Seeker Cycle 2005 September
1st Sunday in September (Week 36) (Exodus 1,2,3 and Luke 5:27-32; 6:12-16; 8:1-3, 19-21)
Although the retail media focuses on “back to school” days, there is a sense in which September is really “back to family” days. Whether or not you have children, and whether or not those children live at home, there is a sense in which the shift from summer to fall is a shift from personal indulgence to family responsibility. What is interesting is that it takes people longer and longer in the fall to return to any kind of regular church attendance. This suggests the gap between our “immediate family” and “God’s family” is widening more and more.
When you think about it, being a part of a family is not really a decision we make. It is decided for us. Like it or not, burdensome as it may be, we are born into a family and are expected to take certain family responsibilities. The same is true for God’s family. God’s chooses us. God adopts us. Like it or not, burdensome as it may be, and whether we go to church or not, we are ‘in the family’. God chose us.
The big difference is what we choose to do about it. In your immediate, human, family, you do have the choice to leave it. You can leave home, never write or visit, and cut yourself off from parents or children, for good or bad reasons, and there is nothing they can really do about it. The same cannot be said for God’s family. You neither have a choice about being a part of it, nor do you have a choice about staying in it. God will “come after you” even if you decide to leave; God will speak to you even if you choose not to speak to God. You can’t get away from God. The good news is that the tenacity of God is motivated by love! God is not “stalking” you for harm, but for blessing. God is “tracking” your progress in life … and will never leave you alone. One day, perhaps, you will embrace each other again.
Team Meditation (Luke 5:27-32; 6:12-16; 8:1-3, 19-21)
The television show Friends was a cultural phenomenon for a variety of reasons, not the least was because of the disintegration of the North American nuclear family. The show introduced American viewers to a tribe, a "home-made" family by choice rather than by birth. As ridiculous as many episodes were, as the genre of sitcoms demands, the love and loyalty of these friends idealized the yearning of many under-forties (and some over forty).
In many ways, Jesus defined family like the show. Members of the family were loyal; they shared the same values; they shared the same fate. On the other hand, Jesus was specific about how you got adopted into the family. You were obedient children of the Lord. Family wasn't defined by what you believed (what you "heard"), but whether or not you put it into practice. The writer of the epistle of James, ascribed traditionally to James the brother of Jesus, would say that belief without obedience is dead (James 2). When I hear these words I can see Laurence Olivier tearing his coat in the movie The Jazz Singer (1980) when he counts his "rebellious son" as dead. Dead faith means more than just ineffective Christianity. It means dead to the family. Cut off. Removed. Shunned. But there's hope, like Olivier's character, with the birth of a son a bridge has been built that offers reconciliation to those who would return.
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (Exodus 1,2,3)
There is power in family. We've all experienced it and some of us have been fortunate to experience it in all its glory. But none of us emerge from childhood unscathed by family. Well meaning parents blunder unintentionally and leave their children with scars that may never heal. Some wounds are inflicted because of circumstances beyond the control and protection of the parents. And sometimes the parents themselves are so obsessed with their own woundedness that they leave their children emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and sometimes even physically bruised and battered. Everyone carries scars from family - and some still carry open wounds that haven't healed.
Moses' story tends to be a nice, sanitized children's story about an infant who was "spared" from the wickedness of Pharaoh. But that's not a reflection of reality; indeed, that version is closer to a fairy tale than a biblical truth. Certainly Moses was spared, but at what cost? Though he was nursed by his mother, there's no indication that mom stayed in the picture throughout his childhood. Moses was raised by Pharaoh's daughter. The same Pharaoh who commanded the slaughter of the Hebrew infants relented to his daughter's whim when she came home from the river and said, "Dad! Look what I found. Can I keep him? Huh? Huh?" Moses was raised knowing he'd been "abandoned" by his people - he knew he was a Hebrew child living in an Egyptian home. Like an adopted child who has an irrepressible drive to reconnect with their roots, Moses tries to "go home" but his biological "family" initially rejects his attempts and his attempt at leadership.
But wounds that heal become scars. And scars, when we've truly healed, are the source of our strength. Paul reminds us that it is these scars, these weaknesses that God is will use as our strength. Moses fled to the wilderness to hide, but what he found was healing. In the solitude of his thoughts and prayers he would discover God in new and powerful ways. He would discover that God could use even this wounded man to achieve God's purpose, but only after Moses became convinced that he had intrinsic worth in God. In years to come he would return to Egypt and "his" people. He would come as a married man with a family of his own. He would connect with his biological siblings and confidently take his place in the family. And he would come as a member and spokesman of the Divine family - the ultimate family with the ultimate power.
Bill T-B
Worship Design (Exodus 1,2,3)
This week it's not a micro culture we're aiming at, but the macro culture. Everyone carries the wounds of family - there's no escaping it. This week you'll want to use a clip from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) in order to launch into the theme. Use one of two clips that shows the power of family (or use both). The first clip begins when Charlie (Freddie Highmore) asks Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) if he remembers his childhood and Willy Wonka slips into a daydream about his father the dentist (Christopher Lee). The scene shows how his well-intentioned father scars his son (played by Blair Dunlop) inadvertently by being over protective. The alternative clip is when Charlie, Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), and Willy Wonka crash through the Charlie's house in the glass elevator. In the scene Willy Wonka invites Charlie to come to live at the chocolate factory - sans family. Charlie chooses to forfeit the offer in order to remain with his family.
Use the rest of the service to introduce a sensitivity to the realities of family scars. Naming the issue and showing that scriptures reflect both the issue as well as hope through healing and adoption offers a glimmer of hope to those who struggle with their woundedness. This could be good service to invite those uninvolved in a home fellowship group to take the plunge in experiencing adoption into a family beyond their homes.
Bill T-B
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2nd Sunday in September (Week 37) (Matthew 5,6,7 and Luke 6)
The remembrance of 911 will once again be traumatic for Americans, but also for people all around the world. This date remembers the escalation of terrorism from a sad state of affairs “over there” to a serious threat “over here”. It is difficult to decide which is more traumatic … how much things have changed, or how much things have not changed.
- On the one hand … people are more frightened than they used to be; the war is worse than leaders predicted it to be; and the economy is more uncertain that it once was. Since 911, there has been a veritable barrage of television shows about home renovation, as people hunker down with their families trying to isolate themselves on an island of security and well being.
- On the other hand … the world has not changed as much as people thought. Charitable giving has recovered it upward trend; day to day life has regained the same rhythm (for better and for worse); and people behave in much the same way.
It seems like it will take more than a single terrible tragedy … and more than a single sign of hope … to really set the world upside down and change the nature of our culture.
It’s the perfect time to read what is known as Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” in its entirety. Read it straight through, without a pause, as dramatically as possible, and listen for the mentoring Jesus offers in times just like these. Is it time to turn the other check? Is it time to pluck out the log in our own eyes before we dare remove the speck from out brothers’? Is it time worry less about tomorrow and trust in the providence of God? Is it time to rebuild our foundations on rock instead of sand?
Team Meditation (Luke 6)
Lesson one. That’s what the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Luke was. Jesus went out and spent all night in prayer, clearly to seek guidance for what would be one of the most important decision of his life, and probably the most important in terms of the future of the faith: Who would he call as his closest followers? Who would he entrust the seeds of Christianity?
In the morning he came off the mountain and confidently chose his twelve. Then he opened his mouth and began to teach lesson one. The Sermon on the Mount has been called the premier literary work in the English language, but more than that, it contains the core of the Christian faith. Notice Jesus didn’t give them a litany of theological truths. Nothing about virgin births, triune Godhead, or apocalyptic explanations. It’s all about how to behave ... how to put the faith into practice.
Ford Motor Company used to have a motto that quality was job one. Jesus demonstrates what job one was to the Christian faith. Are we putting our money where our mouth is? Walking the talk? Practicing what we’re preaching? What would the neighbors say was job one in your congregation?
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (Matthew 5,6,7)
This week the worship theme and the team meditation collide, but with different versions. Matthew’s content is ordered differently and is significantly more extensive, but the gist is still the same. The Christian life is more about how you behave than whether or not you can recite the Westminster Shorter Confession.
North American Christianity is viewed by the unchurched as hypocritical and largely ineffective. We have by far the majority of the world’s most educated clergy, but the church is losing a million members a year – and has been for several years. We own more Bibles per capita than anywhere else in the world. By all appearances, we have the most knowledgeable Christians in the whole world. But knowledge doesn’t translate into behavioral change.
Jesus’ first major teaching piece, whether recorded in Matthew or Luke, is about putting feet onto faith. It’s interesting that in both accounts, the very last allegory Jesus uses is about putting his words into practice. The second week of September is in the midst of hurricane season and the foundation of many a building will be tested by the storms. Are we building a church on rock? or sand?
Bill T-B
Worship Design (Matthew 5,6,7)
You may remember the UNCF slogan “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” The slogan might be applied to the church today, except in a different light. For the UNCF the point was to get scholarships into the hands of worthy students who couldn’t otherwise attend college. The point of the slogan in the church would be to motivate over-educated, under-performing Christians into action.
But notice that Jesus’ words have almost nothing to do with social action. There’s nothing there about feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, or relieving poverty – except to say you’re particularly blessed if you’re one of the poor. Instead, these are life lessons, how-tos for living in the day-to-day. On the other hand, these instructions are the core of the church, but the church’s disregard for these are part-and-parcel of why Christianity’s image is so poor in <place w:st="on">North America</place>.
One of the best ways to get this across in your congregation would be to go to www.off-the-map.org and get one of their Lost Interviews DVDs, or if you have the ability to watch a streaming video from the Internet, show one of the interviews. Alternatively, and much more effective, would be to do your own “Lost Interview” live in your congregation. You will want to watch a couple of the online interviews to get a handle on the finesse Jim Henderson uses, and you will especially want to pre-prep your congregation (believe me, this is critical – watch the “Interview with Three Post Modern Guys” for ideas how to prep your people). The process of doing a “Lost Interview” (which you would never want to call it in the presence of your guest/s, if at all) includes making a contact with one of your unbelieving friends – you do have unbelieving friend don’t you?! – and one or two of them to come to the worship service for an interview about their views of Christianity, the church, and Christians. You might want to consider giving them an honorarium for the deed, since they are voluntarily putting themselves in a hot-seat, although in truth, it’s the congregation who will be the most uncomfortable by the end of the interview. Again, listen to a couple of <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Henderson</place></city>’s interviews for potential questions you’d like to ask.
Doing a “Lost Interview” live will likely be an eye-opener for your congregation, and it will be the perfect segue into Jesus’ instructions for life.
Bill T-B
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3rd Sunday in September (Week 38) (Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Luke 8:4-15, 22-56)
A couple weeks ago a tornado cut a swathe of destruction just a few miles away from our home. Reporters subsequently interviewed two of the hardest hit farming families. Both families had seen their barns and houses shattered. They were both pictured standing in the midst of the rubble. The first family was in tears of despair. They talked about how they had lost everything, planned to move away to the city, and felt abandoned by God. The second family was in tears of gratitude. They talked about how the friends and relatives had rallied to help them rebuild, planned to renew their lives, and felt blessed by God. Using the metaphor of Ezekiel, the first family saw only dry bones. The second family saw the potential for new life. The second family heard in the hearts the rattling of bones and the breath of God. The first family was deaf to the spirit.
Perhaps the most interesting fact in the story is that both families belonged to the same church. Both families experienced the same worship services. They both listened to the same scriptures, and heard the same sermons, and attended the same Sunday school classes. They had lived as neighbors all their lives, and considered each other as friends. Yet when the crisis came, they reacted completely differently. I wonder what the pastor thought. He was never interviewed by the reporters. He had planted seeds of faith … in one family they perished, and in another they thrived.
Which kind of family are you? Which kind of family do you want to become?
Team Meditation (Luke 8:4-15, 22-56)
Where are you planting seed? In the parable of the soils it seems like Jesus depicts a very sloppy farmer. There he is, out in his fields – or not – and is casting seeds every which way. It lands on the road. It lands in the gravel. It lands in the untilled plot that’s thick with weeds. Oh, and some of the seed actually makes into the plowed field, though it almost seems a miracle given this farmer’s willy-nilly attitude about spring planting. A good farmer, an efficient farmer would only plant the seed in the richest soil that’s been dutifully prepared.
Where are you planting the seed you’ve been given? Jesus explained that the seed is the Word that people hear and respond to. If I push this metaphor to hard, one might think that we have a one-in-four shot of planting it in the right place, but experience says that it’s closer to one-in-fourteen or so at best. So, in my best consultative voice, I’d advise you to read your demographics carefully. Analyze the psychographics. Get to know the neighborhood well before you start planting. And when you know exactly which market segment is most likely to represent the fertile soil, then get out there and plant your seeds, but be careful not to be wasteful. Just plant them one at a time. That represents good and efficient farming techniques, I’d tell you.
But maybe Jesus knows something we don’t. Maybe the farmer represents the good and faithful servant who is just doing what he’s supposed to do – plant the seeds wherever he could. Maybe planting a field isn’t the same as sowing the Gospel. Maybe seeding the Gospel isn’t as precise and efficient as we’d like. Maybe those who make good soil for the seed of the Gospel might not be the as apparent as a demographic survey of the community.
Where are you planting the seed you’ve been given? I just checked the supplier and was assured we’re in no danger of running out. Go ahead and “waste” it. You never know where a single seed might sprout.
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
It’s the third week in September and though it may seem early, already the decorations for Halloween are appearing in the mega-marts. And in every decent Halloween display there will be a variety of skeletons, dead dry bones made of cardboard, plastic, or latex. This story in Ezekiel of the first zombies, bodies that appear to be living, but are actually dead, has always been my favorite topic for my Halloween sermons.
But Halloween in over a month a way, even though you wouldn’t know it by the advertisements on the television. So, what do dry bones have to teach us in this, the third week in September?
Potential. Which is really what the vision was all about anyway. The potential of <country-region w:st="on">Judah</country-region> to rise again from their demoralized exile in <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Babylon</city></place> – or not. God whisks Ezekiel to a battle field where the dead soldiers had been left unceremoniously unburied to be picked clean by the buzzards and the wild dogs. Their bones gleamed in the dazzling sun as Ezekiel surveyed the field and then God speaks. “Ezekiel, can these bones live?”
I love Ezekiel’s answer. Can’t you see him furrowing his eyebrows and shrugging his shoulders? “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Which is to say, “Why are you asking me? I don’t have a clue. If you ask me, they’re dead and they’re going to stay dead.”
Potential. Ezekiel saw dead bones. God saw a vast army risen from the dead. The Jews saw a razed <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Jerusalem</place></city> and ruthless captors who didn’t seem to be in any hurry to release their captives. God saw a people replanted in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Judah</place></country-region>, sprouted, blooming, and bearing fruit.
Potential. It’s the story of what God sees in us when we’ve been beaten down, we’ve given up our ghosts, and we can’t see any good reason for getting out of bed.
Bill T-B
Worship Design (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
In almost every congregation there are those who are down so low that they can no longer see the light. In every neighborhood there are those who have given up and find it difficult to get out of bed. In every community there are a few who believe they’re so far gone that there’s no good reason to go on living. And every church carries the good news of the Gospel that proclaims potential in the presence of the Lord.
But what exactly does that mean? The good news that raises the dead to life and breathes potential into the hopeless is for those who respond to the Gospel. Bones live when the presence of God comes upon them, but only when those who hear the call respond. The exiles would, in God’s good time, be given their freedom and released. As dry bones they could rise up and leave <place w:st="on"><city w:st="on">Babylon</city></place> as a resurrected people, but only a few would go. Many would remain behind, preferring their imprisonment to life and freedom.
Potential. It’s there for us. God sees it; indeed, God decrees it. But we have to believe, we have to stand up and take a step, we have to be a soldier in God’s army.
To Walter Fielding, Jr. (Tom Hanks) in the movie The Money Pit, any hope of the resurrection of his new home perished when he returned from work on the first day of “construction.” Use the clip that begins with Walter returning home and he crosses the pile of debris that was once his driveway. He confronts Curly (Philip Bosco), the construction foreman, who explains the process, but clearly Walter isn’t a believer.
The Money Pit story is all about pouring money down what seems an endless hole in an effort to resurrect a house that seems hopeless. The plot is the storyline of many who feel deconstructed and hopeless. But Curly sees the potential through it all.
You may want to use one more clip in the movie as you wrap us the sermon. Near the end of the movie, Walter and Anna (Shelley Long) have decided to go their separate ways, but the house is complete. Use the clip where Curly brings them the keys and explains that a house with a strong foundation is worth rebuilding and can weather any storm.
Bill T-B
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4th Sunday in September (Week 39) (Luke 9:10-17 and Luke 14:15-24)
Every shrinking, aging, dying church considers itself to be a “friendly congregation”. This is source of their greatest conundrum. They cannot understand how they can be so “friendly”, and yet have so few newcomers visit and even fewer stay in active attendance. Even their young people are dropping out after confirmation, and their seniors are finding excuses to explain infrequent attendance. Yet they think they are so “friendly”!
One of the great challenges for growing churches is that they pay a price for their very success. At first they really do succeed in bringing many visitors to church … and they really do succeed in creating an atmosphere of love and joy … and they really do bind people together in friendship. And then, subtly, unintentionally, and unthinkingly, as they enjoy each other more and more and more, the flow of newcomers diminishes to a trickle and stops.
Yes, God’s church is about love. But you are supposed to love others (i.e. strangers, visitors, sinners, seekers, and even enemies) more than yourselves. Hospitality goes further toward strangers. If you embrace your friends, kiss the stranger on both cheeks. If you provide refreshments that your friends like, provide even more refreshments that your friends may not like but that strangers will like. If you welcome your friends at the door, welcome the strangers in the parking lot.
The real love you are sharing is not your love, but God’s love. It’s not the church’s love, but Christ’s love. He’s dying to meet them. If you love them, you will introduce them.
Team Meditation (Luke 14:15-24)
(Luke 14:23 NIV) Then the master told his servant, “Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.”
Hebrews 10:25 reminds readers to “Not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.” His admonition is tantamount to the master’s command to “make them come in.” We seem to have the same problem the early church was having – getting the Christians to show up, let alone trying to get the strangers of grace to visit.
“Make them come in.” Sounds a bit forceful, but the words weren’t about convincing the invited guests, but the outsiders: the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. Make them come in and bar the gates against those who spurned the invitation.
What are you doing to make the outsiders come in? It might take more than a sign on the roadside that reads, “Everybody Welcome.” And when you decide what it will take, it will probably alienate the insiders and they’ll be too busy, too preoccupied (and probably too put-off) to come.
Make them come in. Bar the gates against the invited guests who wouldn’t come. The question is, do we have the courage it takes to pull it off?
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (Luke 9:10-17)
One of the axioms of Jesus’ ministry plan was to support the mission from within the harvest. In Luke 10, Jesus sends out the seventy-two to take his message and works into all the towns and villages. They were to take no provisions, no money, no extra clothing, nothing. Instead, they were to depend on the harvest to cover their expenses.
Here in Chapter 9 and the account of the feeding of the five-thousand, Jesus models that principle. He tells the boys to feed the crowd, but after each one turns their pockets inside-out and professes poverty. Mark’s account says the disciples had to inventory the crowd, but it’s John who reports that Andrew finds the lad with fish and loaves. It’s a cinch, though, the twelve weren’t carrying fish and loaves in their pockets.
The church has long had a propensity to get people into the doors and spend the next several years indoctrinating them into the faith through education. More recently, when we get people through the doors, the goal seems to see how quickly we can get them onto a committee.
However, the resources of these strangers to grace weren’t efficacious until they were placed into Jesus’ hands. Those resources, however, didn’t get put into Judas’ money bags. They didn’t go for parking lots or even utility bills. The loaves and fishes were multiplied and used to feed more strangers to grace (to be fair, the disciples did get to keep the left-overs, which they promptly left behind).
Out in the harvest fields are all the resources necessary for the propagation of the Gospel; resources held in the hands and hearts of people who are looking for a worthy cause, a cause that will change the community and rock their world.
Bill T-B
Worship Design (Luke 9:10-17)
People are looking for something worth dying for so they can give themselves to something worth living for. The harvest field is “ripe” with people who have looked to the church for that “something,” but have gone away empty – often emptier than when they went in the first place, since they carried a modicum of hope with them when they visited the church. The good news is many of them are still looking, but they don’t know where to turn.
These strangers to grace, these wanderers, carry with them incredible gifts that the Lord will multiply. And these wanderers are more than willing, they want to share their resources with those who will take them and make a difference. But they need someone to follow and they need something worth dying for.
The film Braveheart offers a great illustration. Use the clip where William Wallace (Mel Gibson) is knighted by the nobles. Immediately after he receives his title, an argument breaks out about who has title to what. Wallace and his men leave the room in disbelief, but Robert the Bruce (Angus Macfadyen) follows him out to try and mollify him. Instead, Wallace tells him that the commoners are looking for a cause to live and die for and someone to lead them – and that someone could be Robert.
When Jesus asked his disciples to provide something for the crowds, they were dismayed at how little they had and how big the task was. But in the hands of Jesus, the crowd can be reached with the resources already there. But it will only happen when it’s put into Jesus’ hands, blessed, and sent back out into the fields from whence it came.
Bill T-B