decades ago by the Religious
Education Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. It was originally published
by Walter and Mildred Kahoe. I have made minor changes for clarity; material in
brackets is mine. -- George Amoss]
John
Woolman was born in 1720 on the family farm on Rancocas Creek in New Jersey. He
went to school with the other Quaker children and with Indian children in a
schoolhouse twenty feet square.
John's
father, Samuel Woolman, was a farmer, but John, when he had finished his
schooling and had worked for several years on the family farm, found a place
clerking in a little store in Mount Holly. He also learned the tailor's craft.
He did think of studying law but decided to remain a clerk and a tailor. Since
he was a good and careful writer, he was often asked to draw up important
documents for his employer and others.
John
Woolman soon found that his conscience would not let him write a bill of sale
for a slave. On the first occasion this happened, John did write the bill of
sale, since the slave was going to an elderly Friend who would treat her
kindly. He satisfied his conscience by telling the seller and Friend that he
felt they were following a practice "inconsistent with the Christian religion."
On another occasion, Woolman writes in his Journal, "a neighbor
received a bad bruise on his body and sent for me to bleed him, which having
done he desired me to write his will. I took notes, and among other things he
told me to which of his children he gave his young Negro. I considered the pain
and distress he was in and knew not how it would end, so I wrote his will save
only that part concerning his slave, and, carrying it to his bedside, read it
to him. I then told him in a friendly way that I could not write any
instruments by which my fellow creatures were made slaves without bringing
trouble on my own mind. I let him know I charged nothing for what I had done,
and desired to be excused from doing the other part in the way he had proposed.
We then had a serious conference on the subject; he, at length, agreeing to set
her free, I finished the will."
Early
in his life, John Woolman was recognized as a dedicated member of his Meeting
in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Following the custom among Friends of his time, he
made many journeys "in the ministry." He started on his first trip in
May, 1746, in the company of Isaac Andrews. The two Friends traveled as far
south as North Carolina, completing their journey of 1,500miles in a little
more than three months. Woolman spoke frequently to slave-owners about the
evils of slavery, but so gentle was his personality that he convinced without
offense. Always his hearers felt that he appealed to consciences rather than
giving blame.
Woolman
resolved never to allow his tailoring to take up all his time. Even after he
opened a store which grew and was prosperous, he felt that he should give up
the store rather than the time he felt should be used to travel and to write.
He held to this resolution even after he married and had two children.
In
1756, Woolman began his famous Journal which has come to be considered a
classic of English literature.
At
that time even some Quakers owned slaves, and Woolman exerted great influence
in leading the Society of Friends to a recognition of the wrongs and evils of
slavery. In 1758, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting appointed a committee to visit
those Friends who still held slaves. John Woolman was the most influential and
active of this group.
In
1759, Woolman, much troubled by the wars between the English and the French and
the continual threat of wars with the Indians, determined to make a difficult
and dangerous trip into Indian country. In his Journal, he tells the
trials and dangers of his journey of eleven days to Wehaloosing in the north-central
part of Pennsylvania, on the eastern branch of the Susquehanna River. There he
remained for four days, feeling, as he says, "the current of love run
strong." Once he forgot the interpreters who had been translating his
words for his Indian listeners and poured out his heart in prayer. When he had
finished, the Indian chief, Papunehang, put his hand on his own breast and
said, "I love to feel where the words come from."
John
Woolman's last journey was to England. He set sail from Chester in the ship, Mary
and Elizabeth, "on the first day of the Fifth Month, 1772" and
was 39 days at sea. Throughout the voyage, he lived with the crew rather than
[in relative luxury with] the other passengers. When Woolman presented his
certificate or Minute from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in London, he was, at
first, coldly received. However, as soon as he spoke, his spirit and devotion
were recognized, and London Yearly Meeting, for the first time in its history,
included a statement condemning slavery in its Epistle.
After
London Yearly Meeting ended, Woolman proceeded toward the city of York in
northeastern England and there, in September,1772, he fell sick with smallpox.
He died on October 7, 1772. It was recorded that in his last hours his mind was
full of "the happiness, the safety, and the beauty of a life devoted to
following the Heavenly Shepherd."
John
Woolman wrote, in addition to his Journal, many other works, including
letters and essays on subjects such as the ethical problems of business, the
peace testimony, and slavery. As we read these writings today, we realize how
much he helped in guiding the thoughts and the aspirations of the Religious
Society of Friends. It was difficult to disregard a man who wore conspicuous
white [unbleached] clothes rather than use dyes which had to be produced by
slave labor. John Woolman was the gentle conscience of Quakerism.
Leading
worship:
Rob
will do skit—end of announcements?
Communion
All
Saints’ ritual of remembering peacemakers
Peace Sunday Liturgy
November 4, 2007
Part
One
Leader: (adapted
from Habakkuk 1:1)
This
is the vision that the ancient Hebrews were given,
along with the vision that we are seeing
today:
East side: The Hebrews (adapted from Habakkuk 1:2-4,
The Message)
God, how long do we have to cry out for help
before
you listen?
How many times do we have to yell, “Help! Murder!
Police!”
before
you come to the rescue?
Why do you force us to look at evil,
stare
trouble in the face day after day?
Anarchy and violence break out,
quarrels
and fights all over the place.
Law and order fall to pieces.
Justice
is a joke.
The wicked have the righteous hamstrung
and stand justice on its head.
West side: The Boiseans (response to the Hebrews’ lament)
We are also crying out for help, God.
The news is grim:
Raids on immigrants,
children
torn from parents, people running to the hills,
hiding,
right here in Idaho as the weather turns towards winter.
Police
fire to kill.
Our veterans are returning with skyrocketing levels
of
post-traumatic stress disorder, addictions,
domestic
violence, and homelessness.
The justice of our Justice Department itself is in
question;
the nominee for Attorney General cannot say clearly
even
after decades of precedent
that
waterboarding is torture.
President Musharraf has suspended the constitution
in Pakistan,
a
young world-class athlete drops dead in a New York marathon.
Even the good news is not good;
the
death rate in Iraq has dropped—that’s good, surely—
but
a closer reading of the news sources
shows
that the drop is partly because that horrific oxymoron,
“ethnic
cleansing”
has been so effective in many areas.
Are you watching the news this week, God?
Are you still silent in the face of the desperation
around us?
(Story of John Woolman)
Part
Two:
East side: The Hebrews
(adapted from
Habakkuk 1:15-17)
The enemy brings the nations up
with a hook;
he drags them out with his net,
he gathers them in his seine;
his catch is huge and he rejoices and
celebrates.
Therefore he worships his
weapons:
he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his
seine;
for by them he becomes
lavishly wealthy,
and his food and consumption is rich.
Is he then to keep on emptying
his net,
and destroying nations without mercy?
Leader: (adapted from
Habakkuk 2:1)
Let us stand at the watchposts,
and station ourselves on the lookouts;
Let us keep watch to see what
God will say to us,
and what God will answer concerning our desperate
complaint.
West side: The Boiseans (response to the Hebrews’ lament)
These are frightening words to
hear!
Who is the enemy in our story,
in our time?
Is it us, O God?
Have we become the enemy who lives lavishly
on the plunder of nations?
Is it us who worship our
weapons,
who sacrifice blood—
3849 of our soldiers as
of yesterday—
and treasure--
more than four hundred sixty-five and a half billion dollars so far—
on the war in Iraq,
a war which even many of our friends around
the world
call illegal and immoral?
God, we want you to speak to
us,
but can we bear what you will say?
(Peacemakers,
saints that continue to inspire us)
Part Three:
Leader: (from
Habakkuk 2:2-5, 14; Romans 15:33)
Then the LORD answered us and
said:
Write down the vision;
post it in huge letters on billboards
overlooking the freeways
so the commuters will see it
post it up on Camelsback, and in every park
and greenbelt
so the bikers and the runners
will read it,
post it on the internet, on blogs and
listserves.
For yes—there is a vision for this time;
a vision of truth,
a vision of peace from the God of peace.
There will be an end to the false visions of arrogance,
of greed, of treachery.
If it seems slow in coming, be patient;
it will come.
The earth will be
filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Sing
the Journey, #13: My soul is filled with joy
East side: The Hebrews
(adapted from
Habukkuk 2:4, 3:17-18)
We will strive to live by our faith.
Even 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,
yet we will rejoice in the
LORD;
we will celebrate the God of
our salvation
even before we see that salvation come.
West side: The Boiseans (adapted from Psalm 34:1-5, 12-14, 18)
We, too, will strive to live faithfully in our
time.
We will praise God by our actions and our words,
by
our service to the brokenhearted and the crushed in spirit.
We will strive to live up to the name of God,
making
the presence of God clear and bright
in
our fellowship and in our lives,
seeking
to listen to God
and
living the answers fearlessly.
Even in a time awash with hatred and deception,
we
will strive to keep our tongues from speaking evil
and
our lips from speaking deceit.
We will seek to do only good,
to
seek peace
and
actively pursue it.
Liturgy of
communion:
All:
In this act
of worship
we remember the breaking of Jesus’ body
and the pouring out of his
lifeblood for our peace and healing.
In this act of communion,
we recognize the power of God’s
love—
love that offers whatever is
necessary to bring peace
to a broken and divided
creation.
In our
participation in this liturgy, we, too
offer ourselves to the healing,
peacemaking work of God
in our lives and in our world.
Prayer of
preparation:
Please turn
to #174 in Sing the Journey (the new green book)
Passing of the peace:
Hear the words of Jesus: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to
you.
(You may turn to your neighbors
and offer them the peace of Christ.)
The Lord’s
Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
for thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and
the glory, forever. AMEN.
Words of
institution (from Luke’s gospel)
Jesus took a loaf of bread and
when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my
body, which is given for you. Do this
in remembrance of me.”
And he did the same with the
cup, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my
blood. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Serving each
other with the elements
Closing
prayer: (adapted from Romans 14:13-19,
15:33)
ALL:
Help us, dear Lord, to no
longer pass judgment on one another,
but resolve instead
never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of
another.
If our brothers or sisters are
being injured by what we eat or consume,
we are no longer walking in love.
Please show us where our
consumption is causing ruin for brothers and sisters elsewhere,
people for whom Christ died.
Your kingdom is not just
consumption of food and drink and other commodities
but is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit.
We want then, to pursue
what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding,
knowing that you, the God of peace
will be with us all. AMEN